[Today’s K-pop] Park Jihoon returns to stage with 4th EP

Park Jihoon held an online showcase on Thursday to introduce his fourth EP, “My Collection.”

It has been nine months since his last album. Since that time he starred in the television drama “At a Distance, Spring Is Green.”

“I wanted to show another me by transforming myself externally,” he said. “Acting, I believe, helps me a lot as it makes me more comfortable and freer in expressing myself onstage.” He also admitted that he always wishes he were doing something different -- pining for K-pop concerts when he’s acting and longing to act when he’s working on his music career.

The new music reflects a lot of his ideas, said the idol, and if he is humble he can call it 98 percent perfect.

“This album is a collection of musical stories that express who Park Jihoon is,” he explained.

“I’d rather show a diverse range of myself ... than be remembered as a singular image,” Park went on. “I want to be an artist who can entertain both visually and aurally.”

TXT’s 2nd LP repack sells over half million in preorders

Tomorrow X Together’s repacked second full album sold over 560,000 copies in preorders, according to label Big Hit Music.

The repackage, titled “The Chaos Chapter: Fight or Escape,” consists of 11 tracks that include “LO$ER=LOVER,” a song dedicated to fans called “Exchange Diary” and the band’s first English-language song, “Magic.”

Its second LP, “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze” from May, sold more than 700,000 copies in preorders. The LP entered the Billboard 200 at No. 5 and has stayed on the chart for nine consecutive weeks.

Blackpink’s “Love To Hate Me” tops 100m streams on Spotify

Blackpink’s “Love to Hate Me” from its first full album, “The Album,” surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify, announced label YG Entertainment on Thursday.

The dance number is the sixth song from the album, which came out in October last year, to reach the milestone. The two remaining tracks, “Crazy Over You” and “You Never Know,” are close behind.

The band now has a total of 17 songs with over 100 million streams on the platform, and three with over 400 million -- “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” “Kill This Love” and “How You Like That.”

Meanwhile, the dance video for “How You Like That” amassed 800 million views on YouTube on Tuesday, becoming the first K-pop dance video to hit that number. The song’s music video had over 938 million views as of Thursday, closing in on its most popular video, “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” which has more than 1.66 billion views.

2PM to host online fan meet to mark 13th anniversary

2PM will hold a digital fan meet event on Naver’s V Live on Sept. 4 to celebrate the 13th anniversary of its debut.

The event -- called “Dear Hottest,” referring to the band’s official fandom community -- will be the first of its kind in six years. Last year Jun. K, Nichkhun and Wooyoung met fans online to mark the occasion.

The six-member act released its seventh studio album, “Must,” in June and resumed its activities as a group after five years during which all its members, except for Thai native Nichkhun, completed their military duty. It will release a new EP titled “With Me Again” in Japan next month, keeping the promise it made in 2016 at its concert at the Tokyo Dome.

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