[Today’s K-pop] Blackpink has the most YouTube subscribers among artists

Blackpink became the artist or group with the most subscribers on YouTube around the world.
 
According to label YG Entertainment, subscribers to the girl group’s official channel surpassed 65.2 million Friday afternoon, surpassing Justin Bieber.
 
“It’s unbelievable. It is a moment of miracle made by Blink,” the bandmates said through their management firm, thanking their official fandom.
 
“This is a result achieved with our fans so we hope Blink feels the joy as much as we do. We will continue to be artists that deliver positive energy through good music and videos,” they added.
 
In July 2020, Blackpink became the first artists from a non-English-speaking region to enter the top five in terms of subscribers to YouTube’s music streaming service. Then it pushed past Ariana Grande, Eminem and Marshmello to No. 2. The release of Lisa’s solo album gave the girl group the last push it needed to ascend to the No. 1 spot.
 
The quartet has been going strong on YouTube. It has 29 videos with over 100 million views each and has nearly 20 billion combined views.

TXT to hold 1st standalone concert next month

Tomorrow X Together will host its first standalone concert on Oct. 3, the boy band announced Friday through its global fan community platform Weverse.
 
The live show, “Tomorrow X Together Live ‘Act: Boy,’” will be livestreamed. In the poster that announced the news, the five bandmates appear in black and white suits with knee-length pants highlighting their youthful side.
 
The quintet has six albums under their belts, from the three-part “Magic” series and two-part “Chaos” series, with a “minisode” in between.
 
The group also announced Friday that it collaborated with American rock artist Mod Sun and will be dropping a remixed version of “0X1=Lovesong (I Know I Love You).” The original song, featuring Seori, was the lead track from the second LP, “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze.” The American singer and songwriter participated in writing the song, and for the remix Mod Sun has written a new melody and English lyrics.

Stray Kids to drop 2nd single in Japan in October

Stray Kids are putting out their second Japanese single, “Scars / Thunderous - Japanese ver.” On Oct. 13, announced label JYP Entertainment on Friday.
 
“Scars” and the Japanese version of “Thunderous,” the lead track from its second full-length album “Noeasy,” are double lead tracks for the single, marking a first for the band. It will also include two more songs -- “Call” and “My Pace” in Japanese.
 
“Scars” is co-authored by the band’s own songwriting trio 3Racha, and sings of how they are willing to suffer more scars, even though they already have many, to realize bigger dreams.
 
The Japanese version of “My Pace” has been included as a bonus track to mark that it was chosen as the theme song for a popular show on Ameba, a major streaming platform in Japan.
 
The eight-member band debuted in Japan in March 2020 with its best-of album “SKZ2020,” which was the bestselling K-pop album released in Japan in the first half of the year, according to Tower Records. The group’s first single “Top” topped Oricon’s weekly singles chart three months later.

Victon’s Do Hanse ready for solo debut

Do Hanse of Victon will come out with his first solo album on Sept. 25, announced agency PlayM Entertainment on Friday.
 
He debuted as a member of the band five years ago and will be the second to release a solo album, following Han Seungwoo. As the main rapper of the seven-piece act, he has been doing the rapping duty for all of Victon’s songs. He also wrote “Where Is Love?” from the band’s first studio album, “Voice: The Future Is Now.”
 
Meanwhile, the band recently put out its own series of original characters, named Toniiminii. The bandmates participated in the whole process, pitching ideas and drawing the rough sketches to reflect themselves. The characters became available for purchase in preorders last week and will come alongside a range of merchandise soon.

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