ICYMI IN CASE YOU MISSED IT // FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 3

[Dragon of the West]

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 3


Hello readers, and welcome to the latest edition of In Case You Missed It! We're back this week with even more great news and updates! This week, there were various comeback announcements shared by artists including BIGBANG's Daesung, PURPLE KISS & DAY6. We also saw news related to HYBE's ongoing interest in SM Entertainment. Then, an idol we hadn't heard of in a while — UNIQ's Kim Sungjoo — came out with the news that he had secretly gotten married and is currently raising a child with his wife. All this, and so much more in this week's edition of In Case You Missed It!

BY POLARIS_TAE


MONDAY:
#1- Our Monday was full of comeback announcements from numerous artists! Two artists — Chungha & BIGBANG's Daesung — will be making their comeback in March, while the 'Queendom Puzzle' group — EL7Z UP — will be making their first official comeback in May. Daesung will be releasing a new single, 'Falling Slowly' on the 5th of March. The music video for the single is set to feature the acting talents of Kim Seon-ho and Moon Ga-young. Then on the 11th of March, Chungha will be returning with a new 2-track single album, EENIE MEENIE and its title track of the same name. Meanwhile, on Tuesday (G)I-DLE's Yuqi shared a new OST for the ongoing Korean drama, 'Marry My Husband'. Which release are you looking forward to the most?



TUESDAY:
#1- We had two updates related to relationships this week. On Thursday, the Korean media outlet 10Asia shared that the Korean soloist BEN had filed for divorce from her husband in December of last year. It's additionally shared that she is currently in custody of the pair's child. Meanwhile, Dispatch came back with their first celebrity relationship expose of 2024 with the revelation that aespa's Karina was currently in a relationship with Kim Jae-wook of 'Extraordinary You' & 'Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol'. The actor's agency, C-Jes Studios, later shared that they would be pursuing legal action on behalf of the actor. Several malicious posts were discovered following the announcement of the actor's dating news with Karina. What are your thoughts on this new couple?



WEDNESDAY:
#1- We had some more debut and comeback announcements on Wednesday. Two new groups will be making their debut in March: the resulting group of 'UNIVERSE TICKET', UNIS, and Brave Entertainment's new girl group, Candy Shop. Both groups will make their debut on the 27th of March. Now moving on to comebacks and we have four more groups set to make their return this month! PURPLE KISS, The Boyz, BAE173 & Day6 will all be making their return. The only fixed comeback date of the four so far is for The Boyz, who later shared that they would be returning on the 18th of March. Are you looking forward to new music from any of these artists?



THURSDAY:
#1- In a move that surprises almost no one these days, HYBE has continued their goal to acquire even more SM stocks this week after it was discovered that the label had purchased all 3.68% of Lee Soo-man's remaining stocks for KRW 104 Billion ($78.1 USD). What are your thoughts on this issue? Are you expecting a second round from HYBE seeking to purchase SM Entertainment?

#2- On Thursday it was announced by MLD Entertainment — founded by the music producer duo Duble Sidekick — that their 9-member boy group, TFN — formerly known as T1419 — has officially disbanded. Are you sad to see them go?

#3- The upcoming ASAP Studio web variety program, '회포자' — which is an abbreviation of the Korean phrase '회사에서 포기한 자'/'A Person Who Gave Up At Work' — has announced that NMIXX's Bae will be joining its cast as the MC for the show. Are you looking forward to seeing the idol's MC skills?

#4- Former Nu'est member Hwang Minhyun will be the next idol to enlist in the military. It was announced on Thursday that the idol would be making his official enlistment on the 21st of March. Prior to the enlistment, Minhyun will make his return with a new digital single, 'Lullaby' on the 13th of March. Then on the following day, it was shared that the idols' labelmate and SEVENTEEN's leader S.Coups had officially been exempted from serving in the military due to his ongoing recovery from a torn ACL, which included a painful process of ligament reconstruction surgery. What are your thoughts on this?



FRIDAY:
#1- Following an accident that injured four staff members on the set of a photoshoot, THEBLACKLABEL has shared an official statement detailing the incident. They shared that an accident had taken place while the company had been carrying out a photoshoot on the 28th of February where several staff members had suffered from a 20-foot fall (6 metres). According to the label, 'Out of the four injured, two are staff members of an outsourced production company, and the other two are employees of our agency'. All injured employees were immediately transferred to the hospital where they underwent medical treatment. The agency later shared that they would be more careful so that incidents like this do not occur on the set of filming sites in the future.

#2- Ahead of kicking off her upcoming H.E.R World Tour in Seoul, it has been shared that IU has cancelled a total of 44 fraudulent tickets and has permanently expelled several illegal ticket traders from her fan club. What are your thoughts on this initiative? Do you think more artists should be taking steps toward stamping out illegal ticket trading?



SATURDAY:
#1- Earlier this week, it was discovered through a live-stream that UNIQ's Sungjoo had not informed the public that he had gotten married and later had a child with his wife. This came to become public knowledge after the idol played a recording of fellow UNIQ member Li Wenhan singing him a happy birthday during his 30th birthday live-stream. At the end of the recording, Wenhan can be heard saying “Is your son not asleep yet, come, let Uncle hug you.” which caused Sungjoo to cut the live-stream short. The idol later released a statement explaining his decision to get married and have a child. Are you surprised about this revelation?



SUNDAY:
#1- On Sunday it was shared that Fantasy Boys member K.Soul would be taking a further break from upcoming group schedules following the passing of his father. Last year, the idol went on a temporary hiatus to be with his family in China due to the deteriorating health of both his father and grandmother. We send him our condolences and hope he has a good support network around him during such a difficult time.

BY DRAGON OF THE WEST


#1. NCT WISH - WISH
NCT WISH has officially made its debut and in doing so, they not only become the first Japanese unit under the NCT umbrella, but also the final unit to come out of NCT’s expansion. The group debuted with a single titled 'Wish' which was released simultaneously in Japanese and Korean. It's quite a departure from a lot of the more recent sounds from other NCT units given its brighter appeal that might remind some of NCT Dream’s earlier releases. While the song does have its melodic moments, it’s just as often delivering the shouted chants we’re used to from NCT-style tracks. The song is at its best when layering the members’ voices over groovy hooks and brassy funk production. The chorus takes advantage of this tried-and-true formula from SM, but the song as a whole does feel slightly reserved, especially for a dance track. It's a solid enough debut, but I'm personally not certain if it leaves as much of an impact as what we've become accustomed to when it comes to debuts from SM Entertainment.





#2. CRAVITY - LOVE OR DIE
CRAVITY continue to go down a consistent path with their music as the boy group from Starship Entertainment is back with their 7th mini-album, Evershine led by the title track 'Love or Die'. The song has a driving intensity as it kicks off with high energy that never dissipates since it resists the urge to build slowly and instead, the instrumental bursts out in full throttle right from the very beginning. The rock-infused elements are a welcoming addition and seem to suit the group’s music style. Despite the short song duration, it somehow manages to feel complete which is relatively uncommon among sub-3-minute K-pop songs. The only thing standing in the way of making this a perfect title track is a hold-no-bars climax. The EP as a whole is another cohesive release from the group, with b-side 'Mr.' being the standout.





#3. PLAVE - WAY 4 LUV
Virtual idols are nothing new, at least not in Japan where agencies like Hololive and Nijisanji have several popular vtubers under their belt, (although the less said about the latter the better). Over the last few years though, the concept has clearly been gaining popularity in places like South Korea, China, Southeast Asia and even the West. It therefore shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that virtual group PLAVE has been soaring in popularity since debuting last year. However, it is still quite a sight to behold just how popular they appear to be with how they have several songs charting in South Korea, and how their latest mini album, Asterum: 134-1 — which the members themselves had a hand in producing — has been putting in sales numbers that can rival many popular idol groups. Their title track, 'Way 4 Luv' tackles a soft rock sound which seems to have struck all the right chords for people interested in the group with just how easy listening it is. While the melodies and production are solid, there isn’t anything that offers a unique punch. The singers behind the virtual idols clearly have strong vocals though, so it will be quite interesting to see the direction their music ends up taking the more popular they become, and the animation in their music videos could be improved on with a higher budget.




#4. TAEYONG - TAP
Taeyong is back with a solo comeback as he releases his 2nd mini-album TAP and its eponymous title track. "TAP" appears to be an attempt at striking a more public-friendly sound in comparison to his debut single "Shalala", while still managing to stay true to the quirky hip-hop sound we've seen from several of his solo endeavors. The song's percussion provides a nice sense of playfulness with the drum beats making it easy to vibe along to. The vocal interplay and rap verses are an interesting combination, and despite the repetitive nature of the "tapping on me" phrase, the song still manages to make for an addictive first listen. This sort of fun and eccentric sound is exactly what we've come to expect from Taeyong, and it's a fitting release from one of the main faces of the NCT brand.

BY DRAGON OF THE WEST


#1. BIBI has earned her first ever Perfect All-Kill (PAK) on South Korean charts with her uber-successful single 'Bam Yang Gang'. The song has since gone on to have over 100 PAK hours on the charts.



#2. PLAVE's 2nd mini-album ASTERUM 134-1 managed to surpass IU's The Winning as the most streamed album within 24 hours on MelOn in 2024. It garnered a total of 6.04 million streams on the platform during its first day. The album also went on to sell 221,151 physical copies on the Hanteo chart on its first day. In doing so, it already became their highest first-week sales.



#3. TWICE's 13th mini-album With YOU-th sold 1,063,315 copies on Hanteo in its first week, becoming the group's first album to sell over 1 million copies in its opening week. This was a 63% rise in first-week sales in comparison to the 651,205 copies sold by their last release Ready To Be in 2023.



#4. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 has won 'Anime of the Year' at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards which took place on the 2nd of March.



#5. Jennie's solo debut MV for 'SOLO' became the first solo music video by a K-pop female artist to surpass the 1 billion views milestone.

BY POLARIS_TAE

The Awards Team shared an update on the site's awards process this week. According to the team, Awards will now be available to be received for every 25 posts. In addition, the team has shared that they will be removing the requirement for pre-approval, and that supporters will now become a remnant of the past. Awards Season is quickly approaching so make sure to be on the lookout for official announcements. If you'd like to find out all of this week's updates to the team, then don't forget to check out the full announcement in the linked thread.

For this week's H+ Station Chart update! NMIXX's 'Dash' took the #1 spot, while LE SSERAFIM made their debut on the chart with 'EASY' at #3. Make sure to check out our chart to see where all of your favourite songs ranked!

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We are searching for new members for the following teams Blog Team, Translations, Awards & Social Media Team - Press Division. As always, our full list of recruitments can be found in the General Staff Recruitment thread.



This rounds out In Case You Missed It for the week! We hope to see you again next week for even more great updates! As always, our staff Teams — Blog Team, Awards & Social Media — are all on the lookout for new team members. So if you would like to contribute to our social media team, help through the creation and management of Awards for our Awards Team, or want to help get the blog up and running with content such as blog posts, dedicated artist profiles, OP GFX contributions, or just with the overall running and design of the site, then feel free to apply via the linked application forms above! With all that said, we'll see you again next week for more updates!

GFX BY @yerm
FEATURED ARTISTS BIBI, Yejun (Plave), Karina (aespa), Riku (NCT WISH), Hyojung (Oh My Girl)​

 

[UMJI MOODS]

Many thanks for the wrap up as always.

 

[kimsguardian]

thank you for the complete recap!!