K-pop & Korean Entertainment: Music, Creators & Videos | NowHitz

26 acts, split across two nights

Night one (Nov. 14) has 14 acts, including I.O.I, aespa, NCT DREAM, ATEEZ, RIIZE and TWS. I.O.I's slot is a reunion, about nine years on.

Night two (Nov. 15) brings 12, among them IVE, CORTIS, NCT 127, PLAVE, ILLIT and NCT WISH. Both shows start at 6 p.m.

How to get a ticket

Round 1 runs on Melon Ticket from 8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 19. It is open to Melon members of MVIP, VIP or GOLD grade with a subscription of a year or more, and you can pick floor or stair seats.

Round 2 starts Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. for members holding a Melon subscription pass, with Round 1 cancellations and leftover seats. Each Melon ID can buy two tickets across both rounds.

What's new this year

The theme is “K-POP CONNECT: The New Pulse.” A new Global Top 10 award ties in with Global-K Chart, a China–Japan–Korea music index Melon built with Tencent Music and Line Music.

TOP10 voting for the main awards stays open until Oct. 29 on Melon's official page. The “Catch the Timing” promotion, running to Nov. 4, includes 224 MMA2026 invitations among its prizes.

Before you go

Gocheok Sky Dome is about 150 m straight ahead from Guil Station (Line 1) Exit 2 — roughly a three-minute walk. General parking is not available during events, so plan on transit.

No confirmed guidance on overseas cards or booking for fans abroad has been published. Check the booking screen and Melon Ticket notices.

'Bukas' means Bu Seung-kwan's Karum Stay

Jeju Province posted the video on its official YouTube channel on the 15th. 'Bukas' is short for 'Bu Seung-kwan's Jeju Karum Stay'.

Karum Stay is Jeju's village-travel brand, pairing the Jeju word 'karum', a small village, with 'stay'.

What he did in Sinchang-ri

Seungkwan stayed in a village lodging, tasted local Jeju food and cooked with green tangerines. There is also a sunset bike ride along the coast.

The province's channel also carries a 25-minute video of his Jeju trip, with English subtitles (ENG SUB) so overseas fans can follow along.

No appearance fee

Seungkwan joined the campaign as a talent donation, with no appearance fee. Governor Wi Seong-gon said, "Seungkwan's sincerity from experiencing Karum Stay in his hometown is captured in the video and the tourism campaign."

The province said it hopes people at home and abroad will feel the charm of a Jeju worth staying in through every season.

If you want to follow him

Sinchang-ri sits in Hangyeong-myeon, Jeju City. The lodging and activities he used can be seen in the video.

The ship crashes, then sets off again

KQ Entertainment posted a comeback spoiler on the group's official social accounts at midnight on the 8th. The ATEEZ ship symbol pops up inside a monitor showing frozen space, next to a skull, and in the middle of an ordinary room.

The tagline reads 'CRASH TO BEGIN', which reads as turning a collision into a fresh start.

Before the 'BAD' fever cools

The new release comes about five months after June's mini 14th 'Golden Hour : Part.5'. Part.5 posted the group's best sales ever and became its seventh million-seller.

It also hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the third time in the group's career. Its title track 'BAD' set off a challenge craze in Korea.

KGMA stage five days before the comeback

On Nov. 8 the group performs on Day 2, 'Music Day', of the 3rd Korea Grand Music Awards (KGMA) at Goyang Skydome. That is five days before the album.

ATEEZ took the top prize, Grand Artist's Choice, at the 2024 KGMA and Grand Artist in 2025, two years in a row at the top of this ceremony.

Counting down to Nov. 13

The album arrives on the 13th at 2 p.m. KST. Follow-up content and schedules are announced on KQ Entertainment's official social accounts.

If you skipped 'BAD' from Part.5, now is a good time to catch up.

From No. 77 to No. 1

'NEON' dropped on the 13th at 6 p.m. By 10 that night it sat at No. 77 on Melon TOP100.

It cracked the top 10 at 9 a.m. on the 14th and hit No. 1 at 11 p.m. the same day, about 29 hours after release.

How it stacks up

Reports call it the fastest debut-song No. 1 by a new group since Melon revamped its chart in August 2021. The old mark belonged to All Day Project's 'FAMOUS' (June 2025), which took about three days.

NewJeans' 'Attention' needed eight days and ILLIT's 'Magnetic' just under two weeks, though Melon's ranking method has changed, so comparisons only go so far.

What is in those three minutes

A heavy bass line, a dance break that explodes, and stacked a cappella harmonies, all packed into a little over three minutes.

The song builds on Lee Soo-man's SMP framework with producer Yoo Young-jin and US producer Dem Jointz. At the Oct. 12 showcase, Lee said he hopes people feel it is good before they look for what is different.

Why Melon No. 1 is hard

Melon TOP100 now ranks hourly by adding the last 24 hours of listening to the last one hour. Analysts say fandom rallying or a single burst of buzz rarely tops it.

That is why 29 hours turns heads. In the 10 p.m. snapshot on Oct. 18, 'NEON' was still No. 1.

Hear it now

The official music video is on the STONE MUSIC YouTube channel, and you can play it above.

The group's first music-show stage was Mnet's M Countdown on the 15th. Further stages will be announced by A2O Entertainment.

No. 1 on Saturday, and climbing

MBC's 'What Do You Do While Playing?' drew 5.2% nationwide and 5.2% in the capital area on Oct. 17 (Nielsen Korea), top among Saturday variety shows. The 2054 demographic hit 3.2%.

The first preliminary round a week earlier got 4.5% nationwide, so it rose 0.7 points. The 6.0% peak minute came when Yeongsim-i passed.

'95 Seoul Song Festival: an audition with no faces

Contestants sing hits from 1990 to 1995. They go by nicknames like 'Yeongsim-i' and 'The Shawshank Redemption', and Yoo Jae-suk, Ha Ha, Joo Woo-jae and Heo Kyung-hwan decide on voice alone.

Guessing who is behind the nickname is half the fun. In round 1, Heo Kyung-hwan sneaked in as 'Stop Right There' and was outed by his voice.

Round 2: seven of eight advance

The seven who passed: 'Ghost' (Kim Gun-mo, "Beautiful Farewell"), 'Yeongsim-i' (Park Mi-kyung, "Warning of Eve"), the band 'General Hospital' (Choi Jae-hoon, "After I Sent You Away"), 'Jealousy' (Mono, "You Are Always"), 'Last Game' (Green Zone, "I'll Love You"), 'Bathhouse Men' (Lee Sang-woo, "100m Before I Meet Her") and 'Adolescence' (Yoon Sang, "Between Hidden Times").

The only one out was 'Pilot', comedian Park Young-jin. Heo Kyung-hwan's verdict: "If he goes up, it's a problem."

The rematch decided the held acts

'Stop Right There', held from round 1, was Heo Kyung-hwan himself, and he was out after wobbling on the high notes. 'Love in Your Arms' ("Sad Wedding") and 'Shawshank Redemption' passed.

"Producer Yoo, how did you get a lineup this good?" Joo Woo-jae asked.

Next: the main round on Nov. 7

Everyone who passed rounds 1 and 2 takes the main-round stage on the Nov. 7 broadcast, two weeks away.

The Yeongsim-i stage is on MBCentertainment's official YouTube channel, so you can hear it even if you missed the show.

Two releases, one clock

NMIXX is back after about five months. Jeonghan X Joshua, a new Seventeen unit, makes its first mini album debut.

Both arrive Monday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. KST. Earbuds in before the commute home.

NMIXX's first unit songs

'Strange Muse' carries six tracks, led by the title track 'Birthday Wish' (긴 소원), with 'Kerosene' and 'RudE TaLK' among them. It also holds the group's first unit songs since debut, and the members took part in writing the lyrics.

The title track's M/V teaser is up on JYP Entertainment's official channel.

Jeonghan X Joshua at both twelves

'DREAMSCAPE' runs seven tracks. Title track '12 o'clock' draws on 1970s-80s disco and punk, and the album's theme is the border between dream and reality.

The range is wide: house on 'Like You', a bass-led 'Outside', R&B-soul on 'One Plus One', Joshua's solo 'Not Personal', Jeonghan's solo 'Coloring', and a band-sound closer, 'No Looking Back'.

The highlight medley is on the HYBE LABELS channel.

After the album, the arena

Jeonghan X Joshua open their tour at Incheon Inspire Arena from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, then head to Saitama (Nov. 21-22), Macau (Dec. 11-12), Taipei (Jan. 9-10, 2027), BEXCO in Busan (Jan. 30-31) and Hong Kong (Feb. 20-21).

NMIXX plays an encore concert at the same Inspire Arena on Nov. 27-29, the last stop of the roughly year-long first world tour 'EPISODE 1: ZERO FRONTIER'.

Before you press play

Release is 6 p.m. Korea time, which is 09:00 UTC. Fans abroad can set the time zone math in advance.

Both labels have teasers and medleys on their official channels.

Fifth for tickets, first for money

On Oct. 12, KOFIC's ticketing network showed 12,188,631 admissions, fifth among foreign films. Revenue, though, is No. 1.

The trick is the ticket price. Average revenue per viewer is about KRW 11,391, roughly 30% above Endgame's KRW 8,787. The report adds that general ticket-price rises over the years helped.

IMAX took a fifth of the take

According to CJ CGV, IMAX drew 1.73 million viewers as of Oct. 11, 14.2% of the total. Its share of revenue climbs to 22.6%.

'Odyssey' is the first feature shot entirely on IMAX film cameras. That is why IMAX's share of revenue is bigger than its share of viewers.

After Troy, the long way home

Released Aug. 5, the film follows Odysseus trying to return home after the Trojan War, with Matt Damon in the lead.

Ilgan Sports' Oct. 10 tally puts 'Avatar' at KRW 125.2 billion, 'Endgame' at KRW 122.4 billion and 'Frozen II' at KRW 115 billion.

The catch in the premium boom

IMAX, Dolby Cinema and 4DX have become cinemas' weapon against streaming. But they cost a lot to build and run, and if hits concentrate on a few blockbusters, mid-sized films could get squeezed.

Before you go

Premium screens have fewer seats and the popular showtimes fill early. Check your preferred screen and time on a booking app first.

The official trailer is on Universal Pictures Korea's channel.

Ratings up seven points in four episodes

Nielsen Korea nationwide: 11.4% for episode 1, 14.9% for episode 2, 15.1% for episode 3, 18.5% for episode 4. Every episode beat the last. With the premiere on Oct. 9, that happened in under two weeks.

It airs first in SBS's Friday-Saturday slot and is also on Netflix.

9.9 million hours in week one

In the Global Top 10 Netflix announced on Oct. 14 for Oct. 5-11, it ranked No. 1 among non-English shows, with 9.9 million viewing hours and 4.6 million views in its first week.

It is Studio Dragon's tenth Netflix global No. 1, and the fifth straight year since 'The Glory' in 2022.

A Japanese original, Korean-style medical noir

The source is TV Asahi's 'Doctor-X: Surgeon Daimon Michiko', which began in 2012 and ran seven seasons through 2021. In Korea the lead is surgeon Gye Su-jeong, played by Kim Ji-won in her first solo lead.

Son Hyun-joo, Lee Jung-eun and Kim Woo-seok co-star. The story draws on Korean medical issues such as the law on CCTV in operating rooms and the strike over medical school quotas.

The medical-accuracy row came too

A viewer who says he is an orthopedic surgeon asked the Korea Media and Communications Standards Commission on Oct. 13 to review the show, saying surgery scenes differ from real clinical practice. He accepts dramatic exaggeration but worries it could plant wrong ideas.

Ratings kept rising and the global ranking followed.

What to watch next

Studio Dragon says Noh Hee-kyung's 'Slowly and Intensely' and Kim Woo-bin's 'Gift' will arrive within the year.

'Doctor X' continues on SBS and Netflix. The official trailer is on Netflix Korea's channel.

140,000 sheets on Oct. 23

The stamps show Faker's career and award moments. There are 140,000 sheets plus a stamp booklet.

On Oct. 10, Seoul Central Post Office's Stamp Museum held a ceremony handing him the real thing. He got his stamps two weeks before the rest of us.

A Faker room at the Stamp Museum

A Faker special exhibition hall opened alongside the ceremony. It shows the commemorative stamp and a player uniform, and adds video screenings and a game zone.

Korea Post head Park In-hwan said the museum should become "a landmark that draws many domestic and foreign tourists as well as a space for stamp culture."

Jamsil first, then Seongsu

Riot Games' 'Music & Worlds 26' pop-up runs at Lotte World Mall in Jamsil from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1. Trendpod by Olive Young N in Seongsu follows from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8.

Expect music-video photo zones, music and esports quizzes, cheer messages for teams heading to Worlds, a lucky draw and a build-your-own Lolvatar station. Faker's stamp is on display too.

Riot says its League music catalogue tops 1,500 tracks and 16 billion streams.

Watch the video before you go

This year's Worlds anthem, 'Know My Name', is performed by virtual group True Damage. The official music video dropped on Oct. 9 and follows Faker's road to three straight Worlds titles.

At an Oct. 10 screening at CHZZK LoL Park, Faker said he was "deeply impressed because the journey from the early days of my career to our three-peat was captured in such detail."

Dates to keep straight

Stamp issue day and the Jamsil pop-up opening are both Oct. 23, so a post office stop followed by Lotte World Mall makes a neat one-day route.

Riot says opening hours and the merchandise lineup will be released in stages. Seongsu opens six days after Jamsil, so double-check which venue you're heading to.

A bug with a commute

'Worm Train' is inspired by Franz Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis.' Jae-hoon, a young office worker worn out by company life, turns into a giant insect and sets off for work anyway.

The centrepiece is a packed subway car, where the bug is jostled by other passengers and feels more isolated the more crowded it gets.

Even the AI blinked once

Kim started on the idea in February. A subway full of passengers tangled up with a giant insect proved too hard to render, so he stopped in March.

He restarted in August with production support from Kling AI. The film is built on Kling AI's video generation model 4.0.

"Two years of work in two days"

Scenes from the film were shown for the first time as a trailer on Oct. 11 at a conference session during the Asia Contents & Film Market at the Busan International Film Festival. "For a director to see the scene in their head on screen takes at least a year or two," Kim said. "With AI, what took two years became possible in two days."

He added: "The technology can show anything you imagine, but the value in the footage is made by people."

An AI team and a film crew

Producer Creative Mango says it is not all AI. VFX supervisor Ryu Jae-hwan, who made the AI opening of the drama 'Kim Bu-jang,' leads the AI footage, with four AI artists and art, editing and music directors alongside. Dexter The Eye handles colour grading and Monocon sound.

Production is about 70% done and in post.

Where can you watch it?

No release date or viewing route for 'Worm Train' has been announced.

The same company's AI short project with the Seoul Independent Film Festival, 'The Collaboration 2026,' premieres on Nov. 27 at CGV Apgujeong. Directors Lee Myung-se, Jang Cheol-soo, Shin Yeon-shick, Ahn Sang-hoon, Park Shin-woo, Jo Ba-reun and Kim Da-min each paired up with an AI director to make seven shorts.

Watch the show, then make something with the cast

The campaign began Oct. 16. With the culture ministry and the Korea Performance Tourism Association, it runs performance-tour promotions on online travel agencies in China, Japan, Taiwan, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The first-time experience add-ons stand out. After Painters, visitors make marbling art with a cast member; Nanta offers a souvenir made from stage props; Jump adds taekwondo; Youngjae Haneumhoe offers a Korean traditional instrument.

Dialogue-heavy shows, with caption glasses

Wordless shows are the usual safe pick for visitors. This campaign also puts dialogue-based works within reach with AI smart caption glasses that follow the lines for audiences who find Korean hard.

You can try them at the musical Inside Me or at the pop-up booths.

A taste in central Seoul

Showcases run on Oct. 17-18 and 24-25 in the outdoor yard of Hiker Ground, with highlights from Anarchist and Finding Kim Jong-wook.

Pop-up booths with show information and caption-glasses demos stay open through Oct. 29 at Hiker Ground and around Daehak-ro.

What KTO says

Baek Man-seong, head of KTO's Korean Wave Content Team, said the goal is for watching a performance itself to become a new reason, and purpose, for visiting Korea.

Before you go

Hiker Ground is at 40 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jung-gu, a two-minute walk from Jonggak Station Exit 5, and closed on Mondays.

Showcase times and experience-product prices are not published. Check the travel-agency promotions or the show's ticketing page for booking.

Three pioneers

Moncler unveiled the Re/Icons campaign on Oct. 16. The collection reworks iconic designs from the brand's archive through a new generation's eyes.

The faces are Cher, JENNIE and Grace Jones, picked as cultural pioneers who each cut their own path. The campaign draws on archive photographs of Lionel Terray, an alpine pioneer and early Moncler collaborator.

Three people, one crowd

Gabriel Moses shot and directed it. Each artist is placed at the centre of a huge crowd in a cinematic portrait.

In the campaign film, Cher tugs a yellow scarf to recreate a famous moment from The Cher Show, and the pull sets the dancers around her moving.

What JENNIE wears

JENNIE wears the black Karakorum jacket with a caramel Tibb vest, standing among people from around the world. In the ceaseless crowd, she is the one who stays sharp.

Cher wears the white Himalaya jacket and a black Verone jacket; Grace Jones wears the deep purple Karakorum, surrounded by figures in her dramatic makeup, a nod to her work with Jean-Paul Goude.

In their words

"My most special dream is to keep discovering a new version of myself I haven't met yet," JENNIE said. "To create freely, build new experiences and dream bigger."

Cher called the pioneer spirit "keeping on with a strong heart"; Grace Jones said it means taking on a challenge.

Where to try it

The Re/Icons collection is available at selected Moncler stores and on moncler.com. The jacket names are as listed above.

Stock differs by store, so ask ahead if there is one jacket you want.