South Korean search portal Naver has finalized the initial lineup of K-pop groups and soloists who will join its new streaming mobile app “V.”

The video app is Naver’s fresh attempt to help Korean stars live stream their activities and closely interact with fans in Asia and beyond.

The service is set to start Aug. 1 and the mobile app for the Android platform is now available on Google Play store.

As of Friday, Naver has confirmed 23 participants, including Wonder Girls, 2PM, WINNER, Big Bang, GOT7 and Infinite on its V campaign site: http://campaign.naver.com/v/lineup.

More top-notch singers and actors are expected to join the app-based broadcast targeting K-pop fans across the globe.

The following is a brief introduction to the 23 K-pop stars who will live stream themselves on the V app (in order of broadcasting date).


1. BTS
(August 1)

BTS

BTS is a seven-member South Korean boy group consisting of V, Suga, Jin, Jungkook, Rap Monster, Jimin and J-hope. They were formed on June 13, 2013, by Big Hit Entertainment. They debuted with the song “No More Dream.” They have won several “New Artist of the Year” awards, including those at the 2013 MelOn Music Awards and Golden Disk Awards, and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards, as well as two bonsang awards.


2. WINNER
(August 1)

Winner

WINNER is a K-pop boy band formed by YG Entertainment in 2014 through the reality survival show “Who Is Next: Win.” During the program, Team A and Team B, all composed of trainees under the label, vied for a chance to debut in the winner-takes-all competition. The victory went to team A, which is now the five-member group WINNER, consisting of Kang Seung-yoo, Song Min-ho, Kim Jin-woo, Lee Seung-hoon and Nam Tae-hyun. The group’s official debut EP “2014 S/S” was released in August 2014. The album’s lead track “Empty” instantly debuted at the top of the local charts. WINNER also drew global attention by topping iTunes charts in five countries and Japan’s Oricon music chart.


3. iKON
(August 1)

iKON

After YG Entertainment unveiled the group WINNER in 2014 through reality survival program “Win: Who Is Next: Win,” the losing team of the show, Team B, received another chance to make a debut through the survival TV show “Mix & Match.” The seven-member iKON will make its debut Sept. 15. The group is comprised of B.I, Jinhwan, Bobby, Yunhyeong, Junhoe, Donghyuk and Chanwoo.
The group was recently selected as one of the K-pop groups to watch this year by the U.S. ranking chart Billboard.


4. Wonder Girls
(August 3)

Wonder Girls

Wonder Girls is a four-member Korean girl group, consisting of Yubin, Yenny, Sunmi and Lim. Signed under JYP Entertainment, the group debuted in 2007 and rose to stardom through dance hits such as “Tell Me,” “Nobody” and “So Hot.” Wonder Girls halted its activities in 2012 following former members Sunye’s marriage and Sohee’s departure from the agency. Ending a three-year hiatus, the group is returning as a four-member outfit on Aug. 3 with its third studio album “Reboot.”


5. Kara
(August 3)

Kara

Kara is a South Korean pop girl group formed by DSP Media, consisting of Park Gyuri, Han Seungyeon, Goo Hara and Heo Youngji. The group originally started off as a quartet and made its debut with “Break It” in 2007. After some member changes, it resettled as a four-member group. Its single “Mister,” released in 2009, contributed to the group’s sudden popularity with the “butt-dance” choreography.


6. CNBLUE
(August 3)

CNBLUE

CNBLUE, also known as Code Name Blue, is a South Korean rock band. They were formed in 2009 by FNC Entertainment. The band consists of Jung Yong-hwa (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Lee Jong-hyun (lead guitar, vocals), Lee Jung-shin (bass guitar, vocals) and Kang Min-hyuk (drums, vocals). It debuted in August 2009 in Japan with its first EP, “Now or Never,” and released four teasers for its first Korean EP “Bluetory.” CNBLUE finally made its official debut in Korea with the title track of its EP “I’m a Loner.” Its fan club is called “Boice.”


7. Girl’s Day
(August 3)

Girl's Day

Girl’s Day is a four-member girl group consisting of members Sojin, Yura, Minah and Hyeri. The group debuted in 2010 with album “Girl’s Day Party #1” under DreamT Entertainment. Its July single “Ring My Bell” received over 7 million views on YouTube in less than a month. The group is set to debut in Japan in September.


8. Miss A
(August 4)

Miss A

Miss A is a four-member Korean-Chinese K-pop girl group, consisting of Fei, Jia, Min and Suzy (the youngest). It was formed in 2010 and is managed by JYP Entertainment. The members made their official debut in July 2010 with their single “Bad Girl Good Girl.” In March, Miss A released the album “Colors” with the lead single “Only You,” which gained more than 2 million views on YouTube within 24 hours.


9. SM TOWN

SM TOWN

SM TOWN, the mammoth 62-singer-team of the biggest entertainment agency in South Korea, joined Naver’s newly launching live-streaming app, “V,” Friday.
The team is the largest chimera of K-pop groups including TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, EXO, Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet, BoA, and more soloists, all under the label SM Entertainment.
SM TOWN, first formed in 1999, has been holding large-scale concerts across the world as one of the representative K-pop performances among foreign fans.


10. 2PM
(August 5)

2PM

2PM is a South Korean idol group managed by JYP Entertainment. The current members are Jun. K (formerly known as Junsu), Nichkhun, Taecyeon, Wooyoung, Junho and Chansung. Former leader Jay Park officially left the group in early 2010. 2PM debuted with the single “10 out of 10” on Sept. 4, 2008. Their fifth studio album, “No. 5,” was released on June 15. Nine of the 12 songs on the album were written by the members, with the title song “My House” written by Jun. K.


11. Eric Nam
(August 5)

Eric Nam

Korean-American singer and TV personality Eric Nam made his official debut as a solo singer in 2013 after gaining fame as a top-five contestant on the audition program “Birth of a Great Star” season two in 2012. Nam, 26, is signed under B2M Entertainment and made his debut in January 2013 with EP “Cloud 9,” with title track “Heaven’s Door." Since 2013, he has hosted the Arirang TV’s music talk show “After School Club.” He also gained fame as a TV reporter on the entertainment news show “Section TV” until 2014, during which time he interviewed Hollywood stars such as Robert Downey Jr., Emma Stone, Miranda Kerr, Amanda Seyfried and Matt Damon.


12. AOA
(August 5)

AOA

AOA -- acronym for Ace of Angels -- is an eight-member girl group consisting of Choa, Jimin, Yuna, Hyejeong, Mina, Seolhyun, Chanmi and Youkyung. Signed under FNC Entertainment, the band made a debut through single “Angel’s Story” 2012. Since then, the band has released several popular EPs, including “Miniskirt” and “Like a Cat.” AOA has released albums in different formats and subunits such as AOA Black and AOA White. Member Youkyoung only performs with AOA for their band albums, and not for their dance albums. In June, AOA released the EP “Heart Attack.”


13. B1A4
(August 6)

B1A4

B1A4 is a five-member South Korean boy band consisting of Jinyoung, CNU, Sandeul, Baro and Gongchan. The band, signed under WM Entertainment, made a debut in April 2011 with the single “O.K.” In 2012, the band kicked off its activities in Japan with the release of its first studio album, “1.” The album’s songs “Beautiful Target” and “Oyasumi Good Night” both took No. 4 on the Oricon weekly singles chart in Japan. The second Japanese studio album “2” was released in 2014. In 2013, B1A4 won the first music show award on MBC’s “Show! Music Core” with the EP “What’s Going On.” B1A4 is slated to release its EP “Sweet Girl” on Aug. 10.


14. GOT7
(August 6)

GOT7

GOT7 is a seven-member mixed-nationality group comprising of members JB, Mark, Junior, Jackson, Youngjae, BamBam and Yugyeom. The rookie group is managed by JYP Entertainment. It debuted in 2014 with EP album “Got it?” and went on to win the Good Will Star Award from 2015’s 29th Golden Disk Awards held in China. The group’s latest release was EP “Just Right,” released in July.


15. Apink
(August 6)

Apink

Apink is a six-member K-pop girl group consisting of Park Cho-rong, Yoon Bo-mi, Jung Eun-ji, Son Na-eun, Kim Nam-joo and Oh Ha-young. Signed under A Cube Entertainment, Apink debuted on April 19, 2011 with “I Don’t Know.” Since then, the group has released a number of hit tracks, such as “Mr. Chu” and “Luv.” Unlike many other girl groups that opt for a sexy image, Apink focuses on maintaining an innocent and pure image in their songs and performances. The band dropped its second full-length album “Pink Memory” on July 16 and has topped local charts with the hit song “Remember.”


16. Beast
(August 8)

Beast

Beast is a six-member boy group formed in 2009 by Cube Entertainment. The band’s members are Yoon Doo-joon, Jang Hyun-seung, Yong Jun-hyung, Yang Yo-seob, Lee Gi-kwang and Son Dong-woon. In October 2009, Beast made its live performance debut on KBS Music Bank with the debut single “Bad Girl.” On Oct. 5, 2014, Beast announced the upcoming release of its seventh EP album “Time,” with a teaser video posted on the group’s official YouTube channel. The album was released on Oct. 20 that year.


17. Monsta X
(August 9)

Monsta X

Monsta X is a South Korean hip-hop boy group created by Starship Entertainment, active since May 14, 2015. The winners of the survival show “NO.MERCY” debuted as Monsta X, which consists of seven members: Shownu (Son Hyun-woo), Wonho (Shin Ho-seok), Minhyuk (Lee Min-hyuk), Kihyun (Yoo Ki-hyun), Hyungwon (Chae Hyung-won), Jooheon (Lee Joo-heon), and I.M (Im Chang-kyun).
On May 14, the debut music video for its title track “Trespass” was released.


18. Sistar
(August 13)

Sistar

Sistar is a South Korean girl group formed in 2010 under the management of Starship Entertainment. The group consists of Hyolyn, Bora, Soyou and Dasom. They made their official debut with the song “Push Push” on June 3, 2010. On June 22, 2015, Sistar released its fifth EP album “Shake It” along with its title track of the same name.


19. F.T. Island
(August 18)

F.T. Island

F.T. Island, short for Five Treasure Island, is a five-member South Korean pop-rock band consisting of Choi Jong-hoon (guitar and keyboard), Lee Hongki (lead vocals), Lee Jae jin (bass and vocals), Song Seung-hyun (guitar, vocals and rap, replacing Oh Won-bin in 2009) and Choi Min-hwan (drums). They were formed on June 7, 2007, by FNC Entertainment. F.T. Island has released 11 full-length albums, eight EP albums, countless singles and many more soundtrack productions for different drama theme songs and anime openings. Its debut album, titled “Cheerful Sensibility,” was the sixth best-selling album in 2007. The debut song “Lovesick” topped K-pop charts for eight consecutive weeks. It is also the first foreign male band ever to top the Oricon Daily Charts and the first band to top it in 42 years. The band has won various prestigious awards such as the Golden Disk Awards and Seoul Music Awards, as well as different music programs in Korea, while holding many tours and concerts globally.


20. VIXX
(Sometime in August)

VIXX

VIXX -- acronym for voice, visual, value in excelsis -- is a six-member boy band consisting of N, Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hongbin and Hyuk. Signed under Jellyfish Entertainment, the band members were selected through competing in Mnet’s reality show “MyDOL.” Immediately after the show, the final six members debuted with the single “Superhero” in May 2012. Since then, the band released hit songs such as “Error” and “Eternity.” VIXX recently signed a contract with a major Chinese label CN Bless Agency, in an attempt to reach to the Chinese market.


21. Jun Hyoseong
(Sometime in August)

Jun Hyoseong

In 2009 she debuted, with Song Jieun, Han Sunhwa and Jung Hana, as the four member girl group Secret, managed by TS Entertainment. They released their debut single “I Want You Back” in October 2009. Later in April 2010, Secret released its first EP album “Secret Time,” which spawned the hit single “Magic”; and served as their breakthrough song in South Korea. In August 2010, the girls released their second EP album “Madonna” and the title track continued their success as it topped the Gaon Single Charts.


22. Big Bang
(Sometime in August)

Big Bang

Big Bang is a five-member boy group, consisting of G-Dragon (leader), Taeyang, T.O.P, Daesung and Seungri. They debuted in 2006 under the label YG Entertainment with single album “Bigbang.” The group recently broke its three-year hiatus in June as it launched a one-single-a-month project called the“MADE series.”


23. Infinite
(Sometime in August)

Infinite

Infinite is a seven-member South Korean pop boy band, formed in 2010 by Woollim Entertainment. The group comprises seven members which are Sungkyu, Dongwoo, Woohyun, Hoya, Sungyeol, L and Sungjong. They debuted with “First Invasion” in 2010. Their EP “New Challenge” sold over 160,000 copies in Korea alone and was one of the best-selling albums of 2013.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)