Finally solid news about girl group 2NE1's comeback this year. Their first ever full length album, titled To Anyone, will be release on September 9th. 6 tracks will be new songs, while 4 tracks will have been previously released as digital singles and 2 will be bonus tracks, giving the album a total of 10 tracks.
As for their U.S. debut, it is still up in the air. It is unlikely it will happen this year. 2NE1 has teamed up with Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas for their U.S. production. YG doesn't want them to be in the U.S. for promotions for too long so they won't neglect their Korean activities. All in all, it seems things are getting underway.
KARA's debut Japanese single "Mister" got a weekly rank of #5 and sold 29k. The last time an oversea female group achieved a top 10 rank with heir debut single was 29 years ago. For an asian girl group they are the first ones to achieve this.
Just before wrapping another day's work on Resident Evil: Afterlife in Toronto, actress (and "Alice") Milla Jovovich revealed when we can expect a teaser trailer.
"There will [be] a teaser trailer in theaters in January, is what I just heard," she said via her Twitter account.
[Director Paul W.S. Anderson is expected to wrap shooting in December. The fourth entry in the Screen Gems series is being shot in 3-D and co-stars Ali Larter, Spencer Locke, Wentworth Miller, Shawn Roberts, Boris Kodjoe, Kim Coates, Norman Yeung, Kasey Barnfield and Mika Nakashima.]
The Wonder Girls opened up for former American Idol contestant Jordin Sparks today at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The girls spent their summer touring with the diva, so it comes as no surprise that the girls were given such an opportunity to perform and gain further exposure.
The girls were dressed in their Nobody outfits, but performed an English version of their past hits Tell Me and for the first time ever So Hot! The English lyrics for Tell Me did not sound complete yet; if you listen closely, you can still hear tidbits of Korean here and there. As for So Hot, will this track take over America as fervently as it did Korea? Ultimately, the girls must be happy performing something other than nobody for once! But I think we can all agree we're itching for something new from the girls, too!
"Korean pop group Wonder Girls have become the first Korean artists to enter the Billboard singles chart, according to their agency JYP Entertainment on Thursday.
The group's single "Nobody" entered the Billboard Hot100 at No. 76, the first time for a Korean artist to be placed on the chart in its thirty-year history. Only three other artists from Asia as a whole have ever made it onto the chart.
The Billboard chart combines the number of airplays, album sales and digital downloads.
Earlier in the week, JYP had announced that according to an airplay analysis chart by music website Mediabase, "Nobody" was played over 65 times by radio stations between October 12 to 18, increasing the group's airplay ranking by 16 spots from the previous week to No. 107.
"Nobody" was also the top-selling single for the same week with 30,418 copies, outselling pop stars Madonna and Shakira.
The girl group, who announced their U.S. debut in June, signed with management company Jonas Group and had been opening for popular boy band The Jonas Brothers U.S. tour over the summer. They performed in front of over 1.5 million fans in 42 cities over 53 performances.
"It was good targeting U.S. teenagers because they don't discriminate," an official at JYP Entertainment was quoted as saying. "And it was absolutely effective to target the U.S. market with a Korean concept and song without the help of American producers and songwriters."
The five-member girl band, who debuted in Korea in 2007, is one of the most successful pop groups in the country with three consecutive No. 1 singles, "Tell Me", "So Hot", and "Nobody"."
Never thought I would see the day, and I certainly wasn't expecting it to be the Wonder Girls. It was genius though, their strategy to ride the Jonas Brothers popularity wave. They're the one group that didn't change themselves in order to break into the American market. Congrats to them!
The company that brought you H.O.T, S.E.S, Shinhwa, TVXQ!, Jang Ri In, Super Junior, SNSD, Shinee, and f(x) have come back in 2009 for another Global Tour. If you have what it takes to audition, bring on your game! Check the audition site for more information.
Direct Registration: Applicants may register once they arrive at the audition location. (Applicants who apply with email will have priority then applicants who apply at the audition location).
WHAT TO PREPARE FOR AUDITIONS: Singers will be asked to sing acapella and without an MR and a microphone. Cover songs and original songs are allowed.
Dancers will be asked to dance freestyle. CD is to be brought by each individual applicant.
Actors/Actresses will be asked to do impromptu acting. Scripts/monologues are to be memorized and be brought by each individual applicant.
Models (Fashion, Commercial) will be asked to pose.
Composers/Lyricists will be asked to submit original CDs or musical scores.
For help or contact, please email 2009smhelp@smtown.com
SPECIAL BENEFITS: Outstanding contestants will be given the opportunity to sign an exclusive contract with SM Entertainment. All costs to debut as an entertainer will be 100% sponsored by SM Entertainment for the final contractors.
A Japanese company, Haruyama Trading Co., has developed a suit that it claims protects the wearer from the deadly H1N1 strain of influenza.
The company has produced 50,000 of the suits and will start selling them on 8 Oct, according to a company spokesman.
The suit is coated with the chemical titanium dioxide, which reacts to light to break down and kill the virus when it comes into contact with it, according to Junko Hirohata. The chemical is a common ingredient in toothpaste and cosmetics.
The suit - which is indistinguishable from any other worn by Japan's legion of "salarymen" - comes in four colours and styles, which are medium grey, charcoal, navy and a grey pinstripe. It will go on sale for about £365.
The company said it spent a year developing the suit, which retains its properties even after being washed numerous times.
Japan has been gripped by swine flu fear since the global outbreak began a year ago, with the World Health Organisation confirming more than 340,000 cases worldwide and around 4,100 deaths.
A seven-year-old boy became the latest victim in Japan on Sept 22, the youngest and 18th fatality from the disease here.
In the same week, medical institutions across the country reported treating 23,275 cases of influenza, the majority with the new H1N1 strain. Most of the new cases were reported in urban areas, where population density increases the risk of transmission.
Singer Kato Miliyah (21) is to provide a song for a Hollywood movie for the first time. She wrote "Destiny" as the image song for "New Moon," the second movie in the hugely successful teen vampire "Twilight" series. Directed by Chris Weitz, the movie is scheduled to open here on November 28. Heart throb star Robert Pattinson is due to visit Japan next month to promote the movie. Kato previously provided the theme song for the 2007 domestic movie "Bubble e Go! Time Machine wa Drum-shiki."
Members of the all-girl pop idol group AKB48 performed yesterday at the opening party of the International Film and Programme Market for Television, Video, Cable and Satellite (MIPCOM) in Cannes, France. It was the third overseas performance by the group, following shows in Paris in August and New York last month. Wearing costumes in the style of Japanese high school girl uniforms, the 12 members sang in English. Doing their bit to promote Japanese tourism, they encouraged fans of pop culture to visit Tokyo and their "home base" in the capital's Akihabara district. MIPCOM is held in Cannes every autumn and is an event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content. It provides a networking forum to discover future global trends and in the area of pop culture, there is always a keen interest in what's coming out of Japan. AKB48, the brainchild of producer Akimoto, was formed in 2005 and has dozens of members divided into three teams and a group of trainees. They perform daily - twice a day on weekends - at their own theater in Akihabara, the mecca of otaku culture. Every single they release is tied into a TV commercial, anime or drama series.
AKB48 was in NYC on September 25-27. They held a mini concert at the New York Anime Festival and Q&A session. Then on Sunday they held a regular concert at Webster Hall. The girls were very entertaining, and even though their english wasn't very good they wanted to use it anyway. And it was cute, and very funny. Sayaka seemed to be the crowd favorite. Especially when three of the girls broke out in black leather rocker outfits showing off their stomachs. I looked over at some of the guys... Eyes were glazed. Drool was flying. Minds were primal. I was scared.
From June of this year singer Kitade Nana has been suspending performances due to illnesses. Now she will make a comeback by forming a new band called Loveless. On October 7th she will return to the stage with a concert titled ‘誕生祭 / Tanjo-sai [lit. ‘Birthday festival']'. On her official website Kitade wrote about her new beginning using very unique expressions. “Let's turn the first page together. When the curtains part a never-ending ray of light will shine brightly across the dark night.”
