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Jihyo leaves JYP after 21 years to run her own company-and keeps her place in TWICE. TWICE singer Jihyo announced last week that she has ended her 21-year journey with JYP Entertainment and founded EMITHAUS, giving her a new home for her individual work while she continues with the group. For anyone worried that leaving the agency means losing her from TWICE’s stage, Jihyo addressed that directly: she wants to keep performing with her members and making memories together for years to come. The change reaches further back than her years as a familiar voice in a nine-member group. Jihyo joined JYP as a child and spent more than a decade training before debuting with TWICE. In her farewell letter, she described growing from childhood through her teenage years into adulthood inside the company, with good days and difficult ones all helping shape the person she is now. She thanked the people at JYP who had helped her grow, then explained why she was choosing a different way to work. Independence, in her account, is a decision about how to live the years ahead. EMITHAUS takes its name from “emit,” meaning to express or release, and Jihyo wants it to give her room to explore possibilities she has not discovered yet. Her first solo album already offers a concrete example of what exploring her own range can involve. When Jihyo prepared ZONE, led by “Killin’ Me Good,” the company asked her to think about the concept she wanted instead of simply assigning one. She tried different genres and sounds, looking for ways to let listeners hear more of her voice. Within TWICE, she explained, she often handled high notes; on her own record, she sang across different ranges and tried singing mixed with rap. That freedom also meant making choices about the songs themselves. Jihyo helped write or compose all six tracks beyond the title song, and said she selected the songs according to the version of herself she most wanted to present. She singled out “Don’t Wanna Go Back,” her duet with singer Heize, for a vocal sound listeners had not previously heard from her. The work took place within JYP, where producer Park Jin-young wrote the title song’s lyrics and encouraged her with praise. Her move to EMITHAUS follows that experience of shaping a solo record, with responsibility for a company now added to the decisions about her work. Jihyo acknowledged that weight in her announcement, promising to approach future choices and activities carefully as she leaves familiar surroundings and starts working in new ways. Her earlier account of going solo also makes her continued attachment to TWICE easy to understand. After so long working as nine, doing things alone felt unfamiliar, and the members reassured one another that they were doing well. Nayeon, who had released her own solo album first, gave Jihyo frank feedback and advised her to prepare herself mentally. Jihyo said that even as a trainee, she had pictured performing in a team more often than standing onstage alone, and that her place in TWICE was the life she had dreamed of. That gives substance to the promise in her new letter: building an individual career and remaining part of the group are both choices she is making. She also thanked ONCE, TWICE’s fandom, for supporting her through years of change, recognising that watching someone grow over such a long time is no small commitment. The next music from EMITHAUS will show what she chooses to explore, but Jihyo has already stated where TWICE fits in that future: she intends to stand beside her members onstage.

JUST IN: ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s Kim Geonwoo is reportedly seeking a return through court after six months offstage. Kim Geonwoo, a member of the rookie boy group ALPHA DRIVE ONE, has filed a lawsuit against his agency WAKEONE in a reported effort to get back to group activities, a dispute the agency has addressed this week. The group began with eight members chosen through Mnet’s audition show Boys II Planet, but has performed with seven since Geonwoo’s hiatus began in April. For people waiting to see the full lineup together again, the latest agency statement offers a firm plan for those seven members and no date for his return. The dispute began with a complaint Geonwoo made during a content shoot before the group’s debut. An allegation spread online that he had directed inappropriate remarks at a staff member, prompting demands for WAKEONE to explain what happened. When the agency addressed the incident, it acknowledged inappropriate language but gave a different account of whom it was aimed at. WAKEONE said Geonwoo had not realised his microphone was on and had expressed his frustration in a muttered remark, rather than criticism directed at a particular person. The agency still called the language inappropriate regardless of those circumstances. That distinction matters: admitting an unacceptable remark is not the same as confirming every allegation that circulated around it. WAKEONE also explained why its response had taken time. It said an apology had been conveyed to the production team immediately after the incident, and that it had initially considered the matter settled through communication between those involved. The agency said checking further online allegations, some of which it described as inaccurate, had delayed its public explanation. The outcome was a break from work that WAKEONE described as time for Geonwoo to reflect. ALPHA DRIVE ONE continued without him, and the agency announced that he would also miss the group’s June fan concerts. The group had only made its official debut in January, so the absence has now occupied much of its first year. The suit reportedly concerns the validity of his exclusive contract and his contractual status, with the aim of confirming his position as an ALPHA DRIVE ONE member and returning to activities. WAKEONE has acknowledged that legal proceedings are underway. Its fuller statement says it had prepared several options for Geonwoo’s future activities, including specific schedules and content, and had continued discussions with him. Those talks did not resolve their differences over his future direction, the agency says, and the disagreement has moved into legal proceedings. The statement does not spell out the options offered or the precise point on which the two sides could not agree. It therefore does not establish that Geonwoo was offered the group return he reportedly wants. WAKEONE promises to support the seven active members so they can focus on music and performances, while continuing communication about Geonwoo’s future entertainment work. Supporters have responded directly to the agency by calling for his return and asking it to clarify his membership and future activity plans. One repeated Korean-language demand asks WAKEONE to put Geonwoo’s rights and wishes first, alongside calls for a fair resolution. The agency says it will respond through the legal process; it has announced neither a settlement nor an eight-member schedule.

JUST IN: 🎵 ILLIT return as four with “You’re Under Arrest,” while Moka continues her recovery. K-pop girl group ILLIT released their fifth mini album, BREAK EVEN, today, turning the hurt of a one-sided crush into a warning for the person who kept giving mixed signals. The title track, “You’re Under Arrest,” takes a familiar frustration-mistaking someone’s everyday kindness for something more-and gives the girls the power to end the chase. That change arrives as Yunah, Minju, Wonhee and Iroha promote without Moka, who remains on a health break. At their comeback showcase in Seoul, Minju said this was the first time they had prepared a comeback as four, and that Moka’s absence felt large. She thought the new concept would have suited Moka well, and said the members would fill the stage with Moka’s feelings in mind. The four also had another challenge: following “It’s Me,” the previous title track whose success made this release feel like something they needed to live up to. Minju described that pressure as a push to practise harder, while Iroha said her excitement about finally sharing new music and performances outweighed it. ILLIT had already tested the new song in front of a concert audience, unveiling it at an encore show for their PRESS START♥ tour before the album arrived. Iroha said the enthusiastic response there made her look forward to the comeback even more. The song gives that stage energy a very specific sound: a whistle running through electropop, sharp synths and treated vocals. Its arrest warning turns the person who caused the confusion into a target, replacing another unanswered confession with a decision to stop giving so much. BREAK EVEN takes its name from the point where gains and losses balance, applying that idea to a relationship in which effort keeps going out and little comes back. The title track pushes that idea into a playful detective story. ILLIT become agents tracking someone who stirred up their feelings and disappeared, closing in despite having very little information about the target. Actor Song Kang appears as a key figure in the story’s final turn, while the choreography brings the pursuit onto the stage through whistles and hand gestures that suggest an arrest. The preview performance also brought criticism of the clothes chosen for the members. Short, fitted skirts and hats resembling police uniforms drew objections that the styling sexualised female police officers. Asked about that criticism at the showcase, Yunah thanked people for taking an interest in their performance and said the concept was based on agents dressed in black, with different styling planned for the remaining stages. Her answer set out the group’s intended concept without announcing a specific change to the disputed outfits. For the music itself, Wonhee’s confidence was much less guarded: she called BREAK EVEN her favourite ILLIT album and said she wanted their performances to carry the confidence they had built during practice. With several other groups returning at the same time, she said ILLIT would concentrate on what they do well-their bold charm, catchy songs and their own style. Their next title-track performance on Music Bank is scheduled for Friday, giving the four another chance to bring the song from its concert preview into the new promotions. Moka’s place in that next chapter remains a separate question from the release schedule. She has been away for health reasons since June, and the members gave no return date at the showcase. Iroha did share something more personal than a timetable: Moka had told them she liked the new song and was cheering them on. She said Moka was working on her recovery because she wanted to return to her fans, and asked them to wait for her.

JUST IN: 🎵 RESCENE has named “With” as the title track for five-song mini-album PULSE, due November 3.

82MAJOR’s Seoul concerts this weekend are reportedly sold out. The members plan to see attendees off after each show.

JUST IN: 🎵 JISOO’s new single “ADDICTED” arrives this Friday, October 30 (KST).

ENHYPEN closing THE SIN series feels bigger than a regular comeback.

NCT 127’s opening concert in Saitama, Japan, was scheduled for live broadcast on WOWOW yesterday.

JUST IN: 🍦 JISOO has unveiled her official ice-cream light stick, available starting October 26 (KST) on JISOO APP.

JUST IN: 🎵 ZEROBASEONE’s Matthew and Gunwook have announced “RUN” with hip-hop duo Dynamic Duo, out November 4 at 6pm KST.

JUST IN: BABYMONSTER has released “DESERVE”; YG’s Yang Hyun-suk describes it as a slow song with delicate vocals and powerful singing.

Jisoo has teased “ADDICTED” - that title sets the chorus a high bar.

PLANNED: YG will set debut dates for its five-member boy group and four-member girl group once title tracks are chosen.

JUST IN: AND2BLE’s Seoul “WINTER INSIDE” fan concerts both sold out in this week’s fanclub presales, YH Entertainment says.

JUST IN: Gummy shares an unaccompanied chorus of her upcoming single “Perfect World” this week.

JUST IN: TXT’s tracklist today pairs Soobin and Beomgyu on “Touch the Sky,” with Yeonjun, Taehyun and Huening Kai teaming up for “Sweetest Escape.”

JUST IN: A2O SOUL sets five-track debut album 🎶 The 15-member boy group announced today that ‘슈퍼스타’ arrives November 9 at 6pm KST with two title tracks and three physical versions: two photobooks and one platform album.

JUST IN: Kyuhyun’s CONTINUE EP arrives November 11 at 6pm KST; his Asia tour opens December 18–20 in Seoul. 🎵

REUNITED: All four Fin.K.L members are rehearsing for a concert.

JUST IN: Sakura to miss LE SSERAFIM’s Paris concert SOURCE MUSIC announced this week that local doctors advised rest after a sudden high fever during the group’s first European tour.