[Today’s K-pop] Blackpink’s “Whistle” music video tops 800m views

The music video for Blackpink’s debut song “Whistle” reached 800 million views on YouTube on Monday, according to label YG Entertainment on Tuesday.

It is the group’s eighth video to reach the milestone following the videos for songs including “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” “Kill This Love” and “Boombayah.”

“Whistle” is one of the group's double main tracks from its debut single “Square One” that came out in August 2016.

The quartet is set to release its second full album “Born Pink” on Sept. 16. The album's pre-release track “Pink Venom” has remained on Billboard’s Hot 100 for two weeks since debuting at No. 22. The single has topped Billboard's Global 200 and Global Exc. US charts for two weeks in a row, a first for a K-pop girl group. It also topped iTunes top songs charts in 75 regions. The music video for “Pink Venom” surpassed 100 million views on YouTube in less than 30 hours and 200 million views in seven days.

NCT Dream to kick off Japan tour in November

It will be part of the “In A Dream” tour and will bring the seven-member boy band to Nagoya, Yokohama and Fukuoka, where they will take to the stage five times in total. It will be the first time the band is holding a concert in front of fans in Japan since its first standalone concert in February 2020.

The septet dropped EP “The Dream” to mark the concert and topped Oricon’s weekly album chart with the album, becoming the first K-pop male act to claim the spot before officially debuting in Japan.

Meanwhile, the band kicked off the “In A Dream” tour in Seoul last week, drawing about 135,000 fans both online and offline. The Seoul gig was originally planned for last month but was postponed, and moved to a new and even bigger venue, as Mark and Renjun tested positive for COVID-19 only days before the show.

Big Bang’s G-Dragon hints at collaboration work

G-Dragon of Big Bang uploaded an image and created excitement for his upcoming collaboration with virtual artist Wade.

The image read “Something BIG is Coming” with Wade spelled out using font art inspired by water. Wade is co-created by KB Lee, a creative consultant who has made his name in street fashion, and digital intellectual property company IPX. The virtual influencer is themed as a mutant made of water, poised to make splash in music, fashion and art. Wade will join hands with GD’s own brand PeaceMinusOne, starting with Wade Friends ＆ Family that will be unveiled on Thursday.

In the meantime, the veteran idol and fashion fiend was spotted at an art event co-hosted by Chanel Korea and Frieze Seoul last week.

In July, he paid tribute to Elvis Presley with a retake the legend’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love” in a video directed by Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. In April, Big Bang rolled out the single “Still Life,” its first full-group effort in about four years.

AB6IX to release 6th EP next month

AB6IX will come out with its sixth EP on Oct. 4, announced agency Brand New Music Tuesday.

The news for the upcoming “Take A Chance” EP came with a poster that showed a peach-colored cake topped with a small sprout. Its previous album was fifth EP “A to B” from May.

In August, the foursome held a fan meet event in Bangkok to meet fans in the Thai capital in person for the first time three years. Park Woojin, however, could not join as he tested positive for COVID-19. The event is part of the group's international fan meet tour that will bring the bandmates to Taipei in November. They have already made stops in six cities in the US and two in Japan.

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