The second group of singers performing at the 2014 Melon Music Awards has been revealed.

Held on November 13, the awards show will include performances by some of this year’s hottest idols. In addition to the previously confirmed BIGBANG‘s Taeyang, IU, SISTAR, Girl’s Day, Winner and BEAST, the show will have stages by girl group A Pink and collaboration team Soyu x Junggigo.

Earlier this year, A Pink took home multiple trophies with their hit song “Mr. Chu,” while Soyu x Junggigo made waves with their catchy and hugely popular “Some.”

While most of the awards will be presented by Korea’s hottest actors and actresses, Melon has also reserved a spot for an ordinary citizen. This will be the first time that a non-celebrity will be presenting an award on the show. The winner has been chosen through an online lottery.

The online voting for the awards is currently ongoing, and fans have time to cast their votes until November 12.

2014 Melon Music Awards will be held at the Olympic Park Sports Stadium on November 13. The show will be broadcast live through MBC Music, MBC Every1, MBC Queen, Melon, and 1theK’s YouTube channel.

The Ace. The Giraffe. The Tiger. Sound familiar? They’re nicknames for some of the cast members of “Running Man,” the reality-variety show that delivers pandemonium with incredible challenges in every episode; things are guaranteed cray-cray on their turf, and I love every minute of it. Even the biggest pop stars and most intimidating actors are reduced to a screaming, blithering, mudslinging mess – an altogether deliciously entertaining experience.

The guests on “Running Man” run the gamut from pop music and rap worlds to legendary actors and Olympic athletes. After a few seasons, some veteran guests have emerged from the show’s many episodes: Jung Yong Hwa (from CNBLUE), Suzy (miss A), and Nichkhun (2PM).

. . .

JUNG YONG HWA

Episodes #7, 11, 17, 35, 36, 72, 73, 104, 127, 129, 186 (11 episodes).

The true veteran guest of Running Man, rocker and actor Jung Yong Hwa, has been on the show so many times, he’s considered part of the Running Man family (they call him Super Guest or Idol Ace).

He’s got a credit I’d frame on my wall (and Instagram), too: Jung Yong Hwa’s one of the few guests to have ever torn off Kim Jong Kook’s (aka the Tiger’s) name tag. He even dedicated the win to his parents; cute. Yong Hwa has the most wins (a total of seven) for any guest. 

Just watch him get his game face on:

Favorite Moments:

Episode #7: There was that picture-taking challenge. And Yong Hwa’s impromptu performance of “I’m a Loner” when Ji Suk Jin (aka Big Nose) and Haha stumbled upon a CNBLUE fan on the streets of Seoul. Sweet.

Episode #127: This was was the episode in which the aforementioned tearing of the Tiger’s name tag gloriously took place. Yong Hwa was teamed up with fellow CNBLUE member Lee Jong Hyun, Simon Dominic (Supreme Team), Lee Ki Kwang (BEAST), and Song Ji Hyo (Running Man cast). In the end, though, they lost to guest actress Choi Ji Woo’s team.

Episode #186: The entire CNBLUE quad appeared on the show (members had appeared on the show individually before), forming a particularly visually-friendly team onscreen.  Both CNBLUE and the Running Man camps (including guest, actress Shim Eun Kyung) recruited extra team members from the crowd, while Running Man teams struggled to get ogling CNBLUE fangirls to focus.

Final scoreboard for the toothy troubadour: 7 wins, 2 losses

(Back-to-back episodes resulting in accumulated win counted singly.) 

Block B leader Zico is set to release his debut solo track, which will be entitled “Tough Cookie,” a full three years following his debut in 2011.

The star posted what appears to be a teaser image on a social network site. The image features the caption, “Tough Cookie Zico Feat. ??” Fans will be intrigued by the question marks, in particular, and Block B enthusiasts will be keen to find out as soon as possible who Zico will be teaming up with for the release.

The album artwork has been designed by renowned graphic designer Mina Kwon, who has designed album covers for stars such as Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, and BIGBANG member Taeyang.

The song is set to drop on November 5, and a teaser video is slated to drop some time before the release.

[Preview] T.O.P is the new endorser of Syrup, SK Planet’s e-commerce service with features like OKCashBack, Smart Wallet, and more. The commercial will be released tomorrow (24th) and will feature “I’M THE KING”, a song specially composed and rapped by T.O.P for the ad campaign.

Source: XsportsNews via bigbangupdates and kor_celebrities

Actor Jang Hyun Sung recently talked about when he truly feels he’s part of his agency, YG Entertainment.

At the recent recording of the SBS variety program “Magic Eye,” Jang Hyun Sung appeared together with “Secret Door” co-stars Choi Won Young, Kim Myung Kuk, and Park Hyo Joo.

During the opening sequence, MC Lee Hyori introduced Jang Hyun Sung as “the person who rubs shoulders with BIGBANG and PSY” as the actor is under YG Entertainment, the same agency as BIGBANG, PSY, Epik High, 2NE1, and others. With this, the MCs got curious and asked Jang Hyun Sung how he feels about being in the same agency as the aforementioned groups.

“Sometimes I go to the office to eat and I can see young female fans from different countries. I wave my hand to them,” the actor said, implying that he truly feels he’s part of YG Entertainment when he sees a lot of fans who are eagerly waiting outside the company building.

 Watch Jang Hyun Sung in “Secret Door” on SoompiTV!

After expressing my disappointment in SM Entertainment, I thought it would only be fair to dedicate an editorial on K-Pop’s other big agency, YG Entertainment. After all, YG artists have contributed quite a bit to this year’s line-up of scandal and controversy.

Although I had been a public SM stan, I also harbored a secret love for YG Entertainment back in the day. When I say back in the day, I mean before BIGBANG and 2NE1, when Perry was the head producer and G-Dragon was just their cute mascot. This is one of my all time favorite K-Pop music videos and it perfectly sums up the YG that I loved:

I still get excited when I watch this music video. At my young age, they seemed so bad ass; Perry with his colored contacts, everyone and their guns, Baekkyung‘s cool cigarette flick, and Yang Hyun Suk with his 180 degree cameras and matrix bullets. The reason why I kept my admiration for YG Family a secret is because, well, no one would believe me. Back when they looked like that, I looked like this:

When Noona Was No One’s Noona

Me loving SM’s bubble pop made total sense, but no one would believe that I had strong woman feels for Danny Im (who, with Teddy, had to be the coolest Korean-Americans at that time) or that I thought Lexy was the baddest female or that I thought frosted tips with sunglasses looked cool.

It wasn’t until I was older that I felt comfortable singing (rapping?) this song at noraebang.

(That and Jinusean‘s “Phone Number” and 1TYM‘s “Hot” were my signature songs. Wow, I really want to go noraebang right now.)

See that little guy? That’s G-Dragon and his kiddie rap, back when YG rappers used excessive hand motions. If you watch some other old school music videos you see little Taeyang pop up too. Now they’re chart-toppers and fashionistas. I guess we all grew up.

YG changed a lot in the past few years and the changes have brought upon a lot of success and money for the company. Those gun-toting assassins are now famous dads, G-Dragon and Taeyang hit puberty, and the company exchanged Korean-American rappers for boy and girl bands. With every change, my affection for them dimmed. They became less K-Rap and more K-Pop, and I just didn’t have room in my heart for two mega K-Pop companies.

YG Entertainment is now just as much of a staple to K-Pop as SM Entertainment is, but with their success and growth they have also started making questionable decisions. This year alone YG has given me quite a bit to work with, but I’m going to point out one of their less serious one:

YG has been repeating the same lie for the past three years.

These are the Soompi articles we covered about this unnamed girl group. The earliest article is from November of 2011! Since then girls have been revealed, girls have dropped out, and YG debuted a boy group (or two if you count both Team A and B) and some “K-Pop Stars.” So much has changed that we have to question everything that has been said about the group. Is G-Dragon still producing the album? Is the “no plastic surgery clause” still in effect? Is YG sort of hoping we’ve forgotten all about their previous announcements?

So when YG anounced, again, that they were going to debut the girl group in November, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who gave a skeptic and noncommittal shrug. I want to believe that it’s really going to happen, but then again…Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me five times, STOP IT NO MAKE IT STOP.

So for everyone’s sake, YG better debut this girl group in November.

CallMeN00NA is an editor at Soompi who never said she was good at rapping, just that she liked to do it at noraebang. You can talk to her on Twitter, follow her on Instagram, and ask her questions. 

*The opinions expressed in this editorial are solely those of the author.

Fan oceans are a crucial part of any K-Pop concert - by night, they’re made of glowing light sticks and by day, colored balloons. We’ve all seen them - from TVXQ's red to FT Island's gold, to 2NE1's pink and purple. But rarely do we zoom in and take a closer look at the cleverly designed light sticks that make them up. 

Take a look at this list and pick a favourite! 

1. You think of the pink ocean, you think Girls Generation, right? Well, A Pink and male groups U-KISS & NU’EST have pink as their official colours, too! Here are two designs of the U-KISS pearl fuchsia light stick: 

NU’EST use neon pink as their fan colour and this compass lightstick, featuring the members names is unique and detailed: 

And of course, we couldn’t talk about pink lightsticks without SNSD and A Pink, could we? 

In their long careers, Girls Generation have produced lots of different light stick designs - here are some particularly lovely ones: 

2. Many artists, particularly male groups, choose a simple white ocean. It’s clean, minimal and elegant. MBLAQ choose masculine, graphic designs for their A+s: 

2PM’s light sticks are something special - check out this smoky flame, this special edition light up hairband & this transparent logo design: 

B2ST’s classic and classy white rose light stick is so beautiful, a photo doesn’t do it justice. Here’s a YouTube clip of one B2UTY showing us theirs and member Dongwoon posing elegantly with it: 

3. BigBang’s V.I.Ps,  F.T Island’s Primadonnas and B1A4’s Banas share gold as their fan colour. Warm, luxurious and bright, their light sticks are interesting: 

B1A4’s quirky zombie light stick ensures that Banas stand out from the crowd: 

4. Blue is another hugely popular colour for a fan ocean, and who’s more famous for a blue ocean than sapphire blue Super Junior?

SHINee’s light stick is pearl aqua and has an otherworldly beauty to it: 

Member Key is spotted with one: 

And BTOB also choose a blue - in a fun trumpet shape: 

5. YG Artists are fond of mixed colour oceans: 

2NE1’s Blackjacks have super cool wing/heart glow sticks that light pink and purple at once! 

And WINNER have just created something rather special for their light stick: 

6. Purple is shared by many groups, including Teen Top, Lunafly and 4Minute. Teen Top & 4Minute both have chunky 3D designs, Teen Top choosing a crown, 4Minute a diamond: 

7. For animal designs, look to Bunny.A.P and Block Bee… 

BONUS: Big Byung and Red Velvet fans have some cute novelty ideas to cheer on their biases!