SM Town Artists in W Korea

Bunch of photos were released from W Korea July Issue magazine!

Check these out!

Daum Updates With New Girls' Generation Themes

It was revealed on the July 5 that after the Daum smartphone application was updated to version 2.7, it has been gaining a great amount of responses from users. Through the recent update, themes with popular girl group Girls' Generation were added, along with other functions.

After the update became available on the June 29, 10,000 people applied Girls' Generation themes within four days. Daum explained that this accounts for 60% of the version 2.7 users.

The iPhone version of the Daum application provides a total of twelve themes, including video themes of the members. Android phones are provided with six Girls' Generation themes, along with twelve regular themes.

SM, JYP and YG come together to discover the next KPOP Star!

Top Korean talent agencies JYP Entertainment, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment will come together for the first time ever to discover the next K-pop star.

A press release by promoter 3HW.Com on Tuesday announced that the three talent firms will take part in a global auditioning TV program titled “Survival Audition KPOP STAR” set to go on air on major broadcasting channel SBS around December.

Park Jin-young’s JYP, Lee Soo-man’s SM and Yang Hyun-suk’s YG are responsible for discovering and managing the careers of some of the most successful idol stars in Korea — JYP is in charge of the Wonder Girls and 2PM, SM of TVXQ, Super Junior and Girls’ Generation, and YG of Big Bang and 2NE1.

As its name shows, “KPOP STAR” will be in the format of a survival competition where aspiring artists will be judged on various aspects including singing and dancing for both talent and star quality. Auditions will take place overseas as well.

The winner of the show will receive prize money and secure a contract with one of the three agencies through which he or she will release an album.

Auditions are open to everyone around the world and SBS’s website will open up forregistration starting tonight for the first preliminary round of auditions.

'The Star' 2nd anniversary with various artists

'The Star' 2nd anniversary.. Jung Ilwoo, Secret, Infinite, TEEN TOP, etc gathered!

The Quality Entertainment Webzine, 'The Star'(the-star.co.kr) opened a special event for our coming 2nd anniversary on 21st July.

The Star is a joint company of Chosun Ilbo and Digital Chosun Ilbo. The Star has become the center of multimedia news for young generation in their 10s-30s as a celebrity news site with on-site entertainment reviews, personal HD videos of star interviews, etc.

Not only that. Member of 'Secret' called Hyosung and the super hero of drama '49 Days', Jung Ilwoo. They will act as a day reporter for a special HD interview called 'Idol meets idol'. And also the president of 10s generation, who will have their comeback on July. 'TEEN TOP' who's popular for their in-sync choreography will meet The Star for the first time. We are planning to reveal a HD video of them with a their new choreography inside.

Join the event at The Star's site (the-star.co.kr), and the event will end on 17th August.

SNSD’s Japanese Photobook gathers attention

Girl group SNSD’s Japanese photobook is gathering attention in Korea.

SNSD’s first Japanese album jacket photos were recently uploaded on their official Japanese website. The nine members are shown wearing white dresses to create a lovely, yet mysterious look.

However, upon closer inspection, it’s easy to see that each of the members have different dresses and accessories that compliment their unique tastes. The concept seems to focus on SNSD’s transition into womanhood and their feminine charms are just oozing in every picture.

In comparison to their previously pure and cute image, this recent photobook incorporates white and pick colors to portray a more matured and sophisticated style. The overall photobook draws out SNSD’s lovely nature in a fantasy-esque setting.

Taiwanese artist Vanness Wu Talks about SNSD's Tiffany and Sooyoung

On the 2nd of July 2011, Taiwanese American actor, singer, director and producer, Vanness Wu went on a show called “100% Entertainment” where he mentioned his affiliation to Girls’ Generation, particularly, members Tiffany and Sooyoung.

Show Luo, another Taiwanese singer who was also on the show, said that his favorite member from Girls’ Generation was actually Tiffany, and showed his obvious jealousy when he exclaimed that Vanness Wu knew Tiffany and Sooyoung personally. Vanness Wu went on to elaborate that not only did he meet them through a church group last August when he went to South Korea with Jason Mar; Tiffany was actually his younger brother’s friend’s sister. (Tiffany has a brother called Leo and a sister called Michelle)

Vanness Wu also said that through the church group, he met other K-pop artists such as Big Bang’s Taeyang and G-Dragon, and members of 2NE1.

Take a look at the video below to watch their excitement as they unravel Vanness Wu’s friendship with Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany and Sooyoung.

SNSD bags two awards at the 2011 MTV VMAJ

The winners of the MTV Video Music Aid Japan 2011 (MTV VMAJ) were announced on Saturday evening and impressively, Shoujo Jidai (SNSD) won two out of the three awards that they were nominated.

The 2011 MTV VMAJ took place last week on June 25 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Japan, where the girls performed ‘Mr. Taxi’ and ‘The Great Escape’, while the winners of awards were only announced on Saturday (July 2).

SNSD bagged two award wins out of their three nominations, which are the Best Group Video and the Best Karaokee. Song categories with their Japanese single ‘Genie’.

And the impressive part of winning the two awards? Other than being the only Korean representative to be nominated in the awards, they were up also against stiff competition along the likes of Black Eyed Peas, Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber, Ikimono-gakari and w-inds.

Fans can look forward to more goodies from the 2011 MTV VMAJ as a backstage special to the June 25 event will be aired on MTV Japan on July 23. Be sure to catch it. A huge congratulations to the girls for another amazing achievement, having won another two music awards in Japan after less than a year of making their debut in the country.

Meanwhile, the girls had successfully completed one out of two concerts of their Arena Tour at the Hiroshima Green Arena, Japan on Saturday, with another scheduled for Sunday.