The bandmates of IZ*ONE from Japan returned to their home boarding an airplane together Thursday.
 
Miyawaki Sakura, Honda Hitomi and Yabuki Nako eagerly greeted fans gathered at the airport, but upon hearing their warm parting words, turned solemn. Hitomi welled up with tears and the other two comforted her.
 
The group was disbanded Wednesday as its contract with CJ ENM expired, wrapping up the 2 1/2 year career. The Korean members will return to their original agencies except for Cho Yuri, who will sign up with a new label. The Japanese members are yet to announce their future plans, although there is speculation that Sakura may join a K-pop girl group or that she might be picked up by Big Hit Music.
 
“Even though we’re disbanding, the fact that I was part of IZ*ONE and you of WIZOne will not be gone. It will be there forever,” said Sakura in her Japanese radio program Thursday.
 
The 12-piece girl group was formed through an audition program and gained popularity both in Japan and Korea. Its final activity was a standalone online concert held in March.

ITZY gives taste of upcoming music 

A day before release, Itzy stirred up anticipation for its forthcoming EP with a teaser clip that was uploaded at midnight.
 
In the trailer for the music video of title track “Mafia in the Morning,” the five members in shiny black costumes captured the eyes with choreography themed after gangsters and guns.
 
It incorporates strong, addictive beats to the lyrics that boldly declare how they will approach their love interest and take his heart while keeping their emotions veiled. “Mafia” also is an acronym in Korean that roughly translates as “finally, an inevitable morning.”
 
The EP “Guess Who” is the band’s fourth and will be unveiled Friday. The quintet will perform the title track for the first time via an online showcase for fans that will be broadcast on its official YouTube channel. The EP sold over 260,000 preorders as of Wednesday, a record for the band that sold 200,000 units with previous EP “Not Shy.” 

Blackpink’s “Ice Cream” amasses 300m Spotify streams  

Blackpink’s “Ice Cream” surpassed 300 million streams on Spotify, according to label YG Entertainment on Thursday.
 
This is the fourth song of the band to reach the milestone, following “Kill This Love,” “How You Like That” and “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” and the fifth counting the collaboration with Dua Lipa, “Kiss and Make Up.”
 
“Ice Cream” features Selena Gomez and landed at the top of iTunes worldwide song chart in August last year, peaking at No. 13 on Billboard’s Hot 100, the highest mark for a K-pop girl group. The music video raked in 500 million views on YouTube by February, the band’s 10th to rake in such viewings. Four of its videos -- “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” “Kill This Love,” “Boombaya” and “As If It’s Your Last” -- have over 1 billion views, the most among K-pop artists, as of April.
 
The quartet has 21.2 million followers on the global music platform as of Thursday, the highest among female bands from around the world.

BTS shares timetable for Butter promotion

BTS uploaded an image with the timeline for promoting its upcoming digital single “Butter” on Thursday.
 
According to the schedule, it will start releasing four concept clips every four to six days, starting from Sunday. Teaser photos will follow in two installments over two weeks and a teaser trailer for the music video will be floated on May 19. The single, along with the full video, will be unveiled on May 21.
 
A link for the official website for the single became available as well where more updates will be posted leading up to the drop of the song that is known to be an upbeat dance pop number and the artists’ second full-English song after last year’s mega hit “Dynamite.”

By Hwang You-mee
(glamazon@heraldcorp.com)