K-Pop

🌌 Are Alternate Universes & Lore In K-Pop Dead?

Kay 🥑Once upon a time in K-Pop, it was almost considered essential for a K-Pop group to have an alternate universe or some type of lore to keep fans engaged. Think especially in the 3rd and 4th gens. However, an overall scan of the concept trends of the 5th generation, tells us that this is no longer the case. 5th-gen groups have decided that it’s all about relatability, real-life stories/experiences, and creating empathy. Some groups even venture into this by starting a genre or creating a sound of their own. You can look at groups like NewJeans, RIIZE, and ILLIT as examples of this.

🧸 The New Popular K-Pop Goods Called Zeroni: It Is Cute And Almost Sold Out!

Laure 🌼 ZEROBASEONE’s special friends, called Zeroni, were released on April 20th and made available for pre-order. Members designed the dolls themselves, and they garnered significant interest with their cute names and designs. During the first week of pre-orders, sales were high, and all units sold out before restocking on the website.

🌎 After Their National Success, Virtual K-Pop Group Plave Have Their Eyes Set On The Global Market

Dyllan 🐼While the K-Pop industry is already filled with an endless roster of amazing groups, Plave shows great promise to push the virtual idol market forward. They previously secured the top spot on a local TV music show, becoming the first virtual idol to achieve this. After experiencing national success, the group aims to go global and hopefully lead the trend of virtual idol groups on a global stage.

🎙️The Craze Of K-Pop Audition Programs Continue With A New Focus

Dyllan 🐼The trend of K-Pop reality audition programs continues, as seen with the premiere of Mnet’s “I-Land2: N/a” earlier this month. Then there’s KBS’ “Make Mate 1” which looks to produce a boy group with a global fandom. Broadcasting stations’ main focus for these programs have shifted from showcasing disputes between participants to make headlines, and more on the aspect of discovering hidden gems and watching them grow. They put high ratings aside to focus more on fandom culture, making changes to how they present audition programs as a whole.

K-Drama & K-Movie

📺 “Queen Of Tears” Made It As The Highest tvN Ratings Ever

Laure 🌼K-Drama “Queen of Tears” has scripted a new chapter in tvN’s history! The final episode reached tvN’s highest ratings ever, with 24.8%. This drama has been trending not only in Korea but also overseas, topping Netflix rankings. Previously, “Crash Landing On You” (2019-2020) held the title for the highest-rated tvN drama with 21.7%, surpassing “Goblin” (2016-2017), which recorded 20.5%.

👑 Byeon WooSeok Joined The 6M Followers Club On Instagram

Laure 🌼Byeon WooSeok is currently trending and is considered one of the hottest actors of the moment. His captivating scenes from the K-Drama “Lovely Runner” have garnered significant interest. New fans have discovered his Instagram, which is like a treasure trove full of gorgeous boyfriend material pictures. The actor has now reached 6 million followers on Instagram, a number comparable to RoWoon, Lee JaeWook, Hwang MinHyun, and more.

📺 Bae DooNa’s American Space Opera Film “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” Is Currently The Most Watched Movie On Netflix

Ishani 🎀Bae DooNa continues to make her mark in Hollywood with her latest mega-hit “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver”. The actress plays a cyborg swordmaster called “Nemesis” in the movie and is gaining a lot of love and attention for her role. “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” is now streaming on Netflix and the film is currently the #1 most watched movie on the platform. Bae DooNa shared in an interview that “Director Snyder’s unique vision and portrayal of alien planets and life is what viewers should look out for”

 🎥 “The Roundup: Punishment” Starring Ma DongSeok Sets A Brand New Ticket Reservation Record On Opening Day

Dyllan 🐼It seems that Ma DongSeok isn’t the only person who’s happy to see “The Roundup” franchise continue. A whopping total of 830,000 presale tickets were sold at theaters nationwide, breaking the franchise’s previous opening day reservation record of 640,000. With this, “The Roundup: Punishment” also takes over the top spot, previously occupied by “Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days” which amassed 646,000 reservations on its first day.

K-Fashion

👓BLACKPINK’s Jennie x GENTLE MONSTER Is The Stuff Of Dreams

Ishani 🎀Riding a unicorn, BLACKPINK’s Jennie looks absolutely ethereal in the campaign for her collaborative collection with GENTLE MONSTER called “JENTLE SALON”. The collection launches on May 1, and to celebrate, GENTLE MONSTER has announced special Jentle Salon Pop-ups in 13 global cities: Seoul, New York, Costa Mesa, Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Manila and Kuala Lumpur. The collection features 4 sunglasses and 1 pair of reading glasses, as well as some adorable charms for customization. One of the charms included is a capybara, and if you’re a BLINK, you know how much Jennie loves capybaras. The overall aesthetic of the collection is giving coquette geek chic, and we’re living for it!

K-Beauty

💄 Are K-Pop Idols Losing Out On Lucrative Cosmetics Deals?

Kay 🥑There’s no doubt that a new K-Beauty product is always trending, especially when a K-Celeb is the face of said product. In recent news, we’ve seen big names like IU become the global ambassador for brands like Estée Lauder, SEVENTEEN’s WonWoo as the new model for The Face Shop, and much more. However, in the Western world, artists like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Selena Gomez have been making headlines for promoting their own beauty brands – but why hasn’t the K-Pop industry tapped into this side of the K-Beauty industry yet? We’d love to see K-Pop idols like it girls IVE’s Jang WonYoung and BLACKPINK’s JiSoo start their own cosmetics lines and create a new wave of K-Beauty buzz. The question is, what’s stopping them? #FoodForThought.

K-Travel

🌷 Tulips Are The New Cherry Blossoms? A New Must-See Flower Is In Town!

Kay 🥑Whilst many flock to the streets of Korea every spring to get their once-in-a-lifetime photos with the beautiful cherry blossom blooms, these short-lived but gorgeous flowers are not the only crowd-puller during Korean springtime. It’s officially tulip season (from mid-April to mid-May) and the iconic Tulip festivals are about to be in full swing. Some festival recommendations? Check out the 2024 Taean World Tulip Exhibition, the Everland Tulip Festival, the Paju Herb and Tulip Festival, or even the Sinan Tulip Festival.

✨ Coming To Seoul Soon? Add The Hangang Drone Light Show To Your Itinerary

Dyllan 🐼A brand new event has just started with the Hangang Drone Light Show 2024 having its first show on April 27th. It was recorded that last year 125,000 watched the drone light shows and the city is dedicated to applying the improvements necessary to make it even better than before. If you missed the April 27th show, don’t fret! It will have multiple showings all throughout May and in the first week of June.

K-Food

🍓 The Craze For “Strawberry Siru” Beating Large Bakery Franchises

Laure 🌼A success story has unfolded in the city of Daejeon. The bakery Sungsimdang, with four stores in the city, has surpassed the domestic operating profit of large bakery franchises. Customers from all over the country flock to enjoy high-quality food at affordable prices. The bakery’s most popular cake, the ‘Strawberry Siru,’ has been trending on social media in Korea. With the end of the strawberry season approaching, the cake will be available for sale until April 30th.

K-Society

⌚️ Is Korea Going Backwards By Contemplating A Shift To A 6-Day Work Week?

Kay 🥑Whilst most of the world makes the shift to a 4-day work week, Korean corporations have been contemplating a shift to a 6-day work week. This is in an attempt to keep pace with global companies and competitors. The proposal is meeting mixed reviews as employees push back against losing precious family time and personal downtime. It makes you wonder what happened to the work-life balance (워라벨 in Korean) trend that was all the rage just months ago.

📸 Instagram Is Now the 2nd Most Used App In Korea

Laure 🌼According to a new study, Koreans use KakaoTalk, Instagram, Naver, and YouTube the most, in that order. Instagram has overtaken Naver and YouTube to claim the second spot. With the MZ generation (Millennials and Generation Z) using the app frequently and for long periods, and considering its rapid growth, Instagram is expected to continue gaining more importance in Korea.

K-Webtoon

📱 “Lookism” Author Pak TaeJun’s New Webtoon Starts Serialization

Ishani 🎀“Lookism” is one of the most popular and beloved Korean webtoons of all time. Now, the author of “Lookism”, Pak TaeJun, is back with a new webtoon called “Delivery King”. It tells the story of a young man who takes up a high-paying delivery job to make ends meet but gets involved with a legendary biker gang in the process. “Delivery King” episodes are released every Thursday and Sunday. It is currently only available in Korean, but Google Translate will do a decent job if you can’t wait for an official English translation! At least, that’s what I’m doing!