The music video of K-pop super band BTS' hit song "IDOL" surpassed 500 million YouTube views Thursday, the band's fifth music video to accomplish the feat.The hypnotic music video off the band's previous album "Love Yourself: Answer," released in August last year, hit the milestone early Thursday morning, according to Big Hit Entertainment. BTS shortly released another version of the "IDOL" music video, featuring iconic American female rapper Nicki Minaj. The second

Pianist Kevin Kenner believes humor can improve people’s lives, even more than aspirin. Kenner, who is in South Korea for his second solo recital in the country, titled “Humoresque,” will perform at the Seoul Arts Center on Thursday and at the U-Square Culture Center in Gwangju on Friday. The California-born pianist won the top prize at the 1990 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The same year, he also won a medal at the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competitio

BTS likely to release new songs exclusively for the platform

Super group BTS topped Japan's Oricon weekly singles chart this week with its latest Japanese single "Lights/Boy With Luv," garnering the highest weekly score for any foreign artist in the Japanese music market, the band's management agency said Tuesday.The three-track single, dropped in Japan on July 3, earned some 621,000 sales points to finish atop the Oricon weekly singles chart for the week of July 1-7, according to Big Hit Entertainment.   It was the most points a singl

Pianist Son Yeol-eum is set to make her BBC Proms debut later this month. Son is to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 in B flat major with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Omer Meir Wellber on July 23 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. BBC Proms, hosted by the British public service broadcaster, is an eight-week summer music festival founded in 1895. Orchestral concerts mainly take place at the Royal Albert Hall, while chamber music concerts take place at Cadogan Ha

Boy band Pentagon has kicked off a world concert tour, bringing it to 23 cities across the globe, its management agency said Friday.The world tour, named “Prism,” kicked off with its inaugural concert in Seoul in April and will take the band on a journey to perform in 23 cities in Asia, the United States, Europe and South America from August to December.  The list of destinations includes Santiago, Milan, Lisbon, Berlin, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo in addition to major U.S. cities,

Four-piece K-pop boy band WINNER has started its sixth Japanese tour that will take it to seven cities, its management agency said Thursday.As the first leg of its "WINNER Japan Tour 2019," the group held a concert at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo on Wednesday, according to YG Entertainment. During the two-hour concert, WINNER performed 25 songs, including its latest number "Ah Yeah," "Really Really" and "Everyday.""We want to show our maturity on th

Berlin Philharmonic Eagon Ensemble will perform with blind student musicians at Incheon, Seoul concerts

While K-pop crossovers have been enjoying momentum, a columnist shared his opinion on the global phenomenon and its development from the perspective of an outsider looking in.Jeff Benjamin is a freelance columnist based in the US who writes about K-pop and other genres of music. He is passionately appreciated by “Army,” referring to the BTS fandom, for actively introducing the K-pop band to the larger Western public.  “I always grew up with this idea that music could be gr

Roaring K-pop boy band BTS launched Monday an official mobile application channel to connect with fans around the world.The septet announced the opening of BTS Weverse, an official fan community based on the application Weverse. Through the channel, BTS will communicate with fans using text messages as well as video clips and photos, according to Big Hit Entertainment.The app will provide exclusive content featuring BTS. Posting its first video clip on BTS Weverse, the BTS members said &quo

Gracias Choir has teamed up with classical musicians for its nationwide tour, titled “Svobodno,” which will entail six concerts in five cities.Classical musicians joining the tour include pianist Mikhail Benediktov, former guest soloist of the Mariinsky Theater; violinist Chingiz Osmanov, grand prize winner of the International Jascha Heifetz competition; and oboist Liang Wang, a former member of the New York Philharmonic. The concerts will feature choral and classical music pieces,

Ticket sales from stadium concerts in three countries have earned K-pop group BTS the No. 1 position in the world, a US poll agency said Saturday. Pollstar said BTS gained the top position on LIVE75 chart with an average of 51,106 tickets earned from six sold-out performances at three stadiums on the group's current world tour.London's Wembley Stadium had the highest ticket count of the three buildings, with 114,583, followed by the Stade de France in Paris with 107,328 tickets and 84,728 fans a

K-pop band BTS topped the monthly list of tour grosses with the biggest attendees among global superstars in May, Billboard reported on Thursday (on US time). "From only eight shows in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Sao Paolo, the South Korean superstars grossed $51.66 million and sold 384,498 tickets (in May)," Billboard said, citing figures from Billboard Boxscore."These towering earnings mark the biggest one-month total of 2019 so far," it said.  In May, the septe

Four classical musicians from South Korea have received awards in the voice, violin, cello and brass instruments sections of the International Tchaikovsky Competition held this week in Russia, according to organizers Friday.  Kim Ki-hoon, a 27-year-old baritone, won second prize in the voice competition held at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.Kim Dong-hyun, 19, finished third in the violin section of the competition’s 16th edition, following the final round held at Tchaikovsky

K-pop act GOT7 showcased the English version of its new song “Eclipse” on “The Today Show,” a popular NBC program. The seven-piece act appeared on the show around 10 a.m. to enthusiastic applause and demonstrated the dance moves for the song. GOT7 is visiting the US as part of its ongoing world tour, which kicked off with a June 15-16 concert in Seoul. After a performance in Newark, New Jersey, Thursday, the band will perform in Toronto, Canada, Sunday, then return states