Welcome to December everyone! Can you believe it’s almost the end of the year? Just in case you missed anything while recovering from Turkey overload or had been busy fighting the crowds during Black Friday sales, here’s some of the things that happened last week in the K-popiverse.
- Congratulations to Jo Jung-chi and Jung In who finally made it ‘legal’ by registering their marriage! The former We Got Married couple had been dating for eleven years and instead of having a big lavish traditional wedding just went in to file their documents to become an officially married couple. Jo Jung-chi announced the news on his radio show on the 29th. (joynews)
- Love is in the air at YG Entertainment as it was confirmed that YG’s #1 producer Teddy Park has been dating actress Han Ye-seul for the past 6 months and YG producer Choi Pil-kang is dating Brown Eyed Girls‘ leader Jea. (bntnews)
Woollim Entertainment finally fessed up that Infinite‘s L and eccentric ulzzang Kim Do-yeon were indeed dating. Too little, too late with much damage done to both parties. (SportsDonga)
- Actress Han Hyo-joo‘s father was caught up in a black mailing scheme by her former managers who were threatening to release ‘personal’ photos of the actress. The culprits were caught by police and it was revealed that they in fact did not have any revealing pictures of Han Hyo-joo. (TVDaily)
In K-pop:
- Kim Young-ho sang of a “Man’s Life,” History makes their return via the streets of Berlin in “What Am I To You,” Younha pre-released a couple of MVs for songs from her upcoming album Subsonic including the one for “Home,” RedChair released “Break Up Aftereffect,” Kim Arum released the song “Leave,” M.I.B. returned with “Let’s Talk about You” featuring APink’s Bo-mi, Urban Zakapa released the aptly titled “When Winter Comes,” the DickPunks said “Goodbye Girlfriend” and Sistar‘s Hyorin made her solo debut with the song “One Way Love.” The MV stars Hyorin alongside actor Yoo Yeon-seok who is currently breaking hearts as the lovelorn Chilbongie in Reply 1994.
- 2AM were desolate in their return with “Regret.”
- Tasty made their comeback with “Day’n Night.” The song isn’t as catchy or as strong a beat as their last release, but it does show a marked improvement in their vocals.
- Power vocal quartet, Noel, released their newest album Traces and the MV for the title track “Being Forgotten.”
- The Boss look well in charge of their Korean Comeback with “Why Goodbye.”
- The JoMungeun Band released a beautiful MV for their ballad “Blowing in the Wind.”
- Nine Muses wants you to get stuck on their music with the teaser for their upcoming release “Glue,” Sweet Sorrow teased “Again And Again,” Cheeze wondered about their “Mystery Girl,” T-ARA asked “Do You Know Me” and legendary rock band Deulgukhwa teased the release of their new full album in 27 years, Deulgukhwa. The album comes a year after the band reunited after being separated or fifteen years and just months after the passing drummer/vocalist Joo Chan-kwon.
In K-drama:
- Lim Kim of Togeworl released a remake of popular 1990s group ECO’s song “Happy Me” for the Reply 1994 OST and Lunafly sang “Lacking a Sense of Direction” and Melody Day sang “There is Someone I Love” for the Pretty Man OST.
I think all Reply 1994 fans knew/hoped this was coming, the drama will be extended by one episode to compensate for the disruption in its schedule after one episode was preempted by the 2013 MAMAs broadcast. Although producers are saying that the extension is to better tell the story, I think the fact that the show is a hit with ratings increasing each episode doesn’t hurt–it’s not over till it’s over. (kilhoilbo)
- The teasers for Jun Ji-hyun‘s return to the small screen, You Who Came From the Stars, which also stars Kim Soo-hyun were recently released. The drama will debut after the completion of The Heirs on SBS starting on December 18th.
In K-variety:
- It was a big week for K-variety as the newest cast of 1N2D aired their first episode and three new varieties debuted Mnet‘s spin off of Superstar K–Super Hit, tvN‘s spinoff of Grandpas Over Flowers—Noonas Over Flowers with Lee Seung-gi being tour guide to four sunbae actresses and SM Entertainment‘s latest exoploitation on MBC Exo Showtime.
(Starship Entertainment; YouTube [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9])
