A lot has happened this week in K-pop, and we’ve barely even started 2019! January is normally kind of a slow month, but it looks like things are shaping up to be quite busy.
NOTE: Except in special cases, the news recapped in these posts will refer to K-pop only. K-dramas, variety shows, and other forms of entertainment will only be mentioned if there is an idol or idol group involved.
Major News
- Produce 101 super group Wanna One‘s contract has expired as of December 31, 2018. The group will continue to appear together at events like award shows before officially disbanding after their concert at the end of January. You can read more about each member’s future plans here.
- The latest idol dating news is pretty big: Kai (EXO) and Jennie (BLACKPINK) were exposed by Dispatch as their annual “New Year’s couple!” The news was confirmed by SM Entertainment. Since both of them are very high-profile idols belonging to some of the biggest groups and agencies in K-pop, it’s safe to say that many fans are following this with interest.
- Kang Sung Hoon has decided to leave SECHSKIES and YG Entertainment after several recent controversies.
This Week’s Debuts and Comebacks
- Chungha, “Gotta Go” / XII
- Ryewook (Super Junior), “I’m Not Over You” / Drunk in the Morning
- *DEBUT* M.O.N.T, “Will You Be My Girlfriend?” / Going Up
- Luna (f(x)), “Even So” / Even So
Next Week’s Debuts and Comebacks
| Monday (1/7) | Tuesday (1/8) | Wednesday (1/9) | Thursday (1/10) | Friday (1/11) |
| *Apink *iKON (not promoted) *KNK | *Cosmic Girls | *ONEUS (DEBUT) *VERIVERY (DEBUT) | *g.o.d (special 20th anniversary album) |
This Week’s Music Show Wins
| The Show (SBS MTV) | No broadcast |
| Show Champion (MBC) | No broadcast |
| M! Countdown (MNET) | WINNER, “Millions” (3rd win) |
| Music Bank (KBS) | EXO, “Tempo” (3rd win) |
| Music Core (MBC) | WINNER, “Millions” (4th win) |
| Inkigayo (SBS) | WINNER, “Millions” (5th win) |
Awards Shows
The 33rd Golden Disc Awards took place on January 5 and 6, with one day covering digital sales and the other covering physical sales. The main winners were:
| DIGITAL SALES | PHYSICAL SALES |
| DAESANG: iKON, “Love Scenario” | DAESANG: BTS, Love Yourself: Answer |
| BONSANG: Big Bang, BLACKPINK, Bolbbalgan4, BTS, Chungha, iKON, MAMAMOO, Momoland, Roy Kim, TWICE | BONSANG: BTS, EXO, GOT7, Jonghyun (SHINee)*, Monsta X, NCT 127, NU’EST W, SEVENTEEN, TWICE, Wanna One |
More information about all the winners can be found here.
*Jonghyun’s award was accepted by SHINee members Minho and Taemin.
The International Side of K-pop
- BTS dominated Billboard‘s first World Albums Chart of 2019, with their Love Yourself trilogy taking the Top 3 spots: Answer first, Tear second, and Her third. Their Japanese album Face Yourself and RM‘s mixtape are also in the top ten, along with EXO, Lay, Red Velvet, and NCT 127.
- BLACKPINK will be performing at Coachella, the first K-pop girl group to do so.
*SOURCES NOTE: I get my news from a mix of sources, and all of them report the same information (and sometimes cite each other as well). So rather than always linking an article for each and every news item, I will cite my general news sources below. Each of them will most likely have an article and/or tweet providing more details on the item in question. If there is an article that I think is helpful or interesting for people who want more information, I’ll link it above.
MY REGULAR NEWS SOURCES: Soompi, Omona They Didn’t (Livejournal), mes #TeamPinky (Twitter @OH_mes), The Seoul Story (Twitter @theseoulstory), Girl Group Zone! (Twitter @girlgroupzone)
FEATURED IMAGE SOURCE: Wanna One’s official Twitter (@WannaOne_twt)
VIDEO SOURCES: 1theK (M.O.N.T), SM Entertainment (Ryeowook and Luna), MNH Entertainment (Chungha)
OTHER SOURCES: Wikipedia, Billboard, Golden Disc Awards, KBS, MNET, MBC, SBS, SBS MTV
Katherine Does K-POP 