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K-pop
Apr 20, 2015 7:18:23 GMT
Post by IceCat on Apr 20, 2015 7:18:23 GMT
Remember the new release from JYP head honcho Park Jin Young I told you about the other day? Well without mentioning his name Bill Maher made a biting reference to it during the "New Rules" segment of his HBO chat show recently. Skip to the 2:12 mark of the video below:
Proving that he indeed has a sense of humor JYP (@followjyp) put out the following tweet on Sunday:
LOL Thanks @billmaher but anything too big doesn't look sexy to me. I'll definitely let you know if my taste changes! www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWBIpj2m8R0 …
MNet America released the teaser for KCON 2015, along with the dates of this year's extravaganza: 31 July to 2 August. It is also moving to LA Live! in downtown LA with the two nights of concerts slated for the neighboring Staples Center.
In the latest dating scandal it has been reported that Girls' Generation member Yuri is seeing Oh Seung Hwan, a reliever for the Hanshin Tigers baseball team in Japan. They first met in November of last year and more recently after Girls' Generation finished recording their new song in Japan last month Yuri stayed on a few extra days to spend time with him. SM Entertainment confirmed the rumors today, making Yuri the fifth current member of the group to be reported having a relationship after Yoona, Soo Young, Tiffany, and Taeyeon. As previously reported, former member Jessica is also in a relationship.
Kevin
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K-pop
Apr 26, 2015 9:19:42 GMT
Post by IceCat on Apr 26, 2015 9:19:42 GMT
The apple at the end of the first KCON teaser video was a clue about the continued growth of the annual extravaganza...they announce here in the second teaser video that the week after the main KCON weekend in LA there will be a second KCON, a one day event for us East Coast fans of all things Korean Saturday 8 August in greater New York at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. The artists due to appear at each venue will be announced at a later date just before tickets go on sale.
EXO's "Call Me Baby" has won the Triple crown on four of the five music shows in Korea, wrapping up with a win on MBC's Show: Music Core on Saturday. The only reason they haven't won three times on MNet's M Countdown was because it didn't air this past Thursday in its usual format, opting instead for highlights from the first-ever KCON in Japan.
Having already won the Triple Crown on SBS' Inkigayo it was someone else's turn to notch a victory on today's airing. The winner this week was EXID with their latest track "Ah Yeah" and there is a story behind this group's recent success.
Around since 2012 with little notoriety and a lineup change prior to last year, the five woman ensemble released the catchy "Up and Down" in late August to initially tepid results. The song suddenly rose in popularity in late November after a fan cam video of a live performance of this song focusing on just one member went viral in Korea. After reaching the top 10 on all the real time charts and topping the Gaon Chart the girls' label put the group back into the promotion cycle, capturing five music show wins in early January.
Big Bang's first Seoul concerts were held this weekend. YG had earlier announced the two lead tracks from the group's next album that are set to be released on 1 May, "Loser" and "Bae Bae". The plan is for more songs to be released on the first days of June, July, August and September with the full album dropping afterward.
Kevin |
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K-pop
Apr 26, 2015 10:20:50 GMT
Post by IceCat on Apr 26, 2015 10:20:50 GMT
 
This brief look into the interior of my Prius, or more specifically my SiriusXM radio, was made possible by the shout out to K-pop on the Hits 1 channel's YouTube15 show this past weekend, on which host Jenna Marbles reviews the 15 biggest songs trending on the video service.
Kevin |
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K-pop
May 4, 2015 9:19:32 GMT
Post by IceCat on May 4, 2015 9:19:32 GMT
EXID won for the second week in a row on SBS' Inkigayo with their current track "Ah Yeah"; it was their fourth music show win for this song. The girls were not there to collect their prize as they were one of the artists performing at the 13th annual Korea Times Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in LA.
Their arrival at LAX was covered by many entertainment outlets, including unfortunately TMZ. I say unfortunately because having studied actual journalism I have a pretty low opinion of TMZ to begin with, but this certainly cemented my dislike:
Needless to say the apparent racist attitude of the TMZ staff caught the ire of other K-pop artists as well. Amber of f(x) tweeted the following:
"I was gunna stay quiet but i cant. Seriously, @tmz not cool man. All Americans face palm at your rude and childish actions."
2PM's Taecyeon as well as solo artist Roy Kim also chimed in with their own comments. For their part EXID's label revealed that while the member featured in TMZ's video was quite upset they would not be pressing charges as it would distract them from the group's current promotion cycle.
Inkigayo this past weekend did feature the first comeback performance for Big Bang's two new singles "Bae Bae" and "Loser"
The first video is close to 8 million views as of this writing while the second is already over 10 million since their release on Friday. "Loser" has achieved an all-kill, which means that it topped all of the real time sales and streaming charts in Korea, with "Bae Bae" at #2 on many of them. They also announced further dates on their 2015-16 Made World Tour, all of which are in Asia with the exception of a single show in Sydney, Australia in September. The dates announced so far only go as far as January so there could be more to come, including hopefully North America.
Kevin
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K-pop
May 26, 2015 18:26:06 GMT
Post by IceCat on May 26, 2015 18:26:06 GMT
 It was only a matter of time before North American dates were confirmed for this tour and now that they are everyone can start planning. Tickets go on sale through Live Nation on 12 June at 10amEDT/7amPDT.
'Wow; Fantastic Baby!"
Kevin |
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K-pop
Jun 1, 2015 18:49:22 GMT
Post by IceCat on Jun 1, 2015 18:49:22 GMT
I promise that this thread won't become all Big Bang all the time, but since today is the 1st of the month two more tracks from their "Made" album were released today. There is a video for just one of them so far, the party anthem "Bang Bang Bang".
The KCON staff are slowly revealing which artists are due to appear this year but they promise that all will be known prior to tickets going on sale and they recently announced the pricing and sale dates for both events.
For the main event in LA they have so far announced that Super Junior, AOA, Block B and Shinhwa will be performing at Staples Center. The convention will be next door in the West Hall of the LA Convention Center, meaning that separate tickets will be required for both components. In addition to the five tiers of concert pricing, which are the same as last year, they've also included a Platinum level with even more benefits - at a steep $800 for the entire weekend. Platinum and Combo tickets go on sale 18 June with individual tickets starting on the 21st; details can be found here.
For the East Coast KCON in Newark Girls' Generation and VIXX have been confirmed so far. The seating chart reveals that they're using only half of the Prudential Center in Newark for the show itself, probably meaning that the convention will be in the other half because having been there once for a Devils game I don't see how they could hold one outside, especially given how fickle summer weather in the Northeast can be. With just the one venue and one day, one ticket will be good for the entire event and they go on sale 25 June; details can be found here.
Speaking of Girls' Generation, one of the members previously mentioned as being in a relationship has broken up with their rumored partner. As many of you know, K-pop stars dating in real life is not encouraged by their labels and/or their fan base and thus when it does happen it's often in secret, making the public revelation of any relationship noteworthy: the rather over exaggerated term used by the fans is "scandal". It is unusual for an artist to date a fellow artist, much less one signed to a competing label, but that's just what happened when Tiffany had hooked up with Nichkhun of the group 2PM: her group is signed with SM Entertainment while his was formed by JYP Entertainment. Both labels recently confirmed that Tiffany and Nichkhun are no longer an item so their respective fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief...for now.Kevin
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K-pop
Jun 3, 2015 5:40:18 GMT
Post by IceCat on Jun 3, 2015 5:40:18 GMT
EXO are making another comeback with the lead track off their 2nd album "Exodus" entitled "Love Me Right". Exodus seems to be the theme with this group lately; in this video you'll notice that they're now down to nine members.
This time it is another member of the EXO-M half of the lineup, Tao, that has been agitating for an exit from SM Entertainment, or at least from EXO. It seems that he's had a recent history of injuries and his father back in Qingdao has been urging him to slow down and get properly healed. How cooperative SM is in that regard remains to be seen but he is absent from the group's current promotions, which will begin with an appearance on M Countdown this Thursday.
Kevin
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K-pop
Jun 3, 2015 6:52:48 GMT
Post by IceCat on Jun 3, 2015 6:52:48 GMT
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K-pop
Jun 12, 2015 14:38:43 GMT
Post by IceCat on Jun 12, 2015 14:38:43 GMT
Tickets for Big Bang's North American shows went on sale this morning and since I'm not made of money I opted for the balcony at $65 plus fees, but I'm going Sunday 11 October! The top price single ticket for Newark was $239 for general admission floor seats and $199 for lower bowl; it's an end stage setup. I'll be in Section 210, Row 3, Seat 8. Kevin
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K-pop
Jul 22, 2015 7:41:39 GMT
Post by IceCat on Jul 22, 2015 7:41:39 GMT
Now for some news you never thought you'd be hearing; Wonder Girls will be making a comeback!
It will of course not be the same lineup that last graced the charts in 2012. Sunye married in January 2013 and gave birth to a daughter in October, while Sohee left the group in December 2013 to pursue an acting career. The group was placed on hiatus and its three remaining members pursued other projects in the interim. Yenny was the only one to chart as a solo artist (billed under the name HA:TFELT) when "Ain't Nobody" was released last summer.
Their label JYP Entertainment made the formal announcement recently that Wonder Girls will return as a four woman band. I mean that last part literally, for not only will they be a true band playing their own instruments rather than a dance group but original member Sunmi, who left the group in 2010 to focus on her studies and in 2013 debuted as a solo artist, has reunited with Yenny, Yubin and Hyelim. Two teaser videos have been released so far depicting the members playing their respective instruments, with their comeback officially slated for next month.
Kevin
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K-pop
Jul 22, 2015 8:09:28 GMT
Post by IceCat on Jul 22, 2015 8:09:28 GMT
Although other girl groups have released comebacks recently Girls' Generation is set to own the summer with the catchy "Party" It topped most of the real time charts in Korea and last week won first place in all six TV music shows.
Kevin
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K-pop
Aug 3, 2015 8:54:31 GMT
Post by IceCat on Aug 3, 2015 8:54:31 GMT
THE WONDER GIRLS ARE BACK!!!!
The album "Reboot" was released on Sunday and its title track "I Feel You", which happens to be the only one the group didn't write themselves, achieved an "all-kill", the term used when a song reaches #1 on all of the domestic real time charts. Look for them to begin taking the TV music shows this week as well.
Kevin |
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K-pop
Aug 4, 2015 7:30:51 GMT
Post by IceCat on Aug 4, 2015 7:30:51 GMT
From just over a year ago comes this revealing look by Arirang TV into how K-pop stars are found, trained and maintained and the influence the industry has. Narrated by Brad Moore, the Canadian-born drummer of the group Busker Busker, it initially focuses on Thai native and then-CUBE Entertainment trainee Chonnasorn Sajakul, better known simply as Sorn, who since this show originally aired has made her debut as a member of the girl group CLC (Crystal Clear). Since YouTube broke it into seven segments and put them in playlist mode I'll just post the playlist link since it can't be embedded in the post like an individual video can be, and I'm not going to waste bandwidth embedding all seven videos.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbf-dHbvCRqbwi5WNikGUAN2fsjXnxpd7
Kevin
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K-pop
Aug 10, 2015 8:38:18 GMT
Post by IceCat on Aug 10, 2015 8:38:18 GMT
Departures are the theme for this update, and as usual they involve SM Entertainment:
Jessica Jung, formerly of Girls' Generation
The other shoe has finally dropped in the saga of deposed Girls' Generation member Jessica. While her former mates were preparing to perform at last Saturday's East-coast version of KCON in Newark, Jessica and SM Entertainment have formally parted company by terminating her contract, which she had renewed only last year along with the other members just before her outside activities, specifically the launch of her fashion line, caused the split in the group.
Sulli, formerly of f(x)
Any further collaborations between Jessica and her younger sister Krystal, a member of the group f(x), are therefore unlikely: they had a reality series together last year. It now seems that Krystal, Luna, Victoria and Amber have bigger things to worry about for the time being as they prepare to make a comeback in the coming weeks - as a quartet. Their fifth member, Sulli, had been on hiatus for a while and now has officially withdrawn from the group to focus on her acting career.
Siwon of Super Junior
A departure of a different kind as yet another member of Super Junior is due to begin fulfilling his mandatory military service in the coming months. Siwon is currently filming an upcoming drama for MBC, She Was Pretty, which is due to begin airing in September, but once that wraps he plans to enlist in the army's military police service.
Tao, formerly of EXO
Mediation is still ongoing regarding Tao's exit from EXO and SM Entertainment (along with fellow former members Kris and Luhan), but he's already made waves in the Chinese market by releasing a solo album late last month. When the video for the lead single went up online SM went to YouTube and other online video outlets to have it pulled down for copyright; they contend that as he's still technically under contract with them anything he creates is their property and thus if it is released by anyone else it is an infringement. The move came a little too late, though, as it was copied and reposted multiple times by his fans. His social media accounts no longer contain any references to EXO.
Kevin |
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K-pop
Aug 10, 2015 9:00:46 GMT
Post by IceCat on Aug 10, 2015 9:00:46 GMT
Big Bang's final two tracks for their "Made" album were released last Wednesday, which was definitely not the 1st of the month. Their hectic concert schedule across Asia had something to do with that. Despite making the top of most of the real time charts on the day they were released critics widely consider "Lets Not Fall In Love" and the G-Dragon and T.O.P. track "Zutter" the weakest of the "Made" songs. The full album comes out on or around the 1st of September.
Kevin |
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