Every Monday, for the remainder of February, will be JYP Tour 2009 day on Ningin. All our blog articles will be something related to JYP, Wonder Girls, or 2PM. We will reveal a new contest on these days, and we will make new stuff available to download. All of this information is neatly organized in our special JYP Tour 2009 coverage area: More »

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With Wonder Girls taking a few-month-long break, this leaves new “rivals” Kara and Girls’ Generation vying for the spot as the top girl group in Kpop.

With the release of their latest mini-album Pretty Girl, Kara has been enjoying a lot more popularity. Unfortunately, it’s not enough. Girls’ Generation, on the other hand, has too much. Within only a few hours of the release of their latest single “Gee,” the song was #1 on countless Korean music charts and even managed to turn a lot of their anti’s into fans. More »

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JYP Entertainment has finally opened an official YouTube channel for his most prized possessions. Yesterday, the official JYP Entertainment channel added links to official individual artist channels, and Wonder Girls along with 2PM, were the first chosen.

Along with all of the usual, like all of their promotional videos, JYP Entertainment has also released some videos that haven’t been seen before, like the making of their first video Irony.

You can check out everything here. More »

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Last month, when I admitted my love for Dong Bang Shin Gi, I mentioned how I was “won over with its prettiness and its awesome vocals” for a particular song. That song is “Love in the Ice”, and even a month later, I am still obsessing over this song. Someone shoot me now.

Then again, it doesn’t help that I watched these two Youtube videos of them singing this, and after I’ve seen their emotional performance, I love it more. Damn you, DBSG, for your beautiful singing! Now I want all of you to come serenade me for the rest of my life. Either that or perform another one of those “stay away from porno” radio skit and make me laugh until I’m breathless!

Anyway, here are the two videos that I keep watching to listen to this song. Just, guh. Words cannot define how much I love this song. Seriously, once my sinuses are healed, I will drag a friend with me to the nearest no rae bang and sing this song! Hell will be unleashed if the no rae bang doesn’t have this song! More »

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Last month, I had used H.O.T.’s “Candy” as my “classics” series. This time, I shall bring back their “rivals”, the six-members group called Sechs Kies. Even though they were “rivals”, I liked both for different reasons. Well, more for the same reasons since they were awesome, cute, great music, and etcetera.

To get to the point of this entry, this song’s pretty neat. It’s catchy, fun to dance to, and come on, six guys singing and dancing? That’s fun to watch! Anyway, this song’s the first Sechs Kies song I have listened to and thus became a fan of them. It’s a shame, though, that they disbanded so quickly. Three years? Man. Ah, well. At least I got to seem them at a free concert, at a park in Dongdaemun Stadium area, Jongno-gu, before they quit! More »

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Some of you have known BoA for years, while a lot of other people are just learning about her for the first time in the English-speaking world. Here’s a little discography list to bring you up to speed on BoA’s recording career. There are a couple mini albums (EPs) not included here, like “Miracle”. I’ve mentioned some of my fave songs on each album. What are your fave BoA albums and songs? (^>^)v More »

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In the spirit of the BoA Event, I’ve decided to do a Round Up featuring some of my favorite BoA singles and performances. While there are many to be listed, I’ve narrowed down the list to ten. Hopefully when she makes it in the US, there will be a lot more!

As always enjoy! More »

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Having been around for almost a decade now, Boa has accomplished a lot in her young life. Not only was she discovered by chance at the age of 13, but she is the most well known Asian pop artist of our time. From her training days to her U.S. debut, the young artist continues to excel beyond limitations.

On that note, I’ve made a small timeline of her journey to fame. While it is a short timeline, I expect her to be around for much longer now that she has crossed over to the US.

Stay tuned to the rest of the week as fellow Ningin bloggers talk in more detail about her career. More »

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Boa’s “Eat You Up” single has been out for a month or so but hasn’t received any air time on the US radios. I’ve heard maybe 2 accounts of this happening but that’s just not enough. So I did what any devoted fangirl would do and tried to promote her.

One of the biggest pop radio stations in the NYC area is z100. Their website allows you to chat with other listeners and the DJ as well as listen to the current music playing. So I thought maybe If I bring up her name casually in this chat, some of these people may have already heard about BoA. Wait, maybe I can even request the song to be played! Well, not really. More »

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On November 24th, it was announced that the male idol group SHINee has been chosen to model for the cosmetic brand “Nanasubi“, and will be modeling it for the next year.

Because of this group’s popularity increasing at a fast rate, in both music and fashion, LG stated that by using SHINee as their models, they have plans to increase sales and popularity of their own cosmetic line.

The campaign that begins in December, will feature SHINee appearing in commercials and photo shoots advertising the “Nanasubi” cosmetics brand for 2009.

In just a short six months since debut, SHINee has been awarded with multiple awards such as “Best Rookie Award” and “Style Icon Award” and show no signs of stopping.

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OMG. This is the group that got me into KPop way back in sixth grade, in 1996 for me. This group and this particular song, their first mega-popular single. Man, this is bringing back so much memories. H.O.T., standing for High-five of Teenagers, were like Seo Taiji, all revolutionary in their own ways to change the Korean media.

While I still think Seo Taiji really paved the way for groups like H.O.T., I think H.O.T. were the ones who really made it popular. I mean, popular with a capital “p”. I mean so popular that their jerseys? The ones in the video belows? They were being sold as well as their hats. Seriously. One of my friends knew where to get those merchandises. She liked Tony, I liked Hee Jun, another friend liked Kangta, and another liked Tony as well, but we all took those merchandises, and we were even considering memorising the dance, the song, and everything and perform it at our school’s talent show. Luckily, that didn’t go through, but that’s how popular the group was.

Anyway, since I got into DBSK, I was actually looking back into the past boy bands like H.O.T. and decided that they are classic enough to warrant an entry. Anyway, watch and listen to the videos below. “Candy”, the song lyrics has NOTHING to do with the confectionery, is a happy-go-lucky song, catchy, and er . . . the boys were in very strange outfits now that I look back on it. Regardless, here’s “Candy” by H.O.T. More »

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The KPop diva has released new photos by Markus Klinko and Indrani of her new look for her US debut. To say the least, she’s hot.

It’s very different from her teenage years where she was the innocent Korean Dream Teen but now she’s all grown up shakin’ what her umma gave her. However her new look has sparked controversy as she is a bit too revealing by Korean standards. While it is a little more bootylicious than before, I think we’re past the part where she was still baby Boa. If you recall last year, she was spotted completely wasted on her 21st birthday and soon afterwards she became the Hite spokes model. Also, her clothes aren’t that revealing (or at all).

While some of us may never let go, Boa’s debut is taking a turn for the best as she was recently invited to perform her “Eat You Up” single for Ben Lyon’s (E! Panelist) birthday. Apparently the guy is a fan as he was seen posing with her in various photos.

Good to know the she’s doing better after a bad MV call. Btw, Happy Birthday Boa (22 by Korea calendar)! More »

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Thanks a lot, Ningin. You did the most impossible thing to me. You influenced me into liking a boy band/group, something of which I shunned since my sophomore year of high school. The last boy band/group I was even remotely interested in happened to be G.O.D. Now, I like Dong Bang Shin Gi (Ki?! I like “g” better).

It all started with that Mirotic single. The song, which didn’t do anything for me at first, grew on me, and then after I paid more attention to the music video, I was hooked in a way. Then I listened to the whole album and the last song of the album, “Love in the Ice”, fully won me over with its prettiness and its awesome vocals.

However, it wasn’t until the “Dangerous Love” episode of Banjun Theatre that really cinched me to like them as a whole. The yaoi/slash implications, especially in the phone booth scene, made me swoon. Plus, Changmin/Max is just so adorable. He became my favourite member, and the image below the cut is made of the biggest, fantastic win ever.

So once again, THANKS A LOT NINGIN. You have created a monster of me! Even my close friend, when I told her about my new found love for this group, she was shocked. To be honest, I am shocked myself, but oh, this new found love is . . . so worth it. What a way to bring me back into the mainstream Korean media. More »

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Big Bang, the Korean 5-man hip-hop unit was interviewed by Osaka’s Daily Sports Online on the 27th of this month.

Their debut Japanese album “NUMBER 1” was released earlier this month. Their tour of Japan starts on the 28th, and all of the tickets were completely sold out in one day, showing how their popularity in Japan continues to rise. Tae Yang himself stated in the interview that “The live performances in America this coming year have been confirmed.” No other details have been revealed yet, but we’re all looking forward to it!

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One of the biggest entertainment companies in Japan, Johnny’s Jimusho is expanding their company to Korea. In the past few years there have been countless numbers of boy bands and groups coming from both Korea and Japan. Way too many, but apparently we need more! That’s why Johnny’s has decided to expand into Korea.

Popular Japanese groups such as ARASHI, KAT-TUN, and NewS have huge followings in Korea. ARASHI even has around 200,000 fans in Korea alone, and the numbers are quickly growing. Because of this, Johnny’s has announced that they will soon enter the Korean market.

They need to stop. Korea only has a few decent boy bands, like DBSK, Big Bang, and SHINee. Japan has… hardly any, except for ARASHI.

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BoA hates Americans. Or at least that’s what it looks like. Today, the U.S. version of BoA’s debut American single “Eat You Up” was released, along with the digital single. The Americans really got screwed over with this video. In my opinion, the U.S. version should have been trashed. The Asia version, released earlier this week, is about a million times better, and even more suited for the U.S than the U.S. version itself. With the cheap effects, terrible dancing, and overall suckiness, the only explanation I can think of is that BoA hates us. Check out the video for yourself below. More »

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Other than this one musician who I consider more of my first Korean celebrity crush,Kim Gun Mo is probably the first Korean musician I grew to respect, adore, and love his music. I remember seeing him on television, this short funny looking guy who had a really unique sounding voice. He had enough charisma and humour, though, to win me over. While he didn’t win me over musically with his first couple songs, 잘못된 만남 (Jal Mot Dwaen Man Nam = Wrongful Meeting) did. This song, released in 1995 on his third album, then proceeded to turn into one of his best known songs. The catchy melody, the pretty fast rapping session, and the awesome sing-alongable chorus just rock my pants!

Ironically, though, for the longest time, I had the most troublesome time of trying to remember this song’s title. I knew who sang it, sure, but if anyone were to ask me what the title was, I was stumped. Even after my friends told me the title several times, I still couldn’t remember it! Luckily, now I do, and it’s a good thing, since I think this song is pretty much a “classic” in the Korean entertainment world. If not, it’s a classic for me. More »

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One of Asia’s biggest stars is ready to take on America. After over a month of waiting and a couple delays, BoA’s new music video for her debut US single “Eat You Up” has finally been released. In this post I’ve included the Asia version of the music video, which will be used to promote the single all over Asia. The song was produced by Bloodshy and Avant, while the choreography was done by famous choreographers Misha Gabriel and Nick Bass. While the song is nothing amazing, (In my opinion, she needs to work on her English a little more.) the video is just perfect. It’s one of her best videos in a long, long time.

Now, BoA is going to need as much help as she can get on October 21, 2008 when the single is released on various American online music services, such as iTunes. If you enjoy this, please support her! The physical single will be released on November 11, 2008 in entertainment stores nationwide, with her full length debut album coming out a few months later in early 2009. More »

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Mention Seo Taiji’s name to any one in Korea, and you will receive recognition for this guy. Even my father, a caucasian male over 60, who doesn’t listen to Korean music, knows of him. That’s how much influence this guy has on the Korean media, culture, and of course music. He was probably the one who really revolutionise the Korean music industry. Back then the ahjumma style music dominated the industry, but along came Seo Taiji, who brought with him rapping, the KPop dance style, and a new style of music to be included into the mainstream realm. More »

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Hello everybody! I’m Erik, a new blogger here! Introductions have never been my thing, so I’ll make this short. I live in New England, in Connecticut. I’ve been into Asian media for quite a few years and I’ve come across only a few people who were familiar with Asian entertainment until just recently. I feel like it’s getting a bit more recognition in other parts of the world, and hopefully by being a part of this site I can take part in it, no matter how big or small! I started out with Japanese music, where I liked the typical popular artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, Namie Amuro, and Olivia Lufkin, etc, but that was it. I began to venture into other types of Asian media such as dramas and other forms of entertainment, my obsession as of late being K-pop, with groups and singers like The Wonder Girls, Brown Eyed Girls, Lee Hyori, SHINee, and others. More »

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