Jeff Benjamin: Celebs Rumors

Stray Kids have reacted to topping the Billboard 200 with their brand-new mini-album, ‘Oddinary’.Today (March 28 EST), Billboard announced that Stray Kids had achieved their first entry on the Billboard 200 album chart with their sixth Korean-language EP ‘Oddinary’, which dropped earlier this month alongside its lead single ‘Maniac’. The project debuted at Number One on the chart, making them the third K-pop act to od so, after BTS and SuperM.Soon after the announcement, the boyband joined Billboard’s Jeff Benjamin and Jason Lipshutz on Twitter Spaces to celebrate the news.

T-ARA singer Areum has reportedly been hospitalised after a suicide attempt.South Korean news outlet Osen (via journalist Jeff Benjamin) reported that Areum had been taken to a hospital after attempting to take her own life in the early morning of March 27. The publication also reported that the singer has yet to regain consciousness and had left a suicide note.The news comes just a day after Areum accused her ex-husband, businessman Kim Young-gul, of being physically and emotionally abusive towards the singer and her children in a post on Instagram.

Tidal has laid off 40 members of staff across multiple departments, amounting to 10 per cent of its total staff.The music streaming service is owned by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s company Block, which has been making layoffs across its many branches, which also include Square and Cash App.As reported by Bloomberg, the layoffs include Jeff Benjamin, a former member of Tidal’s editorial team, along with other members of the editorial staff.In a statement from the company, they said: “As part of Block and its recent announcement to cap the number of employees at the company to focus on business growth, TIDAL has carefully considered how to right-size our team to ensure we are able to continue to build and invest in critical areas of the business.”“We do not take these decisions lightly, and we are sincerely grateful for the contributions of our impacted teammates.”Earlier this week, Spotify also announced that they were cutting down 17 per cent of its workforce in order to save costs. The streaming platform had previously laid off 6 per cent of its staff earlier in the year.Spotify chief executing Daniel Ek said that the recent decision was made as economic growth had “slowed dramatically”.

FIFTY FIFTY have released an official sped-up version of their viral TikTok hit ‘Cupid’.Over the weekend, FIFTY FIFTY unveiled an official sped-up edition for the English version of ‘Cupid’ – also known as the ‘Twin Ver’. The new release is similar to the fan-made sped-up rendition that originally went viral on TikTok.The sped-up version of the TikTok hit is available on streaming platforms under the artist name “sped up 8282”, and was released by distributors Warner Music and Warner Korea, as noted by music journalist Jeff Benjamin.Last month, FIFTY FIFTY became only the sixth K-pop group to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100 with their viral hit song ‘Cupid’, debuting at Number 100.