SF9 will return with a 12th EP on Jan. 9, 2023, announced agency FNC Entertainment on Tuesday.

The band surprised fans with a poster for the EP, “The Piece of 9,” that will be fronted by “Puzzle.”

Seven members of the nine-piece act participated in releasing the album, including Rowoon who was absent from promoting its previous EP “The Wave of 9” as he was shooting a drama. He also missed the band’s recent US tour.

The six members of the band toured New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles since Nov. 30, after the Seoul concert. It was the first time in 3.5 years the band performed in front of its fans in the US.

Youngbin and Inseong have been serving their mandatory military service since March.

Twice sets record on Spotify

Twice amassed the most streams on Spotify in the US among K-pop girl groups, according to label JYP Entertainment on Tuesday.

The group generated more than 289 million streams on the platform in the US this year as of Dec. 15. Its music listed on Spotify surpassed 5.5 billion streams in total across the world so far.

It has placed “Talk That Talk,” title track from “Between 1＆2,” on Spotify’s daily top songs global chart at No. 49 upon release, a record for the nonet. The song entered its daily top songs chart in the US at No. 83, making top 100 for the first time.

Twice is set to appear in NHK’s year-end live show “Red ＆ White Year-End Song Festival” that will air on New Year’s Eve. It will be the group’s fourth time to join the lineup.

New Jeans sweeps charts with new song

New Jeans sent fans abuzz with “Ditto,” one of the tracks from its upcoming single album “OMG.”

The prerelease was dropped on Monday and headed straight to the top of multiple charts including Melon, the largest music site in Korea. Double title tracks from its debut album “Hype Boy” and “Attention” are No. 3 and No. 10 on the daily chart, and the rookie girl group has three entries among top 10. It also landed atop iTunes top songs chart in seven regions.

“OMG” is due out on Jan. 2, 2023.

Meanwhile, “Hype Boy” was selected as one of The Best Songs of 2022 listed by National Public Radio last week.

Ily:1 drops fan song in advance for Christmas

Girl group Ily:1 will gift fans a song in time for Christmas, said agency FNC ENM on Tuesday.

“Thanks to…” is from its first EP “A Dream of Ily:1” that will be released on Jan. 5, 2023. The six members participated in writing the lyrics for the song full of a heartfelt message to everyone who has been there for them since be the beginning, and who will stay with them for their journey ahead.

The forthcoming EP will consist of eight tracks -- four songs including the main track “Twinkle, Twinkle” and the instrumental versions.

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