[Today’s K-pop] TXT to return with 2nd LP on May 31

Tomorrow X Together is coming out with second full-length album on May 31, according to an announcement on Friday. 

The album is named “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze” and hails the beginning of a new narrative.

Since the boy band’s debut, their work has centered on the concept of dreams, starting with their debut EP “The Dream Chapter: Star,” the first studio album “The Dream Chapter: Magic” and then the second EP “The Dream Chapter: Eternity.” Before moving onto the next series, the quintet put out “minisode 1: Blue Hour” last year.

The EP interlude ranked No. 25 on Billboard 200, the highest for the band, and topped three other Billboard tallies as well: top album sales, top current album sales and world album.

There have been reports that TXT will be returning in May, about seven months after “Blue Hour” was released, but their label Big Hit Music only confirmed their comeback last week.

Seventeen vies for Billboard’s social artist award against BTS

Seventeen was nominated for the Billboard Music Awards’ top social artist award, according to the nominees’ list released on April 29 local time.

This is the first nod from Billboard for the 13-piece act. They will vie for the trophy against BTS and Blackpink, as well as Ariana Grande and SB19, a Filipino boy band. The winner will be decided by fan votes.

The category has been dominated by BTS who was nominated for five times and won four consecutive years until 2020.

“The nomination itself is an honor for us,” said the bandmates in an interview that was livestreamed after the announcement. They thanked Carats, their official fandom, for making everything possible.

The band’s seventh EP “Heng:garae” and special album “Semicolon” both sold over 1 million units.

The 2021 Billboard Music Award ceremony will be held on May 23 in Los Angeles.

GOT7’s Mark signs with US agency CAA 

Mark of GOT7 signed a contract with Creative Artists Agency, according to US media reports Thursday.

The Chinese American idol is seeking to solidify his footing in the US, and the agency will help him expand his digital presence, the reports said.

CAA is a major entertainment and sports agency whose client list includes musicians Beyonce, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, actors Tom Cruise, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, as well as soccer player Son Heung-min.

Mark debuted as a member of GOT7 in 2014 and returned to the US in January when all seven members decided not to renew their contracts with JYP Entertainment.

He restarted his YouTube channel that launched in 2010 but was later put on hiatus. Even though there were no new uploads, the channel gathered 1 million subscribers. It now has over 2 million followers among an estimated 23 million followers across all social media platforms.

He is also working on a solo album and will release his first single soon.

G(I)-dle’s new single tops music charts  

G(I)-dle’s new single “Last Dance” have stormed music charts at home and abroad.

The song was unveiled on Thursday and rose straight to the top tier of major music charts in Korea. It also landed at the top of iTunes K-pop song charts in five regions, while ranking among the top 10 in 18 regions for top song single charts.

The five members showed off dazzling performances to the hypnotic beats of the deep house pop tune created by hip-hop producer GroovyRoom in the music video.

Soojin, who has suspended all activities due to a bullying controversy, made minimal appearances in the video and the song was re-recorded to exclude her singing parts.

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