Whether good or bad, here are some things that happened this past week that are definitely worth shouting about.
- Good News for BBCs! Block B is set to return under new management, Seven Seasons, in what will be the mega comeback month of October–Blocktober, Part 2? Things didn’t look good when Block B lost its court case back in June against its former management company Stardom Entertainment, but insisted that they would never work under Stardom again. Apparently over the past two months, the Block B members along with representatives from both Stardom Entertainment and their new management company Seven Seasons, have been working out a mutually beneficial compromise. Block B has definitely been involved in more than their fair share of controversy and misfortune, so lets all hope that this will be the start of something good for them. (sbscnbc)
Super Junior‘s Heechul completed his two years of military service and was released on August 30th. Being away for two years hasn’t lessened his popularity as he is already being pursued to jump back into the celebrity game. Heechul was an exemplary recruit an even got an award for his dedicated service and high quality of work. As soon as he was released, he joined Instagram and started releasing a ton of pics of him being a civilian again to his followers. (Newsen)
- Actors Ji Sung and Lee Bo-young left for Spain to take their wedding pictures. After the successful run of her last drama I Hear Your Voice, Lee Bo-young announced that she and longtime love, Ji Sung, would be getting married in September. (TVReport)
- Things are still up in the air for DMTN’s Daniel and his marijuana distribution arrest. He’s admitted to the acharges and wants to try and wrap up his case as soon as possible. The prosecution has asked for one year in prison and an almost 7 million won monetary penalty. Daniel’s lawyers are asking for leniency from the court and hoping for lesser or suspended charges. (SportsChosun)
- The ‘Happy Ending’ nightmare seems to be never ending for Se7en. Rumors recently resurfaced that he and Park Han-byul had broken up and that she was now dating LA Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin. A representative from Park’s management company has said that she and Se7en are still together and that rumors that she is dating Ryu Hyun-jin are unfounded. The Ministry of Defense has also stated that rumors that Se7en, Sangchu and other celebrity recruits that were given time in the army jail as punishment because of the scandal all served their full sentences after reports were that some had been released serving less time than what they were supposed to.(dailian, MyDaily)
Roy Kim left South Korea on the 25th to return to his studies at Georgetown University in the US. The Superstar K4 winner had been recently involved in plagiarism scandals for a couple of his songs, but he claims that returning to school had always been the plan as he only took a year off to try out his singing career with his audition for Superstar K4. (Star)
- Actor Kwon Sang-woo is livid about rumors that he is dating TV personality Kang Ye-bin. The actor personally updated his official fan cafe denying the rumor and saying that he would pursue legal action against those that started the malicious gossip. Kwon Sang-woo is married to actress Son Tae-young, who recently made her come back to acting in You’re the Best Lee Soon-shin, after getting married in 2008 and giving birth to their son Luke in 2009. (Segye)
- SM Entertainment to take over the K-popiverse? That’s what it seems like as its branch SM C&C has already merged with Woollim Entertainment and it seems like more companies are in its line of sight. SM Entertainment is reportedly trying to hang with the big boys by becoming a global music group like Sony and Universal, but they need to build up their presence at home first. Which is why SM C&C is looking to ‘merge’ with more of the smaller labels in South Korea. One of their next main targets? Starship Entertainment.(unionpress)
In K-pop:
- The Royal Pirates made their official debut on the 25th with the MV for the song “Shout Out.” The Korean-American band from California band might be familiar to some of you for their YouTube videos in which they made rock covers of some of your favorite K-pop hits. The band which formed in 20004 was formerly known as Fading From Dawn, but changed their name after bassist and hyung of guitarist and vocalist Kim Moon-chul, Richard Kim, died in a car accident in 2008. James Lee joined Kim Moon-chul and drummer Kim Soo-yoon as the new bassist in late 2009.
- Beast released an MV for the song “How To Love” which includes behind the scenes shots and handwritten messages from the members to their fans, BTOB makes a classy come back with “When I Was Your Man,” Kim Ye-rim released the “Rain,” and Spica returns after some training with their X-Unnie Lee Hyori with “Tonight.”
- Teen Top made a triumphant return with “Rocking.” Lucky fans were able to see them perform it first and live at KCON 2013 and according to our very own Lindsay–they were terrific. The choreo is pretty sick, but apparently slightly dangerous as Chang-jo tore a ligament during one of their practice sessions.
- Lyn released the MV for “I Like This Song” which apparently a lot of people like.
- Rookie boy band Airplane returns with the song “Give Me A Chance.” They debuted in January with the digital single for “So Pretty” and “Give Me A Chance” is their second single release. The song is kind of addicting and the MV is sweet.
- SMTown put together a special live showcase along with Naver Starcast for Exo, A Midsummer Night’s Growl, which was MC’d by Super Junior’s Shindong. In the 90+ minute show the members introduced themselves, answered questions and showed off their talents. Unfortunately the official video isn’t subbed, but they’re out there.
- Teasing come backs were BTS, Kara with “Damaged Lady,” Ladies’ Code has been releasing teaser images for their “Pretty, Pretty” comeback scheduled for September 4th, and Big Bang‘s G-Dragon has been teasing images of his come back solos effort Coup D’etat–is he trying to overthrow the K-popiverse?
- Congratulations are in order as D-Unit celebrated their 1st anniversary earlier this month–but just recently released a remix of “Before the Weekend” to celebrate, U-Kiss celebrated their 5th year together on August 28th, and BoA celebrated her 13th anniversary on August 25th.
In K-dramas:
- Yu Seong-eun released “Because Love Grows” for the Who Are You OST, Baek Ji-young contributed the song “Is Crying” to the Good Doctor OST, 4Men releaed the song “Love Love Love” for the Empire of Gold OST, Yoon Mi-rae aka Tasha released the song “Touch Love” for the Master’s Sun OST. It’s a sweet and soulful love ballad–something different than what you would expect from Tasha. Believe me, if I could make up plausible excuse to have to touch So Ji-sub like Gong Hyo-jin does in the drama–I would. By the way, am totally still waiting for an official MV for Nell‘s awesome contribution to the Two Week‘s OST, “Run.”
- It’s been confirmed that C.N. Blue front man, Jung Yonghwa, will be joining Lee Dong-gun and Yoon Eun-hye in the time travelling drama Future Choice. It’s Yonghwa’s first drama after starring in Heartstrings two years ago and it is Lee Dong-gun’s return to the small screen after 5 years since 2008’s Night After Night and his release from military Service in 2012. The drama will debut in October after the run of Good Doctor on KBS2 and will be competing against other mega October K-dramas such as Medical Top Team and The Heirs (which Yonghwa was supposed to co-star in, but dropped out of and now band mate Kang Minhyuk is a part of). October is gonna be a busy month for K-drama fans. (newshankuk)
In K-variety:
- Expect new couples to be joining Taemin and Na-eun on We Got Married. It’s been reported that real life couple Jo Jung-chi and Jung In and the Jinwoon-Go Jun-hee couple will be leaving the show. The move is said to be part revamp of the show and partly for the individuals who will be further pursuing their individual careers. (TVReport)
- New Friday variety show Star Diving Splash got off to a good start last week coming in second in ratings to Kim Byung-man’s Law of the Jungle. Watched the show and have to say–I’m not sure how good it’ll continue to do because it was kind of boring. They do have a lot more celebrities competing so maybe it’ll continue to catch viewers’ interests. (dailian)
