[Today’s K-pop] Blackpink’s Jisoo floats another teaser for solo album

Jisoo of Blackpink uploaded another teaser poster for her forthcoming solo album on Thursday.

She gazes serenely at the camera while her eyes are highlighted with smokey makeup, showing yet another side of her. In the teaser photograph released on the previous day, she went for aesthetics inspired by traditional Korean beauty.

The artist is set to bring out her first solo album, “Me,” on March 31. The album has sold more than 950,000 copies in the two weeks since it started taking pre-orders, raising expectations for it to become the first million-seller from a female K-pop musician.

Separately, established fashion media outlet WWD tweeted on Wednesday in the US that Jisoo’s attendance at Dior’s fashion week in Paris made it “the most downloaded and most viewed designer collection.” The French fashion house earned a total of $42 million in media impact value, it said, and she, as its global brand ambassador, contributed almost a quarter of this value.

Le Sserafim logs 100m streams on Billboard Japan

Le Sserafim surpassed 100 million streams on Billboard Japan with its debut song, “Fearless,” according to its streaming songs chart released on Wednesday.

The chart tallies streams on major music sites in the country including Apple Music, LINE Music, Spotify and YouTube Music.

The single came out in May last year and stayed on the chart for 19 weeks, before reentering it after the group dropped its first single in Japan, also named “Fearless,” in January and stayed among the top 100 for six weeks in a row.

The quintet has been setting a series of records in Japan, earning double platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan for 500,000 shipments. It is the first K-pop group to top the number with a debut single in Japan.

Kingdom comments on 6th EP

Boy band Kingdom talked about its sixth EP, “History of Kingdom: Part XI. Mujin,” which came out on Thursday through its agency, GF Entertainment.

The seven-track EP continues its narrative, telling how Mujin, as the prince of a ruined country on the run, encounters people harassed by monsters, builds a kingdom of cherry blossoms with them and sacrifices himself to seal the evil spirit.

There have been voices, however, that the concept and images of the new EP lean too heavily on Japanese culture. The band’s eight-part series contains different cultures and perspectives, and it has already put out five that evoke cultures of other countries, explained the agency.

“We are a team that was launched with a perspective that reinterprets all cultures with K-pop,” said Dan adding that the concept is limited to this album only and they are adding their own identities to the different cultures expressed in each album.

Kard to return next month: report

Four-member group Kard is gearing up for a return in April, according to a local media report on Thursday.

It has been about 10 months since it rolled out its fifth EP, “Re:,” and the bandmates have finished shooting a music video.

Last year, the band toured seven cities in Latin America and 11 cities in North America. More recently, it participated in the MIK Festival Paris, one of the largest K-pop festivals in Europe, last month and went live at DJ survival fest World EDM Trend! earlier this month.

The foursome debuted in 2016 with single “Oh Nana,” and all members renewed their contracts with agency DSP Media in July last year.

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