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:

Headlines

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.)