Welcome back to SB Week in Review! This week, South Koreans celebrated White Day with lots of chocolate and confessions. Spring is in the air, and the lovey-dovey comebacks are coming back in full force. Without further ado, here’s all the news you might have missed this week:

Headlines

  • Warning: Discussion of assault ahead. Rapper Iron has been arrested on charges of assault against a woman he was dating. The woman claims Iron beat her after she refused sex, as well as when she attempted to break up with him. The beatings resulted in multiple bruises and a fractured finger. Immediately following his arrest, Iron released a statement refuting the charges, claiming the woman “asked” him to hit her — as well as revealing the woman’s identity. Fans and reporters soon flocked to the woman’s Instagram, and some attempted to use her post history as justification for what happened between herself and Iron. The outing led the woman to release another statement, reminding the public that she is filing charges for being physically assaulted, and the outing of her identity has only lead to a witch hunt on her side, with her being labeled “mentally ill.” The alleged victim’s boyfriend also released text exchanges between the accuser and Iron’s sister, in which the sister apologized profusely for what her brother has done. There’s a lot left to sort through, and I’m hoping this case won’t go the way of Kim Hyun-joong‘s assault charges; where the character of the female accuser became a bigger story than the very real physical assault she was victim to.
  • The Ryu Hwayoung controversy appears to be far from over. This week a former stylist talked candidly about her disrespectful behavior on Heard It Through The Grapevine. In the fall out, it was also announced that JTBC has chosen to not have Hwayoung return for the second season of Age of Youth.
  • A photo of Twice‘s Mina and Got7‘s Bam Bam circulated this week. JYP stepped forward to confirm the photo is real; however, the company says the two artists are not dating.
  • Produce 101 Season 2 has barely gotten off the ground and is already falling under multiple waves of controversy, including: past bullying scandals, past sexual assault accusations, and questionable G-Dragon impersonations. At least we have Sungwook‘s spider crawl meme to make us laugh for the time being.

Debuts & Comebacks

  • Check out all this week’s releases in the playlist above!
  • Got7 came back with “Never Ever” and Flight Log: Arrival.
  • The progressive debut of Luna became even more confusing with the “debut” of Luna 1/3 and their single “Love&Live.”
  • Lydia Lee, the high school student who shot to viral fame with her 2015 cover of Adele‘s “Hello,” followed up her debut with “Talking to Myself.”
  • Rookie boy group MVP hit the scene with “Take It” and their debut mini, Manifest.
  • Park Shin-hye starred in the MV for Jung Joon-il‘s “Wish.”
  • Pastels abound in Kisum, Cao Lu, and Yerin‘s special collab “Spring Again.”
  • AkMu and Yang Hee-eun also came together for their own spring collaboration, “Tree.”
  • Seven O’Clock debuted with “Echo.”
  • Suran lended her vocals to Mad Clown‘s latest, “Love is Dog From Hell.”
  • Six Bomb attempted to gain attention by announcing that they invested over 100 million won into plastic surgery prior to the release of the “Becoming Prettier (After)” MV, which documents their plastic surgery journey. Is this an example of a concept gone too far?

Teasers & Announcements

  • Highlight told fans “Plz Don’t Be Sad” in a new MV teaser. Things were a bit more sombre in the pre-release MV “It’s still Beautiful.”
  • Have you been keeping up with the stunning teasers for Monsta X‘s The Clan Part 2.5: The Final Chapter <Beautiful>? Looks like we’re in for an equally “Beautiful” MV on March 21.
  • The teasers for CN Blue‘s 7℃N continue: this week we’ve been gifted both “On” and “Off” teasers, the MV trailer for “Between Us,” as well as an album highlight medley.
  • It’s almost time for Pristin‘s debut with Hi! Pristin on March 21. Along with the track list for the album, Pledis also revealed that the debut mini was produced in part by the members themselves, much like label mates Seventeen.
  • Dreamcatcher dropped the first mysterious trailer for their next comeback.
  • I’m still trying to decode the intentional use of the wrong “for” in Winner‘s first comeback teaser. Whatever “Fate Number For” turns out to be, it’s coming forth on April 4 at four pm.
  • iKon plan to follow in Winner’s footsteps with their own double title track comeback “soon.” But this is YG time we’re talking about, so expect it sometime before they debut another yet another boy group “this July.”
  • The Girl’s Day comeback is finally happening! Everyday Girls Day #5 is due out near the end of the month. The first group concept teaser and schedule has also been released.
  • IU‘s fourth studio album is scheduled for release on April 21. The comeback will also include two pre-release tracks on March 24 and April 7.
  • Oh My Girl plan to return in April. Member JinE will not be part of the comeback as she continues her treatment for anorexia.
  • Basick and RBW producer Im Sang-hyuk have formed the new hip hop label All Right Music. We can expect releases from the new label soon!
  • I.O.I.‘s Kim Chungha will be debuting as a soloist in April.
  • Minzy is also slated for an April debut. Any chance she’ll reconsider her fandom name before then?
  • Casting News:
    • UEE  and Eunji will join Law of the Jungle.
    • Seohyun landed her first lead role in the upcoming drama Thief, Thief.

Other News

  • Several idols will be sitting out promotions due to injuries and illness:
    • Brave Girls‘ Yoojung will temporarily sit out of “Rollin‘” promotions to manage her acute enteritis.
    • Himchan will also be halting his promotions for “Wake Me Up” to recover from an injury.
    • Jihyo‘s knee injury will keep her away from Twice’s “Knock Knock” stages.
    • Tahiti‘s Jisoo has been diagnosed with panic disorder and depression, and thusly will be taking some time off.
  • Both G-Dragon and Zico denied dating rumors with Sulli.
  • Sunmi has signed with MakeUs Entertainment.
  • The future is unclear for T-ara: this week they announced that their final album will be released in May. MBK then clarified that the members are still negotiating the possible renewal of their contracts.
  • F(x)‘s Amber expressed her frustrations on Instagram, prompting fans to question the future of f(x).
  • Lee Soo-man plans to launch NCT in South East Asia.

 

(Naver: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17], Nate: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7], Busan, Newsen, Facebook, Osen, XSportsNews, Korea Herald. Images via Starship, FNC, MBK.)