Author: Samar Khouri

K-Pop rookie group NewJeans kicked off the new year with the single ‘OMG.’ New single The lyrics of the hip-hop, R&B track talks about the desire to get close to a love interest for the first time, with awkward distance and cautious emotion. According to the album’s distributor YG Plus, preorders for ‘OMG’ reached 800,000, breaking the girl group’s own record. The new song follows ‘Ditto,’ the pre-release dance single from the new album, dropped in December 2021. iTunes, YouTube ranking ‘OMG’ charted in the top 10 on the iTunes Top Songs chart in the UAE and Oman. The song…

YG Entertainment has revealed BLACKPINK’s Jisoo will be making her solo debut this year. Solo debut Her agency revealed that the K-Pop artist is currently working on recording songs and dedicating the time she has while on a world tour with her bandmates. While she completed shooting the album’s jacket cover, details on the concept and the exact release date have not been disclosed so far. She first hinted about her solo debut on the global fan platform Weverse on the last day of 2022, replying to a fan, also known as Blinks, that “there’s a Jisoo solo waiting in…

IU and BTS’ Jung Kook have made it on Rolling Stone’s list of ‘The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.’ IU, Jung Kook’s rankings Among the 200 singers, IU landed at number 135 and Jungkook at number 191, making them the only K-Pop singers to be ranked on the list. The American magazine were both praised for their vocals. Since her 2010 breakout hit “Good Day” (which garnered deserved praise for its magnificent three-note climax), IU has become one of the most highly regarded vocalists in South Korean music,” wrote the Rolling Stones on IU. “Despite having a soft voice, she has…

Singer-actress IU and actor Lee Jong Suk are in a romantic relationship, their agencies confirmed in separate statements. HighZium Studio, the agency of Lee, said the pair progressed from close co-workers to becoming a couple. IU’s agency EDAM Entertainment asked people “to look on their relationship with warm eyes.” Their dating confirmation came after the Korean online newspaper Dispatch reported earlier in the day that the pair have been romantically linked for around four months and spent Christmas in Japan together. Lee was swept up in dating rumors after expressing his gratitude to a specific unnamed person in his acceptance…

ATEEZ closed the year with a powerful comeback! iTunes ranking The album dominated in Saudi Arabia, taking top place on the iTunes Top Albums chart — and the only country in the region. Songs from ATEEZ’s previous releases, alongside the new lead ‘Halazia’ took over the iTunes albums chart. The lead song charted within the top 10 in the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, and Qatar.

YG Entertainment has announced that all six members — Jay, Song, Bobby, DK, Ju-ne, and Chan — of the boy band iKON have mutually agreed to end their exclusive seven-year contracts with the agency. iKON’s contract termination “Apart from the end of the contract, all six members will act as a group: iKON,” the statement read on iKON’s Weverse. “In addition, iKON will continuously interact with fans through their official channels including Weverse, the fan community service, as usual.” iKON band debuted in 2015 with ‘My Type’ and rose to stardom with the 2018 hit, ‘Love Scenario.’ The K-Pop boy…

After the postponement of the band’s comeback, WayV has officially dropped 4th mini album ‘Phantom’ — and the music video of its lead track — and it topped the iTunes chart in the Middle East. iTunes ranking It dominated the iTunes Top Album chart, including the Pop chart in Oman on the day of its release. According to SM Entertainment, it also topped the iTunes Top Album chart in Australia, Turkey, India, Brazil, Portugal, Armenia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The C-pop group’s mini album took the second spot on the All-Genres chart and topped the Pop chart in Saudi Arabia,…

From concerts to SM Entertainment expanding its footprint in Saudi Arabia, there is no doubt that K-Pop had a great year in the Middle East. Taking the top spot as the reigning K-Pop artist on Anghami, a music streaming platform and distribution company operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in 2022 is none other than BTS. The company also exclusively revealed to Forbes Middle East that the supergroup had 126 million all-time streams, followed by girl groups BLACKPINK and TWICE, with 34 million and 14 million, respectively. The K-Pop boy band was also crowned as Spotify’s most-streamed…

Weverse recorded 330 million posts from 53.9 million users in 245 nations in 2022, according to the fan platform’s year-end report, up 17.9 million from last year. Fandom trend The ‘2022 Weverse Fandom Trend,’ which analyzed this year’s most popular trends and contents, revealed the app launched 44 new communities this year, bringing the total number of artists/teams to 78. The total number of moments, postings and comments artists shared with fans surpassed 300,000 and approximately tripled from 2021. BTS’ Jin held the longest livestream on Weverse for three hours and 23 minutes on September 13. fromis_9’s Roh Ji-sun came…

Jackson Wang’s Dubai concert for his solo ‘Magic Man’ world tour has been canceled. Concert cancellation “Due to logistical issues, the Jackson Wang performance at Dubai Coca-Cola Arena on Feb 4 has unfortunately been canceled,” Promoter Top Entertainment announced on social media. The Dubai leg was scheduled to take place on February 4 at the Coca-Cola Arena and was the only show in the region as part of his first solo headline tour. Wang has not made a statement yet on the cancellation. ‘Magic Man’ tour The GOT7 member kicked off his ‘Magic Man’ world tour in Bangkok on November…