[Today’s K-pop] Solo song from BTS’ Jimin found ‘unsuitable’ for TV

A song from the upcoming solo debut album of BTS’ Jimin was deemed “ineligible” for television broadcasting, according to a review by KBS released Wednesday.

The review cited profanity, slang and indecent expressions in the lyrics as reasons. “Face-Off” is the first track from the album “Face,” and the artist, along with bandmate RM, co-wrote the lyrics.

Other tracks from the album – focus track “Like Crazy” and “Alone” – qualified for airing.

Meanwhile, a pre-release from the album, “Set Me Free Pt. 2,” landed atop Oricon’s weekly digital single ranking on Wednesday, after topping its daily digital single ranking upon release. It also was No. 1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart in 111 regions.

The album will be rolled out on Friday.

NewJeans to join music festivals in US, Japan

NewJeans will join the lineup at major music festivals slated for this summer, according to the group's agency, Ador, on Wednesday.

The rookie girl group will perform at Lollapalooza Chicago in the US and Summer Sonic 2023 in Japan in August. According to the list announced on Wednesday, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey as well as Tomorrow X Together will headline the Chicago festival, which will be held Aug. 3-6. It is the first time a K-pop girl group has been invited to the Chicago event.

On August 19, the group will go live in Summer Sonic 2023 Tokyo. Even though it has yet to make an official debut in the country, its single, “OMG,” topped Oricon’s weekly combined single ranking twice. The quintet stayed on Billboard’s Hot 100 for six weeks, with the titular track and pre-release “Ditto,” which peaked at No. 74 and No. 82, respectively.

NCT trio unit confirms album release date: report

The first fixed-member subunit from NCT will bring out an album on April 17, said a local media report on Wednesday.

Label SM Entertainment confirmed the news following the report.

Doyoung, Jaehyun and Jungwoo are the members of the subunit. There have been rising expectations for their activities as a trio, especially since they performed “Can’t We Go Back” for the first time at NCT127’s standalone concert in October last year. The three members belong to the nine-member subunit as well.

Separately, NCT127 ranked No. 13 on Billboard 200 last week with “Ay-Yo,” a repack of its fourth studio album, “Two Baddies.”

Cravity to tour from May

Boy band Cravity will kick off its first international tour with two concerts in Seoul, announced agency Starship Entertainment on Wednesday.

It will go live May 13-14, holding its first standalone concert in over a year at home. The gig is the beginning of its tour, “Masterpiece,” named after its fifth EP, “Master: Piece,” that came out earlier this month.

The nine members greeted their fans in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan late last year through fan meeting events.

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