Ateez announced on Wednesday that it will come out with a studio album titled, “Into the A to Z,” in March.

In the photo that was released with the announcement, seven bandmates of the eight-piece act donned white outfits, showing off an elegant side of the group. Mingi is taking a break due to health reasons. 

This is the band’s first all-Japanese album since it officially debuted in Japan in December 2019. Its “Treasure EP. Extra: Shift The Map” ranked No. 3 on Oricon’s daily album chart and its first Japanese EP “Treasure EP. Map to Answer” topped the chart upon release in February last year.

The new album consists of ten tracks. In addition to the Japanese version of its hits including “Say My Name,” “Utopia,” “Answer,” and “Inception,” there will be a new Japanese song named “Still Here.” It will hit the sales rack on March 24.

Meanwhile, the band unveiled the track list for its upcoming sixth EP in Korea, “Zero: Fever Part 2.” Hongjoong and Mingi participated in writing several of the seven tracks that includes “Celebrate,” a song dedicated to their official fandom “Atiny.” The EP goes on sale on March 1.

Blackpink sets most-viewed record with “Ddu-du Ddu-du”  

Blackpink became the first Kpop artist to have a music video that was viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

The music video of its 2018 hit “Ddu-du Ddu-du” surpassed the 1.5 billion viewing milestone on YouTube on Tuesday, according to the management company YG Entertainment. It was the most viewed K-pop music video in 2018 and has been setting records ever since.

The song, a title track from its first EP “Square Up,” not only topped every music chart in Korea but also peaked at No. 40 and No. 55 on Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Hot 100 respectively, a record-high for a K-pop female band. It was streamed over 300 million times on Spotify as well.

The quartet has three music videos with over 1.1 billion viewings and a total of 26 videos with over 100 million views. Its YouTube channel has the most subscribers among female artists in the world at 57.6 million.

SuperM joins global campaign against COVID-19 

Super M will participate in a global campaign tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, its company SM Entertainment said on Wednesday.

Launched by Global Citizen, an international charity organization, the campaign titled “Recovery Plan for the World” seeks to help end the pandemic as well as protect the planet, curb the hunger crisis, resume learning everywhere and advance equity for all.

Super M will join artists such as Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Hugh Jackman, Jonas Brothers and Lang Lang in the worldwide initiative that will help finance the activities.

Super M has been contributing to a series of global campaigns: Performing at “Together at Home,” an online concert hosted by Lady Gaga, World Health Organization and Global Citizen to raise fund to fight COVID-19; and “The Big Event for Mental Health,” WHO’s first global online event to promote awareness about mental health care.

TXT enters Billboard 200 with Japanese album 

Tomorrow X Together has made it onto the Billboard 200 for the third time, this time with its Japanese album.

The band’s “Still Dreaming,” its first studio album in Japanese that came out on Jan. 20, ranked No. 173 in the most recent tally. This is the third time it has landed on the Billboard 200 following its debut album “Dream Chapter: Star” and third EP “minisode 1: Blue Hour” that peaked at No. 140 and No. 25 respectively. It also became the second K-pop act to have a Japanese album on Billboard 200, after BTS.

“Still Dreaming” consists of 10 tracks including the Japanese version of “Run Away,” “Angel Or Devil,” and “Crown,” as well as its new Japanese song “Force.” The album landed at the top of Oricon’s daily and weekly charts.

The boy band will mark the second anniversary of its debut next month through a weeklong online event called “TXT 2021 Dream Week,” to celebrate the occasion with fans from around the world.

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