Kim Hyun Joong’s ‘Break Down’ limited edition album sells out in 1 hour

Kim Hyun Joong’s ‘Break Down‘ album had previously achieved sales of 100,000 albums within only two weeks, making him the first solo artist to do so this year.
And now, it has been reported that the ‘Break Down’ limited edition album that Kim Hyun Joong had prepared as a way to thank his fans had sold out within an hour of its release on June 23rd, making him the first solo artist to sell a total of 110,000 albums within two weeks this year!
Kim Hyun Joong also recently achieved his second consecutive win on Mnet’s ‘M! Countdown‘ with ‘Break Down’.
It looks like the singer’s soaring popularity won’t be slowing down anytime soon!

SNSD show their beauty secrets in Japan’s “Ray”

Shoujo Jidai (SNSD) is featured on the front cover of the August issue of “Ray” magazine, which started to be displayed in stores on June 23rd.

The nine members of the group showed up on the cover wearing a different coordination of white blouses and denim tops/rompers. To accent the simple outfits, they all wear summer-themed, vivid-colored heels, and show off their beautiful legs which every girl envies.
Their interview in this magazine features their thoughts on their current Japanese tour, and Shoujo Jidai also answered one hundred questions for “100 no Q&A”. Before the photography session, Taeyeon used moisturizer and scrub on her skin to emphasize her flawless skin for the photos.
This issue of “Ray” also featured models Karina, Izumi Rika, and Miyu wearing different summer outfits.
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To check out SNSD’s scans from the magazine, head over to tokyohive!

B1A4 lands a Thai CF deal with “Big Cola”

B1A4 is quickly rising as one of the biggest rookie groups this year, and they’re already regarded as a ‘blue chip’ in the advertising industry.  Just two months into their debut, B1A4 landed themselves a Thai CF deal with “Big Cola“!
This comes just after their joint CF deal with Block B for “Tropicana Sparkling“, as well as a slew of other offers in the works for drinks, clothing, and accessories.
On June 22nd, the boys visited the streets of Insa-dong with top Thai actress May Pitchanat and filmed late into the night. After the filming, B1A4 gave both Pitchanat and the Thai staff traditional Korean presents.
The boys are currently running fan signings nation-wide, as well as starring in the MTV reality show, ‘Match Up‘.  Be sure to check out their follow-up stage on MBC’s ‘Music Core‘ tomorrow!

Kim Hyun Joong & T-ara selected as top CF models!

The seven ladies of T-ara and SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong were awarded the titles of “Best CF actor/actress” at the 2011 MTN Broadcast Commercial Festival.
“Thank you for giving me such a meaningful award,” said Kim Hyun Joong, whose fame skyrocketed through his drama, “Boys Over Flowers“. “In the future, I will do better in commercials as well as branch out into other forms of media.”
All seven members of T-ara were present to receive their award, which is decided by a panel of industry executives and specialists. “Thank you for the award, and please show a lot of love to our new album, which we’ll be releasing soon,” the ladies said.
T-ara will soon be unleashing their new album, “John Travolta Wannabe“

Teaser for KBS’s upcoming drama “Spy Myung Wol” revealed!

Earlier, we reported on the still-cuts for KBS’s upcoming Monday-Tuesday drama, “Spy Myung Wol“, starring Eric Mun and Han Ye Seul.
KBS has recently unveiled the teaser for the drama, and viewers can now see Eric as the sharp Korean star and Han Ye Seul’s plan to marry him, even though she’s a North Korean spy.
The pilot episode is to be released July 11th, taking the place of “Baby-Faced Beauty“.
Check out the preview below, as we wait for Eric’s comeback drama!

Trax’s Jungmo and Super Junior’s Heechul form a project group

Fellow SM Entertainment artists Kim Jungmo and Kim Heechul have banded together to form a new group called “M&D”!
The collaboration between the TRAX and Super Junior members will feature songs written, composed, and arranged by the artists themselves.
The name of their group, “M&D”, is an acronym for “Midnight & Dawn”; it also stands for the initials of their respective neighborhoods, ‘Miari’ (미아리) and ‘Dangye-dong; (단계동).
Their first title track, “Close Ur Mouth“, will be released on June 22nd. The boys boast that it will feature a brand-new sound “unlike anything you’ve heard before.”
Stay tuned to allkpop for more details!

2AM’s Changmin to leave “Immortal Song 2″

KBS’s idol singing program, “Immortal Song 2“, already carries a lengthy list of idol stars who have either withdrawn from the show or given notice. 2AM’s Changmin has just joined that list, as it’s been revealed that he too would be leaving the program.
On June 22nd, a representative of “Immortal Song 2″ confirmed, “Changmin will be having his last performance during the fourth round of the contest on July 4th.”
Since Changmin is preparing for his Homme comeback with 8eight’s Lee Hyun, it was decided that it was best for the singer to withdraw from the program in order to avoid an overwhelming schedule.
So far, a total of six participants have announced their exit from the show, including B2ST’s Yoseob, Super Junior’s Yesung, SHINee’s Jonghyun, IU, and SECRET’s Ji Eun. Assigned replacements for these artists include MBLAQ’s G.O, 2PM’s Junsu, F.T Island’s Hongki, and 4minute’s Jiyoon.

miss A reveals their dorm for the very first time

It’s a rare opportunity to be able to look into the homes and personal spaces of Korea’s most popular idols. Fans are always curious about what their homes are like, but usually are only able to see passing scenes in reality shows if they’re lucky.
As such, Sports Donga took it upon themselves to solve the curious case in celebration of their 1,000th edition. They decided to visit miss A’s dorm, which was never once revealed to the public. Interestingly enough, the Sports Donga journalists were also the first ‘men’ to step foot inside.

The girls live in an apartment 30-pyeong big that they moved into last June. The walls are decorated with fan-drawn portraits of the members, one of whom was revealed to be living separate from the group.
Excluding Min, Fei, Jia, and Suzy live in the dorm with rooms of their own. Min lives with her family in Geumho-dong, but she sometimes visits the dorm to hang out with her girls.
At the mention of the dorm being clean, Jia responded with a shy smile, “We actually began cleaning three days ago.” Min added, “I didn’t know the place was so big until after we cleaned up. This is my first time seeing it so clean.”
The girls actually have a maid come over twice a week to help them clean since they’re busy preparing for their new album. The biggest room is used by maknae Suzy because she used to share with Jia.
After her schedule patterns began differing due to irregular filming schedules for “Dream High“, Jia moved rooms to give her space.
Suzy explained, “I came home from filming one day and realized that she moved rooms. She had decorated the room for me. It was really pretty.”

Jia and Fei revealed that they had lived with eight others in a home for three years when they were trainees. Jia said, “The best thing about debuting with miss A was that we all could have our own rooms.”
Although agencies provide dorms for ease of travel to and from schedules, living in a dorm is up to the idols themselves. Small to mid-sized agencies are able to provide up to 20-pyeong big apartments, while larger agencies provide 30-pyeong big apartments or villas.

Girl groups usually live with a female manager in their dorms, but miss A lives completely on their own. They also don’t have restrictions on leaving the dorm on their free time, and are provided a monthly allowance to live off of.
Jia and Fei said, “We don’t have a lot of friends so there aren’t a lot of places to go to anyway. We spend most of our time in the dorm. We probably visited the COEX mall about 100 times.”
The only people who visit the dorm are family members or friends. Suzy’s parents will often make a visit from Gwangju and stay the night.
Other groups like Rania, A Pink, CHI CHI, Boyfriend, and even CNBLUE and SECRET don’t have cell phones in order to focus completely on their album activities. miss A, on the other hand, never had to give up them up. In fact, they’ve even upgraded to smartphones after their debut and each possess an iPad.
It’s understandable why cell phones are so important to Jia and Fei.
Since they’re far away from their homes, the girls revealed that their smartphones are the only tools that help them deal with their loneliness.

The girls usually don’t eat at home, and maybe snack if they’re hungry. Their fridge is filled with cakes, ice cream, coffee, milk, juice, yogurt, ham, and side dishes like kimchi.
A part of the fridge is also taken up by red wine and champagne, drinks that Fei and Jia sometimes enjoy on their own. There are also foreign brand products sent from family members in China, like red pepper paste, crackers, ramen, and dried fruit.
Although they don’t cook often, Fei is said to be an exceptionally talented chef. On her birthday, she threw a small party with her labelmates and personally cooked Chinese dishes. When they were trainees, Fei would even pack lunches for the other members.

Just like their individual styles, the girls had varying tastes when it came to decorating their rooms. Fei opted for a bright red, while Jia centered hers around the color brown; Suzy meanwhile went with pink.
Fei revealed herself to be a collector of body mists, and a fan of hats and sunglasses. Meanwhile, Jia possessed an overflowing closet, but her room is impeccably neat and well-organized.
Reporters noticed a row of books by Suzy’s bed and found that they were mostly Chinese lesson books, novels, and practice notebooks from school. Out of the three, she has the most stuffed animals.
When asked to choose the prettiest room, Min chose Jia’s.
Which room do you like the best?