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Jang Hyunseung, casted in his first ever musical ‘Mozart!’

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:40:35 +0000

This was JYJ’s Kim Junsu’s first attempt at a musical and this musical had even created the popular musical stars such as Park Euntae. Other than that, Lim Taekyung, Park Gunhyung, Jeon Dongsul had all played the role of Mozart in the past as well.

Meanwhile, the musical ‘Mozart!’ will be playing starting July 10th at the Sejong Media Theather and Park Euntae, Shin Youngsook, Min Youngki, Yoon Hyungreul, Bada, will be joining the cast as well.

NATE (SOURCE); YONGISM@B2ST RISING (TRANS)

B.A.P celebrating their 100th day from the debut: “Let’s celebrate it together!”

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:00:52 +0000

B.A.P. has revealed a heartwarming picture celebrating their 100th day from the debut.

Early on the 5th of May, the group said hi to their fans on Facebook and commented, “B.A.P on its 100th day! Celebrate with us.” Today (May 5) is 100th day for the group since their debut with the song “Warrior.”

In the picture, members are smiling brightly celebrating their special day. They sport a fresh charm which makes them look different from their charismatic appearance on stage.

Above the picture, each member left a handwritten comment.

The messages read: “What’s up, Baby! Are you guys are full-charged with us? Let’s celebrate our 100th day together.” “Hello, dear Babies. Thank you so much for coming to see us despite the hot weather.” “Hey Babies, I’m not sick anymore. Let’s move on together, baby.” They expressed their love for their fans through with the comments.

On April 27, B.A.P released the song “Power” and is busy giving performances.

Source: Starnews
English version: Korea.com

Ailee Tells the Ins and Outs of Singer Debut (Interview)

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 05:43:35 +0000

The first time seeing Korean singer Ailee, making people feel “as if fatefully meeting her who is such a jewel.” And this jewel almost can only be viewed via U.S. programs. Ailee officially debuted in 2012, but in her mind, the time ofher debut is 2005. “When did I begin to want to be a singer? In fact, I wanted to be a singer from a very early time, so cannot remember the exact time when it started. Very natural thought of ‘I want to be a singer’.” And then she produced video and uploaded to Internet, and become the girl of “10 million hits.”

“Previously I sang to others, everyone said that I sing well. But I do not know that it’s I really have the strength, or because they are acquaintances so deliberately exaggerated the praise. So I became curious about the opinions of the people who do not know me, and I produced a video to upload to YouTube. To confirm the messages left, I went online and found that the upload was very popular.” Since then, Ailee began to have clear understanding of her future. “From then on, I understand that people likes me to sing. The start from that moment, was a turning point in my life.”

The UCC produced at that time brought her good luck. “After I uploaded the video, the program director of United States NBC’s ‘Maury Show’ contacted me. To do a program similar to ‘American Idol’, hoping I can participate. I very much wanted to participate in that program, I was the only East Asian including Korean who participated in the program, so a little worried. I was singing on behalf of the Korean, what can I do if I didn’t sing well?”

Later Ailee won the second place in the viewers’ vote of ‘Maury Show,’ gaining the attention of the audience and media. U.S. record company was also eyeing her. “There was a lot of proposal to let her debut in U.S. music scene, but I prepared for activities for long term, and believed that one day I will be able to debut in South Korea. I hoped to debut in South Korea first. Because I’m Korean, I would like to begin here.”

When asked the reason, she replied, “In fact, since I was a kid, I very like Korean dramas, Korean singers. Fin.KL, SES, Park Ji Yoon are great, senior Lee Hyo Ri and 2NE1 are best. So I want to active in South Korea. Recently I met senior Lee Hyori when participating in a program, I was pleasantly surprised and yelled excitedly.”

Ailee who successfully debuted in South Korea, was very honored to be singing the Korean national anthem in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Korea Baseball Championship. “I sang the national anthem for the first time after I graduated from elementary school, very strange that I remember the lyrics very clearly.”

“While singing, couldn’t help but shedding tears. Now thinking of it, was very touching. (Laughs) Born in United States, but I am also Korean, and singing the national anthem before so many people, I feel very proud.”

The new song “Heaven” which propelled Ailee to popularity to become attention-seeking skillful actress, has also brought her luck. “I never expected the reaction would be so good. Originally the title song was not ‘Heaven.’ The feeling of preparing with dance with another new song, and then recorded the ‘Heaven’ was very special.”

“When recording the new song ‘Heaven,’ my mind showed the MV, choreography, clothing, etc. The overall picture was presented. No such feeling in other songs, so I told the person in charge that I wanted to sing ‘Heaven.’ Then restarted the production. In fact, never thought that this is popular music, just thought that because of just began, so do it slowly, very surprised that it’s well loved by so many people. So very grateful and happy for everything. I still thought it won’t work… I thought this was just my hobby, did not expect to earn understanding and love of so many people, I feel very happy.”“Happiness”, Aliee is going through a very happy first year of debuting in music scene. “I was very pleasantly surprised when having activities in South Korea. Each time I’m on the stage, I am very excited, very touched. I also challenged acting, the feeling was very interesting. Eye spasm could also be seen on TV. (Laughs) Very strange. My friends saw me acting in TV series ‘Dream High 2‘, and said, ‘The feeling of friend appearing on TV is very strange.’ (Laughs) I hope to continue to enjoy the feeling of the theater like this, advancing slowly. Because it’s still a long way to go. Rather than run out of breath, might as well slowly step by step progressing into the future.”Ailee is still awkward in speaking Korean, but when telling her plan on musical activities, she spoke very carefully and did not rave. Although sometimes she may said a few absurd language. “I am not satisfied with the status quo. ‘I am very satisfied having come this far,’ then I cannot continue to move forward. I always feel hungry. After this plan ended, immediately establish the next plan. Still feel hungry, continue to eat (to achieve), feel hungry as well, the process of planning the next step? It’s fine with read the happy doctor. I worry myself is prideful and satisfying.”

She said that her motivation to work hard is neither encouragement of parents, nor it’s “Grammy Awards.” My motivation is to eat meat! To be able to eat meat, I can do anything! Ha ha.”

Said that “Immortal Song 2″ is like playground

In the three-station musical program where she competed with super idol boy group Big Bang and 2AM for championship, Ailee won the second place, demonstrating the superb singing strength of skillful singer. Later, she engaged in non-stop two-month publicity, and also participated in the KBS 2TV’s “Immortal Song 2″, once again demonstrated outstanding musical talent. “‘Immortal Song 2′ is very interesting, getting more and more interesting.”“At first I had worried whether old-timers would like the adaptation of the song I sang, until now, still very good.”

When Ailee stood on the stage of “Immortal Song 2″, she transformed from the cute girl in the background to musician who overwhelmed the audience, the quick change of aura was astounding. The new singer Aliee was not nervous even if competing with senior singers on the same stage. “I don’t think ‘Immortal Song 2′ is a competition. I just sang for old timers, providing the fun, merely juniors sing the songs of seniors to please the public. That’s why I participated relaxingly.”

“To me, stage is like nightclub. (Laughs) It’s a fun place. I just want to ‘have a good show on stage and then come down.’ In fact, seldom nervous before stage performances. Ah, when shooting ‘Singer and Trainee’, nervous when speaking. I speak poor Korean, worried about making mistake, making a fool of myself.”

The young Ailee who sang the old songs that twice her age has unique insight. “Don’t listen when receiving the new song, look at the lyrics first. If it’s lyrics full of poetic inspiration, I ask the staff for meaning if I don’t understand the meaning. After figuring out the lyrics, listening to the melody. Therefore can sing with more novelty, and feeling is very good. As for the songs with high difficulty, in fact, are not too difficult. Those were songs that I first heard. I deliberately memorized melody instead of listening to music. I feel that adaptation is very important. Do not want to be too close to the original song. So it is easier to sing.”To Ailee who produced and uploaded large video clip hosting site when young, and devoted herself in studying musical performance for many years, “Immortal Song 2″ is just another playground.And she found respectful seniors and like-minded colleagues here. “Senior Ali sing very great. Some people said that I am ‘Ali II,’ although our musical styles are different, but I am very grateful when I heard these words. The friend I met when filming the drama ‘Dream High 2′, SISTAR member Hyo Rin, pat on my back to encourage me when heard that I am going to participate in ‘Immortal Song’. (Laughs)”

The performance of Ailee lived up to expectations, which could not be better described as “like fish in the water.” “When teacher Kim Patti, teacher Lee Yin Ha praised me, very moving. Teacher Lee Yin Ha said I am South Korea’s Beyonce, I think that Beyonce of South Korea is senior Lee Hyori. I am just… I can only be Ailee.”

Although it’s still too early to talk about the champion, but Ailee has enough qualifications, nobody can vote against it. “For the champion, I does not greedy. I just make every effort to prepare, presenting the brilliant performances, and I feel very happy. Every time the feelings of victory when I go is good, it is because a lot of people likes the performance prepared by me. So very grateful. (laughs)”

via TVDaily translated by asian-drama.org

EXO-K “This year’s goal is getting the newcomer award”!

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:00:21 +0000

EXO-K and EXO-M are in the 12 member male idol group that SM Entertainment, who raised Shinhwa, DBSK, Super Junior, etc, ambitiously prepared. Prior to their debut, SM had an online promotion for 100 days since the beginning of the year, so they’re receiving particular affection. The producer Lee Sooman gave them their name himself showing his support “Let’s open a new world in the K-Pop industry”.

EXO stands for EXOPLANET, a planet out of the solar system, meaning that they’re new stars coming from an unknown planet. EXO-K has 6 members, the K is Korea’s K so they’re promoting in Korea while EXO-M, which also has 6 members promotes in China as the M stands for Mandarin. Early this month they both released their first mini-album ‘MAMA’ and had a splendid debut.

EXO-K (composed of Suho[21], Chanyeol[20], Baekhyun[20], D.O[19], Kai[18], Sehun[18]) said confidently “Right now, this year’s goal is getting the newcomer award. There are a lot of outstanding rookie groups but we believe that if we work hard our wish will come true”.

When we asked them what made them different from the other groups, they revealed “First, I think that debuting at the same time in Korea and China is something new. Both teams are quite competitive but we’re also monitoring and supporting each other a lot. We’d like to think that our biggest good point is our strong performance”.

Suho, the oldest of the team, said “I think that compared to other idol groups, our performance that has dance, expression acting and vocals is strong. We will work even harder to not damage the reputation of seniors such as Shinhwa and DBSK”.

D.O, who’s leading the main vocals with Baekhyun and Suho, said with a smile “The fact that our title song ‘MAMA’ was made by Yoo Youngjin senior makes EXO-K’s performances even greater. While practicing during the two last months, we didn’t get tired of it at all”.

EXO-K’s debut process was also long and difficult. Most of the members were selected by the staff of SM’s rookie development office between 6th grade of elementary school and middle school, or they’ve been casted through an audition. Chanyeol and Sehun joined SM in 2008 by street casting, Kai is from the 2007 SM Youth Best Contest. Suho who was cast in 2006 is currently a sophomore majoring in acting at Korea National University of Arts, his dream is to be acknowledged as a singer but also as an all-rounded entertainer that can act, MC, etc.

After becoming a SM trainee, they have to go through harsh training. During their training period, they had to go to school during week days and then they went to take courses for subjects such as dancing, vocals, acting, language, character, etc., until 9~10PM. They could only rest a day, on Saturday or Sunday. During school vacations, they had an even tighter schedule of intensive training. They got selected to be EXO-K’s members among a great number of trainees and were informed about their debut project a year ago. They started to live together in dorms starting from then.

“Not being able to go home and missing our parents was the most difficult thing about living at the dorm. Aside from that there was no dissatisfying point at all. We could only be happy about practicing a dance performance and vocals we liked, while waiting for the day we’ll debut. Of course we’d feel an electrifying joy when we slowly became synchronized.”

Kai got his dream of being a singer when he saw the group Shinhwa in 6th grade of elementary school, Shinhwa was coming back just in time for EXO-K’s debut on the cable channel Mnet ‘M!Countdown’, he expressed about the moment he got to stand on the same stage as them “I was incredibly moved!”.

The members don’t have personal cellphones. It’s because of the company’s guidelines to focus on the dance and singing practices.

EXO-K said “It’s not uncomfortable at all. It’s a good thing since we throw away all distractions to focus only on the trainings and the promotions. We will show you an even greater image. The newcomer award is a one in a lifetime chance for a singer, so of course we have to get it” and shouted a powerful fighting. “We are one! For the newcomer award~.”

source: sportsseoul

translation cr; emilie @ exok-trans

So Ji Sub and Lee Yeon Hee gather for a TV series

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 09:00:12 +0000

Pictures of the cast members, including, So Ji Sub, Lee Yeon Hee, and Choi Daniel, for SBS’s series Ghost, which will air after the current series Rooftop Prince goes off air, were recently released.

On May 3, SBS released pictures of the cast members reading the scripts in comfortable clothes. They look very attractive even in comfortable clothes.

Actresses Lee Yeon Hee and Song Ha Yoon showed off their innocent charms in natural clothes with natural hairstyles. Their milky white skin complemented their beautiful appearance.

Kwak Do Won, Choi Daniel, and MBLAQ’s G.O did their best while practicing for the series and satisfied director Kim Hyung Shik.

So Ji Sub appeared in the most fashionable clothes, including a denim jacket and denim shirt, sunglasses, and a hat.

The series is about a cyber criminal investigation warning a far-reaching influence of social networks. The production crew, who became popular after producing the series Sign in 2011, will work together again for the series. The first episode of the series will air in May.

Source: TV Report
English version: Korea.com

Infinite to hold a large-scale showcase

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 08:00:53 +0000

Infinite will hold a large-scale showcase .

On May 4, Woollim Entertainment, Infinite’s agency, said Infinite will hold five showcases in five cities in Korea. Including Gwangju on May 15, they will visit Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Seoul.

Infinite will use a helicopter at this showcase because of their busy schedule.

Because they’re holding the showcase in five cities in a row without taking a break, they had to place the largest number of staff in each city. Its scale is the largest of all concerts held in Asia.

At the showcase, Infinite will release the lead track of their new album and a music video of the lead track for the first time.

Infinite’s agency says, “This showcase was planned as Infinite wanted to come to their fans instead of their fans coming to them. It will be the largest showcase that no one has tried in Korea.”

The showcase is free, and the ticket reservation will start on May 7.

Source: Starnews
English version: Korea.com

SNSD-TaeTiSeo say, “We miss other members of SNSD”

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:00:56 +0000

SNSD-TaeTiSeo gave their thoughts on performing as a unit group.

SNSD’s Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun gave their first performance as a unit group on Mnet’s M Countdown on May 3. After the performance, they said, “We were so nervous that our arms and legs were shaking so much. It was so weird.”

TaeTiSeo also said, “Because we’ve always been with other six members, it’s quite weird to perform on the stage without them. But we think our first performance was good.”

Taeyeon said, “For SNSD, one of the most important parts was group dance. However, we cared more about our voices this time. That was the biggest difference from the performance of SNSD’s. Unfortunately my throat condition wasn’t so good this time, but I’ll try harder to give you a better performance.”

Seohyun said, “Because there are only three members in our group, the size of our greenroom also became smaller. Other members sent us cheering messages. We really appreciated them.”

SNSD-TaeTiSeo will also give their comeback performance on KBS 2TV’s Music Bank on May 4, MBC TV’s Music Core on 5, and SBS TV’s Inkigayo on 6.

Source: Starnews
English version: Korea.com

Park Yoochun Given Grade 4 Public Service Enlistment Postpone Due to Drama!

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 06:00:55 +0000

JYJ’s Park Yoochun was recently declared as grade 4 for physical examination, and as the result, will serve in public service in substitution of military service.

The management agency of Park Yoochun, C-JeS, said on May 3rd, 2012, “Park Yoochun received the grade 7 (exemption) in the first physical examination on February 2011, and become the target of re-examination. He sincerely responded to the request of re-examination from MMA (Military Manpower Administration), and was recently declared as grade 4 Social Service Personnel.”

It is reported that reason that Park Yoochun was assigned to public welfare service is because of asthma. The initial notification Park Yoochun received required him to report at training center on May 21st, 2012, but because of he is currently starring in SBS drama “Rooftop Prince“, postponement in admission is inevitable.

C-JeS added, “So far Park Yoochun has never postponed his enlistment, so we believe the postponement will be granted.”

On the other hand, in the early morning of April 26th, 2012, while setting in the private car drove by manager and on the way to the filming set of “Rooftop Prince”, Park Yoochun met with traffic accident. Although it’s a major accident where half of vehicle was damaged, but in order to avoid any issues with the broadcast of the drama, he couldn’t immediately went to hospital after accident happened.

via Nate + Asian Drama

2PM will be showing the ‘beauty of the beast’ with the release of Japanese single!

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:00:46 +0000

2PM, facing the 90,000-audience scale ‘Budokan 6 Days’ (including the additional performance at Yokohama Arena), is releasing the single album ‘Beautiful’ and plans to color the entire Japanese territory with “the beauty of the beast’

2PM’s new single title song, ‘Beautiful’, is the BGM for Sampyo brand’s ‘Dark vinegar’ advertisement, and it has been pre-released as such and on April 17th, blew off the chart and took on the 1st place on Recochoku, the biggest ringtone download service site in Japan.

Not only that, this time the single album is expected to track Junho’s self-composed song, ‘Kimiga Ireba’, thus raising the expectation for locals as well as the domestic fans in Korea.

In continuance of the album release, there will be a HI-Touch event at the local premise in Japan, and the Live DVD for 2PM’s first Arena Tour, which drew 100,000 audiences, will also be released on the 6th; drawing more attention.

2PM was awarded with the ‘New Artist of the Year’, the grand prize of the Japanese Golden Disk 2012, and has taken its toll as the most expected rookie. Also, the NHK Korean Teaching program, ‘Dark Vinegar’ advertisement, and the fixed program of Tokyo MX, as well as the movie ‘Oran Highschool Host Club’ is receiving the most beloved attention from the crowd.

Meanwhile, 2PM is facing the ‘Budokan 6 Days’ Concert at the end of May.

Source: JYP’s Facebook

IU tops the charts with her own song “Peach”

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 04:00:52 +0000

IU topped the charts with her own song “Peach.”

Released on May 4, the song from IU’s new single album Spring at the Age of Twenty topped the real-time charts of such major online music stores as Melon, Mnet, Olleh Music, and Monkey 3 at 10:00 a.m.

Spring at the Age of Twenty, which will include total three songs, is IU’s new album in six months. IU’s releasing the album to thank her fans who have supported her for a long time.

“Peach” is IU’s own song about the heart-fluttering feeling when people fall in love, expressed in an acoustic sound. It’s commented that IU’s fresh, girly emotion was well expressed. “Peach” is IU’s favorite fruit. Because of the pleasant sound when the word is pronounced, she wants to call her lover “Peach.”

The lyrics about the happiness people feel when they look at their lovers are well harmonized with the calm, sweet melody. It sounds so sweet that it almost feels like IU’s confessing her love to you.

Loen Entertainment, IU’s agency, says, “IU’s own song this time removed all strong sounds but only her innocent, frank emotion she wanted to express.”

IU’s holding her first live concert early June.

Source: Starnews
English version: Korea.com