As a fan of K-pop we realize, at least after the initial new found fanaticism, that there are things to be serious about: your fave groups’ comeback, their health and well being or your next new K-drama fix; things that you don’t have to be serious about–your fave idols’ current hair color or any new rumor circulating about them in tumblr; and things that you have no reason to be serious about–like what they ate for breakfast and who they may or may not be dating. But what it all boils down to is that what we should really take seriously is the positives that we as fans of the K-popiverse enjoy–the music, the drama, the fun–and forget about all the other things that really don’t matter and are seriously none of our business.
The following are some of the events and news that happened in K-pop that you can totally be serious about.
Serious about Love:
The love fest keeps rolling on in the K-popiverse as actors Jo In-sung and Kim Min-hee were outed by Dispatch as dating. The couple first met 12 years ago during a photo shoot, but only reconnected earlier this year at a common friend’s gathering and have been dating for the past four months. (SportsSeoul)
Actors Han Jae-seok and Park Sol-mi got married on April 21st and celebrated with many of their celebrity friends. (StarFNNews, GValley)
- It was also revealed that singer LYn and MC the Max‘s vocalist Lee Soo have also been dating for about four months. What was in the air in South Korea in January? Or was it just too cold and everyone needed a snuggle buddy? (Newsen)
Serious about K-pop:
Making comebacks this week: Jay Park with the ab-tastic MV for “Welcome,” 4Minute slides further down my ‘like’ scale as they forget more than “What’s Your Name” (like their own style) in their latest release, Teen Top released an MV for “Walk By…,” Ntrain wants you to “Come Back to Me,” LYn released “Breakable Heart” featuring Jun-hyung of BEAST, Ladies’ Code release a behind-the-scenes montage MV for “I Won’t Cry,” Roy Kim sings of “Spring, Spring, Spring,” and Juniel makes a cute come back with “Pretty Boy.”
- I was seriously creeped out within the first 10 seconds of SHINee’s new MV for “Why So Serious” with Minho doing that weird walk/dance with a freaky look on his face. I also fail to understand why K-pop groups continue to release songs of the same name–especially when a rival had released a similarly monikered (or in this case hooked) hit previously. And I can’t believe they did the MV without Jong-hyun.
- Woollim Entertainment debuted Yoo Ji-ae–she was the girl in INFINITE‘s “You’re My Oppa” show–with “Delight” whose MV starred B1A4‘s Baro, and U-KISS‘ sub-unit uBEAT debuted with “Should Have Treated You Better” at M!Countdown in Taiwan.
- After some anticipation due to their hilariously off beat member introduction teasers, LOEN‘s new boy band HISTORY finally debuted with “Dreamer.” The song’s not perfect, but I like it because it’s different and memorable. I’ll wait to see their lives before deciding if this group will actually make ‘history’ or be just another flash in the pan.
- T-ARA‘s sub unit T-ARA N4 continues to tease us for their debut, Younha released a teaser for her second mini album Just Listen, and it looks like SECRET is going back to the ‘cute’ route in their latest teasers for their come back with “YooHoo.”
- K-rock band The Rock released an MV for “Tiger,” which is a cover of the song “Eye of the Tiger” from 80s rock band Survivor which was famous for being the theme song of the movie Rocky III. The song is for the OST of the Hwang Jung-min movie Fist of Legend.
- Baek Ji-young released “Spring Rain” for the Gu Family Book OST, ZIA released “Dream on You” from the Jangok Jeong OST, and K-pop Star 2 winners Akdong Musician released “I Love You” for the All About My Romance OST.
- K-indie group Coreyah (they appeared on Top Band Korea 2) released a really cool shadow puppet like MV for “Whale of a Time,” and CHEEZE released its first album Recipe! and a fun video game inspired MV for the title track “Mango.” I’m guessing they might have been a bit hungry while writing the music for the album.
Serious about K-drama:
- Bad news for fans of Yeo Jin-gu, the drama he was to star in as the lead, Could We Love, lost its time slot on SBS. The drama had also announced that Kim So-hyun and Yoon Sang-hyun were cast for the show before reports that the show had been pushed back due to writing and filming delays were released. (Newsen)
- C.N. Blue front man Jung Yong-hwa decided to step down from playing the second male lead in the Lee Min-ho/Park Shin-hye upcoming drama Heirs. He apparently had a difference of opinion with the production company over the portrayal of the character… really?! It’ll be interesting to see who now picks this project up and just how the character will be portrayed that made Yong-hwa drop out. No skin off Yong-hwa’s back though as he was already busy with C.N. Blue’s new
album and their Blue Moon World Tour, I was wondering how he was going to fit in filming a drama. (OSEN)
- This week also brought about the end of the K-drama Incarnation of Money a story of how greed destroys the life of a young man and how he fights to get justice for his family. The drama had a good finale showing with ratings of 14.2% and 16.8%. What’s really sad about these kinds of dramas is that the theme is too common–of greedy individuals destroying innocent people’s lives over money–it’s something also being portrayed in Lee Suneg-gi and Suzy‘s drama Gu Family Book.
- Debuting this week was Mandate of Heaven, a sageuk medical action thriller starring Lee Dong-wook, Song Ji-hyo and 2AM‘s Im Seulong. The drama just barely came in second place to When A Man Loves with ratings of 9.8% and 9.9% for its first two episodes .
- Gong Hyo-jin and So Ji-sub have been confirmed as the leads in the Hong Sisters‘ (You’re Beautiful, Best Love) upcoming drama Master’s Sun which will be a horror rom-com? That genre doesn’t quite compute with me, but we’ll have to wait until August to see just how horrifically funny their romance can be. (WStarNews)
Serious about K-variety:
The debut of SBS’ new K-variety Barefoot Friends starring head MC Kang Ho-dong, singer/MC Yoon Jong-shin, comedian Yu Se-yun, singer Kim Bum-soo, SS501’s Kim Hyun-joong, actor Yoon Si-yoon, Super Junior’s Eunhyuk, and After School’s UEE also happened this past week. Being a K-variety fan I was super excited to see the show and was… kind-of disappointed. I think the cast is great and there seems to be good chemistry, but the pacing of the show was super slow and made it a bit boring. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one disappointed as the show didn’t get great ratings for it’s debut. I do hope it just needs some time to find it’s self because I really want the show to do well. The one positive surprise of the show from the first episode–Yoon Shi-yoon is K-variety gold.
- KBS World has been uploading a series of easy cooking tutorials to their YouTube channel featuring some of your favorite idols. The latest one features E-young and Ka-eun of After School and teaches you how to make Tarak, a milk porridge. And it has English subtitles.
