The teaser video for Seventeen’s 11th EP was brought down on Sunday, said agency Pledis Entertainment.
The Beijing version of the trailer for “Svt Right Here,” one of the promotions for the EP “Seventeenth Heaven,” was uploaded on Saturday. It portrayed chamomile flowers bloom against the backdrop of the Great Wall of China. Some fans, however, pointed out that it was insensitive considering that China is strictly against content set against its cultural heritage.
The management firm apologized for lacking in understanding cultural diversity and added that it will pay more attention so that it could create content that can be enjoyed by everyone from different cultures and regions.
Meanwhile, the 13 members returned from overseas Sunday after shooting a music video for the upcoming album.
SHINee’s movie to premiere in November
A movie chronicling 15 years of SHINee’s music career will come to cinemas on Nov. 3, according to label SM Entertainment on Monday.
The special movie was slated to premiere in September, but the date was postponed so as to perfect it. It captures the memories the band has accumlated with its fans through six standalone concerts. Previously unreleased footage following the footsteps of the veteran idol band, seen from the perspective of its fans, will also be included in the film that marks the band's 15th anniversary.
The five-member act brought out its eighth full-length album “Hard” in June, and topped the iTunes top albums chart in 40 regions, as well as a number of music charts at home and abroad.
The band also held a standalone concert right before the release of the 10-track album and gave fans a preview of the titular track.
Kingdom ditches jacket cover over controversy
Boy band Kingdom decided to discard all 70,000 first-edition copies of its forthcoming album after the jacket cover stirred up controversy, said agency GF Entertainment on Monday.
The image for its seventh EP “History of Kingdom: Part VII. Jahan” was unveiled last week but the album jacket incited argument that it was similar to Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam.
The EP is the last of its seven-part series that reinterprets different cultures from around the world. The management firm will resume taking pre-orders from Tuesday and the physical album will be released on Oct. 18, as scheduled.
In the meantime, the seven members are touring North and Latin America for the first time since early this month. They kicked off the tour in Vancouver, Canada on Sept. 8 and will go live in Sao Paulo on Sept. 27.
Billlie gives fans taste of new song
Billlie uploaded a poster on Monday, signaling its return.
The artwork showed the members walking arm in arm and holding hands, as well as the release dates for new singles “BYOB (bring your own best friend)” and “Dang! (hocus pocus).”
The former is the group’s first English-language song and will be dropped on Wednesday, according to the poster. A short-form video containing parts from the song was uploaded on TikTok Saturday, giving fans a sample of the catchy melody. The short clip logged 1.9 million views as of Monday.
The group will return with new album next month but with only five members as Moon Sua and Suhyeon are taking a break since earlier this month and mid-June, respectively.
By Hwang You-mee
(glamazon@heraldcorp.com)
