Stray Kids teamed up with veteran hip-hop musician Tiger JK. The band uploaded a teaser trailer for “Topline,” the fifth track from its upcoming third full album, on Friday. It starts with Han rapping and shows the eight members before focusing on Tiger JK.

The song is written by 3Racha -- songwriting trio of Bang Chan, Changbin and Han -- that performed together with the senior last year at MAMA Awards.

LP “5-Star” is due out on June 2 and consists of 12 tracks including lead track “S-Class.” It comes about two years after its previous studio album “Noeasy,” its first album to sell a million copies. Main track “Thunderous” topped the iTunes top songs chart in 52 regions. Last year, the band dropped two EPs, “Oddinary” and “Maxident,” and both topped the Billboard 200.

NCT’s Taeyong to team up with Red Velvet’s Wendy

Taeyong of NCT will join forces with Wendy of Red Velvet for his forthcoming solo album, according to label SM Entertainment on Friday.

The two musicians will sing “Move Mood Mode,” one of the seven tracks on his EP “Shalala.” Taeyong wrote both the lyrics and melody for the medium-tempo tune that sings of young love. The NCT leader of the band is the first member of the band to put out a solo album, and he was involved in writing and producing all tracks.

The EP will be unveiled on June 5.

In the meantime, NCT is expected to release a full-group album later this year. It will be the fourth studio album from the 22-member act, down from 23 as Lucas left last week, whose previous album was from December 2021.

Le Sserafim, NewJeans “most influential” in Asia: Forbes

Le Sserafim and NewJeans made the annual list of “Forbes 30 under 30 ASIA 2023” published Thursday.

The 2023 list, now in its eighth year, highlights 300 outstanding young entrepreneurs and trailblazers who are innovating and thriving across industries in the Asia-Pacific region, said an accompanying article.

Le Sserafim, despite losing one of the members early on, “is now one of the most popular K-pop girl groups,” generating 150 million views on YouTube with debut single “Fearless” and 140 million with next EP “Antifragile,” it wrote.

NewJeans is “on track to become another K-pop sensation,” said Forbes underlining how the teenage members cinched deals with venerable fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry.

Monsta X’s I.M to drop solo EP next month

I.M of Monsta X will bring out a solo EP on June 23, announced agency Sony Music Entertainment Korea on Friday.

EP “Overdrive” will be rolled out across the world after a series of teaser photos and trailers for music video. It is the musician’s first new music since he signed with the agency and signals a new chapter as a solo artist.

He is the only member of the six-piece group who did not renew his contract with management company Starship Entertainment last year, but will stay as a part of the band.

Separately, the band celebrated its eighth anniversary on Sunday with a livestream. Minhyuk was absent from the event, as he is serving his military duty.

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