[Today’s K-pop] NCT 127 to hit 7 cities in North, Latin America

NCT 127 announced its plans Thursday to visit North and Latin America in January.

The band added nine concerts in seven cities in the region, expanding its ongoing international tour. It will take to the stage in Chicago on Jan. 9 and hop over to Houston and Atlanta before flying over to Brazil. The tour will bring it to Santiago, Chile and Bogota, Colombia before the final destination, Mexico City.

The nine-member act kicked off its second world tour in Seoul in December last year and has performed in three cities in Japan and two cities in the US as well as four cities in southeast Asia.

It will bring out repackage of fourth full-length album “2 Baddies” next month.

Seventeen’s 4th LP is album of year: MTV

MTV counted Seventeen’s fourth studio album as one of the five albums of the year.

LP “Face The Sun” is the band’s “most sonically settled, emotionally confident record yet” and “sets [its] stardom in stone,” it said in an article.

The 13 members have solidified their standing in the ever-changing, highly saturated K-pop landscape working tirelessly and diligently since their debut in 2015 and the album “marks the start of their reign as South Korea’s newest it-boys.”

The nine-track LP was released in May and sold over 2 million copies in preorders and notched a place among Billboard 200’s top ten, a first for the band.

Main track “Hot” also made Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Songs of 2022 earlier this week.

Separately, the band is holding concerts in Bulacan, Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia on Dec. 17 and 28, respectively.

Itzy sells 630,000 copies of new EP

Itzy’s sixth EP sold more than 633,000 units in first-week sales, according to label JYP Entertainment on Thursday.

The firm uploaded behind-the-scenes photographs from shooting music video to mark the success of the EP.

This is its first album to record over half a million sales in the first week. The EP was released on Nov. 30 and has topped a series of music charts at home. It also was No. 1 on the iTunes worldwide albums chart for two days.

The group put on the titular track from the EP on stage for the first time at 2022 MAMA Awards on Nov. 30.

In the meantime, the quintet will begin touring Asia next month, resuming its first international tour. It will hold seven concerts in five cities – Manila (Philippines), Singapore, Jakarta (Indonesia), Chiba (Japan) and Bangkok – up until April 8.

Mamamoo’s Moonbyul to drop special single

Moonbyul of Mamamoo will drop special single on Dec. 22 to celebrate her birthday, said agency RBW Entertainment on Thursday.

Single “The Present” comes about eight months since her second solo single “Cheese In The Trap.” The single sold over 100,000 units within a week, a record for her as a solo musician.

She recently came out in first place in “Second World,” a music program in which eight female idols competed to demonstrate their singing abilities.

Last month, the group in its 10th year of music career held concerts in Seoul, opening its first international tour “My Con.” It performed in Japan late-November and will resume touring Asia from Jan. 7.

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