One of the most memorable moments in producing Kakao Entertainment's online audition program "Girl's Re:verse" was when one of the contestants made a rude finger gesture to the others, says producer Son Su-jung. It was the first time all 30 of the contestants' virtual characters had gathered in the metaverse, and Muneo's unexpected cursing not only caught the producers off-guard, but the other contestants as well. "(Muneo's action) smashed the boundary (of

Hwang Min-hyun opened a new chapter in his music career as a soloist by releasing his first solo EP "Truth or Lie" on Monday. "It took me almost 11 years to release an album that contains only my voice. I promise to make good music and good performances so that the 11 years can count," Hwang said during a press conference held on Monday in Seoul. The musician has been on a fairly successful path since he first set foot on the local entertainment scene more than a decade ago.

Walking into The Korea Herald studio, the seven members of K-pop group XG oozed charisma with each step. Their eyes were glistening and a slight yet poised smile was visible over each member’s face. But as soon as the bandmates sat down and uttered their first words of greeting, the tension circling them melted away to the cheerful, high-pitched laughter of the seven young women. XG conducted its first-ever exclusive media interview with The Korea Herald on Feb. 17. Here, they shared for t

SM Entertainment's starlet group aespa held its first-ever concert under the banner of "Synk: Hyper Line" over the weekend at Jamsil Arena in Seoul Olympic Park. It was a long-awaited first concert happening over two years after the group's debut in November 2020, and a much postponed return amid the ongoing internal feud of SM's management. But the two nights of majestic spectacle proved that the wait was more than worth it, and only made the audience wonder what more p

The key to staying inside the realm of stardom is making hay while the sun shines, and rapper Huh, the runner-up of the latest 11th season of "Show Me the Money," is doing just this. Less than two months after the end of the hip-hop survival show, Huh, who goes by his real name Heo Sung-hyun locally, is making a swift comeback on Friday with a two-track album titled "Midnight Law." "Some people vanish soon after getting the spotlight in a TV show because they're not

Jimin of K-pop band BTS is set to make his official solo debut in March. BTS' agency Big Hit Music on Wednesday announced Jimin will drop a new solo album titled "Face" on March 24, taking his first step as a solo musician. According to the agency, "Face" will be an album that shares Jimin's story of facing himself before embarking on a new journey as a solo artist. With the album, Jimin is set to portray his musical universe and unique talents through his charming

The feud between SM Entertainment and Hybe is escalating as the two companies continue to refute each other's position in relation to SM founder Lee Soo-man's suspected offshore tax evasion. The allegation was first made Thursday by SM's co-CEO Lee Sung-soo, also the founder's nephew, when he posted a video to YouTube exposing his uncle's alleged offshore tax evasion. In the video, the CEO claimed Lee Soo-man had established a production company in Hong Kong in 2019 unde

The revival of the group Brave Girls has come to its unfortunate end, with the quartet officially terminating its activities as of Thursday. Brave Entertainment, the label behind the four-member K-pop girl group, announced on Thursday that the band will end its activities with the members' contracts with the agency terminating that day. "The exclusive contracts of the four members -- Minyoung, Yujeong, Eunji and Yuna -- have come to an end today. With the release of the new digital sin

K-pop girl group Purple Kiss invites listeners on a journey to freedom through its mystery-packed new album, "Cabin Fever." The six-member group conducted a press conference Wednesday before releasing the album later that day at 6 p.m. The album comes just in time with the end of the pandemic. "Cabin Fever" refers to the irritability and listlessness that comes after a long period of confinement or isolation in a closed space, and the album is like a gift for people who may

As major players of the entertainment industry scramble to get their hands on SM Entertainment, the label's artists are working harder than ever to keep things running. SM Entertainment announced Wednesday that its boy band, NCT Dream, is embarking on a world tour, "The Dream Show 2: In A Dream." The concert series, which officially started in September in Seoul, is set to continue this month, extending to 22 cities across the world where the group will hold 32 shows. With the tou

Girl group StayC aspired to make "teen-fresh" another name for the group with its fourth single "Teddy Bear." The six-member group conducted a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours ahead of dropping the single at 6 p.m. that day. "Teddy Bear" marked the group's return to the K-pop scene after seven months since it last dropped its third single "We Need Love." In the meantime, the girls went on their first global concert tour and made thei

NewJeans continues to take the world by storm, with its releases recently showing a steady yet significant growth in the US music market. "OMG" and "Ditto" were the most-streamed on Spotify in the US among all regions, the world's biggest music streaming service said Monday in a press release. "OMG," the title track of the act's namesake second EP released in January, tallied accumulated streams of 111.28 million on the global music platform as of Friday.

Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Hanteo Chart, the Hanteo Music Awards 2022 took place in person for the first time this year. The awarding ceremony happened over two days at the Jamsil Arena in Seoul, on Friday and Saturday, with the winners of the grand prizes, or "Daesang" in Korean, announced on the second night. BTS was the biggest winner of this year's awards, taking home six trophies in total, including two grand prizes, the best artist prize and the best song pr

YG Entertainment is gearing up to debut its first new girl group in seven years, Babymonster, and has unveiled the last member of the seven-piece band this week. Just like the label's previous hit group Blackpink, Babymonster is a multinational group. There are three Koreans, two hailing from Thailand and two from Japan. Since the band was first announced on Jan. 1, YG has disclosed information about the new group in gradual stages. Here, we take a deeper look into Babymonster to get an ide

Kakao has become SM Entertainment's second largest shareholder, venturing into one of the biggest tech and entertainment alliances in South Korea. IT conglomerate Kakao announced Tuesday that it has acquired a 9.05 percent stake in SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment is one of the nation's biggest K-pop agencies, home to big names like Exo, Red Velvet, aespa and NCT. The latest partnership comes in a move to join force and secure competitiveness amid the burgeoning of K-pop and Korean e

In its third year of contending at the Grammys, K-pop phenomenon BTS ends the night technically empty-handed again. But experts assure this does not mean a failure at all. The 65th Grammy Awards' ceremony took place Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. BTS did not attend the event in person. This year saw the group get multiple Grammy nods for its first time, including in the best music video category for "Yet to Come" and in the best pop duo or group performance c

Three members of the K-pop boy band Stray Kids have become official members of the Korea Music Copyright Association. KOMCA recently announced a list of 25 musicians who have been promoted to regular members, and among them were Stray Kids' Bang Chan, Changbin and Han. Since the beginning of the band's career in 2018, the three members have been writing almost all Stray Kids songs under their producing unit name 3Racha. Their songs include the act's chart-topping hits "Hellev

Yet another K-pop audition program is on the way with Mnet's new competition show "Boys Planet," set to premiere Thursday. Mnet, the nation's biggest K-pop channel, operated by the entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM, has introduced many aspiring artists through its countless survival shows in the past few years, and with "Boys Planet," the company and its producers aspire to uncover more of the industry's undiscovered talents. A spinoff of the girl group debut p

K-pop girl group Viviz is back to boast a new spectrum of colors with its third EP "VarioUS." The members -- Eunha, SinB and Umji -- held a media showcase in Seoul on Tuesday ahead of the album's release scheduled at 6 p.m. Stressing "v" and "us" in the name, the new album is packed with various new aspects of Viviz that had not been unveiled before. "The album embodies the fierce side of Viviz, which we've only been able to get a glimpse at through s

K-pop girl group Twice has been honored as this year's breakthrough artist by Billboard Women In Music, becoming the first Korean artist to win at the awards. Billboard on Monday, US time, announced on its website that Twice has been named the winner in the Breakthrough Artist category at the 2023 Billboard Women In Music awards. This marks the first time in history that a Korean artist earned a trophy at the US music event. Billboard Women in Music is an annual event held since 2007 by Bil