Today in K-Pop

SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- K-pop boy group Ateez's latest album, "Golden Hour: P...

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Fresh off a Grammy nomination for a recent collaborative work, English producer and singer-songwriter Gabriel has returned to solo work, dropping his new track “YDP” in late January ahead of a solo showcase, “One Night in Limbo,” this Friday. The show, happening at Alive Hall near western Seoul's Hongik University, will feature SM Entertainment artist Min Jiwoon alongside a full band setup. As a producer and musician, Gabriel lent a hand in British trio FLO’s album “All Access Areas,” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Progressive R&B album last year. He’s also worked with the likes of Dijon and Kehlani, as well as Korean R&B icons Crush and SUMIN. Juggling show preparations along with upcoming work — both solo and collaborative — and content creation, Gabriel looks at his hectic schedule positively. “Challenges are good for the brain,” he told The Korea Times. Despite having moved to Seoul just six months ago, the transition was quite easy for him. “Looking back, everything fell into place quite quickly,” he said. Even before officially nestling in Seoul

CrushSuminMin Jiwoon

It marks her fifth acting project. Jisoo of K-pop group BLACKPINK, who enjoys global popularity, is drawing attention over whether she can overcome lingering doubts about her acting and prove her capabilities as an actress through the upcoming series “Boyfriend on Demand.” Set to premiere March 6, the Netflix original series “Boyfriend on Demand” is a romantic comedy about Mi-rae, a webtoon producer exhausted by reality, who subscribes to and experiences romance through a virtual dating simulation. Combining the relatable daily life of office workers with the novel premise of “subscription-based dating” in a virtual world, the series promises both empathy and fresh entertainment. Jisoo stars opposite actor Seo In-guk, with director Kim Jung-sik — known for “Work Later, Drink Now” and “No Gain No Love” — at the helm. Jisoo plays Seo Mi-rae, a busy and weary webtoon producer accustomed to life without romance. After obtaining a mysterious Boyfriend on Demand device, she enters a virtual world where she experiences diverse romances with unrealistically perfect men,

JisooBLACKPINK

IVE will tour Australia and New Zealand in 2026 with shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena (June 13), Auckland’s Spark Arena (June 20) and Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena (June 26). Tickets go on sale Feb 19 at 9am local; the group released new single "Bang Bang" ahead of an album due Feb 23

GaeulReiLiz

In K-pop, idols can be superheroes, werewolves, vampires and pirates, all inside elaborate fictional worlds rich with their own lore. These self-made universes showcased the genre’s imagination, framing each comeback within a larger narrative that stretched across music videos, lyrics and visuals. Albums started feeling less like isolated releases and more like chapters in a continuing story, with cryptic teaser films and hidden clues turning world-building into one of K-pop’s most playful creative endeavors. Over time, however, that lore grew into something bigger than just storytelling. What began as a fun narrative layer expanded into a production framework linking music with webtoons, games and wider branding strategies. As labels positioned idol groups as long-term intellectual properties (IPs), world-building became more systematic — even as a new wave of artists began stepping away from overt storylines to keep the focus on the music itself, reflecting K-pop’s ongoing evolution as a comprehensive art form. Birth of lore The roots of fictional universes in K-pop trace back t