Hello everyone, and welcome back to SB Week in Review! It’s been another eventful week in K-pop: here’s what you may have missed.

Headlines

  • Beast have finally officially launched their new independent label, Around Us Entertainment. Meanwhile, Hyunseung has renewed with Cube. Best of luck to the men on their future endeavours.
  • Jackson has been accosted yet again by sasaengs, this time at Beijing Airport. While the Got7 member didn’t get on his knees, he did plead those surrounding him to not impinge on his personal space.
  • Cho PD seems to have some answering to do: not only is he in a legal tussle with Hunus Entertainment, Topp Dogg leader P-Goon has accused him of withholding substantial performance fees from the group.
  • Like Seo Ha-joon, a number of male celebrities are being accused of appearing in NSFW videos.
  • Tao is said to have won a lawsuit against SM, but SM is appealing the court’s decision.
  • After a dramatic few hours, Running Man has announced it will be ending in February. What initially appeared to be the departure of two more cast members after Gary, turned out to be a move by executives to bump Kim Jong-kook and Song Ji-hyo and relplace them with Kang Ho-dong. With Kim and Song expressing their disappointment and surprise at this news, the resulting outrage saw Kang decline the show’s offer to become a season 2 cast member. After posting a public apology, Running Man decided to end the show with its current cast.

Debuts & Comebacks

  • Big Bang have finally dropped the MADE album. What did you think of new songs “Fxxk it,” “Last Dance,” and “Girlfriend?”
  • A Pink released Dear, a special album for fans. Our reviewer enjoyed the new mixes of popular A Pink songs, how about you?
  • DSP‘s co-ed group K.A.R.D debuted with “Oh Nana.”
  • Haseul is the third member to be revealed from Loona, with “Let Me In.”
  • This week’s Station release is Shin Young-jae and Luna‘s “It’s You.”
  • Brand New Music artists have teamed up for a winter single.
  • Lyn‘s “20th Century Carol” features an adorable pair of kids.
  • Giriboy and Jungigo team up for “Days of Disturbance.”
  • Beatwin is back with “Rising Sun.”
  • VAV released “Here I Am.”
  • Untouchable‘s Sleepy dropped “Oh Yeah.”
  • Hoody dropped her debut EP On and On.

Teasers & Announcements

  • Uhm Jung-hwa is returning to music with her fantasy literature-inspired 10th album, The Cloud Dream of the Nine.
  • Hello Venus is having a proper comeback in January!
  • Exo‘s new winter album For Life is out on the 19th. The MV will feature members of Exo who are not Chen so I officially don’t care about this anymore.
  • Cosmic Girls are joining the January comeback rush.
  • Dreamcatcher continues teasing its re-debut.
  • It’s almost Gayo time: SBS is planning a massive collaboration stage of over 90 rookie idols for its Boxing Day festival. Will you be tuning in?
  • EXID will be debuting in China on the 20th, with a local version of “Cream,” from their studio album Street.
  • 2PM‘s Taecyeon will be having his Japanese solo debut.
  • Highground is teasing a possible Black Skirts collaboration with Junsu.
  • New girl group Heart will be debuting on the 26th.
  • All-blonde rookie girl group MyB have officially disbanded; members Moonhee and Hayoon will be debuting in new group Bonus Baby.
  • Thriller film Master will be showing on screens in North America next month. The film stars Lee Byung-hun, Kang Dong-wan, and Kim Woo-bin.
  • YG boy groups Winner and iKon will apparently be having comebacks in 2017. Winner also made their first V app appearance since the departure of Taehyun, who was most recently seen DJing.
  • Lee Hyori has been teasing her comeback on an fresh Instagram account. I can’t handle the suspense.

Other News

  • Actors Hyun Bin and Kang So-ra have apparently only been dating for a couple of weeks, but the couple has already been outed to the media. Either way, congrats to the couple!
  • Junsu held his final concert before his enlistment in February.
  • G-Dragon and CL both made Hypebeast‘s Most Influential 100 list for 2016.
  • Meanwhile, Taeyang got into hot water, again, for fetishising black people and Black American history, again.

(10Asia[1][2], BizEnter, Dreamcatcher Official Site, Ilgan Sports, Instagram[1][2], K-cent, Korea Herald[1],  Sports Chosun, Sports Donga, TV Report, Twitter[1][2][3], V Live, X Sports News[1][2][3][4][5], YG-Life, Yonhap. Images via: Happyface Entertainment, Allure Korea)