Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: September 13-19, 2021

A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!

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.

News to Note

• SONAMOO member D.ana is the latest to leave the group after Euijin announced her departure last week. (There were reports of Minjae and Newsun leaving last week as well, though they haven’t personally confirmed it.) Sumin and Nahyun sued TS Entertainment to end their contracts and won a while ago, leaving High.D as the only member we haven’t had any news from. You can read a translation of D.ana’s Instagram post about her departure here.
• Well-known producer Ryan Jhun has apologized for using an inappropriate and insulting slang term for female idols on an online forum. While using this word would be controversial for anyone working in entertainment, it’s especially true in his case since he has produced many hit girl group songs and was about to debut a girl group himself. In his apology statement, he said that he didn’t initially realize what the word really meant and would be going on hiatus to self-reflect. You can read his statement and his apology on Twitter here.
• BTS has been appointed as special presidential envoys by South Korean president Moon Jae In. They had an official ceremony this week where they received certificates and diplomatic passports – you can watch a video and see some pictures of it here. They are accompanying the president to the US, where they will be speaking at the United Nations General Assembly.
• EXO’s Kai has been named the Global Ambassador for Seoul Fashion Week, which will take place from October 7-15. You can read more about it here.
• Former April member Hyunjoo has provided some updates about the situation with DSP Media and her former group mates. (Earlier this year, Hyunjoo’s brother and friends accused the other April members of bullying her – all members denied the allegations, and it has turned into a very public and messy conflict.) You can read a translation of her Instagram post here, but here are all her updates on the lawsuits that are happening:
  • The defamation charges against her brother were dropped, but the plaintiff appealed the decision and they’re going through the appeal process. (This news had already been reported a while ago, but Hyunjoo confirmed it.)
  • The same thing happened to one of her friends who got sued, but that friend was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.
  • Her second friend who was sued is still being investigated.
  • As for Hyunjoo herself, she was cleared of the defamation charges raised by DSP Media. However, she is also being sued by two separate (unnamed) members of April and is currently under investigation for those.
• Play M Entertainment and Cre.ker Entertainment will be merging into a new label by the end of this year. Play M Entertainment is currently home to Apink, Victon, and Weeekly; Cre.ker Entertainment is currently home to The Boyz. You can read more about the situation here.
• Dreamcatcher’s Gahyeon has tested positive for COVID-19, causing all of the members to go into self-isolation and pull out of their scheduled performance for KCON:TACT HI 5 this weekend. You can read a translation of Dreamcatcher Company’s statement about it here.
• Stray Kids member Jisung also missed his group’s KCON:TACT HI 5 performance due to an unspecified health issue. You can read a translation of JYP Entertainment’s statement about it here.
• ASTRO’s JinJin recently tested positive for COVID-19. Moonbin and Sanha, who were classified as close contacts, are waiting for the results of their own tests. You can read Fantagio Entertainment’s statement about it here.

This Week’s Debuts and Comebacks

(Please note that I won’t necessarily link every release that came out this week – just the ones that I’m aware of or popped up on my radar. The same is true of the “Coming Up Next Week” category.)

Coming Up Next Week

(Not many releases because of Chuseok)

Monday (9/20)	Tuesday (9/21)	Wednesday (9/22)	Thursday (9/23)	Friday (9/24)
Yang Yoseob (Highlight)				ITZY

This Week’s Music Show Wins

The Show (SBS MTV)	STAYC, “Stereotype” (1st win/1st EVER win)
Show Champion (MBC)	STAYC, “Stereotype” (2nd win)
M! Countdown (MNET)	STAYC, “Stereotype” (3rd win)
Music Bank (KBS)	Lisa (BLACKPINK), “LALISA” (1st win/1st solo win)
Music Core (MBC)	No broadcast/winner announced
Inkigayo (SBS)	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light” (3rd win)

Album Sales, Streaming, and Charting

Gaon Chart

NOTE: Gaon‘s weekly charts reflect the previous week. To see a full breakdown of the chart, you can go here.

	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
Album Sales	Lisa, LALISA	STAYC, Stereotype	BTS, Butter	Lisa, LALISA (kit version)	PURPLE KISS, Hide & Seek
Overall Digital	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light”	aespa, “Next Level”	MSG Wannabe (M.O.M), “Foolish Love”	Taeyeon, “Weekend”
Streaming	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light”	aespa, “Next Level”	MSG Wannabe (M.O.M), “Foolish Love”	Taeyeon, “Weekend”
Downloads	Kim Ho Joong, “I’m Alive Because of You”	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	STAYC, “Stereotype”	Lisa, “LALISA”	Kim Ho Joong, “In Full Bloom”
Social	BTS	BLACKPINK	CL	Im Young Woong	TWICE

Hanteo Chart News

• According to Hanteo Chart, BLACKPINK’s Lisa broke the record for highest first-week album sales by any female artist, both solo and group – she even passed her own group’s record. (Now the Top 3 spots are Lisa, BLACKPINK, and Rosé). She’s also the first female solo half-million seller.
• NCT 127’s new album Sticker sold over 760,000 copies on its first day, making them the #3 artist for highest first-day sales (behind BTS and SEVENTEEN).

The International Side of K-pop

• BLACKPINK news this week:
  • “How You Like That” became the 1st K-pop girl group song to have 500 million streams on Spotify, quickly followed by “Kill This Love” a few days later.
  • At the MTV Video Music Awards, Ozuna hinted that his next single would be a collaboration with BLACKPINK, Megan Thee Stallion, and DJ Snake.
  • Rosé became one of the first female K-pop stars to attend the famous Met Gala in New York City. (Former 2NE1 member and soloist CL also attended). Rosé went as the global ambassador of Saint Laurent, and was accompanied by the fashion house’s creative director. You can see pictures of both Rosé and CL here.
  • YouTube officially confirmed that Lisa’s “LALISA” broke the record for highest first day views for a music video of ANY artist on YouTube, and that it was also the fastest music video by a solo artist to hit 100 million views.
  • BLACKPINK has been appointed Sustainable Development Goals advocates by the United Nations. You can read more about it here.
• BTS news this week:
  • BTS won three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards: Group of the Year, Best K-pop, and Song of the Summer for “Butter.” They’ve won the first two awards three years in a row.
  • “Butter” also placed #17 on Billboard‘s “Hot 100” in its sixteenth week on the chart.
  • After months of teasers and hints, it has finally been confirmed that BTS and Coldplay are collaborating on a single together. The song is called “My Universe,” and will be on Coldplay’s upcoming album. The single will be released on September 24th.
  • “Dynamite” was ranked #346 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” You can read about “Dynamite” specifically here and see the full list here.
• NCT 127 had their first performance of “Sticker” on The Late Late Show With James Corden, which you can watch here.
• TXT’s The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE continues to be the longest running K-pop album of 2021 on the Billboard 200, coming in at #78 in its twelfth week.
• TXT also performed “Magic” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which you can watch here.
• The following K-pop music videos reached new viewer milestones on YouTube:
  • NCT’s “Resonance” reached 100 million views.
  • BTS’s Japanese single “Stay Gold” hit 200 million views.

Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols

	Weekly Idol	Knowing Brothers	Amazing Saturday
This Week	ATEEZ	AOMG artists: Simon Dominic, Gray, Code Kunst, Lee Hi	HyunA & Dawn
Next Week	None (Chuseok Special)	Park Jeongmin and Yoona (Girls’ Generation) – promoting their movie Miracle	ATEEZ (San and Wooyoung)

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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 linking the exact article for each and every news item (unless the article provides a lot more detail), 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.

MY REGULAR NEWS SOURCES: Soompi, Omona They Didn’t (Livejournal), The Seoul Story (Twitter @theseoulstory), and Girl Group Zone! (Twitter @girlgroupzone)

FEATURED IMAGE SOURCE: NCT 127’s Twitter – original image was a teaser for the groups comeback show and can be seen here

VIDEO SOURCES: YouTube, High Line Entertainment (Wonho), KQ Entertainment (ATEEZ), RBW Entertainment (MAMAMOO), SM Entertainment (NCT 127), The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show With James Corden

OTHER SOURCES: Wikipedia, Billboard, Gaon Chart, KBS, MBC, MNET, SBS