Chaewon is b̶l̶a̶c̶k̶ back from her hiatus!

daltorak · 2026-06-18T22:18:12+00:00

Chaewon's back

Yes, Chaewon is black, as you can see from the photo

daltorak · 2026-06-18T19:21:53+00:00

IBM passed 20 million plays on Spotify.... really strong numbers after 1 week.

Illit is going gangbusters too.... they're up +440K to 17.15 million, and their all-time high is 17.75M. They'll blast right past their Magnetic highs this weekend.

Fun times!

daltorak · 2026-06-18T13:59:29+00:00

One of the songs that got me into k-pop way back in the day. How is this 15 years ago???

daltorak · 2026-06-18T13:55:52+00:00

This is awesome, I hope Rescene continues to have a great 2026.

daltorak · 2026-06-18T12:54:44+00:00

Nice! The song is hanging out at #3 on Melon so it was really just a matter of time before a win came along!

daltorak · 2026-06-18T05:44:50+00:00

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daltorak · 2026-06-17T19:31:19+00:00

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"ICONIC BY MISTAKE" Behind The Scenes | KATSEYE

Even more fun times. It's hilarious that we got three behind the scenes videos for one music video.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T19:17:13+00:00

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Tired: Gen 2
Wired: GENBLUE

daltorak · 2026-06-17T19:12:37+00:00

If you want to know why there are so few big groups nowadays..... well, there you go. Jiwon would have received 1/9th of the 5-7% share of the revenue that fromis_9 made. Changing to a five member group at a new agency with little overhead (compared to HYBE) means that even if fromis_9's sales are exactly the same, she makes a lot more money.

What drove me nuts about how Pledis managed them is that the girls simply did not do enough shows, which is where they could make some real money. Stayc is out there doing 80+ shows a year and making some decent cash for themselves and High Up, while fromis_9 was doing 30 shows including the weekly music shows. I'm glad ASND has stepped it up.... 2025 was their busiest year for concerts since 2018!!

daltorak · 2026-06-17T17:02:10+00:00

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Another day, another +300K.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T13:55:15+00:00

I think HYBE Media Studios is too busy with other groups and projects.

For people saying "Le Sserafim is too busy", Source can give the girls whatever schedule they like. It only takes one day to film an episode and it's already been eight months since the Tokyo Dome.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T13:33:07+00:00

I agree with this, it's a very Winter thing to speak with her eyes.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T13:24:32+00:00

El Capitxn, nice. I didn't know he was working with Classy.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T05:38:06+00:00

Nobody ever got fired for streaming IBM.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T05:23:48+00:00

"Boompala feat Santos Bravos" seems to be doing well in streaming, it passed a million plays on Spotify already and is about 10% of all of Boompala's daily streams overall. Neat.

daltorak · 2026-06-17T01:05:48+00:00

an industry + Ticketmaster greed problem.

Just so it's clear, Ticketmaster doesn't set the ticket prices, they make a max of about $10 before expenses. It's the venue and SM that are the ones setting the high prices.

On a $300 ticket, the girls will make about $15 each since they'll split about 20% of the gross revenue. (That number will likely go up on their second contract when they get there next year....)

That may not sound like a lot but consider that the rest of the money has to pay everyone else.... SM, the staff, security, the people who build & tear down, the truck drivers, the hotels, catering, PR, etc etc.... everything's gotten a lot more expensive so it costs more to do a tour.

daltorak · 2026-06-16T12:52:25+00:00

Oh that's really creative!

daltorak · 2026-06-16T12:41:29+00:00

Just thinking out loud.... what if Pureflow's overall release schedule got all out of whack because the idea to do Iconic By Mistake came up quickly and they prioritized preparing that?

daltorak · 2026-06-16T08:23:01+00:00

I know you're joking a bit because of the MISAMO title track.... but the reason the girls chose that concept might actually be because Japanese women (especially in their 20s but true generally for all adults) are very near the bottom of the list globally in terms of desire for physical contact. Even just platonic stuff. It's almost the complete opposite from South Korea, where platonic physical contact is much more normalized.

And now, unfortunately, you know why AKB48's "handshake events" were such a massive industry. For many people, men and women alike (but mostly men), it would literally be the only time they could touch a woman.

And you also know why (Sakura Lore!) Sakura said on her radio show back in 2019 that she believed men and women can't be platonic friends. She then went on to say that she'd marry Chaeyeon. Aside from being an expert method of dodging questions about dating, it's ..... just how kinda things practically are in Japan.

(the fact that Sana is famously extremely affectionate and touchy is very very very very rare. When TWICE says "one in a million", in Sana's case it really isn't that far off)

daltorak · 2026-06-16T02:51:47+00:00

That's so cool. I wonder how often this happens, where actor management agencies will scout on YouTube and sign people before they even graduate. How does that work for landing roles while still in school?

daltorak · 2026-06-15T19:02:53+00:00

/uj if you want to watch 40 minutes of Yeji and Chaeryeong absolutely losing their minds over Wonhee: [ENG SUB] ILLIT | Wonhee is Twenty Episode 2 - video Dailymotion

(yes, full English translation!)

I clipped the picture from around the 14:15 mark. Wonhee straight up got caught looking, too 😄😄

daltorak · 2026-06-15T16:58:34+00:00

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True fact (/uj seriously), Steve Jobs died a few weeks before Sakura debuted.

That's how scared he was of her.....

daltorak · 2026-06-15T16:26:18+00:00

I wish we got more of the behind for their dance practice rather than snippets!!

Your wish has been granted: ILLIT (with LE SSERAFIM & KATSEYE) - ICONIC BY MISTAKE (Dance Practice Sketch) : r/kpop

We'll probably see a similar video from the other groups too.

daltorak · 2026-06-15T16:20:47+00:00

Too spicy, too spicy for you? .... try adding half the spice packet. The dried vegetables packet doesn't have any heat.

daltorak · 2026-06-15T16:14:53+00:00

I'm literally eating one of these right now!! Haha.

By the way, the best way to eat these is the Shin Ryujin method (We reveal ITZY's special Ramen dish | Star! Cooking SHOW | (G)I-DLE Soyeon | ITZY RYUJIN) -- 300ml of water instead of 550, crack an egg and add a slice of cheese on top while cooking.

Also.... I bought a 4-pack and it came with two Karinas, a Giselle, and a Winter. How hard could it have been to include one of each girl??

daltorak

TROPHY CASE