Ateez held a media conference in Seoul Thursday to introduce its tenth EP “Golden Hour: Part 1,” which is due out Friday.

The band has poured a lot into the new album, especially since it is the first installment of the “Golden Hour” series and the first release for the group this year, said leader Hongjoong.

The six-track EP “captures the shining moment of Ateez” and how the band realizes its dream, explained Sunghwa. All songs including the main track “Work” illustrate how it never stops “working” toward its goal that gets bigger with time, added San.

Last year, the eight-member act wrapped up its “The World” series with its second LP “The World EP Fin: Will,” which debuted atop the Billboard 200 and stayed on it for six weeks in a row. The album ranked No. 2 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart Top 100.

NCT’s Jaehyun to team up with Lauv

Jaehyun of NCT is invited to join Lauv on stage and make a guest appearance at a music festival in Seoul, label SM Entertainment said Thursday.

The American singer-songwriter is headlining the Seoul Jazz Festival 2024 on June 2 and asked the idol to perform together. Lauv shared the news with a captured image of the messages they sent each other – including himself asking Jaehyun: “Any chance you wanna come out and perform a song at my headline show in Korea on Sunday???”

The two performers have kept in touch since 2019 when Jaehyun covered Lauv’s “I Like Me Better.” The performance video clip logged over 100 million views on YouTube, and Lauv recognized it with three hearts.

Separately, Jaehyun is set to release his first solo album in the third quarter this year.

(G)I-dle to launch world tour in August

(G)I-dle will kick off its third international tour in Seoul on Aug. 3, agency Cube Entertainment announced Thursday.

The news came with a poster for the tour “iDOL” that will begin with a two-day live show in Korea and will continue in 13 more cities around the world: from Tokyo and Bangkok to Sydney as well as six cities in the US.

The group's previous tour “I am Free-ty” took it to 18 cities last year. Earlier this month, it joined the lineup for Head in the Clouds Music 2024, a major music festival held in New York.

The five members celebrated their sixth debut anniversary this month, and their latest album, the second studio album “Two,” was their second million-seller. The LP entered the Billboard 200 at No. 132 and became (G)I-dle's fourth entry on the main albums chart.

Ha Sungwoon to greet fans next month

Ha Sungwoon will host a fan meetup in Seoul on June 22-23, agency Big Planet Made Entertainment said Thursday.

It will be the first time he is meeting his fans in person since he completed his mandatory military service last month. The event is titled “Ha:neul Journey,” signifying that he is ready to set on a journey with his fans.

Last week, he joined as the ninth singer of the original soundtrack for the hit drama “Lovely Runner” and sang “Gift.” Ha has participated in a series of OSTs including his collaboration with Jimin of BTS -- “With You” for the drama “Our Blues,” which topped the iTunes Top Songs chart in 117 regions.

His last album was the seventh EP “Strange World” which came out in August 2022, and while serving in the Army, he dropped the digital single “Snowy Stars.”