ICYMI IN CASE YOU MISSED IT // JULY 15 - JULY 21

[Polaris_Tae]

JULY 15 - JULY 21

Hello Hallyuplussers and welcome to In Case You Missed It for another week! Where we'll be keeping you up-to-date by sharing all of the most recent, news, comebacks, charts updates and more. This week, we saw several comeback announcements from artists including: SHINee's Taemin, KARA, mimiirose & more. Meanwhile, Former Exo member Huang Zitao & Xu Yiyang took to social media to confirm their relationship. As for new releases, we saw comebacks from BTS' Jimin, Stray Kids & more. With all that said, let's jump into In Case You Missed It for another week!

BY POLARIS_TAE

MONDAY:
#1- We're starting off the week with a series of comeback announcements. As we round out the month of July, we'll be seeing new music from KARA & a new collaboration. KARA dropped their pre-release single 'Hello' from their upcoming digital single, I Do, I Do. The release included the vocals of the late KARA member, Goo Hara. Also in July, we'll be seeing a new collaboration between Got7's Mark Tuan and Kiss of Life's Julie & Natty. The three will be dropping an anthem for the 2024 Valorant Champions on the 23rd of July titled 'SUPERPOWER'. Then in August, we'll be seeing new releases from Taemin, Red Velvet & mimiirose. mimiirose will be coming back in August as seven members, while Red Velvet will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with a new fan song, 'Sweet Dreams'. Meanwhile, SHINee's Taemin will be releasing a new album and embarking on a new world tour sometime during August. Now moving onto undetermined comebacks and CLEO, ITZY & Twice will all be dropping new music during te second half of 2024. The 1st generation idol group CLEO will be reuniting for their first comeback in almost 20 years. The group will be re-forming as a 3-member unit. Original CLEO member Chae Eun-jung will be joined by two new members, Dini & Dogyoung. As for ITZY & Twice, the two JYP girl groups will be dropping new music later this year in Autumn (Spring for our Southern Hemisphere readers). Which of these upcoming releases are you looking forward to the most?

#2- Min Hee-jin was back in the news this week. Source Music shared with the press that they had officially filed a 500 million KRW complaint against the ADOR CEO for damages including defamation, disruption of business and insults.

#3- Huang Zitao and Xu Yiyang had some news to share with us this week. The pair took to social media to officially confirm their relationship status. The pair have been embroiled in dating rumours since, at least, 2020 following the conclusion of Produce Camp 2020. A show that the pair both participated in with Xu as a contestant and the former EXO member as a mentor. Xu Yiyang also happens to be signed to her partner's label, L.TAO Entertainment.



TUESDAY:
#1- Twice had a few updates to share this week. To begin, the group will be playing the halftime show for the Coupang Play match between the Team K League & Tottenham Hotspur teams on the 31st of July. Meanwhile, YSL recently issued a public apology to Twice's Sana after it was found that the beauty/high-fashion brand had been found liking and positively responding to hate comments about the idol via their public Instagram. The idol is the current face of YSL & YSL Beauty in Japan.

#2- Earlier it was announced that LIMELIGHT would be re-grouping as a seven-member with the addition of kep1er's Yeseo & Mashiro and Produce101 The Girls contestants Saito Serina & Abe Nagomi. Then on Tuesday, we learned that the group would be re-debuting under the name MADEIN following the addition of these four new members. What are your thoughts on the group's new name?



WEDNESDAY:
#1- We had a few debut announcements throughout the week. The U.S-based Kpop company, TITAN CONTENT, which was founded by the former CEO of SM Entertainment, Nikki Semin Han will be debuting their first girl group, AtHeart during the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, we also have two new project groups to announce. Oh My Girl's Mimi will be working together with comedian Lee Eunji to create a new project group. No debut date has been set yet, but we're looking forward to their upcoming collaboration. Meanwhile, NATURE's Sohee will be forming a project trot duo — Atlantis Kitsune — with TROT GIRLS JAPAN contestant Kanou Miyu. Are you looking forward to any of these upcoming debuts?

#2- Girls Day's Hyeri will officially be returning to the acting scene with a new project soon! The idol-actress will be joining the cast of the upcoming psychological drama, Friendly Rivalry. Are you looking forward to seeing Hyeri again as an actress?

#3- On Wednesday, South Korean prosecutors officially filed an arrest warrant against the billionaire Kakao founder, Kim Beom-su. Prosecutors have alleged that the Entertainment Mogul was involved in manipulating the stock price of SM Entertainment in 2023 when Kakao acquired SM Entertainment & became the label's largest share-holder in 2023. Are you expecting anything to come out of this?



THURSDAY:
#1- Stray Kids had a few updates to share with us on Thursday. Firstly, it's been confirmed that all 8 members have renewed their contracts with JYP Entertainment. Additionally, it's also been shared that the group will be dropping a song for the soundtrack of Deadpool & Wolverine. The group were initially contacted to appear in the Marvel movie but was unable to appear in the film due to scheduling conflicts. Are you looking forward to the Deadpool & Wolverine? Stray Kids OST, 'Slash' will drop on the 24th of July.



FRIDAY:
#1- TWS found themselves in hot water this week when their song and music video for their new release, 'Double Take' was accused of plagiarising GD & TOP's 'Knock Out'. This was further amplified when it was discovered that HYBE had deliberately deleted and censored news and comments related to the situation. HYBE & PLEDIS are still yet to respond to these accusations. The following day, another HYBE artist was embroiled in a plagiarism controversy. This time it was NewJeans under the conglomerate's ADOR sub-label. The UK-based band, Shakatak submitted a letter of claim to ADOR alleging plagiarism against their 1981 hit, 'Easier Said Than Done' by NewJeans' 2024 release, 'Bubble Gum'. What results are you expecting to see from these plagiarism accusations?

#2- YG Entertainment's Q2 reports are out and, compared to last year, it doesn't look good for them. It's been reported that both their sales and stocks have massively dipped compared to last year. The label's sales reportedly fell a whopping 99% to a little over 200K USD for Q2, while their Q2 stock price dipped to 33 USD per share. What are your thoughts on this situation? Do you see YG recovering from their poor performance anytime soon?



SATURDAY:
#1- There were no relevant updates on Sunday.



SUNDAY:
#1- There were no relevant updates on Sunday.

BY POLARIS_TAE

#1. JIMIN - WHO
BTS Jimin made his return with his 2nd solo EP, MUSE along with its title track, 'Who'. The idol, — who worked extensively alongside GHSTLOOP & PDOGG for this album — recently dropped his pre-release track 'Smeraldo Flower Garden' alongside K-hip-hop artist, Loco. Who was previously in the running to become a member of BTS. The idol, who is currently in the midst of his mandatory military service, dropped his latest solo release, MUSE on Friday. A 7-track EP consisting of the June pre-release 'Smeraldo Flower Marching Band (feat. Loco)', December's 'Closer Than This' alongside five new releases: 'Rebirth (Intro)', 'Interlude: Showtime', 'Slow Dance (feat. Sofia Carson)', 'Be Mine' & 'Who'. This is the idol's first album release since last year's FACE in May, and his first official solo promotional drop since December's 'Closer Than This'. Now, jumping into the title track and 'Who' is a '90s - '00s inspired R&B hip-hop track with a heavy bass-line that tells the story of the conflicting emotions of missing someone that you've never met before. The title track feels like it came straight out of the 2000s boy band anthem era and is Jimin's first official solo English release — barring 'Angel' and its various remixes — making him the third BTS soloist to drop an English release since Jungkook's GOLDEN & V's 'FRI(END)S'. As for the music video, we see various easter eggs sprinkled throughout its entirety. From the lyrics of 'Closer Than This' found on the billboard of the movie theatre, to our favourite cameo fairy V's face showing up on a burning billboard. As for the b-sides of MUSE, I found myself enjoying 'Slow Dance', 'Be Mine' & the December pre-release single, 'Closer than This' the most. what was your favourite b-side from MUSE?





#2. STRAY KIDS - CHK CHK BOOM
Stray Kids made their comeback this week the the onomatopoeia-associated title track 'Chk Chk Boom' alongside 9th EP, ATE. The group, who are currently preparing to embark on their DominATE tour in August, came back with their first album in around eight months since their 2023 EP, Rock Star. This time, the group is back with an eight (ATE?) track EP written, composed and supervised by the group's production trio, 3RACHA — Bang Chan, Changbin & Han — alongside contributions from fellow Stray Kids member Felix. The EP — barring the group's title track 'Chk Chk Boom' and its remix, 'Chk Chk Boom (Festival ver.)' — consists of five distinct b-sides: 'MOUNTAINS', 'JJAM', 'I Like It', 'Runners', 'Twilight' & 'Stray Kids'. Now moving onto the focus of today's review and 'Chk Chk Boom' is a 3RACHA Latin-influenced Hip-Hop production with a title that will end up being ironic to anyone who came of age in Australia during the 2010s with the likes of the 'Chk Chk BOOM girl'. The track is an attitude-filled unadulterated hype song. We see the members display their ambitions to stand at the top of the competition with an in-your-face music video filled with cameos from Wolverine and Deadpool stars, Hugh Jackman & Ryan Reynolds. The latter of whom, the group first befriended following a viral Deadpool-themed performance on the first season of M-net's Kingdom. Overall, ATE was an extremely solid album with very few skippable tracks. Some of my favourites on this release include: the Felix-Bang Chan English-language co-production, 'Runners' with its EDM focus & interesting 8D audio manipulation, the surprising obligatory pop single, 'I Like It' & the synth-filled EDM outro, 'Stray Kids'. Thankfully, we won't be waiting too long for new stray kid music this time around, as the group will be back next week with a new OST for the Deadpool and Wolverine movie.

BY POLARIS_TAE

#1. PLAVE had some exciting news this week! On Thursday, the virtual idol group surpassed 1 billion streams on MelOn. Officially making it into MelOn's Billions Club. Additionally, they also became the fastest act to achieve such a feat by surpassing the previously set record by the HYBE/ADOR artist, NewJeans. Congrats!

BY POLARIS_TAE

For this week’s H+ Station Chart update, Red Velvet took the #1 slot with 'Cosmic', while Sunmi's 'Balloon In Love' & Kiss of Life's 'Sticky' debuted at #8 & #9 respectively. Make sure to check out our chart to see where all of your favourite songs ranked!

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This brings us to the end of In Case You Missed It for another week! Were there any updates that surprised you? Or stories that you were unaware of prior to reading? What about this week’s comebacks? Did you discover any new artists, either through this article or via the forum, that you’ve been enjoying lately? As always, our staff teams — Social Media (Press), Blog Team & Awards — are currently looking for new team members to join our staff. So if any of these positions interest you, then feel free to apply through the linked recruitments above. Our In Case You Missed It team is still searching for a dedicated Kpop music reviewer. So why not consider pitching in? If you’re not aware, we are active on both Twitter — now known as x.com — and Instagram, so feel free to follow us there for more fantastic updates! We’re still accepting feature and promo requests via our feature thread here. Let us know what you enjoyed the most this week in the comments below, and we’ll see you again next week for another great update!

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FEATURED ARTISTS Xu Yiyang, Lee Know, Sana, Eunho & Gyuri​

 

[Jibang]

Thanks for the update

 

[Bellamy]

About HYBE: they are lucky that the fandoms are still defending them, if not the backlash would be worse. I remember other plagiarism cases (esp from SM) and they ended up accepting and apologizing.
Thanks for the updates!!!