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K-Pop Stars HyunA & Dawn Announce Breakup After Six Years Together
One of K-pop’s most famous love stories ended after HyunA and Dawn shared that they had broken up after six years of dating but remain friendly.
On Nov. 30, HyunA shared a post on Instagram announcing the breakup. The starlet shared that the couple broke up but decided to remain good friends and colleagues moving forward. HyunA thanked fans for their support.
Dawn followed up with his own statement on Instagram to denounce a comment meant to look like it was written by the singer-rapper and former boy band member insinuating his ex was meeting other men and hiding other secrets about her past. The 28-year-old shared that he would be taking legal action against the original person who spread the rumor and those sharing the information. Dawn also doubled down on his affection for HyunA, saying she remains precious to him and an artist he loves despite the breakup.
After beginning to secretly date when HyunA and Dawn were first recording as part of the K-pop trio Triple H (alongside Dawn’s former bandmate Hui) in 2016, the couple’s rumored relationship broke through local Korean media in August 2018. Both artists’ label management at the time, Cube Entertainment, denied the news. Still, HyunA and Dawn met with the Korean news agency Yonhap, without their label’s consent, to confirm their relationship of more than two years. In response, Cube canceled the surrounding promotion around a new Triple H album and terminated the artists’ contracts by September. The string of events garnered international news coverage, with many fans divided about the artists’ and label’s decisions in handling the news, alongside a sea of social-media support behind the K-pop stars standing up for their relationship.
By 2019, HyunA and Dawn both signed as new artists to PSY‘s recently launched P NATION label. PSY told Billboard that year how HyunA was vital in getting Dawn a deal with the label. The “Gangnam Style” singer also laughed when describing the “strange” couple, sharing how “they dance together, they write songs together, and they compete with each other… it’s very creative.”
Under P NATION, HyunA returned to the top of the charts with multiple EPs, along with the hit single “I’m Not Cool,” while Dawn released his first solo songs including “Money” and “Dawndididawn.” Under their new label, the two broke new ground in the K-pop industry in 2021 by releasing a joint EP under the name “HyunA&Dawn” with the single “Ping Pong”; its music video boasts more than 110 million views to date. The couple was said to be engaged when they showed off matching rings on an Instagram post in February this year, where Dawn commented, “MARRY ME.” HyunA wrote, “Of course, it’s a yes,” in a post now deleted from her account.
Dating is typically considered taboo in the K-pop industry, with some artists contractually required to refrain from dating. While relationships going public have rocked some K-pop careers, the attitude around these couples appears to be slowly changing from the fan, artist and management level. Industry leaders like HYBE and YG Entertainment have recently refused to comment on relationship rumors between their artists, citing the singer’s private lives. At the same time, HyunA and Dawn booked magazine covers and photo shoots together being openly affectionate with one another. Not to mention, the millions of social-media followers supporting the many updates and photos of HyunA and Dawn — including thousands of comments sending their good wishes on the couple’s breakup posts — point to a future where dating may not be so off-limits or controversial in K-pop.
BLACKPINK’s Los Angeles Stadium Concerts: Get Inside With These Photos
BLACKPINK in your area! After launching their hotly anticipated Born Pink World Tour in Seoul, the girl group headed to North America for a run of 14 concerts that ended Nov. 19 and 20 with back-to-back shows in Los Angeles.
Taking over Banc of California Stadium, Jisoo, Rosé, Lisa and Jennie shut it down time and time again over the course of their two-hour set, electrifying the stadium full of ecstatic Blinks with hits like “Kill This Love,” “How You Like That,” “Whistle” and “Pink Venom.”
Whether they were running through fan favorites like “Savage Love” and “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” or live-debuting Born Pink album cuts like “Typa Girl” and “Tally,” the idols demonstrated that their live show has only gotten better and more refined since the release of their debut LP The Album in 2020 and their 2021 online concert BLACKPINK: The Show.
Each of the members also shone during their own solo sets, with Jisoo bringing out Camila Cabello to duet on the latter’s 2019 single “Liar,” Jennie teasing a yet-to-be-released track with a shadowy dance number, Rosé delivering a one-two punch with “On the Ground” and Born Pink solo cut “Hard to Love,” and Lisa combining her pole-dancing prowess and undeniable star power on “Lalisa” and “Money.”
Below, Billboard was on the ground for BLACKPINK’s two L.A. shows. Click through for some of the best photos from the concerts.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Trailer Teases the End of an Era for Marvel, Soundtracked by Spacehog
The first trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the end of an era for Marvel.
The film is the final adventure of this iteration of the cosmic team, and it is also a final Marvel bow for James Gunn, who has departed the MCU to take a job as a top executive at DC Studios, where he co-runs its film, TV and animation efforts.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, and introduces the character Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter.
The first Guardians of the Galaxy was a game-changer for Marvel, which had already made $1 billion brands out of so-called “B-level” characters such as Iron Man. But 2014’s Guardians took that formula to new heights, turning obscure characters into a global brand. The film, which earned $773.3 million internationally, ushered in an era in which quirky filmmakers such as Gunn put their own stamps on Marvel properties. A sequel followed in 2017, with the third eyed for 2020 before Gunn was fired from the property over old, offensive tweets before eventually being reinstated.
The Guardians, and the voice Gunn established, have been important to Marvel in between Vols. 2 and 3. The characters appeared in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, released last month on Disney+.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuts May 5, 2023. The new trailer is soundtracked by the 1996 top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit “In the Meantime,” by (appropriate to the intergalactic films) Spacehog.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
K-Pop Girl Group KARA Release New Album Celebrating 15th Anniversary & The Late Goo Hara
One of the biggest girl groups in K-pop history has returned to celebrate their milestone 15th anniversary while also including a touching tribute to their late member.
KARA made their comeback with a new, four-song EP titled Move Again with members Gyuri, Seungyeon, Nicole, Jiyoung and Youngji taking part. The release is centered on the new single “When I Move,” which sees the girl group step right back into their signature mix of modern and vintage dance sounds heard in some of their biggest singles like “Honey,” “Step” and “Pandora.”
While KARA went through some lineup changes during their time, the outfit’s return to music after seven-a-half-years marks the first release where newest member Youngji (who joined the group in 2014) is performing alongside Nicole and Jiyoung (who both exited the group that same year). Notably, it is also the first KARA release not to include Goo Hara, who was found dead in her Seoul home in 2019 at age 28.
But the memory of Hara lives on in KARA with the accompanying music video for “When I Move.” Tributes to the late singer appear throughout the visual, like the sixth table setting during a scene where the members celebrate the 15th anniversary with cake and champagne. At the end of the video credits, six microphone stands are shown onstage, symbolizing Hara as an eternal group member.
KARA returned to the stage this week at the 2022 MAMA Awards held in Japan, a suitable place for their comeback performance as the group was a pioneer in helping K-pop cross over into the lucrative Japanese market during the ’10s.
Gyuri, Seungyeon, Nicole, Jiyoung and Youngji performed a medley of classic KARA hits including “Lupin,” “Step” and “Mister” (that had K-pop stars in attendance like TREASURE, Kep1er and NMIXX singing and dancing along) before giving the live debut of “When I Move.” Montage videos detailing the group’s history from debut to today with personal photos, classic TV clips, and reflections from the group on their worries and excitement about returning to the stage introduced both performances.
While next week will determine where KARA return on the Billboard charts, the group’s chart legacy includes three hits on World Digital Song Sales (peaking with 2015’s “Cupid” that reached No. 12) and multiple entries on the K-Pop Hot 100 and Japan Hot 100 (including two No. 1s on the latter with 2012’s “Electric Boy” and 2013’s “Thank You Summer Love”).
Here’s How David Harbour Found Out Madonna Thought He Was Sexy
David Harbour got to live his dream when he found out one of his celebrity crushes found him sexy.
The Stranger Things star stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday (Nov. 30), where he shared the story behind getting invited to a table read for the Madonna-directed 2011 film, W.E.. “It was a crazy thing. It was a real cloak and dagger type of experience,” the actor explained. “I got a call from a casting director that I knew very well saying they’re putting together a top secret movie read through, but you just have to show up at the St. Regis and go in this room and all will be revealed. And I was like, ‘This is really weird and creepy.’”
Harbour then recalls asking why they wanted him to be in the film, and found out that the director had seen him in Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, where he had a sex scene. “They thought you were sexy,” he says he was told.
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“And so all weekend, I was literally thinking about Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese,” Harbour joked. “I show up at the St. Regis and I get in the room and there’s a bunch of other New York actors there and in walks Madonna, who’s directing this movie. The first thing that flooded over me, I was like, ‘Wow, Madonna thinks I’m sexy.’”
Harbour then gushed over Madonna, noting that he had been in love with her since seeing her in the 1986 music video for “Open Your Heart.” “I was eleven years old when I saw that video and so there I am, in this boardroom of the St. Regis, and it all comes flooding back,” he said. “And I’m there with a bowler cap like, ‘I’m going to run off with you into the distance.’”
While he didn’t think the film was “terrific,” it was all worth it because Harbour ended up getting invited to Madonna’s birthday party. “She came in and she was in like this gorgeous, emerald dress and then the party started and she put on sweatpants and they just cranked Madonna music,” he said. “I danced with Madonna to Madonna music. On my headstone, that is it!”
Watch the full interview below.
SZA Channels Y2K Nostalgia with Her Second Crocs Collaboration
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Nostalgia takes center stage in SZA’s second collaboration with Crocs. Reminiscent of the early 2000s, the collection features distressed denim patterns and Y2K inspired Jibbitz charms including a flip phone, floppy disk, cowrie shells and more.
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The SZA x Crocs Classic Cozzzy Sandal ($80) and the Classic Crush Clog ($75) reimagines the brand’s classic silhouette with 90s-inspired denim print accessorized with retro Jibbitz charms. The Classic Cozzzy Sandal is lined with warm, fuzzy material to keep your feet warm in cold weather, while the Classic Crush Clog further channels the Y2K vibe with an all-white midsole.
Starting Thursday (Dec. 1), fans can text 812-SZA-CROC to enter for a chance to win a pair of Crocs from the new drop. Winners will be notified by Dec. 5 and non-winners will be directed to crocs.com to enter the online drawing on Dec. 6.
From Dec. 6 at 12 p.m. ET through Dec. 8 at 12 p.m. ET fans can visit crocs.com to enter for a chance to purchase the SZA X Crocs Classic Crush Clog and Classic Cozzzy Sandal. Quantities are limited to one per person. Fans will receive notification if they’ve been selected for purchase.
SZA debuted her first Crocs collaboration in May. Although SZA’s debut collection sold out, Crocs is currently offering a Cyber Week sale of up to 50% off select styles at crocs.com and Amazon.
The New Jersey native admitted to wearing Crocs “at all times and anywhere,” in an interview with People magazine. “Crocs is super-versatile. I can be comfortable and be cute at the same time.”
SZA will be blessing fans with more than a new Crocs collection. The Grammy winner’s long-awaited sophomore album, S.O.S, is slated to drop this month. The “Shirt” singer unveiled the cover art earlier this week ahead of her Saturday Night Live performance on Saturday (Dec. 3).
Nick Cannon Is Feeling the Holiday Stress as He Shops for His 11 Children in Hilarious New Video
Nick Cannon is Hollywood’s most famous baby daddy, which is all fun and games until it comes to shopping for Christmas presents. The star shared a hilarious video to his YouTube channel this week, in which he details the stress of buying gifts for his 11 children.
“It’s almost the holidays and, thanks to me, the world now has 8 billion people,” Cannon joked while wearing a Santa hat and Christmas pajamas, amid a cozy holiday background. “But my job’s not done. It’s time to do some online Christmas shopping and based off the baby mama to kid ratio, we got a whole hell of a lot of gifts to buy.”
Chaos then ensues, as Cannon struggles to check off the items on his kids’ wishlists, from a dolphin and a Playstation 5 to the Los Angeles Lakers. “No, I can’t afford the whole Lakers,” Cannon says on the phone to presumably one of his children. “Maybe one of them. I could probably purchase one Laker.”
“All these damn gifts, y’all just don’t want to go to college, huh?” Cannon says in a panic as all his credit cards decline. “You said it’s unlimited! There’s a limit to this s—,” he shouts on the phone with the credit card company.
The two-minute clip wraps up with Cannon wishing fans a happy holidays “from my big a– family to yours,” as well as a sponsored clip from “Baby Daddy Financial.”
The Masked Singer host first became a father to twins with Mariah Carey in 2011 and most recently made an announcement in November 2022 that model Alyssa Scott was pregnant with his 12th baby. In the time between those two events, he also welcomed children with four other ladies: Brittany Bell, Abby De La Rosa, Bre Tiesi and LaNisha Cole.
Watch Cannon’s holiday shopping video below.
Billions With A ‘B’: Jay-Z’s Fight With Bacardi Is Bigger Than Just A Bottle of Cognac, Docs Show
Before Jay-Z became embroiled in a nasty dispute with Bacardi over their D’Usse Cognac brand, he offered to buy out Bacardi’s half of the business for $1.5 billion, according to newly unsealed legal documents that reveal the sweeping size of the ongoing legal battle.
In the new filing, attorneys for Jay-Z’s SCLiquor LLC disclosed that the star made the offer last year after Bacardi offered him just $460 million for his half of D’Usse. Bacardi quickly rejected the offer, the filing said, even though the star had proposed to pay more than three times what the liquor giant itself believed a 50% stake in the business was worth.
The new document also reveals that Jay-Z believes his share in the business is worth $2.5 billion, the first public hint at how much the star is seeking from Bacardi amid the acrimonious split.
Taken together, the disclosures offer an early glimpse into how much could be at stake in the now-sprawling legal battle over Jay-Z’s efforts to exit D’Usse, which spans at least four lawsuits in two states as well as a private arbitration case.
A rep for Jay-Z declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Bacardi did not immediately return a request for comment on the disclosures.
The legal battle over D’Usse centers on Jay-Z’s exercise of a so-called “put option” — a legal mechanism in the joint venture’s operating agreement that, when triggered, requires Bacardi to buy out Jay-Z’s half of the business. Once invoked, the two sides are supposed to negotiate in “good faith,” exchange information and agree on a fair price for Bacardi to pay.
In this week’s unsealed documents, Jay-Z’s lawyers said he triggered the clause in September 2021, but that when the two sides exchanged figures in December 2021, they came in with vastly different valuations. The rapper suggested his half of the business was worth $2.5 billion; Bacardi said the number was just $460 million.
That was when Jay-Z apparently made his counter-offer: Rather than continue to invoke his put option requiring Bacardi to buy him out, he would offer to go vice-versa. “SC formally offered to buy Bacardi’s 50% interest in D’Usse for $1.5 billion, three times Bacardi’s declared valuation of its share (but less than SC believed it was worth),” his lawyers wrote in the new documents.
When Bacardi turned down that offer, the legal battle began.
As a first step, independent experts at JPMorgan were hired to appraise Jay-Z’s stake in D’Usse, but the process quickly became bogged down in disputes over what processes and data the bank should use to do so. Those disputes were submitted to a private arbitration panel, which then led to multiple New York court lawsuits challenging the arbitration panel’s rulings. Two separate lawsuits have also been filed in Delaware court, accusing Bacardi of “stonewalling” and demanding more access to information from D’Usse.
Those cases are all ongoing, including with a testy hearing in New York court on Thursday (Dec. 1) and a potential arbitration hearing on Friday (Dec. 2).
Notably, the newly unsealed document appears to have been made public accidentally.
Like much of a legal battle that’s been shrouded in unusual secrecy, the filings were originally submitted on Nov. 22 under seal. But on Tuesday (Nov. 29) evening, they were suddenly made public on the court’s digital docket. Letters to the judge indicate that the move was unexpected and that the filing should not have been published until it was further redacted. The document, first reported by Bloomberg Law and independently obtained by Billboard, was then fully re-sealed by Thursday afternoon.
Along with Jay-Z’s massive offer, the filing also revealed other key financial information about the dispute.
For instance, Jay-Z’s lawyers say they wanted JPMorgan’s appraisal to be based on an internal Bacardi document that forecast D’Usse to sell more than 2 million cases of cognac and earn $142.8 million annually by 2026. Bacardi apparently objected, saying those figures were “aspirational” and not a good indicator of the brand’s actual value.
Whether or not JPMorgan can cite the Bacardi forecast is now one of the major points of contention in the litigation.
Read the entire unsealed document here:
Lindsey Buckingham Mourns Christine McVie, His ‘Musical Comrade, Friend, Soul Mate & Sister’
Following news that Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie died on Wednesday (Nov. 30) at age 79, her former bandmate and longtime creative collaborator Lindsey Buckingham took to Instagram to share a touching, handwritten note mourning his friend.
“Christine McVie’s sudden passing is profoundly heartbreaking,” he wrote. “Not only were she and I part of the magical family of Fleetwood Mac, to me Christine was a musical comrade, a friend, a soul mate and a sister. For over four decades, we helped each other create a beautiful body of work and a lasting legacy that continues to resonate today. I feel very lucky to have known her. Though she will be deeply missed, her spirit will live on through that body of work and that legacy.”
McVie’s family shared the news of her death via a statement posted to Facebook, which noted that she passed away at a hospital “following a short illness.”
Fleetwood Mac also shared a band statement, in which they wrote, “She was truly one-of-a-kind, special and talented beyond measure. She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life. We were so lucky to have a life with her.”
As a duo, Buckingham and McVie worked closely, and in 2017, the two released a studio album together titled Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie, which was filled with songs originally intended for a Fleetwood Mac project. The album peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated July 1, 2017.
