Hwang Minhyun held a media showcase in Seoul on Monday to introduce his first solo EP, titled “Truth or Lie.”

“I wanted to tell a story of my own, as it is my first solo album,” said the musician, who debuted as a member of NU’EST in 2012.

He chose “Hidden Side” as the main track since it can best demonstrate his strong performance.

“I wanted to dance on stage. I’ve had thirst for performance even while I was acting,” said the singer and actor. He believes many of his fans were converted by his dance abilities shown through his time as a member of the band, and wanted to satisfy them.

“This is my third debut. I tend to get really nervous and worry myself … and I learned to look at myself more objectively,” said Hwang, who also was part of project group Wanna One.

NewJeans logs 200m streams with ‘Ditto’ on Spotify

NewJeans surpassed 200 million streams on Spotify with “Ditto,” according to the platform on Monday.

The track is a prerelease from the single “OMG” and reached the milestone in record time for the rookie girl group. It is the group’s second to achieve the feat, following its debut “Hype Boy.” The quintet has amassed over 900 million streams on Spotify so far across its six songs.

“Ditto” debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 96 and stayed on the chart for five weeks in a row, peaking at No. 82. It has also maintained a spot on Spotify’s global weekly top songs chart for a 10th week, ranking No. 29 on Friday.

Separately, McDonald’s Korea announced on Monday that the group will be the face of its marketing campaign this year. A new menu with the campaign will be launched next month.

GOT7’s Bambam to return with new solo EP

Bambam of GOT7 will bring out new album on March 28, announced agency Abyss Co. on Monday.

A teaser poster gave a peek at the performer whose unique makeup hinted at the concept of the upcoming album. His previous album was the EP “B,” which came out in January last year. Its main track “Who Are You” topped iTunes top songs charts in 21 regions.

In the meantime, he will visit his native Thailand in March to join the lineup for KCON 2023. He was named as one of the artists performing at the event alongside Ateez, Itzy, (G)I-dle, Kep1er and iKON, as well as bandmate Youngjae.

Golden Child to drop Japan single in April

“Invisible Crayon” will include lead track “Crayon” as well as a Japanese-language version of “Replay” and “Ra Pam Pam,” focus tracks from its sixth EP “Aura” and second studio album “Game Changer,” respectively.

The band’s previous single in the country, “Rata-tat-tat,” came out in June last year and ranked No. 3 on Oricon’s daily single chart. Debut single “A Woo!!” topped Oricon’s weekly single chart when it was released in January last year.

Meanwhile, Y will enlist in the military on March 20, and is to put out a digital single before he starts duty, the management company said the same day.

By Hwang You-mee
(glamazon@heraldcorp.com)