After 4 years of being active with 2NE1, 2NE1's charismatic leader CL will make her solo debut, releasing her single on 28th May.
On 21st May, representatives of YG Entertainment revealed that her label mates from Big Bang, G-Dragon and Taeyang, will appear together with CL in her upcoming music video. The whole YG Family cheers on CL who's said to be under much pressure due to her solo debut.
Yang Hyun Suk, the head of YG Entertainment, advised her, "It does not matter what rank you come in, just enjoy the moment."
However, since her solo debut is before 2NE1's comeback, it might occur that her success affects the fans' response to the girl group's future release. Nevertheless, CL's as confident as usual and attempts to enter the music scene with a song of an uncommon genre.
The song is said to fit in the category of Dougie and Dubstep and have a hip-hop feel to it, which is not surprising as CL herself is not only a singer but also a rapper. So breaking the K-pop girls' trend of cute and sexy concepts, CL will go for a more bold concept and bring some innovation.
Let's see how her solo activities will turn out! Look forward to it!
Recently, Will Smith and his son Jaden visited South Korea to promote Will Smith's new movie After Earth and Jaden's MSFTSrep 2013 S/S clothing line.
After having a visit at the YG department and various promotional events, the Smiths departed from Incheon Airport in Seoul. Photos of them taken at the airport show Will Smith wearing one of G-Dragon's "Giyongchy" hats and displaying his friendship to the YG Family-member.
Meanwhile, the Smiths promised during the press conference for After Earth to collaborate with the YG Family, if the movie becomes successful in South Korea.
As you know, Big Bang's leader G-Dragon has been successfully holding his first world tour "2013 G-Dragon 1st WORLD TOUR [ONE OF A KIND]".
However, it seems like YG Entertainment has been dealing with illegal trade of tickets and goods of the world tour lately. Therefore, the management company shared an important notice through its official Facebook page. It says as follows.
We have been alerted to the fact that some people have fraudulently been making and selling fake tickets & goods for GD 2013 WORLD TOUR : ONE OF A KIND.
This is a criminal activity and these fake tickets will not grant you access to the show. We sincerely hope that not too many of our fans have been affected.
Remember to always purchase tickets from official ticket sites, and official goods at the concert venue only.
You can always check the official information about tour & tickets @
http://gdtour.ygbigbang.com/
https://www.facebook.com/gdragon/events
http://www.livenation.asia/artist/g-dragon-tickets
Thank you.
YG Entertainment
Please, be careful! We hope you're not affected by this!
Many YG artists are known for having friendships with famous foreign artists. Recently, the YG Family members have uploaded photos of them with Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith, who are in Korea to promote their upcoming movie "After Earth".
2NE1's leader CL, as well as Big Bang's leader G-Dragon uploaded pictures with Will Smith and Jaden Smith, with the tag #foreverfresh referring it to Will's role in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". To this the rest of the YG Family members did not step behind, and also uploaded their pictures, which in some you can spot TaeYang, TOP, and Teddy. Yang Hyun Suk, uploaded his picture with the captioning "Will Smith in the house". Choice37, who is a producer at YG also uploaded a picture.
Later on, some pictures were also uploaded, which were when Will, Jaden, Minzy and Sean made a stop to visit the kids at the Children's Hospital.
What do you guys think about their friendship?
On 27th April, Big Bang's G-Dragon was in Osaka, Japan to hold the next concert of his One Of A Kind World Tour.
Unfortunately, this concert didn't go so well, as G-Dragon had a minor accident on stage and injured his leg. Fans reported via social network systems that one of his dancers had to carry him off stage.
Nevertheless, G-Dragon assured that he's well now and will get some rest. He also apologized for disappointing his fans and expressed that he looks forward to give a better show to them next time.
He posted via LINE, "The concert in Osaka finished today... I screwed up on stage and got an injury. Sorry, I couldn't do a better job.. Let's get some good rest and feel better tomorrow! Thanks to everyone who came and saw the show! Bye..."
Get well soon, G-Dragon!
On 25th April, Jeff Benjamin published an article titled "K-Pop Equations: Adding Up The American Influences In K-Pop" on the official website of Radio.com. In his article, Benjamin not only mentions the growing popularity of K-pop since PSY's "Gangnam Style"-records, but also explores the K-pop world and compares its characteristics to Western music.
He explains the genre of K-pop saying, "K-pop is a combination of different genres popular Western music. Everything from electro-pop to R&B to piano ballads to hip-hop to soul music can be heard in K-pop hits. But a major specialty of K-pop is in its ability to blend these into hybrid, pop confections completely in their own league."
Furthermore, he depicts the characteristics of K-pop by showing Girls' Generation, BIGBANG, Girl's Day, After School and Brown Eyed Girls as examples for the K-pop industry.
Check out what he has to say about K-pop and these bands, reading "K-Pop Equations: Adding Up The American Influences In K-Pop" on Radio.com!
After appearing on the Korean variety show, Thank You, G-Dragon revealed that YG CEO, Yang Hyun Suk, plays one of the most important roles in his life. Yang Hun Suk later stated in an interview that G-Dragon is the artist that he cares the most for.
In the interview, the CEO thanked G-Dragon for his kind words and returned the love right back. He told the interviewer, "I want to say that out of everyone in the YG Family, the member who I treasure and love the most is G-Dragon."
He continued to explain why he is so close to the rapper, "The reason is because among the Big Bang members, G-Dragon was recruited into YGE at the earliest age of 13 years old and we built up a relationship for over ten years. G-Dragon is the artist who most frequently comes to the YGE building and recording studio, so he is the one who gets to speak with me the most. Another reason I like G-Dragon is that unlike his tough charisma and bad boy image on stage, he is the most humble person I know off stage."
Yang Hyun Suk also listed G-Dragons's fashion sense, his musical abilities and the respect that he shows to those who are older than him as reason why the two are so close.
He wrapped up the interview saying, "G-Dragon is a friend who I think of as my real dongsaeng and family member. It is always an honor to work beside such a multi-talented artist. Is it really possible to find another artist like him in the Korean music industry? To a certain degree, I think of him as a very talented friend."
Written by: Aysohmay@JPA
Get ready! G-Dragon will release a new album!
Some days ago, on 15th March, YG Entertainment announced that Big Bang's leader G-Dragon will reveal one of his new songs, "MichiGO" (Crazy), during his upcoming concert in Seoul.
A representative explained, "The title of the new song that he'll be revealing at his Seoul concert is 'MichiGO'. It's a hip hop song with a new style. It has a strong sound to make the audience go crazy. We decided to release it for the first time through his world tour, because we haven't set a release date of this new song for the public yet, so this will be a special present for the fans at the concert."
Teasing for his new song "MichiGO", G-Dragon posted photos from the MV shooting and some confusing tweets, which made him appear like going crazy.
First, he tweeted the photo above along with the text, "'MichiGO' MV Shooting I vs. I #thombrowne #gdragon #gd #newalbum"
Later, he started fighting with himself whether to leak photos fro...
White Day has finally arrived and the GoKpop crew has a special present for you.
On February we presented our Valentine's Day Playlist featuring only girls. It is time for the boys to give back their hearts on this special day and instead of candies we are giving you the best eye-candy ever.
Check out our playlist on the full article featuring F.T. Island, B1A4, Beast, Super Junior M, Teen Top, C.N. Blue, Junsu, Infinite H, K.Will, Shin Hye Sung, SHINee, Big Bang, Aziatix and Jay Park.
During his photo shoot for the cosmetics label The Saem, Big Bang's G-Dragon had an interview with MBC's Section TV, which was just broadcasted on 1st March.
During the short interview, he talked about topics like his skin beauty, fashion and certainly music. When the interviewer asked him, "What do you think when you see rookie bands' debuts?", he became a little nostalgic and stated that he feels like he's getting old. He answered, "Lately, I see a lot of rookies who are young and very good, and all I do when seeing them is saying 'ah~' in awe. When Big Bang held the world tour, I got really exhausted around the middle of it. I have to work out more."
Then the interviewer asked which of his juniors especially caught his eye, and he replied by saying, "Whenever I watch SHINee, I think they're doing really well." Taking the opportunity, the interviewer suggested him to collaborate with SHINee. However, G-Dragon playfully admitted, "There are barely enough parts for our own members. I think they'd be upset with me [if I gave parts to SHINee instead of them]", making the interviewer laugh.
Let's hope G-Dragon will change his mind about a collaboration with SHINee! Would you like them to collaborate one day?
As it was previously hinted Big Bang's Daesung is finally going to release his new album.
YG has announced the Daesung's new Japanese album will be released on February 27th. The album will be called "D'scover" and the Big Bang member will be using his Japanese stage name D'lite.
The album will be released in 3 different versions with different covers and content. Besides the album Daesung will also hold the "D-LITE D'scover Tour 2013 in Japan ～DLive～" with 4 confirmed performances so far.
Check out our full article for more details of the albums and tour!
Recently, Big Bang's G-Dragon, an idol who's also a producer, has taken issue with the "recycling strategy"of the K-pop industry.
During a press conference held for Big Bang's world tour stop in Seoul, G-Dragon openly expressed his criticism of South Korea's music industry. "I think Korean music, for the most part, has been limited in scope to just one genre. When I produce music, I try not to simply make music that appeals to the masses," he stated.
Korean music has a tendency of focusing on electro pop or R'n'B ballads with certain trends catching on and becoming popular with a sudden influx of music mimicking that sound. G-Dragon steers clear of being sucked into those trends, making a conscience effort to expand his musical horizons by listening to a wide range of musical genres and styles.
"Instead of just listening to K-pop, I listen to a variety of music from many genres. I wish we could go back to a time when we made music with memories," he said.
G-Dragon was also critical of the way music is discarded like stale bread. Songs that are popular one minute are too quickly forgotten as listeners move on and demand new music to enjoy.
"In other countries, as long as the songs are good, an album can have a positive response 2, 3, even 6 months after it is released," he said.
Written by: Aysohmay@JpopAsia
Last year G-Dragon, T.O.P, Daesung, Seung Ri and Taeyang embarked on a fantastic world tour where they literally traveled around the world.
The band started the tour on Seoul on March 2nd with 3 concerts and then started traveling around Asia visiting Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The boys also visited America with concerts in US and Peru as well as Europe with a concert in London.
Almost 1 year later the boys have concluded their "Alive Galaxy Tour" with their 3 last concerts in Seoul. Thousands of VIPs around the world were able to enjoy the same show on their own countries where they had the chance to see the boys flawless performances and amazing surprises. During the tour the boys made sure to learn the local languages and talk with the fans during the shows, they also went down the stage and greeted the fans face to face while recording videos with their Galaxy SIII phones, also they played on the stage but the most important thing is that they delivered what they promised, an amazing stage that made fans love them even more!
Check out the pictures of the last performance of the tour below and the playlist of videos taken by the members during their performances HERE.
SPIN recently published an article talking about the new trends on the k-pop scene for 2013 and which idols can make it big.
On the article the author mentions how Big Bang's G-Dragon has been able to introduce new sounds on the k-pop world and how successful he has been with his risky yet amazing releases.
They also talk about Girls' Generation, 2YOON, JYJ, Ailee, EXO and YG's upcoming girl group.
Check the full article to know more details and let us know your opinion about these ideas.
On the upcoming episode of MBC Music's "The Big Ranking" there will be a list with the most stubborn idols who are obsessed with a particular style.
From haircuts to clothes, some idols can be identified by a specific trend. Some of them love purple, others never show their bodies and some keep the same hair style.
Check the top 3 idols on this list and also stay tuned to know who else joined the list after the complete episode airs.
- Sistar's Hyorin: She was picked as the 1st one on the list because she has always kept her bangs since her debut. According to the singer she keeps this style because she has a broad forehead but one day she will show a new style.
- Big Bang's T.O.P: This bad boy was included on the 2nd spot of the list because he always wear long sleeves and never shows his body.
- IU: Cute singer IU was the third on the list because she usually makes a V-sing or winks while taking a selca.
Some other idols like ZE:A’s Kwang Hee who is obsessed with make-up and Girls' Generation's Jessica who never shows the right side of her face on pictures were also included.
Who do you think should be included on this list?
Do you remember Diplo? He's the American DJ, producer, rapper and songwriter who has worked with GD&TOP on their song "Knock Out".
He previously tweeted about preparing a new song with non other than Big Bang's leader G-Dragon, who has recently announced his 1st solo world tour. "Working on a song with @baauer and @IBGDRGN IRL (on the internat) right now", he shared.
According to Yang Hyun Suk's revelation some time ago, G-Dragon is planning to release a full-length album around this spring. So we guess that's the reason for his recent collaboration with Diplo.
Meanwhile, it was also announced that the members of Big Bang will concentrate on their solo activities once the group's world tour is over. G-Dragon will set off for his world tour, Taeyang and Daesung will release new solo albums, T.O.P will work on his movie "Alumni", and Seungri will have activities in Japan.
Big Bang has been travelling throughout the world since early summer 2012, holding their first world tour entitled "BIGBANG Alive Galaxy Tour 2012". Soon, on 27th January, they will hold their final concert in the capital city of Korea.
Following Big Bang's example, leader G-Dragon will hold his very own world tour starting this March. As YG Entertainment announced through their official blog on 12th January, G-Dragon will have shows in Korea and Japan first.
The current schedule of his tour is for now as follows:
This is just a provisional schedule. YG Entertainment indicated to announce more tour dates later.
Are you planning to go to G-Dragon's concerts?
On a recent interview with Yes magazine in Hong Kong Big Bang's T.O.P revealed the names of his friends in the industry.
According to the singer besides the Big Bang members he is also close with JYJ members Jaejoong and Yoochun as well as SS501's Kim Hyun Joong and Se7en.
During the interview he also mentioned that he likes to play with his dogs on his free time, he also reduces stress by being funny with his male dongsaengs and promised to buy a house for his parents soon. As well he mentioned that in case he wasn't a singer he would marry the girl he likes and built a family together.
Finally the cast of Glee presented an episode featuring k-pop.
Since the previous season there were rumors about the production including some k-pop songs on the show like Super Junior's "Mr. Simple", however, those rumors were denied.
Nevertheless this season 2 k-pop songs were included on an episode of the show. A few weeks ago it was revealed that the cast will perform PSY's "Gangnam Style" making fans really anxious about it. The track was included during the stage of the Glee club at the sectionals and also Big Bang's "Fantastic Baby" was part of the show during the rehearsal sessions with Harry Shum Jr.'s character Mike Chang.
The one in charge of leading the Gangnam Style performance was Tina Cohen-Chang, played by Jenna Ushkowitz, and the cast had to learn the song in Korean by the phonetic sounds since none of them speak the language.
Check the official video of Gangnam Style shared by Fox as well as a fancam of the Fantastic Baby cut.
The MAMA's came a couple of surprises this year and finally the performances are on YouTube.
Mnet shared the official videos of the great performances on the MAMA 2012.
Tell us which was your favorite stage, perhaps Lee Hi with Epik High, JPY and Wooyoung joint stage, Big Bang, Trouble Maker, Super Junior, PSY, Gain, Roy Kim, SHINee, EXO or SISTAR.
Check our full article for the complete performances!
The performances were awesome. This year was the best I believe Now my favorite and who I think stole the night is BIGBANG
sweet!!!
I can't wait for it any longer
cant wait