It was a pretty huge week in K-pop last week with the release of the first part of Tablo‘s comeback albums, photo shoots galore of your favorite idols, Seoul Fashion Week, and Girls’ Generation‘s vie for world domination.  Did any of these events make my top 5 Things that happened in K-pop last week? Keep reading to find out what I thought was a bit more special than the rest.

 

5. Yoo Ji-tae & Kim Hyo-jin’s pre-wedding pics

Actors Yoo Ji-tae and Kim Hyo-jin will appear in a wedding pictorial for Harper’s Bazaar November issue.  The teaser pics released look blissful, the couple who will be married on December 2nd at the Shilla Hotel.  The couple, coincidentally enough, first met at a photo shoot.  They have been dating for nine years and this is the first photo shoot  they have done as a couple since they began dating.  Best wishes to Yoo Ji-tae and Kim Hyo-jin for a happy and prosperous marriage.

4. SNSD brings The Boys out

The album was underwhelming, the MV was a hot mess, and the ‘rapping’ in the song… is better left unmentioned. But, it’s good to have SNSD back in K-pop.  I like the girls, and I just wish SM Entertainment would give them better material that plays to their strengths–which is NOT rapping.  The live performance of “The Boys”, however, was much more appealing.  The girls look great, love Soo-young with her long hair and Sunny with the short blond wig, and I enjoyed their comeback performances.

 

3. Introducing the new Invincible YouthIt was announced that season two of Invincible Youth was being cast and that filming was soon to begin.  The new G8 consists of returning member Sunny and her SNSD sister Hyoyeon, KARA‘s Ji-young, Amber of f(x), miss A maknae Suzy, Bora of Sistar, Jewelry‘s Yewon, and Woori of Rainbow.  The first season was surprisingly touching as the girls learned to work on the farm, make relationships with each other, and show fans their personalities.  The new cast looks promising with many variety rookies, but in the end it’ll all come down to the chemistry between the girls.  I’m disappointed that there’s no ‘unnie’ figure to replace Kim Shin-young, with the MCs announced as Boom, Ji Hyun-woo, and Lee Su-geun–it’ll bring a different feel to the show.

2.  Sexy in the City

Yoon Eun-hye and T.O.P. brought ‘sexy’ to the city, New York City to be exact, in a photo spread for W Korea and Calvin Klein Jeans and Underwear.  The pics were taken in a hotel in New York (again I question why one would travel to another country for a photo shoot and take pics in a hotel?) and T.O.P. and his noona heat up the page as modern and chic lovers.  The whole spread will be available in the November issue of W Korea.

1. Tablo makes a comeback

He went through hell and back fighting against a relentless netizen group  dead set on proving that he was lying about attending Stanford University.  And even though in the end Tablo proved that he wasn’t lying, there are still doubts, his career was left in shreds, his family was shaken, and he was no longer the same confident singer of Epik High we all came to know and love.  Luckily, the music lives on in him and after taking a long break and switching ‘families’ to YG Entertainment, Tablo released part one of his comeback the album Fever’s End which included the track “Airbag” featuring Naul, that was just…  awesome.   Tablo, it’s good to have you back.

Those were the 5 Things I LOVED in Kpop last week, were they yours?

(Harper’s Bazaar Korea, XportsNews, YorkTimes, KPOPLIVEMUSIC, StarNews, WKorea, DailyNews, jstasimplesub2)