Hi everyone, and welcome back to SB Week in Review! No doubling up this week, this review is single — unlike some idols (see below):
Serious News
- The South Korean Parliamentary Election took place on the 13th. Park Geun-hye‘s conservative Saneuri Party lost its 16-year parliament majority. Slowing economic growth, increasing household debt and a high unemploment rate are said to be factors influencing this outcome. Main oppostion Minjoo Party benefitted the most from the turnaway from Saneuri.
- The Seoul Metropolitan Council is in the process of introducing a welfare program for unemployed youth. Only 3,000 Seoulite jobseekers would be allowed into the program, but there are bigger problems. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has filed a petition against the program to the Supreme Court. A decision will be made in the upcoming months.
- A stylist working under a large agency is being investigated by police over their drug use. There is speculation about who said stylist is, but nothing has yet been confirmed.
- Taeyeon is the latest idol to go public about harassment from sasaengs. The idol’s phone number was leaked, leading to phone calls and messages coming in from different countries.
Comebacks & Debut
#ConanKorea took place over the weekend; the special saw US late night talk show host Conan O’Brien:
- Receive a warm and enthusiastic reception at the airport
- Pimp Kakao
- Creep out his Korean teacher
- Donate a market-bought octopus to an aquarium
- Make a cameo appearance on One More Happy Ending
- Hang out at the DMZ with Steven Yeun
- Meet a cute gamer and a monk who is cooler than Conan could ever be
- Learn Tae Kwon Do
- Feature in JYP‘s “Fire” MV
- … And more. What was your favourite part of Conan’s South Korea special?
- SM‘s new boy group NCT debuted its first sub-unit, NCT U over the weekend as well.
- JeA released the MV for solo single “Bad Girl.”
- 4Minute put out a a 360VR video for “Canvas” off their latest mini Act. 7.
- K-pop Star 3 contestant Sam Kim debuted with My Name is Sam.
- Rapper Heize dropped “Don’t Come Back” featuring Beast‘s Jun-hyung.
- Starship Entertainment rapper Gun released the MV for “Reload.”
- Tiny-G member Mint released “Already Go Lady” under the name Mintty.
- Untouchable member Sleepy roped in B.A.P‘s Yong-guk for an assist on his new track, “Body Lotion.” The track was also produced by Giriboy.
- This week’s SM Station release is from Heechul, Mamamoo‘s Whee-in and Jungmo of The Trax, called “Narcissus.”
- Eric Nam may have left After School Club, but we’ll now be able to see him on We Got Married with screen-wife Solar of Mamamoo. I wonder what their couple name will be?
- Epik High made their Coachella debut today, and will be performing next Sunday as well; while we wait for fancams, check out the collaborative process that led to the creation of this poster.
Teasers & Announcements
- Super Junior‘s Yesung will be making his solo debut with Here I Am. Fun fact: the KRY sub-unit solo debuts have actually happened in the same order as their names (Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and now Yesung).
- A Pink‘s Eunji will also be making her much anticipated solo debut with mini-album Dream. She has also produced the title track, “Heliopsis.”
- A new teaser for “My Star” off the other half of Lee Hi‘s Seoulite has been released. The half-album itself drops on the 20th.
- Lovelyz continues to put out teasers for their new trilogy concept.
- … As is Seventeen, for their first full album.
- Up10tion has put out an album preview ahead of the release of third mini
- Twice has sold out its pre-orders for comeback album Page 2.
- Girl group Berry Good is gearing up for the release of first mini album, Angel, on the 20th.
- Another girl group making a comeback is Two X with new agency Star Gaze Entertainment. The group had originally debuted under J.Tune Camp.
- Boy group Lu:kus will be leaving its agency, Pan Entertainment.
- Romeo‘s agency, CT Entertainment, is set to be acquired by Hunus Entertainment.
- Two more girl groups have announced line-up changes:
- Wanna.B‘s Seoyoon has left the group, while Roeun and Lina (Girl’s Day Minah‘s sister) have joined.
- Mercury has added new member Seo A.
- Produce 101‘s girl group IOI is set for a May 4th debut.
- Infinite‘s Woohyun will be making his big screen debut, playing a school teacher in Mongdang Branch School Olympics.
- Vixx has got fans excited with the concept film for upcoming release Zelos, which drops on the 19th.
Other News
- Brown Eyed Girls member Narsha is happily dating. Her boyfriend his apparently involved in the fashion business, and is the same age as Narsha. Congratulations to the couple!
- Sadly, Oh My Girl‘s health issues continue, with Seung-hee being admitted to hospital after fainting backstage at Music Core this week. We wish Seung-hee full recovery, though it may not happen.
- Ex-Day6 member Jun-hyeok has reportedly started a new YouTube channel.
(Daum, Sports Donga[1][2], Instagram, The Korea Times, MBC, SM Entertainment, Team Coco, Tenasia, TV Report, The Wall Street Journal, Xsports News, YouTube[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Images via: SM Entertainment, Team Coco, YG Entertainment, GQ)
