Mnet’s new idol competition show “Road to Kingdom” has been unveiled, before its official premiere on April 30. Seven boy bands will go against each other and showcase their charm through various performances. The viewers will vote on their favorite team and stages, and the final winner will have a priority to join the subsequent show “Kingdom.” Teaser clips of the bands’ first performances were released Monday online along with a preshow preference poll

K-pop April 3, 2020

Founder and executive producer of Cube Entertainment Hong Seong-sung announced Tuesday that he was leaving the label, about a month after the firm’s ownership changed. He wrote on his Twitter that “I am leaving Cube Entertainment which I had bet my life on” and “I will stand in front of public again in some other way.” On his reasons for leaving, he said “It didn’t take much time for me to realize they, whom I thought would be good partners that prov

K-pop April 1, 2020

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, concerts and music festivals worldwide have been canceled or postponed, including BTS’ world tour in Seoul and North America and the Coachella festival, at which Big Bang plans to make a comeback after a two-year hiatus. But many K-pop artists and labels have made the best out of the situation by utilizing what they know best -- social media and online platforms. Idol groups including GFriend, Loona and Pentagon have celebrated their comeback with

K-pop March 31, 2020

Late Goo Hara’s brother Goo Ho-in is pushing forward his petition to legislate a “Goo Hara Law,” while also juggling a lawsuit against his mother over the singer’s inheritance. During a recent interview with local publication Woman Chosun, he spoke candidly on his reasons for the legal battle, only three months after the singer passed away. “I am wary of how my acts have been portrayed as mere defamation against our mother. I petitioned for the ‘Goo Hara L

K-pop March 27, 2020

Boy band Golden Child on Tuesday streamed a full version video of its first solo concert, “Future and Past,” on Twitter, attracting almost 650,000 views during the three-hour run. The footage was released at 8:28 p.m. here as a surprise for fans around the world, many of whom may be coping with self-isolation amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The band performed 24 tracks, including debut song “DamDaDi,” for the concert that was originally held in January in Seoul.

K-pop March 26, 2020

The first three episodes of Big Hit Entertainment’s education initiative “Learn Korean with BTS” were released Tuesday. Available free of charge on Weverse, a fan-community app created by the label, each is a three-minute-long compilation of footage of BTS from shows like “Bangtan Bomb” and “BTS Episode,” repeating a simple phrase or expression. Here’s our quick review: Fun and attention-grabbing Learning a foreign language can be exciting

K-pop March 25, 2020

The world’s largest music streaming platform Spotify is ramping up to launch its services in Korea. According to industry sources on Tuesday, Spotify has recently set up its Korean office at a WeWork building in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul, with Peter Gradelius, the firm’s head of corporate legal, registered as the Korean chief. Speculation has been growing about Spotify’s imminent launch here. During its second-quarter earnings call last year, CEO Daniel Ek pointed to Kore

K-pop March 24, 2020

Big Hit Entertainment, home to global sensation BTS and super rookie TXT, is getting ready to relocate to a new fancy office building in central Seoul. According to industry sources on Thursday, the building construction has been almost completed, while the interior work is still underway. “Expectations are high among industry people about the new office building, as the firm’s chief brand officer Min Hee-jin is known to be overseeing the interior work,” a source close to t

K-pop March 19, 2020

Naver’s music-streaming service Vibe has recently announced a payment system that it believes is more transparent and profitable for artists. Currently, streaming platforms such as South Korea’s Melon and Sweden’s Spotify use a “pro-rata” model that shares streaming revenue with artists by collecting all fees from users and dividing that pool of money according to the percentage of streams each artist receives. That means even if you never listen to the most fre

K-pop March 16, 2020

  Just 12 hours before global sensation BTS released its newest album “Map of the Soul: 7” last month, the group dropped a 30-second preview of lead track “On” -- not on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, but on TikTok. TikTok, a short-form video-sharing app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is becoming the go-to platform for K-pop. Since its release in 2016, the app has witnessed a meteoric rise. According to app analytics site Sensor Tower, its downloads worldwide

K-pop March 9, 2020

Donations for Korea’s fight against coronavirus led by BTS fans, collectively known as “Army,” exceeded 400 million won ($334,000) over the weekend, according to the Korea Disaster Relief Association on Monday. As of 10 a.m., 9,230 donations worth a combined 425.3 million won had been given to the organization under names such of “Bulletproof Boy Scouts,” “BTS” and “Army.” “The actual amount is likely much higher than the official co

K-pop March 2, 2020

Mixed-gender quartet KARD has returned to the local music scene after a five-month hiatus, the longest break they’ve had been since debuting in 2016, with fourth mini-album “Red Moon.” This five-track album might be the group’s last mini album for a while, as J.Seph has to enlist in the Korean Army by the end of the year to fulfill his military duty of about 18 months. Unlike the group’s latest single “Dumb Litty,” a song described as “very agg

K-pop Feb. 12, 2020

K-pop boy band iKON dropped its third EP “i DECIDE” Thursday, returning to the music scene after a yearlong hiatus. The title of the five-track album shows the sextet’s determination to choose their own path, and has garnered fans’ attention as it sets the direction of iKON’s new identity as a six-piece group. It is their first album since former leader B.I left the team June last year amid drug purchase allegations. His abrupt departure forced the album’

K-pop Feb. 6, 2020