Week in Review, 5/26 to 6/1

Welcome to another edition of SB Week in Review. Here’s all the news you might have missed over the past week:

• As South Korea prepares for its presidential election on June 3, Aespa‘s Karina faced criticism for a recent Instagram post which some viewed as political. In the uploaded photos, Karina is seen wearing a black and red jacket with the number two, and the caption is that of a red rose. The number two and red coincide with that of People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo‘s campaign. The Instagram post was soon taken down, and Karina issued an apology.
• Rapper Benzino also issued an apology for his Instagram post heavily featuring the color red.

• Seventeen went all-out for their debut anniversary, including the release of “Thunder” and Happy Burstday. Look forward to our review!
• Irene & Seulgi returned with the provocative “Tilt.”
• KickFlip made their first comeback with “Freeze.”
• IU released another remake album, Flower Bookmark 3, with MVs for “Never Ending Story” and “Beautiful Person.”
• N.Flying were “Everlasting” in their latest.
• B.I. teamed up with Heize for “Ferris Wheel.”

• Baekhyun‘s “Lemonade” MV will be out on June 2.
• HITGS will put out their first single “Gross” on the same day.
• Uspeer will debut with “Zoom” on June 4.
• Enhypen will attempt a new take on their vampire lore with “Bad Desire: With or Without You,” out on June 6.
• Izty shared the album sampler for Girls Will Be Girls, set for release on June 9.
• Doyoung will be back with another solo mini, Soar, on the same day.
• Kiss of Life will return with 254 and the MV for “Lips Hips Kiss” also on the 9th.
• Izna‘s single album Beep will be out on the 9th as well.
• Solar will put out the single “Floating Free” on June 11.
• Double One‘s “On the Rocks With a Kiss” and the mini Xpert are set for release on June 12.
• Ateez shared the track list for their June 12 mini, Golden Hour Pt. 3.
• J-Hope will team up with GloRilla for “Killin’ It Girl,” out on the same day.
• Also on the 12th, Primrose will share the digital single “Cinema.”
• XLove‘s “I One” will drop on June 13.
• ARTMS will return with Club Icarus on the same day.
• Illit‘s Bomb will drop on June 16.
• Kang Daniel will also return on the 16th with his new mini, Glow to Haze.
• Sungjae (BtoB) will release his solo mini All About Blue on the 16th as well.
• Moonbyul will share the pre-release “Icy Bby” on June 19.

• Nowadays changed their name to Nowz.
• Cha Eun-woo (Astro) and Rowoon (formerly SF9) both announced they will be enlisting in July.
• RM won Favorite K-pop Artist at the 2025 American Music Awards.

(YouTube, Naver: [1] [2] [3], The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, Astro Fan Cafe. Images via: JYP Entertainment, The Black Label, Big Hit Music.)