As the first month of summer comes to a close what did K-pop have in store for us? A whole lot of photoshoots: Lee Hyori rocks cobalt blue for summer and Clio, B1A4 showed off their bedroom looks for CeCi, TaeTiSeo appeared in Elle girl, 2PM‘s Woo-young shows off his physique on the cover of Men’s Health, C.N. Blue’s Jong-hyun showed off his charms for ELLE girl, Jessica and Krystal pose for Marie Claire, Yoochun cools off in Bali for ELLE, and about a half dozen more.
On the music scene, 2PM’s Taec released a lullabye for Hottests, Rainbow’s Ji-sook and Min Hoon-ki released “Let’s Start Love” for the I Love Lee Tae-ri OST, Lena Park released her first album in three years Parallax, former SJ member Hangeng released his new song “Wild Cursive,” After School had a “FlashBack,” Busker Busker wants to know “If You Really Love Me,” Verbal Jint releases “You Deserve better” featuring Phantom‘s Sanchez and Mighty Mouth‘s Sangchu in the MV, 2AM’s Changmin and Seulong sing “The Road of Tears” for the Dr. Jin OST, 2BiC released “Love Again” featuring Ailee, Converse releases the “#Peepshow” MV featuring Jaurim, Aziatix, and Idiotape, Huh Gak released “One person” for the Big OST, new girl group Crayon Pop debuts with “Bing Bing,” and Alex released “If It Were Me” for the I Do, I Do OST.
The following are my picks for the top 5 Things that happened in K-pop last week. If you’re not up-to-date on your K-pop beware, because spoilers most definitely will ensue.
5. A Baek Ji-young doppelganger
Vocally, that is. On the latest episode of Star King, a young woman who is blind came on and shared her vocal and piano playing talents. She performed Baek Ji-young‘s song “Don’t Forget” from the K-drama Iris‘ OST in front of Baek Ji-young who happened to be one of the cast members on the show that day.
4. Hyori Heats up the Hommes
Lee Hyori looks great in her latest photo spread for Officiel Hommes. The pics were for Calvin Klein’s Fall 2012 Jean & Underwear collection and she worked alongside top model Matthew Terry. I loved it, but I wonder what Hyori’s boyfriend thinks of the shoot?
3. Jo Kwon is Da One
Jo Kwon‘s solo debut is a peppy upbeat summer jam– a totally different vibe from the eternally heartbroken 2AM, but nothing less than I would expect or want from its leader. The MV is quirky with a fairy tale kingdom ruled by their lovable yet vulnerable king Jo Kwon who fights for their right to party. Look closely in the MV and you’ll see snippets of Jo Kwon’s former virtual wife Ga-in — long live the Adam Couple! Is it just me, or does Jo Kwon look younger than he did before?
2. Becoming a Gentleman
There were a lot of great scenes from last week’s episodes of A Gentleman’s Dignity as the boys play around in the locker room, Se-ra and Tae-san‘s relationship takes the next step, and the girls cheer the boys on at their baseball game. But I think my fave part was Jung-rok finally shows his wife Min-sook some consideration–although it might be too late for their relationship.
1. Juniel shines on Sketchbook
FNC Music‘s rookie female soloist, Juniel appeared on last week’s Yoo Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook. There’s been a lot of comparison’s between Juniel and IU, and I can see why after watching this episode. Juniel’s sunbae, C.N. Blue‘s Jung Yong-hwa appeared alongside her for moral support and to perform their duet “Fool.” I’m digging Juniel’s vibe and like both “Fool” and “Illa Illa” and can’t wait to see more of Juniel in the future.
Those were the 5 Things I LOVED in K-pop, were they yours?
(SBS, XSportsNews, Arts News, The Korea Economic Daily, Big Hit Entertainment, SBS, KBS2)
