#(which is a Hyuna song in the actual videos)

[givemaycoffee]

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[crustyfloor]

tis the time.oughhh lukaover 😂😂🤞

Wiege, as in german, translates directly to cradle to english, or something that can hold and be rocked gently, Wiege can also be used to figuratively relate back to "birth/origin" or "infancy"

The translation of the quote here is (and this is subject to change when I find translations so take this with a grain of salt)

"If you close your eyes, you will escape paradise"

(from google it says "When I close my eyes, play in paradise." which doesn't read that differently.)

When I was reading up about the meaning of Wiege, as Wiege is figuratively related back to a gentle and protective embrace (similar to a cradle), I remembered what Luka had said about HyunA before, "If only you were in my arms, you'd be safe" and his underlined desire to "keep" HyunA where he thinks she would be safest and in the possessive sense, he doesn't want to let go of her.

This atmosphere feels more soft and reminiscent, so I think this episode will be about Luka recalling his fonder memories, like he did in the "on the stage" comic, it'll likely be him remembering his childhood with HyunA and Hyunwoo, and on that note, Wiege might not be a round, but a video like MiziSua that is more like a dream/ foreshadow. The song itself will probably be a song akin to a lullaby with this theme going on.

Now, onto the actual cover (and this may be a reach ehg), I find it interesting how Luka is deliberately placed with children around him, yet he is alone. It's made clear that when he was younger, he was an outcast before he came to meet Hyunwoo and then HyunA. In another version of this cover, Luka isn't there anymore--I think this is a representation of Luka's own dissonance with himself as both a person and a product, he only feels human when he feels clear emotions like euphoria, fear, elation, love, emotions are distant to Luka, he has more freedom and a sense of humanity on that stage than anywhere else, and with this, he finds his identity as a powerful performer on stage. But without that? He isn't present alongside the other kids anymore because he doesn't feel human without possessing what it means to be human, he can't fit in with them. Emotions are a distant thing for Luka; he still feels he's a human through and through, but no matter how much he tries to connect, it's a foreign topic.

Also, wanna touch on the flower. The anakt garden flower is another connection to Luka's childhood, but I also think the hand seemingly giving it to him is either hyunwoo or hyuna, and this will show the first time he met them.

(And maybe, we'll get more context on Hyunwoo's death in this video, since it'll likely be flashbacks of more significant times for Luka)

[shakingparadigm]

Heya! Warning, this is a bit long-

So recently I translated Love & peace to my language and it made me think about the lyrics. I don't remember if it was you or another user that seemed to think Hyuna is singing to Luka, but personally I see it more as her singing to Hyun Woo!

For instance:

"I look around here and there, but only catch a glimpse of you" - her hallucination (I suppose) of her brother in the prologue video/the one with Sweet dream

"But this love, I can't let you go" - She deeply cares for Hyun Woo, but she can't let (the thought of) him go, for she hasn't moved on

"I'll find it one day, inner peace that I long for" - Hyuna not being able to accept his death, not reaching inner peace, feeling guilt about the incident (but hoping to one day overcome it)

Of course not saying I'm inherently correct about this! If the song is about Hyun Woo though, it makes it really sad- I'd love to know your opinion!

Hello! I just wanted to say that it's nice to see you in my inbox! You've been interacting for quite a while now and it always makes me smile when I recognize your user :)

When Love & Peace first came out, I actually assumed it to be for Hyunwoo. I was pleasantly surprised that more people deemed it for Luka, but the song can really go both ways!

I'm glad to know that we share the same thoughts, actually. Especially the lyric of catching glimpses, that one in particular was so reminiscent of Hyunwoo running past Hyuna in Sweet Dream. Since Hyunwoo never grew old enough or reached the stage, it makes sense that she'd only be able to remember him in glimpses and vignettes. He's not someone she can simply find on screens or plastered around billboards, he now exists in a smaller, far more personal space. In short bursts of memory and tricks of the eye.

" I can't let you go " is so painfully fitting for her entire relationship with Hyunwoo. She is continuously haunted by his image and the guilt of losing him. Though, I suppose this could go for her tainted memories of Luka as well.

I find it interesting how the title, Love & Peace, is an inversion of the phrase Peace & Love, commonly used to wish goodness onto others. As the inverse, Hyuna's song wishes this peace upon herself as opposed to someone else.

Love & Peace carries so much pain and longing that I immediately thought of Hyunwoo. I personally came to this conclusion at the last lyric of the song: " I call out to you and hope my heart reaches you "

Same with you, I also can't be sure that this interpretation is correct lol. It's just nice to know that we share the idea! I can also see the ways in which this song might apply to Luka, though if I were to guess on the true subject of the song I'd say it's most likely a mix of both. I personally lean towards the Hyunwoo interpretation, though! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[magodangretsus]

Okay alien stage analysis on a running theme I noticed since the first video and have been paying attention to so far: love as a savior.

(spoilers for Round 5, which I have managed to analyze through this lens.)

Mizi and Sua make this most obvious - we get it from Mizi's point of view, but I assume the feeling is mutual. Mizi explains in the song break of My Clematis that humanity has forgotten God, no longer believe because their lives are cruel and unfair, if God exists, he's abandoned them. Humans are slaves, killed for entertainment and sport. But these children are afraid, they want hope, they want to be saved from their suffering. So Mizi believes in Sua - not in that she's going to actually deliver her from her suffering, but in that the love they share will make it bearable.

Mizi and Sua's time together and their love for each other makes them able to smile, gives them hope of a way out of Alien Stage - they join hands and sing as one, and feel like their love will save each other from death, that it will break the system. (They fail, but that they had hope in the first place is what matters. They hadn't given up, in the face of all the suffering they felt.)

My initial interpretation of Round 2 is that Till, equally suffering and longing for hope and escape, saw their love and dreamed that Mizi's love would save him as well.

Now having watched Round 3, I think it's equally true that, seeing a girl whose love can save, he also wanted to be her savior. He found the strength to be brave, to rebel, because he loved her. And that courage saves him as well, saves him from giving into fear and hopelessness.

And, of course, Ivan - Ivan wanted to be Til's savior. He literally rescued him, offered him escape, but even literally becoming Til's savior did not make him Til's love - Til still wanted to be Mizi's, so much that he gave up the chance to be saved himself.

So of course, when it was announced that Luka would be the focus of the next Alien Stage video, I came into it with my eyes focused on what Luka thinks a savior is, if he has someone he wants to save or be saved by.

At first glance, this question simply is not answered. Our first glimpse of him is kissing the bloodied hand of his round 4 opponent (whose hair you can see in the background, it matches what we see on the tournament bracket). They are lying in a tub filled with their own blood, and to me, it looks like Luka is responsible, or at least pleased with the outcome.

And then throughout his song, he is cruel - teasing a clearly traumatized Mizi, taking control of her while she attempts to resist, panicked, until she finally breaks through and stops his voice herself. Many initial reactions I've seen are to the tune of "wow, Luka is horrible, I'm so glad Mizi beats his face in!!" He is an antagonist.

At least at first glance. I noticed something (after rewatching like 70 times) - when Mizi is being pulled off Luka, he smirks.

Hyuna is among those arresting Mizi, and she meets eyes with Luka as she takes her away. She isn't killed on stage the way Sua was, and when we see the ending bracket, after Mizi's picture is darkened, we see those error notifications "ERROR: MIZI MISSING". Missing means she wasn't killed, even though Luka won the match.

I think Luka and Hyuna were working together to save Mizi. I assume to help them end Alien Stage, save them all and break the cycle. We don't know yet, but I think we will find that the concept of a savior will become very relevant to Luka as well.

[mindpalaceofmyown]

THE SONG BEING ABOUT LEAVING PAST BEHIND IS INSANE. everybody confornts their past and feelings for each other throughout the series. not luka. NOT LUKA. him facing hyuna at the end and the video cutting is such a cinematic choice ok. this is really what this lead to.

ivan and till

first off; tills hair is styled the same way as ivan's in round 6. till is wearing a white outfit in the final. notice how tills clothes get progressively lighter as he approaches the final. notice this with other characters. are they implying something about unrequited love between the characters? YES. notice how their behavior towards the love interest is different showcasing the difference in their personalities: ivan makes a last ditch attempt to show his love (ditching the competition and kissing till. then dying bleeding from his mouth (symbolism????)) and till seeing mizi in the crowd and also running towards her but not reaching her in time urghhhh. this may MAY imply the variance in strength of feeling also. ivantill to tillmizi is like a double bond is to a resonance form double bond. almost there but still slightly weaker because of the nature in which it appears. chemistry.

ALSO THAT ONE FUCKING SCENE WHERE LUKA IS IVAN BUT IVAN AND IVAN AND TILL screaming crying throwing up

till and mizi

mizi gives till strength so he runs off and reaches towards her but is too slow. so notice: till runs, doesn't reach her, dies in her arms. ivan runs, kisses till, dies by himself. so what does this say about the strength of their feelings towards each other? :3

luka

this blond bitch gets a whole separate section BECAUSE:

1. slutty outfit.

2. plays violin.

3.THE RINGS HELLO???? he already had bad circulation what was that about huh imagine this a metaphor for the control his guardian has over him. restrict his already weak part even more <- mental illness. this is so reflected in the ending where hes facing hyuna. he won the battle but lost the war.

4. CONTINUING: observe how luka was turned from a child, with expressed feelings, forced into something he had to do and losing that expression as he aged. yes. this is why he gets his section. this man is just like me- i mean what. facing hyuna at the end, his expression is just i would rather die than see you again and be reminded. remember when he was performing with mizi, he was sassy towards hyuna, assuming thed always be separated by some barrier. but theyre not. now he has to actually consider the feeling locked far away. oooo

5. THE WAY HE IVANED JUST LIKE HE SUAD FOR MIZI

overall the animation music so cruchy and smooth and vocal really good urghhhh. @fishyizm wrote abt this more i think

[lilac-udon]

long alien stage thought will be a rough summery of all videos spoilers

I'm very new to this, so information might be missed, very messy english i wrote it for myself blehhhhh

round 1

mizi and sua, an entry with the mystery of what alien stage is. I like the stage is much smaller compared to the Round 5,6. They did a great chorus to tie their score. How Sua was supposed to be shorter but on the stage, they stand at equal height( high heels?), fitting the plan that they want so sync together and letting the audience hard to pick one winner.

In additional comics, they did explain Sua's plan to let Mizi win, I was so confused about how Sua made it work, but I found it might be how Sua placed her mic very far away in some scenes. Sua and Ivan are the logical and top students, Sua should have won easily but also have the ability make it seem like she was so close to Mizi points but still lost like naturally. I always feel like as the poster child of the alien stage, they have big plans for Sua. However, in the actual videos, sadly we have so little about her, adding how it crushed Mizi , there isn't any additional song from mizi that talks more about Sua. Different from till, we see his perspective of mizi, and Ivan gives many contexts of the place they grew up, himself, and Till from their songs.

all in all, for sua, I felt that to balance the story they will let Sua use some shape or form, whether memory or other ways to fulfill her lack of involvement.

mizisua

I will talk about this video first out of order to continue Mizi and Sua's story. Mizi is treated like a favorite cat, whereas sua is treated like an actual pet and badly. I always like this storytelling of picking Mizi as the MC, she is the most like us, humans that are not under the abuse of alien. From an owner who took good care of her, she is innocent, which is not normal in alien stage environments, she is rare. From the official, we see Sua owner has many "children" pets, and I like how Ivan and Mizi who are treated more decently have their names on their arms, and Till and Sua on their necks, which is more degrading, and convenience Mizi has her hair dyed blue for alien stage, she was looking forward to it. and I like the symbolism of how it was cut in ALL IN

side note of the children Ivan and Sua are top and popular students, Mizi is good at sports, Till likes to compose and is talent with instruments(they added they want him to skip grad which I often think if he the youngest in his class), hyuna can mimic voice(?)and natural leader, luka is a genius at singing but has health problems.

round 2

I want till to sing rock pop inspire style music again… his song is just a huge "I like you mizi, please cheer up! " the song to me is till very hot headly shut his opponent and get what he wants, attention from mizi, to wake mizi up from misery. In till eyes, mizi is pure and beautiful, I saw someone stated it like this" till sees mizi as his god, a coping mechanism considering how much he's been abused. He knows mizi is out of reach but her existence is enough for him to keep going." I have a lot to say here, first, they grow up together around 10 years and it's weird to me how sided and feel like a fresh crush. Till really kept his distance, might be the face he subconsciously knows mizi is with sua so he always put himself as an admire position. His point of view is solely on mizi but not the entire mizi, like he don't know much as a whole. But I guess this is an abusive situation because Till is very focused on what he wants to see. From the new annverisy art we also see till is on a device that makes him focuses on playing instruments. I was thinking he might be train to do that due to pain, and that's why he is composing all the time. This behavior also greatly affects him to be very focused on the things that bring him joy, mizi, and music.(guess Back to the video, He was impatient and disregarded his opponent(another person he knew from 10+yr), maybe changed the song too? , at least it became a solo after mizi felt miserable. When his opponent finally sang , he smashed his guitar to catch mizi's attention but leads to himself getting beat off the stage. And it's important that he was unconscious until the very end of round 3

round 3

black sorrow is so moving, and I can feel the weight and despair Ivan is definitely my favorite character, but that might be also a flaw in the story because he is the only character who feels like is giving a complete story, everyone is still halfway but Ivan has a started to finish. And besides that there is so much details and mystery on him which confuse me are they going to do more with this character that already feels like have more story them the mc .Even though both songs are screaming "I love you till" it also is super throughout of why he is that way, how he met till and why he likes till, etc in the song. I don't blame his action for being weird because I feel like this should be the norm in alien stage setting, those children all live under trauma and like mizi to Till, till is Ivan's purpose in life. And is also sad Ivan has so maybe symbolism of seeking freedom but he still stay by till. noted, ivan is the creepy kid, much like Luka, but when he got more mature, he was made to be a perfect model. From the round 3 video, the quality goes up, and we can see Ivan never has a collar if so, it's green(You can compare it with the other two kids on the left, at least one of them are obviously showing red, but he is green

So my question is, why does he not have a collar? What I can think of, the collar does not working on him, it's always green. second, his owner give him the privilege of not wearing one. the late one is a theory I saw, saying the alien implanted the device into his neck. second mystery, why is this boy so good at opening keys or collar??? I saw that the theory is from the first shot of getting throwing off the building, he might have try to escape with all the kids etc but still get caught, this boy is built to escape

this part I think the creator confirmed (i might be wrong) that it was Ivan's doing to lead mizi till to the cave. I think it might have this scene of till chasing the flower crown may be Ivan POV , i was thinking till might be chasing mizi or mizi is call for help, (like maybe the flower crown can fly in this universe but? we already know it camera so maybe it real they can also fly lol) Why I say this is because till collar is red, so some people has speculated it might be a heart rate for changing color but I still like to think is more of emotion detecting. So till’s face might be in panic but it looks claim in ivan pov right now, and then after the spark in the eyes, Ivan falls in love bleh bleh bleh. My interpretation is he was still testing till at this point so he set up the dog alien. and he likes the spirit of Tills giving. And the second seance he broke till out and the rest is history.

Also till is asleep most of the song so I was guessing in the garden Ivan probably already openly and straightforwardly confessed to till before but till brushes it off. I am not sure about this one, because rather till awake or not it won't change much anyway, I just think it’s ironic, that this is probably a love song for till, but till missed most of it

can I also say I think Ivan rigged the game to at least let till not face Luka or mizi first, or else I think his luck is pretty good. Also Ivan’s stage is super fancy, which I also think because he got more sponsor

round 5

soooooooooooooo, I was always confused about this part, why is part 4 an opponent in a bathtub thing on the stage? then I have a theory that this is not on the stage but Luka has the authority to see the fallen opponent. So in theory even though they are pets, my hopeful thinking is aliens still won't randomly waste their body, and how the official said Luka's owners are making the perfect contestant, can I believe they are storing the bodies? Luka is a test baby, a clone or other test is a possibility, and Luka might know more due to his ower and being a previous winner. also, this is a far fetch one, but the hair looks short and black, not like his round 4 opponent of long and brown hair sooo

I really like this, Luka is spinning around Miz like he's the moon and she's the planet

the problem is this is Luka from are point first time on screen competing, but we know this round 5 is made for him, and many symbolisms of the moon. How Luka was the previous winner and how I speculated that mizi was the most normal of the group, she was at the lowest winning level he is mocking mizi in every way, how alike he sings like sua, how the lyric, this part of he showing how much his fans love him when he is singing giving mizi the whole world

next one, I think many have already pointed out, those guards are weirdly all human in size and shape, are they robots or…?

I do need to point out , the style greatly changed in this where, round 5,6 we all feel like there is a huge time skip. It might be just the art style change or really time passes a lot, and that not impossible to see ing how till get gig in between rounds 5 to 6, it might also be years due to alien years might be translated differently to human years. to sum up, the timeline is confusing, however, round 1,2,3,4 happen at a similar time due to seeing them all in pods with the same clothing, and till faint between round 2 and woke up at round 3

back to Mizisua video, like how I said Luka resembles moon, and hyuna often associated with the earth, this is probably a human-resistant train? and on the left corner, there's an earth sticker, it might be represent humans as a whole but also hyuna

top 3

this got me confused, ok so the setting is humans are too fragile, short-living , and maybe not as intelligent as aliens so are seen as pets. Even though alien has similar fashions and make idol culture of human. Alien stage is an occurring thing and quite a big thing in this universe? so I see it like horse betting? with a lot of gambling including that can events rise an alien wealth a lot ?

I have no idea about this image but some mention something about religion, alien stage has a lot about believe in god and such but I don't have much to say currently, have no further useful thoughts about this

All In

repeat again, how the owner looks all huger but the guards look stupidly human shape and small like a human??? Aren't there big efficient robots or aliens???

farfetched because this also might be a fashion thing but the military dog tag thing is extremely human culture? it has been 50 alien stage, consider luka age of 30, mizi age of 22 , for example, if will be around 5 years each alien stage apart it should be going on for 200+ years? of human adoption, this should be rare. but whatever, I also have a theory this guy is an old solder guard thing but hasn't been brainwashed that hard but this is very silly. But why are you so buff ok? you guys should be suffering with limited resources idk. Secret military for humans only because if aliens handle humans they will squish to death easily that's my stupid theory

So the thing about luka and hyuna, good toxic straight. Luka is obsessed with hyuna and conflict with her bother and her bother dies. I did wrote a theory of hyuna and her bother anniversary art of they might be testing which on is superior or something and luka knowing that get rid of her bother etc. the blue hand showing Luka’s bad health

I always question why hyuna let mizi join the mission( obviously for plot reason and she the mc), bc Mizi should be like cage canary, super unhelpful in this situation saving till and Ivan, she is emotionally and physically not very suitable for rescue missions. My thoughts,she beg to help Ivan till because they are her only friends left, or second reason , time might pass a lot in-between , she is now able to join , third, she knows the alien stage interior design which is helpful for them. I go with the time skip then plus everything above. I also feel like because the human resistance success once they got a bit cocky, I think might be a art design thing but just how little people accompany concern me

All in is the only song not a love song but more a self love song, saw someone point out the color in the song represents emotion which is a nice touch

round 6

Till leading first I always see is the opponent let you take a bit of advantage, also how the songs go, Ivan's part is mostly the following one, not the main. That's how I felt, I'm not good with music so forget what I wort

till looks miserable, I almost don't recognize him, maybe it's the style or the time jump, he looks mature. The stage design is beautiful don't get me wrong but with the rain and lighting, I'm just going to assume it's fake and muted, bc for a singing contest, this is really a natural disaster, we won't be hearing anything from the rain, and lighting, but it's dramatic though!

I'm honestly confused about this part, it a may or may not happen, but just pointing out that they tried to collar him but possibly drugged him in the end. There may be patron information that I didn't know because I'm very confused as to what the collar is for. Let owners know how their pets are feeling and determine their level of danger. or devices to soothe them? besides the white collar till is usually seen with choker-like things, is it the same as the collar or?

the part he sees young mizi is sad, this leads more of Mizi is a coping mechanism, crush too but in time thinking of her , and the positive part of her is the only way he can cop his pain

and there already dozens of theory and thoughts about the last part so I'm goanna end it here

sum up I was thinking so hard about how they will continue because everyone automatically see till isn't able to win Luka(it's true though) and I have no idea how it should continue because it will definitely not be a traditional round 7 due to till’s state. Also wonder how the aliens will do for having two incidents of contestant violence toward one another, and Ivan being the fan favorite probably will have more delay for the last round with the organizer needing to give a response at least to the aliens. (Was thinking they make a glass to block luka and till for stage 7, would be fun, also if you really want you can jump down the stage)Mizi and hyuna are in trouble. How the overall story is very Ivan-heavy, due to him having the fullest arc. Are we getting a hyuna and Luka duit ? I really don't know how, if till sings again, it will be SUA- 2 Mizi-2 Ivan-2 Luka1 hyuna-1 song , till is going to sing a third song in this order , which is more then mc , Mizi. Will the series end? at round 7 or it will go scifi and much more to balance the song? (probably not bc all the players are dead, my hopeful thinking though )

in conclusion, I want till to sing rock again

[bloomfish]

I definitely will not get back into kpop ever but occasionally I'll go through a youtube binge of my old faves. I only ever liked female artists but the thing was you'd get attached to a girl group or a female vocalist and like a year later it would be like "no she's too old now. time to abandon her and introduce a new group of 15 year olds" . they continually wasted so much incredible talent by viewing the artists as well as talent itself as a replaceable commodity imo (i'm not saying this doesnt happen in western pop too but perhaps not so brazenly)

anyway a lot of it is bad lol but these are some of the things that I've revisited that still actually go so hard:

4minute crazy- excuse me?? this was such a slay. also hate. the tonal plot twist in this track: unparalleled. hyuna was iconic but also jiyoon !!! i agree w the comments of this yt video this would absolutely be a massive hit if it was released today

ladies code. this is just legitimately good pop music. a very sad story behind them as well and they were very undervalued as I recall. but this. galaxy was spectacular. both of the last two EPs tbh. that vocalist's voice does things to me

f(x) 4walls. should have been an international dance hit tbh

wonder girls obviously. even as far back as irony which is so charming in a retro way but I love that they eventually were playing their own instruments/having more of a hand in their own music. specifically i want to point out that park ye-eun from wonder girls was legitimately SUCH a talented musician imo (as a singer and a composer) and so much of her solo stuff as ha:tfelt was incredible. I was very glad to hear that she (and the others i think) left their agency bc they were so mistreated rip

yezi cider.... god she was so talented and i was so in love with her. my underrated fave... at one point i watched a whole reality show about korean female rappers for her lol (which was. a lot. but she should have won)

suzy yes no maybe again this was just really good pop.

dalshabet someone like u this is the corniest thing i'll put on this list but mostly it's just a super interesting case to me. iirc it was fairly popular with international audiences but kind of a flop in korea. which is fascinating to think about in terms of the cultural differences in what music appeals to us. like as a cheesy pop song it is just so catchy to me lol and I can't understand how it could not be but there u go

in capable/caring hands so many of these women could have done INCREDIBLE things imo. like it's undeniable that there is very real talent in kpop, I think the aggressively commercial aspect just limits the artists criminally and it's a shame. which ig is true to some extent about any pop music.

anyway i've put two of my kpop playlists that were popular on 8tracks on spotify: here and here

[dapperrokyuu]

Thank you so much, ahhh!!! I’m actually very curious about Hyuna’s wounds, I cant really gauge for certain if its lifethreatening or just an inconvenience. I feel like theres room for Hyuna just being fine, with the real threat being how theyve been caught by the security system and how to navigate people hunting for them. But I do agree that theyre going to shift focus towards escaping vs. saving anyone like the original plan (rip, Till). Completelyrandom,butImstillholdingouthopeforIvanbeingalivesomehowforreasons,bitIdigress-

I honestly need to analyze both Drunk and Party along with Love and Peace a bit more, tbh. But aughhh, thank you for the tidbit, I can definitely see that happening! Poor Hyuna, being forced to ruminate…the moments we’ve already seen in All-In have already been pretty striking and Hyuna’s actively distracting herself in that song. Seeing the backstory behind Hyuna’s leg would be stellar! Flashing back to Hyuna’s first escape while theyre escaping now is very poignant too…

So far, Ive been thinking Luka is going to meet the duo somehow. Either because hes caught wind of Hyuna being there and descended upon them or by terrible coincidence. The HyuLuka reunion and disaster is very anticipated! And itll be very intriguing to see Luka’s view of Hyuna and what he would do. Like. Is he just out of his mind or will he show a moment of unexpected compassion and let/help them escape somehow or something? Theyre so something and Im very excited to see- But maybe its too soon, who knows!

Another avenue for speculation is pondering who will sing the next video? It could be an instrumental like MiziSua too. But if someone were to sing, I think it would be Luka, not necessarily due to him singing live but being played in the background like lobby music. The idea is just very haunting, of Mizu and Hyuna trying to avoid capture while being constantly reminded of Luka, as a symbol for Alien Stage itself and their relationships to him. Hyuna has sung relatively recently and by technically a ton already (with Drunk and Party/Love and Peace), while everyone else has had the opportunity to sing twice. Which leaves Luka, and him having a solo would be very fitting imo!

Thank you for telling me your ideas, ahh!!!

Very amused by how Ive seen zero attempts to envision whats going to happen to Mizi and Hyuna post-Round 6. Like, I guess we all collectively agree itll be at least bad and if Luka's involved, itll just be freak behavior.

[techtechonmymind]

actually every version of this sound is hilarious

[alwaysvivid]

—— ♡ ˗ˏˋ 𝐋𝐄𝐎 INSTAGRAM HACK ! ࿐ྂ

d o l o r

on the 1st of january 2021 vivid’s maknae song heeyoung a.k.a leo had her private instagram hacked following dispatch revealing her long term relationship with han jisung of stray kids which both of their companies denied.

the hack exposed her alleged private instagram @c4tg1rl0015 which she actively posted on.

although the account contained over 300 posts that showcased almost all the private aspects of her life only 5 post made the rounds ; 4 being stories and 1 being a post on her profile. and all these posts revolved around her alleged relationship with jisung.

𝐢. THE POST !

caption: “ my favourite person <3 ”

the first to leak was a post that she made of the two of them.

it was all photos taken on her famous vintage camera that fans knew she always carried around with her. it was captioned “ my favourite person <3 ” and showed jisung in the first slide and a photo of the two hugging on the next.

it was clear that the two were very close and one could assume that that was just how they were in their friendship but their closeness is photos had people questioning if they really were just friends. this curiosity led to hackers digging into her story archives but only 4 made it to the public.

𝐢𝐢. THE STORIES !

most noteably 2 of the stories show heeyoung with a boy who we assume to be jisung.

the first being the 2 hugging in what looks to be heeyoung’s room in front of a mirror. the story was captioned “ my forever boy ” and “ sungie sungie ” on his hair. it was accompanied by the track you get me so high by the neighborhood. it specifically played the part that said “ we should stick together . you’re my best friend , i’ll love you forever ”

fans believe that jisung’s hand is actually grabbing her boob in the photo but no one can really tell because the guitar is blocking it slightly.

the other being a photo of them kissing with the caption “ happy 2 years loverrr. i love you <3 ”. they're both wearing masks so no one could really identify them.

the other 2 stories were of jisung on his own 1 was a video taken at a concert that she attended captioned “ just a groupie living the dream 🥵 ” and the other a single photo of jisung blowing a bubble with gum with the lyrics of hyuna’s bubble pop overlayed.

there was nothing incredibly incriminating, and both cube and jyp could still lie and say that the account was not really heeyoung’s and all the content was manipulated. they also both repeated that the two were nothing more than close friends despite all the obvious evidence.

𝐢𝐢𝐢. THE AFTERMATH !

FAN REACTIONS : “ besties ”

no one believed a word of the statements released by cube and jyp. literally NO ONE.

it was so clear to everyone that jisung and heeyoung were definitely more than friends despite what anyone said. the photos were far too damning. fans started pointing out jisungs moles and heeyoungs dimples , there was no denying it but the companies still tried.

following the drama and chaos of the scandal cube had enough with heeyoungs behaviour. she always did whatever she wanted and now it had exploded into one of the worst scandals they had ever dealt with. so as a consequence she had to break up with jisung and comply with her new set of strict rules or leave vivid forever.

not only that but her phone was confiscated , she was on an sns ban , could not leave the dorm / company building without their manager hyojin and to top it all off she moved into their dorms to monitor them.

she did not see anyone but her members and hyojin for almost 3 months before they moved to angelico.

it was a tough time for heeyoung. she lost complete contact with everyone - including her parents who she’s incredibly close with - and lost control of so many aspects of her life. she didn’t even feel safe around hyojin anymore and there was no way of escaping her.

there was a bit of tension between yuri and heeyoung because although it was not yuri’s fault that her and yuta’s scandal didn’t play out the same way hers did she still felt it was unfair that yuri got to keep her boyfriend when they hadn’t even been together as long as heeyoung and jisung.

her change in mood was very clear to everyone including brites and her mental health became a massive concern.

[sanstropfremir]

what are some of ur favorite kpop choreos (if u havent already talked about them)

ah anon, i said i would write a fave choreo post back in like.......april, but i've been distracted by other asks and the existential dread of being a person. but to be fair, i have had a list sitting in my drafts since then, so i just gotta brush the dust off! i'm not going to include anything from this year (2021) because i'm planning a couple of year end roundup posts (fave stylings, fave choreo, maybe some others if peeple have suggestions), but here is a selected list of some of my favourite kpop choreos, in approximate order from excellent to personal-all-time-fave-make-me-insane.

✨

i'm in trouble - nu’est

honestly there’s nothing really that special about this choreography, i just find it very satisfying to watch because it really emphasizes the electric bass rhythm, especially with all the percussive moves against their bodies. the formation changes in the first verse and the first chorus are my favourite.

-

4walls - f(x)

4walls you were so ahead of your time. it's hard to find a stable front facing version of this that shows the dance break well but there is a fancam here that's maybe the best? there's another one here that gives you a better idea of how they use their arms to shape the negative space and it's just so satisfying to watch.

-

this love - shinhwa

the choreo that kickstarted voguing in kpop, a true icon. shinhwa i need you to come back the boys just aren't doing it like this anymore.

-

lucifer - shinee

the og, the reason why we have dance practice videos, the queen herself. i have to pay respects and also i do actually love this choreo. here's a stage not filmed on a potato so you don't hypnotize yourself watching taemin's shirt.

-

my valentine - vixx

the second best chair choreo and the best sexy chair choreo in kpop no i am not taking criticism. this is my favourite vixx choreo because it really takes advantage of their average height of 6'0 and their subsequently very long limbs. i love the levels and especially having jaehwan just pop in and out of frame like that. there's no dance practice for this, but there is a mislabeled fancam here where you can see it stable. also i love this one stage because none of the members stand up in the order the fanchant is in and it's very funny.

-

cherry bomb - nct 127

nct choreos are so weird and i love them, but it's the splits walking for me. amazing job saving the power move for right at the end. also the ways in which everything is offset and how they do canons is so fascinating to watch.

-

flower shower - hyuna

ranking dancers for that question a very long time ago made me rediscover this and i'm glad i did because my memory really is full of holes and i had totally forgotten what the choreography looked like. i love how the movements shift from loose and careless to structured and the choreo really uses the space and the number of dancers to maximum efficacy. my favourite bit is the 'flower field' where you don't realize they're arranged in a spiral until they start collapsing; it's not a very big detail but its very pleasing to the eye.

-

criminal - taemin

obviously i love taemin's choreos but criminal really does amazingly on treading that line of slickly unhinged and out of control; both out of your own self control and under the control of someone else. there's such fine attention to detail (typical of all taemin's work), but my favourite in this is how all the wrist movements untwist the binding so that it can thrown off seamlessly, without any need for a quick release. this is unquestionably one of taemin's best works, the synergy between the song and the styling and the choreo and the mv is so perfect, i really have no complaints. ok i have two complaints and they are 1) needed more chainsaw and 2) it is a CRIME how short his promotional period was we DESERVED to have that gucci suit on a music show.

-

i want you - shinee

the story of light is such a phenomenal piece of art that i am so glad exists, despite also simultaneously wishing that it never existed at all. one day i might write something about the use of nostalgia and different eras of retro aesthetics in the i want you/good evening/countless mvs but that's getting ahead of myself. i love the choreographies from this comeback (spoiler alert, good evening is also on this list), because their intention is so inwardly focused. these choreos are voyeuristic in a way that no kpop choreo has been or will ever be again, because yes they're letting us see, but it's not for us in the same way that every other kpop choreo is. koharu did a such a beautiful job with these two choreos, because while good evening maximizes on closeness, i want you maximizes on distance. there's no way to get the full impact of this choreo in music show camera language; the members are spaced too far apart and the stage is too empty to get any kind of density of frame. but that's what i love about how they filmed this dance practice, because 20ft away is the distance from which this is the most impactful. here's a stage so you can compare the difference in feeling. if i were to describe this choreo in one word it would be 'afterimage,' because that's what many of these formations are: afterimages, smear frames, the spaces between movements manifested. it doesn't matter about establishing the members and their faces because it isn't about them as individuals, it's about them as a whole; limbs of the same body moving through space in a way that we are only allowed to see from afar, never to truly know.

-

the 7th sense - nct u

i still cannot believe that this was the nct debut. obviously sm is still/has always been on some crazy kind of crack with nct releases but WOW when the risks pay off they pay off. i love how inexplicable the energy and intention of this choreo is, it's so difficult and incomprehensible that no one other than nct is ever going to be able to pull it off. this is full of such strange shapes and movements and i think it's under appreciated.

-

sunset - knk

do not be fooled by how small heejun looks, he is 5'11. yes knk really is that big. i actually really love knk choreos they are so unexpected and kinda weird and they use a lot of interesting partner/group structures that you can obviously see here, but you can also see in ride. their choreographer plays really well to the strengths of the group, which are 1) that they take up a lot of space and 2) they don't mind getting all up in each other's business, so we get a lot of choreo that is technically challenging in its timing and trust, but doesn't depend solely on athleticism like a lot of other boy group choreos. like with flower shower and with criminal there is such obvious imagery of the song in the movements and as a visual person i like that creativity. their debut choreo is also really interesting and i'm so in love with this stage for rain, like!!! using lasers for raindrops!!!! sorry not sorry this turned into a knk appreciation zone but also stan knk.

-

want - taemin

i would have linked the dance practice but i despise how it was filmed because this choreo really is meant for a single stationary point perspective. more on that whenever i finally finish the writeup on this that's currently sitting in my drafts. i also adore how the backup dancers keep their hands in their pockets for the first minute. i also also love that stupid squid arms move it's so dumb and yet he makes it work. ok there's a lot of things i adore about this choreo, no one is surprised.

-

black rose - taemin

believe it or not i am actually limiting the amount of taemin choreography on this list, but black rose i think might actually be my favourite of his because its just so beautiful to watch and this particular stage is filmed SO well and combined with the projections and lighting i just!!! i have a lot of feelings about black rose, that's why it's up so high on this list. there's a stable fancam here where you can see the full effect of that glorious spinning thousand hand move. also i just realized this is the second choreo on this list that's flower themed, oops?

-

good evening - shinee

this choreo makes me insane. like the i want you choreo, at its core good evening is about distance between audience and performer, but this time in the execution it takes the opposition; emphasizing the distance with physical closeness. this dance practice is fine, especially if you want to get an understanding of the larger stage picture but where this choreo really thrives is in the music show stages. it is meant for close ups. there is a ton of member interaction and small movements designed to be caught in the hypercloseness of the camera, like the head move and foot taps at 0:40. the chairs themselves are specific, designed with a purpose to catch light and be a centrepoint, and there's a lot of speed variation in movements that doesn't necessarily read as well from a physical distance. but then how do they portray distance, you ask? because they don't look at the camera. shinee mentioned in an interview that they had to fight the broadcasting stations in order to not look at the cameras, because apparently it's a rule that idols have to look down the barrel of whatever camera is on them. but if you watch any of the good evening stages, they purposefully avoid the camera, not allowing you connection with them (there are a few times where they fuck up, but i can imagine it's hard to turn off the instinct that you've been honing for over a decade to look down every single lens that you spot. also they probably had to negotiate a bit with the stations. but also those few times where they do meet that gaze are so piercing because of that denial). long story long this choreography makes me insane and there will never be another one like it.

[dailyhyuna]

HyunA and Dawn Want You To Watch, Not Listen To, Their First Duet Album

K-pop’s favorite couple has finally dropped music as a duo.

One of K-pop‘s very few couples that have openly confirmed their relationship , HyunA and DAWN have become an industry favorite not only for their powerful music, but also for their stylish outfits. Building on experience from their previous groups, 4Minute and Pentagon, the artists joined the music label P NATION — owned by “Gangnam Style” singer PSY — together in 2019 to further their careers as solo musicians.

Six years into their relationship, the duo has finally teamed up to release their first-ever joint mini-album. Titled 1+1=1, the four-track record is led by “PING PONG,” which DAWN first came up with on an intimate beach trip with his girlfriend. The song arrives with a music video boasting vibrant colors and graphics with visual direction by HyunA, followed by the three other numbers that illustrate tales of love.

Stressing that fans should not “listen to” but “watch” their latest release, HyunA and DAWN discuss their anticipated project in our interview. Read a snippet of the conversation below, and head to HYPEBEAST Korea for the full story.

The two of you have been together for six years now. What motivated you to release an album together this year?

D: We’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on stage together and what amazing music we could create together as a team. We just so happened to come up with a song we liked and decided to create an album based on that. Looking back now, we just wanted to produce something that we could remember.

H: Six years can seem like a long period of time to some people but in some ways, it also felt short. To be specific, we decided to produce this album after DAWN wrote “PING PONG” during our trip to the beach. I woke up one day and he told me, “I was going to write my own song but ended up with something for the both of us.” Plus, we knew our fans were looking forward to a duet album. PSY was also a great supporter along this journey.

Releasing music as a couple is not so common in Korea. What were some things that you loved about working together?

D: The best part is that we know each other better than anyone else. Sometimes, HyunA knows me a lot more than even I know myself. We know each other’s strengths so we can trust each other to put out our best.

H: I enjoyed the production process. I learned a lot just from watching DAWN and how he creates music. I grew so much more respect for him as an artist.

Contrarily, what were some things you didn’t enjoy as much while working together?

D: There weren’t really any, but if I had to pick it’s that we have to watch each other suffer when we’re having a difficult time. I stayed by HyunA’s side throughout the process, but it was tough watching her going through her rough moments.

H: It was the same for me. There were times when I wanted to burst out funny dance moves to make DAWN laugh, but there were times I couldn’t do that.

Did you ever come up with a new duo name throughout the process? If not, we’d love to hear some ideas.

H: We actually did have one. Since we both work with the same staff members, when we were preparing for this project, they started referring to us as the “HyunDAWN Team.”

D: I’ve actually thought of one too.

H: Really? What is it?

D: But now that I think about it, I think HyunA & DAWN works best [laughs].

HyunA, what was it like working as the visual director to create all of the eye-catching imagery for this album?

H: A lot of inspiration came from Disney‘s animated films like The Little Mermaid and Moana, in addition to movies such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be the main character in those stories. I wanted to recreate a scene where all of these main characters from different stories come together in one place. For this album specifically, Peter Pan meets Ariel.

Which track do you feel most connected to and why?

D: If I had to choose, I’d go with “Deep Dive.” I believe that a song can be presented at its full potential only when the lyrics and message match well with the artist’s overall vibe and how they deliver it on stage. “Deep Dive” aims to capture the feeling of falling in love, and I think my true emotions were able to really shine through on this track.

H: I love “XOXO” for a different reason. The song is a reinterpretation of the funk genre, and I love how it progresses by blending all of the different sounds together. I enjoyed witnessing our producers tweak the different sounds to achieve a full track.

Any final words for our readers and your fans?

H: I want to stress that “health is wealth.” I haven’t been the healthiest recently, so I was frustrated when I couldn’t give my all in preparing for this album. I want all of you to be happy and joyful. If you’re not happy, be angry about it. If you want to cry, cry. Listen to your heart and take care of yourself.

D: You need to be healthy to love, and love to be healthy. I usually have different things to say, but this time around, I felt that it’s important to be healthy.

H: That’s funny because we certainly don’t look super healthy.

D: All the more reason why we can say such things. I’m sure our fans will understand the importance of health since it’s coming from us.

H: One last thing I’d like to say — “PING PONG” is more of a song that you want to “watch” rather than “listen to.” Please pay attention to our performances, and after 1+1=1, we’ll see you guys again as solo artists!

Source: HYPEBEAST KOREA

[crustyfloor]

More fun things since I keep digging into this fandom, I'm sorry for the out of order rant in your ask box- Sorry, interrogation room T-T Theres a livestream made by robiirosie and this Vtuber talked a bit about the korean context of the Ivantill version of Oh My Clemantis, mentioning how Till's speech, in that context, is rather of someone quite comfortable with the other person, even though he keeps telling him to stfu There was a tumblr post as well regarding the translation of the song and how Ivan's part are actually much softer and less, you could call it "carnal" or "extreme" than the actual translation in the video, indicating that he's pretty much accepted the fact, a long while ago that Till, in his eyes, isn't feeling the same or anything at all towards him. We know that Till is a pretty heartfelt person from the little comics and little flashbacks etc, so he might very much, from all the context, end up feeling really bad after Round 6 Also notice how in Round 2, the shock collar Till wears looks like a noose, and how Till doesn't visibly wear one. Almost as if foreshadowing that Till was supposed to die, but since he doesn't Technically have a choice of even that (IVAAAAAN), the one who has "no collar" can intervene in that choice. Another food for thought: Notice how for Mizi, Till sings pretty much in English, but without Mizi, he sings in Korean. While composing the melody in Round 2, Till wears black, he probably was in a similar hard place, as he was shown without a guitar. It's interesting that he also wears black in Round 6. And the final thing I noticed, if you go and watch TOP 3, the order at the end is the following: Till and Ivan, Luka and Hyuna, and Mizi is the "winner". I believe, that since we already got Till VS Ivan... We're gonna get Luka VS Hyuna and Mizi remains the only one alive by the end of it all.

It's all good anon! I quite like investigating so whatever you have to show, I'd like to see (￣▽￣)b

I also noticed that for a very distanced duo, in canon Ivantill are very casual with each other (even when you never mind the times that Till isn't awake), and in the ivantill my clematis cover during the TalksvsListens.exe scene this is shown perfectly clear. I'm very confident in my take that Ivan and Till were very close friends when they were kids, and even though they're seemingly not as close anymore at the moment, they still carry a casual air around them, to the point where Till is still comfortable throwing jabs at Ivan like he did when they were younger (which isn't something he's shown doing in canon, much.) I'd even call the "man stfu" from Till affectionate if I didn't sound delusional so I'll just move from there

And yeah, Ivan is totally under the assumption that Till doesn't like him anymore in any sense (which is something i, *loud buzzer incorrect sfx* don't believe) My Clematis cover was kinda a mix of a goodbye and a "one more time.." song, with the way Ivan sung it. (one more time being, one more time trying to see where he stands in till's life. and Till is barely active in the last bits of the song when it actually counts, so in a way *figuratively* that was all Ivan needed to know)

And the collar noose symbolism omagah i could go on for ages not only did the noose show the intensity of Till's imprisonment in alien stage, so intense that it would(ve) killed him one day, (And in the way that his heart is disconnected from his head, he used his heart to go back to Mizi and therefore tie the noose disconnecting what he knew was right to what he wanted, all for her.)

And as you said anon, it also shows for some good symbolism/foreshadowing for Ivantill, Till always had that collar on, Ivan was always taking that collar off, Till was always meant to stay collared and eventually die, but as the one with the freedom, Ivan basically defied Till's fate for him and (metaphorically) put the collar on himself, taking Till's fate as his own. (I HATE YOU IVAN!!)

oh yeah and about the lyrics thing, truly Till could've just been feeling bilingual for the fuck of it while writing Till the end, but I'd like to read it as him putting up an image for Mizi, coordinating into someone who (not really) himself to impress her and his true self, but on stage with Ivan, they were there raw, authentic selves. there was nobody to impress (not anymore)

and so for the TOP 3 video holyyy shit. first of all, if you're onto something I assume Mizi and Hyuna would have to get caught and recaptured for that to happen, Till would have to get K.O. and then Hyuna will get her round with Luka as originally planned, she'll get K.O. then Mizi will go back up against Luka, win with the power of Yuri depression and be the sole winner. That's an interesting idea...but I don't know if it's a very likely situation? well, it kinda is since Hyuna is injured and the Guards are out trying to find them it's a strong possibility. (hell, maybe Luka will even work with alnst to get em back) Idk what to make of it, to be honest (To me, it does kinda just look like the original ordered pairs that Vivinos was foreshadowing but before Hyuna just left and Mizi took her place, Mizi is alone because she just finished her round with Mizi and now her bubble is broken so she's traumatized asl)

[bangchanswolfpelt]

hehehe YESSSSS the be ur own king video is the one that firmly cemented my sunwoo bias.... ultimate bf material.... i'd let him wash My car any day if u know what i mean 😏.

and WOOSUNG please listen to his song lazy his voice is so pretty and the rose is a great band (i could talk about n.flying and lucy here but i will refrain. for now.)

woodz is my beloved. have u seen love me harder mv. have u seen that one waiting dance practice where he just straight up bites one of his backup dancers at the end. this man is secretly feral but also one of the biggest sweethearts ever to exist and i am HERE for it

i actually don't stan p1harmony bc of the aforementioned babies and their rather sus line distribution (enhypen's maknae is '05 as well i think, so i am also Firmly Looking Away there) but i keep seeing p1's chaotic tiktoks and that video of their vocal line just singing live is really pretty!! so do with it what you will

sunmi. hrkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. bae. the lapdance. the tail imagery in the choreo. the crawling under the dancer's legs to eyefuck the camera. i haven't had this many emotions about a studio choom performance since yeonjun's aotm watermelon sugar (which i wrote practically an entire essay about dance dynamics and movement on in a friend's dms lmao)

me, @ the backup dancer that sunmi jumped on: HOW DOES IT FEEL??????? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO LIVE MY DREAM???????

and yessss i am not verbose enough nor educated enough to write about sunmi/hyuna's musical themes but by GOD i want to read about it

onewe is lovely. here, have a rain to be mv. also, their brother group oneus was on road to kingdom, if you've seen it? if you haven't *deep breath* ohhhhh boy do i have some stuff for u :))))))))

hehehehehe the svt analysis is just a silly little brain dump in my notes app :] it's incredibly messy and incoherent but i will tidy it up and drop it in your ask box sometime if you so wish <3

(btw, i never answered ur question from that other post!! yes kevin is actually named after the boy from home alone, yes he is the twerking one, yes this happens fairly often. sarcastic canadian king we love him)

xoxo!!

- honey 🍯 <33333

i do not even HAVE car, but i would steal one if that's what getting a carwash looks like these days 👀

ahhhhh, Lazy was very cute! and that look in the end!!! 😳 @muselin was spiraling over Woosung a couple days ago, i think and it was adorable, but also felt like a foreboding look into my own future 😂

i have seen them now 👀 VERY into the red hair and the first and the kill-your-double vibes of Love Me Harder—that one’s going on my crime playlist for sure. the dance practice was cute, i love that we’re circling back to vampires again, would let this one take a bite out of me 💯

i genuinely forget about everything that happens with the chair until i’m watching it again, i feel like my brain has decided it simply is not safe to hold that memory it’s so 🥵🥵🥵 and no yeah, i fuckin lost it over the tail imagery the first time i saw it, and kinda still continue to do so.

also! i just learned that Hyuna and Sunmi were in the same girl group before becoming soloists??? and i don’t know if that means anything, but it feels like Something. (tbh there is so much in kpop that feels like it means Something, and i simply do not have the correct context to parse it and it’s soooooooo frustrating 😭)

oh!! Rain to Be has popped up on autoplay for me a couple times! i never actually payed attention to who it was, but i'm into it. and i was planning on watching Road to Kingdom, since i'd heard The Boyz stages there were better than the ones on Kingdom and that made me curious, but it wasn't on viki with Kingdom and i was too lazy to try and find it somewhere else 😂

i absolutely wish it, and so does at least one other anon!!💕💕💕 (tho if you wanna made a sideblog… 👀 and just drop the link…. 👀 i’m definitely not gonna bully all my anons into making side blogs, that’s not what this is 😗)

idk of being named after That Kevin is a gift or a curse, but it sure is Something 🥴 also, i can recognize him now! he was the one talking about cereal on Eric Nam’s podcast 🥰 love Cereal Boy 🥰🥰🥰

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Sometimes I wonder what concerts are supposed to be like? Particular kpop concerts. Tons of idols lipsync or sing very little, and they don’t always dance the whole time either. You can pay so much for a concert, but the reality is that, as long as you enjoy it, it doesn’t matter what the artists do on stage. However, that makes fans vulnerable to exploitation by kpop companies, since fans will give anything just to be in their faves’ presence. I’m not implying idols aren’t giving it their all on stage, but they lipsync a lot during concerts and that’s supposed to be okay because the fans have fun anyway. Is that really all it takes? Wouldn’t you have more fun if they sang? Isn’t that what a concert is? Hearing live instruments of some kind. 

I love Twice, but when I watched clips from their US tour, I only liked the parts where I could hear them sing, and that was always Jihyo and Jeongyeon. They are good dancers with good stage presence, but I felt robbed to hear them lipsync most of the concert - or, worse, have their live vocals drowned out by the backing track... 

Watching Hyuna perform at the University Festival that took place recently, she had great energy, engaged the crowd and was so much fun to watch, but she sang like 5% of the song, and danced not even half of it. Is this what a performance is supposed to be like? As long as you’re having fun it doesn’t matter, and because she wasn’t pretending to sing (she didn’t bring the mic to her face when she wasn’t singing), I didn’t feel “robbed” the way I do when idols lipsync. 

I recently watched Psy live too and he’s similar to Hyuna - has great energy, hypes up the crowd, and either sings or dances throughout the songs. I enjoyed his performances as well.

However, I saw a bit of Enhypen at KpopFlex and I didn’t enjoy it that much. They didn’t sing, I think, they lipsynced, and because they weren’t engaging the crowd, having fun, etc., it looked a bit boring to me. Watching idols dance like in dance practice videos isn’t really the point of a live performance? Not unless there are live vocals to bring the performance to life. I’d rather watch Hyuna than Enhypen, though they arguably have the harder task of dancing a whole set while she dances a little, sings a little, and talks to the crowd. But Hyuna makes fans feel seen and like they got what they paid for - which was a chance to see her in person and connect with her - while I’m not sure I’d pay to watch Enhypen dance for 2 hours (and sing the slower songs, probably), and I actually like Enhypen’s songs better than most of Hyuna’s. 

And then there are BTS, who sing the whole time. They hype up the crowd by dancing or interacting with each other and the fans. Unlike Psy or Hyuna, who need to stop singing to engage the crowd, BTS are seven members so that isn’t necessary, and, besides, they engage the crowd differently. I’d argue that BTS definitely make you feel like you got your money’s worth, even if concert tickets can be too expensive regardless. But someone like Hyuna and Psy are great too. 

So, what are concerts supposed to be like? If you’re watching them, as long as you like the artist, you’ll have fun, so what should the bar be? As far as singing goes, I think it depends on the song. I get annoyed when artists don’t sing their whole songs and let the crowd sing large chunks of it, but that didn’t bother me with Hyuna because her songs aren’t vocally all that and she was fun. It’s probably less annoying to me when it isn’t a group full of people, but I got annoyed by Miley Cyrus not singing much of her songs although she’s a solo artist and has great stage presence. In Miley’s case, the entire point of the concert are her vocals since there isn’t any dancing and she’s known for her vocals. I also think it depends on the type of concert it is. If it’s a small stage with a limited number of fans and songs, then it doesn’t matter as much, because the smaller venue will allow the artist to easily connect with the fans. If it is a huge festival or stadium, however, that’s different because it’s hard for the artist’s energy to reach everyone without live vocals... 

To conclude, lipsyncing is not okay and artists should sing the whole time, but exceptions could be made? Dunno. I keep coming back to this even though I try to be more open minded and enjoy other types of performance... 

[keanureevesisbae]

Oh oh oh! And I’d like to know the reason you choose the faceclaims you choose for your main ofc’s! 😍

So, picking out my face claims is really the longest process in the world, because first I have to think of what my ofc will be like personality wise, important characteristics of her and then I can find a great faceclaim for my ofc's.

Because my ass is obsessed with K-Pop (surprise surprise), I naturally gravitate towards choosing a female idol, mostly because if I want to make edits, I have tons of pictures to choose from.

Be ready for a long long LONG explanation:

The reason I chose Irene (Red Velvet) for Darcie Angel, was because when I was looking for a picture as a front cover for my first fan fiction (one cappuccino and a chocolate brownie please), I found a picture of her sipping some coffee, which seemed fitting for the entire story.

I chose Seulgi (Red Velvet) for Sandy Choi, because Sandy loved to dance and there are tons of dance videos of the queen of dance Seulgi.

I don’t really remember why I chose Wendy as Adelaide Park, but it was a good match, because her face really fitted the story.

Jessica Jung (former SNSD) was the perfect face claim for Amelia Jung (yes, I borrowed a surname here), because she has truly been a Kpop idol, like Amelia was in the story.

When I was looking for a face claim for Becky Kim for Sugar Sugar, I accidentally found Naeun from Apink—a group I didn’t even stan. However her natural beauty, combined with this expensive vibe (does that make sense? It does in my mind lol) made her perfect for a future sugar baby.

I chose Lee Hyori (former fin.x.l) for Natalie Lee Bennett of It’s a funny story, because there are tons of pictures of her from her younger days and her now, making it a better fit for the story structure itself.

YooA from Oh My Girl! was an easy choice, because Penny Townsend in the story is very innocent, adorable and I wanted that to be prevalent in her looks. YooA's doll like features were really what I was looking for.

Because I was going back to enjoy SNSD’s amazing songs, my eye was immediately pulled towards Sooyoung, who is an absolute babe. Her beauty, her height and just the vibe I get from her through interviews, felt like a perfect match for Rosemary Hill.

Ever After Boutique is all about fashion and to me Jennie from Blackpink is one of the queens of fashion, so choosing her to represent Frankee Newhouse felt only natural.

Because Ivy Sullivan in Oblivious is a sporty type of girl, I kept looking for a sporty photoshoot with an idol and I saw Solar, who is nowadays on such a fitness journey, which seemed fitting.

Hyuna (former 4Minute, TripleH and what not lol) was a great idea for Luna in the story Caught in a Blizzard. I used her former group 4Minute as a faceclaim for the girl group in the story and because Hyuna is such an icon, she felt perfect for Luna.

Victoria Song (who portrays Winnie Monroe in Serendipity) is the only Chinese girl on the list of Kpop idols and her being adopted from China is a part of her character arc. Because I actually thought of making a trailer for this and Victoria has played in tons of dramas, making it easier for me to use footage, but I ended up not doing it.

For the other stories, I didn’t use Kpop idols. For Olivia Tran I used Naomi Roestel (Vietnamese influencer) for the face claim, because she just seemed so fitting for the story. For Protection and Eunoia (and my new story Chasing Nostalgia with a girl named Leilani - coming up January 8th!) I used art breeder (I honestly hate the name, but it’s such an amazing site), because I specifically wanted an Indonesian/Moluccan OFC and it was very hard to find the right face online.

I had a few women in mind for Alice Matsuda, but decided not to go for it, because I wanted the story to revolve around her diary entries and not her looks.

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