Kpop Behind | All the Stories Behind Kpop Stars

Q. You released your new album after a one-year hiatus. How do you feel? Dujun: I was so nervous before releasing the album. Actually, we've finished producing the album just before kicking off our Japan tour. Fortunately, it seems that many people like the album. Q. It's notable that the title track "Ribbon" is a calm and sentimental song. Junhyung: It's a urban pop music, but it seems like Korean fans consider the song as a ballad track. Hopefully we'll be able to be in an unique position as a group who does such a lyrical music. Q. It's your first ever album since Jang Hyun Seung left BEAST. Dujun: Yeah, we became 5-member group, and I feel awkward about situation. We'll try to fill the vacancy by working harder. I don't want to disappoint our fans. Junhyung: As only 5 members left, each member has to do more.  Gikwang: Hyunseung was a lead vocalist of the team and was a great dancer too. We need to do better to fill the vac...

On April 19, Cube Entertainment officially announced that Beast's Jang Hyun Seung decided to leave the team. According to the agency, Jang Hyun Seung will concentrate on his music work as a solo artist, while Beast will be active as a five-member group. Well, this might not be a surprising news for the Beast fans. Jang Hyun Seung has already been embroiled in controversy a few times due to his ill manners toward his fans, and there has been a rumor that he's going to leave Beast after all. As you may know, Cube Entertainment announced that Jang Hyun Seung broke up with the other Beast members because of personality difference. It's partially true. Jang Hyun Seung is a little bit shy of strangers and didn't want to actively participate in various promotional events of Beast, while the other members are very bright and cheerful. It has been a long time since the members had a disagreement about their activities. In this situation, it seems that Jang Hyun Seung was ...

On August 29, Beast held its exclusive concert "Beautiful Show"  at the Gymnastics Stadium in Olympic Park. Before the concert, the 6 Beast members held a press conference and talked about their concert.   Q. How does it feel to hold your exclusive concert? Dujun: It is our first concert at the Gymnastics Stadium in 2 years. I'm so excited. And I feel great because I've been counting down to today. We'll do our best. Q. Tell me about your concert. Dongwoon: Our concert is like dry ice. Dry ice is icy cold but it can burn us too. Through the concert, we will show our cool performance, and at the same time, we will give audience a heartwarming feeling. Yoseob: We excluded many stage settings. Instead, we'll impress the audience with our voices. I think audience will be moved to tears when we will sing an encore. Q. How did you prepare for your concert? All of you look so busy. Junhyung: Actually, we  did not have a lot of time to pract...

On July 29, BEAST's Lee Gikwang attended a press conference of his upcoming drama 'Mrs. Cop'. The drama stars Kim Hee Ae, Kim Min Jong, Son Hojun and more, while Gikwang plays young policeman Lee Se Won. Let's see what Gikwang talked about his drama and acting. Q. Tell me about your character. Gikwang: I know I don't look like a tough guy. So I play a young policeman again this time, but I'll try to show a different side as an actor. I think the character is prudent and sexy when he works. Q. Your team mate Yoon Dujun is active as an actor too. Do you guys usually have a talk about your drama and acting? Gikwang: Yeah, we support each other. I watched his drama 'Let's Eat' often and he said he will watch my drama too. I think Dujun has settled as an actor successfully. He showed great performance in his drama. There's a lot I can learn from him. Q. What's your goal as an actor? Gikwang: Everybody knows I'm an idol. There...

Q. You release your solo album. What made you decide to debut as a solo singer? Hyunseung: I think all the idol singers dream of it. As a member of group, it is hard to show my own character. But I can show off my identity as a solo singer. I think BEAST is a very attractive team, and I want to prove that the BEAST members are not only competent as a team but also as solo singers. Q. So, is there any difference between your activity as a member of you team and as a solo singer? Hyunseung: We need to achieve a comprise during our group activity. If I speak up, it makes the other members tired. However, I took part in many things about my solo album. I took part in making costumes, choreography, and teaser video. I think it made our company employees tired.(laugh) So I titled the album "My." Q. What is your goal as a solo singer? Hyunseung: I do not enjoy business. And I do not want to show exaggerated performance. I want to carry weight with a lot of people as a...

From December 2-4, I've been to Hong Kong to watch 2014 MAMA held at Asia World Expo(AWE) in Hong Kong on December 3. As you know, the event is the biggest music festival in Asia, and a variety of Kpop stars including Big Bang's G-Dragon and Taeyang, EXO, IU, Girl's Day, Ailee, Winner, Epik High, Block B, AOA, BTS, Infinite and more attended the event. 2014 MAMA TOP 3 Performances Many of you might watched the show through TV or online. So, which performance do you think was the best? Here are top 3 performances of 2014 MAMA. No.1 GD & Taeyang Big Bang's Taeyang, who won a triple crown by receiving awards for Best Vocal Performance Male, Best Male Artist, and Song of the Year at 2014 MAMA, performed his mega hit 'Eyes, Nose, Lips', and then, hit the stage again with his best friend GD. It was the first time for the two top idol stars to perform their new song 'Good Boy', but the two absolutely overwhelmed the audience with their o...

Beast(B2st) recently released its new album 'Time' that has a total of 6 songs including the title track '12:30'. And with the release of the album, the fifth-year boy group was interviewed by various Korean media outlets. Let's see what the Beast members talked about their new album and themselves. Q. It has been 5 years since you debuted. How do you feel? Yoon Du Jun: It's not a short period of time. I've spent a long time with the Beast members and our fans. I have good memories. I'm thankful for that. Q. Were there any moments of crisis? Yoon Du Jun: It was right after debut. I was uncertain of our future. Before we debuted, 4minute gained great popularity with their song 'Hot Issue'. So, I thought that we could win success if we started to show ourselves in public once. But, we failed so severely. I think it was a great preventive injection. Q. During your 5 years of career, there has not been a big accident. What do you think i...

Do you know Epik High's Tablo? Many of you many know of him because he's currently appearing on KBS' entertainment program 'Superman Come Back' and he's a member of YG family. However, some of you may not know that he's one of the greatest hip hop musicians in Korea because it has been so long since he released his new album.(even though he appeared on Mnet's 'Show me the money 3' as a hip hop producer) Well, Epik High released its new album after 2 years of hiatus. The hip hop group, comprised of Tablo, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz, recently gave an interview to Korean media outlets, and Tablo talked about their hiatus, "During the period, Mithra has experienced a slump, and we were not able to release our new album because of our desires for a better album." It was worth it. Right after being released all the 12 tracks of Epik High's new album got the top spots on various online music charts. The songs even knocked down new son...

BEAST(B2ST) released its new mini album 'Good Luck' on June 16. The album includes a total of 7 songs, while it has been about a year since the group released its second full album 'Hard to love, How to love' last July. The title track is 'Good Luck'. The song begins with main vocal Yang Yoseob's attractive high note part and is about a man who tells his ex-girlfriend to be happy. Through the song, Yang Yoseob proves that he is one of the best Kpop idol vocalists, capturing listeners' ears with his mournful voice. In the world of Kpop industry, he is well known for his outstanding singing skill that vivifies feelings of all the songs he sings. And through the music video of 'Good Luck', the Beast members show splendid dance performance. After being released, the song ranked high on various online music charts and it is expected that the group will be able to top a variety of TV music chart shows in consideration of fan base of Beast and ri...

Actress Park Sin Hye released her new song 'My Dear' on June 11. The song is about a a girl who confesses her love to a man, and through the song, Park Sin Hye showed off her sweet voice. 'My Dear' is the second song released by Park Sin Hye in 2014, while the actress already attracted public attention last April, by releasing a song 'Arm Pillow'. By the way, aren't you curious why the actress releases her single albums in succession even though she is not a singer? Here's the reason why Park Sin Hye sings. Park Sin Hye is now one of the hottest Korean female stars in foreign countries. She held a fan meeting tour in 6 Asian countries last year and became the first Korean female star who held a Asia tour, while she is planning for her world tour in 2014. She will visit various countries of the world such as Thailand, the United States, China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Have you been to Korean actresses' fan meeting tour? They usually s...

CNBLUE's Jung Yong Hwa When Kpop agencies are searching for their new singers, they consider a variety of requirements such as appearance, singing & dancing skill and talent. By the way, one more requirement has been added to this recently. It is the ability in song writing. Big Bang's G-Dragon, B2ST's Yong Junhyung, CNBLUE's Jung Yonghwa and B1A4's Jinyoung are the representative examples of the idol stars who can compose their own songs. Then, what do you think is the reason for the agencies' preference for singer-song writer? Big Bang's G-Dragon Even professional composers can't catch up with idol song writers Actually, singers don't have to compose their own songs to be successful artists. It can be wiser choice to depend on professional composers about song writing and just focus on performing the song on stage. However, matters are different in the world of idol stars. Most of the idol stars are targeting teenagers. T...

B2ST(Beast)'s Yang Yoseob was cast in the musical 'Full House'. Yang Yoseob will take the role of Lee Young Jae, the main character of the musical, who is a star actor. 'Full House' is based on a comic book by the same title, and was made into a drama starring Rain and Song Hye Kyo in 2004. At the time of broadcast, the drama made a big hit in Korea. This will be Yoseob's third appearance in musical. He made a debut as a musical actor by appearing in 'Gwanghwamoon Lovesong' in 2011, and showed impressive performance through 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' in 2013. Yoseob has been recognized as a talented musical actor by showing off his remarkable singing skills. Meanwhile, Yoseob is currently working hard for the preparation of musical appearance and B2ST's new album release.

Kpop idol stars are active in many fields. Especially, they are receiving great attention from the field of variety show because most of the idols have extraordinary talents as entertainers. Famous idol stars' appearance on variety shows can help increase the viewing rate of the programs. From the point of view of idols, appearing on the show programs can be great chances to show off their variety of charms, appealing to many viewers.   Here are the most wanted Kpop idols in the field of variety show. Super Junior's Kyuhyun Appearance on TV Show : Radio Star, Mamma Mia Strong Points : His comments as a show host are explicit and relentless. He sometimes throws questions that are embarrassing to answer, but he doesn't look arrogant at all. When Girls' Generation's Sunny appeared on 'Radio Star', Kyuhyun raised a laugh by unexpectedly exposing a fact that she is a heavy drinker. TVXQ's Max Changmin Appearance on TV Show : Moon Light P...