Wonder Girls' first video teaser comeback!

The Wonder Girls‘ return to the Korean music scene has been nothing short of explosive: after releasing two batches of photo teasers that blew everyone away with the ladies’ mature transformations, the Wonder Girls have delivered an incredibly fierce video teaser for their comeback album.

With equal levels of sophistication and elegance exhibited in the previous releases, this video has got everything that fans have been anticipating: a gorgeous set, and a rocker-chic transformation that exceeds expectations. The teaser opens with a powerful vocal note, followed by flashes of each member amid a room of hanging lightbulbs and music equipment, with visuals full of hairflips, studs and leather.

Before embarking on their venture into the American market, the Wonder Girls were known as “Korea’s Little Sisters”, but this maturation proves that the quintet has done quite a bit of growing up over the course of a hiatus that seems to have been well worth the wait. After introducing the retro trend to the k-pop scene years back, the ladies are ready to dominate with an edgy rocker-chic concept that fans new and old will be sure to love.

JYP Entertainment stated, “The teaser photo revealed today is a teaser photo for Wonder Girls’ second official album, and contains the image of Wonder Girls who have perfectly completed the preparations to greet fans in Korea.” They added, “We ask for your continuous interest and love.”

Even if you weren’t a Wonder Girls fan before, this is definitely a video teaser you don’t want to miss. Check it out below!

It looks like these girls are ready to take back the k-pop scene with full force. Wonderfuls have been patiently waiting for this comeback for years now. Fighting WG!

ALLKPOP

Christian Bautista to go international

Acknowledging Christian Bautista’s successful bid in Asia, the Asiansation has released his very first international album Outbound, released via Universal Records.

The album boasts of recordings of Christian done outside the country and his collaborations with music producers and artists from the United States, Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia.

The first single All That’s Left presents Christian’s new, bolder sound, and further proves that he is more than just a balladeer.

While taping for The Kitchen Musical, Christian never ceased to get in touch with some of the region’s movers in the music industry until he met Tat Tong, composer of Outbound’s first single. Tat is the composer of the anthemic All That’s Left.

Tat Tong

Producer, arranger, songwriter Tat Tong is responsible for more than 20 Top 10 and five #1-charting hits in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and mainland China.

His songwriting, arranging and mixing work has gone platinum and won accolades from artists and critics, including the Top 20 Songs of 2011 and the Top 10 Albums of April 2011 in the Global Chinese Music Awards. In addition, best-selling Hong Kong artist Hins Cheung [Universal Music Hong Kong] has described Tat’s production work as “nuanced and layered – the production quality is unparalleled by other contemporary productions in the market”.

Tat Tong is presently involved in mixing an official album for NBC’s top-rating reality acapella competition The Sing-Off, which will be released under Sony Music’s Epic Records in the U.S.

Outbound also features Tat’s three masterpieces- original songs like Unphotographable, What Can I Do and his masterful work on Christian’s cover of George Michael’s Faith, which is special for Christian because it is his first big solo in The Kitchen Musical.

Christian and other collaborations

Aside from Christian’s collaborations with Tat, Outbound gathers his noteworthy works with Grammy-nominated multi-platinum instrumentalist Jim Brickman (Never Far Away), the K-Pop R&B trio One Way (Wrong Number), Indonesian songwriter Satrio for the hit I’m Already King, the theme of Christian’s Indonesian movie A Special Symphony, and with Avex Japan’s amazing Baby M for the lovely duet Sakura.

Christian and Avex Trax artist Baby M

Baby M is a signed artist of Japan’s biggest independent recording company Avex Trax, home of J-Pop superstars like Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi to name a few.
Their duet will be released in countries like Japan, South Africa, further establishing Christian’s stature as an international recording artist.

Christian and BlackBerry

Christian was pleased to showcase the new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ in the All That’s Left music video, which paired Christian with the Queen of CosPlay Alodia Gosiengfiao.

Christian is an avid BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger) user, most especially when he worked for four months in Singapore for The Kitchen Musical. So it was a natural choice for him to use BlackBerry devices for the All That’s Left music video featuring Queen of CosPlay Alodia Gosiengfiao. BBM, the instant messaging application for BlackBerry smartphone customers, allows users to exchange messages, photos, videos, and voice notes with their BBM contacts no matter where they are in the world. It works in real time, enabling people to share their experiences instantly with individuals or groups of contacts – it even provides confirmation when messages have been delivered and read.

Christian knows that for Filipinos living abroad, BBM is a cost-efficient and fun way to share life’s experiences with loved ones around the globe.

Christian and The Kitchen Musical

Christian can still be seen in the first Pan-Asian musical TV series The Kitchen Musical, which airs over at AXN (New episodes every Monday, 9:05pm) and Studio 23 (New episodes every Saturday, 7:30pm). In the series, he plays Chef Daniel, a confident sous chef in love with best friend and co-worker Chef Maddie (Karylle).

Christian is being supported by Belo, Swatch, Blackwater and Gold’s Gym. Outbound is now available at all record bars nationwide.
STARMOMETER
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Mario Maurer and Erich Gonzales in ‘Suddenly It’s Magic’

Mario Maurer, the Thai heartthrob who took Asia by storm by his movies “The Love of Siam” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” has inked a one-movie project with Star Cinema.

Mario Maurer is being paired with Maria la del Barrio star Erich Gonzales in the said movie project with a working title “Suddenly It’s Magic.” The teen star signed a one-movie contract with Star Cinema on Wednesday, and also revealed that the film is going to be shot in Thailand and the Philippines and that it is slated to be shown in 2012. He also expressed that he is looking forward to meet Erich Gonzales very soon.

The Thai actor arrived in Manila on Wednesday to shoot an ad campaign for Penshoppe. Last October 28, he was at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) for his fan conference and on October 29, he was attended the Philippine Fashion Week at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

A possible reconciliation between Lin Chi-Ling and Jerry Yan?

Kevin Tsai hints at possible reconciliation between Lin Chi-Ling and Jerry Yan. The Taiwanese host wrote lyrics for his good friend, encouraging her to find love. Taiwanese model Lin Chi-Ling previously confessed that she is in love, and that the person is "humorous and filial".

When her good friend, host Kevin Tsai was asked if he knew Chi-ling and her former lover Jerry had reconciled with each other, the host expressed that he had no idea.

"Time will change a person. If you were in love before, after a few years, you'd still care for the other party. Maybe this person will give her a different feeling [now]," Kevin said.

The host recently penned the lyrics to the theme song for Chi-ling's new movie Love on Credit. "You taught me so much, [I] realise how wrong I was then; [you] taught me to trust and gave me a shoulder to lean on; [you] taught me to be firm in my quirky fantasies," the lyrics went.

Kevin emphasised, "I hope the lyrics will help Chi-ling make a decision to capture her happiness," and encouraged the model to quickly find her Mr Right.

While the host did not deny or admit that his good friend might have reconciled with her former lover, Kevin praised Jerry for being a caring friend, who would shower him with gifts each time he returned to Taiwan.

Kevin revealed that Jerry left a cake at his apartment a few days ago, and had the security guard pass it to him. "Jerry likes to show concern towards his friends in such mysterious and low-profile manner," he said.

Asian Fanatics

Timbaland supports the Wonder Girls

With the Wonder Girls‘ official foray into the U.S. market just around the corner, it looks like the ladies have been gaining attention from American fans and celebrities alike!

On October 13th, producer and rapper Timbaland tweeted the Girls a message of approval for their hard work and upcoming debut. According to his message, Brian Byrd, who works in the American music industry, gave Timbaland a look at some of the quintet’s productions.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with this artist, Timbaland has released multiple chart-topping pop hits including “The Way I Are”, “Apologize” and “Carry Out”. He’s also worked with top artists like Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyonce, T-Pain and David Guetta.

With over 200,000 followers on his official Twitter account, Timbaland’s message has given the girls more exposure for their impending debut. The girls are working hard on their upcoming ‘Wonder Girls at the Apollo’ movie and preparing their album, so stay tuned to allkpop as we continue to follow their activities!

Source: AKP

Rain finally enlists in the army

After giving teary-eyed fans a rousing send off on Sunday with a free street concert in Gangnam, a newly-cropped Rain enlisted in the Army on Tuesday afternoon for 21 months of compulsory military service. 

The "Ninja Assassin" star and Korean Wave singing sensation reported to the 306th Army draft camp in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. He is going to take up active duty after a five-week boot camp. The former back-up dancer who rose to international fame held a press conference at a nearby vacant lot and bade farewell to fans before he disappeared into the Army camp. 

The ever-humble star said, " I'm sorry for making a fuss about my enlistment." He thanked fans for supporting him for the best part of a decade and looked emotional as he headed off for a life of drills, discipline and Army fatigues. He was seen off by friends and acquaintances including K-pop boy band MBLAQ, which he helped create and manage. About 1,000 fans from home and abroad, including those from the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, gathered to see him carrying placards wishing him the best. 


He debuted as a solo artist in 2002 and has since expanded his scope of activities to include TV dramas and films. In 2006, Time magazine named him on its list of the top 100 people who were transforming the world with their talent or power. " Thanks to his angelic face, killer bod and Justin Timber-like dance moves, Rain … has ridden the crest of hallyu," wrote Time reporter Bryan Walsh. 

Rain acted in the Hollywood movie "Speed Racer" in 2008 and starred in the action film "Ninja Assassin" one year later.


full credits: Chosun.Com


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Lin Chi-Ling may reconcile with Jerry Yan

It looks like all is not over between Taiwanese model Lin Chi-ling and actor Jerry Yan.

In Chi-ling's latest movie Love On Credit, the model-turned-actress portrayed two different characters perfectly. In the show, her character was torn between the two male leads. In real life, Chi-ling's relationships with actor Jerry Yan and businessman Qiu Shikai have been the focus of media attention.

When asked about her relationship with the two men, Chi-ling laughed, "This question had been asked so many times before, I'm sure no one wants to hear about it anymore." Out of the blue, the actress, who never discussed her love life publicly, said, "There is someone I like already."

However, Chi-ling kept tight-lipped, when the reporters probed the guy's identity, because she was worried that [the media] might blow it out of proportion. She also emphasised that she had no plans to get married at the moment and merely wanted a normal relationship. "My biggest dream is to be able to walk hand in hand [with my boyfriend] under the sun," the actress added.

Chi-ling also added that "it is possible" for two people -- who are still in love with each other, but had broken up -- to get back together. She said that when a couple splits, it does not necessary mean that someone was at fault. Chi-ling added that a person's personality might have changed for the better over time, so the possibility of reconciliation will depend on whether the couple can look past their previous mistakes and start anew.

From her reply, it seemed that there might be a chance for her to get back with her former lover Jerry. Commenting on whether she would marry into a wealthy family, Chi-ling asserted, "No."

The actress added that she "would not mind at all" if she did not marry a rich husband. " I'm very sure I'll not mind. I'll repeat it 10 times, because it's the truth," she said.