Music festivals are gearing up for the summer season with artists of various genres from around the world set to ignite the summer in Korea, transcending borders and bringing diverse musical experiences. The Seoul Jazz Festival 2024, celebrating its 16th edition this year, will herald festival season on the summer's cusp, from May 31 to June 2. On the festival's opening day, the band Day6 and singer-songwriter and rapper Kik5o will take to the stage along with American singer-songwrite

Ateez announced plans for its North American tour Tuesday via agency KQ Entertainment. The band will resume the American leg of tour “Towards the Light: Will to Power” that began with a concert in Seoul in January, starting with a live show in Tacoma, US on July 14. It will then visit nine cities in the US and Canada, including: Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York and Toronto. The eight-member act hinted at visiting the region, telling the audience that it will be back in the US thi

K-pop giant Hybe has initiated an audit of its subsidiary Ador, home to NewJeans, claiming that Ador CEO Min Hee-jin attempted a takeover of the sublabel. This is the first time that Hybe, the parent company for multiple smaller K-pop labels, has taken such a move against a subsidiary. Min, who is also the producer of popular K-pop girl group NewJeans, has denied the allegation, arguing that Hybe took action against her after she pointed out that the entertainment monolith's new K-pop girl

Plave, the virtual K-pop boy group launched by Vlast, aims to expand its reach overseas this year. “Our goal for Plave this year is to go global. We are currently in negotiations with an agency abroad for the group’s launch in foreign music markets. We are close to inking the deal,” said Lee Sung-gu, CEO of Vlast, during a press conference in Seoul on Monday. Vlast is a virtual intellectual property startup that created and manages Plave. “We are creating a whole new genr

Director Jeong Ji-hye, 29, depicts in great detail an ordinary woman in her 50s in her feature film debut “Jeong-sun.” The concept was based on Jeong's year-long experience working part-time at a food packaging factory -- the same setting where the protagonist Jeong-sun works and faces an unexpected event. “While working at the factory, I became close with many middle-aged women who worked there. I could hear their life stories and about the environment they were in,&rdquo

Get ready for an entertaining ride as South Korea's top comedian Yoo Jae-suk teams up with actor Yoo Yeon-seok. Exploring how Koreans spend their spare time, the duo are the lead MCs in the local broadcaster SBS's upcoming entertainment show "Whenever Possible." The eight-part program will hear from audiences and share their stories by visiting them in person. Each episode also features three other celebrity guests. "The show was designed after we noticed that a lot of

A blend of tradition and the contemporary, show marks fourth run since 2022

Rookie girl group Illit generated 100 million streams on Spotify with its debut single “Magnetic,” said agency Belift Lab on Monday citing the platform’s data. It reached the milestone in 26 days and set a record for a K-pop girl group’s debut song. The single fronted the EP “Super Real Me” and made Billboard’s Hot 100 and the UK’s Official Singles Top 100 charts, at No. 91 and No. 87 respectively, becoming the first debut song from a K-pop artist

Experts say such shows do not aim for high ratings

The six-piece-band Xdinary Heroes kicked off a five-month-long project with the solo concert “Closed beta ver. 6” on Sunday, which continued from Friday for three days. The concert, which took place at Yes24 Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, comes after successfully wrapping up the sextets’ first world tour last month. Xdinary Heroes, a rock band that debuted in 2021 under JYP Entertainment's sub-label Studio J, will showcase a five-month-long “2024 Xperiment Project&rdquo

Ateez is returning to the K-pop scene with their 10th EP, “Golden Hour: Part.1,” which will be released on May 31. KQ Entertainment dropped a poster and announced the promotion schedule for the new album on Monday. From this week, more concept photos, a track list poster, an album preview and a music video teaser will be revealed, the agency said. The K-pop group teased their comeback on stage during their performance at the Coachella Valley Music Festival performance on April 19. Th

K-pop girl group aespa is releasing its first studio album, “Armageddon,” on May 27. SM Entertainment said the LP will be led by two title tracks: “Supernova” and “Armageddon.” “Supernova” will be released on May 13 before the official album release. The album carries a total of 10 tracks with diverse genres including hip-hop, dance and ballad music. The agency hinted that the studio album will serve as an introduction to the second chapter of the

A South Korean movie depicting the interaction between Fu Bao, the beloved giant panda born here in July 2020, and her zookeepers will be released in the fall. Tentatively titled "Hello, Grandpa," the movie is currently under production by Korean animation production company Accomz, in collaboration with Everland, the Korean theme park and zoo where Fu Bao lived before departing for China. "Hello, Grandpa" is to be an animated documentary based on interviews with zookeepers S

Actor Gang Dong-won turns a meticulous mastermind behind plots that appear to be accidents in his upcoming crime drama flick, “The Plot.” “The Plot” follows Young-il, played by Gang, who believes that all kinds of accidents can be manipulated. Next to him are his security master, Jackie (Lee Mi-sook), disguise master, Wol-cheon (Lee Hyun-wook) and youngest teammate, Jeom-man (Tang Joon-sang), who sincerely support Young-il’s plotting the scheme. But their solidity a

Over the past nine years, Doyoung has built a career as the vocalist of the popular K-pop boy group NCT. But it was just a year ago, as NCT embarked on a world tour and released various albums, when Doyoung realized he was ready to debut as a soloist. “Last year, I released three albums as a member of NCT when one of our vocalists Taeil took a break due to health concerns. I felt pressure in having to fill in his void. But after having overcome such challenges, I thought I had improved my