2020 has been a tough yet a year of great change for the music industry. As the end of 2020 is around the corner, lets recap on some incidents that happened in the KPOP industry this year, including news on military enlistment, come back, marriages, break up and others. 

Kang Daniel and TWICE’s Jihyo relationship came in an end in November 2020 after dating for more than 1 year. The reason for their break up was because they were unable to meet up often due to their hectic schedules. The couple revealed their relationship to the public in September 2019. The couple had received a lot of attention from the global fans but unfortunately, they were also attacked by some malicious comments. 

Rapper Swings belatedly admitted about his breakup with actress Im Bora. The couple has been dating since 2017 but breakup rumours about them arose when they were found deleting all photos taken together on social media. Swings admitted to the breakup in October while Im Bora decided to remain silent. 

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One of them is the member of the legendary group, TVXQ's Chang Min who announced his marriage with his non-celebrity girlfriend. He carefully delivered the happy news through a handwritten letter in June. The couple started dating back in December 2019. The wedding ceremony that was supposed to be held in September was postponed slightly later to October. 

Unfortunately, there was also news about divorced. Former U-KISS member Eli conveyed the sad news through his Instagram. He shared that he had been staying separately from his family and pray for his son and wife (Ji Yeon Su)’s happiness. In December 2015, Eli revealed that he had been married with racing model, Ji Yeon Soo for over a year since June 2014. 

CLICK B’s member, Kim Sang Hyuk also announced divorce after a year of marriage with online shopping mall CEO, Song Da Ye as they could not overcome their differences. Veteran singer Lee Sun Hee had also ended her 14 years marriage with her husband in May. 

2020 has also seen several stars who left us for a while for military enlistment to fulfil their duty. From Winner’s Kim Jin Woo and Lee SeungHoon to EXO’s Suho, to Zico, and more had enlisted this year. 

However, artists such as CNBLUE’s Kang Min Hyuk, HIGHLIGHT’s Yoon Doo Jun, BTOB’s Seo Eun Kwang, MinHyuk and Lee Chang Sub, SHINee’s Onew and Key, Exo’s Xiumin, Yoon Ji Sung and more had been discharged from the military as well! 

With that, CNBLUE had reorganized the band into a 3 members band and made a successful comeback. BTOB had also formed a unit Btob 4U consisting of Eun Kwang, Chang Sub, MinHyuk and Peniel. SHINee’s Key had also made his return to tvN’s Amazing Saturday alongside Han Hae after discharging from the military service. 

Gummy and Jo Jung Suk welcomed their first daughter back in August. A month after giving birth, Gummy resumed her activities by participating in the drama “Do You Like Brahms” OST. She also made a guest appearance on KBS 2TV Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook and had captivated the viewers with her unchanged singing ability and stage manner. 

Singer Bada had also become a mum after giving birth to her daughter in September. In November, she appeared in MBC’s entertainment program “Radio Star” and confessed that she had trouble breathing due to bleeding during childbirth.

Original article: Starnews 

There are quite a number of unfortunate incidents as well but let's hope that 2021 will be a better year for all! Take care and stay safe! 

The Fact Music Awards 2020 Live Streaming for 7 countries in Asia Available region: Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan

On this Thursday (3), South Korean singer BUDY released her long-awaited new single-album ‘Fly High’. The song has strong pop, urban, and soul influences - a trademark of the artist in her compositions - and brings a hopeful and comforting message for this end of the year. Following her last releases ‘Stray Cat’ and ‘A Week’, the new track is available on all streaming platforms. 

The aesthetics of the Fly High music video is oneiric, colourful with dark shades of the night joined by the song instruments, bringing the feeling of being flying near the moon and stars, and watching the city lights from afar. With a comforting and poetic composition, BUDY shows her versatility and vocal power in verses about seeing happiness.

About her new song, BUDY explained: “I hope you feel the freedom to fly in night skies while listening to Fly High. And I hope you remember your happy moments as a fantastic feeling.” The new song was written and produced by the artist and showcases a more mature image of the singer, who always innovates by bringing new rhythms to her creations.

BUDY is known for her compositions and arrangements. The singer is getting more fans daily thanks to her deep lyrics, but also by her ability to make new reinterpretations of KPOP hits with covers in rhythms such as R&B, Soul, Jazz, and Funk. She debuted under Slow Town Music in 2019 with the album BUDY’S MIDNIGHT.

Following the promotions of her new song "Fly High", South Korean singer BUDY shared on her official YouTube channel the live version of the track this Friday (4). In the video, the artist explores her talent and vocal range on acoustic performance. Besides the special video, she will also share more music content on her channel, including more performances with the band and the lyric video of "Fly High".

Immersed in a night ambience with metropolitan lights decorating the scenario, BUDY sings her new song followed by a band dressed as gifts, symbolism also found on the official music video of the track. The singer’s vocal abilities are more evident when joined by the instruments during the performance.

BUDY is known for her writing and arrangements. The singer increases her number of fans daily for her deep lyrics but also her ability to recreate covers of k-pop hits in rhythms such as R&B, Soul, Jazz, and Funk. She debuted under Slow Town Music in 2019 with the album BUDY’S MIDNIGHT.

2020 MAMA partners with Twitter to give K-Pop fans worldwide content from their favorite artists, including ‘2020 MAMA Stanbot’, and Worldwide Fans’ Choice voting on Twitter.

Twitter and Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS (MAMA), one of the most iconic global K-pop awards shows, are coming together to bring K-Pop fans' favorite artists closer to them than ever before. This year, Twitter and MAMA will bring the event to K-Pop fans around the world with the 2020 MAMA Stanbot, and Worldwide Fans' Choice voting on Twitter.

#2020MAMA will be the first time that 'Stanbot' captures the looks and moments of Kpop artists from MAMA. 'Stanbot' will create high quality, slow-motion cinematic videos of artists, capturing a side of them that many of their fans have never seen before. These exclusive '2020 MAMA Stanbot' videos will be viewable only on Twitter (@MnetMAMA). Twitter is also providing special emojis for hashtags #2020MAMA, #MAMAVOTE, #2020MAMA_Stanbot.

Voting for MAMA Worldwide Fans' Choice began on October 29, 18:00 KST, and will end on December 5, 23:59 KST at MAMA official website (www.2020mama.com), but will continue on Twitter until SNS voting deadline is announced during 2020 MAMA live on December 6th. Fans who want to vote for Worldwide Fans' Choice on Twitter are required to include both the #MAMAVOTE hashtag and the artists' official hashtag (#ARTISTNAME) within their Tweet for their votes to be considered valid. Fans across the world will also get to help decide the results of major awards categories including "Artist of the Year" and "Song of the Year" and more via the official MAMA website: www.2020mama.com.

YeonJeong Kim, Head of Global Kpop Partnerships at Twitter said, "From #MAMAVOTE and #2020MAMA_Stanbot to keeping updated on everything happening on MAMA via Tweets and Fleets, Twitter is the best place for global K-Pop fans to join in the 2020 MAMA event, find out what's happening in real time, and to talk about it with other K-Pop fans."

The Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS (MAMA) announced today Korean actor Song Joong Ki will be the host for upcoming 2020 MAMA, taking place online on December 6th, 2020. 

Song Joong Ki is back to MAMA again this year! This isn’t his first time as he was the host for 2012, 2017, and 2018 MAMA. As for this year, where Asian music is garnering more attention from global fans than any other year, Song Joong ki is expected to further brighten the stage of Asia’s largest music award show. 

As an actor, Song Joong Ki has established himself as one of Asia's Top Hallyu stars across movies, dramas, and he is planning to come back to fans with Korea’s first SF film and CJ ENM’s TV drama  scheduled to air in the first half of next year. 

Korean culture is undeniably on an unstoppable roll, filling 2020 with explosive highlights, including BTS’s “Dynamite” dominating and making history on Billboard; Blackpink winning the hearts of fans and even brands all over the world; and “Parasite” bagging the biggest win on the movie red carpet. With the glorious rise of K-pop culture to global prominence, it is only fitting to end 2020 with a bang by celebrating everything awesome about its ultra-talented pool of artists! This is why, despite a challenging year felt by the global music industry, the Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS (MAMA) is returning strong this year, presenting a new virtual global music festival that further connects fans and artists! 

JOOX, Asia’s most dedicated music platform, is once again delivering the brightest year-end party by broadcasting this year’s MAMA for the fifth straight year, proving its commitment to contributing to the K-pop genre’s meteoric rise. The full K-pop experience is also elevated by advanced AI technology to the next level, with simultaneous AI-powered subtitle translation on JOOX, making sure that fans won’t miss a step and enjoy the content they love without language barriers. 

Your favorite K-pop stars will be out and shining bright on December 6, 2020 (Sunday) for 2020 MAMA, which will be fully presented online for the first time in its history! BTS, GOT7, IZ*ONE, MAMAMOO, MONSTA X, NCT, SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, TREASURE, TWICE and more are expected to show ground-breaking stages and mega-stage performances! Promising a celebration like no other with the theme “NEW-TOPIA”, 2020 MAMA aims to present fans a new world amid the new normal brought about by the current pandemic bolstered by the power of music. Proving the growing anticipation from fans around the world, the number of fan votes already topped last year’s total votes. Voting period will continue until December 5 on the MAMA official website! 

Who will win the coveted prizes and be named 2020’s Artist of the Year and Worldwide Fans' Choice award? Which of your favorite hits will bag the Song of the Year award and Album of the Year award? Stay tuned on who this year’s big winners are in 2020 MAMA on JOOX, with a star-studded nominees’ list that includes BLACKPINK, BTS, EXO, IU, Seventeen, TWICE, Zico and many more! Check out JOOX’s extensive K-pop karaoke catalogue including Blackpink’s latest hits and sing along with your favorite songs to support your beloved idols too! 

Can’t get enough of K-pop? Replay your favorite 2020 MAMA performances and award presentations again and again through six months of video-on-demand on the JOOX app! You can sing and dance with the stars whenever you like! 

Always stay on the beat of the latest and the hottest K-pop tracks! Enjoy your favorite K-Pop music and live performances anytime, anywhere by downloading JOOX on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Download now to start your premium music journey today!