New K-pop Releases

As I mentioned before I've been listening to a lot of K-pop recently. The channel Arirang TV started showing in the UK the other month, so I've been watching the programmes Pops in Seoul and Simply K-pop. (I usually just discover K-pop videos on YouTube). I thought it would be good to do a post on the latest K-pop releases. :)



BTS- Blood Sweat & Tears

BTS' latest single is Blood Sweat & Tears. It's from their new album Wings (their 2nd full length studio album) which came out last month. I just read that Wings has made history by becoming the first album by a Korean act to enter the UK Albums Chart! :) Blood Sweat & Tears was No 1 in the Korean charts.

Check out more BTS songs here:

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/07/weekly-music-video_29.html

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/12/weekly-music-video_31.html




Se7en- Give it to me

Se7en is back with the song Give it to me from his new mini album I AM SE7EN. He finished his military service last year (it's mandatory in South Korea) and returned to music this July with the single I'm Good.

I AM SE7EN was released on 14th October and Give it to me was uploaded to YouTube a day before.

Oh! Bliss- BUNNYBUNNY

Oh! Bliss are a new Korean girl group made up of 5 members- leader Mei, rapper YeonJoo (full name Kim YeonJoo) and other vocalists InHwa, ChungLyn and RoA (real name Ryu Hyeon Joo).*

They're managed by JT Corea Entertainnment and released their first single BUNNYBUNNY on 17th October.

Note 4/11/17: The video got removed from the official channel for some reason (the channel itself doesn't seem to be there anymore) but I found another upload.

Update 3/11/18: 2nd video got removed! I'm linking directly to another one, so I don't have to keep deleting dead videos on the blog itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrh9hGN3oyg

Watch the girls perform BUNNYBUNNY on Simply K-pop:  

 

For more on Oh! Bliss visit these links:

Official website (Korean language): http://cafe.daum.net/ohblissofficial

Profile (English): http://www.kpopmap.com/oh-bliss-kpop-profile/



I.O.I- Very Very Very

I.O.I are an 11 member group who were formed earlier this year through the reality show Produce 101. The members are main vocalist Yu Yeon-jung,  Lim Na-Young, Kim Chung-Ha, Jung Chae-yeon, Kim se-jong, Zhou Jieqiong, Kang Mi-na, Kim So-hye, Choi Yoo-jung, Kim Do-yeon and "centre" Jeon So-mi (also known as Enmik Douma). The girls were chosen from a group of 101 trainees and come from various entertainment companies. The group name stands for Ideal of Idol.

Jieqong is Chinese, So-mi is Canadian (she has a Korean mum and a Dutch Canadian dad, and is from Canada), Chung-ha lived in America and the rest of the members are Korean. Some girls were or currently are in other girl bands.

I.O.I released their pre-debut single Crush in April, and their debut mini album Chrysalis and single Dream Girls in May. Their other singles are Whatta Man, Hand in Hand and Very Very Very. They are a "project group" and will only be around for a certain time. They're set to disband in January.

Very Very Very is from their second EP Miss Me? (both of which came out on 17th October). It reached No 1 in the South Korean Gaon Digital Chart. The video has English subtitles. (Click subtitle caption on YouTube. :)

Update 3/11/18: The original video was removed. I replaced it with this one, which doesn't have English subtitles unfortunately.

I'm surprised sometimes by the size of the Korean groups! lol. We don't tend to get groups/bands that are that large in the UK. The only exception I can think of is garage/rap collective So Solid Crew which started with 19 members and went up to 30 at one time. It's interesting to note the differences in music around the world. :)




Watch I.O.I perform on Simply K-pop here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjQsPBnFSgg

 And for more on the group check out these links:

Official site (Korean/English): http://www.ymcent.com/YMC/artist_ioi.php

K-PopInfo profile (English): https://kpopinfo114.wordpress.com/2014-rookie-group-debuts/may/i-o-i-profile/

NowKpop profile (English): https://www.nowkpop.com/2016/04/02/i-o-i-profile/



HIGH420- HookGA feat. Hwasa of MAMMAMOO

Duo HIGH4:20 is made up of Alex (full name Alexander Kim) and Youngjun (Yim Young-jun) from boyband HIGH4. They are a sub-unit who debuted last month with the release of their first single HookGA on 2nd October. (Sub-units are quite common in K-pop, they're smaller groups which break off from the main one). Alex is American and Youngjun is Korean.

The song features Hwasa from girl group MAMMAMOO. It's more of a hip hop song than the others in this post. Hip hop is also popular in South Korea.

For more on HIGH4:20 visit this site: http://aminoapps.com/page/k-pop/5436078/high4-20-hookga-feat-hwasa-mv-members-profile



TWICE- T T

Finally here is Twice, another girl group. They were formed in 2015 through the reality show Sixteen and there are 9 members- Jihyo (fyll name Park Jihyo who is the leader and main vocalist), Momo (full name Hirai Momo) the main dancer, Sana (whose full name is Sana Minatozaki), Nayeon (Im Na-yeon), Yoo Jeong-yeon, Mina (full name Mina Myoui), Tzoyu (whose full name is Chou Tsuoyu) and Chaeyoung (Son Chae-young). 

They are an international group since Momo and Sana are Japanese, Mina was born in America and moved to Japan as a toddler and Tzuyu is Taiwanese. The other girls are Korean.


Twice released their first mini album The Story Begins and debut song Like OOH-AHH in October 2015. Since then they have released two more singles, Cheer Up and TT, and two more EPs, Page Two and TWICEcoaster: Lane 1 which came out on 24th October.

TT is the lead single from TWICEcoaster: Lane 1 and is about being in love. The video has a Hallowe'en/spooky house theme.

For more on TWICE visit these sites:

Official site (Korean/English): http://twice.jype.com/

 International fanbase: http://teamtwice.com/



Hope you like the post. :) What is your favourite new K-pop release?



 *Korean names are the other way round to Western names, so the surname is first.