Articles by Hong Yoo

Hong Yoo
yoohong@heraldcorp.com-
Oh My Girl to make this summer its golden time
Oh My Girl returned as a full unit for the first time in a year and four months with its ninth mini album “Golden Hourglass” on Monday. “The title of this album is a combination of ‘golden time’ and ‘hourglass.’ Once the sand goes down the hourglass, it does not go back up on its own. But we wanted to convey the meaning that we will make our own golden time by flipping the hourglass because our golden time is now,” said Hyojung, the band's lea
K-pop July 25, 2023
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NewJeans likely to see 3 songs from 2nd EP on Billboard Hot 100
K-pop girl group NewJeans is making strides in the US, the world's largest music market. According to Ador, the agency which houses NewJeans, all six tracks of the group's second EP, “Get Up,” landed on Spotify US’ Daily Top Song Chart -- “Super Shy” at No. 10, “Cool With You” at No. 16, “New Jeans” at No. 20, “ETA” at No. 22,” “ASAP at No. 25 and “Get Up” at No. 32. This is the first time for a K
K-pop July 24, 2023
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StayC to drop 3rd EP ‘Teenfresh’ next month
K-pop girl group StayC is releasing its third mini album “Teenfresh” on Aug. 16, according to agency High-Up Entertainment. StayC unveiled a teaser poster of its upcoming album on its official social media account on Monday. The orange-colored poster shows the title of the new album with a message saying “coming soon.” The new album comes six months after the group dropped its fourth single album “Teddy Bear” in February. The single “Teddy Bear” wa
K-pop July 24, 2023
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BTS’ Jungkook debuts on UK's Official Singles Chart at No. 3
Jungkook of BTS made his successful debut on the UK's Official Singles Chart “Top 100” at No. 3 on Saturday with his solo debut single “Seven.” The Official Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company, based on sales of downloads, CDs, vinyl, audio streams, and video streams. The Official Singles Chart is one of the two most recognized music charts in the world along with the Billboard chart. Jungkook is the K-pop soloist with the second-highest record o
K-pop July 23, 2023
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NewJeans ‘Cool With You’ videos reinterpret Eros, Aphrodite, Psyche
NewJeans released two music videos for “Cool With You” from its upcoming second EP “Get Up” on Thursday. The music videos star world-renowned actors including “Squid Game” star Jung Ho-yeon as Eros, the Hong Kong actor Tony Leung as Aphrodite, and actor Micol Vela as Psyche. NewJeans’ producer Min Hee-jin again created the music videos with director Shin Woo-seok, who runs commercial and movie production company Dolphiners Film. The same team was behind
K-pop July 20, 2023
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Brave Girls rebranded as BB Girls, to drop new album early next month
BB Girls, formerly known as Brave Girls, are returning with a new album on Aug. 3. The group’s agency Warner Music Korea released a poster announcing the group’s comeback on its official social media accounts on Wednesday. In the photos, the BB Girls members exuded charisma, radiating confidence and intensity. This was in stark contrast to the refreshing mood of the band's last mini-album “Summer Queen.” This is the first time the group is releasing an album under a
K-pop July 20, 2023
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Ichillin’ ready for summer takeover with new album
K-pop girl group Ichillin’ is back with a new album, ready to take the music scene by storm this summer. Ichillin’ dropped its second mini album “I’m on It!” on Wednesday, which comes two months after the group’s fifth digital single “Siren.” Ichillin’ made its debut on Sept. 8, 2021, with the digital single “Got’ya.” The group consists of seven members — Chowon, Yeju, Chaerin, Joonie, Jackie, E.Ji and Jiyoon. The ener
K-pop July 19, 2023
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Trendz expands global activities
K-pop boy group Trendz is expanding its reach into the overseas music market. Trendz, a seven-member group, is visiting Kazakhstan this Saturday as they’ve been invited to perform at an event to celebrate a year of mutual cultural exchange between Korea and Kazakhstan. As this will be their first time visiting Kazakhstan, the group will present diverse performances including the performance of its debut single “TNT,” and other hit tracks “Who,” “Vagabond,&rdqu
K-pop July 19, 2023
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Music bodies sides with agency in Fifty Fifty scandal
The Korea Entertainment Management Association publicly sided with K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty’s agency Attrakt on the allegations and controversy surrounding the group in a press statement on Tuesday. “We urge Fifty Fifty and Attrakt to resolve their dispute revolving around the exclusive contract between them so that they do not continue to create a stir in the industry,” said KEMA. Attrakt is alleging that there has been a buyout attempt of Fifty Fifty after its rise to sta
K-pop July 18, 2023
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K-pop album exports hit record high in H1
K-pop album exports for the first half of the year came to a record high, buoyed by sales in Japan and the US, the world's largest music market. South Korea’s album exports were tallied at $132.93 million, as of June — a 17.1 percent jump on-year, according to the Korea Customs Service on Tuesday. Japan holds the throne as Korea’s largest K-pop importer, posting $48.5 million in imports in the first half of this year. The US logged the second-highest demand for K-pop album
K-pop July 18, 2023
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NCT Dream rides MBTI wave with 3rd LP ‘ISTJ’
NCT Dream has returned with the concept of using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator as the main concept of its third studio album, "ISTJ," which was released Monday. The K-pop boy band jumped on the current MBTI craze in South Korea by naming its album and its title track “ISTJ,” one of MBTI’s 16 personality types. “Producer Kenzie made this song for us. We loved the concept as MBTI is trending in Korea and we wanted to introduce the trend to people around the worl
K-pop July 17, 2023
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Line up for SM pre-debut reality show ‘NCT Universe: LASTART’ unveiled
SM Entertainment unveiled all 10 trainees who will take part in its pre-debut reality show, “NCT Universe: LASTART.” The trainees go by the names: Riku, Ryo, Haruta, Kassho, Jungmin, Anderson, Minjae, Ryu, Heitetsu, and Sakuya. These trainees are candidates who will debut as NCT’s new subgroup, one of the three new groups that the K-pop powerhouse plans to launch this year. Through the pre-debut reality show, SM will show the process of evaluating the 10 candidates to select th
K-pop July 17, 2023
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Solo debut with 'Seven' motivates BTS’ Jungkook to continue enhancing musical skills
BTS’ Jungkook finally made his official solo debut on Friday, with his first solo single, “Seven.” This solo debut comes a decade after Jungkook made his debut in the music scene as a member of K-pop sensation BTS back in 2013. “Through this single, I showed a new facet of myself that has never been shown better. The single is an addictive song that can be enjoyed easily by anyone. The first time I heard the song, I immediately thought, ‘I need to do this. This is i
K-pop July 14, 2023
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Koyote marks 25th anniversary with new single 'Wish'
Veteran dance music trio Koyote on Wednesday marked its 25th debut anniversary with a new digital single, “Wish.” “This single can be described as a very ‘Koyote-like’ single, a song that describes our music style very well. It is a powerful dance song but its lyrics are quite sad. Just like our previous songs, this song is also easy to sing along to,” said Shin Ji of Koyote during a press conference in Seoul on the day of the single’s release. The new s
K-pop July 13, 2023
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BamBam to embark on 1st standalone world tour in September
Thai rapper-singer BamBam of the K-pop boy band GOT7 is to set off on his first standalone world tour titled “Area 52” in September. Area 52 refers to unexplored places around the world. The tour is expected to offer a fruitful set list of newly arranged tracks and performances, according to label Abyss Company on Thursday. BamBam plans to have special performances that can only be seen at his solo concerts. The world tour will kick off at the Olympic Hall in Seoul on Sept. 16. BamBa
K-pop July 13, 2023
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