[Today’s K-pop] BTS’ ‘Butter’ video storms past 10m views in 13 minutes

The video for BTS’ newest single, “Butter,” drew 10 million views on YouTube within 13 minutes of its release on Friday.

This tops the record set by the band’s megahit from last summer, “Dynamite,” which reached that number in 20 minutes. “Dynamite” also garnered 101.1 million views in 24 hours, the highest figure in YouTube’s history.

The septet rolled out the digital single with a showcase in southern Seoul on Friday and will put out an album that includes the song in June.

The band will perform “Butter,” its second English song after “Dynamite,” for the first time May 24 at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. It will be the band’s fourth performance in a row at the annual music awards, where it has earned four nominations this year: top duo/group, top song sales artist, top social artist and top-selling song.

G(I)-dle’s Soyeon to make solo debut: report 

Soyeon of G(I)-dle is preparing to strike out on her own as a solo artist, according to media reports Friday.

Her agency, Cube Entertainment, confirmed the report but said no exact timetable had yet been decided.

She drew attention when she appeared on the first season of “Produce 101” and the third season of “Unpretty Rap Star,” demonstrating her skills in singing, dancing and rapping as well as in songwriting.

She debuted as a member of the girl group in 2018 and participated in writing hit songs such as “Latata,” “Senorita,” “Uh-Oh,” “Oh My God” and “Dumdi Dumdi.”

Bandmate Yuqi released her debut solo single, “A Page,” earlier this month. The band’s project single “Last Dance” made the top 10 on iTunes K-pop songs charts in 11 regions and on its singles chart in 18 regions.

‘Next Level’ video from aespa logs 50m views in 3 days

The video of aespa’s “Next Level” amassed 50 million views on YouTube, said label S.M. Entertainment on Friday.

The new song came out May 17 and the video drew 50 million views within 3 1/2 days. It broke the record set by the rookie band’s debut song, “Black Mamba,” which reached the milestone in almost six days. “Black Mamba” was the most viewed video in a 24-hour period among all debut songs by K-pop groups when it was unveiled six months ago. It has drawn 140 million views so far.

“Next Level” is a rearrangement of the original soundtrack from the movie “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw,” and the hip-hop dance number reinterpreted by the four-piece act ranked among the top 10 on iTunes songs charts in 26 regions.

Stray Kids’ Bang Chan overwhelmed by ‘Deadpool’ star’s tweet

Bang Chan of Stray Kids admitted on Friday that he could not sleep after seeing a tweet from Ryan Reynolds.

“I’ve seen all the movies Ryan Reynolds appeared in since I was young such as ‘Green Lantern’ and ‘Deadpool.’ I’ve followed all the contents that feature him and was greatly inspired,” he said, calling the actor his role model and thanking him.

The actor tweeted, “Oh hello,” and added the band’s official account replying to a tweet with a 15-second snippet: of himself in a scene from “Deadpool” and the band’s recent performance inspired by the scene where he sits and doodles on a bridge rail. Reynolds’ tweet drew more than 112,000 likes and was retweeted almost 57,000 times in 12 hours. The video seems to have been created by a fan of Stray Kids.

The eight-piece act put on a mash-up of Blackpink’s “Ddudu Ddudu” and its own “God’s Menu” for a competition show and the performance drew on the actor’s superhero character.

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