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How do K-pop singers celebrate Lunar New Year?

  • Published : Feb 17, 2015 - 19:06
  • Updated : Feb 17, 2015 - 19:06

Many hard-working K-pop singers will get a much-needed break this Lunar New Year as the three-day festival falls before the weekend this year, giving Koreans a consecutive five-day break to spend with family.

Yet some idol singers will be tied up with filming commitments, while others will be engaged in rehearsals for solo projects. Kpop Herald has rounded up a comprehensive list of idol schedules during this year's celebrations, which start Wednesday.

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K-pop band TVXQ, set to resume its "With: Live Tour 2015" Japanese tour after the festivities, is likely to spend the holiday in rehearsals. The 16-show tour will stop in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo, ending on April 2.

Undeterred by legal battles involving former members Luhan and Kris, boy band EXO will be practicing for its upcoming second concert "EXO PLANET #2 - The EXO'luXion." The concert, to be held at Seoul's Olympic Gymnastics Arena on March 7-8 and 14-15, drew premature attention when the online booking site crashed last month due to a huge surge in traffic.

Sextet Apink, currently abroad in Japan, will be preparing for a musical comeback in Japan to follow after their second J-pop single "Mr. Chu" drops on Wednesday. The girl group is scheduled to hold promotional events and fan meetings in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka and Nagoya after the festival.

Also preparing for Japanese concerts is boy band 2PM member Wooyoung, who will start his nine-show solo tour of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo from Thursday, leading up to his debut J-pop track "R.O.S.E" to drop on March 4.

CNBLUE's Jung Yong-hwa, who enjoyed a chart-topping ride with "One Fine Day," will be rehearsing for an Asia tour named after his debut solo EP. The tour kicks off on Feb. 27 in Seoul.

Quintet 4Minute, which released its sixth EP "Crazy" on Monday, will be gearing up for its musical comeback in between family time.

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Jonghyun
from boy group SHINee, who enjoyed breakthrough success with his debut solo album "BASE," will be engaged with MBC’s radio program "Blue Night Jonghyun," which airs every evening from midnight to 2 a.m.

Super Junior's Kyuhyun and rival boy band BEAST's Yang Yo-seob will spend this year's festivities with theatergoers, continuing as Prince Philip Gregory in "Das Musical, Robin Hood," which will take a break only on Thursday.

In contrast, Bada and Girls' Generation member Seohyun will enjoy a long-awaited break, since they concluded their musical roles as Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind," which closed its curtains on Sunday.

Boy group B1A4's Jinyoung may run into Super Junior-M's Henry while filming Mnet drama "Persevere, Goo Hae-ra," which airs every Friday at 11:20 p.m.

Rookie idol group BTOB, which topped Japan’s Oricon chart with its debut J-pop track "WOW" in November, will be wrapping up promotions that end after Lunar New Year.

K-pop icon Rain may be celebrating Lunar New Year abroad, as he is scheduled to film his first Chinese drama "Diamond Lover," set to air later this year. The romantic series -- shot in locations such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Belgium and Seoul -- will see the 32-year-old star alongside Chinese actress Tiffany Tang a.k.a Tang Yan as magnate of the world's largest diamond company.

Boy band ZE:A's Yim Si-wan, who won acclaim for his performance in tvN drama "Misaeng (Incomplete Life)" last year, will spend the festival fine-tuning preparations for "Hello," his first Asian tour of fan meetings. The tour kicks off in Tokyo on March 7.

Girl group f(x)'s Amber and boy band Teen Top's Niel will have precious little downtime as they focus on solo careers that launched on Sunday and Monday, respectively.

Niel's groupmate Ricky will make his theatrical debut on Wednesday in the musical adaption of hit Korean drama "Bachelor's Vegetable Store" (2013), alongside boy group Boyfriend's leader Donghyun.

Fellow Teen Top idol Changjo will take time out between celebrations to film MBC drama "Sweden Laundry," which airs every Friday at 7 p.m.

Other K-pop acts -- including girl groups Miss A, Girls' Generation, Red Velvet and Sistar -- will reportedly have some hard-earned rest with family during the five-day break.

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By Yoon Sarah (sarah356@heraldcorp.com)

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