As part of “The Kulture Wave’s” year-end program, Walter and Bella have prepared the top 5 K-entertainment news of 2024.
First of all, personally which K-enter issues were the most memorable for you?
“APT.” with Bruno Mars. It was loved by so many people globally and reached some impressive milestones, so it definitely stands out for me.}
I agree with you for the most part. But haven’t you forgot something?
Arirang TV has launched “The Kulture Wave” which plays a big role in covering all the K-enter news.
Speaking of which, let’s now get started with the top 5 issues in the world of entertainment since our program launched on October 7th.
They have been selected based on the frequency of their appearance as well as the number of views on YouTube.
Bella! You have our first keyword!
Yes, the first story we are going to talk about is the HYBE dispute. The conflict between HYBE Entertainment and Min Hee-jin began back in April, when HYBE requested an investigation into Min Hee-jin’s breach of trust, and in response, she held a buzz-making press conference. As they continued with legal matters, on August 27th, HYBE terminated Min from Ador CEO. After a few months, in November, Min decided to resign from ADOR’s board and depart from HYBE as she said she did not see HYBE admitting any wrongdoing. It’s now been over 8 months, but legal dispute between the two still continues.
In regards to this issue, NewJeans’ actions have been in the spotlight as well, right?
That’s right. Throughout the whole process, NewJeans supported Min Hee-jin as they held a YouTube livestream back in September and Hanni was also a witness at a parliamentary hearing at the National Assembly. NewJeans also sent ADOR an ultimatum, but ADOR did not meet the group’s demands, so as a result, NewJeans terminated their contract with ADOR on November 28th.
The issue also led to some challenges within the K-pop industry?
Right.. we saw the constraints of the multi-label system. The multi-label system here means multiple labels under one roof, just like ADOR and Belift Lab under HYBE Entertainment. On top of this, Min also addressed problems surrounding how the K-pop industry focuses on increasing album sales by baiting fans with artists’ photo cards and forcing the fans to purchase albums through fan events.
This dispute is likely to continue to be a hot topic in the upcoming year.
Let’s move on to the next keyword. This time, it’s Walter’s turn. What do you have for us?
I think the word I’ve shouted the most while sitting here is this: BTS~~
That’s right. Even during their military hiatus, we’ve shared BTS news quite often.
Yeah, this year, two BTS members completed their military service: the eldest, Jin, and the third eldest, J-Hope.
When J-Hope was discharged on October 17, we made sure we quickly let ARMY know here on the K-Wave.
J-Hope was discharged four months after Jin, who completed his service on June 12.
As soon as Jin completed his military service, he immediately held a fan meeting.
And on November 15, he released his first mini-album, “Happy”.
The title track, “Running Wild”, reached No. 1 on the iTunes “Top Songs” chart in 70 countries!
On the first day of release, the album sold over 840,000 copies For reference, the first-week sales surpassed 950,000 copies.
How about J-Hope?
On October 23, J-Hope threw the ceremonial first pitch at Game 2 of the 2024 Korean Series in professional baseball.
He hasn’t made any major moves yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing what he’ll do next year.
We’re also continuing to hear updates about the members currently serving in the military, right?
There’s too much to mention, so I’ll just focus on the firsts and best records.
First, BTS was selected as the most-streamed K-pop artist on the world’s largest music streaming platform, Spotify, for the seventh consecutive year.
BTS is the only K-pop artist to surpass 41 billion cumulative streams on Spotify, and the first group in the platform’s history to achieve this milestone.
On Spotify, Jimin’s “Like Crazy” became the fastest song by a Korean artist to reach 1 billion streams this year,
and V became the first K-pop solo artist to surpass 19 million followers on Spotify.
Jungkook’s “Golden,” released last November, has remained on the “Billboard 200” chart for 25 consecutive weeks.
This is the longest-charting album by a Korean solo artist.
Next year, the rest of the group will all finish their military service. I look forward to the day we can share news about BTS as a complete group again.
Let’s move on to number 3. Bella?
Our third keyword is K-Pop girl groups. We were able to see K-pop girl groups and solo female artists thrive throughout 2024. Some of the artists that stood out were NewJeans, aespa, IVE, (G)I-DLE, and of course 2NE1 and or Girlfriend, who reunited.
So who are we going to talk about first?
Well, we have to start with Rosé from BLACKPINK. “APT.” which she released on October 18th with Bruno Mars went viral globally. She reached so many milestones with this track. First, the music video for “APT.” made history as the fastest K-Pop music video to hit 600 million views. It took 59 days to hit 600 million views and as of this Tuesday, it has surpassed 700 million views. “APT.” also did well in numerous charts, including the U.S. Billboard HOT 100 and the UK Official Singles Chart. Meanwhile, other BLACKPINK members were also very active this year. JENNIE released her single “Mantra” in October, Lisa released “Rockstar” and “Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me).” and Jisoo kept herself busy as an actress.
Another artist we cannot forget is an artist also known as the ‘queen of donations.’
It’s IU. We recently talked about her making warm donation for the end of the year. Back in February, IU released her 6th EP, “The Winning,” in celebration of her 16th anniversary. All 5 tracks of the album hit No.1 on Korea’s main music streaming platform. She also went on a world tour for 5 months where she performed in 18 different cities. Notably, she did an encore concert in Seoul back in September and she also performed at the Seoul World Cup Stadium to 100,000 fans over two days.
Now let’s move on to talk about girl groups. We covered numerous stories on girl groups as well.
Yes, I also sang this group’s song numerous times on our show. aespa also dominated K-Pop this year. They released “Supernova,” “Armageddon,” and “Whiplash” this year and all three songs did amazing. Particularly, “Whiplash” recorded accumulated sales of over 1 million copies, winning its fifth million-selling title. It also reached 100 million streams on Spotify, becoming their 12th song to hit that milestone. On top of these records, “Whiplash” sweeped a handful of awards, including 6 awards at 2024 MAMA Awards and 3 awards at 2024 Melon Music Awards. It definitely was a memorable year for aespa and their fans.
It surely was. And now to maybe “the issue” of the latter half of the year in the entertainment industry. Walter, it’s about an actor!
That’s right It’s Jung Woo-sung ! Everyone was shocked by the news that Jung Woo-sung became a “dad.”
On November 24, model Moon Ga-bi revealed on social media that she gave birth in March and posted a photo of the child.
Shortly after, articles claimed that Jung Woo-sung was the biological father of Moon Ga-bi’s son, and he confirmed it.
Although they have a child, the two were never officially in a relationship and have no plans to marry.
Many were surprised because he’s a popular actor with a strong, upright image and is known for his interest in social issues.
That’s right. In Korea, Jung Woo-sung is so famous that he’s synonymous with the word “handsome.”
He’s appeared in numerous films like Beat, Steel Rain, and Hunt, and in 2023, he received critical acclaim for his role in 12.12: The Day.
He has also served as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency and participated in a photo exhibition to support campaigns for adopted children and single mothers.
However, his involvement in the illegitimate child issue, the revelation of a non-celebrity girlfriend, and Instagram DMs have led to controversies and damaged his image.
At his first official appearance after the controversy, the 45th Blue Dragon Film Awards on November 29, Jung Woo-sung stated, “As a father, I will fulfill my responsibility to my son to the very end.”
Lastly, Bella you are going to end us off on the topic of streaming platforms?
Yes, According to Korea Creative Content Agency, 9 out of 10 Korean citizens are currently using OTT platforms. The Korea Communications Commission predicts an even higher increase in the use of streaming platforms in the future, and because of this positive outlook, more and more OTT contents are being made and are going viral.
Among numerous streaming contents, please tell us about a show that was a massive hit.
The show that definitely stood out this year was the Netflix series or “Culinary Class Wars.” It was released back in September and hit No.1 on Netflix’s ‘Global Top 10 Non-English Shows’ and was also voted as Koreans’ favorite show for the months of September and October.
Yes, many chefs who participated in the show became star chefs in Korea (although a number of them already were famous in this field).
But one of the representative Netflix shows has to be “Squid Game”.
Of course! “Squid Game” Season 2 was released on December 26th after a long wait. It definitely was something many viewers around the world were looking forward to as the trailer for it hit the highest number of views among Netflix trailers this year and the first season recorded the most viewers in Netflix’s history. Season 2 also has been nominated for Best Television Series-Drama category at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. It’s actually very rare to secure a nomination prior to its release, so it’s definitely receiving huge attention. For people who haven’t watched it yet, the new season continues the intense saga of Gi-hun as he returns to the game, facing off against the formidable Front Man in an escalating battle with deadlier games.
So how do the viewers like the new season?
I personally enjoyed it. Some enjoyed it, like I did, and others not so much, because they had such high expectations from the first season. Did you two finish all the episodes? How was it for you guys?
It seems like it’s a build up for the third season. Not sure when exachly, but the next season is expected to be released in 2025. But what’s sure is Walter and I will keep you all in a loop with the latest updates.
Seasons 2 and 3 were produced at the same time. So we won’t have to wait as long as we did for the second one.
Thank you very much Bella and Walter for those top 5 K-enter news stories and also for starting off the Kulture Wave journey together this year.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=279486
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