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As of January 11, communications giant Kakao Inc. has acquired a 76.4 percent stake in Loen Entertainment, the company behind MelOn, for 1.87 trillion won (approximately $1.56 billion).

MelOn is the biggest music content provider in Korea. Amongst the international community, it is mostly known for its use by fans to purchase digital music and streaming passes to support their favorite musicians on music shows. Kakao plans to use the acquisition to add music streaming to its already numerous services (including messaging, games, and even as a payment platform). Meanwhile, Loen plans to use the funds from the acquisition to further expand its music platform with social-media based services.

What do you think of the acquisition?

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2015 saw not only great comebacks and debuts from K-Pop's most adored groups, but also some powerful releases from solo acts that blew us away!

From Taeyeon's anticipated solo debut, SHINee Jonghyun's first album, to Jay Park's hard-hitting 'Worldwide,' 2015 was full of music from solo artists that went above and beyond our expectations.

But which artist left the most marked impression in terms of physical album sales? Gaon answered that very question with a top ten list that ranks in descending order which solo acts achieved the highest number in album sales.

The list is as follows, in descending...
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Actor Lee Joon-gi and costar K-Pop singer IU have been cast as lovers in a new Korean fantasy drama.

Both Lee and IU confirmed Monday that they will star in “Startling by Each Step: Ryo,” based on the eponymous Chinese novel with different settings. A script-reading session is being held through Friday before shooting for the drama that is aimed at Chinese viewers.

Wang-so (Lee Joon-gi), a Koryo era prince with a warped mind, finds himself in love with Hae-su (IU), a typical young lady sent back in time. Wang-so gradually opens his mind to the lady from the 21st century, and ascends as the...
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News outlets have reported that singer IU has been confirmed to star in the upcoming SBS drama “Moon Lovers.”

According to previously released reports, many actresses have shown interest in the drama. However, singer IU has been confirmed as the final female actress to star in it. As the female lead, she will be receiving attention from nine handsome actors.

IU has previously starred in KBS 2TV’s dramas “Producer” and “Beautiful Man” proving her potential as an actress. Her fans are highly anticipating her appearance in the “Moon Lovers.”

Currently, actor Kim Sung Gyoon is confirmed...
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For the first time since releasing her album CHAT-SHIRE in October 2015, IU will be appearing on television broadcast to perform “Twenty-Three” on stage.

Additionally, it was revealed that IU will be hosting the 2015 SAF Gayo Daejun, most commonly known as the SBS Gayo Daejun, with Shin Dong Yup this year.

Since releasing her album a few months ago, IU opted out of promoting on music shows and instead went on a national tour where she would perform various of the tracks on CHAT-SHIRE as well as past hit songs.

According to the production crew, IU has been secretly preparing her stage and asks...
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Who was the most radiant K-Pop artist this year? Gallup Korea had the answer, at least according to their end-of-the-year survey. The survey targeted 4,200 people between the ages of 13 and 59, and took place three times - once in July, September, and November. In order to reflect the age-specific preferences, they asked 1,500 people between the ages of 13 and 29 in the nation separately about idol groups. The 95% confidence level indicates a sampling error of +/- 1.5% for all of them and +/-2.5% for idols. Onto the results!

The results were unveiled on December 17, revealing that none other...
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Singer-songwriter IU is enjoying success in Taiwan with her new best-of album “Smash Hits.”

Since its release on December 11, the album has maintained the No.1 spot on the Daily K-Pop Album chart of Taiwan’s leading online music store KKBOX.

Other albums in the Daily Album Top 5 are “She Was Pretty OST,” Super Junior‘s “Special Album Part. 2 Magic,” TWICE‘s “The Story Begins,” and EXO‘s “Sing For You,” respectively, as of December 16.

“Smash Hits” includes many of IU’s most popular and loved songs, such as “Good Day” and “You and I.” The album has a total...
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Previously, IU's agency, Loen Tree, revealed that they have filed complaints at the Seoul Gangnam Police Station regarding haters.

According to recent reports, it appears she may be doing a second round of filing complaints. Herald Pop and SBS FunE wrote, "Early next week, IU's agency Loen Tree will file a complaint at the Seoul Gangnam Police Station once again against the people leaving malicious comments regarding their artist IU."

Netizens reacted to this news with, "She must be really set on this," "The people who wrote the malicious comments must be scared," and more.

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On a famous Korean online community called Pann a post that claims to reflect international response with regards to IU’s ‘Zeze’ controversy has recently gained much attention from Korean netizens.
Below are the comments gathered in the original post:
Find out what Netizens had to say about this article below!
I would genuinely question her mental health if it was revealed that she wrote those lyrics AFTER reading the book… but i doubt she actually read it. :/ i hope.
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Wow, it’s my first time of seeing Zeze lyrics. Who the hell wrote them? The kid was abused extremely cruelly...
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f(x) becomes the latest SM Entertainment female artist to top our chart as their new song “4 Walls” jumps 14 spots to No. 1 this week. Since the beginning of September, we’ve seen Girls’ Generation’s “Lion Heart,” Red Velvet’s “Dumb Dumb,” and Taeyeon’s “I” topping our chart. f(x) was able to fend off other challengers to keep the top spot for their company and adds another chart topping hit of their own. Congratulations to f(x).

They released their fourth full length album “4 Walls” in late October. The title track, also titled “4 Walls” is a refined house...
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Have you ever wanted to go back in time to fix a past mistake or spend more time with someone?

Time travel is a fascinating theme as it usually deals with nostalgia and past regret. There can also be a huge price to pay as fate is sometimes inescapable.

We have seen the use of time travel to give people second chances in Korean dramas such as “God’s Gift — 14 Days” and “Operation Proposal,” so it is no surprise that the theme has also been used in music videos as well. Here are seven K-pop music videos that have used time travel.

JYJ — “In Heaven”
Time Traveled: 3 weeks?

Junsu...
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Though IU made a public apology for the controversy surrounding the song "Zeze" from her album 'CHAT-SHIRE', many still take issue with the song's lyrics and the album's themes.

One netizen in particular has started a petition calling for the abandonment of IU's song. The petition, which had 13,000 signatures by the end of 16 hours, is calling for 100,000 to sign.

The netizen wrote:

"IU has crossed the line with the lolita themes in her song 'Zeze'... IU said that she meant the lyrics to be from a third-party perspective rather than as the five-year-old Zeze, but if that were so, Zeze would...
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On November 6, a chart of the top female soloists of 2015 based on sales numbers was uploaded on Instiz.

Baek Ah Yeon from JYP Entertainment tops the list with “Shouldn’t Have.” She released the self-written song back in May, when it achieved a surprise hit at the top of many Korean music charts. Originally she had not intended to do any promotions for the track, but following its high rankings, she performed a few times on music programs. According to the chart, “Shouldn’t Have” achieved 1,277,626 digital download sales so far in 2015.

Right on her heels is IU, who has two songs...
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With IU‘s interpretation of her new song “Zeze” on the chopping board, Dongnyok Publishing, the publishing company for “My Sweet Orange Tree,” expressed their concern.

For some context, Zeze from the autobiographical Brazilian novel “My Sweet Orange Tree” is the character that IU based her lyrics on. Zeze is a five-year-old boy who is suffering from domestic abuse. His only solace and friend for much of the novel is Minguinho, an orange tree in his back yard that he has the ability to communicate with.

IU has said in an interview, “I wrote the lyrics about Zeze in the point of...
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The Gaon Chart is the national chart of South Korea and is intended to be the equivalent of Oricon in Japan and Billboard in the United States.

Check out the chart rankings for the week of October 25 to October 31 below!

< Gaon Chart National Digital Singles Ranking >

1. IU - "Twenty Three"

2. f(x) - "4 Walls"

3. IU - "Shower"

4. Taeyeon ft. Verbal Jint - "I"

5. IU - "Knees"

6. IU - "New Shoes"

7. Lim Chang Jung - "Love Again"

8. Soyu & Brother Su - "You Don't Know Me"

9. Zion.T - "No Make Up"

10. IU - "Zeze"


< Gaon Chart National Physical Albums Ranking >

1. f(x) - '4 Walls'

2. IU - 'CHAT-SHIRE'...
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There were some great new albums that came out in K-pop recently, and it shows in Billboard's latest World charts! f(x)'s new album '4 Walls' has made its debut at the coveted number one spot on this week's 'World Albums' chart!

Also impressively coming in at number 4 is IU's new album 'Chat-Shire'! And on Billboard's 'World Digital Songs' chart, f(x)'s title track "4 Walls" has made it onto the number 2 spot.

A huge round of congrats to both f(x) and IU!

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Have you been enjoying IU's new album? Fans have been really enjoying not only her title track "Twenty-three" but also the rest of the songs in her album. That's why 1theK released a special clip of IU performing "Knees" earlier, and now it's time for "Zeze"!

It's a beautiful performance video, almost like an official follow-up MV in our opinion! With her beautiful vocals and the acoustic band in the background, all filmed in the outdoors, it's a must-watch performance video.

Which song from IU's album is your favorite?

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The Instiz chart combines the overwhelming variety of charts that South Korea uses to rank music sales, and it's also what fans use to determine whether their favorite artist has achieved an "All-Kill".

Check out the chart rankings for the first week of November (October 26 to November 1) below!

Instiz Chart Singles Ranking

1. IU - "Twenty-three" - 42,765 Points
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2. IU - "The Shower" - 21,584 Points
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3. f(x) - "4 Walls" - 20,298 Points
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4. Taeyeon ft. Verbal Jint - "I" - 16,232 Points
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5. Lim Chang Jung - "Love Again" - 15,226 Points
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6. Soyu & Brother Su - "You Don't Know Me" -...
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IU has taken the #1 place on 'Inkigayo'!

The singer snagged the #1 place for the first week of November with "Twenty-Three", placing over Taeyeon's "I" and TWICE's "Like OOH-AHH". She had 8208 points over Taeyeon's 7894 and TWICE's 4845, a pretty impressive feat as she had 0 album points and 0 voting points.

Congratulations to IU!

Tip: agust_D

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On October 19th, IU dropped the third music video for her upcoming comeback for the track “Zeze.”

The track is said to be based off a Brazilian tale titled “Meu Pe de Laranja Lima” as the vocalist sports oranges in her hair like an orange tree and the song bears the name of the main character.

“Zeze” features a funky beat as IU munches on gummy worms while lying on the carpet with her hair as the tree’s branches. So far, she has delivered fans with peeks of “Shoes” and “Shower.”

Although many fans are disheartened that the artist will not be performing on the weekly music shows, fans can still catch her on stage during her various concerts throughout Korea.

Her mini-album Chat-shire will be released on October 23rd.

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