IU to drop self-penned digital singleSinger-actress IU is set to release a new digital single Thursday, marking her first musical release in exactly a year. According to her agency, Edam Entertainment, "Unknown Planet" will drop at 6 p.m. across all major music streaming platforms. The single arrives one year after "Bye, Summer," her surprise digital single released Sept. 10, 2025. The new project features double lead tracks -- "Unknown Planet" and "Dear My Crazy Soulmate" -- both of which were written by IU herself. These songs are also slated to be included in her upcoming sixth studio album, a release that was previously delayed due to health concerns. The music video for "Dear My Crazy Soulmate" will be released alongside the single, with IU appearing as a police officer. Following that, the video for "Unknown Planet" is scheduled to debut at midnight Tuesday.Sep 10, 2026By Yonhap
Deaf K-pop group Big Ocean returns with 'Love Sign,' most mature release yetThe world's first Deaf idol group, Big Ocean, dropped its digital single "Love Sign" on Wednesday, its first release in about four months.. The trio — PJ, Chanyeon and Jiseok — put the track out on major streaming platforms. The title plays on the idea of star signs and astrology, layering it over the group's identity rooted in sign language. American, British and Korean sign languages appear in the chorus hook, according to Parastar Entertainment. Set to a nu-disco groove with lyrics mostly in English, the single targets listeners abroad. A revival of late-1970s and early-'80s dance music, nu-disco pairs a steady four-on-the-floor beat with funk basslines and synthesizers, and has become a recurring choice for K-pop acts with strong overseas audiences. The agency described the track as the group's most mature work to date, built on "gaze, mood and moments where silence carries the strongest presence" rather than direct declarations. Big Ocean heads to New York Fashion Week next, launching the "Big Ocean × Andy Yu Debut Collection" with designer Andy Yu on Thursday (local time). TheSep 9, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Stray Kids launches 'Stray City' festival tour in Latin AmericaK-pop boy group Stray Kids will kick off a new Latin American festival tour, "Stray City," in Bogota this week, the group's agency, JYP Entertainment, said. Co-produced with U.S. concert giant Live Nation, the festival places the eight-member act at the center of a multi-city run that will also hit Buenos Aires and Mexico City later this month. The band, which has already played flagship stages, such as Lollapalooza Chicago and New York's Governors Ball Music Festival, will headline "Stray City" shows in Bogota on Wednesday (local time), followed by dates in Buenos Aires on Monday and Tuesday next week and Mexico City on Sept. 25–26, the agency said. The shows will also feature local artists as well as JYP's multinational boy group Nexz, it added. Stray Kids will headline Brazil's "Rock in Rio," one of the world's biggest music festivals, on Friday, making it the first K-pop act to do so.Sep 9, 2026By Yonhap
Seventeen's DK embarks on Army duty after heartfelt message to fansSeventeen member DK begins his military service Tuesday, becoming the sixth member of the group to enlist. His agency, Pledis Entertainment, announced Tuesday that the singer is entering an Army training center and is scheduled for discharge in March 2028. He is expected to enter quietly without a separate event, out of consideration for other recruits and their families. The day before, DK held a livestream on a fan platform to bid fans farewell, repeatedly touching his hair as if still getting used to how short it was. “My head looks so round now,” the singer said through tears. “I turned on the livestream to tell you I’d serve well and come back, but I don’t know why I’m crying.” “I think I’m tearing up because it’s starting to feel real. It’s not that I’m afraid of enlisting,” he added. “I think I’m going to miss you all a lot.” In July, all 13 members of Seventeen, which debuted in 2015, renewed their contracts with Pledis Entertainment for a second time, reaffirming their commitment to staying together. “The 13 of us decided to stay together becauseSep 8, 2026By Hankookilbo
&TEAM's 2nd Korean EP leaves deep markFor nearly four years, &TEAM has told the same story from the same vantage point — nine wolves learning to survive as a pack — and built some of the most physically demanding choreography in HYBE's catalog to sell it. On its second Korean EP, released Tuesday evening, the group reaches the chapter where those wolves meet someone, and the sound softens to match. "Mark on Me," out at 6 p.m. through YX Labels, arrives some 10 months after "Back to Life," the mini album that served as the Japan-based group's official Korean debut last October. Where that record traced nine members rediscovering their instincts, the new one follows a lone wolf who begins to change after meeting a loved one. "Until now, the story was mostly about wolves who had been alone finding each other and growing together, but this time, it's about the wolf boys meeting one person," Harua said at a media showcase at SBS Prism Tower in Seoul's Mapo District on Tuesday, hours before the release. "Because that person understood the scars they were carrying, they open up and grow. That's the change we focused on." The tiSep 8, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
'Long time no see, Haerin': NewJeans star makes 1st official appearance in 18 monthsNewJeans member Haerin reunited with fans after a long absence, making her first official public appearance following her return to ADOR. The NewJeans member arrived at a luxury beauty brand’s photocall at Lotte Department Store’s Jamsil branch in Songpa District, Seoul, on Monday afternoon. She appeared pairing a black dress with a white cardigan, displaying a polished and sweet look. The celebrity was greeted with cheers and "We missed you" chants from her fans as she walked to the photo wall, taking a variety of poses in front of assembled fans and photographers while showing her signature feline features and charm. In November 2024, NewJeans members announced that they were terminating their exclusive contracts with ADOR and began pursuing independent activities under the name NJZ. However, the group halted activities in March 2025 after a court granted ADOR’s request for an injunction. Hanni, Haerin and Hyein confirmed their return to ADOR last December, while Minji remains in talks over whether to return. This article from Xportsnews is adapted by a generative AI system and edSep 8, 2026By Xportsnews
H.O.T. at 30: How 5 teenagers helped build K-popThe idol-group blueprint that K-pop now exports to the world, with its casting and training pipeline, its fixed member roles and its official fan club color designations, was drawn up in under five years through a group of teenagers who introduced themselves to the nation on live TV. That was 30 years ago. On Sept. 7, 1996, a group of five male high school students — Moon Hee-jun, Jang Woo-hyuk, Tony An, Kangta and Lee Jae-won — stepped in front of viewers as H.O.T. and performed "Age of Violence." Viewers went wild, teenagers in particular. The name stood for "High-five Of Teenagers," and the group was the first act SM Entertainment, a top K-pop conglomerate, planned and built from scratch. Their timing was almost too perfect. Earlier that year, another boy band, Seo Taiji and Boys, had retired, and teenagers installed H.O.T. in the vacancy the trio had left behind. Where Seo Taiji and Boys had been a self-made phenomenon, H.O.T. were assembled on purpose. The group was the product of meticulous planning and strategy at SM, which set a concept first and then filled it by casting andSep 8, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
BTS' Jung Kook hits 500 mil. Spotify streams with self-written 'Still With You'"Still With You," a self-written solo track by BTS member Jung Kook, has surpassed 500 million streams on Spotify, his label said Tuesday. BigHit Music said the 2023 song became Jung Kook's sixth track to cross the 500-million mark on the global music streaming platform, following "Seven," "Standing Next to You," "Left and Right," his duet with Charlie Puth, "3D" and "Dreamers." "Seven," Jung Kook's official solo debut and biggest hit, has now topped 3 billion Spotify streams, the company said. "Still With You" peaked at No. 33 on Billboard's Global Excl. U.S. chart and No. 62 on the Billboard Global 200 upon its official release in July 2023. The track is built around a wistful intro featuring the sound of rain and a lonely, jazz-tinged melody, while Jung Kook's soft vocals lend it a calm, intimate mood. BTS is scheduled to kick off the South American leg of its "ARIRANG" world tour with two shows in Bogota on Oct. 2-3, the label said.Sep 8, 2026By Yonhap
BTS concludes N. American tour with record-breaking LA showsK-pop supergroup BTS has wrapped up the North American leg of its "ARIRANG" world tour with a series of record-setting concerts in Los Angeles, drawing an estimated 1.92 million fans across the continent. All 31 shows in 12 cities, including El Paso, Mexico City and New York, had sold out in advance, with the North American dates attracting about 1.92 million fans during the five-month run, according to its agency, BigHit Music on Tuesday. The North American tour ended with four-day concerts at SoFi Stadium last Tuesday and Wednesday, and again Saturday and Sunday, which drew roughly 282,000 attendees and were watched in 177 countries on the K-pop fan community platform Weverse. Including its previous shows at the venue in 2021, BTS has now played eight shows at SoFi Stadium, more than any other act, and has drawn about 496,000 fans, a record figure in the stadium's history. The group marked two birthdays during the run with fans singing celebratory songs for Jungkook last Tuesday and for RM on Sunday ahead of his Sept. 12 birthday. The crowd lit the stadium with golden and blue flashligSep 8, 2026By Yonhap
EVAN channels fear of being forgotten into music on 1st mini albumSix months after walking away from one of K-pop's biggest boy bands, EVAN says the album he has built as a soloist is organized around his anxiety — that an artist whose music stops reaching people has "ceased to exist." The soloist, known until March as Heeseung of ENHYPEN, dropped his first mini album "DEATH OF ME" on Monday. He hosted a press event just hours ahead of the official release at the Grand Peace Palace at Kyung Hee University in eastern Seoul. The idea behind the album, he explained, came from a line in the anime "One Piece" about how a person truly dies only when they have been forgotten. "When my music no longer reaches people, my reason for existing as an artist disappears," he said. "This album carries the meaning that I won't let that happen." Belift Lab, the HYBE label that announced his departure from ENHYPEN on March 10 and that he remained with as a soloist, describes "DEATH OF ME" as an album about holding onto a tangle of emotions and moving forward anyway. The group, meanwhile, has continued as a six-member act since the announcement. Asked directly about theSep 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
