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Spring is in the air! While we might not all be able to go out and see cherry blossoms, we can all enjoy a playlist dedicated to this warm, lively and blooming season. We've picked 15 K-pop spring songs for a seasonal playlist that will brighten your days with the sound of love and hope! 1. 10cm – What The Spring?? 10cm's chill and rhythmical 2016 song "What The Spring??" comes into the spring picture a bit differently with lyrics throwing bitter words at lovey-dovey couples who are enjoying the season so much. Kwon Jeong Yeol uses his sweet, unique tone to mischievously represent the perspective of every lonely single who is sick of seeing lovers having fun: "Do you love spring so, you... [read more]
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A year after the competition program Road to Kingdom, Mnet is back with its sequel, Kingdom: Legendary War, bringing together six of the hottest K-pop boy groups to compete for the crown. Among the six teams, who will win the title of the new K-pop king of this generation? Before Kingdom premieres on April 1, let's have a quick introduction to the six groups – BTOB, iKON, SF9, The Boyz, Stray Kids and ATEEZ! BTOB – "Born to Beat!" Missing You MV Dreamers don't die – and that explains why BTOB is taking part in Kingdom, despite being a more well-known and senior name among the contenders. BTOB's music journey began in 2012 with Insane. Though they had hits like "The Second Confession" and... [read more]
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March is Women's History Month. In addition to reading up on history, take a look at how notable female figures, from artists and athletes to royals and revolutionaries, are remembered and reimagined on the silver screen. A Resistance Yu Gwan Sun was only 17 years old when she passed away in prison in 1920 as a martyr of Korea's independence movement. Incidentally, this March also marks the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Movement, and Jo Min Ho's somber, stirring biopic pays homage to the young activist who was arrested for organizing demonstrations against Japanese rule in her hometown. Ko Ah Sung portrays the heroic resistance of Yu Gwan Sun, who is remembered as one of the most... [read more]
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Many rising actors who started out in supporting roles are now gradually taking up leading characters and becoming the new stars of the K-Drama world. We've profiled ten promising Korean actors who have made a breakthrough over the past two years. Let's look into why they're worth anticipating in 2021 and beyond! 1. Kim Hye Yoon Do you remember the rude and ambitious kid Kang Ye Seo from Sky Castle? After bit roles in dramas like I Can Hear Your Voice, My Love From the Star and Goblin, Kim Hye Yoon turned from an unknown actress to one of the breakout stars of the high-rating JTBC drama, and even won Best New Actress at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards. Shooting to fame, she got her first... [read more]
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Watching movies is a common pastime during the Chinese New Year holidays, so much so that there's an entire genre of Lunar New Year films. Films made to be released during this holiday period run the gamut from comedy to action to romance, but they tend to be lighter in tone and suitable for family viewing. Think Sam Hui's Aces Go Places series and the films of Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow. Probably the most classic image of the Chinese New Year movie is a Hong Kong ensemble comedy filled with stars and gags – plus an end reel of the cast singing a New Year's song and reciting well-wishes. Since heading to the cinema may not be a good idea this holiday season, why not (re)watch some old... [read more]
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The below rankings are based on sales of television/drama releases on YesAsia.com from January 1 to December 31, 2020. TOP 10 TV DRAMAS (OVERALL) 1. HIStory3: Make Our Days Count 2. HIStory3: Trapped 3. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? 4. Addicted 5. TharnType 6. Goblin 7. The Untamed 8. HIStory2 9. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo 10. Healer CHINESE TV BESTSELLERS In 2019, HIStory 3: Trapped was the top-selling drama of the year. In 2020, it dropped one spot and ceded the throne to… HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count. The popular Taiwan BL series nabbed a whopping three entries, and the 2016 gay youth drama Addicted also returned to the chart. Meanwhile, the BL-based period fantasy The Untamed... [read more]
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The soundtrack of the popular drama The Untamed emerged as 2020's Chinese music bestseller. Another hit drama OST, Someday or One Day, also almost made it into the top ten. Proving their growing international popularity, WayV leaped forward as our best-selling male artist of the year, with all four of their albums since debut charting in the top ten. G.E.M. claimed high positions on both the album and artist charts. Sammi Cheng, the second highest-selling female singer, continued to top our concert chart with her latest #FOLLOWMi, while last year's #1 Sammi By My Side Birthday Gig Live still ranked seventh. Juno Mak and Kay Tse maintained their spot in the album bestsellers, and AGA... [read more]
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Making their Japanese debut in 2020, Stray Kids stormed to the top of our Japan music bestsellers by claiming the top spots across the board. Besides having the top two albums and #1 single, the Korean boy band was the best-selling artist overall. In their final year before hiatus, Arashi went strong with the top album and single among Japanese artists as well as the best-selling concert. The enduringly popular KinKi Kids are well represented with a group album, solo album, single and concert on the charts. Other Johnny's artists predictably appear including Hey! Say! JUMP, NEWS, newcomer SixTONES, and Kimura Takuya with his solo debut, not to mention the charity project unit Twenty★Twenty.... [read more]
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BTS continues to dominate the #1 spots of our K-pop bestseller charts for the fifth consecutive year! From album Map of the Soul:7 to video releases like 5th Muster Magic Shop and Memories of 2019, the world sensation topped both of our K-pop charts and reigned as the best-selling artist. Stray Kids secured their position as our second highest-selling group with their first full-length album GO LIVE, which came right after BTS's. Baek Hyun, the only solo male artist in the top ten, rose to #3 in the album chart with Delight, and EXO's latest concert video ranked third as well. Fast-rising group NCT and subgroup NCT 127 claimed spots in both the album and artist charts, while GOT7 and IZ*ONE... [read more]
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The below rankings are based on sales of Chinese books on YesAsia.com from January 1 to December 31, 2020. TOP 10 CHINESE BOOKS Continuing her steady output and popularity, Yi Shu claimed six spots in the top ten Hong Kong book bestsellers of 2020. However, she ceded the top-selling author title to Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, whose BL fantasy period novel series Mo Dao Zu Shi stayed at #1 among Taiwan books. Not only that, the series' side story and her other novel, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, follow right behind. Popular Taiwan TV host Kevin Tsai has two books in the top ten, and cookbooks from Chef Chu and Hong Kong YouTuber Martin provided recipes for those stay-at-home days. HONG KONG... [read more]
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The below rankings are based on sales of movie releases on YesAsia.com from January 1 to December 31, 2020. TOP 10 MOVIES (OVERALL) 1. Ip Man 4 2. Enter the Fat Dragon 3. Parasite 4. Fagara 5. Detention 6. EXIT 7. Flowers of Shanghai 8. Line Walker 2 9. A Witness Out of the Blue 10. Ashfall BEST-SELLING CHINESE MOVIES Not even Parasite can beat Donnie Yen – only Donnie Yen can. The action legend's Ip Man series finale narrowly edged out his action comedy Enter the Fat Dragon to become our best-selling film of 2020. Sammi Cheng's sisterhood drama Fagara, Taiwan horror Detention and the 4K restored Blu-ray of Hou Hsiao Hsien's Flowers of Shanghai round out the top five Chinese-language films.... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the best Chinese albums of 2020! AGA - So Called Love Songs AGA illustrates the different shapes and phases of romantic love with ten self-penned tracks in So Called Love Songs, her first regular studio album in almost three years. Sharing heartfelt stories that we can all resonate with, AGA takes us on a journey of recounting past relationships and lingering feelings. She's lovestruck in a pure love in Tonight, which comes with a hint of retro feels, but then she's immersed in a love triangle in the signature AGA-style R&B Two At a Time. After being lost in a swirl of past memories in Everyday, she coolly bids farewell to an incompatible partner in See You Next Time... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the best Japanese albums of 2020! Aimyon - Heard That There's Good Pasta Aimyon shot to the top of the charts in 2018 with Marigold. Although no song on this tracklist matches the singular impact of Marigold, the album itself is all the better for it. Where Aimyon's previous albums were aspirational but inconsistent, Heard That There's Good Pasta, deadpan title and all, fits her as a comfortable, cohesive and down-to-earth record. Bright-eyed but not bushy-tailed, her guitar-strumming pop rock and relatable sentiments in "Remember the Days We're Talking Rubbish in the Twilight," Harunohi, "Cigarette" and Chika connect easily with young musers. Aimyon tucks an... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the ten best Korean albums of 2020! BLACKPINK - The Album BLACKPINK's first full-length album came fashionably late in 2020, four years after the group's official debut. The "pretty savages" paint youth in black and pink with their music – unleashing sassy and bold energy in black and sweet and sentimental moods in pink. From the pre-release chart-topper How You Like That to the trap EDM Pretty Savage, they go full girl crush with their strong hip-hop beats. The girls also show their emotional sides in the megahit title track Lovesick Girls and dance-pop Love To Hate Me, and wrap up the album with the pithy lines of You Never Know – "But you'll never know unless you... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the ten best Japanese dramas of 2020! Aibou 18-19 How good does a drama have to be to run for 20 years and 19 seasons with the same lead actor? Aibou good. In a year when nothing seemed to be the same anymore, Aibou has been a reliable old friend, arriving like clockwork with another quality new season of crime investigation and police station politics. Whether it's Season 18 that accompanied us at the start of the year, or the currently airing Season 19 that will carry us to the next year, the brainy buddy cop series just never gets old. The evergreen Mizutani Yutaka and Sorimachi Takashi return as crime-fighting partners of the Special Missions Unit, and this... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the best Asian films released on DVD or Blu-ray in 2020! SANWEI'S PICKS Another Child It's no secret that Kim Yoon Seok is a great actor, but it turns out he's also a pretty good director. The award-winning actor casts himself as a cheating husband who cowardly runs off when his affair with the mother of his daughter's classmate comes to light. While he's out of the picture, the two teenage girls form an unexpected sisterhood over their soon-to-be-born sibling, and the two mothers handle the mess left behind like adults. What could have easily been a soap opera instead becomes an empathetic depiction of how the four women face their difficult relationships and... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the ten best Chinese dramas of 2020! The Bad Kids The Bad Kids cold-opens with a scene of Qin Hao taking pictures of his in-laws on a mountain... and then suddenly pushing them over the edge. The shocking turn from warm family trip to cold-blooded murder in the first two minutes sets the tone for this outstanding human drama. Following the acclaim for 2017's Burning Ice, iQiyi launched the "Light On" series of suspense dramas this year, and the breakout of the lineup repeats the winning formula of star Qin Hao, producer Han Sanping and novelist Zijn Chen. Where Burning Ice features a classic police vs. criminal setup, Bad Kids pits the culprit against a trio of... [read more]
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Our editors' picks for the ten best Korean dramas of 2020! 18 Again What would you do if you could be 18 Again? After losing his job and marriage at the same time, Hong Dae Young (Yoon Sang Hyun) is suddenly given the chance to go back to his high school days and live in the body of an 18-year-old. With his new identity Go Woo Young (Lee Do Hyun), he looks back on his past and his regrets while getting closer to his wife (Kim Ha Neul) and their twins again. Eighteen years ago, he gave up his dream for his family; now, he lives out his life again for his family, protecting and loving them as a new friend to make up for his mistakes. Inspired by the 2009 American film 17 Again, 18 Again has a... [read more]
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In 2020, more than ever, we've needed sources of entertainment to occupy our time and provide respite from the worries and turmoil of the real world. As we enter the final stretch of this roller coaster year, we'd like to take a moment to appreciate the entertainment artists, shows, games and trends that brought smiles to our faces and helped us get through these stay-at-home days. ANIMAL CROSSING Even if you don't play Animal Crossing, you must've seen people looking for cheap turnips or selling stuff for Bells. While we were stuck at home, Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrived and allowed us to live our best imaginary lives, from creating our own island and visiting friends' villages to... [read more]
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Like it or not, we can't deny that the Produce 101 audition program series has made a lot of unknown or underrated trainees into K-pop superstars. Following I.O.I, Wanna One and IZ*ONE, 2019's Produce X 101 gathered the top 11 finalists from nine companies to form the project group X1, which was originally planned to promote for five years. Debuting on August 27, 2019, X1 hit it big in just three months of active promotion. They sold half a million copies of Bisang: Quantum Leap in their first week, which set a new record for rookies, and they topped multiple charts and won 11 times on Korean music shows. On January 6, 2020, X1 officially disbanded due to controversies related to the... [read more]
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