[Today’s K-pop] Riize to unveil 1st EP at June 17 showcase

Riize will unveil its first EP, “Riizing,” in Seoul on June 17 at a “premiere” showcase, according to label SM Entertainment on Wednesday.

The six-piece band will perform “Boom Boom Bass,” its main track from the eight-track album, for the first time at the event, which will be broadcast live as well. The pop dance tune is mainly based on bass guitar, as the title suggests, and continues the theme of musical instruments that weaves through debut single “Get a Guitar” and second digital single “Talk Saxy.” The latter will be included in the upcoming album.

Meanwhile, the band is visiting fans across the world for its fan concert tour and will wrap it up in Seoul in September in time to mark the first anniversary of its debut. Next month, it will drop digital single “Lucky” in Japan and hop around nine cities in the country before the first anniversary of its official debut in September.

Illit logs 100m streams in Japan in record time

Illit generated 100 million streams in Japan as of Monday, said agency Belift Lab on Wednesday citing Oricon chart.

The group reached the milestone with “Magnetic,” the main track from its debut EP, “Super Real Me,” and did so in the shortest time for a girl group, according to the Japanese chart.

The single came out in March and logged 200 million plays on Spotify last month, breaking the record for a debut song from a K-pop girl group.

The rookie girl group also set records on in the US and UK as “Magnetic” debuted on Hot 100 at No. 91 and the album entered Billboard 200 at No. 93 three weeks later. The lead single made UK’s Official singles top 100 at No. 80 as well.

Stray Kids cinches gold in France with EP No. 8

Stray Kids earned a gold certification in France with their eighth EP, “Rock Star,” said label JYP Entertainment on Wednesday, citing French recording industry organization SNEP.

The album logged more than 50,000 units sold in the country as of last week and certified for gold. It is the octet’s second album to achieve the feat, following third studio album “Five-Star.” The EP ranked No. 135 on the organization’s 2023 top 200 albums chart in January while the LP claimed No. 52 spot, the highest for a K-pop artist.

EP “Rock Star” was rolled out in November last year and landed atop Billboard 200 becoming its fourth consecutive chart-topper while the main track “Lalalala” entered Hot 100 at No. 90, a first for the band.

A new album is expected to come out next month.

Weeekly to release 6th EP next month

Girl group Weeekly will bring out its sixth EP on July 9, said agency IST Entertainment on Wednesday.

It will have been about eight months since its previous mini album, “ColoRise,” which came out after a more than 1 1/2-year hiatus, during which it reorganized into a six-member act. In January, the group dropped a digital single that consisted of Korean and English-language versions of “Stranger,” after putting it on stage first at its fan meeting earlier that month. It was Weeekly’s first song in English.

Separately, the six members met their fans in Japan last month in Tokyo. It was the first time they held such event outside of Korea since they debuted in 2020.