Kpop Behind | All the Stories Behind Kpop Stars

On January 26, 2017, JYP Entertainment officially announced that Wonder Girls will be disbanded, stating "We've discussed a lot about the girl group's future and the members decided to disband the team. Yubin and Hyerim, who've renewed their contracts will be active in various fields including singing and acting, while Yeeun and Sunmi resolved to leave JYP to pave new ways for their futures. We thank Wonder Girls' fans all over the world for having supported the girl group for the past 10 years." I think many of k-pop fans never thought Wonder Girls would be disbanded. Frankly speaking, even people in the k-pop industry including me never predicted that Wonder Girls would be disbanded because the members have been on good terms and they gained a complete success with their recent song "Why so lonely" which was released in July 2016. Most of k-pop girl groups might never disband their teams if they're in a similar situation. By the way, the...

On January 17, Miss A's Suzy released her warm-up single for her first ever solo album, while Girls' Generation's Seohyun also made a solo debut by releasing her first solo album on the day. As I've posted before, it was the k-pop queens' war, and extra attention was focused on who's going to be the winner of the war because Suzy and Seohyun are two of the most popular female k-pop idols. Well, as you may know, Suzy became the winner of the war because her song "Pretending to be happy" has reached the top of various online music charts, while Seohyun's "Don't say no" was not that popular on the charts. However, there is a reason why you can't just say Suzy won a complete victory over Seohyun. Do you know why? After "Pretending to be happy" became a big hit, Suzy finally released her first ever solo mini album "Yes? No?" on January 24. No doubt, people expected that she will achieve a huge success with...

Mnet is currently preparing for the broadcast of the second season of its popular audition program "Produce 101." You know, "Produce 101" was one of the most popular Korean TV show in 2016, while I.O.I, k-pop girl group consists of 11 trainees who took part in the audition program has gained great popularity too. The second season will feature the story of 101 male trainees who dream of becoming k-pop stars, unlike the first one in which 101 female trainees appeared. By the way, many k-pop agencies are now reluctant to make their trainees appear in the second season of "Produce 101." Do you know why? First, big k-pop agencies such as SM and YG don't need to take part in the program because they have their own systematic training system and effective tools to promote their trainees. And they don't like to open their trainees before their official debut because they think it could lower the value of the future stars. You know, JYP made its ...

In 2015, Kim Hyunjoong had a paternity test and it was revealed that his ex-girlfriend gave birth to his real son. At that time, the big star’s parents held a press conference and said “We’re very sorry for the baby because we couldn’t’ take care of him. We’re just thankful that he is healthy. And as we said before, we’ll try to fulfill all the responsibilities we are given.” Even though Kim Hyunjoong was so damaged by his ex-girlfriend scandal as an entertainer, it seemed all the things will settle down. However, a fight between Kim Hyunjoong and his ex-girlfriend hasn’t ended yet. They’re still fighting in court. Well, let’s see how things are going on about the star’s ex-girlfriend scandal. In 2012, Kim Hyunjoong met her ex-girlfriend for the first time and they became lovers. But their happiness didn’t last long. She accused the singer and actor of assault in August 2014 but charges against him was soon dropped because Kim Hyunjoong apologized her. However, in February 2015, s...

On January 18, k-pop queen BoA and famous actor Joo Won admitted to being in a romantic relationship with each other. Well, most of you might be surprised at the news. They met for the first time at a gathering of friends in 2015. And they had good feelings toward each other on their first meeting because they had some mutual interests. You know, BoA began her acting career in 2014 and she is still a rookie actress who has many questions about acting, while Joo Won, who debuted as an actor in 2006 and has shown his great acting ability through various dramas is the one who can give answers to her questions. And as Joo Won was originally a musical actor, he has a lot of interest in singing, while BoA is No.1 female singer in Korea. In addition, both stars like to play golf, and that's why they could become intimate with each other in a short time. By the way, after their romantic relationship was known to everybody, all the people in the Korean entertainment world wil...

In 2016, JYJ's Park Yoochun has been accused of sexually assaulting a total of 4 women when he was working as a public service worker. The sex scandal drove the idol star to the wall, while it seems like it will be never easy for him to make a comeback in the Korean entertainment world. So, let’s summarize all the stories regarding Park Yoochun’s sex scandal because so many things happened and many of k-pop fans might not know exactly how things are going. As I mentioned above, Park Yoochun has been accused of sexually assaulting 4 women, but as a result of the police investigation, he was cleared of the charges for lack of evidence, while two of the women were sued on charges of making a false accusation. Especially, the first woman who accused Park Yoochun of rape in June 2016 was sued on a charges of blackmailing because she demanded Park Yoochun about 450,000 USD with threats together with her boyfriend and cousin. All the three suspects were convicted, while the woman...

On January 16, Girls' Generation's Seohyun held a showcase event for her first ever solo album "Don't say no" to be released next day. At the event, she looked very excited about her solo debut, while Yoona and Sooyoung sent messages of support to the youngest Girls' Generation member through a video clip. Let's see what Seohyun talked about her first solo album. Q. It has been 10 years since you debuted as a member of Girls' Generation, and you finally got a chance to release your solo album. How do you feel? Seohyun: I can't still believe it has been 10 years since debut. That's a long time, and lot of things happened. Actually, being active as a member of Girls' Generation left something to be desired because we have many members and we have to fit ourselves round the conception of the team. So, I felt really great about taking much part in producing my solo album, and through the album, I want to show myself as a solo singer. Q....

On January 14, 2017, the Korean Business Research Institute announced the brand reputation rankings for k-pop boy groups and girl groups. Analyzing data that was taken from December 12, 2016 to January 13, 2017, the research institute found that BTS and TWICE ranked first on the rankings based on factors such as a social participation index, a social communication index, a media index and an online community index. Ok, let's see the result of the analytical research first. The rankings of k-pop idol groups are always a hot issue among k-pop fans all over world, while some of Korean media outlets have announced their own rankings of boy groups and girl groups. Well, by the way, the problem is that it's really hard to establish a criteria to decided the rankings because, you know, the rankings of k-pop idol groups are the answer to the question "Who is the most popular k-pop idol group?" but popularity of the idol groups can not be measured numerically. S...

EXO's Chanyeol is going to make a debut as a TV actor by appearing in "Missing Nine" to begin to air on January 18, while the press conference for the drama was held on January 12. You know, he's appeared in his movie "Salut d'Amour" in 2014, but it's the first time for him to make an appearance in a TV drama. Actually, Chanyeol did well in his first ever movie "Salut d'Amour," and that's why people are expecting that he's going to show good performance in "Missing Nine" too. In addition, the famous idol star is tall and handsome enough to be loved by many viewers as a TV actor. But the problem is that acting in a movie is different from acting in a TV drama. The production environments of the two genres are totally different. Movie actors usually can have enough time to film their scenes. They analyze their characters and discuss the scenes with their peers again and again, while they can have multiple chances ...

B1A4 Baro's sister, "I" released her debut album on January 12. Well, the result is not bad. Her debut song "I wish" ranked quite high on various online music charts. By the way, it's notable that the young female singer is receiving attention from people in the k-pop world as the next BoA. As you may know, there has been no successful female solo singer in the k-pop world for the past few years. There are a few reasons for it. First, k-pop agencies didn't want to produce female solo singer's album because they thought it's not profitable. As I mentioned, there has been no successful k-pop female solo singer for the past few years. Second, there are more requirements to become a solo singer than to become a member of a girl group because a solo singer has to do it all by herself on the stage. She should sing well, dance well, and be very attractive and pretty too, which means it's hard for k-pop agencies to find someone who is qualified ...

You know, actress Go Ara, who's belonged to SM Entertainment for the last 14 years decided to leave the agency and has recently signed an exclusive contract with her new agency, Artist Company. Well, after hearing the news, some of k-pop fans might think there were some problems between the actress and SM. But it's not true, and she had her own reasons for leaving the agency. Contrary to popular belief, entertainer management is subdivided into various fields. I mean, singer management is totally different from TV actor management, while film actor management is also different from these. It's outrageous that a dentist performs a brain surgery, right? The same applies to entertainer management. Each manager and agency has their own specialty. Managers of singers simply must have the ability to produce a good music album because singers show themselves through their albums unlike actors who show themselves through their acting. And to produce a good album, managers of...

It's k-pop queens' war. Miss A's Suzy will release her first ever solo album on January 24, while her warm-up single will be released on January 17. And Girls' Generation's Seohyun, who is considered as one of the most famous female k-pop idol stars, will also make a debut as a solo singer on January 17. So, the two k-pop queens will have a head-to-head contest on the day, and extra attention is now focused on who's going to be the winner of the k-pop queens' war. No doubt, Suzy is one of the most successful female k-pop idol stars. She's been on a roll since her debut, while she's achieved many things as a member of Miss A, actress, and CF model. In addition, contrary to popular opinion, she is a good enough singer. She has attractive and beautiful voice, and she has a good basic skills as a singer. It seems like there's no doubt about Suzy's success as a solo singer. Seohyun is well known for her great singing ability. As a member of...

On January 2, AOA made a comeback with its new album. Well, as the album is the popular k-pop girl group's first ever full album, much attention has been given to it. However, the result was below expectations. Both of the girl group's double title tracks, "Excuse me" and "Bing Bing" ranked very low on Korean online music charts, while it seems like many of music fans are not interested in the songs at all. You know, AOA's popularity grew very sharply with "Miniskirt," "Short Hair," "Like a Cat," and "Heart Attack" in four consecutive hits, and no doubt, AOA became one of the most popular k-pop girl groups. That's why many people in the k-pop world think the failure of AOA's comeback is quite outrageous. So, what do you think is the reason for AOA's failure? Too Much Reliance on Brave Brothers Big and famous k-pop agencies such as SM, YG, JYP have very systematic production system, while their ow...