#AND THERE IS STILL JUNE. IM EXCITED FOR SO MANY COMEBACKS IN JUNE.

[sillyabtmusic]

i have too many releases ive liked this year so far to painlessly make a mid-year top ten list, but not enough releases to split it into a top 10 gg and top 10 bg releases ...... 💔

[junycng]

junyong (and inx) appreciation post.

hello it’s that time of the month again where I get sad about inx and junyong, so here I am.

also tw for company abuse. it’s not super detailed but. yk

oof okay so as most of you probably know, junyong debuted in the group INX in august, 2016, with the single ‘alright’. the song was amazing and it actually got a good amount of attention for a new boy group under a totally unknown company.

but their super crappy, horrible, disgusting (ect, ect) company had them promote mostly in japan and taiwan instead of korea. and with about 8 months between their debut and their first comeback, they lost their momentum and many people forgot about them.

i remember when people were mad that blackpink only had 4 (or 5?) songs at the time while every other rookie group had way more, but all i could think about was how inx debuted a few days before them, yet they only had 3 songs ://

also when monsta x got a new logo, it was similar to inx’s logo and whenever I saw it i got excited thinking inx was finally posting something but jahbdjhhj it never was

anywho then they went from posting basically every single day on social media to not posting on their group accounts for months in july ‘17. they(except sangho) did, however, make personal instagrams around the same time they stopped posting on the inx accounts. and then around late november ‘17, jiwoong announced during an instagram live that the inx members have now all gone their separate ways and inx was no longer together.

the company couldn’t even give them a proper disbandment :-)

then june this year, it was revealed that the inx members had sued and won against the company. what they had to go through was absolutely horrible, you can read the full thing here. but basically the company verbally abused them and was constantly threatening them. the members themselves had to pay for everything (practice room rental, hair, makeup, food, household items) despite the company never paying them the money they earned through their activities. they were never accompanied by staff in overseas promotions so they had to do everything themselves and often had to deal with sexual harassment. 

but despite all of that, they were always smiling for the fans and trying to make the best out of their situation. they still all follow each other on instagram (again, except sangho because he never made an instagram as far as i’m aware). and obviously junyong doesn’t really go on ig anymore. but they all continued to like and comment on each other’s posts. two of the inx members, jiwoong(jinam) and jaeun(win) went to noir’s debut showcase. 

right now, jiwoong is in the group A-TEEN under the stage name KING

and jaeun will be debuting in the group ARGON

i’ll make posts about both of those groups soon!!

bonkuk enlisted to complete his mandatory military time. and i don’t know what sangho’s doing, but i hope he’s happy and well :(

and back to junyong: (okay im really bad at putting my thoughts into words please excuse) despite what he experienced while in inx, he continued his dream of being an idol ♡ i’m so glad he was able to break his contract and join noir. he seems genuinely happy with the boys and hopefully luk factory is treating them all much better.

you can tell that junyong really enjoys singing and performing. (pleasssse let him perform on masked singer!!!) and he continues to be his dorky self, smiling and always making others laugh, but also caring and kind. he’s such a strong person :(

and i really, really hope one day (preferably sooner lol) noir will make it big and be very successful. they really deserve it

okay lol sad inx hours are over. i’m just really glad they got out of that situation and are leading happier lives. a-and maybe please support A-TEEN and ARGON

[btobmel]

[Newsen] BTOB “Compared to No. 1, We want to go long and far”(Interview)

"More than going up, we want to go long and far." BTOB released 11th Mini Album  'THIS IS US' 8 months after 2nd Full Album 'Brother Act.’ last released. Title track 'Only One For Me’ is composed by BTOB member Im Hyunsik and Producer Eden once again after their collaboration of 'Missing You’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Man’. Results are flashy. 'Only One For Me' swept top of major digital charts like Melon once released. Based on 12th day of release, it’s still at No. 2 on 29th June morning. This is to say BTOB is receiving love not only from fans but public.  Even if we put aside numerical results, the complete music with all tracks as good as title track is well-loved by fans. Members presented 7 tracks 'Call me', 'Yeah', 'Blue Moon', rapper line unit song 'IceBreaker', vocal line unit song '1, 2, 3', and pre-release 'The Feeling'. From tropical sound to electronic pop, diverse genre makes listening more fun. 'It’s Okay', 'Way Back Home', 'Remember That', 'I’ll Be Your Man', 'MOVIE', 'Missing You', and now 'Only One For Me', achieved No. 1 on digital chart every time new song is released. Trusted self-producing musician BTOB spoke about  their album making process, promotion goals etc. Q Thoughts about comeback as a group after 8 months? ▲ Ilhoon_ Enjoying music broadcast promotion with various singers. We are promoting with thankful heart that we are having fun and received much love from fans. Also, we received valuable gift yesterday. We won No. 1 on MBC Music 'Show Champion' and we are really thankful. In the midst of happy promotion activity. ▲ Peniel_ Hope many people listen to our songs and receive healing from watching our stage. Q At '2018 UNITED CUBE -ONE-' concert press conference, you said you did not care about No. 1 but still achieved No. 1 on digital chart and No. 1 on music show. ▲ Sungjae_ Actually, as ‘Missing You’ received a lot of love, we thought hard of what kind of song to repay. More than burdened to produce good results, we want to provide healing to even one more person. Writing that song is of bigger burden. ▲ Seo Eunkwang_ Correct. Actually, Minhyuk, Peniel and I came home together yesterday and we talked about 'What is next song?' for 30 minutes. As we continue to receive love from many people, we are burdened in terms of music. ▲ Ilhoon_ This becomes the driving force for growth. ▲ Minhyuk_ We seem to be constantly worried. We are in an occupation to show thus we want to continue to worry and develop. Firstly, very thankful and we will work harder to show better image. ▲ Changsub_ Above all, felt very proud when we heard from public, not only fans who listen to our songs talked about how they 'Listen to BTOB music and healed a lot', 'Listen to BTOB music and start a day strongly’. ▲ Eunkwang_ That is more valuable than No. 1. Q This album "All BTOB members are producers", members are highly satisfied. What is most satisfying? ▲ EK_ Firstly, this is first time BTOB members composed all songs. That’s why the album is named 'THIS IS US' ourselves.

▲ CS_ All through us, album composed of our ideas. ▲ IH_ This album is most outstanding in terms of members’ ability. Each aspect showed much progress but this is most prominent. After a long time, we specially made 2 unit songs. We showed our individual skills through that process too. Quality is also higher than expected, thus we are highly satisfied. ▲ MH_ And our album’s character is basically and positively full of ourselves. Members’ suggestions combined to make this album thus it’s more valuable.

Q This album is completed after much thoughts, how is ‘Only One For Me’ decided as title track. ▲ HS_ Firstly 'Missing You’ received huge love and not only from fans but public. We want to present same feelings to public. Maybe when we do other styles, thoughts like 'That song is good, should do that style again' may arise. Also, instead of lyrical sensitive music, we want to make exciting music that is easy to listen to in summer. Q BTOB fans’ fanchant at music shows also created hot topic. Members seem to show ambition slowly on fanchant too. ▲ MH_ Actually, we made fanchant since 'I only know love'. We’ve been making since rookie days but started earnestly only recently. Making of fanchant ourselves is only made known to fans since 'I’ll Be Your Man' but it seems to became topic since ‘Missing You’ when we filmed fanchant video. Fanchant became topic first and there are people who then listen to our songs.   ▲ HS_ Instead of coming to watch us and stand still with lightstick, it’s fun to sing together. When we write song, fanchant also appeared. During 'I’ll Be Your Man' too, 'Missing you' as well. Thought like it would be good if fans make noise at this part. ▲ EK_ Now really feel like a stage made with fans together. When we are excited on stage, fans will also have fun. Good to feel together. Melody is also our 8th Member. ▲ MH_ Different feeling from digital music. Can only be heard on stage. Like my case, I remove my in-ear to listen to fans during concert or performance. Q Lee Changsub’s intro part received a lot of praises. ▲ CS_ When I first saw the choreography video, I did not know it’s solo dance. Thus, during first broadcast, even my neck turned red. But many people love it so I’m thankful and working hard. And I’m in process of dancing slightly more naturally. Q In last year’s 'I’ll Be Your Man' interview, you said "Felt that we can still rise", "There are still a lot yet to be shown" . Still the same thoughts? ▲ EK_ Of course. ▲ Sungjae_ Correct. But instead of thinking of the place we rise to, we think of lasting a long time. ▲ IH_ There are many places to rise to but as singers there are also many places to look around. Many things here and there to experience and communicate with people around us. There are many places to rise to thus we are still going up slowly. Anyway, our digital received a lot of love and recognition but we did not have an expectation. Instead of expectation like 'No. 1 this time?' or 'Song successful this time?’, 'Will people listen to our song and touched' is more important. ▲ EK_ Now, words like going far is more suitable than rising up. We want to go further and further. We want to challenge more musically. Want to show new music. In terms of genre, we showed a lot of ballad, lyrical looks but we also want to show more performance part. ▲ SJ_ All ambition is really for BTOB to promote a long time. Any ambition is also for BTOB to make good music for a long long time.

‘Debut 7th Year’ BTOB  “Cube Pillar, awkward but sense of responsibility”(Interview②)

BTOB has also felt the sense of responsibility as Cube Entertainment’s big brother group. Debut in 2012 Mar, BTOB is in their 7th year this year. In today’s music industry, BTOB is evaluated not only as self-producing team trusted to listen but also known for their out of class performance and solid teamwork. Not rushed, a team that create their own platforms for success, growing slowly but constantly. They showed intense mood in powerful performance through 'Thriller', 'Beep Beep' in early debut 2013 and 2014 but unable to receive spotlight. Starting from No. 1 on digital chart achievement of 1st full album title track ‘It’s Okay' in 2015 June, 'Way Back Home’, ‘Remember That’ ballad trilogy established their position as team loved by public. 'Remember That' won their 1st public tv music show No. 1 after 4 years 1 month. Not stopping, through members’ active participation in composing and producing, they beat competition with deep and diverse BTOB-only sensitivity and stood out in musicality even amongst musicians and grabbed title of talented team with digital power. Recent new songs like 2016 November 9th Mini Album 'NEW MEN' title track 'I’ll Be Your Man', 2017 March 10th Mini Album ‘(Feel'eM)' title track 'MOVIE', 2017 October 2nd Full Album 'Brother Act.' title track 'Missing You' and 11th Mini Album title track 'Only One For Me' are all hit tracks composed by members that swept digital chart No. 1. Leader Seo Eunkwang on becoming Cube’s sunbae "We are still having mindset like debut days. Even if awkward but there’s sense of responsibility". "Feeling more mature naturally. We are now sunbae and must do our best even more". Im Hyunsik "We are sunbae but there are still many things to learn. We will learn from each other as we grow".

Source: NEWSEN 1 , NEWSEN 2 

[eunwoonii]

ASTRO

because titles are original

ok so i’m probably going to put a “read more” because i’m about to get emotional over astro and i don’t wanna ruin anyone’s dash either jlkfgdfjlkgf, pls be aware it’s midnight and i’m emo

I’ve discovered ASTRO on aug 2, 2017, by a friend (kis ily) who shared me their famous “catching cicada” video (and tbh I laugh more to this than anything else even now). Last year then, I got interested in them and thanks to friends I was able to know more about them, which members, etc. and I had that massive crush on Dongmin that I still have, he’s my UB and no one will ever make me think otherwise,,,,

So by their CSC comeback I had listened to their singles and they weren’t really part of my life, I loved them a lot so I listened sometimes to their songs but that was most of it, I had school & a bunch of other stuff going on and I was 14, I didn’t know stuff about kpop and so I had no idea of how comebacks worked. On november though, like the 1st of november, I saw their Music Bank CSC comeback and oof was I amazed. Like I think I sat in front of my TV for 5 minutes because I wanted to know if they were going to do it again jgfdljdg

So CSC became one of my Favourite Songs Ever and I got more into astro from then, knowing more about them, their past, their dramas, and all that kind of stuff, their famous memes (hi dongminion) but it wasn’t that much still.

In january 2018, I had a twitter acc that is now suspended but i saw their ISAC and I had finally downloaded most of their songs, plus I had kpop friends in my class and I was like pls stan them i love them and that allowed me to know more about kpop in general (I only stanned astro and knew some other groups but that’s all), and so it was the nicest moments, listening to astro while getting back from school, before sleeping, and because I loved them so much I decided to try and learn korean so that I could say something cool if I ever met them (plot twist: im bad at it). I would celebrate the members’ birthdays and I started my first and probably only one at this point binu fic, and I fell in love with Dongmin even more I guess.

I don’t really remember the date but in march something the fantagio drama started and oh boy was I worried, I legit cried a lot during that time because I was worried and couldn’t sleep properly, because they had brought a lot of positivity for me and hope, I’ll get to that later but yeah you have the point.

And then, I got really confused with school, friendships, dealing with that kind of stuff was complicated and my twitter acc + first tumblr acc got suspended for no reason apparently, so even though I kept on listening to astro I wasn’t really aware of what they were doing, I had some news but there wasn’t any comeback and with what was happening it would’ve been hard to see one. From march to june, I had exams + personal stuff and shit was hard to deal with, so like some people in the fandom who had personal things I didn’t hear much from astro except for big news. I still don’t understand the whole fantagio drama but I was already lost in my life.

When I learnt they would have their comeback in july, on the 24th, I cried, when I saw Always You for the first time, I cried, and well I cried while listening to all of the album that’s not a surprise. I was so, so, so, so, so, so happy they could perform again, that they didn’t disband, that they were there, I could see them, their hard work, the lyrics to their songs that made me cry even more, I’m a crying mess but I was honestly so happy I kept on screaming for 8h that day. 

Which brings us to now, it’s the 15th of august, and that chronology would be a perfect way to sum up how astro led me to who I am now, if I didn’t talk about the emotional aspect.

Last october, I turned 15, and at this time I questioned myself on so many things, gender identity, sexuality, my future, and I was so confused about everything and I kept it all to myself and wasn’t able to be happy. So on that nov 2, 2017, I think I had given up on understanding anything at this moment, I saw their Music Bank CSC comeback. My thought while seeing Dongmin, all of astro while they performed? “That’s who I wanna be. I wanna be like them.” There’s a 0% chance I will end up becoming Dongmin ofc but I had found a model for my life, someone to get attached to so I wouldn’t be depressed anymore, or I would get happier and be able to live properly. Which I did, I was really happy and even though times weren’t the simplest, that’s when I aspired to become someone astro could be proud of, that’s still my goal today.

Astro had helped me during that time, and I didn’t know that but they would help me a lot. There was a super interesting twitt thread on how kpop/biases are models and lift people’s spirits up, and I think that happened to me. Since I’m depressed, I had many low times, and guess what musics would I listen to during those times? Yeah, you got it. Baby or Breathless are songs that instantly make me feel better, most of their songs do actually, but that helped me so much, I could dance (plot twist: im bad at this too) to their songs freely, I can’t learn the choregraphies properly but just dancing to their songs is incredible.

That’s what, with a lot of positivity in early 2018, helped me be someone reasonable, I was proud of myself, I loved astro, my friends, my boyfriend, etc. I was really happy and I got to know more people because of kpop too (I got into nct, got7, exo, and a bunch of other groups) so that really was a good time.

I was so, so afraid when the fantagio drama started, and I don’t really know what happened at this point, things are still confused in my mind but I still listened to astro whenever I could, whether I was in a good mood or in a bad mood. And then, in april-may, I did things, that I’m not proud of, and thanks to a lot of help and astro I was able to get together better. All of this because “I can become someone astro would be proud of, I don’t owe them anything but they’re what’s keeping me in shape somehow”, and just jamming to their songs is the perfect feeling.

I love and love astro more than any other kpop group, because I learnt their hard times, their best moments, their fears, and when they had their comeback last month, I felt relieved. I had been maybe at my worst in april/may/june, but with them, I found a new reason to smile, because I couldn’t just drop them after all the fears, stress, obstacles they’ve been through for their comeback, even to just work. “If astro went through it, I can go through it so that I’ll be able to be a better person”. It seems harsh but it’s surprisingly a motto I still have, I don’t seek on making things difficult and worse for me, but I was somehow more able to separate the real difficulties for me from things that I shouldn’t take care of.

On aug, 2, 2018, I did the thing i’m not proud of again, maybe some of it have guessed it but that’s not the point. I know I’ll forever regret it, because I did it after being clean for 2 months, and on my birthday-of-knowing-astro, astro which has been the group to help me the most during last year and this year, and it’ll take time for me to fully assume my actions and their consequences. Even though I got support from friends, especially from two really close to mine (kis and nicole ily), I won’t be fully capable of not hating me for having done this.

But I know, at the end of the day, that I’ll be able to go through it. Why? “Because I can still be someone astro would be proud of”. It’s naive from me to believe astro would even care about me particularly, but I don’t care and if this helps me to get better, then so be it. I have no contract or deal with astro that tells me that I have to have them as models, but I will continue to admire them.

Astro has probably been one of the hardest-working groups I’ve ever seen, I’m not saying other groups are lazy but they’ve had already a ton of comebacks, events, astroads, fanmeetings, kdramas, events, mc duties to be in, and I’ve never heard bad things about them. Ofc haters are a thing, and a lot of kpop groups have hard work, but they are the only group that I know that have put all their time and energy for that, and most importantly, they kept on smiling. They’re the group I love the most, because they don’t complain, they’re all talented in their own ways, my bias may be Dongmin but let me go to hell if I say that I don’t like any of the other members. I could quote their qualities forever, they’re not perfect of course but they put dedication, time, love, work, their own fears, doubts, or happiness into these albums. Plus, they’re always excited as puppies for everything, they’re all cute, visuals, if I see a picture of them I can’t stop smiling for 3h,,,

So astro has been a really important part of my life, yes. Whatever astro does, as long as it’s not harmful to people, I’ll be by their side, I like to hear from them, see them, support them in any way I can, reblog, like, tweet, whatever I can do to be someone they would be proud of, even if they don’t know me.

Through all the things they lived, and did, I was able to live too, that’s why astro is and will forever be my UG, and Dongmin is my ideal man, wait no all of them are my ideal men, in terms of who I want to be. If they chose us, arohas, if they’re always going to choose you, then I will always choose them.

It’s now 1am, almost 2, and I haven’t stopped writing since midnight,,,, I’m tired help me

TL;DR: I’m very proud of ASTRO, they have That Power of making me happy, I said I didn’t owe them anything since they don’t know me but I owe them my life. I will always, always, thank them all for what they’ve done. Maybe I’m being an extreme fan but I don’t really care as long as I don’t turn into a harmful fan. They led me to a better life already, and I’ll forever be thankful to them, even if they don’t know me, even if they don’t know that story.

you can reblog this or like this, i don’t rlly care, i felt like i had the need to explain that today (it’s a special day for me too!!) and if yall leave replies ill be the happiest man on earth tbh. ty to those who read the whole thing, yall know about my life with astro and im glad if it helps you know me better!