K-Pop
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Here’s some dynamite news for ARMY: BTS‘ RM has announced that his second solo album is on the way!
Right Place, Wrong Person is set to arrive on May 24, and will feature 11 tracks “infused with alternative music and rich sounds,” according to the press release. The K-pop superstar also helped write the “frank, honest lyrics” for each song.
According to the announcement on Weverse, Right Place, Wrong Person captures feelings that most people are familiar with, including “the feeling of being an outsider who doesn’t fit in.”
“Right Place, Wrong Person embodies facets of RM as a solo artist, distinct from albums released under BTS,” label Big Hit said in a statement, noting that the LP “delves into RM’s authentic essence.”
RM’s first solo set, Indigo, arrived in December 2022, and peaked at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200. The album featured multiple artists, including Anderson .Paak, Erykah Badu and others. Lead single “Wild Flower,” which featured youjeen, debuted and peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Big Hit also teased that ahead of the release of the BTS rapper’s second solo LP, RM “will unveil a diverse array of content, offering a further glimpse into the new album.”
The members of BTS have been completing their mandatory military services in South Korea. RM began his enlistment in December, as did V, Jimin and Jung Kook. Jin was the first member of the septet to perform his required service, with J-Hope and SUGA following. South Korea requires all of its able-bodied men to enlist by age 28 for 18 to 21 months of service.
See Big Hit’s announcement of RM’s upcoming solo album below:
While HYBE has successfully expanded into an entertainment powerhouse built around its multi-label structure, the Korean corporation says it has investigated one of its crown jewel agencies, ADOR, the home of chart-topping girl group NewJeans.
Since its launch in late 2021, ADOR (an acronym for the phrase All Doors One Room) has been led by Min Hee-jin, a veteran creative in the K-pop industry who famously helped develop the scene’s penchant for artistic concepts and craft era-defining K-pop acts like Girls’ Generation, SHINee, f(x), EXO and Red Velvet during her tenure at SM Entertainment. After Min’s exit from SM, she joined then–Big Hit Entertainment in 2019 as chief brand officer and helmed the company’s rebrand into HYBE. During the 2021 rebrand reveal, HYBE announced Min as CEO of a new label, ADOR, with plans to debut the girl group that would become NewJeans.
Earlier this month, a report by Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service revealed that Min controlled an 18% stake in ADOR since late last year. HYBE previously had complete control of the label but now boasts 80%, with an additional two percent owned by other company executives. HYBE reportedly invested 16.1 billion won (about $11.7 million) to establish ADOR.
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Less than two years into NewJeans’ history-making debut, HYBE is asking Min to step down from ADOR after an audit of her, the label and its executives.
HYBE confirmed to Billboard that on April 22, the company “invoked the right to audit CEO Min Hee-Jin and top executives of its subsidiary label ADOR.” HYBE said it “called them to summon a shareholder meeting and sent an official letter to ask CEO Min to step down.” HYBE added that it could not provide further information on reason or reasons for the audit or why it is asking Min to step down.
Since news of the audit went public, ADOR and Min Hee-jin have gone on the offensive in the Korean media.
In a series of statements, ADOR claims HYBE’s newest act, the five-member girl group ILLIT under another subsidiary, BELIFT LAB, is copying NewJeans. With HYBE founder and current chairman Bang Si-hyuk involved in ILLIT’s debut album Super Real Me (No. 6 on the World Albums chart after three weeks), ADOR claims both BELIFT LAB and HYBE are complicit in the alleged infringement. ADOR says they raised the copycat issue internally a month ago but did not receive answers, claiming now that HYBE’s attempt to remove her as CEO is a result of bringing up the alleged problem. Min gave an additional interview to Korean outlet Sports Ilgan to fire back at rumors she was trying to break ADOR away from HYBE or seek outside investors to go independent with her 18% stake.
Min Hee-jin has not responded to Billboard‘s request for comment.
Min and ADOR quickly spun NewJeans into a slew of record-setting achievements including a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with 2023’s Get Up just a year after the debut, five Hot 100 hits to their name, a well-received live debut in the U.S. at Lollapalooza last year, plus honors like Top Global K-Pop Artist at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards and the first K-pop act honored as Group of the Year for Billboard‘s Women in Music. In 2023, Min earned a spot on Billboard‘s International Power Players and Women in Music executive lists and also collaborated with V of BTS on the overall production of his debut solo album, Layover, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in September.
The K-pop power clash comes as NewJeans prepares for several releases including new singles “Bubble Gum” and “How Sweet,” with the former’s music video scheduled to drop April 26 on the HYBE LABELS YouTube channel. NewJeans is also preparing their first-ever Japanese singles “Supernatural” and “Right Now,” as well as a new album planned for the second half of 2024.
Elsewhere in the HYBE universe, ILLIT’s “Magnetic” is currently at No. 91 on the Hot 100, making it the first debut single from a K-pop act to enter the ranking. New music from HYBE artists like Zico (under HYBE LABELS’ KOZ Entertainment) and SEVENTEEN (PLEDIS Entertainment) are also coming this month. Historically, internal company issues can affect K-pop music or content releases, but no updates have been shared as of press time.
It’s take two for BTS and UNICEF. The K-pop superstars and United Nations Children Fund announced the #OnMyMind initiative on Monday (April 22), the second chapter of their Love Myself campaign. The new initiative aims to improve and support the mental health youth around the world. To help kick off #OnMyMind, BTS, label Big Hit […]
K-pop girl group aespa posted a teaser trailer for their upcoming debut full-length studio album on Sunday night (April 21). The four-woman act revealed that Armageddon will be released on May 27 in a 30-second clip that opens with ominous keyboard sounds and an overhead shot of a watery, crop circle-like formation featuring a cryptic formation.
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At press time no additional information was available on the collection, which will reportedly be fronted by the first single “Supernova” on May 13.
Before that, KARINA, WINTER, GISELLE and NINGNING will take a trip to the big screen for a limited run of their live film aespa: WORLD TOUR, which will take fans inside the group’s U.K. live debut at London’s O2 Arena during their 2023 Synk: Hyper Line world tour. The 125-minute film directed by Yoon Dong Oh (NCT Nation: To the World) and Hamin Kim that will hit theaters worldwide on April 24 and 27 includes behind-the-scenes interviews alongside performance footage. Tickets are on sale now and fans can find screening details and participating countries at aespaworldtourincinemas.com.
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The group’s label, SM Entertainment, recently revealed that member WINTER, 23, underwent preventive surgery to treat a collapsed lung. In a statement, SM said that the procedure was intended to treat a pneumorthorax, a condition in which air accumulates in the chest, applying pressure on the lungs and possibly leading to collapse. “Winter is recovering from recent pneumothorax surgery. As the disease is prone to recurrence, the decision was made as a preemptive measure based on the opinions of the medical staff after sufficient discussion,” read a statement from the label.
The statement noted that WINTER’s recovery is a priority and that “future schedules will be made with Winter’s recovery status as the top priority.”
To date, aespa have released four mini albums, including their 2021 debut, Savage, as well as Girls (2022), My World (2023) and Drama (2023). They were most recently heard on the Rebel Moon – Songs of the Rebellion EP, which also features original songs by Jessie Reyez, Tainy, Tokischa, TOKiMONSTA, Black Coffee and Kordhell inspired by Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon movie series. aespa will kick off a run of SYNK: Parallel Lines tour dates on June 29-30 with two nights in their native Seoul, South Korea.
Check out aespa’s Armageddon album announcement below.
Billboard and Billboard Korea have joined forces with CJ ENM to expand the global influence of the K-pop industry. The entertainment company behind KCON and MAMA AWARDS has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Billboard and Billboard Korea, ahead of the first Billboard Korea print issue mid-year. Harry H.K. Shin, Head of Music Entertainment […]
ENHYPEN are getting ready to take ENGENE’s out to the ballgame. The seven-man K-pop boy band announced on Friday morning (April 19) that their fans can catch members Heeseung, Jay and Ni-Ki at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on April 29, where the trio will throw out the first pitch at that day’s game between the […]
K-pop group SEVENTEEN finally released the full tracklist for their anticipated greatest hits album on Thursday (April 18), revealing that the 33-track 17 Is Right Here will not only include some of their most beloved singles, but also four new songs.
One of those fresh tracks, “MAESTRO,” will be the collection’s first single, followed by the hip-hop team’s “LALALI,” the performance team’s “Spell” and the vocal team’s “Cheers to youth.” The album from the 13-man South Korean boy band is due out on April 29.
In addition to helping to compose all 20 previously released singles on the album, member Woozi also led the composition and writing of “MAESTRO,” “Spell” and “Cheers to youth,” and contributed to writing lyrics for “LALALI” with the four members of the hip-hop team: S. Coups, Wonwoo, Mingyu and Vernon.
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The first of the two-CD set features the new songs and Korean versions of the eight lead singles from past Japanese releases, while the second disc features the 20 lead singles from past Korean releases.
The collection was first teased after the band played two stadium shows at South Korea’s Asiad Main Stadium in Incheon on their Follow Again Tour on March 30-31. Soon after, a colorful animated teaser video created by artist Max Dalton (The Grand Budapest Hotel) recreated and animated images from the band’s previous releases. A second, 16-second video featured of images of the group in dark clothes and futuristic settings separated into their hip-hop, performance and vocal units. Three different version of the collection will be available, entitled “Here,” “Hear” and “Dear.”
The group — which also features Jeonghan, Jun, DK, Joshua, Hoshi, Dino, The8 and Seungkwan — also recently launched an interactive website with a variety of photos, lyrics and other keepsakes for their CARAT fan group.
Check out the full track list below:
CD1
“MAESTRO”
“LALALI”
“Spell”
“Cheers to youth”
“CALL CALL CALL!” (Korean version)
“Happy Ending” (Korean version)
“Fallin’ Flower” (Korean version)
“24H (Korean version)
“Not Alone” (Korean version)
“Power of Love” (Korean version)
“DREAM” (Korean version)
“Ima – Even if the world ends tomorrow” (Korean version)
CD2
“Adore U”
“Mansae”
“Pretty U”
“VERY NICE”
“BOOMBOOM”
“Don’t Wanna Cry”
“CLAP”
“THANKS”
“Oh My!”
“Home”
“Fear”
“Left & Right”
“HOME;RUN”
“Ready to love”
“Rock with you”
“HOT”
“_WORLD”
“F*ck My Life”
“Super”
“God of Music”
“Adore U” (instrumental)
A BTS pop-up shop is headed to a number of cities in Asia and to Los Angeles beginning later this month. The K-pop supergroup’s label Big Hit Music announced on Wednesday (April 17) that “Monochrome” will debut in the on-hiatus group’s hometown of Seoul, South Korea beginning on April 26 through May 12. The event […]
Chowon, a member of the K-pop girl group ICHILLIN’, was reportedly hospitalized after being hit by a foul ball at a professional baseball game that she and her band mates were participating in on Tuesday (April 16), according to local reports in Korea.
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At a matchup between the Kiwoom Heroes and KT Wiz and Kiwoom held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, ICHILLIN’ opened the game with member Yeju throwing the first pitch and ICHILLIN’ leader E.Ji taking the ceremonial first bat ahead of a group performance later. While watching the game and waiting to perform, the group’s youngest member, 18-year-old Chowon, was struck by a foul ball during the third inning.
According to reports, the foul ball struck Chowon in the back of the head with the blow knocking the singer unconscious. She was taken in for medical assistance in the stadium and regained consciousness with the aid of on-the-scene physicians and officials. The star was transferred to a nearby hospital.
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The initial reports indicate Chowon was not seriously injured. However, the performance from ICHILLIN was canceled after the incident.
A YouTube account has uploaded video footage from ICHILLIN’s time at the baseball game where viewers can hear the crack of a baseball and see ICHILLIN and those in the audience near them spot a high-flying foul ball coming towards them. According to social media comments, the uploader chose not to include footage of the moment the ball made impact. The moment happens during the last five seconds of the video:
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Billboard has contacted KM Entertainment, the label and representation for ICHILLIN’, but did not immediately receive a response.
Consisting of members Chowon, E.Ji, Yeju, Jackie, Chaerin, Joonie and Jiyoon, ICHILLIN’ made their debut in September 2021 with the single “Got’Ya” to compete alongside the latest crop of K-pop groups vying for international attention. With three EPs under their belt, the group’s latest record, Feelin’ Hot, dropped on March 7, led by the single “On My Lips,” with its music video garnering almost a million views to date.
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Although BTS‘ Suga has another year left on his mandatory South Korean military service stint, the K-pop superstar is still lighting up the charts from afar. On Tuesday (April 16), Trafalgar Releasing and HYBE announced that the limited run of the concert film from the singer’s alter ego, Agust D, set box office records in […]