Aaron Yan Has a “Tiger Mother”

Aaron Yan Has a “Tiger Mother”

(Taipei October 5) More than a thousand of fans crowded in Aaron Yan’s autograph signing event for his new DVD “The Aaron Time”. Having completed two albums, one TV series and one DVD from May to October, he caught cold once he was relaxed and his feet felt too weak to dance. 

When the record company gifted him two stuffed tigers and wished him to go on working in autumn, Aaron was scared and revealed that the tigers reminded him of his mother, “When I was a kid, my mother would not allow me to eat if I did not play the piano well.” What a “tiger mother” and a brave son!

The Strawberry brothers amuse fans at "SMTOWN LIVE IV" in Tokyo

The Strawberry borthers a.k.a. TVXQ's Changmin and Super Junior's Kyuhyun have successfully entertained fans on the stage of “SMTOWN LIVE IV” in Tokyo.

After amazing the fans with their cute songs and hilarious dance moves at the previous SMTOWN concert in Japan, the brothers were back singing Japanese song, “Strawberry”, at the concert that was held on October 4-5 at Ajinomoto Stadium.

(Photo: Kyuhyun's Twitter) © Photo: Kyuhyun's Twitter (Photo: Kyuhyun's Twitter)

This time the two tagged along with SHINee’s Minho, which made a complete "Kyu-line" for this performance. The two hyungs even called the youngest Minho “aniki”, which means big brother in Japanese, bringing laughter to the crowd. Besides their cute songs and hilarious dances, the trio also amused fans with their blossom pink cheeks which supposedly resembled a strawberry.

Proud with their performance, Super Junior’s Kyuhyun even posted a picture of the Strawberry trio posing in a manly gesture on his Twitter account. “(On a) rainy day, Three strawberries,” he captioned.

Cyndi Wang wishes Sonia Sui well

Cyndi Wishing Sonia Well

(Taipei October 5) Cyndi Wang appeared in a cute ruffle skirt to sign autographs for the modified version of her new album “The 10th Cyndi”. 

At the event, she was hired as the director of the fashion show premiere at Taipei Arena by Rakuten Ichiba Taiwan. Cyndi, Sonia Sui and Yuan-hao Yao had been involved in a complicated relationship for years, and Sonia was recently reported to have a new romance after being single for three years. 

When asked to comment on Sonia’s new romance, Cyndi said, “Actually I’d like to wish all lovers happy and well.” When asked about her own plan for marriage, Cyndi smiled and said, “Now my focus is still on my work.”

Mariah Carey is Probably the Best Ariana Grande Can Hope For

Ariana Grande, she of the persistent diva rumors and overrated teenybopper music really, really wants you to like her. She wants you to forget about those reports of some less than appropriate behavior, and she wants you to start realizing how gracious and humble she is. Can you dig it? Probably not. We sure can't, at any rate.

See, one of the rumors that have been going around about Ariana is that before interviews, her people allegedly let everyone know that she is under no circumstances to be asked anything about Mariah Carey. The two are frequently compared, and those reports would have you believe that Ariana isn't into it, that she wants everything to be all about her. Not the case, y'all:

"Mariah has been a huge influence on me since I was a little girl. I've even done a cover of one of her songs. I don't think there are any negatives to being compared to one of the greatest vocalists of all time. It's honestly a great honor."

And there you have it. Ariana is so thankful for every single thing, and of course she would not be rude or ungrateful for anything ever in her life. She loves being compared to Mariah Carey. Now please purchase her album and forget every one of those many, many bad words you've heard about her, and the idea that she's got two faces so different it'll make your head spin. 

GHOSE Gains New Guitarist and will Disband

It was in July 2013 when GHOSE announced to release 13 new CDs - one each month. This month the release campaign comes to its end with the band's album "chigire" (契描). But unfortunately that isn't the only thing that ends. GHOSE announced that the band will stop activities and disband after its live on January 31st, 2015.

The reason is drummer yusuke's suffering from spinal stenosis. His condition got worse and he explained that he can't play the drums anymore the way he should be able to play it for a real band. So he decided to depart. After several discussions this decision ended in the disbanding of GHOSE.

Apart from this sad announcement GHOSE made another one: before disbanding the band's support guitarist Jujo has officially joined. Jujo actually plays the guitar for Visual Kei band Allegretto but that band went on indefinite hiatus in summer last year and as of December 2013 he acted as support guitarist for GHOSE.

Furthermore, the band has uploaded a preview for its new album we've talked about above. It will hit the stores on October 22nd and includes the live-limited singles that have been sold during the past year.

Lillies and Remains to Release New Full-Length Album "Romanticism"

Lillies and Remains will be releasing a new album titled "Romanticism" this fall! The album will be out on the 12th of November and is their first release after the departure of their bassist. 

"Romanticism" is produced by Maki Fujii of minus(-) and ex-SOFT BALLET and will feature a total of 11 songs, including new versions of previously released "Final Cut" and "This City".

The band will also be going on a special tour with minus(-) in commemoration of the album's release. The tour will kick-start at Miyagi's enn 2nd on the 18th of January and end at Tokyo's UNIT on the 7th of February.

We're excited to see the all-new Lillies and Remains! Are you?

AOA to Make Japan Debut Today (10/1) with Japanese Version of ‘Miniskirt’

AOA will be leading the ‘new hallyu wave’ in Japan.

AOA released its Japanese debut single Miniskirt on October 1 and has officially launched promotional activities in Japan.

Miniskirt is the Japanese version of AOA’s 5th single album Miniskirt and it contains three tracks, including the title song Miniskirt as well as the Japanese version of Short Hair and the original version of Get Out.

The music video for Miniskirt, which has been newly produced with Japanese lyrics, has ranked number one on Japanese portal site Yahoo Japan and Japanese streaming site GyaO’s popular video chart and the album has ranked number one on Tower Record’s world chart as soon as it was released. 

Stepping up as the next top K-pop girl group after making hits with Miniskirt and Short Hair, AOA has been receiving numerous love calls from foreign record companies prior to its official debut in Japan. As the only Korean girl group to perform during Japanese music festival A-Nation 2014, AOA also attended Tokyo Runway 2014 as the guest artist, showing dynamic performances to fans around Asia.

Photo credit: FNC Entertainment

BTOB Signs with Japanese Agency to Make Japan Debut in November

BTOB will officially be launching promotions in Japan.

Returning with the new title song You’re So Fly this week, BTOB has signed a contract with the Japanese agency to launch promotions in the country.

BTOB has been receiving numerous love calls to promote in Japan since the beginning of its debut and has been planning out various strategies for its promotions in Japan.

With its dynamic spectrum, crossing ballads and dance songs with its powerful performance skills and stable singing abilities, BTOB has signed a contract with Kiss Entertainment under unprecedented contract terms.

This proves BTOB’s potential to succeed, as it has become a rare occasion for a management contract to be signed under a high contract price ever since the K-pop bubble burst in Japan.

BTOB will be making its Japan debut sometime in November and the overall promotional strategy has already been planned out. 

Kiss Entertainment, which will be in charge of BTOB’s Japanese management, stated, “The fact that BTOB can easily pull off a two-hour long concert in Japanese along with perfect performances, on top of its energetic and friendly character, will help them receive a lot of love from Japanese music market.”

BTOB opened its official fan site and fan club ‘Melody Japan’ on October 1, and will be carrying out various album activities as well as activities on broadcast, as it sets its status as the next hallyu star in Japan.

BTOB has previously gathered over 8,000 fans to the four rounds of Japanese solo concerts in July, gathering attention from the Japanese fans and affiliates as ‘performing idols’ with outstanding abilities.

Meanwhile, BTOB’s 5th mini album, which was released today, ranked number one on Hanteo chart’s daily chart as soon as it was released.

On top of that, the global cosmetic brand Tony Moly has invested multi-hundred million won in BTOB’s comeback promotions, by launching an event to give out Tony Moly tints to all those who purchase BTOB’s album.

BTOB will begin promotional activities with the 5th mini album title song You’re So Fly and will be preparing to release a single album and make a Japanese debut in November.

Photo credit: Cube Entertainment