Being able to stand out amongst the ever-growing K-pop groups of today is no easy feat, but ATEEZ makes it look simple, as proven by their tenth mini-album, Golden Hour: Part 1. The eight members have said goodbye to their pirate world but still provide the treasure with six golden tracks. Following the success of…
AB6IX Set to Delight Fans Across Europe with “Find YOU” Fan Concert Tour
AB6IX is a South Korean boy group formed by Brand New Music. The group, currently composed of Jeon Woong, Kim Dong-hyun, Park Woo-jin, and Lee Dae-hwi, made their debut on May 22, 2019, with their first EP, B. Before their official debut, Lim Young-min, Kim Dong-hyun, Park Woo-jin, and Lee Dae-hwi participated in the Mnet…
“Bushido”: Exploring Humanity Through the Lens of a Fallen Samurai – An Insight with Director Kazuya Shiraishi
“Any movie that I make, I always think: ‘What is a human being?’” director Kazuya Shiraishi shares as he reflects on his latest project Bushido. The samurai period drama, or jidaigeki, tells the story of ronin Yanagida Kakunoshin (Tsuyoshi Kuanagi) who has fallen into poverty but has found peace in a humble living with his…
All the World’s A Stage: Review of RM’s “Right Place, Wrong Person” Album
While the 11-track album, which dropped three weeks ago, has been lauded as the sophomore follow-up to the critically and commercially successful Indigo, it is in fact Namjoon’s fourth solo excursion. Looking back to his ‘mixtapes’, RM in 2015 and Mono in 2018, it is clear to see Namjoon’s artistic journey, which starts with the…
ONE N’ ONLY Discuss “DOMINO” and Their Dreams for the Future – Exclusive Interview
As ONE N’ ONLY prepare to take the stage at Aria Fest 2024 on June 20th at the Faliro Sports Pavilion Arena in Athens, Greece, the group’s exciting mix of JK-Pop and Jatin-Pop has just started taking the world by storm. Sharing the lineup with stars like Suho, Chanyeol, Sistar19, and Omega X, this event…
MCND on Their Sixth Mini-Album, “X10”, and Their International Journey – Exclusive Interview
Music Creates New Dream, better known as MCND, is a five-member South Korean boy group comprising Castle J, BIC, MINJAE, HUIJUN, and WIN. They debuted in 2020 with the hit single Ice Age and quickly adapted by pioneering online fansign events due to COVID-19 restrictions, continuing to build their presence in the K-pop industry. In…
Discussing “Alienoid: Return to the Future” with Director Choi Dong-hoon and Producer Ahn Soo-hyun – Exclusive Interview
I first interviewed Choi Dong-hoon, one of South Korea’s leading directors and screenwriters, in 2015 at the BFI London Film Festival, where he was promoting his espionage action film Assassination. Choi, renowned for his consistent box-office success, spent several years developing the script for Alienoid, a sci-fi fantasy action film. After premiering Alienoid at the…
James An Talks All About Hip-Hop and Breaks Down His Newest EP, “I Have No Friends and I Must Party” – Exclusive Interview
There are many talented artists in the music industry to discover, but if there’s one artist we believe everyone should listen to, it’s Korean-Canadian rapper James An. Even those who are perhaps unfamiliar with hip-hop will find themselves drawn to his incredible new EP, I Have No Friends and I Must Party. James is clearly…
P1Harmony in Chicago: Show-Stopping Performance – Concert Review
P1Harmony, expanding from theaters to arenas, are currently on their P1ustage H: UTOP1A Tour, travelling across eleven cities through North America after their opening show in Seoul. They most recently hit the Chicago Credit Union 1 Arena stage. Before the show began, fans gathered all along the arena, with lines stretching far beyond what one…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “When the Light Breaks” Review
Under the moody lilac skies of the Northern hemisphere, comes an 80-minute life sampler of the hopeful and free-spirited youths of Iceland, directed by Rúnar Rúnarsson. There’s only really two plot points of the whole film, which would explain its length; the rest is filled in with the characters’ – particularly Una’s – emotional conflicts…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “Universal Language” Review
The latest absurdist gem sitting behind the oh-so-frightening curtain of non-English cinema is Cannes Directors’ Fortnight: Audience Award winner Universal Language, directed by and starring Matthew Rankin. In Persian and French, the film lands us in the snow-laid streets of Winnipeg, starting off in the French immersion school attended by Nazgol (Saba Vahedyousefi), Negin (Rojina…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “Locust” Review
Every generation has its angry young men, rebelling against the cultural conformity of the era. From James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Marlon Brando in The Wild One pushing back against the stifling conservatism of the Eisenhower age, to the various turn-of-the-century studies of disaffected adults stilted by middle-class life, these are snapshots…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” Review
Kowloon Walled City, a military fort turned ungovernable residential area in Hong Kong that was demolished in 1993, feels like the product of a screenwriter’s imagination run wild. As depicted in Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, the city’s self-sustaining ecosystem is almost entirely shut off from the real world, its 35,000+ residents living and…
James An Delivers Raw Honesty in New EP “I Have No Friends And I Must Party” – EP Review
Korean-Canadian artist James An will transport you back to the 1990s with his new EP, I Have No Friends And I Must Party. This eight-track release captures his genuine passion for hip-hop and skilfully pays homage to it. The artist mixed the quintessential elements of golden age hip-hop to create a beautiful and necessary listening…
VIEW OF THE ARTS 