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From K-pop group reunions to solos: New releases set for January

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From left, concept photos for GOT7, GFriend and Onew's new releases / Courtesy of Kakao Entertainment, Source Music and GRIFFIN Entertainment

From left, concept photos for GOT7, GFriend and Onew's new releases / Courtesy of Kakao Entertainment, Source Music and GRIFFIN Entertainment

GOT7, GFriend, SHINee Onew make comebacks
By Lee Gyu-lee

January will be full of K-pop comebacks from groups like GOT7 and GFriend's reunion albums to SHINee Onew's solo release.

Boy group GOT7 will be returning with the new mini-album "WINTER HEPTAGON," on Jan. 20, three years since the release of its last EP "GOT7."

The seven-piece act, whose members signed with separate agencies after its exclusive contract with JYP Entertainment ended in 2021, collaborated with Kakao Entertainment for the new album.

The upcoming album comes in time for the group's 11th anniversary since its debut with the EP "Got it?" in January 2014.

"This album was made possible with all seven members' hopes to repay fans' love in celebration of GOT7's 11th debut anniversary," Kakao Entertainment said in the release. "As it is their first full-group album in a while, Kakao Entertainment aims to capture GOT7's (depth,) unique color and diverse charms in the album through music content planning, production and marketing capabilities."

The disbanded girl group GFriend will be reuniting to celebrate its 10th debut anniversary with the rollout of the special album "Season of Memories" on Jan. 13.

The album will consist of two tracks, the title track of the same name and "Always," a song that its members Yuju and Umji took part in producing.

The group will prerelease the title track on Monday, prior to the album's release. The music video for the song will be unveiled on the day of the album's release.

"The title track 'Season of Memories' is a song that looks back on GFriend's past footsteps, encapsulating the team's signature sentiment with an uplifting melody, dynamic progression and beautiful, lyrical verses," Source Music, the group's agency, said.

The group is also set to hold a concert tour, "GFRIEND 10th Anniversary Season of Memories," as part of its debut anniversary celebration, starting with the Seoul concert on Jan. 17 to Jan. 19. The group will travel to four different cities in Asia, including Osaka and Taipei in March.

BOYNEXTDOOR / Courtesy of KOZ Entertainment

BOYNEXTDOOR / Courtesy of KOZ Entertainment

Boy group BOYNEXTDOOR will be making a comeback with the digital single "If I Say, I Love You," on Monday, about four months after it recorded its first million sales record with the third mini-album "19.99," released in September.

The new song will be an upbeat dance-pop song showing a humorous approach to getting over a breakup.

"BOYNEXTDOOR created its own breakup song for Gen Zs, mixing self-deprecating lyrics about suffering after a breakup with band sound-based melodies. Breaking away from the stereotype that breakup songs are sad, they plan to show an upbeat charm," the group's agency KOZ Entertainment said, adding the members will showcase their unique color through witty lyrics they wrote themselves.

Onew of boy band SHINee will also be dropping the new mini-album "CONNECTION" on Monday, four months after he dropped his third mini-album "FLOW."

The new album will consist of six tracks that the singer took part in writing, including the title song "Winner."

"The mini-album emphasizes the organic connection between Onew's inner and outer self. As he participated in writing lyrics for all songs, he plans to share his own authentic stories with listeners," the singer's agency GRIFFIN Entertainment said.

"Audiences can expect to encounter Onew's witty musical world that freely crosses between imagination and reality."

Girl group (G)I-DLE member Minnie will be releasing a solo album this month, according to her agency Cube Entertainment.

This will be the singer's first solo work since she debuted as part of the group in 2018. "We are currently preparing for the release of Minnie's first solo debut album with the aim to release it in mid-January," the agency revealed late last month.

She will be the fourth (G)I-DLE member to pursue solo activities, following Miyeon, Soyeon and Yuqi.

Lee Gyu-lee gyulee@koreatimes.co.kr


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