More news from YG

As promised, Yang Hyun Suk is back again with more news! This time, the YG Entertainment CEO reveals more information regarding the company’s latest girl group as well as his fresh K-Pop Star artists Akdong Musician and LEE HI. His message is available below:

When will YG’s new girl group make their debut?

We are planning October for YG’s new girl group’s debut. The group has been preparing for a long time at YG – their debut is YG’s first one in 4 years since BIGBANG’s debut in 2006 and 2NE1’s in 2009.

The trilingual members are fluent in Korean, English and Japanese. Despite their young age, an average of 17 year old, they are arousing deep attention not only in Korea but also overseas.

How many members in the group?

The project initially started off with a plan of 10 or more members in the group, but throughout the years there has been a fierce competition among tens of try-out singers and now remain 6 members.

Unfortunately Yuna Kim, who was discovered on Superstar K, had to be excluded from the team for personal reasons. However, Eunbi Kim, a contestant from the same program, remains as one of the 6 members.

What is the promotional tactic of the new girl group?

We are adopting a debut method that is utterly different from the conventional debuting ways that was applied to other YG girl groups. From October, we will be debuting one or two members at a time to see whether they are apt for the public. When we can see that the audience likes them, then we will move on to forming a proper group.

BigBang’s all five members, on the other hand, made a debut as a group and then started working on their own work. It will help you understand better when I say that we are going the completely opposite direction with YG’s new girl group.

In a nutshell, each member makes a debut first, and then they will come together to form a group.

Right now I am in Japan with Akdong Musician and Lee Hi.

Akdong Musician once said in an interview that Lee Hi would be the most “difficult” artist to befriend. For me, both Akdong Musician and Lee Hi are still a tad “difficult”, since they are the latest comers to our agency. I feel that we still need some ice-breaking to do. So using Daesung’s Japan concert as an excuse, I asked them to accompany me to Japan so that I can spend some quality time with them.

On the first day of arrival, their ice has become a lot thinner, thanks to the visit to Disney Land. I joined them later that day for dinner. Frankly, because Soo-hyun, our youngest (which means Lee Hi is no longer the youngest), just turned 15 and others are also just teenagers, I was worried about the generation gap. But I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them and was impressed by their bright and positive attitudes.

I will come back with more details of their album release later!

When will Kang Seung-yoon, the ex-Superstar K contestant, be debuting?

To be continued… see you all tomorrow!

Are you excited to see what else Yang Hyun Suk has in store?

Sources: News – YG-Life; Photo – YG Entertainment

Guitarist Sungha shares his impression of Philippines, dedication to music and future plans

From millions of YouTube channel views and a lot of awards, Sungha Jung has become a household name both to Kpop and non-Kpop fans. Hours before his Manila concert at the Newport Performing Arts Theater last June 15, 2013, hellokpop had the chance to get up close and personal with him. Although he has accomplished a lot at such a young age of 16, there was no sign of conceitedness as he warmly greeted us with a big smile.

Impression of the Philippines

It is his second time in the Philippines and he laughed as he described it as “hot”. He then added, “I am really impressed of the audience. I really like to play in front of fans and I really look forward to play for the Filipinos.” In the past, he played a famous Filipino song, Anak by Freddie Aguilar, using his first guitar. He shares, “My father told me to play the song. He liked the music. I listened to it and liked it as well so I played it.” 

Dedication to Music

Sungha started playing the guitar and uploading his videos in 2006 when he was just 10 years old. There were a lot of guitarists who inspired him to play the instrument. He shared, “There’s a Japanese guitarist named Kotario Oshio. I actually started to play the guitar because of him. After watching him play, I started to play as well. And the other guy is from Germany. His name is Ulli Boegershausen. He is like my mentor. I recorded my first album in his home studio.”

Millions of his YouTube subscribers witnessed not only his physical transformation but also his improvement in playing the guitar. He puts dedication in practicing every piece, taking about 2-3 days to practice before he uploads them. Ever wondered what was the most difficult piece to practice for him? It’s Laurence Juber‘s All of Me. According to him,  “It has really fast techniques so it’s really hard.”

Interestingly, he has also expressed his eagerness to learn playing other musical instruments. He says, “I learned once to play the piano and drums. I want to play more not only the acoustic guitar. I’m learning now to play the electric guitar and bass guitar and other instruments.” When asked if he will consider to be an idol, he shyly shakes his head and said, “No. Most Kpop stars are singers or dancers. But now, I’m an instrumental player. I don’t think I’m a Kpop star.” Although he doesn’t consider to be an idol, he would usually watch tv shows or music programs and think “Sometimes, I would like to sing in front of millions not just playing on instrument. I plan to learn singing. I want to exchange lives for one day with singers.” 

Collaborations and Future Plans

Because of his hard work, Sungha has collaborated with a lot of artists like G-Dragon, 2NE1, Narsha, Lee Seung Gi and Jason Mraz. Most of the Kpop acoustic pieces he uploaded are songs of BIGBANG. He told us,  “I think everybody knows that I like BIGBANG. I had a collaboration with G-Dragon. I like their music. I can say my favorite group is BIGBANG.”

Who does he want to collaborate with in the future?

“Actually, that was Jason Mraz and it came true…” 

“…I also want to collaborate with this guy from Superstar K. His name is Roy Kim. I met him in Jason Mraz’ concert since he was also a guest. We met each other. One day I hope to collaborate with him… I don’t have a specific favorite song. But there’s a song that I mostly like to play recently. That would be Roy Kim’s Bom Bom Bom.”, he added.

Check out his acoustic arrangement for the mentioned song:

Busy but Grateful 

Sungha surprised us with his answer to the question, “What would you  be doing if you’re not a musician?”. He answered, “I don’t know. I heard that question a lot of times but I really have to think about that. I don’t hate to study so maybe I will be studying.” He is currently homeschooling. Given the time, he would like to play basketball with his friends.  Even though he is unable to do a lot of things because of his busy schedule, he expresses his gratitude for being able to share his music worldwide because “not all musicians are given this chance”.

Paint It Acoustic promotion 

Sungha Jung is currently having an international tour to promote his third album, Paint It Acoustic, containing 14 tracks. His favorite track is Nostalgia, his original song that he describes as “beautiful and has a good melody”. He leaves a message to his fans saying, “Hi! I’m Sungha Jung. I just finished some of my tours in Asia… Please continue to support me”. He just recently concluded his Cebu and sold-out Manila shows and is set to perform in Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

Special thanks to Ms. Marsha of Pinoytuner and Sungha Jung’s manager, Ms. Dee, for granting us the interview.

Event covered by: camille@hellokpop, impulse@hellokpop 

Sources: Video – jwcfree (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6), sbsmusic1

AA’s Juwon leaves the group

AA (Double A) now becomes a four member-group as its rapper, Hwang Juwon, leaves the group to pursue his dream to be an actor. In an official statement by AA’s company, Well Made Star M, it was stated that:

“He has had a big passion and vision for actor, and he just got some great opportunity. But he have struggles with AA’s schedule, so AA decided to let him go for his own dream. It’s so hard time for everyone. It was hard for us to decide but we have to respect his will to achieve the goal before it’s too late. So we want you to understand our decision. Last two years are gifted time for AA brothers. And they promise the unconditional support to each other. It’s not the end of their sincere brothership.”

In recognition of Juwon’s previous works, a tribute music video of 2nite 3x, one of the songs on AA’s upcoming album, will be released on July 18, on AA’s official YouTube channel. Juwon is still under the company along with actors and actresses like Ha Ji Won, Kim Seung Woo and Lee Jong Suk.  

In related news: AA will be having a comeback this summer.

Sources: (News & Photo) – AA(Double A)

EXO are hot on the music charts!

As everyone knows, EXO has just released their first full length album, XOXO along with their title track, Wolf.

Just like their song MAMA, Wolf has been hot on the charts! However, other songs on the album have also been topping the charts. On Soribada music charts, almost their entire album is ranked in the top 100! On Naver Music, five of their songs are in the top 100. Other charts that EXO are ranking high on are the Top 100 for Daum Music and Olleh Music. EXO is also currently ranked second on MCountDown. Baby, Don’t Cry, Peter Pan, and Black Pearl are the other popular songs on the music charts. The biggest hit besides Wolf seems to be Baby, Don’t cry.

SM Entertainment tweeted a congratulations to the group on twitter saying:

Congratulations!! #EXO’s new album ranked at 1st on various album charts by selling about 120,000 copies on the first week of its release.

— SMTOWN GLOBAL (@SMTOWNGLOBAL) June 10, 2013

With not only their title track ranking high but also other songs off the album ranking in the top 100, it goes to show just how amazing this album is!

Sources: (News): smtownglobal
(Picture): Screenshot from Wolf teaser video

LUNAFLY shows love through new cover of “As Long As You Love Me” by the Backstreet Boys

LUNAFLY is back again with its newest cover As Long As You Love Me by the Backstreet Boys.

The boys from LUNAFLY, Sam, Teo and Yun have been revealing a series of English song covers: Mirrors by Justin Timberlake, Adele‘s Someone Like You and Bruno Mars‘s When I Was Your Man. This time, they took a shot at one of the hit songs of the Backstreet Boys; As Long As You Love Me. The video was filmed at Everland and the boys seemed to be enjoying themselves at the theme park.

Check out the video below:

Has LUNAFLY blown you away with its amazing cover? Check out all the song covers here.

Sources: (News & Video) – Video: officiallunafly; Photo – Official LUNAFLY Facebook