Pop Culture

Seo In Young is back in full force to compete with all of the other comebacks this May, but the most notable of them all is none other than fellow soloist and diva, Lee Hyori!

Seo In Young held her comeback showcase for her upcoming mini album, and at the event she revealed her thoughts about taking on a ballad this time, saying, “As I recorded the song, I heard a lot of people say that it sounds sad. There were also many who cried. I was worried that my emotions could interfere with my live performance, but I am relieved that it came out well… Park Sun Joo unni’s advice and Baek Ji Young unni’s support were really a big encouragement to me“

The singer also confessed that she feels pressure joining the May comeback rush sharing, “I don’t get nervous often but I am getting nervous a  lot these days. I think it’s because of the pressure to do well. A lot of hoobae singers came out in May, but especially because of Lee Hyori unni, I am feeling pressure. I want to have a fair competition with everyone.”

She also promised that we can look forward to broadcast activities from her, commenting, “I’ve released a single album and an album with no promotions not too long ago. But this is my first time in a while that I’m promoting for an album. Although I had worries about the song, I want to actively promote this time.”

Seo In Young will be coming back with “Let’s Break Up” later today!

Seo In Guk discussed the gay rumors that surrounded him with the word ‘gay’ popping up when searching for the singer’s name on Korean portal sites.

Although it might be clear to many of our readers, for the general public in Korea who don’t keep up with the daily happenings of idols and Kpop, Seo In Guk explained why this was the case through the May 14th episode of ‘Incarnation‘.

Seo In Guk shared, “I’ve heard the gay rumors. Even in related searches, as the related term, ‘Seo In Guk gay’ will pop up. This is because on the cable drama ‘Reply 1997′, idol group INFINITE‘s Hoya‘s character had a crush on me. Also in K.Will‘s music video, I played the role of a guy having a one-sided crush on another guy, Ahn Jae Hyun. That is why there were gay rumors surrounding me.”

Hyosung is continuing to show that she holds the title of the nation’s ‘bagel girl’ at the moment with another sexy pictorial for undergarment brand ’Yes‘.

This new set might be a bit toned down compared to her previous pictorials for the brand, but nevertheless, the orange and blue lingerie items shown will probably become another best seller, as the company has reported that everything this idol models sells out 6 times faster.

Hyosung was chosen as the model for the brand in January, and helped ‘Yes’ experience an increase of 40%-50% compared to last year.

Blackjacks have been waiting eagerly on the edge of their seats to find out if their girls will be coming back as a whole or if it will be a solo album for leader CL.

The answer has been revealed as YG-Life has revealed their final teaser poster for their “Who’s Next?” question!

CL will be releasing her first solo track in 5 years, and it’s guaranteed to be a good one because.. well.. it’s CL! And because Yang Hyun Suk himself is said to be the one behind this project.

According to a rep at the agency, CL’s solo track won’t be just a one-step project, as she’ll be having promotional activities as well.

So stay tuned for CL’s solo release and its music video on May 28th!

Psy is taking over the popular mobile app ‘Kakao Talk‘ with his character for ‘Wind Runner For Kakao‘ and now with a second set of emoticons on the messaging app.

Those of you with the ‘Kakao Talk’ app may already have Psy’s first set of emoticons downloaded, but now a second set has been launched in 230 countries to commemorate his latest release!

The new set is made special in that they’re not just regular old emoticons, but ‘sound-cons’ (sound emoticons). Psy’s set features 4 sound emoticons in addition to 8 regular emoticons. The new set is bound to be a hit in chat rooms with Psy’s catch phrases and dance points from his new song “Gentleman” such as “Mother father gentleman”, “wet psy“, “allangamolla“, his ‘arrogant dance’, and more.

Kakao Talk stated, “We are joyful that users will get to meet Psy’s dace and voice through the sound emoticon function on ‘Kakao Talk’. We are also proud to collaborate with the international star Psy who is receiving popularity with ‘Gangnam Style‘ and now ‘Gentleman’.”

The new Psy emoticon set can be purchased for $1.99 through the app for android phones (not yet available for iPhones).

Even though Park Si Hoo had stated multiple times before that he’d ‘reveal the truth’ during the investigation, it seems like he won’t be doing that anytime soon.

Throughout his sexual assault case, Park Si Hoo had often commented that he had been wrongly accused and stated multiple times, “I will reveal the truth.” His acquaintances also previously said, “He’s been wrongly accused about many things. If there is something he did do wrong, he’d take responsibility, but on things he has been wrongly accused of, he feels the situation is unjust. Once the investigation is over, he’s planning to hold an official event to reveal everything.”

However, that has all changed, as his law firm Purme said, “We can’t release any statements about this case. The representative lawyers are all refraining from commenting about Park Si Hoo. Park Si Hoo will also not be having a press conference nor making any official statements.”

The public will never hear about ‘A‘s reason for dropping her charges either as her lawyers have also revealed that they will not be offering any comments, remaining firm on the silence with comments like, “It’s true that she has dropped her charges, but we cannot reveal the reason.”

With both pledging silence and dropping their lawsuits against each other, many speculate that there were settlements and negotiations that took place between the two sides. However, it seems the public will never find out, and are now left with the questions: Why did A drop her lawsuit?, Why did Park Si Hoo drop his lawsuit?, What took place between the two?, And of course, most importantly, what’s the truth?

Source: Newsen, No Cut News via Nate

Ever wonder what 4minute‘s “What’s Your Name?” might have sounded like as a rock song?

Well, wonder no more, as LEDApple has brought us a rock version of the song! The boys brought out backdancers for the cover, and they pour an incredible amount of energy covering the song! They can’t seem to stand still for even a moment as their energy overflows throughout the song.

Check out the fun cover below!

Tip: Ager

Jason Mraz will be appearing on tvN‘s ‘SNL Korea‘!

The singer-songwriter will be appear on the May 18 episode of ‘SNL Korea’ along with Sam Hamington, JK Kim Dong Wook, and Younha. ‘SNL Korea’ decided to cast celebrities that you can’t normally see on variety shows, and they managed to bring on the world famous singer.

The CP of the show said, “The celebrities that have their own charms will be showing off the SNL style including sexy, crazy humor, and they’ll parody themselves. All of these celebrities will be heating up Saturday night.”

Jason Mraz is also scheduled to perform at the Jamsil Sports Complex on May 17.

Baek Ji Young revealed why she hid the news of her pregnancy at first.

Her label had admitted, “It’s true that she’s pregnant. She knew that she was pregnant back in April when they announced their marriage and they wanted to reveal it. But the label didn’t want her to be judged because of her pregnancy, so we denied the news in our press release.”

They explained, “Her pregnancy is a very private matter and we were being cautious. Since she’s pregnant at an older age and her age makes the early stages of pregnancy dangerous, we didn’t want some netizen’s hate comments to hurt her and Jung Suk Won. We decided we won’t be able to hide her pregnancy forever and she was going to reveal the news at her encore stage on the 11th during her concert, but Jung Suk Won proposed and she couldn’t reveal the news.”

They added, “She’s getting very tired from the hate comments and incredible attention before she can even feel happy and responsible for the new life. Feelings of hurtful emotions could be quite a burden in the early stages of pregnancy, please refrain from making any hate comments.“

Shawols, perhaps its time to put those makeup cases away. The boys of SHINee revealed what kind of makeup they liked seeing on a girl and it’s – well, none at all, or very little.

The SHINee members were featured on the May 14 episode of SBS E!‘s ‘Star Beauty Show‘. On the program, the staff members asked SHINee what kind of makeup they liked on women. All of the members unanimously agreed, “We like very little makeup, similar to a bare face.”

When Minho told Key, “I felt as though you would like the smoky makeup style“, Key answered, “All men like the type of make up where it appears as if there is none.“

B2ST recently greeted the Summer with their fun-filled CF for ‘Dunkin’ Donuts‘, and the folks over at doughnut company have released a preview of the ‘Dunkaccino Song‘ on their blog!

‘Dunkaccino Song’ isn’t the same song that played in their original CF, but the boys are full of energy and fun for this song as well. Junhyung composed and wrote the lyrics for the song, and he shows that his composing skills have really improved.

B2ST had given glimpses of their filming process through their series of Jeju Island through their tweets. They’re rumored to have a May comeback, so stay tuned and check out a preview of the song below!

Tip: sheeraynn

Today is your lucky day, Queens in Los Angeles! T-ara N4 will be holding their meet & greet this afternoon.

‘Vlado Footwear‘ shared on their official Facebook, “K-Pop star T-ARA N4 is coming to Vlado Footwear. Come join us at the Meet&Greet tomorrow (May 14) 3:30PM. The address is 2200 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90006. We will see you tomorrow!”, along with a poster for the event.

T-ara N4 responded to Chris Brown’s love call by arriving to Los Angeles on the 12th and were finally able to meet up with Chris Brown. Ray J also gave a shout out to the girls!

Shoutout to my special Korean ladies @taraeunjung1212 @pjy1234 @b89530 of TaraN4 & @coremidas Ill see u soon! Get at me @damuer let’s work!

— RayJ (@RayJ) May 14, 2013

Korean dancing legend Poppin Hyun Joon also made a recent appearance at the Vlado store:

Will you be attending the T-ara N4 meet and greet event?

Source & image: Vlado Footwear‘s Facebook, Ray J‘s Twitter

Tip: Tiny T.

Sunhwa revealed her honest feelings about Kwanghee.

While recently recording for MBC Every1‘s ‘Weekly Idol‘, she said, “This is the first time I’m saying this. When I first started my on-screen marriage, I didn’t really see Kwanghee as a man. But over the course of our on-screen relationship, I started to feel that he was a real man, but then our on-screen marriage suddenly ended.”

She added, “When I spent time with him, I understood he was thinking of me. He’s very kind and nice. He’s not like how other people are these days.”

Their on-screen marriage had come to an end on April 20, saddening many fans who had come to adore them on the show. The episode of ‘Weekly Idol’ with Sunhwa’s honest feelings will air on May 15.

Lee Hyori gave fans a sneak peak at her top-secret showcase!

Even though fans themselves aren’t allowed to speak anything about it, Lee Hyori gave her own sneak peak at the stage that she’ll be performing on through a tweet as she added the above photo and wrote, “Rehearsing for the comeback show~ Come visit the Ilsan Kintext at night~~“.

The stage looks quite colorful and bright, perfect for the original Korean diva. At this point, she’s already filmed her comeback show, and as promised, all her fans are sealing their lips for the queen’s comeback!

But no worries because her comeback is just around the corner. Are you excited for her comeback?

Tip: Vincent Ko

Want to go to school with SHINee‘s Minho?

Well, that’s exactly what Konkuk University wants you to think when you see these photos! Minho took promotional photos for the school he’s attending with a major in film. He took photos which will be featured on the promotional material for admissions and also filmed a video as well.

Minho was dressed up in the Konkuk University Varsity Letterman Jacket, and he looked as cool as ever as he talked with the other students and then enjoyed the sun with a bright smile.

Who wouldn’t want to attend the school after seeing these pictures?

Welcome friends to yet another enthralling episode of K-pop’s most exciting and anticipated column (at least in my mind), Confessions of an Uncle Fan. Last week I went on a bit of a YG Entertainment tangent because of a bunch of interesting items coming out of the company but this week I’ll try to even things out a bit more. We’ll get into the comeback of another old school idol singer, what the deal with T-ara N4 and Chris Brown is, and the curse that is Girl’s Generation members and the first pitch. Things are going to get fun so let’s get started.

The Return of Seo In Young
Most K-pop fans probably know Seo In Young as the hip shaking Jewelry member or as a high heel loving fashionista but what many people may not know is that Seo In Young has a really good and surprisingly rich singing voice. The first time I heard her “sing” was when she was a member of the revamped ‘Ya Shim Man Man‘ show and in one episode, she covered Lee Eun Mi’s “I Have a Lover” (I can’t find the clip on YouTube anymore so if anyone knows what I’m talking about, share it in the comments) and it totally blew me away because I had no idea she could sing like that. So when I saw that she would be ditching the dance beats and show off her ballad prowess once again with the single “Let’s Break Up” for impending comeback, my interest spiked and I’m just waiting like everyone else for her return.

Chris Brown + T-ara N4 = How Did This Happen?
I just read that T-ara trainee Dani somehow knows Chris Brown and they met up at a radio event in Cali and she introduced him to T-ara N4’s new single “Countryside Life”. Apparently he liked it so much he invited the girls to LA to meet with him and talk potential future projects. That in and of itself is random but what I find even more random is how Dani knows Chris Brown in the first place! I mean, am I the only one who wants to know more about that story rather than some visit to LA? If you have the scoop on how they know each other, fill me in because I find the whole thing quite fascinating.

Oops, Tiffany’s ceremonial first pitch
Girl’s Generation has a mixed legacy when it comes to throwing out the ceremonial first pitches at baseball games. When Yuri did it, she did this Juan Marichel high leg kick and did a pretty good job with it. When it was Jessica’s turn, she infamously handed in one of the worst first pitches ever and made international news including a mention on the popular ESPN shows ‘PTI‘ and ‘Sportscenter’. So when I heard Tiffany was going to be doing the first pitch honors at a Dodgers game with newly acquired pitcher Ryu Hyun Jin, I was interested to see how she would do. Well… it was pretty bad but hey, she did her best right?. Maybe SM should hire a pitching coach to help these girls out from time to time.

Park Si Hoo Sexual Assault Case
What an ugly situation for everyone. If you haven’t been following, actor Park Si Hoo had been sued for sexual assault by a female trainee from his company but just recently, the female plaintiff dropped her suit against the actor and he in turn dropped his counter suit. Who knows why she made that decision but this case underscores the sometimes seedy and unscrupulous shadow world of the entertainment industry. I’m not going to judge this guy or the female trainee because I have no clue what really went down but something had to have happened, whether consensual or not, and it’s just unfortunate. I hope both people can comeback from this but it’s going to be a tough road.

Each week I will post a picture from Taeyeon’s Instagram feed in the hopes that one day she will post a picture of reading this column. See #1 in “My Top 5 Current Girl Groupers” below.

With the impending release of Lee Hyori’s new album ‘Monochrome‘ , I thought we could take a trip down memory lane with some vintage Lee Hyori back in the Fin.K.L days. It’s hard to explain just how popular she was back then… I do miss the good ole days.

*Send your favorite pics/.gifs/videos to KpopUncleFan@gmail.com or tweet them to @KpopUncleFan.

I mean, I think so. “Can Taeyeon read English?”
-leadja2pmforever

I guess this is in response to the Taeyeon Experiment section and whether or not Taeyeon could actually read what I’m writing if by some miracle she stumbled across is. Well, she seems to post a lot in English on Instagram and from what I’ve read, her English is much more advanced than I thought it would be. Plus she’s a part of the SM machine which teaches foreign languages so I think we’re good there.

Good enough for me. “YOU suck… but the Cool Things of the Week were cool.”
-LooL

1. Taeyeon – I totally forgot she was the voice of Margot in the Korean version of the movie ‘Despicable Me‘ and ‘Despicable Me 2‘. How cool is that?
2. Ahreum – T-ara N4 was on the show ‘Beatles Code’ and other than all the crying over the whole bullying controversy thing, Ahreum stole the show. The girl is hilarious and totally fun.
3. Minah – Back on the list after her spectacular fall on ‘Star King’ this past weekend. Love her or hate her, one thing that everyone can agree on is that she’s definitely a good sport.
4. BoA – Still updating her fans from Italy and adding some culture to Instagram.
5. Younha – I wouldn’t say Younha is underrated, at least not anymore with her stint on the show ‘I Am a Singer’, but she hasn’t had the broad commercial success that some of her contemporaries have had. Her latest EP ‘Just Listen‘ is pretty darn good, so everyone needs to check it out.

Speaking of Younha’s new album, one of the songs on it, “One Fine Day” was written by Mr. Rock himself, Yoon Do Hyun, and she performed it this past week on the ‘Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook‘ program. I actually can hear the Yoon Do Hyuness in the song but sounds great with Younha as well.

That’s it for this week but see you back here next week, same place, same time.

Lee Hi may have mesmerized 500 fans during her first solo concert ‘RE-HI‘, but it was her CEO Yang Hyun Suk who gave the final answer on whether the concert was a success or not.

Yang Hyun Suk who attended the concert was asked by a media outlet, “During the concert, Lee Hi joked, ‘CEO Yang never once gave me 100 points’, expressing her slight disappointment. If you were to rate this concert, how many points would you give her?” He answered, “Now that I think about it, I once gave Park Ji Min 100 points on ‘K-Pop Star‘, but never to Lee Hi. Hmm.. If I were to give this concert a grade, it would be around 80 points?”

To the lucky fans who attended Lee Hi’s concert, do u you agree with Yang Hyun Suk’s rating?

T-ara‘s Eunjung, Hyomin, and Jiyeon did a little kiss and tell on the May 14 episode of ‘Beatles Code 2‘.

When asked about her first kiss, Jiyeon shared, “I had my first kiss in my third year of junior high. He wasn’t my age but he was my oppa.”

Eunjung also recalled her first kiss and shared, “I had my first kiss when I was 20 years old. I had my first boyfriend then and had my first kiss with him. I remember kissing him in a cafe in Hongdae.” Hyomin revealed, “I had my first kiss when I was in my third year of high school right after I finished taking the SAT for college.”

The MCs were surprised at Jiyeon’s kiss at such an early age and responded, “Jiyeon had her first kiss the earliest.”

Fans commented, “Jiyeon had her first kiss quite early”, “At least they’re honest”, and “I wonder who stole Jiyeon’s first kiss?”

After Hyosung misused the word ‘democratization’, there’s being demands for her to be edited out of ‘Infinity Challenge‘ special featuring idols.

Last week, the first half of the special aired, and the second half of the episode will be aired on May 18.

May 18 is an important day for Koreans because it’s the anniversary of the beginning of the Gwangju Democratic Movement back in 1980. Since the day itself is one of commemoration, looking back on a democratization movement, many are pointing out that it would be improper for someone who misused the word to be on the show.

Posts on the variety show’s official message board read, “At least blur her face out“, “Edit out the person who has no idea what democratization means“, and “Even if I am her fan, I don’t think this is suitable for 5/18“.

Source: TV Report via Nate, TV Daily via Nate, Herald Economy via Nate

Sunny turned 25 in Korea on May 15, and fans were quick to celebrate her birthday on Twitter!

The hashtags #Happy25thSunnyDay and #순규야생일축하해 (HappyBirthdaySunkyu) trended at #1 and #3 respectively within an hour of her official birthday in Korea.

Girls’ Generation recently wrapped up their Japanese arena tour and are preparing for their world tour, but hopefully Sunny and the rest of the girls can take a day off to celebrate her birthday!

Happy birthday to Sunny!

Tip: Karen