Welcome back to another edition of SB Week in Review! The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and there’s plenty of lovey-dovey releases to celebrate the arrival of spring. Or, for those not in the mood for seasonal romance, April 14 is Korea’s Singles Awareness Day — aka Black Day. Whether you’re daydreaming in the flowers or gorging yourself on jjajangmyeon, here’s all the news you might have missed this week.

Headlines

  • Surprise news landed this week with the announcement — and confirmation — that Park Yoochun is engaged to Hwang Ha-na, the chaebol daughter of Namyang Dairy Company.
  • Trailblazer director Park Nam-ok passed away this week at the age of 94. Park is credited as being the first female South Korean director.
  • Actress Kim Young-ae also passed away this week from pancreatic cancer.

Debuts & Comebacks

  • Check out all this week’s releases in the playlist above!
  • Eunji (A Pink) came back as a soloist with “The Spring.”
  • Something was missing in Teen Top‘s “Love Is,” and it wasn’t just former member, L. Joe.
  • Before he officially returns on April 18, Yesung shared the pre-release “Hibernation.” “Paper Umbrella” will be the lead single of Yesung’s upcoming solo mini, Spring Falling. 
  • Boys24 Unit Black debuted with “Steal Your Heart.”
  • Davichi‘s Lee Hae-ri kicked off her solo debut with the pre-release “Pattern.” Her official debut album is set for release on April 19.
  • Wassup partied as four in the MV for “Color TV.”
  • EXID also came back as four with the funky bop, “Night Rather than Day.”
  • Zico swept the charts with his latest solo, “She’s a Baby.”
  • Kisum wished for her lover to “Sleep Tight.”
  • Dara released the acoustic OST track “One Step” from her upcoming film of the same name.
  • Hyorin teamed up with Changmo for the EDM track “Blue Moon.”
  • Exo‘s Baekhyun wants to “Take You Home” in this week’s SM Station release.

Teasers & Announcements

  • Laboum will return on April 17 with Miss This Kiss.
  • Have the teaser photos for Cube‘s upcoming Triple H Unit convinced you that this isn’t a half-hearted attempt at Troublemaker 3.0?
  • M&H Entertainment has started teasing Kim Chungha‘s solo debut. Up first is her pre-release track, “Monday-Friday” on April 21.
  • IU really is giving us quite a breadth of releases this comeback. The latest MV to be teased is “Ending Scene” co-starring Kim Soo-hyun. G-Dragon will also be featuring on Palette, which drops on April 21.
  • Get ready for Minzy to debut on April 17 with “NiNaNo.”
  • SF9 is really playing up the cyber world theme for this comeback. The latest MV teaser used Kakao chat to build anticipation for “Easy Love.”
  • DIA also played with social media in the MV teaser for “Will You Go Out With Me?“
  • Jessica will be celebrating her birthday with a comeback. The singer took to Instagram to drop teasers for “Because it’s Spring,” due out on April 18.
  • Junggigo‘s Across the Universe is set for release on April 20.
  • YG confirmed iKon‘s comeback with an Instagram clip of the group’s MV filming. However, no official comeback date has been set.
  • Casting News:
    • Pristin‘s Xiyeon already has her first hosting gig as the new MC of Music Core alongside Astro‘s Eunwoo.
    • Sooyoung (SNSD) will star in MBC‘s new weekend short drama The Man Who Sets the Table. 
    • Show Me the Money 6 is looking pretty promising with big names like Dynamic Duo, Tiger JK, Bizzy, Dean, and Zico confirmed as producers this week. Bizzy and Tiger JK will be donating all their income from the show to the Social Welfare Society organization.
    • Eunji will be joining the cast of Crime Scene 3.

Other News

  • While Winner was busy preparing for their Fate Number For comeback, former member Nam Taehyun was apparently setting up own label, South Buyers Club.
  • Ha:tfelt (Yeeun, Wonder Girls) formally signed with Amoeba Culture, making her the label’s first female artist.
  • G-Friend, CNBlue and Twice will all be appearing at K-con NYC this year. Will you be attending?
  • A YouTuber who made sexual remarks about IU during a broadcast will be facing charges of defamation and sexual harassment.
  • Moon Geun-young appears to be in good health following four surgeries for Acute Compartment Syndrome earlier this year.
  • U-Kiss‘ Eli will hold a formal wedding ceremony with his wife of three years this June.

(YouTube, Naver: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13], Nate: [1] [2]. Images via Plan A Entertainment, SM Entertainment, Coridel Entertainment, JYPE.)