Author: Samar Khouri

Zico, The Rose, Jay B, Peakboy, and more are set to make their debut in the Middle East at the Etihad Arena on September 10. The forthcoming one-day event, ‘Hyperound K-Fest Abu Dhabi,’ is in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi and Yas Island. Other acts among the lineup include boy group P1harmony, rapper Loco and Sik-k and hip-hop music producer Woogie, and singer-songwriters Paul Kim and Dvwn. “This milestone concert is evident to the growing popularity of East Asian artists and its K-Music culture,” said Aidana Imanbekova, Hyperound Events’ Managing Director, in a statement. “The…

Kim Jae Hwan is coming back to the K-Pop scene with some more music. The South Korean singer-songwriter dropped a teaser image on Saturday by a comeback schedule and the first concept photo for his fifth mini album, ‘Empty Dream’, the following day. ‘Empty Dream’ comes after he dropped single ‘Delete’ last month. His latest EP ‘The Letter’ was back in December.  The K-Pop soloist will drop his forthcoming musical material on September 5.  Kim’s broke into the music scene was when he came on the second season of South Korea’s singing competition show ‘Produce 101,’ where he ultimately finished and…

BLACKPINK released ‘Pink Venom,’ their first single in nearly two years, just ahead the K-Pop group’s nine-month world tour. The act’s lead single off of the foursome’s forthcoming album blends the band’s signature hip-hop beats with the sound of “geomungo,” a traditional Korean six-stringed zither. Their return was accompanied by an eye-popping, eclectic music video, featuring traditional Korean instruments and head-spinning fashion looks. “Since the moment of our debut under the name of BLACKPINK, we have always said our charm is this conflicting image,” Jennie said during an online press conference, according to Yonhap News Agency. “We wanted to describe…

Netflix viewers continue to fall in love with character Woo Young-woo. ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ officially entered the streaming platform’s most popular list, landing at number 8 with 288.62 million hours of watch time globally. Centered a young attorney with autism spectrum disorder, the Korean series is officially the third most popular show on Netflix, right after ‘Squid Game’ and ‘All of Us Are Dead,’ respectively. The streaming giant revealed that the former garnered 1.65 billion of viewing time during the first 28 days on Netflix. The latter amassed 560.78 million hours. This news comes six weeks after ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’,…

JYP Entertainment, home to artists like K-Pop groups Twice, 2PM and Stray Kids, made it to Forbes Asia’s 2022 Best Under A Billion list. This year’s annual list highlighted 200 Asia-Pacific top-performing publicly listed small and midsized companies’ annual sales above $10 million and below $1 billion. The Seoul-based firm’s sales from concerts and offline events were boosted by the momentum of economic reopenings following the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales climbed 34% while net profit more than doubled last year. It has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion. JYP is the only South Korean entertainment company to make it to the…

Korean action-adventure ‘Carter’ pulled viewers in globally, with 27.3M hours viewed on Netflix. It is the streamer’s first major Korean movie in the second half of 2022. ‘Carter, which is about an agent, played by Joo Won, suffering from memory loss who has to risk his life while figuring out who he is, topped the non-English films list during the August 1 – August 7, 2022. Released on August 5, the adrenaline-filled film was among the top 10 in 90 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar , Morocco and the UAE. “I tried to make…

BLACKPINK is definitely in our area! The K-Pop superstars are heading over to the UAE and Saudi Arabia next year as part of their world tour, marking the stars’ first time performing in the region. The quartet took to social media to announce the news of their ‘Born Pink World Tour’ schedule. Jisoo, Lisa, Jennie, and Rosé will kick off their tour in Seoul, before making a pitstop in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on the 20th and 28th of January, respectively. No further details on the venue or ticket prices have been disclosed yet. The tour is expected to end…

Five of six members of Monsta X have signed new contracts with Starship Entertainment. The music label issued a statement in both Korean and English on Monday. “Lately, MONSTA X members Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon and Joohoney have renewed their contract with Starship Entertainment,” the Korean entertainment company said in an English statement. I.M did not renew his contract. However, the agency stipulated that he will participate in the band’s future plans. “Although discussions with I.M have undergone for a long period of time, we have mutually agreed to end the contract for the best of both parties. Our sincere appreciation goes out to I.M. for the hard work and dedication he has shown…

Song Hye-kyo will reunite with 2016 military romance series ‘Descendants of the Sun’ screenwriter Kim Eun-sook in the upcoming Netflix original drama series ‘The Glory.’ She will play Moon Dong-eun, a rage-filled woman seeking revenge on her childhood bullies. Lee Do-hyun will also act alongside Song, taking on the role of Joo Yeo-jeong, a man with a secret past. The revenge series is a new direction for Kim, who is best known as one of the most successful TV screenwriters in Korea. Her work includes mega-hit dramas ‘Mr. Sunshine’ and ‘Inheritors.’ Fantasy romance ‘The King: Eternal,’ starring Lee Min-ho, Kim…