ICYMI IN CASE YOU MISSED IT // AUGUST 09 - AUGUST 15

[Polaris_Tae]

AUGUST 9 - AUGUST 15


Hello Hallyuplussers and welcome to this week's update of In Case You Missed It! This week, we received some exciting news in relation to comeback news and concert announcements, as well as some news related to Seungri's sentencing for his relation to the Burning Sun scandal. We also saw some fantastic releases from Ten, Sistar's Hyorin & Dasom and many more. Now, with that being said, let's dive into this week's article!

BY POLARIS_TAE


MONDAY:
#1- Monday began with new comeback news! ATEEZ & Kim Jongkook will be releasing a collaboration single after KQ Entertainment announced that that the two would be collaborating together. Meanwhile, it's been revealed that SUPER JUNIOR's Shindong has added another music video to his resume after it was revealed that he had directed the music video for MAKAMAKA's comeback. We can't wait!

#2- MAMAMOO's Wheein has reportedly found a new agency this week! It's been shared that she'll be calling THE L1VE her new home. While on the topic of contract negotiations, the following day we also learned that Suzy had renewed her contract with the outdoor brand, The K2 as their exclusive model. We're anticipating all of their future endeavours!

#3- Now onto variety and entertainment news! Mnet's 'Show Me The Money' is gearing up for a new season soon, and as such will be welcoming new producers for their newest season! This time Code Kunst & Gaeko will be joining the show to help mentor all of our favourite rappers! Then, MBC 'Show! Music Core' announced that STRAY KIDS' Lee Know & NCT's Jungwoo will be joining the show as their newest MC's we can't wait!

#4- BLACKPINK's Jisoo has been chosen as the newest brand model for the Korean short form, CELEBe. Congrats!


TUESDAY:
#1- The following day, N.Flying told us to look forward to their upcoming photobook, 'Light The Dark' this September, while Choi Yena is in talks for a solo debut. Finally, Momoland's Ahin & DJ Soda will be dropping their collaboration song on the 27th of August.

#2- Sadly, BiSH's Hashiyasume Atsuko has become the third group member to test positive for coronavirus. We hope she recovers soon.



WEDNESDAY:
#1- More comeback announcements were revealed this week! AB6IX will be releasing a remake of their labelmate, Verbal Jint's 'Walking In The Rain' as a contribution to Brand New Music's 10-year anniversary project. Then, PENTAGON's Kino, Yuto & Wooseok will be releasing a new single, 'Cerberus' on the 18th of August. The following day, Jeon Jiyoon gave us some news to look forward to, as she announced that she plans on releasing a new single on the 21st of August. Moving on, we also learned that Woo Taewoon & IONE will be releasing a collaboration single, 'Vaccine' featuring Apink's Yoon Bomi on the 16th of August.

#2- WEi's Kang Seokhwa will be making his musical debut this year in the musical 'Klimt', which is set to premiere this October. We can't wait!

#3- Ha Sunwoon will be the latest artist to join the Kpop fandom platform UNIVERSE after it was announced that he would officially be launching his account on the 16th of August. Make sure to sign up for the platform so you don't miss a single update!

#4- It has been announced that Yuju, formerly of GFRIEND is in talks to join Kang Daniel's agency KONNECT ENTERTAINMENT. We can't wait to see her future solo activities!

#5- Now AleXa & Weeekly's Lee Soojin have both received some fantastic opportunities this week! Lee Soojin has been selected as the honorary ambassador for this year's Bucheon International Animation Festival, while AleXa has been appointed as the ambassador for the 2021 Gwangju Design Biennale. The following day, it was announced that BRAVE GIRLS and DKB had both been selected as representatives for the '2021 Hanbok Wave' project, while The Boyz will be the newest models for the clothing brand, Hang Ten. Congrats!

#6- Yoon Kye-sang has shared some exciting news with us this week! The actor has shared that he plans on getting married this month to a beauty brand CEO five years his junior. We congratulate him and wish him and his future wife a happy marriage!



THURSDAY:
#1- SEVENTEEN will be the next idols to receive their very own HYBE variety show, as it's been announced that they'll be launching the SEVENTEEN version of 'In the SOOP' on the 17th of August. We can't wait!

#2- Now moving onto online concerts for another week, 2PM has announced their 'Beyond Live - 2PM ONLINE FANMEETING' set to be held on the 8th of September. Former iKon leader, B.I will be holding his first online concert this October, while Japanese actor Yamashita Tomohisa will be holding his first online live, 'TOMOHISA YAMASHITA First Online Live: Beautiful World' this September. Finally, NCT DREAM will be holding 'NCT DREAM ONLINE FANMEETING - HOT SUMMER DREAM' on the 25th of August in commemoration of their 5th anniversary together. We can't wait!

#3- Former BIG BANG member, Lee Seungri has been officially sentenced for his involvement in the Burning Sun scandal after almost two years. The former idol has officially been sentenced to a three-year prison term and a 1.15 billion dollar fine for his involvement in the case. Do you think this sentence is enough, or would you have preferred a harsher sentence?



FRIDAY:
#1- Now onto the final few comeback announcements of the week! JYP has announced that Itzy will be making their return on the 24th of September with their first full-length album. Meanwhile, KING & PRINCE will be returning with their 8th single, 'Koifuru Tsukiyo ni Kimi Omou' this October; while Ha Sungwoon & Punch will be releasing a duet on the 17th of August under the 'Cyworld BGM 2021' project. Are you looking forward to any of these upcoming releases?

#2- Red Velvet's Joy has been selected as the Korean ambassador for the Italian luxury fashion brand, TOD'S. Meanwhile, Monsta X's Minhyuk has received the opportunity as the Korean model for the athletic wear brand 'Champion'. Congrats to them both!



SATURDAY:
#1- Following the premiere of Mnet's 'Girls Planet 999', CLC's Yujin who appeared on the show as a contestant has revealed that the group has officially disbanded. It's sad to see them go, but we hope that the members are able to gain more opportunities in the future.

#2- CUBE Entertainment has officially announced that Soojin will be officially withdrawing from her position in (G)I-DLE following her bullying scandal. What are your thoughts on this issue?



SUNDAY:
#1- The idol brand reputation rankings were released for another month! For the August boy group brand reputation rankings, BTS once again took the top position, while SEVENTEEN & Exo followed behind the group. Meanwhile, for the girl group brand reputation rankings, we saw BLACKPINK take the top spot, while aespa & Red Velvet rounded out the top three positions this week. Did any of your favourite groups manage to rank this month?

BY DRAGON OF THE WEST


#1. THE BOYZ - THRILL RIDE
The Boyz have benefitted from some massive growth in popularity over the past year or so, finishing as the winners of Mnet's Road to Kingdom and as runners-up on its sequel show, Kingdom: Legendary War. Participating in both shows has slowed down their music output rather significantly, as prior to this, their last Korean album Chase came out nearly a year ago. They are back now though, as they released their 6th EP Thrill-ing and the title track 'Thrill Ride', which embraces a summer concept with a boisterous hip-hop sound. It, unfortunately, feels like quite an underwhelming release, especially for what has been a long-awaited comeback from the group and as their first promoted single since 'The Stealer'. The carnival-like chants and ad-libs make an attempt of offering the song some catchiness, but it never quite takes off in a noticeable way. The only redeeming factor of this song is the fact that the members are such well-trained performers who can elevate the song in a way many other groups would struggle to do. The first half of the bridge shows us a glimpse of what could have been, but let's just hope that this song is simply just a minor blip in what has been an otherwise impressive discography from The Boyz.





#2. PARK JIHOON - GALLERY
Juggling between his jobs as an actor and K-pop idol, Park Jihoon has released his 4th mini-album My Collection with the title track 'Gallery'. Opting for a funk synth style, 'Gallery' is tremendously focused, but still makes room for engaging diversions which vault its energy to another level. The production is so slick and groovy that the whole package manages to come across as fresh and exciting. A stronger hook would have elevated this song to the next level, as the current one feels overly repetitive, but luckily the verses manage to carry the song, especially the second one where Jihoon switches seamlessly between rap and melody. If songs like this and 'Wing' are anything to go by, it's safe to say that he's building quite a formidable discography, especially for an artist who has music as more of a background thought with acting being his primary focus.





#3. HA SUNGWOON - STRAWBERRY GUM (FEAT. DON MILLS)
Fresh off the heels of Sneakers, Ha Sungwoon has returned with Select Shop, a repackaged version of his early-summer mini-album. The title track is 'Strawberry Gum' and it positions him within the upbeat funk-pop realm of some of his most recent title tracks, and is a style that perfectly suits his charms as a performer. The entire track is imbued with some great upbeat energy, and even when most of the percussion drops out for the pre-chorus, it still manages to harness a sense of forward drive. The chorus is ultra-smooth and performed with flair, but doesn't really offer anything new, as the high points feel overly familiar. On a whole, this is yet another track from Sungwoon which to shows just how underrated his discography has been so far.





#4. HYOLYN & DASOM - SUMMER OR SUMMER
While this has been the fifth year in a row without a summer tune from Sistar, we have been able to get one half of the group, in form of Hyolyn and Dasom, pairing up to release the digital single 'Summer Or Summer' which is a bossa nova-influenced trap pop track. The track benefits from the girls’ familiar voices, which charm even when the song struggles to gain a foothold. The chorus echoes classics of the past, bounding with added energy as bright synths overtake the muted arrangement of the verses. The hook is unfortunately quite forgettable, the song lacks the punch that most Sistar summer tracks had and the production is all over the place, not quite knowing what it wants to achieve. This could supposedly bring some sort of nostalgic satisfaction to long-time listeners of Sistar, but even then, it doesn't hold a candle to their more iconic tracks.





#5. HYO - SECOND (FEAT. BIBI)
Hyoyeon is back with a new digital single 'Second', released under her alias HYO and featuring soloist rapper BIBI. The song opts for a percussive sound which is understandably targeted at the summer season, and there’s a nice variety of sounds within the arrangement. It however feels like there are one too many competing elements that almost steal attention from the song's core groove. BIBI delivers her verse really well, but that's something we've almost come to expect from every release she finds herself on, and the instrumental is probably at its peak during this section. Unfortunately though, like some of HYO's others songs which are on the weaker side in terms of her discography, this just feels like another one where too many things are happening all at the same time.





#6. ONF - POPPING
ONF have already had a perfect first half of 2021 as they released 'Beautiful Beautiful' & 'Ugly Ride' and now they've released a special summer mini-album POPPING, with the title track of the same name. Paired up yet again with producer Hwang Hyun, this really seems like a perfect music relationship that has resulted in a discography that’s both cohesive and daring. Opening with a catchy, chorused melody, 'Popping' quickly moves into its perky electro-pop groove. The song is unabashedly optimistic, which goes to show that a group need not sacrifice anything from a musical standpoint in order to hit all the checkmarks, and while the song doesn't quite manage to hit the heights of 'Beautiful Beautiful', its bright and infectious energy makes it yet another hit from the underrated boy group.





#7. TEN - PAINT ME NAKED
As part of SM's STATION project, Ten has released a new single titled 'Paint Me Naked', a song recorded in English with international trends in mind, which doesn't come as much of a surprise considering how widespread his fandom is. The song is a mid-tempo tune which is quite common if you take the time to browse through what has been topping charts for the past year or so, and while it is painfully generic, Ten manages to make the most of what he's working with and his elite performance skills manage to infuse the track with some attitude and star quality. Few instances of rock guitar add a bit more grit to the instrumental and while the song is undeniably quite catchy, one can't help but feel a tad bit disappointed that SM is failing to fully utilize Ten's skills through a song such as this one.

BY NARA


#1- 'Taste of Love' by TWICE has been certified Double Platinum on Gaon for selling over 500K copies! Congrats to queens of sales once again!

#2- Congrats to Jennie as her MV for 'Solo' has surpassed whopping 700 million views! We hope for more music from her and her group in the future!

#3- ENHYPEN's first Japanese single 'Border: Hakanai' has been certified Platinum by RIAJ. The album's cumulative sales marked over 350K copies since its release last month-huge congrats!

#4- TXT achieves 560,000 album pre-order copies for their repackaged album 'The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT OR ESCAPE'! Congrats to the group and anticipate their comeback!

#5- IU earns Platinum certification from Gaon for her latest album 'Love Poem'! She is the first female solo artist to have two different albums certified Platinum - huge congrats to her!

BY POLARIS_TAE

We received one translation update this week!

Lurkette gave us lyrics to Dempagumi. inc's 'Sai Psi Saikouchou!'



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This brings us to the end of In Case You Missed It for another week. We hope to see you again next week with an even better article. That being said, let us know what your favourite aspect of the past week in Asian Entertainment was by dropping a comment below!





GFX BY @Churro & @yerm
FEATURED ARTISTS: Park Jihoon, Hyoyeon, Hyunjae (The Boyz), Dasom, Ha Sungwoon​

 

[Bellamy]

Thank you so much for the updates!!

Jungwoo did amazing on her first day as MC.
My two babies Red Velvet and aespa in the top 3
I honestly thought that Tomohisa Yamashita's career was over after his scandal...i guess he is ok
Sadly, i kind of agree about Ten solo...when SM described it as pop rock, i had other expectations....I did'nt find it catchy or interesting, but Ten is super talented, so I hope for better opportunities in the future.

 

[kimsguardian]

thank you for the updates!

 

[MedicationHelps87]

Great updates, Thanks so much!