Big Bang have shared an official release date for their forthcoming comeback project.

READ MORE: Taeyeon talks Girls’ Generation: “It always feels like home when we’re all together”

At midnight KST today (March 21), YG Entertainment and the four members of the K-pop boyband uploaded a teaser image for the group’s long-awaited comeback, which is set to be released next month. The as-yet-unnamed release will be Big Bang’s first new music in four years, since their 2018 song ‘Flower Road’.

“BIGBANG 0AM APR 05 2022,” reads the poster, which features a blank polaroid picture. While the upcoming release is set to arrive at midnight on April 5, it is unclear which timezone it is referring to. Further details, such as the format of the release and title of the project, are expected in the coming days.

Last week, the agency also confirmed that all four members of the band had recently wrapped up a shoot for their new music video. “Big Bang’s G-Dragon, Taeyang, T.O.P and Daesung recently completed filming the music video for their new song,” wrote YG, which added that the group’s preparations were “progressing smoothly.”

YG Entertainment first announced the boyband’s highly-anticipated return last month, where it also revealed member T.O.P. had left the agency. Despite the end of the rapper’s contract with the company, YG confirmed that T.O.P remains a member of Big Bang and will be involved in the upcoming release.

However, the rapper has since hinted that the upcoming project might be the final release featuring him for the foreseeable future. “In the last few years, I was starting to think that maybe this was the end, and maybe there won’t be T.O.P of Big Bang for a while,” he said
recently.

Big Bang’s upcoming release will also notably be their first as a quartet, following the departure of ex-member Seungri. The former K-pop idol had left the group and the entertainment industry in 2019, due to his involvement in the Burning Sun scandal.

Earlier this year, Seungri had his prison sentence reduced to 18 months from the original three years after reportedly pleading guilty to all charges brought against him. Prior to his January 27 trial, the singer had vehemently denied all charges and his involvement in the Burning Sun scandal in all his previous hearings.

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BTS member Jin recently underwent surgery after sustaining an injury, according to his label Big Hit Music.

READ MORE: MOONBIN & SANHA open up about their “darker, more mature” sophomore mini-album ‘REFUGE’

On March 19, South Korean agency shared on fan community site Weverse that the K-pop idol has had injured his left index finger during his daily activities a day prior. The singer later visited the energy room at a nearby hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair a damaged tendon.

“Jin injured his left index finger during his daily activities and visited the emergency room at a hospital nearby for examination and treatment on Friday, March 18,” wrote the agency. “He consulted doctors and was told he required surgery as the tendons in the finger had been partially damaged.”

Big Hit Music added that the surgery had been a success, and that the idol would be taking a break to focus on his recovery for the time being. “Jin was discharged from the hospital on the morning of Saturday, March 19 and has been resting,” the agency added. “He will wear a cast for the time being for stabilization and a speedy recovery.”

The agency also noted that the singer will, for the time being, “focus on rest and treatment to fully recover from the injury and to resume his activities in good health”. It added: “We will continue to provide support for the rapid recovery of Jin, placing our highest priority on the health and safety of our artists.”

In other BTS news, vocalist and dancer Jimin is set to release a new original track for the upcoming South Korean drama Our Blues. The as-yet-unnamed song will mark the idol’s first-ever contribution to a K-drama soundtrack.

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K-pop idol and actor Taecyeon, from the boyband 2PM, has revealed that his parents still manage his income.

READ MORE: Weeekly lose their unique identity as they messily somersault to a new sound on ‘Ven Para’

In a recent interview with Star1, the 33-year-old celebrity revealed that his parents still help him handle his finances. Taecyeon first made his debut back in 2008 at the age of 19 as part of 2PM, and had previously shared in the past that he had put his parents in charge of his finances.

“My parents control and handle all my finances,” Taecyeon confirmed to Star1, as translated by Soompi. “I’m 35 years old [by Korean reckoning], but I still receive an allowance.”

Elsewhere during the interview, the idol-turned-actor spoke about his new role as Ryu Sung-joon, a passionate violent crimes detective in OCN’s upcoming mystery-thriller drama Blind. The 2PM member had been confirmed as a member of the cast back in January, along with Ha Seok-jin.

“[Sung-joon] is a character who is faster with his actions than his words,” Taecyeon revealed. “I’ll be returning with a project that has a serious and heavy vibe, so please look forward to it.”

Earlier this month, IST Entertainment announced that Eun-ji, a member of its girl group Apink, had also been cast in Blind. Her character has been described as generous and open-minded despite her young age, and became a social worker to help children after her own difficult childhood.

Last year, 2PM returned with their seventh studio album ‘Must’, alongside its lead single ‘Make It’. That record marked the group’s first release in nearly five years following a long hiatus, during which its members completed their mandatory military service.

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Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl will release an album of music he recorded as the fictional metal band Dream Widow this week.

READ MORE: ‘Studio 666’ review: Dave Grohl in a hard day’s night of the demons

In the Foo Fighters’ recent comedy-horror film Studio 666, the band hire a mansion in Encino to record their 10th studio album, but Grohl soon becomes possessed by a curse and begins viciously attacking his bandmates.

Throughout the film, we learn that decades earlier, the band Dream Widow experienced a similar fate, with the band recording a “lost album” before their frontman murdered the rest of the band.

Now, according to Variety, that “lost album” will arrive digitally this Friday (March 25), with a physical release to follow later in the year.

Grohl has already released the first single to be lifted from the Dream Widow record, having shared ‘March of the Insane’ last month. The thrash-influenced cut sees Grohl howl lyrics like “Sing in a villainous choir / Join in a chorus of pain,” above blistering, heavily distorted guitar riffs and frenetic drums.

It’s not clear how many tracks the record will contain, or what the overall sound will be, but Grohl cited Trouble, Corrosion of Conformity and Kyuss as reference points when speaking to Rolling Stone about the project last month.

In a four-star review of Studio 666 upon its release, NME praised the Foo Fighters’ onscreen presence. “Comfortable, confident and characterful, they play to individual strengths that illuminate personalities too often hidden behind their scene-stealing frontman,” Mark Beaumont wrote of Grohl’s bandmates.

“Pat Smear makes for a classic comedic bumbler, shameless in his product placement. Keyboardist Rami Jaffee plays the band horndog with theatrical relish, right up to a demise that gives new meaning to the phrase ‘doing the nasty’. Bassist Nate Mendel, it turns out, has serious acting chops, and Dave’s own screen charisma is apparent.”

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Nicki Minaj has claimed that young women receiving hate in the music industry are merely experiencing “growing pains” when compared to what she has been through.

Minaj made the comments during an Instagram Live conversation with rapper Coi Leray, who collaborated with Minaj on their recent song ‘Blick Blick’, and is 15 years her junior. During the conversation, Leray mentioned that her success had come in the face of “hate” that she had received. Minaj took issue with this, saying that Leray and “girls” in the music industry should “stop talking about hate”.

“Y’all have never experienced hate the way I have experienced,” she said. “What y’all have experienced is nothing. Y’all have just experienced some of the growing pains of artistry, and of social media. Y’all be thinking y’all have experienced hate and trust me, you ain’t experienced it yet… people have been gentle.”

Watch a snippet of the conversation between Minaj and Leray below:

Nicki Minaj tells Coi Leray these girls have it easy, they don’t receive half the amount of hate they think or say they have pic.twitter.com/XFpbLvPxgn

— GlockTopickz (@Glock_Topickz) March 19, 2022

Following a negative backlash to the conversation, Leray herself came to Minaj’s defense on Twitter, saying that people criticising Minaj were “too emotional” and that Minaj’s comments “didn’t offend” her.

Y’all too emotional .. Nicki been through a lot !!! she still standing strong, still dropping hits. She basically told me don’t let y’all wack ass comments and negative energy stop me now because MORE MONEY AND SUCCESS More problems so THUG THAT SHIT OUT !

— TrendSetter (@coi_leray) March 19, 2022

Nicki don’t offend me . I grew up on tough love. When someone is speaking who has more experience, always listen. That’s the problem y’all talk to damn much. Regardless of what she saying she coming from a good place.

— TrendSetter (@coi_leray) March 19, 2022

Minaj then responded to Leray, praising her as a “talented, versatile, unique artist”.

That’s why I left the live up. I spent time just focused on HOW you’re such a talented, versatile, unique artist in my eyes. I talked on how your verse kept switching up & getting better & how dope those last 4 bars are to me… how I know for a fact you actually WRITE. BUT NO!!! https://t.co/yDQsE4DJr7

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) March 19, 2022

Apart from ‘Blick Blick’, Minaj has released two new singles in 2022 thus far: ‘Do We Have A Problem?’ and ‘Bussin’, both of which feature Lil Baby.

Leray, meanwhile, is gearing up to release her debut album ‘Coi’ in early April.

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Kwon Eun-bi is set to make her much-anticipated return with her upcoming second mini-album, ‘Color’.

READ MORE: (G)I-DLE – ‘I Never Die’ review: these are not wide-eyed girls anymore

Today (March 21), the singer announced her forthcoming return with a series of artistic teaser images and a new video that’s dubbed a “palette film”. The dreamy visual captures the star submerged underwater in a white dress and flower crown as she slowly lets go of a bouquet of white flowers.

Kwon Eun-bi’s second mini-album, titled ‘Color’, is set to drop on April 4 at 6pm KST.

‘Color’ will mark the former IZ*ONE member’s first official comeback since her debut mini-album ‘OPEN’ and its title track ‘Door’ arrived last August.

“I feel good overall, but I have a lot of weight on my shoulders about needing to show my own colours,” Kwon shared shortly after her solo debut. “It’s my first time, so I’m trying to show myself as best as I can to everyone.”

Earlier this month, the singer released a digital single titled ‘Esper’ in collaboration with K-pop entertainment platform, Universe. The song marks the 17th release under the plaform’s Universe Music project, which launched last January with IZ*ONE’s ’D-D-Dance’.

Prior to her debut as a soloist, Kwon Eun-bi had been the leader and a vocalist of Japanese-Korean girl group IZ*ONE, which was formed through television series Produce 48, from 2018 until they disbanded in April 2021.

In other news, Starship Entertainment girl group IVE, which features former IZ*ONE members An Yu-jin and Jang Won-young, are set to return on April 5 with their second single album ‘Love Dive’. It will mark the sextet’s first release of 2022, and comes just four months after their debut last December with their first single album ‘Eleven’.

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Taylor Fritz said his stubborn streak and a high pain tolerance helped him win the Indian Wells title on Sunday after an ankle injury almost forced the American to pull out of the final against Rafa Nadal. Fritz overcame excruciating pain to snap Nadal’s 20-match winning run with a 6-3 7-6(5) victory in the ATP […]

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Doja Cat brought her set at Lollapalooza Argentina to a standstill over the weekend (March 19), after being alerted to an audience member requiring medical attention.

The American singer and rapper was performing her song ‘Options’ when she called for the track to be cut midway through, Billboard reports. Addressing the crowd, she asked if “somebody needs help out there”, to which a section of the crowd waved and pointed. “We can’t have that,” the singer said, before communicating with security and stage management to take care of the fan. “I can’t keep going if things aren’t good.”

While her band and dancers waited for a sign that it was okay to continue, Doja Cat addressed the audience to stress the importance of safety. “It’s nobody’s fault – these things happen, there’s a lot of people,” she said. “Don’t get sad or upset – I’ll be back, I will. I promise.”

Sure enough, moments later, she was given the all-clear to finish the set – which concluded with her Number One single ‘Say So’.

Crowd safety has become a paramount issue at large-scale events in the wake of the Astroworld tragedy of 2021. Earlier this year, Billie Eilish stopped two of her own shows for similar reasons – one in Atlanta, and one in New York City.

“I wait for people to be OK [before] I keep going,” Eilish said to the audience at the time of the first incident.

Doja Cat was one of several marquee acts to perform at the South American version of the Chicago-based music festival over the weekend. Others on the line-up included the Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Miley Cyrus and A$AP Rocky.

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Julia Fox has responded to the criticism she faced after quipping last week that her ex-boyfriend, Kanye West, was “harmless”.

READ MORE: Divorce, Drake disses and problematic features: 10 talking points from Kanye West’s ‘DONDA’

Last Thursday (March 17), the actress was approached by TMZ to weigh in on an animated video for West’s recent single ‘Eazy’ – a collaborative effort with The Game, released back in January – which shows a caricature of West kidnapping and brutalising Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson (who is currently dating West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian).

Asked if she thinks Kardashian and Davidson should be worried about their safety, Fox – who briefly dated West earlier this year – responded: “No, Kanye’s harmless!” She dismissed the violent scenes in West’s video as “artistic expression”, and although she agreed that his behaviour comes off as “aggressive”, Fox said the rapper’s perceived threats are “nothing more than talk”.

“I think if it really came down to it,” she continued, “I don’t think Kanye would hurt a fly.”

Fox’s comments proved controversial on social media, with some responders opining that she’d been dismissive of West’s perceived harassment towards Kardashian and Davidson. According to TMZ, Fox has now addressed that criticism in a post briefly made available on Instagram, claiming she was unaware of West’s recent attacks on Davidson, Kardashian and their supporters through his own social media pages.

“I would like to point out that I had not seen the latest Instagram posts at the time of this video,” Fox is said to have written in her post. “Believe it or not I have a life and a son, and I don’t have Google alerts for this man!”

Fox went on to clarify that she’d believed she was only addressing the ‘Eazy’ video when the aforementioned TMZ reporter approached her, and that she felt obliged to make her comments over pressure from her followers.

She continued: “I thought this question was in reference to the music video. Yeah I could just not answer questions but then it would be ‘Julia is mad she salty’ etc and I’m not! It’s a real catch 22 so please stop F’n asking me! I wish I had the answers, but I do not. I would like to remain an Indie Queen. The mainstream life isn’t for me.”

Earlier this month, West released another version of the ‘Eazy’ video. This time, the skinned monkey from the single’s cover art is seen attacking Davidson, pinning down a blurred-out avatar of the actor and comedian, and walloping him with a string of punches.

Davidson later responded to West, writing in a leaked text exchange: “I’ve decided I’m not gonna let you treat us like this anymore and I’m done being quiet.” After Kanye said he was “happy to see [him] out of the hospital and rehab,” Davidson said: “Same here. It’s wonders what those places do when you go get help. You should try it.”

Last week saw West’s Instagram account temporarily suspended, with a Meta representative claiming the rapper’s recent posts violated policies on hate speech, bullying and harassment. At the time of writing, West is yet to make any new posts on the platform.

In addition, it’s been reported that West had a planned performance at the 2022 Grammys cancelled over his “concerning online behaviour”. The 2022 Grammys are set to be hosted by Trevor Noah – a racist post about the comedian led to West being suspended from Instagram – though it’s not been confirmed whether the incident was part of the decision to remove West’s performance from the ceremony.

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Keldon Johnson followed in a missed free throw with three-tenths of a second remaining Sunday night, allowing the visiting San Antonio Spurs to survive a foul-filled finish to stun the Golden State Warriors 110-108 in San Francisco. Josh Richardson came off the bench to score a team-high 25 points and was one of six Spurs […]

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Pascal Siakam had 26 points and 10 rebounds and the visiting Toronto Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 93-88 Sunday night. Chris Boucher added 12 points and 14 rebounds and Precious Achiuwa matched his season best with 21 points for the Raptors, who have won six of their past seven games. Scottie Barnes added 13 points. […]

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