K-pop News Today (Oct 27, 2026): IVE’s EP Drop, ILLIT ‘You’re Under Arrest’, LISA’s 59M

IVE Releases the Full ‘Looks Can Kill’ EP and Tops the K-POPIT Board

IVE released its fifth EP, “Looks Can Kill,” at 6 p.m. KST on Oct. 26, and by 8 p.m. the title track was No. 6 on the Melon Top 100. The same day, the K-POPIT Board weekly ranking for Oct. 19-25 put IVE at No. 1 on both its global (65.8 points) and Korean (72.5) power indexes, up 23 and 25 places from the week before, after the pre-released MV reached No. 1 on YouTube’s worldwide trending music video list. The pre-release did its job: a week of MV buzz meant the album arrived with the audience already waiting.

Sources: Top Star News, Oct. 26, Tenasia, Oct. 26, Melon Top 100 (8 p.m. KST, Oct. 26, per Top Star News)

Also read: A Firm With Zero Investors Says It Will Buy TWICE's Agency

ILLIT Returns With ‘You’re Under Arrest’ From Mini Album ‘BREAK EVEN’

ILLIT held a showcase in Seoul on Oct. 26 for its fifth mini album “BREAK EVEN,” led by “Chepohagesseo (You’re Under Arrest),” about six months after “It’s Me.” Yunah, Minju, Wonhee and Iroha promoted as four while Moka rests, and Minju said they would “carry Moka’s heart” on stage. The official MV had 3,946,301 views about 10 hours after release. The song already debuted at the group’s PRESS START♥ concerts, and its whistle hook was built for short-form video.

Sources: OSEN, Oct. 26, Sports Chosun, Oct. 26, YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 27

BLACKPINK LISA’s ‘Tarantino’ MV Passes 59.5 Million Views

LISA’s new EP “PRESS PLAY” is out with six tracks, led by “Tarantino,” and the title track’s MV, which premiered Oct. 22, had 59,516,366 views by early Oct. 27. On Oct. 26 she posted a black-and-white, film-style photo captioned “It’s a movie baby, come and Press Play.” The EP’s pre-release single “SaWaDiKa” drew 70.8 million views in its first 24 hours and entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 69, her highest solo entry. Every piece of this rollout is selling one idea, that a LISA release is a movie premiere.

Sources: Joongang eNews, Oct. 26, Top Star News, Oct. 26, YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 27

SEVENTEEN’s Jeonghan X Joshua Sell 804,949 in Week One

Jeonghan X Joshua’s first mini album “DREAMSCAPE” sold 804,949 copies in its first week (Oct. 19-25), topping Hanteo’s weekly album chart, according to Hanteo data reported on Oct. 26. More than 650,000 of those sold on release day, a new record for a K-pop unit album, and the “12 o’clock” MV had 14,602,561 views by early Oct. 27. The duo starts its six-city tour at Incheon’s INSPIRE Arena on Oct. 30. The same day as the chart news, Seungkwan and Dino began their military service as army band soldiers, and CARAT now has a unit album and a tour to carry them through the wait.

Sources: Joy News 24, Oct. 26, Hankook Ilbo, Oct. 26, YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 27

BTS RM’s SFMOMA Exhibition Sells 66,000 Tickets

“RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me,” the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art show built from RM’s personal collection, has sold more than 66,000 tickets, The Guardian reported on Oct. 24 (local time), with presales six times the museum’s previous record. Official merchandise sold out within three hours. The museum posted a $5 million deficit last year, and the Guardian credited the exhibition with a clear financial lift. RM wrote the wall captions and the audio guide himself, so ARMY is buying tickets to see the museum through his eyes.

Sources: Newsis, Oct. 26, JTBC, Oct. 26

A2O LITE ‘NEON’ Holds No. 1 on Melon

A2O LITE’s debut single “NEON” was still No. 1 on the Melon Top 100 at 4 a.m. KST on Oct. 27, two weeks after the Oct. 13 debut, and the official video had 27,762,033 views. Choreographer J-Black, who made the song’s opening duet, said on a YouTube show aired Oct. 26 that the agency asked him to make the dance harder, the first time a client had ever asked for that. Lee Soo-man’s team turned difficulty into the selling point, and fans are still trying to learn it.

Sources: Tenasia, Oct. 26, Melon Top 100 (checked 4 a.m. KST, Oct. 27), YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 27

LE SSERAFIM Wraps Europe Tour as BBC and France 5 Call Them “New Queens of K-pop”

LE SSERAFIM finished its European tour after appearing on BBC News, which called them one of the defining girl groups of their generation, and France 5’s talk show “C à Vous,” whose host introduced them as “the new queens of K-pop.” In Japan, the album “PUREFLOW pt.1” jumped back to No. 5 on Oricon’s weekly album chart with 26,070 copies, about 24 times its sales two weeks earlier. Public broadcasters introducing a K-pop group to a general audience is the kind of exposure no fan campaign can buy.

Sources: Star News, Oct. 26, Sports Kyunghyang, Oct. 26

ENHYPEN Announces ‘THE SIN : PARALLEL WORLD’ for Nov. 20

BELIFT LAB said on Oct. 26 that ENHYPEN will release the spin-off single “THE SIN : PARALLEL WORLD” digitally at 2 p.m. KST on Nov. 20, with the physical album on Nov. 23. It closes the “THE SIN” series and marks the group’s third release this year, after “THE SIN : BLISS” topped the Billboard 200 and became its fifth double-million seller. A third comeback in one year, framed as a thank-you to ENGENE, keeps the momentum of a Billboard 200 No. 1 from cooling.

Sources: Newsis, Oct. 26, My Daily, Oct. 26

TWICE Nayeon Sets Solo Return ‘NA-sty’ for Nov. 20

JYP Entertainment confirmed on Oct. 26 that Nayeon will release the single “NA-sty” on Nov. 20, her first solo release in about two years and five months. The title mixes “Nayeon’s style” with the word “nasty,” and the label called it the “summer queen’s” first late-autumn solo run. Her first two mini albums both reached the Billboard 200 top 10, and a teaser posted Oct. 23 had 320,689 views by early Oct. 27.

Sources: Newsis, Oct. 26, YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 27

TREASURE Drops First Teaser for ‘SHOCK’ Ahead of Nov. 2

YG Entertainment posted the first teaser for TREASURE’s digital single “SHOCK” on Oct. 26 (KST), with electric shocks, smoke and a repeating “SHOCK SHOCK” hook, and a release time of 6 p.m. KST on Nov. 2. The teaser had 1,061,989 views by early Oct. 27. Putting the hook and logo in the very first teaser is a bet that the chant itself will do the marketing.

Sources: SPOTV News, Oct. 26, YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 27

Featured photo: IVE in Seattle, Aug. 2026. Photo: David Lee via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped).