It was a Very Good week indeed for K-pop fans, except maybe for Kamilias. DSP Media announced that while Gyuri, Hara and Seung-yeon of Kara would be renewing their contracts, Nicole and Ji-young would not and would let their contract run out next January. Nicole’s plans seem to be solid in leaving the group and maybe pursuing a solo career, but Ji-young’s plans seem to still be a bit ambivalent. I guess fans should be grateful for the two years more that they had since talk of Kara breaking up surfaced in 2011, but it is still sad that Kara as we know it will never be the same come 2014.
- In what seems to be growing trend, celebrities fed up with numerous malicious attacks by netizens are taking a stand. Recently police identified a netizen that was spreading numerous malicious rumors about YG Entertainment artists and the company will be suing the individual. Baek Ji-young also recently filed charges against a netizen who was spreading malicious comments about her miscarriage. It’s probably a good idea to ‘nip it in the bud,’ instead of letting it go on and having something like Tablo’s cyber witch hunt happening. (TVReport, Newsen)
- Speaking of Tablo, Epik High‘s front man recently sustained a shoulder injury while performing in China. He returned to Korea and will undergo further inspection of the injury and possibly shoulder surgery. (SportsChosun)
G-Dragon invited 1,000 fans to join him in creating his latest MV for the the song “Who You.” G-Dragon announced the video shoot that occurred on October 5th on his twitter and said that he would also be directing the MV.
- Lee Joon is getting rave reviews for his performance in An Actor is an Actor. The film recently was shown at the Busan International Film Festival special “Conversing with the Audience’ showings in which Lee Joon, Director Shin Yeon-shik, and co-star Kang Shin-hyo sat on a panel to speak with the audience about the film. Tickets for the showing reportedly sold out in a minute. The film will debut nationally on October 24. (Newsen)
In K-pop:
- Block B made their long awaited return to K-pop after contract dispute with their original management company Stardom Entertainment. Now this is the Block B we all know and love. It’s very good to have them back.
- Secret‘s Song Ji-eun made her solo come back with “Hope Torture“ and Clef Project‘s rookie female soloist Roo released the MV for the song “In My World.” She has a great voice and I think we’ll be seeing more of her in the future.
- The actress Park Se-young released an MV for her song “Shall We Dance” which features K-indie band Standing Egg, Tiny-G add some sexy to their brand of cute in their latest release “Miss You,” Joo Young sings of a “Popstar” and Brown Eyed Soul’s Young Jun released the dreamy “Driving Road” featuring rapper Paloalto.
- Seo In-young made her come back with the help of Dynamic Duo‘s Gaeko in “Love Me.”
- Superstar K4 finalist and We Got Married newlywed Jung Joon-young made his official debut with the release of his album Spotless Mind and two versions of the MV for the title track. The album was inspired by the 2004 Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jung Joon-young has an awesomely unique voice and his debut song is spot on.
- Standing Egg return “Once Again” with the help of Han So-hyun of 3rd Coast.
- T-ara continue to tease “Number Nine,” 2EYES announce their stellar return with “Shooting Star,” Soulstar will sing “In the Autumn,” AoA recently announced their come back, indie rock band Jaurim released a teaser for “Goodbye Grief” from their upcoming ninth album, and IU is on a teaser extravaganza–this week with “Modern Times,” “Love of B,” “Wait” and “Red Shoes.” SHINee will be back again this year with their 5th mini album Everybody with a live stream event on the 6th, a live come back on the 10th through M! Countdown and the official release of the album on the 14th. They’ve recently released a couple of teasers including this highlight medley.
- BoA released the short version PV of her song “Message” in which model/actor Kim Jae-rim co-stars new girl group TREN-D released their debut MY for “Candy Boy” and rookie FLA SHE returned with “Oh Ye Yo” and K-pop Star 2‘s Lee Mi-rim (who if I’m not mistaken was being called the little Yoo In-na) who was a member of of the girl group YouU on the show will be debuting with the girl group TINT at the end of this month.
In K-drama:
- The Hong Sisters’ latest K-drama, the horror rom-com Master’s Sun ended this week with a ratings high of 21.8%. It was a good drama with it stars Gong Hyo-jin, So Ji-sub and Seo In-guk giving frighteningly good performances. It was a much better drama than the sisters’ last, Big, which was somewhat of a disappointment to fans. Debuting next week on SBS in the time slot that Master’s Sun is vacating–Heirs. Someone in SBS’ K-drama section must have saved the country or something in a past life: their last two K-dramas in the Wednesday/Thursday time slot I Hear Your Voice and Master’s Sun, both were ratings hits and now Heirs. If Heirs doesn’t also become a hit–there’s gotta be something wrong in K-dramaland.
- Joo Won sang “Love Medicine” for the OST of his K-drama Good Doctor which will end its run next week.
It continues to be a great year for Lee Bo-young as she took home the Daesang at the Korea Drama Awards. It was a good night all around for the K-drama I Hear Your voice as Jung Woong-in, Lee Jong-suk and its director Jo Soo-won also won awards and Lee Bo-ypoung and Lee Jong-suk won the Best Couple award. (UnionPress)
- Coming off her successful starring role in Who Are You, it was announced that actress So Yi-hyun joined the cast of Man from the Stars where she will join Kim Soo-hyun and actress Jun Ji-hyun in her first return to a TV drama in 14 years.
- Have you seen the latest teaser of the Yoon Eun-hye, Lee Dong-gun and Jung Yonghwa drama Future’s Choice? In the drama, Yoon Eun-hye’s future self comes back in time to stop her from marrying her future husband and tries to get her to go after ‘the one’ that got away. The drama debuts on October 14th following the conclusion of Good Doctor.
In K-variety:
- Although Joo Won‘s current drama Good Doctor is almost done, his future schedule must be jam packed because the actor has announced that he will be leaving 1N2D due to his upcoming musical and overseas activities. PD Lee Sae-hee has announced that they will not bring on anyone else to fill his spot. It’s really a shame that Joo Won is leaving the show–it was great seeing him in variety. (MStyle)
- Lee Seung-gi fans rejoice! It’s confirmed that he will join Na PD (former PD of 1N2D) in a female special of Grandpas Over Flowers. Lee Seung-gi will be playing travel guide boy to actresses Yun Yeo-jung (66), Kim Ja-ok (62), Kim Hee-ae (46), Lee Mi-yeon (42). The show won’t air until late November, though. (MovieJoy)
(Seven Seas; DSP Media; YouTube [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]; SBS)
