First Inwoo and now SM Entertainment is going against Mnet!

SM Entertainment made an official announcement earlier today that none of their artists will be taking part in the 2009 MAMA. That means, not only will you not be seeing trot singers Jang Yoon-jung and Park Hyun-bin at the 2009 MAMA, but you also won’t be seeing SNSD, Super Junior,SHINee and f(x) at the award show.

Apparently the reason behind SM Entertainment’s boycott is due to the fact that Mnet will choose the award winners for the MAMA using the same process they use for the M!Countdown music program, which SM states is not fair or trustworthy. SM Entertainment went on to state,

SNSD’s ‘Gee‘ won 1st place on other music programs for 9 consecutive weeks, while they hadn’t on M!Countdown, even once. Even for ‘Gee’ to simply enter their charts was about a month after the release of the song, which was during the first week of February.

Therefore, all SM artists will not be able to attend the 2009 MAMA, whose selection criteria isn’t fair or trustworthy.

SM Entertainment also went on to state that they do not like Mnet’s decision to make voting possible only to paid registered users of their website. SM Entertainment has made clear that they do not want fans of SM artists to have to fork out 3,000 KRW just to vote for their favorite artists. This has led to SM Entertainment’s decision to withdraw and boycott the 2009 MAMA.

With SM and Inwoo Entertainment’s withdrawal from the award show, that is a big chunk of artists Mnet is losing out on. Do you think Mnet will be able to put on a successful award show with all of these artists out of the picture?

Oh, just the new girl group being released by DSP Entertainment.

DSP Entertainment, the company of SS501 and KARA, released photos of their new girl group Rainbow earlier today. Rainbow consists of 7 members that have been training for a lengthy four years.

As to why the new group was named Rainbow, a representative of DSP Entertainment has revealed that during the girls trainee days, fans obtained rumors that the new group consisted of 7 members, giving them the nickname of Rainbow. Later, while the company was deciding on an official name for the group, they decided to stick with the name fans had personally given to the girls. Surely, it’s not the most interesting group name out there, but at least their fans will be happy, right?

In addition, a DSP Entertainment representative has stated,

Having trained and prepared for a long period of time, all seven members are packed with powerful vocal skills. All the members vocal and dance skills are amazing and very stable unlike the normal rookie groups, and are expected to show a natural (great) performance on stage.

Rainbow will release their first official teaser this coming November 6th. So, are you looking forward to the debut of DSP Entertainment’s new addition to their family?

…for the Iris drama OST, to support their fellow member TOP.

The boys of Big Bang have come together and actively participated in the OST for the hit drama Iris, to support TOP’s first step as an actor. “Hallelujah“, having been co-produced by G-Dragon and Teddy, has an addictive melody, with the usual enticing harmony of Tae-yang’s alluring vocals, G-Dragon’s rap and TOP’s irresistable, deep voice. The song is simply addictive.

Check out the MV that was released earlier today, below.

So what does that mean?

Who knows. But the new girl group, f(x) will release their fresh single, ‘Chu~♡(츄~♡)’ on November 4th from their first single album.

Of course the track will be a dance number (can you imagine a ballad?).

Their first single album will hit shelves on November 9th. In the meantime, you can get a taste of “Chu~♡” on Wednesday (Korea time).

f(x) will perform their new soon-to-be hit (we predict) for the first time this week, starting with Music Bank on Friday, then Music Core on Saturday and Inkigayo on Sunday.

Was he hanging around Jo Kwon of 2AM?

With Korea on high alert with the H1N1 virus, schools have shut down and people in the peak of health have died.

And now, Jong-hyun of the boy group, SHINee has contracted the swine flu. Luckily, there was a doctor available for him (there seems to be a shortage these days) so the infected one is at the hospital receiving treatment.

As for the rest of the boys of SHINee, they will continue their promotions for their latest track, “Ring Ding Dong”

Jong-hyun went to the hospital with flu symptoms on November 2^nd.

For good?

Probably not.

The Wonder Girls will be returning back to the U.S. to resume their conquest of the North American music market.

The 5 members will board a flight on either November 7 or 8th and will dive into promotional activities that will include interviews and TV appearances.While in the motherland for 2 weeks, the girls flew to China for 2D1N promotions. They will appear as guests with their mentor, Park Jin -young on Golden Fishery to share their experiences in the U.S. Let’s hope that a certain someone does not cry again.

Vote for your favorite Korean pop act!

The Overseas Viewer vote is up at the Mnet Asian Music Awards(MAMA). The awards and your vote will be happen on November 21st in Seoul.

Vote on the Mnet Asian Music Award site, here. Check out who’s in the lead:

Is it who you thought?
The fight for the Overseas Viewers Awards is between the fan clubs… and so far, Super Junior fans have rallied together to put their boys in the lead.

While Korea is in a panic with the H1N1 flu (1 infected highschool student gave H1N1 flu to 20 classmates), 2AM member, Jo Kwon seems to be taking the illness in stride.

Although the 2AM leader was diagnosed with the H1N1 flu this week, he will resume activities with the group next week. His management company, JYP stated that Jo Kwon is recovering but they are waiting for the doctor to give him the ok.

Tamiflu anyone?

Jo Kwon is part of the tv program, “We are Married”.

If you are in need for some last minute costume ideas, you can dress up as a campus couple, G-dragon, a random idol group or even JYP. Check it out here and here.

Big Bang was given a nod of acknowledgement by Time Magazine.

The weekly news magazine gave the boys a short write-up introducing them as one of the most promising groups in Korea. Is that so?

Check out the article at Time.com