K-Pop
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A new music video blends one of Korea’s biggest musical acts and one of its biggest television stars.
For the release of Chen‘s new EP Last Scene, the EXO boy band member enlisted one of the breakout stars from Squid Games to help tell the story of the final moments and “last scene” of a dying relationship. The EP’s piano-led title track is a moving ballad centered around the 30-year-old’s powerful vocals featuring actor Park Hae-soo telling the story through the accompanying music video.
Park, who gained international fame through his role as Cho Sang-woo (a.k.a. “Player 218”) on Squid Game, channels the same emotive and delicate sentiment he showed on the Netflix hit in “Last Scene,” recalling memories and moments from a relationship through an evening drive. The visual racked up more than half a million views in its first 12 hours.
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Last Scene is Chen’s third solo EP following 2019’s April, And a Flower and Dear My Dear, which both landed in the Top 10 of Billboard’s World Albums chart. Since his solo debut, Chen has released a slew of collaborations, completed his mandatory military service in South Korea, and welcomed two children with his wife following their marriage in 2020. The rich life experiences undoubtedly helped colored Chen’s latest work, revealing fresh musical sides like a wispy delivery through the sparse and snappy guitar track “I Don’t Even Mind” or the light rock-pop standout “Travelers” among the new ballads.
Watch “Last Scene” below:
SM Entertainment, home of such K-pop groups as NCT 127, SuperM and Girls’ Generation, had revenue of 238.1 billion KRW ($165 million at the Sept. 30 exchange rate) from July 1 to Sept. 30 — up 65.4% year-over-year and a 29.1% improvement from the previous quarter, the company announced Monday (Nov. 14).
Operating margin — operating profit as a percentage of revenue — improved to 12.5% in the third quarter of 2022, up from 6.9% in the prior-year period. Net income was 29.2 billion KRW ($20.2 million), up 129.5% year-over-year and 15% higher than the second quarter.
The company’s multi-pronged business, which generates revenue across all facets of its artists’ careers, improved across the board: Recorded music revenues grew 46.6% to 135.1 billion won ($93.6 million). SM Entertainment’s album sales improved from 3.25 million units in the prior-year period to 4.7 million units. It had two standout releases in the quarter: NCT 127’s 2 Baddies peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and Aespa’s Girls: The 2nd Mini Album topped Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart.
Concert revenues climbed to 10.9 billion won from virtually nothing a year ago. In the quarter, Revenue from appearances — including television, advertising and events — grew 96.4% to 24.3 billion KRW ($16.8 million). Licensing revenue improved 76.1% to 26.4 billion KRW ($18.3 million).
Revenue at SM Entertainment’s subsidiaries grew 119.5% to 136.9 billion KRW ($94.9 million). These companies include Dream Maker, a Hong Kong-based concert booking agency; SM Culture & Contents, a content production and advertising business; and Keyeast, a Korea-based merchandising and licensing business. According to the release, these subsidiaries benefitted from the reopening of domestic and international touring and increased demand for advertising promotion and business-to-business travel.
Several SM Entertainment artists are on tour in the fourth quarter: NCT 127 has nine dates in Korea, U.S., Thailand and Indonesia; Super Junior has six concerts in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan; and Ryeowook and NCT Dream have six and five concerts in Japan, respectively.
The company’s fourth-quarter release schedule includes new mini albums by Chen, BoA and Red Velvet and Red Velvet member Seulgi. Red Velvet’s Feel My Rhythm album peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart in April; it also landed on the Indonesia Songs (No. 3), Malaysia Songs (No. 5), Phillippines Songs (No. 15) and Taiwan Songs (No. 16) charts. The group’s The ReVe Festival: Finale EP reached No. 40 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart in January 2020.
SM Entertainment’s shares rose 0.5% on Monday to 65,800 KRW. Down just 11.3% in 2022, SM Entertainment’s share price has fared better than Korean music companies HYBE (down 61.2%) and YG Entertainment ( down 26.4%) but lags behind JYP Entertainment (up 12.0%), home of Twice, Stray Kids and iTZY.
SM Entertainment’s shares rose 19% on Sept. 16 after the company announced would prematurely end a contract with a production company owned by the company’s founder and largest shareholder, Lee Soo-man. Its share price, however, has fallen 14% since then.
Missed BTS in concert? Fear not, ARMY, the Bangtan Boys have got you covered. On Sunday (Nov. 13), BTS shared a video of them practicing their choreography for the high-energy track “Run BTS” with full support from a large group of backup dancers.
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After taking turns showing off their moves solo and in pairs, members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook convene and hit complicated footwork and arm movements as the audio from the chorus blares, “Run (don’t tell me bye, bye)/ Run (you made me cry, cry)/ Run (love is a lie, lie)/ (Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, don’t tell me bye, bye).”
“Run BTS” charted at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a week on the chart in June. The track is on the K-pop group’s anthology album, Proof. The LP — a collection of the group’s hits, demos and fan-favorite tracks — was released in June and spent a total of 21 weeks on the Billboard 200, where it peaked at No. 1.
Proof was dropped as a celebration of BTS’ ninth anniversary. BigHit Music, the group’s management company, said in a statement, “The BTS anthology album that embodies the history of BTS will be released as they begin a new chapter as an artist that has been active for nine years to look back on their endeavors … The anthology album Proof that consists of three CDs includes many different tracks — including three all-new tracks — that reflect the thoughts and ideas of the members on the past present and future of BTS.”
Watch the “Run BTS” dance practice below.
After Big Hit Entertainment rebranded into HYBE in 2021, the entertainment-lifestyle giant has shared annual updates with the public to share the company’s upcoming path and more into the philosophies guiding them for the next 12 months.
At the 2022 HYBE Briefing With the Community, several top music executives across the company and label partners including founder Bang Si-Hyuk, HYBE CEO Jiwon Park, SB Projects founder Scooter Braun, Big Machine Label Group President & CEO Scott Borchetta, HYBE Labels America VP Daniel Kwon, Interscope Geffen A&M VP of A&R Marketing Charlie Christie and more spoke to where the company was heading. Various HYBE employees, creatives and artists like also shared their experiences in the past year with an emphasis on “coevolution” and learning from one another’s businesses.
“HYBE has to continue creating the best content for fans who are waiting for new releases from their artists,” Bang shared of HYBE’s “ground rule” in quality content before sending a special message to BTS and their fans that “BTS was our starting and driving force and ARMY made all of this possible.”
From BTS to a slew of new artists on their way, HYBE artists are all housed across different labels at the corporation currently consisting of BIGHIT Music, BELIFT LAB, Source Music, PLEDIS Entertainment, KOZ Entertainment, ADOR, HYBE Labels Japan, and HYBE America. With new albums, world tours and debuts on the way, we’ve broken down the big moments on the calendar and what you can expect for the forthcoming months from HYBE.
More music from TOMORROW X TOGETHER is on the way! On Thursday (Nov. 10), HYBE CEO Jiwon Park announced during a company briefing that the K-pop group — which consists of members Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai — will be returning in January 2023 with brand new music.
Though fans will have to sit tight for a little while before learning more about the project’s concept, title and release date, it will be the first music release the quintet has released since the arrival of its fourth mini EP, minisode 2: Thursday’s Child. 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.”
Up next for the group is a stop at the 2022 MAMA Awards. In addition to taking the stage for a performance, TOMORROW X TOGETHER is nominated for five awards in the best male group, best dance performance male group and song of the year (“Good Boy Gone Bad”), artist of the year and worldwide fans’ choice top 10 categories.
BTS ARMY, this is not a drill: RM promised that a solo album would be arriving in the imminent future, and now a date has been set, along with the project’s official title. On Thursday (Nov. 10), the rapper dropped the news via Instagram, sharing a photo of a bright blue patch of denim, along with the LP’s details.
“‘Indigo,’” RM captioned the post. “RM 1st Solo Album, 12/2.”
BTS’ music label, BigHit Music, also shared the news to its respective feeds, along with a photo of a blue fabric swatch with the album title bleached in white. The label also added that Indigo will be released on Dec. 2 at 12 a.m. ET and 2 p.m. KT.
“Indigo recounts the stories and experiences RM has gone through, like a diary,” a press release said of the project. “The album will present a different charm of RM with various featured artists.” (None of the featured artists have yet been announced.)
Though Indigo will be RM’s first full-length solo album, the rapper previously released two mixtapes. He was the first of the BTS members to share solo material, dropping his self-titled mixtape in 2015, which contained 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 this latter body of work, and the set debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200.
The announcement of RM’s solo album arrives shortly after fellow BTS member Jin released his own solo track titled “The Astronaut.” The track currently sit at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100.
See RM’s album announcement below.
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“Smooth like butter!” Earlier this year, Funko Pop debuted the BTS “Butter” collection, featuring figurines of Jimin, V, Suga, RM, Jung Kook, J-Hope and Jin, decked out in their wardrobe from the “Butter” music video complete with name tags.
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The Pop! vinyls — sold separately and as a seven-pack collectible set — went up for pre-order on June 23 and began shipping out this month.
And it seems that more vinyl figures have been released, per the Funko website. As of Wednesday (Nov. 11), the site has the collectible figurines listed under “new releases.” For K-pop fans who missed the first wave of pre-orders over the summer, all seven of the vinyl Pop! figures are now in stock at Funko.com.
BTS ARMY members can shop the collection at Amazon, Entertainment Earth and GameStop, although prices and release dates may vary depending on the retailer. Amazon pre-orders, for example, will be released on Dec. 31, while Entertainment Earth is listed for March 2023.
The 4-inch Pop! vinyls retail for $11.99-$12.99, while the set of mini-figurines is $88.33 and sold exclusively at Walmart.
“Butter” recently reached a musical milestone, becoming the K-pop group’s second single to earn one billion Spotify streams. The music video has racked up over 825 million views on YouTube.
This latest Funko Pop! collaboration follows the BTS Dynamite Collection released last year.
The BTS Funko Pop! “Butter” collectibles are in stock at Funko.com and GameStop, and you can pre-order them at Amazon and Entertainment Earth.
Shop the collection below and for more BTS gear, see our list of affordable merch.
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Funko Pop! Rocks: BTS – Jung Kook
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Funko Pop! Rocks: BTS – V
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Funko Pop! Rocks: BTS – Jimin
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Funko Pop! Rocks: BTS – RM
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Funko Pop! Rocks BTS – Suga
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Funko Pop! Rocks: BTS – J-Hope
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The 2022 MAMA Awards are set to take place later this month, and to further drum up anticipation for the K-pop awards ceremony — which is set to take place in Japan at the Osaka Kyocera Dome on Nov. 29-30 — the second set of performers for the two-day event were revealed on Wednesday (Nov. 9).
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The new set of performers will be split between two days — HYOLYN, Forestella, BIBI, NMIXX, LE SSERAFIM and Street Man Fighter dance crews will take on the MAMA Awards on Nov. 29, while ZICO, Lim Young Woong, (G)I-DLE, NiziU, INI and NewJeans will hit the stage on Nov. 30.
Previously announced artists that are set to perform at the MAMAs include Stray Kids, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, JO1, Kep1er, ITZY, TREASURE, ENHYPEN and IVE; additional lineup and signature special stages will be unveiled at a later date.
The 2022 MAMA Awards shared the official list of nominees on Oct. 24. BTS‘ J-Hope racked up a total of six nominations for his work on Jack in the Box and his collaborative efforts with Crush on “Rush Hour,” while V and Jimin scored solo noms in the best OST (original sound tracks) and song of the year categories — V for “Christmas Tree” (Our Beloved Summer) and Jimin alongside Ha Sung-woon for “With You” (Our Blues). BTS as a group earned five noms in the best male group, best vocal performance group and song of the year for “Yet to Come,” as well as artist of the year and worldwide fans’ choice top 10.
BLACKPINK also earned five nominations for this year’s MAMAs in the best female group, best dance performance female group and song of the year (“Pink Venom”), as well as artist of the year and worldwide fans’ choice top 10. Other artists who secured recognition for this year’s MAMAs include NCT Dream (five), SEVENTEEN (five), Stray Kids (five), IVE (five), NCT 127 (three), TWICE (three) and ITZY (three).
Get ready, MIDZY! ITZY announced plans for a comeback on Monday (Nov. 7), tweeting that a new album is on the way this month.
“ITZY ,” the K-pop group captioned a photo of the album’s logo in a flashy, silver print against a plain black backdrop, revealing a Nov. 30 release date. “2022.11.30 WED 6PM (KST) | 4AM (EST).”
ITZY has been on a hot streak in 2022. The girl group, which consists of members Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yuna, released their previous mini album Checkmate in July. The set debuted at No. 8 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. Elsewhere on the charts, Checkmate peaked at No. 2 on both Top Current Album Sales and Top Album Sales. The project’s lead single, “Sneakers,” peaked at No. 9 on the Hot Trending Songs chart Powered by Twitter and topped the South Korea Songs chart.
ITZY is currently on its Checkmate World Tour. The trek began in August with a pair of dates in Seoul, South Korea, before heading over to the United States in October. The North American leg of the tour kicked off Oct. 26 in Los Angeles and featured stops in Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix and more. The leg will conclude Nov. 13 in New York before heading back to Asia for stops in Manila, Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok.
See ITZY’s album announcement for Cheshire below.
Jin’s solo single “The Astronaut” has been out for one week, and to continue the song’s rollout, the BTS singer is taking fans behind the scenes of the song’s official visual filming and concert in a shoot sketch video posted on Monday (Nov. 7).
In the video, Jin talks through the video’s touching concept, which conveys the humanity he feels after being away from planet Earth for an extended period of time.
“It’s been so long since I filmed a music video. I never imagined there’s be a female protagonist in my music video. I just arrived on Earth and I’m shooting a flashback scene where I ride a bike with the friend who makes a person that barely expresses himself [do so],” he explains.
The female protagonist in question in a little girl named Victoria, who through her friendly gestures, allows the BTS star to feel more human. One of the scenes features Victoria playfully pinching Jin’s cheeks.
“My young friends pinched my cheeks just now. I’m not smiling but she plays jokes on me. She took interest in me when nobody else did and she considered me as her friend. That was the scene we were going for so she played with my face,” the BTS singer said. “Not many people have done that to my face before … in my 31 years of life, there hasn’t been many people that have done that.”
After shooting in the desert for his bike-riding and lip-syncing scenes, Jin heads back to South Korea for the shots of him in a bedroom, which features pictures of his new friend. But to his surprise, an old friends ends up visiting him on set.
“Does Jin know I’m here? He doesn’t, right?” Jin’s fellow BTS member J-Hope says, pulling up in a car and holding bags of snacks. When Jin sees J-Hope, he excitedly says, “Oh J-Hope, why are you here?” to which J-Hope replies, “Jin, you look good.”
After seeing shots of Jin on a monitor, the BTS rapper adds, “You look so handsome. How are you so good looking?”
See more behind the scenes content from Jin’s “The Astronaut” video below.