Akanishi Jin comments on leaving KAT-TUN Source: Tokyograph / am4u.co.nr
Jin Akanishi (26) has written a comment on the official Johnny's mobile site, his first since the news of his expected removal from KAT-TUN. In his message, Akanishi formally announced that he is going solo.
Akanishi explained that he and KAT-TUN have different directions, but he also assured fans that he does not dislike the other members nor have personal problems with them. He apologized to the members of KAT-TUN for causing them trouble in both big and small matters, while also thanking them for his time with them.
Akanishi stated that he hopes to be active as a solo artist not just in America, but also in other parts of the world such as Asia and Europe. He also said that he naturally wants to be active in Japan as well.
[BREAKING NEWS] Johnny to remove Akanishi from KAT-TUN
KAT-TUN's Jin Akanishi (26) will officially graduate from the group later this year, it has been announced. During KAT-TUN's concert at the Tokyo Dome on Friday night, Johnny's Jimusho president Johnny Kitagawa said that the final decision will be made after Akanishi's U.S. tour this fall, but at this point it appears to already be guaranteed.
Since May, Akanishi has been in the United States, working on his solo career. He performed concerts in Los Angeles in June, and he has scheduled a 7-city tour for September and October. Kitagawa also revealed that Akanishi is already planning further concerts for 2011. Meanwhile, KAT-TUN has been continuing as a 5-member group, just as they did when Akanishi temporarily left in 2006 to study abroad.
Kitagawa explained that right now, the focus is only on Akanishi becoming successful in the U.S. He said that it would be too soft on Akanishi to let him return to KAT-TUN as a fallback if he doesn't succeed. It would also be unforgivable to KAT-TUN fans to have Akanishi dragging the group on, or returning the same way he did in 2007.
Kitagawa once again assured fans that KAT-TUN is not breaking up. Although the group's name is based on the initial characters of the members' names, it is said that Akanishi's "A" will be replaced by extending Kazuya Kamenashi's "K" to "KA." There are no plans to bring in a new member, as Kitagawa stated that there is no need to have six people in the group. He said that the five remaining members are currently doing fine without Akanishi.
Despite having released one physical single, Ando Yuko returns with an highly anticipated album called "JAPANESE POP". Ando yuko had also released a digital single and also her first Best album which released last year which hit Oricon's daily at #3 and Daily at #5. Her style music is often associated with Chara, who is also an singer-songwriter. I personally enjoy Ando Yuko's music alot! A few samples of her songs can be found on her updated website with her single 'Paxmaveiti'. JAPANESE POP is set to release August 8, 2010.
TVXQ’s JaeChunSu in Los Angeles to record new album Source: Allkpop
An unidentified official confirmed that Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu (JaeChunSu or JYJ) are currently in Los Angeles, California to record their new album. The trio was seen arriving at LAX airport on June 26th.
We previously reported that the trio was scheduled to work with Kanye West and Timbaland and with the trio in Los Angeles, it seems like the collaboration is underway. The new album will be produced by Kim Hyun Suk.
The album is slated for release some time in August and with the album geared towards Asia, there could be tracks in both Korean and Japanese. The album is supposed to be released under a famous international record label but no further information was given.
KangTa says H.O.T will reunite next year Source: Allkpop / am4u.us.to
Singer KangTa recently became a hot topic as he mentioned the possibility of popular group H.O.T reuniting again since their disbandment back in 2001.
KangTa will be having his first upcoming solo concert in China on July 24th after 5 years, having being released from the army earlier this year. He held a press conference at China’s Beijing stadium yesterday where he talked to the media about his concert and related issues.
KangTa said, “We always hope that the five of us would be able to come back together again. After Lee Jae Won who is currently in the army gets discharged, we plan for a reunion and carry out official promotions next year.”
Additionally, KangTa also mentioned that he will donate all profits from his concert towards helping young women and men from the countryside who have given up on education and careers.
His concert next month will also star familiar faces who have a relation with KangTa such as Super Junior members and Shin Seung Hoon.
===
Korean singer Kang Ta speaking at a press conference in China on June 24, 2010. [SM Entertainment]
Korean singer Kang Ta has said that he wants his former boy band H.O.T. to reunite next year, according to his agency SM Entertainment.
The singer made the remark in China last Thursday at a press conference for his upcoming concert in Beijing, drawing talks of a reunion.
However, an official at SM explained on Friday that Kang Ta made such comment because his H.O.T. bandmates Tony An and Lee Jae-won-II will be discharged from the Korean military next year but said "nothing has been set".
Kang Ta, whose real name is Ahn Chil-hyun, debuted in 1996 as the lead singer of five-member boy band H.O.T., the first idol group creation by major talent house SM Entertainment.
H.O.T., which stands for 'High-five Of Teenagers', became one of the most popular K-pop acts in Korea and throughout Asia as well. They released five studio albums, two live albums and two greatest hits records before disbanding in 2001.
Kang Ta embarked on a solo career after the group broke up, releasing several solo albums and collaborating with other singers including a pop duo act with popular Taiwanese singer Vanessa Wu in 2006.
He will be giving a concert in China on July 24 and donating one million Yuan to the Chinese government for charity.
Reporter : Lim Hye-seon lhsro@ Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@ <ⓒ10Asia All rights reserved>
"Singer Ai Otsuka(27) announced on Saturday that she is now married to rapper SU (36) of the hip-hop group RIP SLYME. On her official website, she wrote a message revealing that they registered their marriage on June 25.
SU also made an announcement on RIP SLYME's official website around the same time.
This past February, Josei Seven published an article claiming that the two were dating, but the story was neither confirmed nor denied by their agencies at that time. Their relationship reportedly started last year, when they worked together on the song "aisu x time" from Otsuka's "LOVE is Best" album (released in November).
SU is the second RIP SLYME member to get married recently. ILMARI (35) tied the knot with model Yuri Ebihara(30), and they held their wedding in Paris earlier this month." (Tokyograph 2010)
Congrats to Otsuka and SU, this may solve any thoughts from thier collaboration with AISUxTime song in her recent album "Love is BEST".
Source full link: http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-6273 (Tokyograph News) (June, 26 2010)
"Alice is half-American from her Guamanian father and half-Japanese from her mother. She has always dreamed of being a singer since she was small. At the age of 18, she moved from her hometown in Fukushima to Tokyo to pursue her dreams. She started working at McDonald's while taking vocal lessons and writing music. In 2009, Alice entered Japan's "Voice of McDonald's 2010" contest in collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment, a contest only open to McDonald's employees. She became one of 11 finalists out of 14,168 applicants with her original song, "18ager", and later won the grand prize, a recording contract with SME Records.
On July 14, 2010, Alice will release her debut single, "Ichibanboshi". The single will be supported by 3,600 McDonald's restaurants in Japan that will play the song as in-store background music and have it advertised on 7,500,000 paper tray mats." (2010, july) [1]
This news means more to me since I had worked at McDonalds before, and I know even from everyday workers, they all have talents too! So Go Alice! :) Rock on!
This year is the 10th anniversary of the debut of pop star Kumi Koda (27). As a special project to celebrate the milestone, she is releasing her first "best live DVD" on July 17.
"KODA KUMI 10th Anniversary BEST LIVE DVD BOX" will include 30 minutes of concert footage of 15 songs, personally selected by Koda. The clips are taken from the six tours she performed between 2005 and this year. The DVD also contains other footage from her concerts, plus a 40-minute documentary of her 10-year career. The set is planned to retail for 1,260 yen.
Since it’s Hong Kong theatrical release 11 days ago, the film <> starring Donnie Yen has garnered HKD$28 million at the box office, with an unprecedented single day earnings (for 5/9) of HKD$3 million. With this type of box office revenue, not only is the film #1 in terms of single day earnings, it also #1 overall this year – currently leading <> (box office revenue HKD$21.88 million), which premiered in Hong Kong theatres 1 day later. The box office revenue for <> has also exceeded the HKD$25 million box office revenue that the original <> film garnered 2 years ago.
<> was also a box office success in mainland China, bringing in 100 million Yuan (RMB) in revenue in just 5 days. However, the film’s owner and executive producer Raymond Wong Bak Ming has indicated that the rampant illegal downloading of the film is a huge problem and has caused a potential loss in revenue of several hundred million. On his micro-blog, Raymond Wong wrote: “Someone has done something truly harmful by illegally recording the film and placing it on the internet for others to download for free. My understanding is that there have been over 10 million ‘hits’ to the illegal web version of the film, which has caused the box office revenue to fall by about half. I am afraid that the revenue won’t reach the 300 million Yuan originally anticipated – we’ll be happy if it ends up surpassing the 200 million Yuan mark slightly.” He has expressed that he will be pursuing legal action against the originator of the illegal download.
At the same time, some people are unhappy that the upcoming film <> directed by Wong Kar Wei and starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai has been overshadowed by the <> franchise, since both movies are the same subject matter, but because Wong Kar Wei’s film is still in production, it has not yet been released. A netizen by the name of Tonyleslie expressed that his favorite actor is Tony Leung (Chiu Wai), his favorite director is Wong Kar Wei, and the person he hates the most is Raymond Wong (Bak Ming), so he is planning on [illegally] downloading <> for all his classmates to watch. In response to this, Raymond indicated: “I don’t understand this type of mentality…to be honest, I’m actually looking forward to Wong Kar Wei’s film myself. I don’t care if people hate me, but illegal downloading is against the law – and the person boasting about illegally downloading for all his classmates to watch? That’s the part that makes me shake my head in wonder!”
BoA, UKnow and Max, “We will work hard for activities to produce a good 3D content”
Singer BoA together with 2 members of TVXQ U-Know Yunho and Choikang Changmin finally appeared in front of Korean public after a long time.
The three on May 14th at 11:00 am attended SM Entertainment and Samsung Electronics’ collaboration press conference in regards to expansion of 3D-related content, meanwhile the producer of the agency, Lee Soo Man attended along with them.
At the event day, SM and Samsung through the press conference described thoroughly the business direction they’re going to conduct with the director of 3D movie ‘Avatar’, James Cameron.
After opening remarks by BoA on stage, producer Lee Soo Man said, “It’s nice to meet all of you in this place, and that we’re able to attend this event together. I have a high expectation for an upcoming movie that will be produced for SMTOWN.”
TVXQ U-Know Yunho also said, “It’s a good opportunity to have a 3D production, frankly 3D content is new to the culture, so I’ll work hard for that. We ask many love and support in the future as well.” Changmin added, “It’s an honor to me to be able to attend at this place for 3D Content Leadership Collaboration. Indeed it’s a good project, thus I will try to give my best in creating a good content.”
The main issue of this collaboration with Director James Cameron of Avatar is to produce music and concert videos of SM Entertainment artists in 3D and Samsung will take the advantage for the 3D content in marketing their 3D TV.
Samsung Electronics with production team of Avatar from Director James Cameron has already held a Full HD 3D LED TV Global Launch event at New York Time Square in last March, and at the event, the 3D video of Black Eyed Peas live live performance was captured, ever since the 3D TV has been actively marketed.
Things to keep in mind besides the sunscreen, if you recieve an offer from a user in Aznpop selling a product (besides in the blackmarket) don't trust the link or the download. Keep caution to what you are downloading, there is only so much the staff can do but if you just ignore spam from those who so happen to hide from us then that will help ensure your computers safety And tell us too so we can take procedures to ban them.
Using the autoplay command in youtube codes in forum posts is not against the rules, but lol don't make people with slow internet or slow computers suffer.
Lastly, thanks for the viewers to Music Review section, I didn't think many will read it. It's just a side project when i need to warm up for a paper at school. I know i still need some fine tuning but i'll look foward to put good stuff out. Recently i've decided to add in video games and international artists in the section. It's not often I recieve requests, but i'm up for somthing different in my library to look at. http://www.aznpop.com/forums/index.php?showforum=25
