UP10TION held an online media showcase event Monday to introduce its second full album, “Connection.”

“We are returning after a long while and I was so excited and nervous that I couldn’t sleep well,” confided Kuhn. The band members poured a lot into the new album, he added.

The new LP is a spinoff from last year’s ninth EP, “Light Up,” and comes in two versions -- “Silhouette” and “Illuminate.” The former focuses on the narrator’s agony before a realization and the latter on a desire to spread light further and brighter after it.

The main track, “Spin Off,” will bust the summer heat with the cool sounds of club bass and synths, declared Gyujin. Kuhn participated in writing the lyrics “with resolution and passion.”

Now nearing the sixth anniversary of their debut, the bandmates also said they had bonded even closer while making the album. And the reason they are striving to be better is for their fans.

TXT hits No.5 on Billboard 200

Tomorrow X Together ranked No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with its second studio album, “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze,” according to the most recent tally that became available on Sunday in the US.

This is the first time the band has made it into the top five and the highest rank any K-pop album has attained so far this year, according to label Big Hit Music. There are only five other K-pop acts that have made the top five on the Billboard 200: BTS, Blackpink, Super M, NCT 127 and Monsta X.

The band entered six Billboard charts last week, ranking No. 4 on the world album chart and No. 64 on the top current album sales chart with the LP. Title track “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) feat. Seori” rose to No. 113 on Billboard Global excluding the US, No. 167 on Billboard Global and No. 3 on the world digital song sales chart. The song also entered Spotify’s global top 200 chart at No. 89 on May 31 and stayed on the chart for 11 consecutive days. 

AB6IX’s Lee Daehwi makes song for Japanese “Produce 101”  

Lee Daehwi of AB6IX produced the closing number for the second season of “Produce 101 Japan,” said agency Brand New Music.

Titled “One Day,” the rock ballad was aired on the show Sunday. It depicts the mixed feelings of the participants in the survival audition program, who are at the end of a long journey. It hit closer to home since Lee is an alum of the original South Korean program. Lee, along with bandmates Park Woojin and Kim Donghyun, debuted on the second season of “Produce 101” before teaming up as AB6IX in 2019.

Lee has been the main producer of the four-piece boy band and had a hand creating albums with a series of artists including IZ*ONE, Park Jihoon and Yoon Jisung.

Meanwhile, the band held a digital fan meet event May 31 to celebrate the second anniversary of its debut and will host an online live fan meet via Universe, a K-pop fandom platform, June 26.

GOT7’s Yugyeom tops iTunes charts with solo pre-release  

Yugyeom of GOT7 took his first step to success as a solo artist over the weekend, when the prerelease from his upcoming solo debut EP landed at the top of iTunes charts.

He dropped “I Want U Around,” a song from the EP “Point of View: U,” in advance on Friday and it entered the worldwide iTunes song chart and US R&B/Soul chart at No. 1. It had also topped iTunes song charts in 36 regions as of Monday.

“I Want U Around” is the first track he put out since he signed with AOMG in February. He co-authored the song with the label’s hitmaker Gray.

On Thursday, the musician will fully unveil the EP, which consists of seven tracks. The others are “Running Through the Rain,” “Your Fault (Feat. Gray),” “All About U (Feat. Loco),” “Love the Way (Feat. Jay Park & Punchnello),” “Falling in Love” and “When U Fall.”

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