Author: Samar Khouri

Veteran band SUPER JUNIOR rang in the holidays with its 11th studio album Vol.2 ‘The Road : Celebration.’ MENA hit The new release — the second installment of its July project ‘The Road : Keep On Going’ — topped the iTunes Top Albums charts in 21 regions, including Saudi Arabia, India, Qatar, and Egypt. It also ranked in the top five for iTunes’s Top Albums charts in 29 regions, top 10 in 31 regions, and top 10 on Apple Music charts in 11 regions. The album’s title track ‘Celebrate,’ a feel-good, pop track that celebrates the memories made together and…

SEVENTEEN’s Vernon is gearing up to release his first solo mixtape, titled ‘Black Eye.’ Solo mixtape The group dropped a teaser image on its social media accounts, showing the rapper standing on a monster truck, with the title in bold red graffiti lettering. Vernon’s upcoming musical release makes him the third of the 13-member group to drop a solo project. Hoshi’s ‘Spider’ mixtape was released in April 2021 followed Woozi’s ‘Ruby’ in January. In February, Vernon collaborated with Charli XCX for the remix of her single ‘Beg for You’ featuring Rina Sawayama. Release date and time ‘Black Eye’ is scheduled…

‘Decision to Leave’ grabbed nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards. Golden Globe Nod The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced on Monday that Park Chan-wook’s award-winning film scored a nomination for Best Picture (Non-English Language), formerly known as Foreign Language. It will be vying against ‘Argentina, 1985’ (Argentina), ‘RRR’ (India), ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ (Germany), and ‘Close’ (Belgium/France/Netherlands). The nominees of the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards were voted by 96 members and, for the first time, 103 international voters, HFPA revealed. Critics Choice Nod ‘Decision to Leave’ was also listed in the best…

SM Entertainment signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture last month, the entertainment conglomerate said on Tuesday, to promote cultural cooperation. MOU signing The signing between Executive producer Lee Soo-man, SM CEO Lee Sung-soo, and Saudi Arabian Theater Arts Council CEO Sultan Albazie took place at the Ministry of Culture building in Diriyah. The two parties will produce Saudi Pop, or S-Pop, hold auditions to discover and nurture talent, build a training system as well as plan to establish a studio for production. “Through this collaboration, not only Saudi Arabia but also Korean culture will…

Jin, a member of boy band BTS, took to the online community platform Weverse to share a photo short shaved hair, with the caption “It looks cuter than I thought,” ahead of his 18-month military enlistment. Jin’s enlistment The 30-year-old vocalist will begin his military service in one of the northernmost military bases in South Korea on Tuesday, joining around 200 other new soldiers. Jin will be placed in a military unit after five weeks of basic training in Yeoncheon. Born Kim Seok-jin, the oldest BTS member announced his plan to serve in the military after the band’s Busan concert…

K-Pop continued to take the world by storm in 2022, with BTS taking the lead in music and search engines. Here’s how the seven-piece boy band performed on Google and Apple Music, as per their end-of-year lists. Google BTS’ ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Butter’ were among the top song searches on Google in 2022, according to the tech giant’s ‘Year in Search 2022’ report. ‘Butter’ ranked second, just after Pakistani singer Ali Sethi’s ‘Pasoori.’ ‘Dynamite’ was the seventh most-searched song globally. Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea, was also among the top cultural landmarks on Google Maps. Apple Music Both the English-language…

NCT members Jungwoo, Jaehyun, and Johnny sustained injuries after a set collapsed while filming a PUMA commercial on Friday. Members’ health status SM Entertainment issued a statement on the incident and the members’ health status through the membership-based fan community KWANGYA CLUB, stating that the jungle gym structure that members Taeil, Johnny, Jungwoo, and Jaehyun had climbed collapsed. Taeil suffered minor injuries and expressed his intent to rest rather than go to the hospital. His bandmates were rushed to the hospital to receive treatment and examination. The band’s agency later assured fans that they had minor bruises and have returned home to rest. As a…

T.O.P, a member of K-Pop boy band BIGBANG, is among the 10 crew members traveling to the moon next year on the ‘dearMoon’ mission led by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. #dearMoon Project American DJ Steve Aoki, Czech choreographer Yemi A.D, Indian actor Dev Joshi, Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam, American YouTuber Tim Dodd, British photographer Karim Iliya, and American filmmaker Brendan Hall will board one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets. T.O.P, whose real name is Choi Seung-hyun, said he was honored to have been chosen. “I have always fantasized about space and the moon since I was young. I applied to…

Member Jinni has left girl group NMIXX. JYP Entertainment said the reason for her departure was due to personal reasons and her contract has been terminated. NMIXX will therefore continue as a six-member group, consisting of BAE, Jiwoo, Lily, Sullyoon, and Kyujin.The band’s agency asked for warm support from fans for the 18-year-old and the remaining members. Jinni, whose real name is Choi Yun-jin, debuted with NMIXX in February with first single album, ‘Ad Mare’ under JYP, the K-pop powerhouse behind high-profile acts such as TWICE and Stray Kids. The K-Pop rookies dropped ‘INTERMIXXION’ single ‘Funky Glitter Christmas.’ In September, LOEWE tapped…

PLEDIS Entertainment has issued a statement, revealing what it called “severe cases of invasion of privacy” towards SEVENTEEN. The concerning behavior has been occurring especially during its artist’s recent ‘BE THE SUN’ world tour. It includes trying to break and enter the artists’ hotel room, attempting to converse within the airport security zones, among others. “Such repeated actions are inflicting mental pain on the artists,” the band’s agency added. Those engaging in such behaviors will be blacklisted from all of SEVENTEEN’s fan activities. PLEDIS added it will also take the necessary legal actions, using evidence collected from CCTV footage and…