Entertainment News (09/19/23)
V of BTS releases solo debut album
V of BTS is moving forward in his solo career with the release of his highly anticipated debut album Layover. In addition to being the final installation in a series of solo debuts by the BTS members, the six-track album is a celebration of V’s characteristics and color as a solo artist, serving dreamy vocals against pop and R&B sounds. To celebrate the new album, V has featured in many of the Spotify channel’s K-Pop ON! episodes. These videos, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, can be found on Spotify’s K-Pop ON! video podcast and YouTube channels. Layover is available to stream on all digital music platforms worldwide.
Rise of Elves blockchain game comes to PHL
THE BLOCKCHAIN-BASED play-to-earn game Rise of Elves has been officially launched in the Philippines this month. Created by Taiwanese gaming company Mooneen, the game has 66,000 players across the Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore markets. The Philippines ranked 4th out of 26 countries in the NFT Gaming Adoption Report by global fintech platform Finder in 2022. “Besides having a substantial player base familiar with blockchain games, we aim to make the in-game ecosystem more vibrant by welcoming Filipino players into our community,” Johnson Chan, Mooneen’s blockchain architecture development and strategy research specialist said in a statement. Rise of Elves is a virtual world that runs on the Polygon blockchain, wherein players collect elves, represented by non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which can be collected and traded on the game’s marketplace for real money. Boxing legend and former senator Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao is also featured in the game as an exclusive in-game hero design, with 200 different styles of Manny Pacquiao NFTs. For more information, visit https://www.riseofelves.com/ or https://whitepaper.riseofelves.com/.
Sound of Freedom opens on Sept. 20
THE INDEPENDENT movie Sound of Freedom, starring Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), opens in Philippine cinemas on Sept. 20. In this film, Mr. Caveziel plays Tim Ballard, a former government agent who embarks on a mission to rescue dozens of children from human trafficking. Based on true events, the movie was shot on location in Colombia and became number one at the box-office when it opened in the US. It also stars child actors Cristal Aparicio and Lucás Ávilawho play siblings lured by a former beauty queen who poses as a talent scout for children. Sound of Freedom also stars Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp, José Zúñiga, and Eduardo Verástegui who is also one of the film’s producers. It is written and directed by Alejandro Monteverde. It is distributed by Axinite Digicinema and TBA Studios in the Philippines.
Singer-songwriter Clara Benin stages major concert
FILIPINO singer-songwriter Clara Benin is set to perform at the Music Museum in San Juan on Sept. 22. Befriending My Tears, a Clara Benin Concert celebrates the release of the singer’s sophomore studio album. This will be Ms. Benin’s second major show after her sold-out, two-night concert in 2016 at Teatrino Greenhills. This time, she will perform all the songs from her newly released album, along with fan favorites from her catalog. Eclectic pop musician Ena Mori, fellow singer-songwriter Syd Hartha, and multi-awarded artist Joey Benin of Side A will also join the concert. Tickets are available via SM Ticket online and select outlets nationwide.
KZ Tandingan holds major concert
EXPERIENCE the soul singer KZ Tandingan belt out ballads, folk, jazz, R&B, rock and pop songs, showing off her musical prowess in KZ Xperience: A KZ Tandingan Concert, on Sept. 23, 8 p.m., at the Newport Performing Arts Theater. She first rose to prominence after her victory on the first season of X Factor Philippines back in 2012, then joined the singing competition Singer 2018 in China, where her performances went viral. She also became the voice behind the first full Filipino Disney song, “Gabay,” for the film Raya the Last Dragon. Tickets to the concert are available at TicketWorld.
