Megan The Stallion and PSY Take the Stage in Star-Studded Trailer for Apple TV+'s ‘KPOPPED' Competition Show
In the first trailer for the show, Megan — who appears alongside her co-star, OG South Korean pop superstar and 'Gangnam Style' singer PSY — promises 'this is some history that we're making over footage of Kesha, Boyz II Men, Spice Girls Mel B and Emma Bunton and LaBelle rocking the stage with K-pop acts ITZY, JO1, Billlie and BLACKSWAN.
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'Iconic artists you all love will combine forces with our hottest K-pop groups to create performances like you've never seen,' Megan says of the show hosted by actor/comedian Soojeong Son (Search Party). All eight episodes of the series will drop on Aug. 29
'This was one of the most fun shows we've ever made. Iconic hits, bangers you know and love, all with a big K-pop twist,' said executive producer Chris Culvenor in a statement. 'With PSY and Megan Thee Stallion leading the charge, it's a feel-good song battle that spans cultures, decades, and styles.'
Each episode will pair Western pop star with K-pop groups to reimagine some of their biggest hits, which they then perform live with limited rehearsal time. After each song battle, a winner is chosen and the K-pop idols will end each episode with a performance, including their K-popped versions of the guest artist's signature songs.
In the trailer (see below), Kesha works out her choreo and vocals with JO1, calling the intensity of sessions 'insanity,' while cheekily adding, 'lucky, I'm a hard-working b–ch!' J Balvin, meanwhile, pleads with ATEEZ to 'take it easy' on him since he's admittedly not a great dancer.
Among the team-ups and song selections fans can expect are: Megan Thee Stallion and LaBelle with Billlie (on 'Flipping a Coin,' 'Savage' and 'Lady Marmalade'), Mel B and Bunton with ITZY ('Gold,' 'Wannabe' and 'Say You'll Be There'), Vanilla Ice and Taylor Dayne with Kep 1 er ('Wa Da Da,' 'Ice Ice Baby' and 'Tell It To My Heart'), Kesha and Eve with JO1 ('Love Seeker,' 'Joyride' and 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind'), J Balvin and Kylie Minogue with ATEEZ ('Bounce (K-Hot Chili Peppers),' 'Mi Gente' and 'Can't Get You Out of My Head'), TLC and Boy George with STAYC ('RUN2U,' 'Waterfalls' and 'Karma Chameleon'), Jess Glynne and Ava Max with Kiss of Life ('Get Loud,' 'Hold My Hand' and 'Kings & Queens') and Boyz II Men with BLACKSWAN ('Roll Up,' 'Motownphilly' and 'End of the Road').
'This series is a tribute to the passion and precision that define K-pop — and to the fans around the world who have made it the powerful genre it is today,' said executive producer Harry H.K. Shin. 'As a leading company in Korean content, CJ ENM is proud to bring global pop stars and K-pop stars together to Seoul for this groundbreaking show. Filmed across some of the most exciting locations in Seoul, KPOPPED on Apple TV+ shines a spotlight on K-pop, K-culture, and the vibrant energy of the city. We're excited to unite iconic artists from East and West — across generations, languages, and cultures — to celebrate the universal power of music in its most authentic form.'
Check out the official trailer below.
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Forbes
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- Forbes
‘Squid Game' Over As Media Tires Of Survival Series
Netflix survival thriller series Squid Game has ended its run with a season which got less than half the media coverage it had during the month following its debut four years ago. The Korean streaming show became an almost-overnight success when it was released in September 2021 thanks to its timely viral premise. Its name refers to a deadly series of secret games which cash-strapped players compete in for the chance to win $30 million. The games are overseen by the Front Man, a mysterious character who is clad in black and protected by an army of masked guards in pink jumpsuits. The story is told from the perspective of Seong Gi-hun, a divorced father and indebted gambling addict who lives with his elderly mother. He soon finds that if a player loses a game it results in their death which increases the prize pool. It makes for tense storytelling as Gi-hun triumphs and sets out for revenge against the Front Man only to be told that he can't stop the games because human nature perpetuates them. Squid Game's debut season still stands as Netflix's most-watched show with 265.2 million views in its first 91 days of streaming. Its success was all the more surprising given that the show is in Korean so English viewers have to watch it dubbed or with subtitles. As a result, the show launched with little fanfare and caught the media completely off guard. This is reflected in data from Factiva, a search engine owned by Dow Jones which includes content from 33,000 news, data and information sources in 32 languages. It shows that Squid Game wasn't mentioned in the media at all in June and July 2021, just a matter of months before its debut. It attracted 1,524 articles when it launched in September 2021 and rose almost eight-fold to 11,943 the following month as word spread. 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Squid Game does however still have some fight left in it as an English-language version directed by David Fincher is under development. It is rumoured that it will star Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, who made a cameo in Season 3 of the Korean version. Time will tell whether it can get back to its winning ways in the media.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is Apple getting ready to launch a PlayStation and Xbox competitor?
The Apple TV is probably my favorite device that Apple makes. While the Apple TV app is in dire need of some basic improvements, the hardware box itself is a standout—especially compared to competitors like Amazon's Fire TV and Roku's streaming devices. This is largely thanks to the stellar Siri Remote, which makes navigating the device with your fingers or voice a cinch, and the powerful Apple silicon chip inside that makes the Apple TV's operating system, tvOS, run buttery smooth. Other countries are stepping up after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the climate fight Emotionally intelligent people use the 2-week rule to motivate themselves and reach their biggest goals Exclusive: Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations, potentially exposing sensitive user data However, when it comes to being a device meant to sit at the center of your living room as an all-encompassing entertainment hub, the Apple TV is lacking in one big department: gaming. 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This standard offers lower latency and faster Wi-Fi speeds than the current Wi-Fi 6 standard—something critical for gaming consoles and the bandwidth-hungry games that stream to them. The leading games console, the PlayStation 5 Pro, currently offers Wi-Fi 7 support. In other words, the hardware components Apple needs to turn the next Apple TV into a PlayStation and Xbox competitor are all in the pipeline. And, increasingly, so is something else the Apple TV would need to become a true gaming console: increasing commitment to Apple's platforms from major games studios. More AAA games are hitting the Mac—and iPhone—than ever before In the video game industry, the top games are known as AAA (triple-A) titles. These are the games with the most advanced graphics and the biggest budgets, and are frequently the highlights of the console gaming experience. Historically, AAA game developers have shied away from releasing their major titles on the Mac (the Apple device with the hardware power most comparable to professional gaming consoles). But in the past year, that's changed a lot, thanks to Apple's move to make game development on the Mac easier and more cost-effective than ever, thanks to tools like the company's Game Porting Toolkit 3 and the hardware-accelerated graphics API, Metal 4, which makes graphics-intensive games look better on Mac and iPhone. Considering Apple devices are more popular than ever, game studios stand to financially benefit by bringing their biggest titles to Apple's platforms and their millions of users. In July alone, two major AAA titles made their debut on the Mac: CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate and Deep Silver's Dead Island 2. Other major AAA titles have also been released on the Mac over the past few years, including Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Shadows and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Remedy's Control Ultimate Edition, Kojima Productions' Death Stranding Director's Cut, Round 8 Studio's Lies of P, 11 Bit Studios' Frostpunk 2, and Capcom's Resident Evil series remastered editions. Additionally, more AAA titles are coming to the Mac this year, including IO Interactive's Hitman World of Assassination, InZOI Studio's InZOI, and Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert. Most of these games require an M1 series chip or later, found in the company's Apple Silicon Macs released since 2020. Some, like the Resident Evil series, can even run on the A17 Pro and later, first introduced in 2023. Apple's current A18 Pro is roughly equivalent to the M1 in terms of performance, and if Apple puts it, the M1 or M2, or the upcoming A19 Pro, inside the next Apple TV, as expected, there is no reason these AAA games that currently run on the Mac couldn't run on the new Apple TV. And if that happens, the Apple TV becomes a professional-level gaming console. Turning the Apple TV into a gaming console makes sense for Apple's ecosystem and the company's bottom line When Apple announced the upcoming Apple Games app for all its devices except the Apple TV, it stood out as a glaring hole in the company's lineup, especially since Apple Games is a natural fit for the Apple TV. But when you take in the odd omission, along with recent rumors that the next Apple TV is set to get powerful new CPU and wireless chipsets, and the flood of new AAA titles hitting the Mac and iPhone this year, things start to look a lot clearer. 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At price points of $129 or $149, depending on whether you want more storage and an ethernet connection, the current Apple TV 4K is much more expensive than such competitors as the Roku Streaming Stick 4K ($49), the Roku Ultra ($99), and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K ($49). However, if Apple gives the new Apple TV gaming console capabilities, the current $129/$149 price suddenly looks like a bargain. A triple-A gaming experience on the Apple TV would be a unique selling point that Roku or Amazon couldn't compete with. It could also give Apple a major new revenue stream in the form of 30% App Store commissions on AAA titles sold through the tvOS App Store. As of 2024, the global AAA gaming market is valued at approximately $75 billion annually, according to a July 2025 Business Research Insights report. It's expected to grow to nearly $108 billion by 2033. But most of all, a new Apple TV with console gaming capabilities would further solidify the device as the digital heart of the living room and smart home, giving users another reason to stay within Apple's ecosystem, both inside and outside the house—an ancillary benefit Apple likely finds invaluable. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter:
Yahoo
3 hours ago
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TWICE Just Made History at Lollapalooza Then Nayeon and Momo Broke the Internet
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