Author: Denise Coley
On May 3, 2019, Banana Republic provided an update on the contract talks with EXID. In a statement, the company announced the LE, Solji, and Hyerin have renewed their contracts, while Hani and Junghwa have decided to look for new agencies. Upon the announcement, Banana Republic released the following statement: Hello, this is Banana Culture Entertainment. This is our official statement about EXID’s contracts. Solji, LE, and Hyelin expressed their wishes to remain with the agency and re-signed with us. Hani and Junghwa have, after a long discussion with the agency, reached an agreement with us and decided to…
*Japan is made up of 6,852 islands. The four largest are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu – over 400 of these islands are inhabited. *Japan’s capital city, Tokyo hosts over 36 million people. The name was originally “Edo” but got changed to “Tokyo” in 1890, in light of the Meiji Restoration. Tokyo is believed to be the second most expensive city in the world to reside in. *The highest point in Japan is the Mount Fuji, at 3,776m (12,388ft). Over one million people climb the volcanic mountain each year, during the climbing season of July and August. *Japan hosted the…
After 19 days of denials, the now-former singer and actor, Park Yoochun (TVXQ, JYJ), has admitted to taking drugs. His admission comes days after he tested positive for drugs following a hair sample analysis and days following his arrest. On April 29, 2019, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency stated that Yoochun confessed to the drug allegations after he began meeting with his former fiancée, Hwang Hana, again. The confession came after his April 27 questioning. During his admittance, Yoochun said, “I was afraid to let go of myself. I feel like I need to accept what needs to be accepted…
Chie Izuno works full time at an office Branch. Though she’s 30, she’s very young at heart and kind of innocent. She tries hard to go into the dating field but finds herself struggling due to her weight and self-esteem issues. She meets up with one of the company’s investors, Jin Harada, a super sucessful and young business man. However Jin has a severe lack of social skills. Chie strives to make a deal with Jin in order to aide her in her goal to lose weight and gain confidence, she tells Jin she can help him with his own…
Seungri’s scandal continues to get uglier, since another female is now claiming that she was raped by one of the men in question. A reported on “SBS 8 O’Clock News”, on April 19, the woman who only goes by her surname Lee, visited Korea from abroad to give her testimony. Lee made a statement that she was invited to a get-together overseas in 2016, to join Seungri, Roy Kim and former Yuri Holdings CEO (and Seungri’s business partner) and other unnamed members of their clique. She didn’t know any of the males but accepted the invitation, because her female…
NATURE is a Korean girl group, consisting of nine members from Korea, Japan and China – the group has three sub-units – Charming, Twinkle, and Cutie. The name of their fandom is LEAF, which is a natural complement to the group’s name. NATURE was formed by n.CH Entertainment in August of 2018, and the company’s founder is the former SM Entertainment executive Jung Chang-hwan. On August 3, 2018, NATURE made their debut with the single album Girls and Flowers, Allegro Cantabile, which is a remake of the opening to Nodame Cantabile, a Japanese anime. In August, NATURE won their first ever award, “New Artist of the Year” at Soribada Best K-Music Awards.…
Earlier, it was reported that HELLOVENUS would disband when their contracts end in May. Originally, Fantagio Entertainment denied the group would disband, but on April 26, 2019, Fantagio finally confirmed the female group will no longer be a group in a statement. Hello. This is Fantagio Music. First of all, we express sincere gratitude to the fans who have cherished and loved the group Hello Venus for a long time. The exclusive contracts of some members of Hello Venus (Alice, Nara, Lime, Yooyoung, Seoyoung, Yeoreum) with Fantagio Music will expire on May 8, 2019. After much discussion with the members…
Dallas BLINKs will now only have one chance to see BLACKPINK in concert as the May 9, 2019 concert has been canceled without an explanation. While there was speculation the show may be canceled following Ticketmaster’s removal of the May 9 ticketing page, confirmation came April 27 from both Ticketmaster and AXS that the show has been canceled. YG Entertainment has yet to provide a reason for the cancelation, but an explanation may be provided soon. AXS and Ticketmaster will be providing refunds to fans in the coming days. The May 8, 2019 concert in Dallas/Ft. Worth will still go…
May’s already looking like an exciting month for comebacks! On April 26, 2019, Oh My Girl (OMG) and Weki Meki both announced that they will be making comebacks in May. OMG released a teaser image April 26 showing the girls dressed as dancers in an oil painting. WM Entertainment states the new album—OMG’s first full album—will be released May 8. The album, titled The Fifth Season, will be OMG’s seventh overall release and the first since Remember Me in September 2018. “Oh My Girl has officially set their comeback date for May 8. As this will be the group’s…
K-Drama fans had a chance to rejoice this week as actor/singer Lee Minho and actor Ji Chang-Wook have been discharged after completing their mandatory military service. Lee, who served as a social worker at the Suseo General Social Welfare Center in Gangnam, was discharged April 25, 2019. He began his service May 2017. Lee was unable to enlist as an active duty soldier as past injuries kept him from doing so. During his last day of service, fans from around the world greeted him with signs and well wishes. On Twitter, #WelcomeBackLeeMinho trended. After his final day, Lee took…
Korean R&B artist and rapper, DΞΔN, will be releasing an English single in the United States this coming May! DΞΔN (Kwon Hyuk) posted the news in his Instagram story April 24, 2019. The post, which is written in Korean and English, states “new U.S. single in May. Keep yo eyes on me.” Details about the upcoming single have yet to be released, but fans will be anticipating the 26-year-old’s latest track. This isn’t DΞΔN’s first U.S track as he’s had a few since 2015. He debuted in the U.S. with “I’m Not Sorry,” a track he performed with Grammy winner…
TXT (Tomorrow X Together) announced their official fan club name on April 25, 2019. Big Hit Entertainment’s rookie group chose “Young One” as their fan club name after looking over fan name submissions provided by their fans. The name “Young One” means “we were nothing and then we became one.” “Young” means “zero” in Korean according to the official release on their international fan cafe, and when paired with “one” (Young-won), the name also means “forever.” However, while the name and meaning may be cute, controversy arose soon after the name’s announcement. Fans took issue with the fan club…
All parties are considered innocent until proven guilty. Current JYJ and former TVXQ member Yoochun announced his retirement from the entertainment industry after testing positive drugs. C-Jes Entertainment released a statement regarding Yoochun’s departure from the industry. Hello, this is C-Jes Entertainment. We have been following the investigation with trust in Park Yoochun’s claims that he was innocent, but yesterday, we learned through news reports that the National Forensic Service results showed positivity. Despite waiting for good results in the investigation with trust in our artist, we were faced with such news reports, and feel miserable. After concluding that we cannot reestablish…
On Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, a wave of bombings killed over 300 people and injured dozens in what authorities consider an organized act of terror even though a group has yet to come forward claiming responsibility. Eight suicide bombings occurred across Sri Lanka in Kochchikade, Negombo, Colombo, Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, and Batticaloa. The attacks are considered the country’s worst since the civil war ten years ago. At around 8:45am local time, the attacks occurred at churches and hotels on the Western part of the country apart from Batticaloa to the East. In three of the cities, the attacks occurred during Easter services at…
MustM Entertainment’s seven-member rookie group, MustB, was involved in a car accident April 21, 2019 at around 3:40am KST. The accident, which claimed the life of the group’s manager, occurred on Seoul’s Olympic-daero between the Seoulgyo and Yeouigyo bridges heading toward Jamsil. The group was returning to their dorm following a performance in Daegu. The van MustB rode in struck a guard rail. The group’s manager—identified as a 36-year-old male with the surname Son—was the driver of the vehicle. He sustained serious injuries in the crash and was transferred to Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.…
On May 7, 2019, Super Junior’s Kyuhyun will be discharged from his mandatory military service (he served as a public service worker), and it looks like he prepared to get back to work! SM Entertainment, in conjunction with Dream Maker Entertainment Limited, announced on April 17 that Kyuhyun will host his “We Meet Again Today!” fan meet May 19 at 6:30pm KST at Peace Hall in Seoul’s Kyunghee University. Tickets for the fan meet go on sale April 22 at 8pm KST for fan club members. For the general public, tickets go on sale April 24 at 8pm KST.…
On April 24, 2019, Super Junior’s Heechul will release his solo track “Old Movie,” Label SJ said. While Heechul has been a member of sub-units, specifically M&D with TRAxX’s Jungmo and Universe Cowards with Buzz’s Min Kyung Hoon, he has yet to release his own solo material. “Old Movie” will be his solo review. The single, which is said to be a rock ballad, will be a digital single that will be accompanied by an MV starring Heechul and SKY Castle star, Park Yoo-na. Fellow Super Junior member Donghae composed the track; Heechul wrote the lyrics. On April 19,…
The K-Pop world may have lost another group as HELLOVENUS allegedly agreed to disband following the end of their contracts in May 2019. HELLOVENUS, which originally consisted of members Alice, Nara, Yoonjo, Lime, Yooara, and Yooyoung, initially formed as a joint-venture between Fantagio and Pledis Entertainment under Tricell Entertainment in 2012. In 2014, Pledis and Fantagio abandoned the joint-venture. HELLOVENUS would still promote under Fantagio, but members Yooara and Yooyoung returned to Pledis and were no longer members of the group. In October 2014, Fantagio added two new members to HELLOVENUS: Seoyoung and Yeoreum. The group officially debuted May 9, 2012 with…
Former Korean TV personality, Amy (real name, Lee Yoon-Ji) potentially opened the doors to another celebrity-related drug and sex scandal due to an Instagram post shared April 16, 2019. Amy, who is Korean-American and was deported from South Korea in 2015 following her second drug charge, discussed incidents where she and a fellow celebrity, identified as “A” at the time, took propofol and Zolpidem together and that she covered up for him. In the now-deleted post, Amy said: Today is such an upsetting day, and my heart aches a lot. Even though it’s late, I’ve been reflecting on myself for the past few years,…
A recent photo of the actor from his Instagram account @yeojin9oo. From child actor to leading man Making his debut on the silver screen with ‘Sad Movie’ in 2005 when he was only eight years old, Yeo Jin Goo has definitely racked up a lot of screen time over the years, carving his initial interest to appear on television into a fulfilling career. Backed by supportive parents who cultivated his passion by providing acting lessons, the talented youngster quickly moved on towards more notable roles, mostly playing younger versions of the lead actors in popular dramas, the most notable…