Kpop Behind | All the Stories Behind Kpop Stars

FT Island's Lee Hongki is well known for his cheerful and straightforward personality. He easily becomes close to people around him because he is so sociable. He is affable, very bright and self-confident. The most notable thing about his real personality is that he is not the type of person who minds the others. Oh, it doesn’t mean he behaves superciliously. He has a very firm belief in what he’s doing and always speaks straight from his conviction. When he is interviewed, he usually says definitely what he has in mind unlike some of other idol stars who lie like the truth. Because of such a straightforward and confident personality, it seems like his agency sometimes is very worried if he gets himself into a big trouble. But, I‘m sure they don’t need to worry about it at all because Hongki is smart enough to handle all the situations. He is quick-witted.

FTISLAND's Choi Minhwan and Yulhee, the former member of LABOUM, will get married in October. They admitted to being in a romantic relationship with each other in September, 2017, and as it is widely known, Yulhee is in her pregnancy. Well, it certainly was a surprising news that the female idol became pregnant and the two young k-pop stars decided to get married. Some of their fans might have been shocked by the news. And actually, it seems there are many people who are blaming them. They say the two idols should have cared more about their fans, and yeah, what they say makes sense. However, there're more than meets the eye. Here's the reason why you must not blame them. K-pop idols love and date, just like ordinary people do. They have a right to do it, of course. They meet their lovers very secretly in most of cases, but their love and dating don't differ much from those of ordinary people, which means they have physical relationships too. But the pro...

FTISLAND's Choi Jong Hoon is dating Son Yeon Jae, a retired individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2014 Asian Games All-around Champion, the 2010 Asian Games all-around bronze medalist, three-time (2016, 2015, 2013) Asian Championships All-around Champion. As she is cute and pretty, she's been gaining popularity among Korean males. Choi Jong Hoon and Son Yeon Jae were introduced to each other by their friends in February 2017. And they became lovers in March. Actually, both of them were fans of each other. Choi Jong Hoon likes sports and Son Yeon Jae likes band music. In addition, as both of them like to play golf and are interested in art, they could become close in a short time. According to their close friend, both of them have cheerful character, and they talk to each other a lot when they're together. On May 27, Choi Jong Hoon gave a party for Son Yeon Jae's birthday. He invited friends, and they had a good time. When they were dating, Choi Jong Hoon ...

Q. You made a comeback with your 10th anniversary album. How do you feel? Lee Hongki: There have been a series of challenges during the past 10 years. We once were arrogant but we settled down ourselves after realizing reality. We put our past 10 years and years to come in our new album. And I want to say that we can exist thanks to our fans. Q. What do you think is your greatest achievement? Lee Hongki: I think we've shown that idols can be as competent as other singers. Song Seunghyun: I think the fact that we've been together for 10 years is our greatest achievement. I feel sorry because there are many groups these days who are disbanded due to conflict and discord. We could be together for 10 years because we fit together. Lee Hongki: Yeah, we've never thought about disbanding our team. I'm so happy to be able to perform music with the members. We'll join the army altogether too. Choi Jonghoon: As a leader, I'm so thankful because all the members a...

There are many idol rock bands these days who are active in the k-pop world. FNC Entertainment's HONEYST debuted in May 17, and The EastLight released its second digital single on May 18. And IZ will be debuting in August, while JYP Entertainment's DAY6 will release its first ever full album soon. You know, there have been so many popular k-pop idol groups, but k-pop idol rock bands couldn't distinguish themselves among them. Of course, FTISLAND and CNBLUE have achieved huge success, but there have been no idol rock bands who were as popular as them. So, k-pop agencies have been reluctant to form idol rock bands because they're less likely to become as popular as dancing idol groups. And another reason why k-pop agencies have been reluctant to form idol rock bands is because it costs them more money. Think about it. If a k-pop agency forms an idol rock bands, the agency should buy expensive musical instruments and offer lessons to the members. The...

FT Island is coming back. According to the officials, the band will release its new album on June 7 to celebrate its 10th anniversary. You know, they released their debut album "Cheerful Sensibility" on June 7, 2007. Through the album release, the members will express their gratitude to their fans who've been standing by them for 10 years, while they're also planning for a variety of special events to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Are you looking forward to FT Island's comeback? Well, I'm sure the passionate members, who have their own musical characteristics will release some gorgeous new songs.

Q. When you released your 5th full album last year, people were surprised because you totally changed your music style. So, through your new album that was released on July 18, what do you want to show us? Minhwan: In the old days, we thought we had to do popular music. However, that was not what we wanted to do. Through our new album, we want to show that we have our own music style. Hongki: I know that rock music is loved by a small number of manias in Korea. I think Korean music industry lacks diversity. We do rock music because we love it. And I'm sure the days of rock bands will come some time or other. Q. You seem to feel deep attachment to the album. Jonghoon: That's right. Actually, we consider it as our second album. Of course, we've released many albums, but our latest two albums are totally different from the others. You know, we produced the two albums by ourselves. Hongki: 5 years after our debut, we told our company that we'll do what we want to d...

FT Island's Lee Hongki released his mini album 'FM302' on November 28, while it is his first ever solo album since he debuted in 2007 as a member of FT Island. Through the rock ballad title track 'Insensible', Lee Hongki shows his outstanding vocal performance. Have you all listened to the song? However, the result is below expectations. Hongki, who is regarded as one of the most popular kpop idol, couldn't get top ranking on various online music charts with the song. It's autumn and many ballad songs are gaining popularity, including Lim Chang Jung's 'Love again' and 4Men's 'Hug me', but Hongki's song is clearly an exception. Since its debut in 2007, FT Island has been on a roll. It was a success of the strategy. FT Island was about the only idol rock band in the kpop scene and could win a great popularity. The same applied to CNBLUE. Jung Yonghwa promoted his team by appearing in various dramas just like Hongki did and th...

On September 24, a production presentation for 4 web dramas,  'Missing Korea', 'Flatterer', 'Love Detective Sherlock K' and '9 Seconds'. And in the capacity of leading actors of the dramas, 2NE1's Sandara Park, FT Island's Lee Jaejin, Apink's Bomi, B1A4's Jinyoung, and BESTie's Haeryung attended the event and met reporters. Let's see what they talked about their acting challenge. Sandara Park - Missing Korea It's my third web drama but there’s a lot I still have to learn. Web drama is short but I love to play various kinds of characters in web dramas. I know my acting is not perfect yet. I'll do my best. As I has to use North Korean language in 'Missing Korea', I practiced a lot. My character, Lee Young Jin, is from the town of Gaesung, and I heard that Gaesung accent is very charming. I try to speak charmingly but stiffly because she is a soldier. Lee Jaejin - Flatterer Actually, this is not my fir...

A large number of young people all over the world now enjoy k-pop. By the way, some of you may wonder why k-pop stars are so active in foreign music market, especially in Japanese music market. Actually, it sometimes seems that k-pop stars and their agencies are obsessed with the market. So, let's talk about the reason why k-pop stars and agencies are trying so hard to take over Japanese music market. So, let's talk about the reason why kpop stars and agencies are trying so hard to take over Japanese music market. K-pop stars depend on album sales, TV appearance fees, concert profits and more for their incomes. Then, what do you think are the main sources of income of k-pop stars? In case of top-rated k-pop singers, those are concert profits and sales revenues of their goods, while the latter accounts for bigger part. But, Korean domestic music market is not big enough to make sufficient money out of concerts and sales of goods because Korea has only about 50 milli...

"FT Island's Lee Hongki is well known for his cheerful and straightforward personality. He easily becomes close to people around him because he is so sociable. He is affable, very bright and self-confident. His ideal woman is someone who is cute and little. She needs to have pretty double eyelids and white face. Hongki prefers a woman who has opposite personality from him. And he is very fashion conscious." Possible Candidate for Hongki's Girlfriend: Park Shin Hye Green Light: Lee Hongki and Park Shin Hye were both born in 1990, while the two have been maintaining a close relationship since they appeared on the drama 'You're beautiful' in 2009. Personally, I think they are really good match. Park Shin Hye, one of the most good-natured actress I've ever met, is attractive enough to be loved by handsome young man like Hongki. She is a nice and pretty woman and it seems that her personality is compatible with Hongki's personality...

FT Island will hold its concert tour in New York and Los Angeles. According to FNC entertainment, '2015 FTISLAND [FTHX] TOUR' will be held on January 28 in New York and on January 30 in Los Angeles. The agency stated, "The band, who was originally planned to hold its Europe and Latin American tour in various countries including France, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, recently added 2 more shows to be held in the United States in accordance with fans' request." Through its first ever Europe and Latin America tour, FT Island will visit Paris, France, Sao Paolo, Brazil on January 19, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 21, Santiago, Chile on January 23, and Mexico City, Mexico on January 25. It is expected that the band who has had rich stage experience through a variety of concerts including its concert tour in Japan and large-scale rock festivals in the country such as 'Summer Sonic', 'A-Nation', 'Zebra Music Festival', and 'Inazuma ...

FT Island has wrapped up its concert tour in Japan. The band held '2014 FTISLAND AUTUMN TOUR - To The Light' at Yokohama Arena on November 24. At the concert, FT Island performed a total of 21 songs including 'Be Free', 'Time to', 'Beloved', 'Madly', and 'Memory'. The band also performed songs from its 14th single album, such as 'To the light', 'Fish', and 'Tornado'. According to FNC entertainment, the FT Island members paid particular attention to the musical selection for the concert tour because the members wanted to identify themselves through the tour. After finishing the tour, Song Seung Hyeon stated, "Thank you for coming to our concert tour. The concert held at Yokohama Arena was really great. I could come back to Korea joyfully. I'll concentrate on song-writing." Meanwhile, through its first ever Europe and Latin America tour '2014 FTISLAND FTHX TOUR', FT Island will visi...

Tickets for FT Island's upcoming concert in Paris were sold out in 2 hours. According to FNC entertainment, tickets for the concert to be held on January 16, 2015 were all sold out, while VIP tickets were sold out just in 5 minutes. The VIPs can enter the concert hall earlier than other audience and can exchange high-five with the FT Island's members. Through its first ever Europe and Latin America tour '2014 FTISLAND FTHX TOUR', FT Island will visit Paris, France, Sao Paolo, Brazil on January 19, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 21, Santiago, Chile on January 23, and Mexico City, Mexico on January 25. Meanwhile, FT Island is currently on its concert tour in Japan.

FT Island will kick off its concert tour in central and south America and Europe. According to FNC entertainment, the band will kick off its '2015 FT Island FTHX TOUR' by holding a concert in Paris, France on January 16, 2015, and will visit Sao Paolo, Brazil on January 19, 2015, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 21, Santiago, Chile on January 23, and Mexico City, Mexico on January 25. It is expected that the band, who has had a lot of stage experience by taking part in large-scale rock festivals such as 'Summer Sonic', 'A-Nation', 'Zebra Music Festival', 'Inazuma rock festival' and more, will electrify its fans in central and south America and Europe by showing high quality performance. Meanwhile, FT Island is currently on its concert tour in Japan. The bands' member Lee Hongki is appearing on SBS's drama 'Modern Farmer'.

FT Island's Lee Hongki has successfully finished his first ever fan meeting event in Japan. On September 15, Lee Hongki held 'Lee Hongki's Propose in Japan' at the International Forum Hall in Tokyo, Japan. At the event, he talked about episodes that happened during filming his dramas such as 'Bride of the Century' and 'Modern Farmer'. He also made precious memory with his fans by singing his own song 'Memory' and wowed the fans by announcing that FNC entertainment's artists will hold their family concert 'FNC Kingdom' in December in Tokyo and Osaka. Meanwhile, Lee Hongki will hold his fan meeting event in Nanjing, China on September 20, while his upcoming new drama 'Modern Farmer' will be aired from October 18.

FT Island's Lee Hongki has successfully finished his fan meeting event in Hong Kong. On June 28, the singer held his first ever individual fan meeting event at the Star Hall in Hong Kong. At the event, Lee Hongki performed a total of 5 songs including his drama OSTs, electrifying fans. Lee Hongki also gave signed pouch to the fans who gave correct answer to a quiz. He recently launched his own fashion brand 'Skull Hong', and the pouch was the product of the brand. Lee Hongki stated, "It is the first time for me to hold fan meeting event without other FT Island members. I was really worried about the event, but it's so happy to see so many fans here. I think the night view of Hong Kong is amazing. I will visit the city again with the FT Island members." Meanwhile, Lee Hongki will hold his fan meeting events in Taiwan on June 29 and in Singapore on July 19.

FT Island's Lee Hongki will hold his first ever individual fan meeting event. According to FNC entertainment, the singer will kick off his fan meeting event 'Lee Hongki's Proposal' in Hong Kong on June 28. After then, he will hold two more fan meeting events in Taiwan on June 29 and in Singapore on July 19. It is expected that Lee Hongki will electrify his fans by performing his songs such as 'What I wanted to say' and 'As ever' at the event. He is now preparing thoroughly for the show. Meanwhile, Lee Hongki recently launched his own fashion brand 'Skull Hong' and began his activity as a designer of the brand.

FT Island's Lee Hongki will launch his own fashion brand 'Skull Hong'. According to FNC entertainment, the singer, who is well known for his great interest in fashion, will launch the brand and be active as a creative director for the brand. As a representative fashionista in Korea, he has been producing his own accessories and stage equipment, while he also published a nail book in 2013. Skull is one of his favorite props. Meanwhile, FT Island has kicked off its Arena Concert Tour 'The Passion' in Tokyo on June 3.