[Today’s K-pop] Twice aims higher with 1st English-language single

Twice is dropping its first single sung entirely in English, announced label JYP Entertainment on Friday.

The company uploaded an image that showed an envelope stamped with the band’s logo. When it opened, out came an invitation to a prom party. “Where are we going tonight?” the message read.

The nonet already has a strong presence around the world, having hit No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in June with its 10th EP, “Taste of Love.” It is the best showing so far for an EP released by a female K-pop act.

In Japan, the band celebrated the fourth anniversary of its debut last week and its third full album in Japanese, “Perfect World,” landed atop Oricon’s daily album chart.

Twice also is the female band that has the most music videos on YouTube in the world with over 100 million views. Of all its videos, 17 have reached the mark.

Sunmi comes out with 3rd EP  

Sunmi held an online media conference Friday to discuss her third EP, “1/6.”

It has been six months since her last digital single, “Tail,” and three years since her previous EP, “Warning.”

“I want the EP to be appraised as ‘fit for Sunmi,’” said the singer. She wants to be an artist who cannot be easily copied and wants more people to recognize her signature music.

Now in her ninth year as a solo musician, the 30-year-old, who debuted as a member of Wonder Girls almost 15 years ago, admits that she still feels pressure when she makes a new album.

She wrote the lyrics for the title track, in which she asks if she can feel her heart lighten if she goes to the moon, where gravity is 1/6 as strong as it is on Earth.

“That’s exactly how I feel. ... I don’t know why I still feel rushed even though I might as well have become accustomed to things,” she confided. But at the same time, feeling the burden means that she feels responsible, she mused.

Mamamoo to host 1st digital concert 

Mamamoo will be holding its first online concert Aug. 28, agency RBW Entertainment announced with a poster on Friday.

The four members walk on a sports track and strike confident poses for the camera as if they are making a new start. They all sport navy stripes, harking back to the costumes they wore onstage for their debut song, “Mr. Ambiguous.”

The concert, “WAW,” was originally planned as an in-person event, but is taking place online due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in South Korea. The band’s last concert was in July 2019 in Daegu.

To make up for going digital, the band is making the most of technology and will present a special performance.

In the meantime, Solar and Moonbyul participated in a project to celebrate the 20th anniversary of male duo Vibe’s debut. Their retake on “Promise U,” from the duo’s first LP -- “Afterglow,” which came out in 2002 -- was unveiled last week.

BTOB unit to return by end of August: report

BTOB is coming out with a new album as a unit at the end of this month, according to local media reports on Friday.

Yook Sungjae and Im Hyunsik are currently serving their military duty and the remaining four members -- Peniel, Seo Eunkwang, Lee Minhyuk and Lee Changsub -- will work as a unit as they did on “Kingdom: Legendary War,” a competition show for boy bands that ended in June.

This is the first album they are putting out after the show.

The quartet have already finished shooting the jacket cover for the album and are in the last stage of preparations. Lee Minhyuk has fully recovered from COVID-19. He was infected with the coronavirus last month and has been recuperating.

The band debuted in 2012 and the unit was launched last year with the EP “Inside.”

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)