Kpop Breaking news 2016 Jan

             Starts from 2016 January, I will update my blog a bit different. Instead of kpop girl group update, I will write something which is more relevant to general public., which is kpop breaking news for each month. And this is the first blog about that topic. (I would like to get the feedback from my new  blog for the first time, if it is good, I will continue this topic, otherwise I will go back kpop girl group update again).

                        Pink MEMORY: Apink North American Tour 2016

              Everyone will know the first topic I will write. Yes, it is Pink Memory: APink North American tour. APink had a concert at Vancouver at Jan 5th 2016. I was so exited for this concert that I couldn't sleep the night before the concert. I still feel so lucky to get meet & greet ticket for this concert and also for one of my friend. (the M&G Ticket sold out very fast online) Even though it's a bit expensive like almost 300 CAD, it's a once in life time opportunity, and it really worth it...

             So before the concert, M&G ticket fans actually got chance to have High-Touch and take picture with APink. It's like very first time to get so close to my fav idols. And I was just so lucky to get hug from one of my bias Yoon Bomi from APink during the meet& greet session.

(I was standing right behind Bomi when taking the picture with APink and other Pink Pandas, it's still kinda funny...also I am glad some other fans could stand besides their fav member in APink as well like Eunji, NaEun, Chorong panda)....

        The concert is really amazing, I will probably never forget this concert in my life. It's just amazing. I sit in the 3rd row, every fans are like cheering like crazy....

        After that, APink held concert at Dallas, San Francisco and LA, they had a very successful tour in North America...

      Also, I cannot sleep again after the APink concert as well, sigh....

                                   My ultimate bias Eunji or Bomi ?

          I start to listen to APink songs since 2011 when My My just came out, since then Eunji became my bias, and I actually watched the whole Reply 1997 drama partially because of Eunji as well. For people who actually follow my blog, my blog is called EunjiPanda before as well until May last year. When remember came out, Bomi's Pink hair, OMG....and also I start to watch a lot of Bomi stuff in various shows.... I would say both Eunji and Bomi are my bias, I am just more focus on Bomi these days than Eunji...I am glad Eunji and Bomi are actually good friends in APink, yes, Eunmi !!!.

                         Infinite Effect World Tour

                               

          

     Similar to APink, the current hot boy group Infinite also has their own world tour. They performed in Vancouver 2 days after APink. After that, they will perform in Vancouver, LA, Mexico City and New York. 

      I'm not a big fan of Infinite,but they are one of the boy group who is currently in trend right now. And before my graduation, me and 6 members actually perform their BTD in front of around 200 people at school. Their dance is pretty hard, I would say.

        after talking about the concert and feel so excited about APink, now let's see what's the real breaking news in Kpop at Jan 2016......

                              Disband of KARA (2007 - 2016)

                                  

          On Jan 5th 2016, on the same day when APink have concert in Vancouver, one of the biggest kpop girl group in the past KARA officially announced disbanding from DSP Media. So member

Gyuri, Seungyeon and Hara, 3 members contract expired, and another member YoungJi will still stay in DSP Media, but promote without the name KARA. 

  Reports are saying that KARA hasn't had promotions since this past fall with their Japanese tour. It's also being said that Hara, Seungyeon and Gyuri have already decided to leave

         In speaking of KARA, since 2007, they are one of the biggest competitor with SNSD and Wonder Girls. They also break into Japanese market and became one of the most popular kpop girl group in Japan along with SNSD. However in recent years,

        Early KARA pretty girl period....

  KARA's 2011 single "Step", immediately topped various music charts in South Korea hours after its release. So from 2007 until 2011, KARA was one of the most popular kpop girl group, and definitely ranked top 3...

         Also KARA had one of the biggest impact on kpop in Japan since 2011. They are actually the best selling kpop girl group of all time in Japan. 

             
          After the announcement, a lot of KARA fans feel very disappointed.  Even they didn't do very well in recent years after 2013, I still remember they were the biggest rival of my fav SNSD for the past few years. Even as a old SONE, I miss the days when argue with KARA fans.
         Such achievement reserve KARA a spot as one of top 10 of the most popular  kpop girl group of all time in the history of kpop.
         (I could write a separate article just talking about KARA if anyone request....)
     .

                          Tzuyu Incident and JYP 

               

           so let's start with who is Tzuyu?....Tzuyu was a Taiwanese member in  the new JYP girl group Twice. So before this incident happened, as a new kpop girl, Twice was one of the most popular new girl group at that time. And as the Visual of the group, Tzuyu draws attention from many fans as well.

           Just 2 weeks ago, actually one Taiwanese entertainer called Huang An report to the China authority that Tzuyu support "Taiwan Independance", and he also post some pics as evidence online, which is absolutely the ban from Chinese government without question.

           After that, Chinese government suspend all of her activity, and then expand to all JYP Entertainment activity in China.  As we all know, nearly 50% of JYP market is in China, and also 2pm, Miss A and all the JYP training center will be suspended as well in China, and their stock is dropped like 2% only in a day, and over 10% in a week.  Due to pressure, JYP Entertainment finally apologize to Chinese government with a statement, and also they forced Tzuyu to make a video to apologize as well.....

         
          For JYP Entertainment, they have to decide if they want the freedom of speech or their business and money. They chose the latter one, which they could survive from this incident and continue promote in China to make even more money. However, they lost a lot of respect from a lot of international kpop fans as well.
          And this thing just happened before the president election in Taiwan, so Tzuyu became the center of the media for many Chinese Media and Taiwanese Media as well.






And there are a few other big things happened in Jan 2016 as well.  I won't list here one by one.
Just a few of them for people who are interested to read.

1 Rapper B Free allegedly disses boy group BTS leading to fury of fans
Summary:  The old incident when Korean Rapper Free B disses BTS fired up again, which causes a lot of problems between Free B and BTS fans. This time is even worse.

2 Turbo celebrates 20th year anniversary with 6th album, 'Turbo Again
Summary: As one of the most popular kpop boy duo Turbo back in 90s , they made a comeback this Jan, and my uncle actually start to watch music core again because of them.

3 And I saw EXO fans try to boycott some other boy groups fandom on music core at the beginning of this year, forgot which group. As I expected, any fandom who are against EXO right now are probably will get into a lot of trouble.....








           

A Brief History of APink

         Yeah, it's 2016 now....since it's Christmas and new years, there's not many girl groups comeback last month. Also the APink concert will come very soon. So I will write something related to APink this time....

         

          APink is a kpop girl group debut under ACube Entertainment at 2011. Acube announce their very first trainee Son Na Eun at Feb 2011.  And all the members are trainees under ACube Entertainment. The Original 7 members are: Park Chorong, 
Yoon Bo-mi, Jung Eun-ji ,Son Na-eun, Kim Nam-joo, .Oh Ha-young,, Hong Yoo Kyung.


                                        APink Debut

          APink officially debut at April 19th 2011. The group released their debut EP, Seven Springs of Apink and the music video for its lead single, "I Don't Know" (몰라요), on the same day. Apink made their debut stage performance with "몰라요"  and Wishlist on Mnet's M! Countdown on April 21 to promote their EP.

                      APink debut stage at April 21, 2011 (Bomi had very short hair at that time)
                         

                                       

                             
                             The song April 19th from APink first album indicates their debut date as well....(Lyrics written by group leader Park Chorong)

              Two month after that, at June 2011, APink start to promote "It Girl"  ,which is from the same EP with "I Don't Know" and "Wishlist".

     

                 

                                   First Win : My, My

                APink's first success: The group released their second EP, Snow Pink, on November 22, 2011, featuring the lead single "My My", a song composed by Shinsadong Tiger. Promotions for "My My" began on November 25 on KBS' Music Bank.
                 Still in November, Apink received their first award, the "Female Rookie Award", at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards held in Singapore。In January 2012, they received three more "Rookie Awards", at the Korean Culture & Entertainment Awards and the Golden Disk Awards held in Osaka and the High 1 Seoul Music Awards in Seoul.
                  In January 2012, Apink won their first music show award on Mnet's M! Countdown for "My My". In February, they received the "Rookie of the Year" award at the 1st Gaon Chart Awards

Une Année and Bubibu

            Une Année is the first full-length studio album by  Apink, It was released on May 9, 2012, which includes singles such as "April 19th", "Hush" , "Cat" and "Bubibu". All the songs in this albums are so cute....

Chorong Baby fat during Bubibu performance

APink Hush MV

        During the recording, APink also introduce Cat project. and the project MV is so cute..

                              

                                  

Hong Yoo Kyung departure

           On April 23rd 2013, APink member Hong Yoo Kyung decided to leave APink to focus on her study. There's a lot of rumor's online, some says it's her dad's decision cuz her dad is the president of DSP Corp. And she's the richest member in APink as well. But those rumors got cleared very soon as well. It is her own decision. 

            After that, it affects APink's promotion. So at the beginning, ACube decided to recruit a new member to replace empty position, but they didn't do it finally. So APink became a 6 member girl group.

                               

Rise to Success :No No No

             APink released their third EP ,Secret Garden, and music for its title track, "NoNoNo", were released on July 5, 2013."NoNoNo" was the group's highest charting single, peaking at number 2 on Billboard's K-Pop Hot 100. In November 2013, at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards, Apink received the Next Generation Global Star award

 APink No No No white outfit

APink No No No Pink Outfit, one of my fav....

No No No is the turning point for APink career, they rise from 2ed/3rd tier girl group to 1st tier girl group after the release of "No No No".

1000th day of debut and Mr Chu

On January 13, 2014, Apink released "Good Morning Baby", to celebrate the 1,000th day since the group's debut. The song peaked at number 6 on Gaon's weekly chart. Their fourth EP, Pink Blossom, and the music video for its title track, "Mr. Chu", were released on March 31. The song peaked at number 2 on Billboard's K-Pop Hot 100. Apink won six music show trophies for "Mr. Chu", and the song was the eighth best selling digital song in 2014, according to Gaon's year-end chart

                               

APink BnN

          In June 2014, Yoon Bomi and Kim Namjoo formed a sub-unit called Apink BnN,which released the single "My Darling"

Pink LUV

         In November 2014, the group released their fifth EP, Pink Luv, as well as the music video for its title song, "Luv", which was composed by Shinsadong Tiger. The song was Apink's first number 1 ranking on Gaon's weekly and monthly digital charts, and Pink Luv topped Gaon's weekly album chart in its first week of release The group won first place on all three major Korean music shows two weeks in a row, the only girl group to do so in 2014. Besides The Show and Music Core, they also won a triple crown on Inkigayo, which only allows three wins before removing a song from competition. They finished the year by winning all the music shows in December with "Luv".On Gaon's year-end ranking, Apink was the third best selling girl group in 2014

2015 Pink Paradise Tour and Promise U

         On January 10, 2015, Apink became the first group to win five consecutive awards on Music Core.The same month, the group received the "Digital Bonsang" and "Best Female Performance Group" awards at the 29th Golden Disk Awards in Beijing, "Bonsang" and "Popularity" awards at the Seoul Music Awards, "Best Female Group" at the Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards and "Best Single of December" at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards

                           

       
  Apink released a single entitled "Promise U" on April 19, written by Jung Eun-ji to commemorate the group's fourth anniversary.

                      Pink Memory And Remember
                  On July 16 2015, the group released their second full-length album, Pink Memory, along with the title track "Remember.

                                   

                             

In November 2015, Apink announced a January 2016 tour of North America and are scheduled to play Vancouver, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.......

As I am writing this blog, APink will arrive at Vancouver in less than 2 hours......hope to see them at the airport soon !!!

Side Question: what does Bomi eat on airplane?............

Kpop Girl Groups Update November 2015

        Today I will update my blog again, just talk about kpop girl groups comeback at November this year. For November, there's actually no super big group comeback, but there's still some important girl group made comeback this month like B.E.G, EXID and some new groups debut as well.
        And I will talk about sexy concept first, then cute concept this time cuz there's not much cute concept girl groups comeback this month.

 B.E.G -  Brand New World

                 Yes, as one of the top 1st tier girl group back in days B.E.G. is back. Their first comeback single Brave New World was a choreography heavy song, The girls held their first showcase of their careers called 'Comeback to the Basic' on November 4 where they also performed the side track Ice Cream Time. Youngest member Gain revealed during the showcase that she took part in choreographing Warm Hole and Brave New World, as well as forming the concept for their 6th album.

The Warm Hole MV got released on November 5  and sparked a controversy due to the heavy sexual lyrics and references in the MV to a female's reproductive organ. But still they performed Warm Hole on the 5th November on M!Countdown as well as on the 6th on Music Bank.

 EXID - Pink Hot

          After Ah Yeah, EXID made another major comeback at Nov this year.On November 8, a teaser revealed their comeback for their new song "Hot Pink" which was released on November 14, 2015. The music video for "Hot Pink" was later released on November 17, 2015. The music video reached over 5 million views as of November 29, 2015. Following the success of their previous songs, "Hot Pink" was nominated for a first place award on various music programs, and the group clinched their first win for "Hot Pink" on November 25, 2015 at Show Champion, and their second win on December 6, 2015 at Inkigayo.

9 Muses - Sleepless Night 

              As one of the relatively successful 2ed tier girl group, 9 Muses continue with their sexy style. Previously, they made comeback with Hurt Locker this year, achieved some degree of success. And they comeback with the single Sleepless Night at Nov this year.The song is very catchy with their breathless vocals keeping you entranced.  The interesting beat will get stuck in your head.

Rania  - Demonstrate

        Girl group RANIA, making their comeback for the first time in two years and eight months, finally released their music video. During their long hiatus, they took the time to re-group the team, with the departure of Saem and Jooyi and the additions of Hyeme, Seulji, and Alexandra. In particular, Alexandra has received a lot of attention, for being the first black member to join a K-Pop group.

            Unfortunately, you will have to wait a while longer to see Alexandra in their music videos, as Alexandra was unable to join this one due to her visa problems. But we hope to see her rocking the music stages.

                

 Wanna B - Hands Up

               The girls of Wanna.B are back and hotter than ever in new MV "Hands Up"! They pull off the look as sexy policewomen perfectly, and it's a great, new catchy song.They wear several different policewoman outfits, as they dance in front of their police cars, play with hand cuffs and more. It's a strong comeback by rookie group Wanna.B. 

Purfles - Bad Girl

            As a relatively new girl group debut last year, they made a few singles already until today, and since their last comeback A Bad Thing 3 month ago, they also defined themselves as a sexy concept group. Their retro, dance track "Bad Girl" is their third digital single, and it has a funky sound and great melody. We love the little hand motions they have, which add to the dance and meaning to the song. It's totally drawing us in!

 DiaGirls - Gently

                       DiaGirls is a brand new girl group just debut, I have no idea about them. Also there's another girl group called DIA debut not long ago, which are quite successful compared to other rookie groups. I don't know if DiaGirls have any relation with DIA. But this DiaGirls have different concept, they are sexy concept instead of cute concept.

           

Next, I will talk about the cute concept girl group comeback at November this year.....

April - Muah

           The girls of April are beyond cute and fresh in their latest MV for "Muah!" Dressed in girl scout uniforms and 1950s style poodle skirts, the girls dream about getting to kiss their crush, who happens to be the same guy! The song and MV for "Muah!" will definitely remind you of your first crush and how innocent and sweet it was.

            I except more from April because they are until DSP Media, and hopefully they will be the next FIN K.L and KARA. But right now they are still new.

                       

myB - DDODDO

             As another new cute concept girl group, myB just made their debut song my Oh my, and they got some good feedback. Then last month, myB released another MV DOODDO.The video is everything fresh and adorable, The dance is just as cute as the catchy song, and each and every member pulls off the blonde hair look.

                       Personally I like this group and their music is really good with cute concept.

 D.HOLIC -Murphy&Sally

                 Debut at 2014, D.HOLIC is another kpop rookie girl group. Don't know a lot about this group, but they came back last month.

TAHITI - Skip

             Tahiti is a 5 member  kpop girl group formed by Dream Star Entertainment in 2012. I just know this group exist, but nothing else as well.

                          

Kpop Girl Groups Update October 2015

           Today I will update my blog again, just talk about kpop girl groups at October this year.
For October, there's actually no big group comeback, actually not many girl groups comeback this month. So I will start with JYP's new girl group Twice


                   

                             

Twice  -  Ohh Ahh

         Twice  is a nine-member K-pop girl group formed by JYP Entertainment through the 2015 reality show Sixteen. Selected from a pool of sixteen JYP trainees, the group includes five members from South Korea, three from Japan, and one from Taiwan. The name Twice was chosen because members will be able to “wowing their fans once through their ears and twice through their eyes.

             Similar to Miss A which includes two Chinese members, Twice is also a multi-nation girl groups, which gradually becomes a strategy in JYP Entertainment, who got trainee from other countries besides Korea.

             On October 7, 2015, JYP Entertainment launched the band's official website and announced via SNS that the group would debut with the mini-album The Story Begins and title-track "Like OOH-AHH". The track is described as a 'color pop' dance track with elements of hip-hop, rock, and R&B.  The music video reached almost 1 million views in less than 12 hours

                

Besides JYP's new girl group Twice, I will divide the groups into cute concept and sexy concept as before. And as usual, I will talk about the cute concept girl group first....

Secret - For Secret Time

                         
          As stable 1st tier girl group Secret, they released the MV "For Secret Time" for their 6 years anniversary.  Even though I'm not a big fan of Secret, they always compete with my fav APink and old Girl's Day, and they all belong to the cute concept.

           Especially for the most popular and talented  member Jun HyoSeong made Secret into sexy concept as well. They also experienced similar path to APink and Girl's Day, from unknown girl group to consistent first tier girl group.


             

Oh My Girl - Closer

          From my previous post, Oh My Girl was one of the more successful new girl group debut this year.  On October 1, 2015, teaser images for their comeback track, "Closer", was released. The group was praised for their excellent visual effects and concepts for their newest promotions.

               The title track "Closer" is a sweet and catchy track with a mystical element in the instrumental and the girls' soothing vocals.  The dance is also fun and fairy-like with the members' graceful movements. The MV is artistic and beautiful, capturing the fairy tale concept they've gone for with great success.  

               

               

                             

             Oh My Girl show off their Zodiac-sign dance moves in 'Closer' performance MV.  Looking innocent and pure in all-white, matching dresses, the girls dance away to their hearts' content in the performance version of their MV that shows off their choreography in its entirety. 

                    
                       

Dia - My Friend's Boyfriend

           Since the success debut single of Dia "SomeHow" , they become a hot topic in kpop last month. 

           Dia stood out among the competition when they released several MVs for their debut, and now they're back with another one for follow-up track "My Friend's Boyfriend"!

            The MV actually starts out off, let's say, in a unique way, but quickly turns into a bright, bubbly and fun MV which matches perfectly with the sweet, pop track. The video is shot as if you, the viewer, are their 'boyfriend', or at least in the POV of the MV's male lead.

           
               







All the above cute concept girl groups are doing pretty well last month, but for sexy concept girl group, they are not doing so well last month....



               

 Melody Day - Speed Up

          Since last comeback, Melody Day became more popular and gained more fans.

                Their title track "Speed Up" is a contemporary pop song about a girl who's completely straightforward with her feelings for a guy. The MV is colorful, fun and fierce, everything we like in an MV.

                 

HOTTIES  - Bam Bam Bam

        Hotties is a brand new girl group, I don't know much about this group. The girl group dropped their debut MV for jazzy track "BamBamBam," which uses a lot of brass instrumentals to go with their whispery, seductive voices.  Their choreography goes along with the sexy image as they strut their stuff with confidence.

           

ATT  - Temptation

                   Another new girl group, I don't have much information about this group....

                 

Kpop Girl Groups Update September 2015

             Today I will update my blog again, just talk about kpop girl groups at September this year.
For September, there's actually no big group comeback, just some new group comeback or some new debut girl groups, the most famous one will be Red Velvet.

Red Velvet  -  Dumb Dumb

          On September 3, 2015, Red Velvet announced their first full-length album The Red through their Instagram account. It is set to be released on September 9 with a total of ten tracks, including the single "Dumb Dumb".According to the group's members, "Dumb Dumb" tells the story of a teenage girl who becomes awkward whenever she falls in love. The music video for "Dumb Dumb" is set in a doll factory and was released on September 8, 2015. The album was received positively by critic.

              Billboard's Jeff Benjamin called The Red "an impressive, solid debut album" and stated that it "indicates big things for the act that needs to follow in the footsteps of their beloved female label mates Girls' Generation and f(x)." The album topped both South Korea's Gaon Album Chart and Billboard's World Albums Chart. 

              It did better than the previous Ice Cream Cake comeback, now I can see Red Velvet has somewhat enter the 1st tier girl group level, but they are still new, need to work very hard in the future.....

                     

As usual, I still divide comeback as cute style and sexy style or ballad comeback, and I will talk about the cute style comeback first.

                                   

DIA  -  Somehow

           Besides Red Velvet, the most successful debut this month I would say DIA. (also known as Do It Amazing) is a  7 member kpop girl group debut under MBK Entertainment. They debuted on September 14, 2015 with the album Do It Amazing. 

                 When DIA debut, they released 3 music videos in a row, also spent a lot of money filmed the title track in Hong Kong. It was considered as a very strong debut.  The title song Somehow was quite catchy and also the dance as well. And I really like their outfit....

             

                  

                       

                             

                       

Unicore  -  Huk

               Another new girl group also debut this month is Unicore, Unicore is a 5 member kpop girl group debut under ETN on September 3rd this year.

                     Their debut album  are produced by Kim Jo Han, who's known for his R&B hits. The 5-member group are also be the first girl group ever to debut through a 'web-com' called 'I Am A Girl Group. And it's a brand new girl group as well.

                   

VIVIDIVA  -  Service

               VIVIDIVA is another 7 member kpop girl group debut under DN Entertainment this year. Unlike other new debut groups, DN Entertainment is trying an entirely new concept called performance idols. The performance idols focus solely on live performances, and the group VIVIDIVA is the first of its kind. The group will perform on small stages, where the fans and audience members will have more direct communication with the idols.

                   I think it is a very good approach, since there are way too many girl groups and competition nowadays, getting close to audience will let this group stand out with those too many girl groups.

                               

Also for sexy style girl groups,  there are few girl groups comeback this month as well.

                                 

Purfles - A Bad Thing

             Purfles is a 3 member kpop girl group debut under Crescendo Music at 2014. Actually this group was already active since last year with their single 1,2,3. And this year they made a comeback at Sep, with the single "A Bad Thing".

                     This is a typical sexy style girl group, and their songs are actually not bad, and some are quite meaningful,

             

Global Icon - Doligo Doligo

             Global Icon (also called GI) is a 5 member kpop girl group formed by Simtong Entertainment in 2013. he original line-up made their debut with the single "Beatles", released on April 3, 2013. The group originally debuted with a "boyish" concept, in which the members take on a more masculine attitude and style, opposed to feminine concepts many girl groups have. But as the group has gone through a change in the member lineup, they're taking on a more feminine concept compared to their original image since 2015 September comeback

                     

BADKIZ - come closer

           Badkiz  is a 5-member kpop girl group that debuted in 2014 under Zoo Entertainment. And they only had 4 members left now. Even though they debut almost a year until now, it seems to me they are still a new girl group for some reason.

                           

The very last category, it's not either cute or sexy style girl gorup, BerryGood made a ballad comeback, so I made a separate list for that.

Berry Good  - First  Love

                Berry Good is a 5 member kpop girl group debut under Asia Bridge Entertainment at May 2014 with the debut single "Love Letter". And they changed their members early this year, but still remains as a 5 member group. And they cameback with the ballad song "First Love".

                 It's a ballad single with a poetic melody and sad lyrics. It's a song that matches the fall season perfectly, and anyone who's experienced heartbreak will be able to resonate with the song

                They are probably all good kids....

                     

              



       From here we can see except Red Velvet was under SM Entertainment, all other girl groups are from small labels for this month comeback, and a lot of agency I never heard of. But again, the problems with way too many girl groups in kpop nowadats which increases the competition and made them become famous much harder.....