SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Since her full-fledged solo departure from Wonder Girls in 2017, K-pop songstress Sunmi has taken on striking concepts of feminist empowerment in her summer tracks, from “Gashina” to “Noir.” For 2020, Sunmi is taking on a totally new facade: a woman hopelessly in love in the early days of [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — This year’s online edition of KCON, a major K-pop and Korean culture festival series held overseas every year, attracted 4 million viewers, far more than the combined number of visitors to the festival in the past eight years, according to its organizer Monday. Under this year’s banner theme “KCON:TACT [...]
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Members of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK said Friday they felt a deeper sense of responsibility when releasing their new song, “How You Like That.” “This may sound too lofty but we want to send out a positive and hopeful message through the new song,” BLACKPINK’s main singer Jisoo said [...]
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The return of three A-list South Korean actors who finished their military duties has drawn wide attention from fans of Korean TV dramas at home and abroad. But their new dramas were performing far below expectations, and even the stars with large followings abroad were unable to give them [...]
SEOUL, June 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Actor Park Bo-gum is expected to join the Navy’s military band in August to fulfill his mandatory military service, officials said Wednesday. Last month, the 26 year-old celebrity applied for a naval military band and honor guard unit. After going through a performance test and interview, he was deemed [...]
SEOUL, June 23 (Korea Bizwire) — From the most casual to the most ravenous followers, the international K-pop fan community is as varied and nuanced as any ethnic group or nationality. Given the diverse demographics, any attempt to broadly define K-pop fandom is bound to end in futility. But on close observation, one common trait [...]
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — It’s natural for youth to torment themselves at life’s pivotal moments, like potentially life-changing career decisions, all the way to the most mundane choices, such as what to have for dinner. For today’s youth, who face constant uncertainties, K-pop boy band Seventeen on Monday presented a dose of comfort [...]
SEOUL, June 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Leading female voices in K-pop today are gearing up for comebacks later this month, closing off the first half of the K-pop industry’s 2020 release calendar largely shaken up by the new coronavirus pandemic. Solo artist Sunmi plans to make a comeback with her new single, “Pporappippam,” on June [...]
SEOUL, June 19 (Korea Bizwire) — K-pop group BTS was the biggest seller of music in album format in Japan during the first half of 2020, according to Japan’s main music sales tracker Friday. “Map of the Soul: 7,” the septet’s studio album released in February, has sold 429,009 copies in Japan to date to [...]
SEOUL, June 15 (Korea Bizwire) — A concert streamed by K-pop giant BTS on Sunday became the world’s biggest paid online music event in terms of number of viewers, the band’s management company said Monday. Big Hit Entertainment announced that “Bang Bang Con: The Live,” which was streamed over around 100 minutes remotely from a [...]