Top 7 Kpop News Stories of Last Week of Oct, 2022 (Younha, BTS, Red Velvet, tripleS, AleXa, etc) Here are the Top 7 Kpop news stories of the last week of October that you might’ve missed!
#7. Kim Yooyeon’s debut
Early this year, on MBC’s survival audition ‘My Teenage Girl’, the most famous participant, though she didn’t become a debut member, was Kim Yooyeon who created a lot of buzzes especially because she was a student at Ewha Woman’s Univ.
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The news about her upcoming debut through tripleS which consists of 24 members made many people excited. But tripleS revealed only 8 of its 24 members, so it seemed like it would take a long time until tripleS debuts.
But the 8 members that have been revealed so far will be debuting through 4-member sub-units.
The sub-unit with Yooyeon in it is called ‘Acid Angel from Asia’.
Kim Na-gyung is singer BIBI’s younger sister, Gong Yubin who was one of Top 3 on the junior cooking show ‘I am Chef’, and Jung Hyerin who used to be a trainee at P NATION and BELIFT LAB are also members of this sub-unit.
They debuted with the mini album [ACCESS] on Oct 28. Yooyeon showcased her upgraded skills in the debut song ‘Generation’, . If this album sells 100,000 copies or more, this sub-unit remains, but if the album doesn’t sell enough, that will be the end of ‘Acid Angel from Asia’.
I guess this is a system that brings a giant mental breakdown both to the fans and the members.
The physical album of the mini album [ACCESS] is set to be released on Nov 7.
#6. BTS member Jungkook’s hat is worth 10 million won?
BTS member Jungkook’s hat was put on a trading site, selling for as much as 10 million won, which created a lot of buzz.
The seller claimed to be an employee of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and stated that this hat was left behind in the waiting room when BTS members secretly visited to make diplomatic passports.
Since 6 months have passed and the property was not claimed by anyone by phone or in person, the seller claimed to have the property right of this hat.
But actually, there was no report made about this to Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the police.
As a result, this started a controversy, as people wondered whether this was really Jungkook’s hat, and even if it was, whether this hat was taken care of as a lost item in a lawful way.
When the controversy got big, the seller deleted the post on the trading site and turned himself in to the police and submitted the said hat.
The police stated that if the hat really belongs to Jungkook, the seller will be charged with embezzling a lost property, and if the seller is an employee in charge of lost-and-found items, he may be charged with professional embezzlement.
#5. OH MY GIRL’s YooA confirmed to come back
OH MY GIRL’s YooA is set to make a comeback with her 2nd solo mini album.
Since her solo debut album [Bon Voyage] in 2020, this mini album is the first release in about 2 years.
Back then, the title song ‘Bon Voyage’ was massively loved for YooA’s own powerful and dreamy musicality and unique concepts as well.
It did well on music charts and even won 1st place on ‘The Show’. So YooA has a history of having success with a solo album.
For that reason, many fans are looking forward to [Selfish], which is set to come out on Nov 14.
#4. New global Kpop star
In May of this year, there was a Kpop singer who had the honor of winning on America’s huge survival show ‘American Song Contest’.
It was Alexa. Recently, it was reported that Alexa signed with UTA, one of 4 major agencies in the US.
UTA is home to famous actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy,
Angelina Jolie, as well as global singer Mariah Carey. Also, Korean actors Lee Byung-hun and Suhyun broke into Hollywood with the help of UTA.
Alexa will be working with such a huge American agency, and these days, she is in the middle of her solo tour in 8 cities in the US, which is going great.
With that, there was an update about her comeback. On Nov 11, Alexa will be back with her first mini-album [GIRLS GONE VOGUE].
The trailer that looks like a fantasy movie is already making us excited what new quality she’ll show.
#3. Belated success of Younha’s Event Horizon
Younha’s ‘Event Horizon’ is seeing a huge jump in its ranking on music charts. ‘Event Horizon’ is the title track of Younha’s 6th full-length repackage album, which came out in March this year.
In March, this song’s highest ranking on Melon’s daily chart was #140, but on Oct 4, it charted back in Melon’s chart at #98, and this week, it was ranked within Melon’s Top 10.
This song’s belated success is thanks to university festivals. She has been singing this song at many university festivals since September, and through word of mouth, ‘Event Horizon’ started to climb up on music charts.
Also, Younha’s 6th full-length repackage album which contains this song ended up being sold out.
It looks like good songs do get recognition eventually.
#2. Red Velvet’s comeback confirmed
While fans are happy with the recent release of Seulgi’s solo album [28 Reasons], there is one more update that will also make Red Velvet fans happy. It’s Red Velvet’s upcoming comeback.
Back in March, Red Velvet presented cool performances of ‘Feel My Rhythm’, and they are now preparing to release a new album in late November.
Apparently, they are still discussing the exact time and concept of their comeback. They’re taking steps to prepare for their comeback, selecting the title track and other songs for the album.
Red Velvet shows surprising changes in concepts in every comeback, which already makes me curious what kind of vibe they’ll be back with this time.
#1. The backstory behind Jin’s enlistment
Recently, through a live stream on weverse, BTS member Jin shared why his enlistment was constantly put off.
BTS’ oldest member Jin said that originally, he was preparing to join the military with the other members after the album [BE], which came out in Nov 2020. But ‘Dynamite’, which had come out in the summer of that year, topped Billboard Hot 100 and was such a massive success, so BTS decided to release ‘Butter’ and ‘Permission To Dance’ to bring more joy to the fans.
These 2 songs were also massively successful and fans loved the songs. Jin was thinking about joining the military after ‘Permission To Dance’, but he was told that he should at least say goodbye through a concert, so he proceeded to do a concert.
But after the concert, he was scheduled to go to the Grammy Award show, and he thought he would finally join the military after that.
In fact, after the Grammy Award show was over, Jin was getting ready for enlistment and had already told his agency that he’d like to join the army in May or June, since he dislikes the cold.
So when BTS said that they would stop their group activities for a while and focus on solo activities, during a dinner party video in June, they were alluding to Jin’s enlistment.
Since everything was already decided, Jin had no activities during the summer. Jin was going to join the military in the autumn at the latest, but then, there was another variable, which was the Busan concert.
Jin said that BTS members started to persuade him about it because they hadn’t held a proper concert in Korea with people’s cheering in a while.
So, to be respectful to the fans, Jin decided to join the military in the cold winter which he disliked so much.
Also, he put off announcing his enlistment until after the concert was over so that the fans could enjoy the concert without being sad, but because of the delayed announcement of enlistment, BTS got a lot of flak from many people regarding military service.
However, Jin said it was good that he didn’t have to see his fans cry at the concert and that he was satisfied, even though he got some flak.
Jin added that he was able to release his recent solo song ‘The Astronaut’ because he didn’t participate in anything after his decision to enlist, which gave him some time until the concert.
Jin said that after a show in Argentina, he will probably fill out the necessary documents for his enlistment within a few days as soon as he returns to Korea.
It seems incredible how BTS and Jin endured getting flak because they didn’t want to see their fans cry.