Happy Friday! It’s a packed music day in NYC with boy band ONE PACT performing at Racket, while Filipino-pop breakout and Coachella 2026 performers BINI play Kings Theatre — I’m trying to make both!

Shoutout to my hometown station of CBS Chicago for having me speak about BTS playing Soldier Field as part of their ARIRANG World Tour (and thank you to my Day 1 childhood friend Marissa Perlman for thinking of me for the story <3). Also big congrats to Erica Russell for making her debut on The Guardian today with this excellent KATSEYE piece where I got to share some thoughts.

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Jennie, Fallen Angel (Digital EP) — Announced just last week, the BLACKPINK superstar announced a three-song digital EP dropping today (via Jennie’s OA Entertainment and Columbia Records) with two new tracks accompanying previous single “Less Than a Lover.” While a six-track physical version of the album dropping in October will likely make impact on the charts (a three-track EP won’t be eligible for charting on the Billboard 200 or other album charts), this initial digital version appears to spotlight Jennie dropping into far-less of a mainstream music territory with two dreamy, indie-pop tracks that both do not sound like obvious smashes that made up most of her Ruby solo album.

Perhaps inspired by the success of her “Dracula” remix with Tame Impala (which is getting early Grammy buzz), title track “Fallen Angel” got a mini, nearly six-minute art film of a music video with what appears to be a larger, gorgeous commentary on her journey to fame and overcoming hardship: “Thorns may be the sharpest, fiercest thing on this earth. And yet, they bloom into the world’s most beautiful roses. Right now, we’re all those roses.” Daniel Aged (whose past work includes Frank Ocean, FKA twigs, Rosalía), Deb Never (an artist in her own right, with credits alongside BROCKHAMPTON, Audrey Nuna and slowthai) and Romil Hemnani (Tyler, the Creator, Future, BROCKHAMPTON) all produced the track — the top of the class for LA alt-R&B and rap production. The connection isn't far off at all with Jennie previously standing as the only feature from BROCKHAMPTON member Matt Champion’s 2024 solo album Mika’s Laundry and the strangely haunting stunner of a single “Slow Motion.”

While “Fallen Angel” got the expensive music video, Jennie’s other new track “HEAVEN” actually sounds like it could make its way onto radio with a more obvious rock sound that could also capitalize on the success of “Dracula” — not unlike how Kevin Parker has another rising hit with “Loser.” Tyler Spry worked on “HEAVEN” as well as “Less than a Lover,” his latest crossover get, after co-writing and co-producing two tracks on BTS’ ARIRANG including lead single “SWIM.” He also had credits on Bad Bunny’s Album of the Year–winning Debí Tirar Más Fotos. He's signed to Ryan Tedder’s Runner Music.

WAYF BOYS, “SWAG” — Touting what many are calling a “nu K-pop” sound, the five-member group only debuted on August 7 but signed an exclusive U.S. deal with Interscope Records on the 14th. WAYF BOYS’ founder and creative director Czaer calls the project “anti-idol,” with the members initially hiding their faces behind illustrated characters drawn by WAYF BOYS member Anderson.

While their first single, “WAYF BOYS DO,” was super strong, “SWAG” is fun, with most of the lyrics in English. An overemphasis on the word “SWAG” had me thinking they were serving way too much of a Soulja Boy vibe…which may have been the point when they include lines like: “The way I'm riding on this beat I feel like Soulja Boy.”

And just like how their first single included an explicit callout to ICE, there’s clever wordplay happening here that keeps it almost PG K-pop with lines like, “You got me fading away, all up in this beach,” and references one of their members getting voted off the singing competition series Boys Planet. I really like what I’m seeing, and it appears WAYF BOYS already have a U.S. PR handling them, so I expect them to ride the wave of “nu K-pop” acts like CORTIS and LNGSHOT that are increasingly leading the trend.

0WAVE, “cuss me out (feat. MILLI)” — The five-member hip-hop and R&B collective — signed to Pyrat, the label owned by Korean producer Colde — who first impressed me with their debut EP, and songs like “hey,” have a new one with “cuss me out.” It’s actually perfect that this is out today because I admittedly forgot about them for a bit after they debuted in 2022, but I’m happy to see them with Thai rapper MILLI.

It reminds me that I’d actually argue 0WAVE was an early pioneer of this “nu K-pop” sound that WAYF BOYS (above), CORITS and LNGSHOT are all embracing today. Hope they keep going.

Kik5o, REBORN— The Korean-American singer-songwriter-rapper released her four-track EP that includes a Brazilian funk–inspired “PARA PARA” with fellow Korean-American superstar and American Song Contest winner AleXa (whose first collaboration after leaving her longtime agency ZB Label was with Kik5o on “Vital Check”). The other new tracks, “Remedy” and “NeverMind,” are experimental electronic hip-hop tracks that see Kik5o blurring between singing and rapping.

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The following K-pop albums are having their official physical releases in the U.S. this week to make the most potential chart impact:

COMING SOON RELEASE CALENDAR

—ENHYPEN Vs. Dolly on the charts now: As the world mourns the loss of Dolly Parton, the charts are responding and what seemed to be a surefire No. 1 album for ENHYPEN’s THE SIN : BLISS seems to be less certain.

My buddy Andrew Unterberger looked into where ENHYPEN and Dolly’s numbers are by week's end. On Tuesday, when her death was announced, Billboard shares that Parton’s “official on-demand U.S. streams jumped up over 2,000% from the prior Tuesday — and those streams just continued to rise on Wednesday, to over 46 million, according to early data provided by Luminate.” By the end of the week, Billboard adds, “Ultimate Dolly Parton has sold nearly 6,000 copies so far for the tracking week ending Aug. 27, according to early data provided by Luminate, making it her current best-seller.” (Billboard)

Those numbers may not be enough to surpass ENHYPEN’s latest EP, which HitsDailyDouble projected on August 25 to debut with 108,000 units (100,000 in pure album sales) for its first week – and the number could have grown with the release of six member-specific digital versions that dropped on Monday, as well as a new “English version” of lead single “Blood Paradise” that features Luísa Sonza.

My hunch is that ENHYPEN will still end up with No. 1, as the physical start was significantly high and they upped their digital presence throughout the week, while Dolly Parton’s catalog got its resurgence starting midday Tuesday.

Billboard will likely reveal the final numbers on Sunday, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a delay if the numbers end up too close to confirm over the weekend.

—The East Coast is getting a new K-pop convention with big-name backers: “KPEX: Korean Pop Culture Expo will launch May 29-31 at the Javits Center, bringing K-Pop, K-Dramas, K-Comics, K-Games, K-Food, K-Beauty, and more under one roof. The three-day convention aims to fill a gap in the U.S. pop-culture landscape. While comic cons and anime conventions connect fans with American and Japanese entertainment in cities across the country, there are far fewer large-scale gatherings dedicated to Korean pop culture. With KCON last held in New York in 2019, KPEX hopes to establish a new East Coast destination for the growing Hallyu, or Korean Wave, generation.”

Read more from Amanda Moses’ exclusive with KPEX founders Greg Topalian, co-creator of New York Comic Con; Robert Khoo, a Tokyo-based gaming and live-events executive and founding architect of PAX; and Peter Tatara, co-creator of Anime NYC over at amNewYork.

—K-pop choreographer turns IP problem into platform with AI dance startup: “It all started six years ago when Choi Youngjun met Joon Jung, then a dancer in his 20s who wanted to figure out a way for choreographers to build sustainable careers. Now, with more than 800 K-pop routines to his name, Choi has gone into business with Jung. They co-founded the startup MVNT to build an AI system for programmable dance, much like Suno, the generative AI music platform. Jung, who worked in tech and crypto, helped set up the company and is now its CEO. In 2024, MVNT got $200,000 in seed funding from Mashup Ventures, a Seoul-based venture capital firm. Now MVNT is launching its pre-Series A fundraising and hopes to raise $1 million to take its work further.” (Business Insider)

A Korean woman allegedly snagged thousands of K-pop tickets to make over $300,000: “A woman in her 30s allegedly used a macro program to automatically purchase about 2,600 tickets to K-pop concerts, including nine tickets to BTS’ highly sought-after Gwanghwamun performance earlier this year, police said Wednesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it had referred the woman to prosecutors without detention on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act, obstruction of business, and the Public Performance Act…authorities estimate that she generated around 442 million won ($319,000) in illegal proceeds. Police have sought a pre-indictment seizure and preservation order for the alleged criminal proceeds, preventing the assets from being disposed of before trial.” (The Korea Herald)

—David Byrne Embraces Pansori: Sugungga, the upcoming album from Korean pop band Leenalchi, arrives October 2 on David Byrne’s label Luaka Bop. The seven-piece outfit is led by film composer Jang Young Gyu (Train to Busan, The Wailing), with two bassists, no guitar, and four master pansori singers reviving the traditional, 18th-century Korean musical style. Leenalchi open for Geese for a show in Forest Hills on release day, then tour the U.S. and Europe through November, including stops at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Pioneer Works, the Warhol and the Cleveland Museum of Art. (Northern Transmissions)

—”Hootie” and the Blowup: KATSEYE’s “Hootie Frutti” is No. 1 on YouTube Music’s U.S. Top Songs chart and No. 2 globally.

—Jennie and Adidas hosted a star-studded launch event for her Originals Collection kickoff: Jeremy Scott, Dustin Lance Black, Tom Daley, Bella Porch, Kevin Woo, LØREN and more were in attendance to support the busy star who held the event just hours before her Fallen Angel EP was released. Yay to Tomás Mier for hosting! (WWD)

—Tinashe finally spoke about constantly being on the “mood board” for the K-pop industry: “To be real, I think the conversation extends way further than K-pop, and I think that's pigeonholed it a bit, because people are kind of taking it as a joke, and it's a dead-ass conversation at this point, honestly. But my overall attitude toward people copying or being inspired by me is simply that it's a privilege to be part of the creative conversation on a bigger level—to see that kind of feedback from the universe, that your ideas are good ideas and other people are inspired by them.” (66 GREENE)

—There’s a K-pop convention in St. Paul this weekend: “K-pop Minnecon, which debuted last year, is returning to the RiverCentre on Saturday, Aug. 29 and Sunday, Aug. 30, with events from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. both days…Alan Lee, the voice of KPop Demon Hunters’ Mystery Saja, and Samuil Lee, the singing voice of Romance Saja, will be in attendance both days. Other artists set to hit the stage throughout the weekend include Hohyun, Aiden, Justin Park, Ramiro Brave, Toshi and JJANG.E. K-pop Minnecon will close out with a concert from South Korean girl group ICHILLIN’ on Sunday night at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium main stage.” (BringMeTheNews)

—Kevin Moon of The Boyz gave a devastatingly honest take on K-pop groups adopting trendy concepts — as well as appropriating marginalized groups — instead of their own artistic expressions. It comes right before his first solo release (see the upcoming calendar above for more). See Kevin’s account for the long set of tweets @kebeanmoon. Kevin, when you’re ready for that TedTalk, let’s talk

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