K-Pop
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SEOUL — K-pop juggernaut HYBE has withdrawn its bid to control rival agency SM Entertainment and has instead decided to collaborate with SM as well as rival bidder Kakao, marking a sudden détente. Announced early Sunday, the resolution paves the way for K-pop agencies to not only bury the hatchet but also continue their push to monetize fandom with idol-related online content.
“Proceeding with a higher tender offer [to beat Kakao’s bid] may have in turn caused a negative impact on our shareholders and we also judged it may have further overheated the market,” HYBE said in a statement. The agency of boy band BTS had secured about 15% of SM, a former market leader, mostly by acquiring shares from SM founder Lee Soo-man, who was recently pushed out from the agency. A previous tender offer to increase HYBE’s stake in SM didn’t move the needle and a counteroffer by Kakao remains outstanding until March 26.
On Monday, the market reacted by dragging SM stock down more than 23% to 113,000 Korean won, making Kakao’s current offer at 150,000 won more attractive. A HYBE representative said Monday it has not decided whether to sell the SM shares. He added that it was studying possible avenues for collaboration with SM and/or Kakao but declined to comment further. HYBE and Kakao shares have jumped 3.21% and 4.65%, respectively.
SM, which has played a key role in K-pop’s popularity and overseas expansion, has resisted HYBE’s acquisition, slamming it as “anticompetitive.” The two agencies in recent years have dominated the charts, together accounting for nearly half of all albums sold in 2022, according to Korean chart company Circle Chart. But despite its success, shareholders have been calling for changes to the Lee-controlled single-pipeline structure, as rival agencies grew larger by delegating creative direction to mostly autonomous teams. Lee was also being paid millions of dollars a year in producer fees, though he held no managerial position there, an arrangement that shareholders have scrutinized in recent years.
In a drive for reform, SM’s management in February said it would issue new shares to be sold to Kakao as part of a wide-ranging partnership. Lee, then-the biggest shareholder, protested but management overrode him. Lee then offloaded most of his shares to HYBE, which in turn tried to up its stake with a tender offer. Lee successfully challenged the Kakao deal in court, prompting the latter to issue a higher counteroffer.
“Kakao vows to guarantee operational independence at SM, respecting its strongest asset and impetus, the employees, artists and fans,” said Kakao chief investment officer Bae Jae-hyun in a statement on Sunday. Bae added that Kakao and SM would “create new synergies, based on SM Entertainment’s global IP and production system as well as Kakao’s IT expertise and IP value-chain business capacity.”
HYBE, SM and other rivals have in recent years pushed proprietary platforms like Weverse and Beyond Live to foster online fan communities for all fan activities, free or for-pay. Kakao’s platform and search-engine rival Naver in 2017 also inked a deal with YG Entertainment, home to girl group Blackpink, to push YG artists’ content.
SM did not return calls for comment.
TWICE‘s Ready to Be has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (March 10) on Billboard, choosing the group’s latest project as their favorite new music release of the past week.
Ready to Be brought in more than 58% of the vote, beating out new music from Miley Cyrus, Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, and more.
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K-pop stars TWICE dropped Ready to Be, their 12th mini album, on March 10, after receiving the Breakthrough Artist honor at the 2023 Billboard Women in Music Awards on March 1.
“We are ready to show more of our beautiful inner side to the world and ready to show more of ourselves,” Tzuyu shared with Billboard on the red carpet, chatting about Ready to Be. TWICE will be embarking on a world tour in April.
Trailing behind Ready to Be on the fan-voted poll is Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, with 29% of the vote, and Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s “Miracle,” with 9% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
When Suga announced his Agust D tour in February, Japan was notably the only country on the trek whose dates were labeled “to be updated.” Now, BTS fans in the island country have a chance to catch the rapper on his global trek, as the BTS official fan club announced on Friday (March 10) how fans in the country can secure tickets.
Suga will perform a series of three dates — June 2-4 — at the Pia Arena MM in Kanagawa. Fans who secure tickets through the BTS Japan official fan club presale advance will pay 15,400 yen including tax ($114.33 USD), while non advance tickets will cost 16,500 yen including tax ($122.50 USD). VIP seats for the Japan dates will cost 26,400 yen ($195.99 USD).
A fan club lottery reception will be held on March 16 at 1 p.m. Japan standard time (11 p.m. ET March 15) through March 23 11:59 p.m. Japan standard time (10 a.m. ET). Tickets are not on a first-come, first-served basis; results of the lottery will be revealed March 31 through April 4. Fans are allowed up to two tickets per member, and applying for the same performance more than once will result in disqualification from the lottery.
See the full list of Suga’s Agust D tour dates, including Japan, below.
April 26 — Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena
April 27 — Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena
April 29 — Newark, N.J. @ Prudential Center
May 3 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
May 5 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
May 6 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
May 10 — Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
May 11 — Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
May 14 — Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
May 16 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
May 17 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
May 26 — Jakarta, ID @ Indonesia Convention Exhibition Hall 5-6
May 27 — Jakarta, Indonesia @ Indonesia Convention Exhibition Hall 5-6
May 28 — Jakarta, Indonesia @ Indonesia Convention Exhibition Hall 5-6
June 2-4 — Kanagawa, Japan @ Pia Arena MM
June 10 — Bangkok, Thailand @ Impact Arena
June 11 — Bangkok, Thailand @ Impact Arena
June 17 — Singapore, SG @ Singapore Indoor Stadium
June 18 — Singapore, SG @ Singapore Indoor Stadium
June 24– Seoul, KR @ Jamsil Indoor Stadium
June 25 — Seoul, KR @ Jamsil Indoor Stadium
Since aespa‘s debut in 2020, the K-pop girl group has stood out from other global-pop stars with an innovative dedication to blending real and virtual worlds. Now, the quartet is expanding its reach by connecting with fans through a virtual-reality experience at SXSW 2023, and Billboard has your first look.
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K-pop super label SM Entertainment and virtual-reality concert platform AmazeVR have come together for the world premiere of the aespa VR Concert at KWANGYA later this month at SXSW. The showing joins a slate of extended-reality activations for the Austin, Texas, festival’s XR Experience program, including J Balvin‘s “Futurum” VR concert.
Members KARINA, WINTER, GISELLE and NINGNING will share their stories and perform “Black Mamba” and “Illusion,” both of which are included on the group’s Girls: The 2nd Mini Album, which hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales chart when it arrived in July 2022. to Aespa will take the stage in KWANGYA, the virtual world envisioned and developed by SM Entertainment that pops into song lyrics for aespa as well as other SM artists such as TVXQ!, EXO, NCT and more.
Ahead of the SXSW premiere, watch an exclusive message from the girls plus a behind-the-scenes peek at the experience below. And according to a press release, if you can’t make it to Austin, the concert will soon be released across all major VR headset platforms.
The aespa virtual-reality concert at KWANGYA at the SXSW XR Experience program runs from March 12 to 14, 2023, at the Austin Fairmont Hotel Congressional Ballroom from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
ONCE, the day has arrived. TWICE unveiled their 12th mini-album, Ready to Be, on Friday (March 10).
The group’s previously released second English single “Moonlight Sunrise” is included in the seven-track set, in addition to songs like “Got the Thrills,” “Blame It on Me,” “Wallflower,” “Crazy Stupid Love” and “Set Me Free.” “Set Me Free” is the only track on the record that will receive a version in both English and Korean. “I think it’s the songs of ours that carry TWICE’s color rather than the language in which the song is sung,” Jihyo previously told Billboard. “I don’t think the language is that relevant in carrying out TWICE’s [identity].”
The K-pop group’s last mini-album, Between 1&2, was on the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and peaked at No. 3.
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TWICE was honored with the Breakthrough Award at Billboard’s Women in Music event on March 1, where they chatted with Billboard on the red carpet about the album. “We are ready to show more of our beautiful inner side to the world and ready to show more of ourselves,” Tzuyu shared of Ready to Be.
Listen to Ready to Be in full below.
While Anne-Marie is the English pop star known for massive collaborations with Marshmello and Clean Bandit, and Minnie is the Thailand-raised singer and producer in K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE, there are universal frustrations both pop stars can agree upon that get explored in “Expectations.”
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The new collaboration speaks to sticking to your guns and blazing your own path in life. The pair brush off unsolicited career advice, declare their past music doesn’t define them today (Minnie shouts out (G)I-DLE’s 2020 summer single “Dumdi Dumdi” while Anne-Marie throws back to her debut single “Karate” from 2015), and share a message with the Recording Academy, shouting, “F-ck that Grammy nomination/ Happiness cannot be bought!”
The pair show off their different personalities in the music video where both get rowdy and let loose while singing their stories in their own studios.
“Expectations” is Anne-Marie’s latest plug in the K-pop scene since jumping on a remix to boy band SEVENTEEN‘s single “_WORLD” last year. The U.K. starlet has become a favorite in South Korea after the remarkable local success of singles like “2002” and “Friends,” that’s led her to wins at Korean-music ceremonies including the V Live Awards, Gaon Chart Music Awards, Asia Artist Awards and more.
Watch Anne-Marie and Minnie challenge “Expectations” in their music video below:
2023 will mark five years since Henry Lau went independent after his contract completion with Korean super-label SM Entertainment, and his latest music shows him still pushing toward his goal of boundary-less music.
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Henry’s new single “Real Love Still Exists” brings the singer-songwriter and Malaysian breakout superstar Yuna together for a languishing R&B-pop duet perfect for both their tender voices. Canada-raised Lau opens the track with sparse acoustic guitar backing a melancholy melody reminiscent of the No. 1 Beatles classic “Something.” Yuna hops in halfway through the song as the second verse incorporates heavier percussion beats accompanying the songbird’s sweetly somber delivery. The two harmonize on the chorus together, dreamily duetting and pleading: “Give me just a chance/ One chance/ Take you to the other side/ Where ignorance is bliss/ Where real love still exists.”
For the accompanying music video, Henry headed to the City of Light for the lovelorn song’s visual. The star plays guitar on the Paris streets amid couples kissing, one getting down on one knee for a proposal, as Henry flashbacks to his own relationship. By the end of the visual, the sun has set on Paris, and Henry finds himself face-to-face with his lost love again.
“Real Love Still Exists” is the second new track from Henry in 2023 after January’s funky, folky pop single “Moonlight,” marking the former Super Junior member’s first new collection of singles since his Journey album in late 2020. Both releases come through Lau’s Monster Entertainment Group, which he told Billboard in 2019 was envisioned for him to “make my own brand, to have my own color” and make label-less music in any language he feels. The multilingual star has recently been active with music, television, acting, and his YouTube channel featuring viral violin and vocal covers of Hot 100 hits like Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers,” SZA‘s “Kill Bill” and more.
Check out if “Real Love Still Exists” with Henry below:
RM is on a brand-new song, and BTS ARMY has So!YoON! to thank.
On Thursday (March 9), So!YoON! — Hwang So-yoon of South Korean indie rock band SE SO NEON — released a teaser for her forthcoming track “Smoke Sprite,” which the BTS star briefly appears in. Several moments from the video play out in rapid succession, with a quick scene of RM and So!YoON! standing back-to-back flashing by, while a high-energy snippet of the song plays in the background. Closing out the 10-second video is a black screen with white text informing fans of when the collaboration is scheduled to arrive: Tuesday, March 14, at 6 p.m. KST, or 4 a.m. ET.
RM’s new collaboration comes on the heels of his recently released solo album Indigo. The project, which arrived in December, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and allowed RM to become the highest-charting K-pop soloist, as well as the only K-pop soloist ever to reach the top five of the all-genre albums chart. The BTS rapper earned the honors after the LP moved 83,000 equivalent album units for the week ending in Dec. 22, according to Luminate.
The collab is one the latest endeavors afoot for the BTS boys. Jimin is scheduled to release his solo debut album, FACE, on March 24, while Suga will embark on his Agust D Tour in April.
Watch the teaser for “Smoke Sprite” in the video above.
BTS‘ Jimin is gearing up to release his debut solo album, FACE. But in the tradition of K-pop, the singer’s label BigHit Music shared a series of concept photos on Thursday (March 9) to get ARMY even more excited for the album’s release.
Fans were treated to the “Hardware ver.” pictures in a series of three: The first features a stylish snap of the BTS vocalist wearing a black leather moto jacket, staring directly at the camera through his bangs. Another shows Jimin fitted in studs placed on his brow bone and a piercing through the center of the bottom lip. The final one has the singer seemingly shirtless, with silver studs cascading down from his face to the neck and collarbone area.
Ahead of the album’s release, a second set of concept photos — the “Software ver.” — is scheduled to arrive on March 11.
The images arrive after BigHit revealed the album art and tracklist for Jimin’s solo LP on Feb. 23. The album will contain a total of six tracks, including main song “Like Crazy” and pre-release single “Set Me Free Pt. 2,” which will drop March 17. According to a press release, the latter song will see the BTS member exploring “his resolution to free himself from various emotions hidden deep inside him.”
FACE will be released on March 24. See the “Hardware ver.” concept photos below.
J-Hope jumped on TikTok on Wednesday (March 8) to dance through his new single, “On the Street,” with an assist from Jay Park.
“J-Park Drive on the J-Hope Street,” the Jack in the Box rapper captioned the post in Korean, which was shared on the official BTS account. In the video, J-Hope mugs for the camera before panning to reveal Park sitting on a staircase. After whistling over the single’s instrumental opening, the duo launch into a laidback dance routine down a hallway as the chorus of “Every time I walk/ Every time I run/ Every time I move/ As always, for us/ Every time I look/ Every time I love/ Every time I hope/ As always, for us” plays over top.
Park’s appearance with J-Hope comes nearly a year after the hip-hop artist posted a photo with the latter’s bandmate Jung Kook. However a faction of ARMY has taken issue with the rapper’s apparent friendship with the members of BTS after he called pioneering group BIGBANG “probably the biggest K-pop boy band in history” in a February 2020 interview, which fans perceived as a slight against the Bangtan Boys.
Still, others couldn’t get enough of J-Hope showing off his b-boy roots in the comments section. One fan wrote, “hobi best dancer” with two emoji hearts on fire, while another commented, “Hobi tiktoking with everyone before leaving and leaving his mark on the industry.” Others begged the “Arson” rapper to film other dance videos with bandmates Jung Kook and RM.
Earlier this week, J-Hope and Jimin paid Jin a surprise visit at his army base, which the eldest member of BTS — who’s currently serving his government-mandated time in the Korean military — posted on his Instagram feed. Hobi, meanwhile, began his own enlistment process prior to announcing the release of his latest collab with J. Cole.
Watch J-Hope and Park dance to “On the Street” below.