K-Pop
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BLACKPINK‘s Born Pink era is still in full swing, but the group — which consists of members Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé — is taking a walk down memory lane. The K-pop group previously teased “Born Pink Memories” on Thursday (Dec. 1), and followed up with an eight-minute short of behind-the-scenes footage from the “Pink Venom” video shoot on Friday (Dec. 2).
The video kicks off the the quartet preparing the “Pink Venom” teaser concept photos, with scenes of each girl posing solo and later convening inside the photo’s large — and artfully cracked — glass box. in between fierce poses, they have cute friendship moments dancing, playing together and making silly faces.
Each scene from the larger-than-life video got a few dedicated moments of attention, starting with Jennie’s car scene, which she shared that at one point on set, she drove the car through the wall; Rosé’s black water scene, which she revealed she conceptualized; Jennie and Lisa’s joint rap; Lisa’s “tomb raider dome” that was built with actual cracked mirror glass for the floor, and more.
While it’s unclear when the second “Born Pink Memories” episode will arrive, the video concluded with a note that read “to be continued,” meaning BLINKs have more memories to look forward to.
BLACKPINK is currently on the European leg of its Born Pink World Tour. The trek’s first stop was on Nov. 30 at the O2 in London, and will make stops in Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and more before heading back to Asia in 2023 for a series of dates in January, March and May.
Watch BLACKPINK’s first episode of “Born Pink Memories” above.
In November, HYBE CEO Jiwon Park announced during a company briefing that TOMORROW X TOGETHER — which consists of members Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai — would be back in January 2023 with brand new music. Now, fans are getting the first official taste. On Friday (Dec. 2), the K-pop group dropped a concept teaser for its upcoming album, The Name Chapter.
The Name Chapter concept trailer sees the idols experiencing a series of dreamy events. They first start off in an open-air setting, before introducing a devil-like creature and scenes of the boys being hoisted up on marionette strings. The story concludes with all the members in a house floating in the sky, which gets tilted on an axis and leaves the group with no choice put to jump out into the open air.
The Name Chapter follows TXT’s previous EP installments The Dream Chapter and The Chaos Chapter. It will be the first music release the quintet has dropped since the arrival of its fourth mini EP, minisode 2: Thursday’s Child in May. That project was a hit for the K-pop stars. It spent a total of 14 weeks on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, where it peaked at No. 4. The mini album achieved even more success on the Top Current Album Sales chart, where it spent 20 weeks on the chart and hit No. 1.
Speaking about Thursday’s Child in a May interview with Billboard, Soobin looked ahead to the future. “As we have more years and even more albums under our belts, we’re getting better outcomes and better numbers,” he said. “We have [also] tried many genres in music. As we work on more and more albums, [I feel like] we don’t have any limits. We’ve taken this musical journey step by step.”
Watch the The Name Chapter concept teaser in the video above.
Dedicated ARMY veterans will likely be dissecting the set of RM’s NPR Tiny Desk concert for the rest of the month. To celebrate the release of his solo album, Indigo, the BTS rapper born Kim Nam-joon recreated an amazingly detailed replica of the Washington, D.C.-based Tiny Desk office set in South Korea, complete with shelves packed with tasty Easter eggs.
But the focus, of course, was on the vocals, which the 29-year-old star delivered on with ease, beginning with the jazzy opening track of his three-song set, “seoul.” The chilled-out bilingual song from RM’s 2018 mono mixtape set a mellow mood for the 18-minute mini-show, complete with warm keyboards and restrained beats from drummer JK Kim.
After the opening track, RM said it was about his second home town in South Korea, before introducing his band and noting that the album version of the opening track from Indigo, “Yun,” features R&B legend Erykah Badu, who, unfortunately, could not make it to Seoul for the session. RM also explained that it was inspired by Korean painter Yun Hyong-keun, who, “was always saying that you should firstly be a human before you do some art or do something, so this song is inspired by his lifelong message,” he said, adding that one of the artist’s images is on the Indigo cover.
While the band played the slow-rolling soul rap tune, Badu’s recorded vocals floated above the chorus as RM dropped his mashed-up English/Korean bars over the loungey arrangement. “F–k the trendsetter/ I’mma turn back the time/ Back the time, far to when I was nine,” he rapped before seamlessly slipping into Korean for the rest of the first verse.
RM said that though he’s been doing music for 15 years — 10 of them with BTS — Indigo is his first official full-length solo album. “I went all the way just to release these 10 tracks and 10 colors out of my soul and out of my ego,” he said of the album that dropped on Friday (Dec. 2) in the midst of BTS’ open-ended group hiatus.
“This time I finally could show the world what’s really inside me and what I wanted to do,” he added of the collection he’s been working on since 2019 with the band, which also featured Jaeshin Park on bass and DOCSKIM on keyboards.
For the final track, RM slid into Indigo‘s funky second track, “Still Life,” which he said was inspired by a visit to a “random” museum where he saw lots of paintings from the 19th century with that title, giving him the idea to write a song about his life being like a canvas on which he exhibits himself to the whole world. The soul clap tune was the perfect excuse to bust out some of BTS’ signature coordinated dance moves, but given the setting, RM had to make do with dropping his emphatic verses from an office chair as the band swirled up some sinuous grooves behind him.
Watch RM’s Tiny Desk concert below.
RM finally unveiled his long-awaited debut solo album Indigo on Friday (Dec. 2) via Big Hit Music.
For his first full-length effort sans his BTS bandmates, the rapper enlisted a diverse slate of guests assists from the likes of Erykah Badu (opener “Yun”), Anderson .Paak (“Still Life”), Epik High leader Tablo (“All Day”), Paul Blanco and Mahalia (the Honne-produced “Closer”) and more.
“Indigo recounts the stories and experiences RM has gone through, like a diary,” a press release revealed ahead of the album, promising to “present a different charm” to the South Korean rapper.
With the release of Indigo, RM becomes the latest member of the best-selling K-pop boy band to deliver a solo LP, just months after J-Hope dropped the 10-track Jack in the Box. He previously released his self-titled EP in 2015 and follow-up Mono in 2018.
He’ll support the new album with an NPR Tiny Desk concert, dropping at 5am Friday (Dec. 2), and the release of an official music video for Indigo’s lead single “Wild Flower” — which features South Korean rock singer youjeen.
In other BTS-related news, Jin is set to be the first Bangtan Boy to begin his mandated service in the South Korean military this month in the wake of his new solo single “The Astronaut.”
Stream Indigo below.
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.
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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.
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.
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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”).
Friday is going to be a big day for BTS ARMY. RM‘s debut solo album, Indigo, is dropping at midnight, but that’s not all: The BTS rapper also has an NPR Tiny Desk concert in support of the album coming out just hours after its release.
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NPR announced the news via Twitter on Thursday (Dec. 1), sharing all the details that ARMY needs to tune in. “RM at the Tiny Desk Tomorrow. 12/2 7 p.m. KST | 5 a.m. ET #RM #Indigo #RMatNPRTinyDesk #tinydesk @bts_bighit,” NPR captioned a photo of the famous desk space, with shelves featuring ARMY purple letters that read “BTS NPR RM.”
In addition to the album’s release, the video for Indigo’s lead single “Wild Flower” — which features South Korean rock singer youjeen — is also scheduled to arrive first thing Friday. Though RM revealed the album’s track list late last month, the sonic vibe of the project has been kept mostly under wraps. On Nov. 22, RM teased the album’s themes in a preview video that read, “Record of RM: Indigo. From the colors of nature, human, etc. Documentation of my youth in the moment of independent phase. Sun-bleached record faded like old jeans. The last archive of my twenties.”
Indigo will be RM’s first full-length solo album. The rapper was the first of the BTS members to share solo material, dropping a self-titled mixtape in 2015, which contained the singles “Do You,” “Awakening” and “Joke.” RM then released a second mixtape in 2018 titled Mono. “Forever Rain” was released as the only single from the latter body of work; the set debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200.
See NPR’s announcement below.
BLINKs who were hoping for a retrospective on BLACKPINK‘s Born Pink era may be in luck. On Thursday (Dec. 1), the girl group shared a teaser video of a project called “Born Pink Memories,” which appears to be a look back at Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé’s Born Pink album cycle amid the group bringing its recently released album to the live stage.
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The artful visual for “Born Pink Memories” features an unmasked person toiling away in an office, sifting through filing cabinets, physical film footage, records and printed photos that are from BLACKPINK’s album promotion, with some shots including stills from the K-pop group’s video for “Shut Down,” which, naturally, soundtracks the video.
“Born Pink Memories” has no official release date yet, but fans in the comments section of Twitter, where they also posted the video, were more than excited for new content from the girl group. “A 2022 MEMORIES VIDEO OR PHOTOBOOK OMG OMG,” one fan excitedly wrote, while another speculated that the “BLACKPINK DIARIES ARE BACK!!!!!”
While BLINKs will need to wait for the arrival of “Born Pink Memories,” BLACKPINK has kicked off the European leg of its Born Pink World Tour. The trek’s first stop was on Nov. 30 at the O2 in London, and will make stops in Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and more before heading back to Asia in 2023 for a series of dates in January, March and May.
Watch BLACKPINK’s “Born Pink Memories” teaser in the video above.
KPOP only just held its opening night on Broadway earlier this week, but the brand-new musical is ready to unveil the exciting details of its official cast recording.
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Next year, listeners worldwide will be able to bring the musical into their daily lives with the release of the KPOP – Original Broadway Cast Recording album via Sony Masterworks Broadway. After being in development since premiering Off-Broadway in 2017, KPOP finally made its Broadway debut this month at the Circle in the Square Theatre shining the spotlight on Korean culture and Korean, Korean-American, and overall AAPI representation on and off the stage.
The KPOP show also features K-pop stars including Luna (of girl group f(x) in the lead role as singer MwE), Kevin Woo (from U-KISS playing the leader of KPOP boy band F8), Min (from miss A who plays Riya in girl group RTMIS) and BoHyung (a member of SPICA and the vocal duo KEEMBO who plays Tiny D in RTMIS).
While the show features music, lyrics, production and arrangements by Helen Park, as well as music and lyrics by Max Vernon, the cast recording album will feature production by Harvey Mason Jr.
On his own and as one-half of the production duo The Underdogs, Harvey Mason Jr. has been close to the K-pop scene for years. The current CEO of the Recording Academy has produced hit K-pop singles like Girls’ Generation‘s “Mr.Mr.,” EXO‘s “Overdose,” BoA‘s “CAMO” and NCT 127‘s “Limitless.”
“I am such a fan of this music and this musical,” Mason Jr. says in a press release statement. “Having worked in the K-pop music space for over a decade, finally experiencing the music live on a Broadway stage has been so exciting. With the popularity and impact of this music, it’s the perfect time for the KPOP show and the cast album.”
With the mix of celebs living the real K-pop experience alongside seasoned and fresh Broadway talent, KPOP has stood out for its genuine attempt to approach the pressure, sacrifices and joy within the industry putting South Korea on the global-music map. Directed by Teddy Bergman, KPOP also features a book written by Jason Kim (who’s written on Girls), choreographer Jennifer Weber (The Hip Hop Nutcracker and & Juliet) and associate choreographer MJ Choi (founder and director of I Love Dance studio).
The KPOP – Original Broadway Cast Recording will drop on Feb. 24, 2023, via Sony Masterworks Broadway and is available for pre-order now.
KPOP‘s full cast recently performed the number “This Is My Korea” live on Good Morning America and released the song digitally ahead of KPOP’s official opening:
After NCT DREAM stole the show during their first U.S. performance at KCON 2022 in Los Angeles earlier this year, the K-pop boy band is connecting with international fans once again with the release of their In a Dream movie. The full-length film will go into Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung’s world both on and off stage as the group prepares and performs their largest concert to date in South Korea’s massive Olympic Stadium.
Throughout the two-hour feature, fans will get live performances, rehearsal footage and intimate interviews in which the seven members discuss one another and also see themselves on screen as they read and watch messages from their NCTzen fans filmed on site. Beyond that, viewers can take in In a Dream via special ScreenX, 4DX, and 4DXScreen experiences, which offer multisensory effects for viewers.
“We are thrilled to release NCT DREAM’s first movie all around the world,” Jongryul Kim, CEO at CJ 4DPLEX, said in a statement. “Also, we are pleased to continue our relationship with Trafalgar Releasing and to partner for the first time with SM Entertainment to bring NCT DREAM’s movie to cinemas worldwide. NCTzens all around the globe now can enjoy the concert performances and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage on the big screen, especially in our special formats — ScreenX, 4DX, and 4DXScreen.”
Ahead of In a Dream‘s release, Billboard got some exclusive reflections from NCT DREAM about the moments from the film they loved and want NCTzens to look out for the most. From the must-see arrangements to sound and facial details, here’s a primer from the septet before you head to the theater for the November and December screenings.