Welcome to another edition of SB Week in Review! Here’s all the news you might have missed:

Headlines

  • The end of f(x) coincided with the group’s 10th anniversary, as Amber and Victoria announced their departure from SM Entertainment. SM’s contract with Luna has also expired.
  • The allegations against Mnet concerning the manipulation of votes in ProduceX101 snowballed into an investigation of the entire Produce series as well as yet another Mnet survival show, Idol School. Police may also look into Show Me The Money and Superstar K.
  • Ku Hye-sun and Ahn Jae-hyun‘s public and messy falling out continued to grab headlines as Ahn’s lawyer announced Ahn’s intention to officially file for divorce. The said lawyer also revealed himself to be Bang Jung-hyun, the lawyer who helped a whistle-blower report Jung Joon-young‘s KakaoTalk chat rooms, and laid to rest rumors about Ahn’s friendship with Jung. Dispatch too got involved, as it released a lengthy selection of text messages exchanged between Ahn and Ku. Kim Seul-gi and Oh Yeon-seo have denied any involvement in Ahn’s alleged affair.
  • Police have announced that they will be investigating the drug-related allegations against B.I.

Debuts & Comebacks

  • Check out our playlist of the week’s releases above!
  • R&B legends Brown Eyed Soul returned after four years with “Right (ft. Sole)“.
  • Jang Woo-hyuk, member of another legendary group, H.O.T, wants you to stay with him in “Stay (ft. Babylon)“.
  • Mamamoo‘s Wheein released her second solo single album, Soar, and the MV for “Goodbye“. Check out our review!
  • Rookie boygroup Vanner released a single album 5cean : V in which they fall in energetic, “Crazy Love“.
  • CLC attempt to take each other down in the fun MV for their latest digital single “Devil“. Watch out for our review!

Teasers & Announcements

  • FT Island announced the release of a mini album, Zapping, and title track, “Quit”, scheduled for September 9. Promotions are in full swing, as the group shared an MV teaser, a highlight medley, live clips of the vocals and concept photos.
  • Seventeen shared a comeback trailer and official photos for their upcoming comeback, An Ode, scheduled for September 16.
  • Dreamcatcher dropped a mystery code as well as teaser images ahead of the release of their Special Mini Album, Raid of Dream, on September 18.
  • Maroo Entertainment‘s trainees on ProduceX101, Lee Jin-woo, Lee Tae-seung, And Lee Woo-jin will be forming the line up of the agency’s new boygroup, Teen Teen. The agency released a scheduler announcing the group’s debut with a mini album, Very, On Top on September 18.
  • Laboum has begun dropping teaser images of the individual members in anticipation of their upcoming comeback with their third studio album, The Two of Us, on September 19.
  • Oneus released a teaser for their upcoming mini album, announcing the date of their comeback to be September 30.
  • The Avengers of K-pop, Super M, continued to drop teaser images and individual member concept trailers, in the lead up to their debut on October 4.
  • Super Junior will be returning on October 14. The group released a promotion calendar and a comeback logo for their 9th album.
  • Akdong Musician will be making a comeback with a full album sometime in September. The group shared an exquisite album mood teaser.
  • Kard will also be making a comeback sometime in September.
  • Ab6ix have announced a comeback, scheduled for sometime in October.
  • I.O.I‘s much anticipated reunion and comeback has reportedly been pushed back to December.

Other News

  • SM Entertainment is reportedly planning to launch its own Crypto currency.
  • It was the week of departures as girl group Marmello announced its disbandment and Matilda and Dream Note each saw two members part ways with their respective agencies.
  • In2it‘s maknae Kim Sung-hyun, who last appeared on ProduceX101, also parted ways with the group and MMO Entertainment with an unusually open post on his Instagram account. Among other things, Sung-hyun revealed that he has been paid only ₩50,000 (approx. $42 USD) a month for the past year; and that MMO’s parent company, CJ ENM, originally demanded an early termination fee of ₩350 million (approx. $291,500), which was brought down to ₩120 million (approx. $100,000) upon negotiation.
  • Jang Woo-hyuk attended police questioning regarding the violation of H.O.T’s trademark during the “Forever High-five Of Teenagers” concert in October last year.

(Chosun, Instagram [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6], Naver [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10], Star News, Topstar, YouTube [1] [2]; Images via MMO Entertainment, Pledis, SM Entertainment)