Articles by Hong Yoo
Hong Yoo
yoohong@heraldcorp.com-
'Indie musicians in need of government aid': report
There are 3,168 indie musician groups (7,545 individual indie musicians) in Korea as of February, according to a report by Xindie Lounge on Friday. Xindie Lounge is organization that helps promote indie music and is operated by the Record Label Industry Association of Korea. Musicians who have held at least two in-person shows were included in the survey. Most of the indie musicians, 2,806 groups, were based in Seoul. “The number of indie musicians continues to grow but they face difficult
K-pop March 8, 2024
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Rapper Swings returns with LP ‘Upgrade V’
Rapper Swings released “Upgrade V,” his first studio album in four years, on Friday. His fifth LP carries 17 tracks led by the title track “Work,” composed by Swings. “I wanted to make a song that is perfect to tune into when working out at the gym, a song that will give you a boost of energy when lifting weights,” Swings said on MBC’s variety show “Point of Omniscient Interfere” on March 2. Swings took 16 years to come up with the tracks for
K-pop March 8, 2024
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Jennie of Blackpink’s collaboration with Matt Champion coming soon
Jennie of Blackpink is introduces her new single, “Slow Motion,” on Friday. The upcoming single is a collaboration between Jennie and Matt Champion, vocalist of American boy band Brockhampton. Matt Champion announced the release by posting a poster of the single in which he tagged Jennie. Jennie and Matt Champion had teased the single, each unveiling snippets of the single on their official social media channels. The single is a drum and bass song that will deliver a fresh and unique
K-pop March 7, 2024
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K-pop artists spotted front-row at Paris Fashion Week
Iconic K-pop artists were invited to the Paris Fashion Week F/W 2024 as K-pop broadens its reach to the fashion industry. Paris Fashion Week F/W 2024 for womenswear took place in Paris, France Feb. 26- March 5. Lisa of Blackpink attended the Louis Vuitton show on March 5. She posted a picture taken with Nicolas Ghesquiere, the women’s creative director of Louis Vuitton, and wrote that “the final fashion week show ended beautifully.” Hyein of NewJeans and Nayeon of Twice also at
K-pop March 7, 2024
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Karina of aespa apologizes for surprising fans with dating news
Karina of aespa has apologized to her fans for surprising them with the news of her dating actor Lee Jae-wook. The artist posted a handwritten letter to her Instagram account Tuesday in which she explained that it took her some time to talk about dating the actor with the MY fandom as she wanted to be cautious about it. “I know how MYs who have supported me must be disappointed thinking back on the things we’ve said to one another. Because I understand your feelings, I feel even more
K-pop March 6, 2024
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Le Sserafim makes career debut on Billboard’s Hot 100
K-pop girl group Le Sserafim made its career debut on Billboard’s Hot 100 with the title track of their new EP “Easy” landing at No. 99. The song, released on Feb. 19, debuted at No. 99 with 5.2 million official streams and 1,000 downloads sold in the US in its first full tracking week (Feb. 23-29), according to Luminate. This makes Le Sserafim the sixth K-pop girl group to reach the Hot 100 following Wonder Girls, Blackpink, Twice, NewJeans and Fifty Fifty. The hit single &ldq
K-pop March 6, 2024
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Cube Entertainment to launch first boy group in eight years
Cube Entertainment is launching a new boy group called Nowadays in the first half of this year. The launch was made official with the agency establishing social media channels for the upcoming boy group on Monday. Nowadays is the first boy group debuting from Cube Entertainment in eight years. Pentagon was its last boy group. Nowadays consists of five members whose details will be unveiled in the days leading up to their debut. Cube Entertainment dropped a clip of the group members roaming aroun
K-pop March 5, 2024
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NCT Dream to return with new EP, ‘Dream()Scape,’ this month
NCT Dream is set to unveil its first release of the year, “Dream()Scape,” on March 25. Led by the title track “Smoothie,” the new album will carry five side-B tracks: “icantfeelanything,” “Box,” “Carat Cake,” “Unknown” and “Breathing.” Through the EP, NCT Dream hopes to relate with young people and overcome shared difficulties together, according to a statement by SM Entertainment. NCT Dream released a teaser ima
K-pop March 5, 2024
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NCT Wish to approach listeners with easy-listening, bright songs
NCT Wish, a Japan-based K-pop boy group of SM Entertainment, began promoting its debut single, "Wish," in Korea with a press conference in Seoul on Monday. BoA took part in the event, introducing the group as she took part in producing them, from selecting the final members through an audition, to directing the group's singing and dance. SM collaborated with the Japanese entertainment agency Avex Trax to introduce the six members through the “NCT Universe: Lastart” com
K-pop March 4, 2024
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Are virtual idols for real?
From getting good songs and choreographies to holding in-person concerts, things are tough for virtual idols in the highly competitive K-pop scene. “When our virtual idol group Plave was looking for songs, our group members said they felt the composers were not giving them A-level quality songs. That led the group to make their own songs,” said Lee Sung-gu, CEO of Vlast, during a press conference in Seoul last Monday. Vlast is a virtual intellectual property startup that created and
K-pop March 4, 2024
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Twice tops Billboard 200 with 13th EP ‘With YOU-th’
K-pop girl group Twice topped Billboard’s main album chart, the Billboard 200, with its 13th EP, “With YOU-th,” released Feb. 23. This is the group’s first time landing at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the best-performing albums in the US based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums. The K-pop act competed a
K-pop March 4, 2024
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V of BTS to release English digital single, ‘Fri(end)s’
V of BTS will release a new English digital single, “Fri(end)s,” at 1 p.m. on March 15. Big Hit Music announced the upcoming release on the global fan community platform Weverse on Monday. The upcoming single is a pop-soul R&B love song with English lyrics, according to the agency. In the run-up to the single’s release, the label released a teaser clip Sunday showing parts of V’s daily life. V’s latest single will be the artist's first release in six months
K-pop March 4, 2024
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[Exclusive] Singaporean businessman David Yong to establish K-pop label in S. Korea this year
David Yong, CEO of the Singapore-based Evergreen Group Holdings and a K-pop artist and producer, plans to establish a K-pop label in Seoul this year. “I’m applying for some licenses this year to establish a full-fledged label in Korea. We are working on getting a management team (and are) looking for the right candidates to join us," Yong said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Feb. 28. "From then, we are definitely (going to get) new talents in, signing established a
K-pop March 3, 2024
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[Well-curated] Learn Hangeul with Pinkfong, get a caricature done and treat yourself to expensive dessert
Learn Hangeul with Pinkfong If you have young children, nephews or nieces who are Pinkfong fans, head to Pinkfong Hangeul Playground at The Hyundai Seoul in Yeongdeungpo-gu, western Seoul with them this weekend. The Pinkfong Hangeul Playground, which opened Monday, is an offline experience area, with photo zone, media zone and study zone teaching visitors Hangeul, the Korean writing system. Children can take selfies with Pinkfong characters at the photo zone and enjoy a special animation at the
Culture March 1, 2024
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Seventeen’s ‘FML’ wins IFPI Global Album Award for 2023
K-pop boy group Seventeen’s 10th EP “FML” was named the winner of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Global Album Award for being the biggest-selling album worldwide last year. This is the first IFPI Global Charts Award for Seventeen. A nonprofit organization based in London that represents the global recording industry, IFPI presents the award to the artist whose album finishes at No. 1 on the IFPI Global Album Chart. The chart calculates an album’
K-pop Feb. 28, 2024
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