#I get there's a certain style to kpop but the groups who have made it big have always had a standout element to their music that made them

[changbin-froggy-jimin]

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[loonarii]

Ari's K-Pop Roundup: March 2024 (ILLIT, ARTMS, CHUNGHA, VCHA + MORE)

Check out last months installment here :) sidenote: sorry about this episode being a bit heavy on the smaller reviews - have been experiencing a cruel and unusual combination of illness and exam season lol - next month will hopefully be slightly better

Magnetic - ILLIT (SUPER REAL ME)

Whether you watched HYBE's 2023 idol survival show 'R U Next?' or you had the self preservation to skip it, if you were into k-pop at that time, you definitely heard about it. The show gained attention from the community originally because it was from HYBE, the newest, and arguably currently the most influential k-pop company goliath, and because HYBE's girl groups (notably Le Sserafim and NewJeans) are famous for influencing the kpop scene instantly upon debut, and maintaining their spots in the top 10s of the charts for many months. This was HYBE giving us a look behind the curtain at the making of the next big girl group, and letting us call a lot of the shots along the way. Or at least that's what it was supposed to be. Rigging in these type of idol shows is practically expected, but HYBE was a new offender, and their crimes weren't only frequent, but pretty obvious. The fans protested, but nothing changed. ILLIT, the group that emerged on the other side, was a group that was hardly a showcase of the talent on display on the show, nor a reflection of the fans and their biases. It was a reflection of who the producers felt fit their pre-established concept for the group, an influencing factor that wasn't made clear to the fans watching, nor potentially, to the idols participating. Ironically, since the whole point of a survival show is to drum up support and build a fanbase for a group's upcoming debut, ILLIT has arguably started off on a worse foot than if they had just dropped 'Magnetic' on YouTube out of nowhere, NewJeans 'Attention' style.

However, regardless of their rocky start, ILLIT is here, with their debut mini album 'SUPER REAL ME', featuring the title track 'Magnetic' - let's talk about it. 'Magnetic' capitalizes on that glitchy, 8-bit, distorted, bedroom pop sound that's been blowing up recently, both in the k-pop industry by NewJeans, LOONA, and tripleS, and in the western space by Pinkpantheress. It's easily catchy, and highly danceable, and the members sound amazing on it - I felt especially drawn to Minju's delivery, her vocal tone is beautifully unique, and Wonhee did a stellar job as the centric member of the choruses. Magnetic's allusions to NewJeans are undeniable, if only lacking that certain NewJeans je ne sais quoi. I don't really have a problem with this, if I get more fun songs out of groups allegedly 'copying' NewJeans then it's a win for me, my only fear is that if ILLIT doesn't find their own niche they will be called knock-off NewJeans for the rest of their careers, which isn't fair to the girls. TripleS got accused of something similar back with AAA's 'Generation', but since then they have carved out a space for themselves in the industry, making music and exploring aesthetics others aren't.

As for the b-sides, I was kind of obsessed with 'My World', even though it is functionally an intro; it's such an unexpected earworm. 'Midnight Fiction' is cute, even if I think it needed another hook or layer of production to elevate it more. 'Lucky Girl Syndrome' is slightly better than 'Midnight Fiction', but a bit worse than 'Magnetic'. It's very obvious that the title came before the track, and it bizarrely sounds kind of like 'Sensitive' by Loossemble? The chorus is slightly weak, but I am obsessed with the instrumentation and the production choices - this song sounds nothing like NewJeans, I really hope they draw from this vibe in their future releases.

Overall, a pretty decent debut. You will definitely catch me streaming 'Magnetic' over the next few weeks, whether it will have the longevity to stick around in my playlist for longer remains to be seen. Good luck ILLIT, you've had a rough start in the industry, but it's clear that they have a big career ahead of them, and I for one, am seated.

Pre1: Birth - ARTMS [LOONA] (Dall)

After an iconic run of Haseul and Heejin's solo projects, as well as ODD EYE CIRCLE's first release out of BBC, 5/12 of the LOONA girls are here as ARTMS. 'Birth' is a song that operates outside of the conventions of kpop formulae; its experimental, confrontational, melancholy and bears an undercurrent of rage. Tonally and structurally it is unique from anything being released right now, and lyrically its compelling and mysterious. If this is a taste of what the upcoming album is going to sound like, I am extremely excited.

The music video is one of the best kpop has to offer - its so unlike anything else I have seen. I heavily encourage you all to go check out the theories the orbits/ouriis have been cooking up because LOONA LORE IS BACK!! I am very curious if the loossemble lore will link to this in any way, but that remains to be seen.

EENIE MEENIE - CHUNG HA, feat. HONGJOONG

Chungha is back, with a new company and an old concept. I'm not sure how to feel about this track, its clear she feels very confident in this style and it does suit her more than 'Sparkling', but I think 'Sparkling' was overall a better song. The production of 'Eenie Meenie' is very high quality and I especially loved that guitar layer in the chorus, and bringing Hongjoong in for a verse was a great call, he fits the song and matches Chungha's vibe perfectly. Unfortunately however, I don't find the chorus to be very catchy, which is clearly what the song is banking on in order to chart. The whole 'eenie meenie minie mo' thing is odd, but honestly could have been worse if this song had been given to anyone other than Chungha, the real death sentence for this song was the lack of interesting melody. I'm happy that Chungha is now making the kind of music she wants to, I just hope that the quality of releases go up in the future.

Only One - VCHA

Who knew that when Fifty Fifty crumbled due to their (allegedly) god awful company, it would be VCHA of all groups to successfully pick up the retro girlpop gauntlet?? 'Only One' is genuinely so fun, that post chorus is a killer, and even the mildly awkward writing clears up after the first verse. The girls have such great chemistry, and they are all genuinely improving their skills every comeback, and although I may have questioned JYP's decision to debut girls who had barely been in training, seeing the girls improve in real time is lowkey actually a selling point - like now I want to pay attention to them to see how good they are going to get?? JYP making an intelligent marketing decision?? In this economy?? Congratulations VCHA, you have officially established yourself as a force to be reckoned with, KATSEYE had better bring the heat when they debut to compete with this.

MINI REVIEWS:

Get Goin' - aespa: did you know this song existed? no! Is it surprisingly really fun? well yes! not sure what aespa has to do with fraggle rock, but if it takes Apple TV spamming SM Entertianment's dms to get aespa to release more music, then that's what must be done.

The knight who can't die and the silk cradle - LUCY: (req. by @a-moth-to-the-light) I've always been mildly aware of LUCY, but until my moot requested I review their latest release, I had never heard any of their songs. Needless to say, I was severely impressed. This song is so cinematic and heartfelt - to my knowledge it isn't part of an OST to a particularly cinematic kdrama, but it might as well be. I heavily encourage you all to go watch the mv with subtitles on, or read the translation, because lyrically this is a masterpiece. LUCY, you have officially caught my attention, I will be checking out future releases.

Paths to home - 문채원, HOWUS: The music video for this song, at time of writing, currently has 147 views, I have no clue how I stumbled across it, but I am so glad I did. 'Paths to home' is a beautifully constructed and performed citypop inspired track that to me evokes LOONA's early discography, especially those from Hyunjin's solo project. It is so perfectly constructed to my tastes, I love it to death. I have no idea how 'HOWUS' as a project works, I don't know if it's a group, a company, a subunit, or apparently even when it was released because according to some websites it came out in 2022 (the struggles of extremely nugu kpop cannot be understated), but what I do know is that this song deserves more attention, and I adore it. This is one for the NewJeans, LOONA yyxy, tripleS +(KR)ystal Eyes girlies.

Wish You Hell - WENDY (Red Velvet): SM finally gave Wendy a song that isn't a ballad!!! This song is pretty fun, but I wish it bit more oomph. The lyrics leave much to be desired, but Wendy's vocal performance is naturally very high quality, although I wish she went a bit harder in some sections - she's singing about wishing someone hell, but tonally it sounds like she's serenading them lol. A fun song, could have been better with another few drafts. Seulgi's 'best Red Velvet solo project' crown is yet to slip.

BBB - Purple Kiss: I will never shut the fuck up about how good 'Zombie' is, so seeing them explore similar sounds is so exciting for me!! 'BBB' is a very easy going listen, never awkward, never unpleasant, and although I think it needed a little something more to elevate it, it's a fun song I could easily see myself loving this summer. Swan absolutely ate up this comeback btw.

XXL - YOUNG POSSE: Bizarre sfx aside, I am very glad young posse is attempting to bring back 2000s hip hop into kpop, even if the execution is mildly clunky.

[bloomingstay]

favorite kpop group tag~ thank you @binniesbang!

who is your favorite kpop group?

stray kids, if that was any surprise

which member sparked your interest first?

hyunjin! i've almost always been pulled in by the dancer (lee know i know but) specifically the style of dance hyunjin excels in. the isolation is so satisfying and cool. for some reason choreo always gets a song stuck in my head??

But also!! I had heard they produced their own music and that really got me interested in kpop again

who was your first bias?

chris bang 🤍 went from zero to ult within no more than two days tbh…

what makes them your current bias?

oh god. um. i'll put this in the least embarrassing way possible. (this is a kpop tumblr blog I should probably get over it)

it was a particularly bad year. i stumbled upon their silly videos (thank you stay for the edits<3) and they made me laugh. then i started seeing clips of chans room and him interacting with the boys and just like... he's so wonderful. he's generous and kind and loving and thoughtful. just a shy lil guy who also happens to be a flirt and a fucking dork and it's cute man idk shut upp

who is your bias wrecker?

i was certain i'd never have one, i truly adore each of those boys so so much.

i was however proven wrong after a very sweet, silly compilation of binnie being ridiculous. followed by a face cam of his sclass performance in the supreme jersey?? and the curls?? he has such amazing stage presence and he's a great dancer. but he kept going from his cute sweet binnie expressions looking like he was just so into it and having fun, to the "dark rapper" eyes and commanding stage presence. and like, wow. 🖤 i am a sucker for that kind of duality.

which members are you currently obsessing over that aren't your bias/wrecker?

in another reality han is my wrecker. that boy is the epitome of what i used to look for in guys: babygirl. lol. well, and insanely talented and funny and everything. I adore him

after befriending a couple seungmin stans, i started looking for pics and clips to send them and found myself so incredibly impressed with him and touched by some of the things he's said and done. plus he’s a funny little shit.

hwang hyunjin is such a sweet boy. since we got producer jinnie on the last album i have been looking back and just so impressed with his growth 🤍

when did you first discover the group?

(Upon editing I realize I read this as ‘how’ but oh well)

okokok so

i was a kpop fan 2014-2017 and went all in. kcon and concerts the whole thing

but then i was just on my usual 6 hour yt shorts binge as i tried to fall asleep and saw skz reacting to the "your eyes" mv, specifically felix's part, obviously. i watched it like 12 times just cry laughing at han screaming, hyunjin trying to escape, channie hiding behind his hands and squealing. it was just so funny to see a group kind of clowning their own shit? i thought they were hilarious.

then i saw julien (solomita) had reacted to 'topline' and i was soooo into it. immediately went to watch some mvs and decided cool i'll be a totally normal casual fan of this group’s music….. :)

THEN a lovely lady i'd followed on my 10 year old tumblr account posted about skz. i messaged her that I’d finally decided to check them out and she was kind enough to answer questions and entertain my onslaught of messages as I screamed about how much I love these boys. and she still does everyday so. thank you hana 🌸

have you ever been to one of their concerts?

not yet~

what are some of your favorite songs by them?

THIS SECTION TOOK ME WAY TOO LONG. disclaimer: I absolutely could not include non ot8 this would’ve been 30 songs (I’m probably going to cheat)

Hall of fame. bitch ever since that live stage (which was the first time I’d heard it) I’ve listened to the sclass album 3 times a week no joke, goddamn it’s so good. so just know, i pulled almost every song from that album off this list when i made cuts

levanter. a hard pill to swallow mid relationship struggles and holds a lot of meaning for me.

secret secret. i can't get over how professional this song sounds and how it was just a few years in?

leave. where i got my username~ like I said, relationship stuff. You have not yet really bloomed When the new season comes I hope the warmth will make you bloom Into a flower that never dies

sclass. *bling bling* HIPHOPSTEP. such a fucking chaotic mess of a jam.

megaverse. the breakdown? MEGAPHONE. Han, bitch? We make the rules nobody can hold me yeaaahhh. Your body shakes - STRAY KIDS EVERYWHERE ALL AROUND THE WORLD. Sorry, flawless.

gods menu. ate, bitch. chan was something the fuck else

domino. neeed I say more

social path is bomb

grow up. read lyrics for the first time just now ow

eternity. told u I’d cheat.

love poem. big cheat my list worth it

I am going to be so mad when I realize I missed a song I listen to 7 times a day but been doin this for 2 hours so I’m calling it. Also forgive me I’m still working through the discography (backwards) and haven’t listened to the full first couple albums.

the adhd is allowing no further focus or thought so i will be tagging the same friends as my last tag post no pressure <3

@channieblossoms @skzms @roseykat @thefantasyden @seungsungracha @astraysis @channieswife

Thank you again @binniesbang for tagging me~!

[commajade]

gonna talk about that se so neon concert again and maybe i'll get flagged as mature again idk lol.

truly the best and most organic global rock experience that has ever come out of korea. on superband s2 the really famous 80s and 90s rock artists talked about how early korean rock bands were very derivative of western rock because that's what they liked and that's what they knew and that decades later they were seeking a new specifically korean band that could have a truly korean artistic core for korean music lovers and global fans alike. and the winner of s2 was crackshot, who are fantastic but are very much from the 80s style heavy metal style and younger korean fans have embraced that in a way that's very beautiful. and the closest they got to a specifically korean brand of music is kardi because they have a traditional korean instrumentalist and their productions are so out there and technically impressive sometimes. but they don't have a core songwriter, just immense talent. so their new album was very much created with the korean music industry and korean population demographics in mind with certain songs for certain groups that is typical in corporately produced korean music like kpop.

se so neon is exactly what those legendary musicians wanted. soyoon is the mastermind: the songwriter, the vocalist, and the genius guitarist. all of se so neon's music have unifying musical motifs but also a large breadth of sonic range. the philosophy and lyrics of the songs are so deeply korean. and they're global in an organic artistic way, through collaborations and a slowly expanding audience around the world. her friend and mentor was ryuichi sakamoto and she's performed with john cale of the velvet underground. their songs are made for the stage and developed in the studio and the stage.

soyoon told us at the beginning that it was the biggest audience they've ever had in the US and that rly showed. the concert was incredible, pure rockstar energy just blasting from the stage and the crowd was wild the entire time. people have been writing op-eds about the death of the rock star since the 2000s and there's a lot of talk about how all the great rock performers revered in history were just asshole men.

se so neon had no opener, no build up, didn't make the crowd wait too long. they had a post punk/hard rock playlist and then it stopped and hyunjin soyoon and the new drummer kim hyunggyun just walked onto the stage and started playing. soyoon's vocals got much stronger and more polished since last year and it was already good. she always pushes her voice out and projects as far as she can and last year i could feel her pushing out beyond the edges of her voice and that was a specific raw gorgeous sound but this time her voice never faltered and her notes were exact. her voice got bigger and more controlled. the tone of her voice is so specific, so androgynous, and so textured with a smooth rasp and huskiness that she emphasized and used by putting quieter vocal-centric songs directly after screaming to instrumental-centric high energy songs.

the energy was immediate and immense, the volume was high but never unpleasant. i was right at the front, 2 people behind the barrier. it was perfect. the setlist was perfect, starting with their only english song joke! and putting out heavy hitter after heavy hitter, then a slow emotional song surprisingly early in the setlist then picking it back up again. they controlled the energy of the room with perfect precision and it kept going up and up and up. the band was rly enjoying themselves, soyoon beaming a huge open mouthed smile while she jumps around and shreds on her guitar, especially in intimate moments facing her band members.the new drummer kim hyungyun was relentless and played hard and heavy and intricate the entire set and that made the whole band go harder.

and there were 3 instances where people passed out in the audience during the show. the energy was high and it was a hot day and people had been waiting outside for hours so it wasn't unexpected. and every time, soyoon noticed immediately and shut everything down and the lights came on and she watched the audience member who wasn't feeling good and told them to take their time and that we would wait for them. and she asked the venue to give out free water bottles and they were all handed out and passed all the way back until everyone had one. and then the rock star would turn back on and the energy would pick up right where it left off. it was immediate, the way she noticed something was wrong and shut everything down until it was resolved. i respected that a lot.

besides those necessary pauses, the entire show was a smooth high-energy ride. the band was unfaltering, inexhaustible. just 3 people on a stage with occasional synth or vocal tracks layered throughout. the energy never lulled when every other concert i've ever been to has had a lull where i'm pulled out of the music and take a moment to drink water and check my phone. this show was perfectly paced and never slowed down. the touching emotional moments had everyone taking out their phone flashlights and there was waves of light making the whole room brighter. it was so beautiful. we all just had a beautiful night together. the crowd recognized all the songs (their catalog isn't very large) and they did athena from soyoon's solo album and the unreleased song kkd that they've been workshopping since the tour last year. you could tell that they never took a break in working on the music, the instrumentation for the songs was often so different i couldn't recognize them until soyoon started singing the verse.

they're rock stars! it was a rock show! it's all the energy and connection and sense of transcendence of witnessing the greats but they're all just normal people too. they're all confident and highly talented performers but have basically no ego. it's all about the shared space and the music and the art and gratefulness and care for their audience. just a fantastic show.

[tewwor-moving]

slice of life scoop interaction call — sometimes.... i have a craving for things that don't involve fantasy/horror/supernatural themes. sometimes, i like to play pretend and figure out how certain muses could've been / had. plus, i made some new verses ( that i haven't put in bios yet ). * will indicate that a crime verse is also available

like and/or specify who you’d like from this bundle of goobers! 

*zhong jie-gou — self-made chef / content creater. grew up helping out his parent's chinese american restaurant ( yes, he was that kid in the back booth doing homework ), hot and he definitely knows it, owns a mutt, uses his platform on youtube/tiktok to educate others on a deeper knowledge of food and culinary skills, doesn't know how to cook single portioned meals — it's family style or bust

*hal murray — detective. the half that lies in a buddy-cop tope. single dad just over a messy divorce, certified hot mess that tries desperately to come across as put together ( he rarely does ), kid’s name is jenathan and gives him shit all the time

*yoo serim — detective. the half that tells the truth in a buddy-cop trope. works smarter / not harder, constantly eating something different in every interaction, hal’s kid thinks he’s cooler / asks for advice from him instead, has a habit to subtly neg people when he’s bored.

*yang eun — horror author / retired park ranger . sweetheart of all sweethearts, constant paternal energy, no one around him will go unfed, violence will always be the last resort but he is proficient with fighting, loves his little brother ( chanyeol )with all his heart, is also apologizing for said brother constantly, sleeper build but so shy

*yang chanyeol — freelancer . will literally do anything for work ( hired boyfriend, bodyguard, etc ) but thrives in socialite settings, the biggest shit on this list, horribly protective over his older brother ( eun ), big cat and mouse vibes, secretly terrified of commitment, will put money where his mouth is, has some sick ass tattoos

min hyeonwoo — guitarist for VERMIN RAIL . in a heavy metal band with simon & insung, college dropout, uses irons to light shitty cigs, gets into fights to stop other fights, something-something punk rock mullet havin' fun time lovin' ass

simon sae — lead singer for VERMIN RAIL . in a heavy metal band with hyeonwoo & insung, successful songwriter, loves to do fuckshit and charm his way into things just because he can, kpop idol potential but would rather quit music forever, best aegyo out of the trio

*isaak insung jang — drummer for VERMIN RAIL . born to rock out but forced to work a corporate 9 to 5, good at what he does but also hates what he does, always loaded with work gossip, resident resting bitch face of the trio, can bite as hard as he barks, weirdly the most normal one of the group?

ravi anand — horror podcast / radio co-host . always the biggest hype man and honestly? a girl's girl, always heartbroken over certain fast food items being taken off the menu, knows how to have fun, hyperfixation to the Max, will beg shamelessly

[windycityazan]

Looking to make some Penpal friends

Been searching around trying to find any pen pals from Instagram mostly, dont really trust the FB groups that are made for pen pals.

I did meet a pen pal on IG but she had stopped really with the letter writing or damn USPS got lame and may have lost her letter that she said she was gonna send months back so not sure if I am just personally bad at making any friends in the real World.

I haven't done one in ages since i was prolly in my elementary days but i guess being in the late 30's can be boring. But would love to meet new people either online or on paper which I rarely have done.

Is anyone on Tumblr looking to make Real Life friends?

I am 35, American (Korean) born and raised in the hell hole Chicago has become now with all the crazies going on. Likes: pretty much all sort of tv dramas from the American to Kdrama and C dramas and some animes (will take on recs for any other Asian style dramas if there good plots) If you want to know more I can post a list. Music: Kpop (mostly the boy bands like BTS, ATEEZ, SF9, Astro,Seventeen) some Black Pink- had some favs as teen but been so long since I listened to girl bands and cant remember much, have gotten back into Kpop for about the time Covid started but slowly building into liking more bands) Also love listening to certain Kdrama OST's which lead me to fall in love with korean music more as the shows aired. But i have a spotify playlist i build for a bunch of KDrama songs. Also Chinese music has also gotten some of my likes from Ren Jialun (Allen Ren) has some great songs and acting, Zhang Zhehan who was a good actor now mostly into singing is pretty good too. I like also being creative with digital art like fan art of tv dramas like making gifs or plane fan art posters and such, used to do a lot on LiveJournal if you know that site. Been mostly making short vid clips for Twitter here and there haven't really done gifs in a while but I sometimes do for the fun of it. I also graduated from Uni with a BFA in concentration in Graphic Design since all I love is being on the computer so have that as a hobby. Fav foods: korean bbq love spicy pork and pork wit lettuce also the short ribs marinated. American wise Pizza, pasta, Chinese cuisine a bit of mix of everything. Fav books: scifi fantasy, romance, mangas ( Sailor Moon, Haikyuu, Shadowhunters series, Harry Potter series, Twilight saga, Fifty Shades series, Gabriels Inferno series)

If you have any questions you can DM if you want to snail mail hopefully t doesn't get lost in the mail on both ends or we can chat before deciding on giving out addresses.

Twitter: judy1987

IG: jca_creates (online store coming soon and where some of my art gets posted or judychodesigns (was made mostly for university senior art class reasons) has some of my works kind of

[citronsucre]

retournement de veste !

     All the kpop idols being invited to fashion events and becoming houses ambassadors made me think about how fashion luxury houses are so fast to turn around and try to seduce a public they used to turn their backs to. In fact, these companies have always wanted to dissociate themselves with certain groups and figures. The Kardashians are a great example of this phenomenon, luxury houses didn’t really want anything to do with them until Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing took an interest in the family.

   In France, owning luxury items is popular in urban areas leading to a love and hate relationship between fashion houses and these populations that don’t fit the image of said houses. The derogatory, racist and classist term “Lacoste TN” designate young black and north African men living in urban areas dressing in Lacoste tracksuits with AirMax TN sneakers. The term is widely known and shows the popularity of this style mixing streetwear and luxury. Unfortunately for these houses, this is not the lifestyle and outdoor activities they are trying to promote :(  The luxury tennis outfit oriented brand Lacoste especially, whose popularity in the suburbs is incredible, has been vocal about not wanting to associate with this group. Eventually, with them playing quite a large part in Lacoste’s sales in France, the house ended collaborating with french rapper Moha La Squale. 

   France is not the first country encountering this behavior. Actually, the popularization of streetwear, monogram, sneakers and chunky jewelry in luxury is due to the African American community in neighborhoods of New York and Hip Hop music. Dapper Dan was an amazing designer from Harlem, is influence on black music and the style associated with it is huge. His work at first consisted of creating knock-offs of luxury items and playing around with logos. That is how the monogram print was popularized. Luxury houses which excluded black people, did not want to be associated with them or their music, called their style tacky, ghetto or ratchet started reappropriating these creations and selling them to white rich people in the suburbs. 

   When European luxury houses first made their first steps into Asia, whiteness and the Parisian style was the goal. Boarding school uniform inspired preppy was in vogue in Japan starting from the 1960′s. I have always found it odd how 30 years later, with the rise of Harajuku fashion and the popularity of streetstyle photography magazine FRUiTS, these brands never tried to collaborate or work with young Japanese artists. It was maybe too tacky for them, too out of pocket or too “street” since it seems like it is a global problem. So it is funny now to see how Heavn by Marc Jacobs collaborated with FRUiTS Magazine’s photographer Shoichi Aoki and tried to mimic an aesthetic by watering down alternative asian fashion culture and manufacturing it to sell it to the mass while the whole purpose of the movement was to protest against social norms by being unique and creating unique in the world pieces mixing traditional and modern clothing. I am not trying to say i hate the brand, I actually liked it at first, I am juste a girl in my twenties who likes asian fashion so of course I liked it. But when thinking about it, nothing new has been created, everything they sell is already available on the market. It just caters down to mass consumerism and the “weird girl aesthetic” that for some reason makes me think of the manic pixie dream girl except it is fashion. 

   Now with the influence of Korean culture you know they had to ! Houses will go out of their way to have at least one Korean celebrity sit at their show, idols being the golden ticket. Even if this is not new and even if I am glad artists get this opportunity, I find it sad and sometimes reducing to invite pretty faces instead of actually working with them on interesting projects, especially since South Korea is a buzzing spot for emerging designers and small artists. It is like non white people have two options: be excluded or be a totem. 

(if you want to know more about Heavn i suggest you watch this video ! it is really interesting and i agree with everything being said)

[boysplanetrecaps]

Boys Planet, Episode 8: The First Hour

Hello, friends! So, as you might recall, the first hour or so of episode 8 is devoted to going through the preparation that the various teams made for the third challenge mission, knowing that only half of them would actually be able to perform it. I didn’t recap it at the time because I was more interested in covering the eliminations, but I’ll be covering it here in this post! 

Please note that it’ll be hard for me to talk about these groups without sometimes acknowledging who does and who doesn’t survive the elimination from the second half of this episode. If you’re spoiler averse, you may want to wait until you’ve seen the rest of the episode to read this part. For what it's worth, I don’t feel like I’ll be saying anything that you wouldn’t have more or less guessed. 

Here we go!

We start at 5:45 in to the episode. The boys are gathered in a large room, still wearing their outfits from the second challenge mission. They’re there to be assigned to one of the five “artist” songs that were revealed in episode 6. (The link takes you to the mini demos, and is spoiler free.) I find it difficult to describe what the songs sound like, especially since we can’t hear the whole songs and the genres the show uses to describe them are kinda weird (“oriental pop”? “Sentimental hiphop”???). So you can listen for yourself. 

As was the case for all Produce/Planet shows before this, the trainees were matched to songs based on audience vote. The Star Creators were given like, 24 hours to vote on this, which means that for the most part, only Koreans really had a chance to do it. The idea is supposed to be that the audience would put, say, Cha Woongki in a cute song, and put, say, Kim JiWoong in a sexy song. Also, the trainees appealed to the Star Creators to put them in a particular song. That video is actually a lot of fun -- some of the trainees sing or dance to get your attention, and I feel like it’s the first time I actually heard Ricky just straight up sing. He’s got a really nice voice! Notably, Z-bo speaks some Korean in his video, too, so that’s cool! Anyway, it’s cute to watch, and has subtitles, so give it a look if you’re at all interested. 

Of course, since a bunch of trainees wanted certain songs, and not a lot of people wanted certain other songs, the matchup could never be perfect. I’ll get to all that in a bit! 

In any case, we finally find out that the new Star Master is Key from SHINee. If you don’t know SHINee, check out their songs Sherlock, View, and Replay. If you don’t like any of those then it’s ok, but trust me, SHINee is really well-respected and completely changed K-pop. Before SHINee, no one danced while singing the way that SHINee did. If there had never been a SHINee, there would not have been a BTS, not the way that you know them. So, even if you don’t like their music, you should know who they are. (Oh, and side note, if you watched Run for The Money on Netflix, that featured Minho, who is also from SHINee.)

The SHINee boys are also sentimental faves of mine. SHINee and f(x) were the two groups who really got me into Kpop, and if you know much about kpop, you know that those two groups have something really awful in common and I don’t want to talk about it, but let me just remind us all to be kind to kpop celebrities, ok? Because we don’t want stuff like that happening again. 

Anyway, SHINee debuted in 2008, when Key was just 17 (and dance machine Taemin was just 14). They were HUGE -- they were absolute sensations. Their clothing set fashion trends, and their songs were all massive hits. The members have gone through a lot, but they’re still kicking. Key is the funniest, most snarky, most honest member, and he’s known for his sense of style as well as his performance abilities. Check out his new song Killer -- it’s got a retro-80s vibe that I really dig and I think a lot of people would like it! 

So yeah, when the trainees react to Key as of a god has walked into the room, they’re not exaggerating for the camera. Key debuted when some of them were still too young to know how to tie their shoes, and he’s fucking COOL.

His level of fame leaves pretty much every other star master on the show completely in the dust, with the possible exception of Sunmi, who dropped by in episode 3. She's at least maybe kind of on par.

So, yeah, once they manage to rehinge all their jaws, Key gives them the rules of the next mission -- how they’ll all prepare the songs, then find out halfway through who survived and will get to perform them. I love how the trainees are always surprised when the show does exactly what it has done every season since Produce101 season 1. I mean, I know the show has a different name now but it’s still the same show. Six seasons, and you’re shocked? Come on, now. 

Since this is an “artist battle,” let me add in a quick note on the term “artist” in Kpop -- I think I talked about this in another recap but I don’t remember for sure so I’ll risk doing it again. In Korea, it’s understood that idols make idol music, and that artists make, for lack of a better word, “real” music. People like Bibi are understood to be artists, and as such don’t necessarily always dance, or have fan meetings, etc. People like Huta are understood to be idols; they’re praised for their “visuals” (ie, whether or not they have nice faces) and are generally expected to remain single to be a parasocial love object for their fans. They make their money off of brand endorsements as much as concert sales. People like Hui or Jeon Soyeon from G-Idle or G-Dragon from BigBang kind of toe the line between idol and artist, since they write their own songs and manage their own teams, but also happen to be really good looking and usually happy to endorse whatever you have lying around. It’s kind of weird to expect these trainees to be “artists”, but every reality show keeps making things more difficult ever year, even though their contestants aren’t necessarily getting more talented every year. I mean, have you watched the most recent season of Great British Bake Off? What WAS that? But I digress. 

Ok, back to the point. It's an artist battle; they'll be given demo songs and demo choreography, but they're expected to go ahead and change whatever they want and plan the staging and performance.

So the boys listen to the songs and aggressively love them all. My favorite is when they listen to the “oriental pop” song Switch and Seo Won says he feels like he’s abroad. Wut….? I guess to them, “oriental” means India? I also liked when Matthew said, “I don’t want to do sexy concepts” about the sexy song, which like, yes, thank you, Matthew. Figure out what you’re good at, please.  

Then Key tells them that the members of the team that gets ranked first at the Artist Battle will get 200,000 points each, with the “winning” member getting an extra 200,000. That is a substantial benefit, but since it will probably end up going to a mostly top-11 team anyway, it won’t end up mattering. They’ll also end up going on M-Countdown, and, even bigger to them, having a fan meeting. They’re excited about that, and I don’t blame them. 

Oh, I’m having a flashback to that GP999 fan meeting when they were still in the middle of c*vid and all the fans were in their cars in the middle of a field. I’m glad we’re through the worst of that stuff now. I don’t want to go off on a tangent about some of the stuff I experienced living in a huge, hard-hit US city, but it was awful. I bet a lot of us have stories like that, huh? It’ll be one of those things that in five or ten years, when you meet someone for the first time, one of the first things you’ll talk about in the get-to-know-you phase will be “where were you in March of 2020?” Like for the boomers, talking about where they were when they found out that JFK had been shot.

Back to the show. 

So, the boys are finding out which song they got, which means it’s another one of those lengthy “finding out who is in which team” montages, complete with pranks and stuff and it’s not that fascinating…? So I’ll just recap some of the highlights, and then get to the part where they’re actually preparing. 

I-Chan asked for Over Me in that video, but as he was leaving the room the other trainees say he wanted Switch, and that is in fact what he got. 

I really love Park Hyunbeen saying at first that Supercharger didn’t really “suit his taste” (he wanted the cute song, Say My Name, and I agree it would have been a cute performance!) but when he finds out that he got Supercharger after all, he gives a big smile and says that now he’s excited to do that song. Aww, why do I only end up really loving some of these trainees when it’s too late? You’re a cutie pie, Hyunbeen. 

It’s kind of heart breaking to watch Ji Yun Seo and Lee Yedam be so happy to get the song they wanted, knowing what we know. 

THEORY TIME: I think that for the most part, the audience did vote to give trainees what they asked for, and I think that when there were too many trainees for a given song -- “Over Me” and “Say My Name” were very popular -- the producers matched them to songs in order of their rank. Thus, as very few trainees wanted Supercharger, many low-ranked trainees ended up in that song; as Say My Name was heavily requested, it was filled mostly with higher ranked trainees. Just my theory but it seems to explain a lot.

This:

I think that the reason Anthonny seems a little sad when he joins the Switch team is that he wanted Say My Name. But I think Switch could also have been great for Anthonny. 

The fact that Lee DaEul and both “houses” were put in Supercharger seems to confirm my theory that Supercharger was a dumping ground for unpopular trainees who wanted popular songs. That, or the audience put Lee DaEul in Supercharger to continue to punish him for his sins. 

I love Kum Jun Hyeon saying, “Park Gunwook and I decided to be friends. We became friends.” That’s how it works in my little cousin’s world -- he decides to be friends with someone and then is. Knowing that he’s good friends with Gunwook kind of explains that whole scene in episode 6 when he was trying to get Gunwook kicked out of Tomboy so Gunwook would have to come over to Ggang with him. 

I know that the show format encourages the pranking and stuff but it’s really not my favorite. 

Everyone’s reaction to Zhang Hao arriving is amazing. Chen Kuan Jui just picking him up and carrying him around is my favorite bit. 

It’s kind of interesting how Sung Hanbin, Kim JiWoong, and Matthew all wanted to do something “not sexy.” I guess I understand -- most kpop groups do all different concepts, and it’s a valuable skill to be able to pull off a song like Love Me Right and ALSO pull off a song like Love Killa. But still, I just think that Say My Name sounds like every “cute” kpop song thrown into a blender and then put into a “cute song” mold and allowed to solidify there before someone carefully dumped it out onto a plate. I don’t know. I know it’ll get stuck in my head eventually anyway but it’s not like that’s the kind of song I seek out to listen to.

JiWoong says, “I want to perform while smiling.” Do that ANYWAY, JiWoong. If Kai from Exo smiles in the middle of Obsession, you can smile in the middle of Love Killa, JiWoong. 

Ok! Let's talk about each team's preparation.

21:26: En Garde

Here is the En Garde team, with the song that each member wanted, as well as their previous song. I’ve arranged them in order of their Episode 6 rank, which gives you a sense of how likely they are to survive.

Kim Gyu Vin             En Garde                    Love Killa Hui                           En Garde                   Tomboy Park Gunwook         En Garde                    Tomboy Kum Jun Hyeon       En Garde                   Gang Park Hanbin             En Garde                    Law Lee Seung Hwan     Say My Name           Gang Hiroto                        En Garde                    Rush Hour Lee Ye Dam             En Garde                    Law Ji Yun Seo                En Garde                    Home Oh Sung Min            En Garde                    Rush Hour

They have to choose a leader, and Hui is like, WAYYY too invested in being the leader. He wants to work with his “database” and all the know how he’s built up over the years. The editors do him a little dirty, fast forwarding his speech on why he should be leader, and even showing him practicing his speech in the bathroom ahead of time. 

The first time that I laughed out loud at anything that Kum Jun Hyeon has ever done was right here, when, after Hui finishes his lengthy speech, Kum says to the other trainees that their speeches about why they want to be leader “have to be lengthier than this.” I think it threw Hui off a little bit -- he may have been expecting grateful acceptance of his leadership, or else a challenge from Park Hanbin perhaps, but not someone making fun of his careful speech. 

In any case, naturally, Hui is chosen to be the leader. I’d choose him as the leader too. 

The crew members explain that there will be two people chosen for the killing part and other parts, because there are ten of them for now, despite there being six people in the choreography.  And of course, everyone wants to get the killing part, because as usual that means tons more screen time. Gyuvin, JunHyeon, Yedam, Gunwook, YunSeo, and Sungmin all want it. I actually laughed again as all six of them practice the same bit but at slightly different times. The edit focuses primarily on Gyuvin and Gunwook -- as if the other ones are laughable for wanting it. I think Oh Sungmin actually does a great job -- JunHyeon overdances and looks out of control, and we barely see Yedam or Yunseo. 

Side note: Oh Sungmin looked so much better with his real hair color. Why is he doing this blonde curl thing when he is capable of looking like this?  Oh, and while we’re looking at old T01 fancams, check out this one of Woongki, being all serious and charismatic. I know it’s not his personality but he pulls it off, in my opinion. I guess they just both don’t want to do songs like that anymore. 

In any case, Gunwook turns out to be a lock, and then they choose Gyuvin as well. 

We cut to their trainee self-evaluation, and we see them performing. Honestly, they look great for a midway practice run. I wonder if Hui deputized Park Hanbin to run dance rehearsals? I would, in his shoes. A good leader knows how to delegate!

Gyuvin is nervous to be compared to Gunwook, and when it’s his team’s turn to try, Gyuvin chokes a bit and forgets some of the lyrics. Still, later on when they get the evaluation forms back, many trainees choose Gyuvin as the better choice for the center, saying he suits it better. 

Side note: Look at Gyuvin doing a scaled down version of his hero Exo-Kai’s trademark leaning-back slouch.

Obviously, Kai has it down to a limbo-esque art, but Gyuvin is working on it!!! 

The team does well overall. It’s great to see some of the trainees perform the song who won’t get to do it on stage -- good job, you guys. And we’re left with the thought that team En Garde is on track to succeed. 

We’ll have to see 

which member they kick out later on, and 

which member gets to keep the Killing Part. 

At 31:00, we switch over to team Say My Name. 

Everyone in this group wanted this song, so I’ll just list the trainees and their previous song to help remind you of who is who, but this group is full of fairly popular trainees and you’ll probably recognize all or most of them.

Sung Hanbin                         Tomboy Han Yu Jin                           Law Seok Matthew                       Love Killa Kim Ji Woong                       Love Killa Kim Tae Rae                          Man in Love Yoo Seung Eon               Home Seo Won                           Love Killa Takuto                           Rush Hour Ollie                                     Zoom Cha Woong Ki                       Feel Special

The team needs to elect a leader, and there’s this ex-cru-ci-a-ting-ly edited bit about Matthew possibly wanting to be leader and then Sung Hanbin volunteering. I cannot describe how irritating it is. The worst part is from about 31:55  to 32:15. I want to burn their editing studio to the floor. 

So they decide to have Hanbin be the leader, and Kim JiWoong says, “Matthew, I think Hanbin will be good leader,” and Matthew says, “As long as he listens to you.” 

Matthew is doing a lot of that kind of “joking” that people do when they’re not really joking, you know? Ok, so, story time. I’m friends with two people who a couple, and we were all having a board game night, and when one member of the couple went to get another drink, the other one in the couple was like, “Oh, ha ha, he can’t enjoy an evening without drinking too much, ha ha ha ha, guess I better not get a second drink because SOMEONE has to drive home so we don’t end up in a ditch, ha ha ha,” and it was sooooo uncomfortable because she was saying it like it was a joke, but it was NOT a joke. You feel me? That’s the kind of “joking” Matthew is doing. 

That little dig -- “as long as he listens to you” -- manages to imply that (1) any issues JiWoong may have had with Matthew’s leadership stemmed from JiWoong wanting to inappropriately get his own way and (2) that JiWoong’s preference in a leader is rooted in who he thinks will give him his own way rather than in the quality of the leadership and (3) that JiWoong will probably have as much of an issue with Hanbin’s leadership as he did with Matthew’s once Hanbin starts actually giving orders AND (4) that there is no other substantive difference between Hanbin and Matthew’s leadership skills. You see what I mean? There’s a LOT there.

It’s u n c o m f o r t a b l e. 

We don’t see the team choose main vocal -- they must have given it to Yoo Seung Eon -- and instead we go straight to subvocal 1, a substantive part that a lot of people want. One of the people who wants it is TaeRae, who inexplicably is NOT the main vocal, again, what the fuck, everyone. The story editors, though, focus on Matthew wanting sub-vocal-1. He says, “If I don’t get sub-vocal 1, then I’m screwed.” Again, not a good look.

I don’t know if you guys watched I-Land -- the reality show that created Enhypen -- but there was this memorable scene in which a guy named Jay (see what I mean about there being too many Jays in K-pop?) kept trying to get parts. He tried for main vocal, then subvocal 1, then subvocal 2, subvocal 3…. Every time they went to assign another part, he raised his hand. Inside, he was kind of dying as the potential parts got smaller and smaller, but he just kept trying. He ended up with a smallish part in the song, but the audience watching at home fell in love with the way he kept trying. He ended up actually getting into the final lineup for Enhypen.  

Matthew, honey. Listen to BPR-Noona, ok? The audience already knows how well you sing, so you can relax. And truly, there are no small parts, just small players. Why did Sana’s ���shy shy shy” take off in Cheer Up by Twice? Just because people liked the way Sana did it. I’m sure it wasn’t designed to be a “killing part.” You don’t need a "killing part" to win, or even a big part. The most important thing for you right now, Matthew, is for you to stop coming across like a greedy rude North American. As a fellow North American, I am telling you, bud. Rope it the fuck in. BPR-Noona has spoken.

In any case, both Matthew and TaeRae get the part, so we’ll have to see what ends up happening!

Then the trainees try out for the Killing Part, and both Ollie and Han Yujin get it. While I actually like both of them, I can’t help but root for Ollie to keep it in the end. He’s almost certainly not going to make the final lineup for Bepler, so I just want him to have this chance to shine on stage. But yeah that’s probably not going to happen -- no team would lower their chance of winning by choosing a trainee who barely survived over a Top9 trainee. 

After that, we focus on Hanbin’s leadership. He starts off by telling them their goal for the day, which just sets my teacher heart on fire in the best way. Goals should always be specific and achievable. Yes, Hanbin, yes. 

Notice (1) the way that the only two “global” members on the team end up on the edges, just kind of interesting and (2) the way that Matthew positions himself as if he is also a leader -- he’s the only one not looking at Hanbin. Already, I have a bad feeling about this. 

Hanbin manages their expectations expertly, letting them know that the choreo is challenging without presenting it as scary, and then demonstrates the choreo once for them. (I love how Han Yujin immediately begins sort of dancing along as he watches in the mirror-- that kid really is kind of amazing.) Hanbin is a great leader, and Matthew is very, very envious of that. In an interview, when asked what he would rate Hanbin out of 100, he “jokes” that he “can’t give him a 100” and so gives him 90. The editors are still kind of on his side. They’re scoring his “jokes” with plinky-plunky comedy music. 

Hey, hey, uh, Matthew? Matt? Hey. It's me, BPR-Noona again. Um, why? Why can’t you give him 100? Isn’t he your friend? Aren’t you hoping to debut together? Why even joke that you can’t give him 100? What’s that about? Is it because you don’t want to place yourself below him in any way? Could it be that? Because other people who are excellent leaders themselves are letting themselves be led in other groups, and aren’t being “joking” jerks about it, Matt. General Gunwook and Park Hanbin are both really excellent leaders, and they’re following Hui in their current group. I don’t know, Matt, but I don’t think that this is a good look, no matter how plinky-plunky the comedy music is. 

Sigh.

Then there’s a hilarious bit in which Kim JiWoong openly admits that he’s never felt jealous of other trainees before, but he does now a little bit, because they so naturally suit the concept of the song in a way he doesn’t quite. Then he says that normally he just looks at himself in the mirror while he dances and enjoys his time that way. OMG. 

See, JiWoong can make jealousy seem just fine because he’s honest about it. And just so fucking weird. I love this weirdo. 

Ok, then there’s this long scene that I don’t want to get too bogged down with, but basically, there’s trouble brewing between old friends Sung Hanbin and Seok Matthew.

While Hanbin is off in the bathroom (I assume), Matthew begins “teaching” some of the others the dance -- Takuto, Seo Won, and Ollie. Now, I don’t think it would hurt anything for someone to run through stuff with Takuto one on one, but I’ve never thought of either Seo Won or Ollie as people who need extra guidance when it comes to dancing -- particularly not Ollie, who actually basically taught his own team the dance in the first Challenge Mission. 

It’s pretty interesting how, when Hanbin comes back in, he doesn’t flip out and immediately make them stop. He watches for a bit and thinks before he acts, which, again, is a sign of a great leader. He knows there’s something a little off, but he waits. He’s also polite about it in his interview, saying, “I am grateful that he [Matthew] wants to help, but my style is to have people learn the overall flow and image of the choreo before moving on to the details.” I wholeheartedly agree with that. Again, it’s that thing of how we normally build the frame of the jigsaw puzzle first, right?  Hanbin also seems to say that some of the details might even change, or perhaps that Matthew is teaching them incorrectly --? Either way, Matthew isn’t helping here. 

Then Matthew full on asks Hanbin if he can be “sub-leader,” and though Hanbin doesn’t think it’s a good idea, he says yes. Dude, I think that’s something that maybe you talk about as a team. Like, “Hey, guys, let’s get into one of those awkward semi-circles and let’s talk about whether or not you want Matthew to be the sub-leader of the team.” But I guess Hanbin doesn’t want to devote the time to that, or was worried it would create division or strife, so he just says yes. Ennnhhhh I don’t like it….

We don’t see any footage of the team performing at the trainee self-eval, interestingly enough.

So, we’ll have to watch to find out

which trainees are going to get kicked out of the team (a lot of them!) 

what will happen between JiWoong and Matthew

what will happen between Hanbin and Matthew and

what will happen between Matthew and TaeRae with the subvocal one!

40:14 Over Me 

Here are the trainees, again arranged in order of rank in episode 6 so you have a sense of who is least likely to survive, with their previous song listed to help jog your memory. All these trainees preferred Over Me except for Ma Jing Xiang, who asked the viewers to give him Say My Name. However, I think the audience might have just voted for him to Over Me anyway -- it’s not impossible. 

Zhang Hao                 Tomboy Keita                             Zoom Jay                             Home Ricky                             Rush Hour Yoon Jong Woo     Home Wang Zi Hao                Law Chen Kuan Jui     Butterfly Ma Jing Xiang             Rush Hour Lee Jeong Hyeon     Gang Lim Jun Seo                Butterfly

The team starts off by trying to choose a leader, and it seems that some of them are reluctant to volunteer. Zhang Hao says that everyone should just take a moment to think about whether they want such a big responsibility, and then Yoon Jong Woo steps up. Almost immediately, the whole team says an enthusiastic yes. Jay says that JongWoo has cold eyes like a tiger but behind that he’s a genius. Heh. Everyone’s excited because they think that being on a team with JongWoo will give the team a good vibe.

Almost all of them want the killing part -- everyone but Jay, Lim Jun Seo, and JongWoo himself. 

We see their auditions and are reminded again how great Keita’s and Hao’s vocals are. In the vote, Keita gets 4 votes and Hao gets 5. It’s noteworthy that Hao is the only one who didn’t vote for Keita or himself -- I think he voted for Ricky, but it might have been Chen Kuan Jui? It’s not clear from where his finger is pointing. But if Hao had voted for Keita, the way that Keita voted for Hao, it would have been a tie. Did Hao purposefully not vote for Keita in order to win? Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Side note: I’m kind of surprised that Keita didn’t volunteer to be leader. This seems right up his ally. But maybe he’s kind of exhausted after working so hard on Zoom. Or maybe he knows that the show will punish his team if he’s the leader. But when he’s not the leader, Keita becomes an excellent teammate instead. Just watch the way that he reacts to EVERYTHING here. He grins broadly at the idea of JongWoo being the leader, and even puts his fist in the air to cheer for the team. He laughs with genuine good humor when almost all the teammates apply for the killing part. Later, he grooves to everyone else’s singing. He’s a fan of every other member of his team. That’s the kind of teammate people want to be around. Just sayin’.

After that, the team moves forward with part distribution, and there’s an uncomfortable moment in which Ma Jing Xiang tries to ask for a section of a part that is in his vocal range. It’s also edited horrifically, with TRIPLE replays of MJX’s incorrect Korean.  Yoon Jong Woo shuts him down extremely thoroughly. Then we also focus on how MJX continues dancing even when Jong Woo calls the team over to circle up. You get the feeling that Jong Woo genuinely dislikes MJX, and it’s a little uncomfortable because all or most of the team feels the same way. 

Like, Yoon Jong Woo is not fucking around. Not one bit. I get it, because MJX seems like a pretty irritating person to be around sometimes, but it might be a bit… much. 

The other storyline is that Lee Jeong Hyeon (that’s Lee of the Mun and Lee duo) thinks that there’s a spot in the song that he could write a rap for. His teammates support him in that. The next day, they go to the producers and Lee gets to do the rap he wrote in less than a day for them. The editing here gets REALLY annoying for a bit so feel free to skip ahead if you want -- the upshot is the producers say they like it and will consider it, so that seems like a win for Lee! 

So we’ll have to find out:

Which teammates they’re going to kick out

Who will get to keep the Killing Part between Keita and Hao

Whether Lee Jeong Hyeon will get to do his rap

50:01 Switch

Here are the trainees, again arranged in order of rank in episode 6 so you have a sense of who is least likely to survive. A lot of these trainees had bene hoping for a different song, as listed in the second column. I’ve also listed their previous song to help jog your memory. 

Zhang Shuai Bo          Switch               Feel Special Na Kamden                 Switch               Law Cai Jin Xin Switch             Feel Special Anthonny Say My Name Limousine Brian             Say My Name      Butterfly Dang Hong Hai Switch                   Home Wumuti Switch                  Zoom Krystian Switch                  Limousine Jung I Chan Over Me             Not Spring Choi Woo Jin Switch                   Man in Love Lee Dong Gun Over Me             Feel Special

So, this team, as leader Wumuti put it, is “nomu down.” (nomu = very) And with good reason -- their average final rank is 38, and as it happens, only a very small percentage of this team is going to survive. 

Wumuti is doing his best, but his team knows that most of them aren’t going to make it through the eliminations, and it seems kind of like a waste of time to them to try. The sense I get of the vibe of the song is that they would be good choices even if other people DID want the parts. 

Because no one else wants the killing part, Na Kamden and Wumuti take it. Wumuti is hoping that as they continue, that they’ll “find joy.” 

For some reason, as I was watching this, I found myself thinking, “What would I say as the leader of this team, to get them to try?” And I think what I would have said is this: “Hey team. I know a lot of us are discouraged right now because the reality is that many of us, myself included, may get eliminated soon. But I still really want to try my best preparing for this song. So, let’s brainstorm reasons that we should still try our hardest, despite the circumstances. I’ll get us started by pointing out the cameras that are recording us, right now. Everything we’re doing right now? The Star Creators may see that in an upcoming episode. Some of them are Star Creators who may have voted for us in the past, or might become fans of us in the future, when we’re on a different stage. Don’t we want to do our best, for them?” Then maybe based on the vibe, I’d have us go around and each give our own reason for wanting to try our best, or else just let people say things, or if necessary, give more reasons myself, like  “We want to be kpop performers or we wouldn’t be here -- don’t we want to practice just for the sake of improving?” You have to get a buy-in from the people you’re trying to lead. 

Me saying this isn’t knocking Wumuti. I think he was doing a fantastic job, especially considering his quite low rank. 

Anyway, then the show spends like 3 minutes just shitting on Jung I-Chan, who obviously could work a bit on his focus (I really do wonder if he might have something in the vicinity of ADD?) and who is obviously feeling super defeated. He never has been much of a dancer, so him having trouble with the choreo is probably just too much. At some point, his self-defense mechanisms would kick in and tell him to just give up because it’s safer. I just don’t think the guy is cut out for this stuff, but that doesn’t make him a bad person, MNET. Jeez. He even tells Wumuti, “I want to work hard, but I’m scared to work hard. It’s over.” 

And the show just HAMMERS on I-chan, even though Lee Donggun is just as “lazy.” It’s like MNET is trying to destroy this kid who obviously has some mental health issues. 

It makes perfect sense that Kamden, Brian, and Dang Hong Hai would keep trying, but I was a little surprised to see how hard Krystian keeps trying, though! I thought he was pretty much OVER the show. Maybe it’s just sort of in his nature to keep singing and dancing when he has the chance to do so. 

At the trainee self eval, they actually look pretty cool.

I totally understand why Wumuti is irritated with I-Chan, though. I would be too, in his shoes. There’s no easy way through a situation like this. 

We see him in the dorm later, wearing his official pink pajamas, and talking to someone who I can’t really see but might be Na Kamden. I don’t think we’ve ever spent this much time with Wumuti, ever. He’s such a sweetheart, though. 

At their meeting with the composer oversees -- at which they seem to communicate mostly in English -- Wumuti has a lot of ideas, and the composer seems to really enjoy the conversation. The choreographers are also impressed at their dance rehearsal. These are the kinds of things that people remember, my friends. It’s not just about how many audience members like you -- it’s also great if producers and choreographers and staff like you. That is how sometimes you can get gigs. 

So I console myself that even though most of this team doesn’t survive to perform the song -- and yes, that includes Wumuti, I don’t think that’s much of a surprise and I did warn you that there would be some mild spoilers -- I think that good things can still happen for them in the future. 

Hey, go follow Wumuti on insta, ok? Even if you don’t use insta much, it just helps him to keep his numbers up. He has a nice cover up of UN Village, and a long note he wrote in English about his time on the show. Fighting, Wumuti, sweetie!

So, I guess the questions to be answered are:

Who among this team will survive? 

What will it be like for the replacement team members to jump into this work in progress?

1:00:00 Supercharger 

So, not a lot of trainees wanted Supercharger. Among those who asked for it, all of them got it. A lot of the rest wanted the super cheerful “Say My Name” or the sexy “Over Me,” and this song is neither cheerful nor sexy. It’s easily my least favorite of the five, and I think that’s how most of the trainees felt as well. Below I list the trainees assigned to this song, the song they asked for, and their previous song.

Haruto                         Supercharger           Zoom Mun Jung Hyun Say My Name Gang Jung Min Gyu            Over Me           Man in Love Chen Jian Yu             Supercharger           Gang Park Ji Hoo             Supercharger           Limousine Cong                         Supercharger           Butterfly Bak Do Ha             Over Me             Not Spring Lee Da Eul             Say My Name Not Spring Lee Dong Yeol           Over Me             Man in Love Park Hyunbeen Say My Name Zoom

We don’t seem them pick a leader -- it’s Lee Dongyeol -- or the killing part -- they give it to Haruto and Park JiHoo, good call. Instead, we pick up with the trainees as they are watching the demo performance on their tablet. The choreo is difficult to say the least. The song still requires a lot of tweaks to the rap, performance, and choreo, and most of the team doesn’t really have the skill. They have Haruto, who can probably choreograph, and Park Ji Hoo, who can definitely write raps, plus I think Mun Jung Hyun and Park Hyunbeen are both into rapping and might be able to help a bit.  Lee Dong Yeol debuted with Up10tion in 2015 and must have learned something about performance by now.  But the rest of them, as Dong Yeol puts it, “aren’t there yet.”

They seem to be putting on a happy face as much as possible, especially Hyunbeen, who probably doesn’t want to be remembered for how much he cried at the first elimination. 

They talk about how they want to put on a good performance, and my theory is that what they mean is, they want to put on a good performance at the trainee self-eval. That’s the performance that they know is guaranteed to them, right? And they want to do really well there. 

If you operate under that theory, everything else they’re doing makes sense. They’re not dwelling on their low ranks. They are instead working really, really hard. Haruto is the dance captain, leading the rest -- Jung Min Gyu (red house) calls him “Haruto-sensai,” which is pretty adorable. 

They are trying so, so hard. The dance is probably the hardest of the five and the average dance abilities of this group is probably the lowest of the five, but goddamn if they aren’t trying, you guys, and it’s charming. Haruto is complimenting them, and they’re saying “This is fun!” and stuff. 

The other teams go back to the dorms to sleep…. 

… but all ten of them stay and keep practicing. Even back in their dorms, they’re continuing to practice in the hallways and their rooms. Trainees from the other teams notice and cheer them on.

At the trainee self eval, though, things go off the rail pretty fast. No one really sings, and they sort of lose their place in the choreo a few times. I think they rehearsed in a big group of tne, looking into the mirror the whole time, and didn’t work enough on performing as a group of five and singing along, without a mirror. They keep trying to pick it back up, but it’s a mess.

The other trainees are looking at them like this:

Kum Jun Hyeon says to a friend, “Wow, the choreo must just be THAT hard” -- that’s such a sweetly empathetic thing to say, cousin.  Park Hanbin is doing that thing he does where he smiles because he’s shocked. Hui is squinting at them, as if trying to imagine how he could fix it somehow. And Lee Yedam is just like, a full body Aigoo. Things don’t go better for the second team. 

It’s just heartbreaking. Afterward, Haruto is crying from embarrassment, and a few of the others are near tears too. The choreo is just too fucking hard for them. They probably should have focused on simplifying it a little, and maybe building in some rest periods, where a few dance a few don’t and then they switch. 

When they get the trainee evaluation forms, the feedback is brutal. But Park Hyunbeen says that this isn’t the worst. “The worst,” he says, “Was when I wore that vest for the Hot Sauce hidden camera.” Then he adds, “I was born to do Super Charger. I went on Boys Planet to perform that song and I don’t ever want to go home. I’ll make sure to survive and perform SuperCharger.” If only the show aired some of this footage before the voting period was over, lovey, but at least we see some of your mettle now. You’re a charming guy, Park Hyunbeen. Fighting!

So the questions that remain are:

Which trainees, if any, will survive? 

Which trainees will end up joining this team?

What will happen when they join -- will anyone be able to dance this choreo?

After that, there’s this bit where Seo Won and Cha Woongki go around and are silly with the other trainees -- the Planet Camp Tour --  and it’s cute, but I don’t have a lot to say about it. 

I still think Ollie was dumb to jam his finger into the camera and say that it smells bad. But he doesn’t know about my theory about bad smells on reality shows. Basically, something I’ve noticed is that on audience-vote-based reality survival shows, like So You Think You Can Dance, if someone on the show is revealed to smell bad at some point, they nearly ALWAYS go home the following week. Like once on SYTYCD, one of the dancers was complaining cheerfully that her dance partner had awful Doritos breath. Gone the next week. Another time, one of the dancers was joking about how awful he smelled at the end of a day of dance practice. Gone the next week. It doesn’t happen on shows where the judges decide, like RPDR or ANTM, but it happens whenever there’s an audience vote. Seriously, watch for it from now on. Let me know if you have another data point to add to my research on this. 

Anyway, the final moments we see before the eliminations start are all the trainees in their dorms probably the night before. We see a conversation between Hui and Kim Gyuvin, who worked together on Love Me Right and are together again on En Garde. It’s cute because Gyuvin doesn’t really fit on the bed. 

Gyuvin is worrying not about this elimination, but about the final one. It’s far more likely, he reasons, that he’ll be one of the 89 who don’t get into Bepler than to be one of the 9 who do. Hui is worried too. “If I were a Star Creator,” he says, “would I vote for an idol in his 30s? Even I wouldn’t do that.” Oh Hui. Then why did you come on the show, sweetheart? Why on god’s green earth did you do this to yourself?

We see Wumuti talking to his friend again -- it has to be Na Kamden, but I still can’t get a look at his face or get any other clue. “ ‘Give up,’ “ he says. “I used to say those words to myself once in a while. But I can’t seem to. I want it so badly.” Oh, twist that knife, MNET. 

Then we check in with Ji Yunseo and and Lee Yedam, who are with a friend in a mask who I can’t identify. The fucking subtiles say that Lee Yedam is Oh Sungmin, and I mean, omg, MNET, Sungmin has blonde hair right now, what the actual fuck.  

Then we check in Cha Woongki for a while, while he calmly but sadly talks about how he’s not really that popular and even expected to come in last in Feel Special. Now they’re not just twisting the knife; they’ve attached it to a power drill and are just spinning that thing at like 200 rpm.

Then there’s a bit with the boys all writing final messages on the wall about their time on the show. It’s as sad as you’d think it would be. A lot of the notes are addressed to the star creators. I hope that the boys are at least happy to know that people did vote for them, even if they didn’t win. Every single one of them got hundreds of thousands of votes. That must mean something, right? I do a creative performance thing myself, and I recently was eliminated in the second round of something, but people came up to me afterward and said that they voted for me and thought I was the best and were sad I’d been knocked out, and that meant a lot. 

And then the eliminations start.

Alright, loves! Thanks for reading! At this point, episode 9 is out and I haven’t even watched it yet, so I guess I’ll get on that. As always, I really appreciate the support -- some of you have sent in asks that I really loved and just haven’t responded to yet because I have the thoughts in my head and haven’t had a chance to type them. You guys are great. Hope that you’re having a good day and that you’re warm and cozy wherever you are. See you in the next one.

[wjsns]

and u know what im ready to make my full statement on MENG MEI QI too. the situation is so crazy to me, basically now in 2023 some ujung wont even type out her name because 1. cheating scandal (WHERE SHE WAS THE 3RD PARTY, WASNT EVEN THE PERSON TO CHEAT ON SOMEONE) and 2. doesnt mention wjsn ever and to me that is literally HILARIOUS like, god its just soooo funny to watch everyone pile in with the loudest most popular opinion and not do personal critical thinking, or hey, maybe they did and what mmq did really WAS too much for them to still support her but in that case i raise an eyebrow because idk… a lottt of yall are the same people who will get online and write about loving evil women and letting girls be shitty etc etc and she literally gives you what you asked for on a silver PLATTER, like doing nothing cancellable just giving us a good wholesome woman being evil and selfish and obsessed w herself and everyone turns on her!!!! sorry shes not fucking chuu lmao!? (ilu chuu no hate but there is space for good AND evil girls in my heart😇) im sorry im SO unbothered by her being the other woman in a cheating scandal like i cant imagine something mattering less to me and it actually made me super happy to confirm she fucks even tho the guy was ugly😇 but i said kinda most of this already so SECOND OF ALL about her not mentioning wjsn and shit… another thing i literally have NO problem with?? again, like…… no one was more distraught than me at what happened to ot13 but these are REAL PEOOLEEEEEEEEEE?!????!??? i’ve said this before too but i think its worth mentioning, i think my perspective on WJSN has always been a certain way because i grew up playing soccer on a team of the same ~18 girls for over 8 years and im very familiar with, idk, “team dynamics” in groups of girls growing up together? so i understand what its like to be in a larger group dedicated towards this ultimate, performance based goal together and while not everyone out of those 18 girls is one-to-one best friends and lots of people have pretty significant differences, none of that matters “on the field” or when you’re “working”, and its actually lowkey beautiful hiw such different people can unite together to make their dream happen AND develop really long lasting strong relationships w each other when they would otherwise might not have. so ive never had illusions that wjsn as a group has this monolithic motivator or reason for being in wjsn or being an idol, they are all super different personalities and have different interest areas like acting, musicals, song production, MCing etc! so its really impossible for me to feel upset or bothered in any way when i hear complaints about mmq’s behavior in this area because im like ? she obviously has/had this solo career (that i have to believe she had way more control and stylistic direction over than with wjsn) in her home country where she gets to embrace her personal style and concepts instead of matching wjsns, shes clearly separating from that past image and going in a different direction w her career! it does make me bummed that shes not getting 13 stars tattooed like xiao did but again what am i gonna do, be mad that this artist who i really care abt as a person is going off on their own path and direction? cujung is a ROCK of this fanbase its not like a mmq wjsn mention is going to create millions more ujung and album sales? just never added up to me, IM not gonna feel some type of way about it because stan twit fucking tells me to, like how it feels a lot of ujungs react to everything! that one thing going around that was like “wjsn are coworkers not friends” was sooooo funny for me to watch ujung actually get mad about because like,,, they ARE coworkers? AND FRIENDS?! there are 13 of them? each person has a unique individual and complex relationship with each other person? ah idk why i even bother with these essays the avg kpop stans iq is literally 65 yall love being spoonfed parasocial relationships simulated for ur consumption so much u completely block out ​the fact they are real people

[dedbuny]

hi :) im bunny and im a chronic maladaptive daydreamer :)

ive been doing it for about eight years now and im curious to see how many others do it too !

my (only moderately depressing) maladaptive daydreaming story/timeline is below the cut, if that interests u at all :) id love to hear urs as well in the notes !

my first memory of maladaptive daydreaming (aside from playing house and stuff as a kid) was in 2014 when i was in sixth grade. my friend and i would pretend to be certain characters throughout the whole school day, even writing the characters’ names on our schoolwork and calling each other by those names. the most common characters were always sam and dean, which is .. something . sometimes it was the 5sos members. then as the years went by the chosen characters changed depending on my hyperfixation at the time.

in grade eight i had moved on to kpop. this is the worst it gets i promise. mostly the same continued, except this year i realized something revolutionary: i could include myself in the daydream ! so i started pretending i was whatever kpop idol i was interested in on any given day’s friend, every day, for the next five to six years. this is where it became an addiction i guess.

grade nine was more of the same but with some drag race girls sprinkled in. grade ten was more of the same but with some video game characters sprinkled in. as those five to six years went by i continued daydreaming about myself and any chosen person or character i liked, except i realized one other extremely important thing: i could also just make up my own characters…..

so i did . technically the first original character i ever made was in eighth grade, named jacob. as much as i’m now trying to slowly distance myself from the maladaptive daydreaming and all the characters that were born from it, jacob really feels like my friend. they’ve evolved with me every step of the way — they’ve gone through a whole appearance change, their personality has changed, their gender and pronouns have changed, their world views have changed, all alongside my own, so it really does feel like i’ve found a lifelong friend who just gets me. and upon realizing that i’m purposefully creating my own blorbos from my mind to perfectly match my needs and wants and behave exactly like i want them to, i started feeling extremely self conscious about it all.

over the last five to six years i’ve created roughly 23 different characters, all with intertwining relationships and backstories and personalities and interests and styles. it’s been really fun actually, to be able to essentially create an entirely made-up friend group and make up their relationships with each other and watch them all grow. the issue lies in the fact that i’m spending more time imagining i’m them and/or imagining i’m with them than i am actually being in reality.

because all these characters behave in the exact ways i want them to and understand me perfectly inside and out, i’ve become much more easy to irritate. i find myself having a much shorter temper with my friends and family. my ocs know what i’m thinking and always have the perfect answer, because they are me. they know what makes me uncomfortable and avoid doing so, because they are me. they never question anything i say or challenge any of my beliefs, because they are me. in other words , uh oh .

this has all made me extremely paranoid, extremely insecure, extremely anxious and extremely depressed. it’s gotten to the point where i don’t really know who i am anymore, because i don’t really feel like i’m the one who has evolved or grown over the years. i feel like a side character to all the ocs i’ve made who are living my life for me. it feels like all my decisions are made by whoever it is i’m daydreaming as in that moment. i’ve had multiple breakdowns due to remembering that none of this world i’ve built in my head is real, and none of it ever will be. but it all feels unbelievably real. and i feel like if i ever stop i’ll be punched in the face with the consequences of letting what is essentially my imaginary friends control my life for six years.

i’ve thought it might be either evolving into or had initially stemmed from schizophrenia or ocd or did or something similar but i don’t even know anymore. right now it just seems like a combination of having autism, depression, severe anxiety, an extremely vivid imagination, and being chronically lonely.

i truly feel like i’m suffering alone here. i know there are other people who maladaptive daydream but i’ve never heard of anyone who does it like me. if anyone reading this understands what im going through i’d love to hear from you !!!!!

if u got this far into reading, thank u for hearing me out :)

love, bunny (...and jay and marcus and darius and veronica and luca and hiroki and minki and advik and hannah and hanna and nayeon and shauna and joslyn and thomas and christian and jack and claire and marion and peter and frances and oskar and felix and frederick and svante and shaelynn and heather and more)

[halfseoulco]

The university analogy: Finding what makes KPOP groups unique

Updated Sunday, December 8th, 2024 — In a 2018 interview with NME, BTS’s SUGA called KPOP “integrated content”, adding that it “includes not just the music, but the clothes, the makeup, the choreography…all these elements I think sort of amalgamate together in a visual and auditory content package, that I think sets it apart from other music or maybe other genres so again, as I said, rather than approach KPOP as its own genre I think approaching it as this integration of different content would be better.“ Additionally, KPOP is known for taking inspiration and elements from other genres and creating interesting sounds, making it impossible to define KPOP as a genre of any one style or sound. With KPOP continuing to grow in popularity across the globe, Korean entertainment companies are popping up left and right with the goal of creating and debuting successful groups—all of whom are fighting for attention in a market that is now grossly over-saturated and therefore extremely competitive. When everyone is working hard and training for years to show audiences the best performances, what does it take to make it in the world of KPOP where fans are as critical as they are devoted?

The University Analogy

Sometimes terms are born at the most random of times. In this case, I was trying to explain the nature of the KPOP industry to a friend who doesn’t listen to KPOP and ended up with what I now call the university analogy.

When I was applying for colleges in 2011 as a high school junior, I was warned by everyone from my mother to my guidance counselor that having good grades and a good SAT score would simply not be enough. Gone were the days where a 4.0 GPA and a steady record of committed extracurricular activities over long periods of time would easily get you into a four-year university of notable prestige. There were kids everywhere with GPAs above a 4.0 thanks to the weighted system where an A in a more difficult course would earn you an extra point; and with college prep having evolved into a thriving, capitalist-driven industry, more and more students were walking out of the SATs with perfect scores. Many students with these kinds of academic records look absolutely amazing on paper—but it’s become so much the norm that admissions boards don’t find it as impressive as they once did. If everyone has a 5.0 GPA and a 2400 SAT score*, then it stops being such a huge achievement. The pressure to stand out then becomes nearly impossible to bear when the expectations are to get As in every subject, get the highest scores on standardized tests, be involved in activities outside of the classroom (preferably with a leadership position of some sort to show that you have certain qualities that most people find admirable and over the course of your high school career if not longer to indicate that you can strongly commit to one or two things), and win awards and accolades for being the best or most at something—and maybe you find some time in there somewhere to sleep or socialize because on top of everything else, you also have to be interesting.

Because they have the luxury of being selective, institutions of higher education are now more interested in what a student has to offer aside from their ability to memorize and regurgitate information. What do they do outside of school? What are their passions? Who do they want to be in the future? What makes them special?

The KPOP industry is much the same.

Because KPOP fans are known for being extremely discerning and sometimes difficult to please, Korean entertainment companies are constantly developing the best creative teams and strategies to ensure their artists’ success. Everyone has to make their moves from the same starting point, however, and that is talent.

Whatever anyone might say about any given group or idol, it is true more often than not that an artist who has made it to their debut—especially one who has made it through the traditional KPOP system—has gotten that far because while they have worked hard, they are at the very least talented in some way. Where the discrepancy exists is in people seeing talent as only one specific thing when talent transcends strict definition and can manifest in many ways. Fans also often confuse personal taste as barometers for talent, with “I don’t like it” serving as an equivalent for “it’s bad” or “they’re untalented”. But if we go back to the university analogy where no one is special if everyone has perfect grades and test scores, similarly, if everyone is talented, then what sets one idol or one group apart from another? What does it take to produce a KPOP act so spectacular that shows are immediately sold out, album sales break records, and members are beloved worldwide?

The KPOP System

While the KPOP industry has received heavy criticism for the harsh conditions that trainees and idols are subjected to—extreme dieting being a major issue for many, as well as the long hours—it is also often said that the tried and true KPOP system has been largely successful in producing some of the biggest artists in the Korean music industry, as well as those who have managed to break into other markets such as the U.S. Of course, this is not to say that just because people can endure it, it doesn’t mean that they should have to. More and more idols are speaking up about their experiences as trainees, which had previously often been shared in a tone that downplays the severity of the incidents. The hope is that as awareness of the harsh conditions employed by Korean entertainment companies continues to grow, they will start to change and idols will enjoy their careers working within a healthier, less toxic environment. However, the debate that tends to distract everyone from the issue at hand is which companies are worse when the reality is that it is easier for the KPOP training system to continue existing when it doesn’t have the same kinds of protections in place that countries like the U.S. have, especially for minors working in entertainment. Most artists outside of Asia cannot fathom being expected to endure such conditions, let alone actually making it through to the end in order to debut. Therefore, the question has been whether or not the system could be successfully implemented on artists who fall outside of the KPOP umbrella.

Most companies have a rigorous training system in place where debut hopefuls endure 12-14-hour days for an average of approximately two to four years—although many idols have trained for much longer—practicing all aspects of performance (singing, dancing, rapping, acting), studying languages, and following strict rules. Trainees are plucked from all over the world through auditions or talent scouting and many go extended periods of time without seeing their families or friends once they are brought to the companies’ dorms or training centers. Female trainees in particular are subjected to extreme dieting, with their eating habits strictly monitored to the point where their male counterparts have admitted to sneaking them food. Some companies have crammed as many trainees into a single room as they possibly could, while others withhold breaks and water or force trainees to continue practicing while injured.

While fans and artists alike would love to see a world in which these conditions are no longer the reality, the idol training system has long been something that is unique to the Korean entertainment industry; and the growing global success of KPOP has companies reluctant to change their methods, even with the rest of the world watching.

Enter J.Y. Park and JYP Entertainment’s A2K (America to Korea) project, in which the goal was to find talented individuals in North America and put them through the KPOP training system to show that it can be applied successfully to non-KPOP trainees. In partnership with Republic Records, JYP Entertainment held auditions in several cities in the U.S. and Canada before narrowing down the contestants that would compete to create a girl group with global appeal. Despite the fact that VCHA is currently the source of major controversy, JYP plans to replicate the process with L2K (Latin America to Korea) through a strategic partnership with Universal Music Latin Entertainment under Universal Music Group. The company also filed a trademark for E2K in 2023, which most people agree likely stands for Europe to Korea, although there is currently little information as to when auditions will take place or if the project will ever come to fruition.

People were intrigued by the concept of A2K regardless of whether they believed it would be successful, with the YouTube channel from which the show was streamed surpassing 50 million views at the time of its conclusion. If we try to follow the timeline, filming for A2K began in September 2022, which is also when auditions were held. There is little information as to when the Los Angeles boot camp took place and for how long it ran, with guesses spanning from six days to two weeks in November of that same year. There are speculations that the contestants who made it through the L.A. boot camp then flew to South Korea in April 2023, where they trained for three months. The show is believed to have finished filming in early July, with the first episode airing on July 13th that year and the series finale aired on September 22nd. VCHA debuted in January 2024, making their total training period short compared to that of JYP’s other survival show groups and by industry standards. At the time, many people found it disrespectful to debut them so early when KPOP idols usually spend years training in preparation for debut. It should also be noted that the company’s intention was to create a global KPOP group. Even though all of VCHA’s releases are in English, the group promoted on the same Korean music shows as KPOP groups; and their styling, conceptually and musically, was more influenced by KPOP than not. Whether they realized that it wasn’t working or that California labor laws would make it difficult for them to achieve the results they wanted, J.Y. Park revealed at the 2024 MAMA Awards that the plans for VCHA were to take them in different direction—away from KPOP—since the members are all American (or Canadian, in Camila’s case) and should be able to be themselves.

In light of the story KG recently shared on her personal Instagram detailing how she has filed a lawsuit against JYP Entertainment for mistreatment and abuse, I want to be clear that the criticism being expressed is that JYP Entertainment rushed VCHA’s debut in order to get ahead of other companies who had plans to launch global groups—namely HYBE and KATSEYE. Based on KG’s statement, it can also be deduced that they were also not as hands-on with the group as they normally would be with their Korean artists, as VCHA was being managed by JYP USA, leading to the events KG described—some of which fans are speculating are responsible for Kaylee having gone on hiatus in March [2024] and the girls dropping out of Lollapalooza without any explanation aside from “unforeseen circumstances”. KG also alleged that they were under surveillance in the house they shared, where their eating habits and conversations were monitored; and that she has not been paid for any work she has done outside of what California labor laws permit, although she is expected to repay the company for her share of the costs of living in the $2.5 million-dollar house the girls live in. JYP USA released their own statement in response, stating that KG made “unilateral public statements containing false and exaggerated claims” and that they “have not received any response from KG’s representatives” following her departure from the group’s shared house in May [2024].

It is unfortunate that they became collateral damage in the race for global group domination, but in spite of all the criticism they received, this was never a question of VCHA’s talent. This is a question of whether their company believed in them enough to set them up for success by providing them with more training than what they received prior to their debut and whether they valued them as human beings; and the hope is that the girls can find happiness while still pursuing their dreams.

If talent is the bare minimum requirement to be selected as a KPOP trainee, then what role does the company play in moving trainees along the path to debut?

Many trainers, coaches, and teachers say the same thing: raw, natural talent is not enough. It can only take you so far, which is why discipline and hard work are most often lauded as some of the most important values for achieving success. Under the best circumstances, talents are nurtured so that they can be honed into skills; and people who know their skills inside and out often are remembered for mastering their craft in ways that only they can. Korean entertainment companies usually cover expenses for food, housing, clothing, and training; and trainees are often expected to pay the company back for those expenses, oftentimes regardless of whether they debut or not. Aside from ensuring that they will ultimately be rewarded for their investment, companies put their trainees through such a long and difficult preparation period because not only do they want to nurture the talent that they initially pinpointed during the audition or scouting processes, they also want to focus on the areas that trainees are not as strong in so that they meet their standards. A smart company knows that in order to get the best return on their investment, it is in their best interest to put out the best product. A person can be great at one thing and not at something else, but that something else will be worked on until they can at least be good at it. Returning to the university analogy, a main vocalist who can also be a lead dancer and even a sub-rapper or a center is similar to a student who naturally excels at language arts but also has As in math, science, and history because they studied hard. Most fans would agree that the best KPOP groups are the ones with members who have designated roles or fixed positions but could easily fill other positions if needed—or the groups who have no fixed positions because the members truly excel in all areas.

Of course, this is not necessarily the universal expectation. The quality of a group depends on many other factors, including the resources that the company can afford to provide idols with, such as additional training, and the company’s priorities. For example, SM Entertainment is widely believed to prioritize polished visuals and high-quality production, while YG Entertainment looks for individuals who have powerful stage presence and can fit their rap-heavy, hip hop image. However, talent is necessary to be chosen as a trainee at all. The KPOP system demands it. The competitive nature of the industry serves only to create space for conflict in which the fight to be on top is more a battle of who has that certain special something rather than who is the most objectively talented.

If this is to believed and the “certain special something” is what’s important, then what is it and where does it come from?

The Art of KPOP

One of KPOP’s greatest strengths which has allowed it to survive for so long is that there really is something for everyone.

Since KPOP cannot be strictly defined as any one genre or musical style and groups are usually changing concepts regularly based on the season, an upcoming release, or with their age, people wanting to get into KPOP can usually find a few groups that match their personal taste before branching out to discover new ones, if that’s what they’re interested in. Some people gravitate towards boy groups while others towards girl groups; and some Korean entertainment companies have bands on their rosters in addition to traditional KPOP groups and solo artists. Concepts can range from cute to sexy, and groups whose concepts tie into what fans call “lore” have more narrative-driven content that keeps their fans interested and invested.

But are fans really only interested in KPOP because of the variety of concepts? Not necessarily. A group that changes concepts too often can be seen as disingenuous and dishonest, making the idols seem less like real people with real personalities. If they can change concepts like changing clothes, then who are they really?

Across mediums, art is at its center people-oriented and derives its beauty from the ways in which it reflects the human experience. No matter how much some people may claim that it is possible to separate the art from the artist, the reality is that art often gets at least some of its meaning because of the person making it; and if someone enjoying the art can find something that they have in common with the artist, it makes them much more relatable and therefore humanizes them when they may have previously seemed inaccessible. Music in particular is powerful because it is at its core deeply personal. The songs that touch and move listeners are the ones that can connect with audiences through universal themes and shared experiences, which are part of being a human being and being alive. Some of the most respected artists are the ones who write their own lyrics or compose their own music—and therefore perceived as having more of a personal stake in their craft, which listeners take as a sign that the music is a genuine and honest expression of their thoughts and feelings. If we were to get a little existential and think about why art serves such a crucial function in society and in our lives, it’s because art makes us care—and people make us care. People and art are so intertwined that to care about art is to care about people—about humanity.

So what else do KPOP fans care about if not just the music itself?

When I was on my way to see TOMORROW X TOGETHER in L.A. at the end of May [2023], I spent the trip there talking with my Uber driver—a middle-aged Korean man who loves IVE and has some interesting connections. We talked about many different things, but since we shared a love for KPOP, the conversation eventually steered in that direction.

(I want to preface this next section by saying that while I have historically been very vocal about non-Asian—and to an extent, non-Korean—idols in KPOP, I don’t disagree with the basis for what I’m about to say. My opinions on that specific topic are centered around the sense of entitlement that people have about being allowed access to certain spaces, the potential erasure of Korean culture, and the fact that Korean society still rejects multi-ethnic or biracial Koreans, which you can read more about here.)

After dropping a nugget about how—allegedly—the Source Mall in Buena Park, California was intended to be a place where Korean entertainment companies could scout for talent**, he went on to talk about how these companies look for prospective trainees. If KPOP agencies were only looking for good-looking people who can sing and dance, they could find them in Korea. They scout in America and other countries because people are, of course, incredibly varied from place to place. They’re influenced by many different things, including the dominant culture of where they live, the music that they listen to, the ways in which they have been affected by either having been born there or having moved there, and much more; and have different perspectives and beliefs—which can in turn affect how they approach and create music—and this is particularly true for those who are a part of the Korean diaspora. As just one example, BM of KARD is originally from Los Angeles, California and grew up speaking Spanish and Portuguese since his father had lived in Brazil. (Ironically, he didn’t speak much Korean and had to learn when he moved to South Korea to begin training.) KARD’s discography reflects his experiences, which can be heard in what many would consider their sound, as the co-ed group is well-known for incorporating Latin genres in their music such as reggaetón and moombahton. This has made them extremely popular in South and Latin America and among Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking fans, and allows them to dominate a niche that still remains relatively untapped—at the very least, no other KPOP group is considered comparable. Having debuted in 2017, they have maintained a strong following and continue to enjoy their career as their popularity grows.

KARD’s fans care about them because they make music that is familiar and comforting to them. By paying homage to genres that they love and grew up with and thus showing their fans that they care about something that is important and beloved to them, KARD has ensured that their fans care about them and their music in turn. This is not to say that BM specifically is what makes KARD unique or special, but he does have multiple writing, producing, and composing credits for the group’s music as well as his own, so it’s safe to say that he has a great deal of influence on their sound, at the very least; and he himself is very well-liked.

Art helps bridge the gaps between different people by finding things they have in common; and when people see themselves represented in art, they feel a kinship with the artist. This is true in the broadest, most general sense for art in any form, but what KPOP is especially good at is the artist-fan relationship.

The nature of the lives they lead makes celebrities and public figures largely inaccessible to the general population; the person living an ordinary life has no way to relate to the movie star making millions, and it’s sometimes easy to forget human beings all share the same experiences on a basic level when a small percentage of them are doing things that you could never imagine was possible for yourself. For better or worse, fans find KPOP appealing because idols are specifically trained and marketed to appear more accessible. If they’re regularly live streaming while eating in their pajamas and talking to fans casually or holding their hands at fan meetings, then it’s easy to believe that you know them or that they’re your friends. Most fans would like to believe that they can tell who is being genuine and who is playing up the fan service, but regardless, it’s easier to sell albums when fans are convinced that their favorite artists care about them as people. This is not meant to be cynicism; there is no doubt that KPOP idols love and appreciate their fans. Korean culture emphasizes gratitude and respect, and success is often seen as a group achievement rather than that of any one person. Idols know that they would not have their careers if they didn’t have supportive fans; and the mutually beneficial relationship ensures that KPOP artists can continue to make music and perform and fans can continue to enjoy their content.

Of course, KPOP fans do care about talent—often to the point of being overly critical and sometimes harsh. Personal taste also accounts for fans dismissing groups based on preferences for specific aspects of performance versus others, but the Korean entertainment industry is home to an extensive catalogue of programs designed to showcase the various talents of artists, especially when they’re having a comeback.

Groups making their debut or promoting new music usually appear on the same programs, such as SHOW CHAMPION, Mnet Countdown, THE SHOW, THE SHOW CHOICE, Music Bank, Show! MusicCore, and Inkigayo, as well as other miscellaneous shows such as Arirang’s SIMPLY K-POP CON-TOUR and Naver’s NPOP, which are all regularly broadcasted on a set schedule that Koreans can tune into as they’re aired and international fans can watch on platforms such as YouTube. Episodes are pre-recorded and the use of backing tracks is common, which has led to the emergence of channels dedicated to digitally removing backing tracks so that the artists’ live vocals can be heard. Fans are welcome to be in the audience to cheer on their favorite groups and have the opportunity to interact with them. Some artists will even prepare gifts to hand out to fans at such pre-recordings as a show of appreciation for their support.

Aside from having a huge public broadcasting network, Korea’s digital media presence is quite considerable. KPOP groups have many avenues available to them to demonstrate their skills to fans and the general public; and YouTube in particular is a great tool for reaching larger audiences. Comeback season usually means one or two dance practice videos get posted to the group’s channel—one for the title track and one for the B-side that they’re promoting alongside the title track—and sometimes even performance videos, which are more polished and produced than dance practice videos, since the latter are usually filmed in a practice studio with the members wearing more casual or exercise clothing. Companies might even share vlogs showing the recording process for new music; and individual members will post covers of songs they like, sometimes on their birthdays as gifts to fans or just because.

The promotional period immediately following a debut or comeback is especially important. Not only does it help groups promote their new music to their fans but it also helps them reach new audiences; and if you know what you’re interested in, it’s easy to find the channels that focus on what you most want to see.

Groups known for their exceptional dance skills and impressive stage presence often appear on STUDIO CHOOM (”choom” being the Korean word for “dance”), 1theK’s 1theKILLPO, or DGG’s COLOR DANCE. These channels make it easier to get the complete picture of the choreography, as the camera work on music shows doesn’t always allow for this.

Main and sometimes lead vocalists of groups get invited to Lee Mujin Service, where they perform prepared pieces live in front of Lee Mujin, who is a talented singer himself, and his crew. Groups with reputations for having strong live vocals appear on it’s Live to sing with a live band, where groups can perform to the fullest of their vocal abilities unhindered by having to perform choreography; or, one of my favorites, Dingo Music’s Killing Voice—which is especially helpful for people looking to get into a group, as it provides a sample of their discography while showcasing their vocals. There are also popular radio shows that are both broadcasted live on the air and stream online, such as Kiss the Radio, COOL LIVE, STATION Z, and more (via KBS CoolFM).

As the years go by, KPOP fans have become more and more insistent on live vocals, wanting to hear the artists’ voices without auto tune or heavy post-production. Lip syncing is heavily frowned upon; and while fans have generally always been openly critical of companies that prioritize visuals over skill, the overabundance of groups in the market have made people especially discerning. Many fans also say that they would rather hear a group try to sing live, even if they’re not perfect, than not sing live at all; but the groups that are widely praised as exemplary are those who can sing live and sing live well—especially while performing choreography. Notable examples of stable live vocals include the live version of ONEUS’s dance practice for “ERASE ME”, NMIXX’s stage practice for “Soñar (Breaker)” (although it seems this is standard for them), and Weeekly’s dancEAR performance of “VROOM VROOM”.

The KBS show Immortal Songs is a program where groups are invited to perform their own renditions of legendary songs by older, well-established artists who are highly respected and revered in the industry. While there is some post-production when the episodes are made available online, the show’s main draw is that artists are not allowed to lip sync.

Now, lip syncing is not the crime that people make it out to be; rather, it is a necessity, especially if the artist is going to be performing for a greater length of time. As aerobic activities, singing and dancing both require significant amounts of oxygen; and artists are more likely to choose to allocate their oxygen to dancing over singing, especially when they have a backing track to cover them. No artist should sacrifice their health or physical well-being for the sake of proving that they can sing live all the time—and no one should expect them to, as the longevity of a singer’s voice is strongly dependent on vocal health—but it is possible to reach a point where one can sing live stably while dancing through endurance training, which is why some fans say that KPOP idols are athletes in addition to being artists.

In June of 2023, ATEEZ set a new record as the first group to win on Immortal Songs four separate times, having appeared on the show six times. Often dismissed by the Korean KPOP audience and by the rest of the industry for coming from a small company and for their unconventional style, they are mostly praised for their incredible performances and unmatched stage presence; and their live vocals tend to be overlooked. However, Seonghwa revealed during his and Mingi’s appearance on the Butler Kwang show that he practiced singing while running on the treadmill in preparation for their Coachella performances and even demonstrated his vocal stability by singing while running and jumping in place. Their Killing Voice session has also placed them at the top of many people’s lists for stellar live vocals; and although Dingo is known for their post-production, clips of ATEEZ’s raw vocals during filming were quickly circulated, earning them praise from fans, vocal coaches, and other professional singers.

With fans prioritizing exceptional singing and live vocals, we’re beginning to see a shift in how Korean entertainment companies approach the way they put groups together. The emergence of vocal powerhouses like BABYMONSTER has put pressure on the rest of the industry to reassess the importance of solid singing abilities in their artists; and in the event that their companies won’t invest in vocal training, some idols are taking it upon themselves to pursue voice lessons independently.

At the end of the day, talent is not always in the eye of the beholder, no matter their level of professional expertise. The shrewdest talent scout knows that their personal preference means nothing if the individual they’re eyeing has something that most people would like. Additionally, public opinion need not be so extreme—the lack of talent in one area does not negate the talent in another. A person is not automatically untalented overall because they can sing but not dance, or vice-versa; and even people who are not necessarily strong singers or dancers make it into groups because they have certain skills that cannot easily be taught—if at all—such as charisma and what is most widely known as “star power”. Even in art forms such as music, a winning personality has as much appeal as skill, and should not be easily dismissed as unnecessary or unimportant. Furthermore, something that doesn’t fit one’s personal style or taste is not automatically “bad”, nor is something automatically “good” if it does fit. The tendency to view things in this way is what leads to fan wars as the least extreme scenario and the death of innovation and variety at most. The constant influx of new groups means that the KPOP world is truly a fan’s oyster; and in this world, everyone can enjoy what they like without diminishing someone else’s skills.

*When I took the SAT exam in 2011, the highest possible score was 2400. As of the December 7th, 2024 update, the highest possible score you can achieve now on the SAT is 1600.

**In October 2023, the Buena Park City Council designated a three-mile stretch of Beach Boulevard as Koreatown, making it Orange County’s second Koreatown after Garden Grove. This area includes the Source Mall. Korean-Americans make up over 11% of Buena Park’s population; and it is the sister city to Seongbuk-gu in Seoul, South Korea.

This post was originally published on Saturday, July 22nd, 2023. The December 8th, 2024 update includes references to events that took place after the original post date.

[fxirybun]

fr although some readings have changed my mind on how i used to view some idols especially the ones that are like up at the top of the popularity contest that kpop really is about. cause when has kpop ever been truly about simply enjoying the music and talent of idols? nahhh it benefits of the emotions that ppl display from their unhealthy attachments to such groups thus fanwars online benefit both sides of the fandoms greatly and other useless shit as well that all seems to stem from how people kinda choose to react to idols

sure in the west there is also parasocial relationships hence how we get sucked into it from the start but i do think western music is more so abt connecting with their songs / lyrics, there is a few more i would say iconic song styles that kpop cant copy even jpop has been around much longer than kpop itself and kpop is more so about outward imagery / aegyo / forced interactions between groupmates, kpop seems like a bit weak tbh? they cannput x amount of foreigners but is it really kpop then?

the idols are barely paid until they debut its basically free labour on the off chance they may or may not debut but in the west they do spend more time actually teaching nesescary skills for an artist or group to perform at a certain level consistently whereas kpops like imbalanced and off piste so to speak. not saying jpop aint got its evil ways most of the music scene is corrupt these days :( or always have been and only recently are ppl being made aware of it

but if im being honest i dont know if im always the first to believe every piece of news or crime to do with music like it has me thinking sure there are criminals in kpop sleazy gits who want to lure kids in to do music and wreck their every sense of wellbeing, sabotage comes to mind and it just seems every other prolific celeb or idol nowadays seems to either be genuinely criminal and evil orrr sabotaged depending how much u want to believe

yeah i did notice how the parasocial relationships between the west vs east are significantly different from one another. imo it's the artists and their management's fault for enabling their fans to engage in this unhealthy interaction they created. they're aware of what they're doing (most of them are adults) yet they simply brushed it off and pretend like it's normal.

if my memory serves me right kpop would take heavy inspiration from other country's song genres. an example of it would be tyla's music being a huge hit and how other kpop groups would try to mimic it due to how popular the song was. kpop in general did a good marketing strategy in trying to gather popularity by doing those interactions you mentioned.

not just barely paid too 'cause i heard that the idols who aren't mainstreamed , didn't debut , or such have a huge debt from the company they are under 😕 i'm not that familiar with how the west , jpop, and kpop industry works so i have no words for this section.

hence it's best to set our limits and try not to get too attached to them. we will never know who they are behind the image they created and besides , your life is more worth the investment than someone else's <3

[cakejerry]

I've gone through your posts and saw that you believe that jk is hard carrying bts and that you don't like the other vocals...can I hear why you say this?.

Also, I'm not coming off aggressive or anything, I had to clarify this cause you can never tell a person's tone through social media.

But that aside, I would like to hear your thoughts.

.

I mean it's just canon that jungkook is good at everything idk what you want me to say. But to elaborate I was watching their older mvs and it's just obvious that he was The Center. Like. He was rapping, he was doing 90% of the vocals, he was a main dancer and practically the face of the group after rap monster. They were pushing jin as a visual but it fell flat with their hiphop concept. Jk was talented at everything, young, average looking at the time, normal korean name, he was a shoe-in to bring in the gp. Especially with the rap line all having their distinct styles which could've set people off... Just a perfect all-rounder straight from the get-go and before any improvement.

One of my posts was inspired by that. The other was after I watched them record the in the soop theme song and it was obvious that 1. Jungkook does all the song guides 2. after other people recorded the song on camera he came in and re-recorded all the adlibs himself 💀 Like. The others were just doing shit but he's the only one who sounded good doing it.

I mean i don't think it's a stretch in any way to say he's bangtan's only true vocalist? Jin is there for his face, he can hold a note but not very well. He's a shower-singer, the kind you would compliment but not put on a stage. Tae has a deep voice which no one knows how to handle, they had him doing autotune growling for the first 2 years of his career, and later when he found his jazz sound... It's FINE, but again. His voice is quiet when in-range. You want him to sing you lullabies, not record a pop song. Jimin is just... Geunyang geunyang. Like tell me it's not grating at times. And I was (am?) Jimin biased. I cant listen to fake love without that one MOREUGESSO voice break ringing in my ears. They had him doing strained high notes just because his voice is naturally high his ass has never received proper vocal training.

And jungkook is the only one who has ALWAYS sung live. His voice is naturally strong and stable and he knows how to handle a mic. I know a lot of kpop fans are deaf to the fairly obvious instances of lip-syncing aka. noticing when an artist is singing OVER the backing track versus not singing at all. But performing seven the other day just made it obvious like. Not many kpop idols (vocalists) would be able to handle that type of setup!!! Not without pre-recording and the audio team setting certain parts of the track at 80% to cover for breathing/dancing time. I think even bts had to do that shit for the american shows they were on but the seven performance was straight up a rehearsal. His ass was spontaneously starting and stopping lines and it was obvious that the backing track was just at like 10% the whole time. He stops dancing when hes singing and vice versa. Like a REAL performer. And i love kpop and i love lipsync (srs) and i dont think live singing should be a requirement in that industry. But jk is obviously wanting to become a mainstream pop boy and my point is that he CAN because, while his vocals aren't that impressive on their own, (he's not ailee or nothing), he's an all-rounder. He can do it all.

[lollo-sw-br]

Super Wings fan and a K-popper

I got to know Super Wings and Kpop in the year 2017, so I ended up creating some habits that are strange being a Super Wings fan that are normal in Kpop.

Please to Super Wings fans like me: don't judge me for liking Kpop, and make these habits, I know it seems strange to you, but please understand me, and this is how I show my love for them.

1. Call my favorite SW UTT

Utt (Ultimate Bias) is what K-poppers call their favorite K-idols from a Boygroup/Girlgroup or the all-time favorite of Kpop, for the K-popper community is a loving way to express your admiration for some of the South Korean entertainment industry.

I used to say to myself, that the Grand Albert (my favorite Super Wing of all) from UTT, It may seem a little strange but that's what I usually call it.

2.Create Super Wings Fandom Name, Kpop Style

Every group/band/soloist has its Fandom, and each one has a unique name with its meaning for example:

EXO-L (EXO fandom) which was created because in 2012 there were two units (division of the group), being EXO-K (EXO Korean), who would promote in Korea, singing songs in Korean Having Korean members in your Line up; And EXO-M (EXO Mandarin) promoting, singing in China and having Chinese members line up. EXO-L would be in addition to the letter L being between the letter K and M, it also symbolizes the word "Love", represented the love that fans have for the group.

And actually Super Wings has the name of its fandom, but it has fallen into disuse, that being "WINGER" and I use it a lot, I say that I am WINGER and that is a little strange in Super Wings Fandoms and that in Kpop it is normal

3. Calling Super Wings Seasons a "Comeback"

In Kpop, Comeback is when a group will release a song or a new album being awaited by K-poppers who follow a certain group/band/soloist.

When I get the news that a new season of Super Wings is coming, I say that Super Wings is preparing a new "Comeback"

4. Calling the trailer or promotional photos "Teasers"

"Teaser" in Kpop is the photos and videos that are posted before the MV (Music Video), of a certain group, band or soloist, always to know a little about the music to be released and the concept of the album.

when the official networks of Super Wings, whether on Weiboo, Instagram or Facebook, release the trailers and photos of the new season that they release, I say that "a Photo Teaser or Video Teaser has come out"

5. YG entertainment basement VS Alpha Group basement

Before BLACKPINK literally had their home, the girls slept in the basement of YG entertainment (the company that formed the group in 2016), and when a new Comeback by the group took too long to come out, it was said that the girls were in the basement waiting until YG made a new Comeback.

The Super Wings that were discarded (Bello, Todd, Flip, Mira ...) or that have very few appearances in the series (Leo, Rover, Grand Albert....), I say they are in the "basement of Alpha Group Entertainment", waiting for the goodwill of the company to release a new episode of them.

6. Hyung Line and Maknae Line.

Hyung Line: They are the oldest of the group. (Ex: Jin, Suga, RM and J-Hope are BTS's Hyung Line). While the Maknae Line: are the youngest of the group (Ex: Jimin, V and Jungkook are the Maknae Line of BTS).

I say the Hyung Line of Super Wings are (Tino, Grand Albert, Poppa Wheels, Bello, Paul...) and the Maknae Line are (Jett, Donnie, Dizzy, Jerome.....)

[lv-iceprince]

@anpanseok​

Hi there! I don’t want to sound repetitive but apologies for the extreme delay. I hope you receive this ship well and I hope you are having an amazing day by the time you see this. Before I leave and let you get to the ship I just wanted to say that I had so much fun doing this for you, I absolutely adore your personality 100% bias material in my opinion. In short I think you have everything in you to be a star/ celebrity and I loved visualising this for you.

Anyways back to the ship! 

~Your Company~ YG Entertainment

~Group Name~  ARA 

~Members~ 20

~Debut Date~ 27th of March, 2019

~Pre-Debut Days~

Before we launch into the details of your time as a YG trainee, just know that you really did work hard for your position. In a company like YG it is competitive and cuthroat at times, but  as a result of your drive and motivation the general assumption was that you were an industry plant. Or at least a trainee that YG had a strong bias towards. I just want to mention this because it really doesn’t discredit the amazing amount of effort you displayed and still continue to display.

Something that actually carried you through your years as a trainee was the fact that you were so calculating and intelligent. It didn’t take you long to figure out what YG was seeking in a trainee and as soon as you caught on you went full steam ahead. Your passion regarding the whole matter scared the other trainees, it was a typical “possessed dancer” case. Your passion and will to get stuff done was the perfect combination, which saw you making it into ARA and debuting as an actual idol.

You seemed daunting at first to the other trainees, mainly because of your height and confidence but you actually became quite loved and welknown amongst all of the trainees once they got the opportunity to know you. This is part of the reason why you get along with the other members of ARA because most of them are your pre-debut friends.

There is also so much respect towards you, because as much you wanted to succeed you actually took time out to help the other trainees who needed advice on stronger stage presence or how to execute certain moves correctly. It was rare to see trainees in such a competitive environment look outside of themselves and assist others. This was a great trait to have and these kind actions that you were willing to do actually benefited you so much in the future.

~About You~ 

~Your Position/s~ Main Dancer & Vocalist 

ARA is often seen as the antithesis to NCT but besides a group name that  consists of three letters and the many members that ARA is home to, NCT and ARA are nothing alike. Your group isn’t as “technologically advanced” as SM but a lot of your devoted fanbase comes from the fact that all 20 girls are very diverse, giving representation to those who otherwise feel overshadowed by society and their standards. This can refer to outer aspects such as appearance but it mainly comes down to our personalities, even if neither of you outwardly mention it you kind of strike down the societal norms that are imposed in the kpop industry. Don’t worry while this is what your group is known for that isn’t the entire motif of the group, its just something that influences your fans to stan your group. 

Ara is quite a refined group in terms of style, though it seems like an interesting combination of genres ARA is very sure in themselves. Meaning you guys could literally pull off any concept flawlessly. You vary from your sister group Blackpink in the way that you aren’t a typical girl crush, “bad bitch” type group. You maintain elegance yet you aren’t Ive or Red Velvet, that’s truly the beauty of your group. See it as your group has made steps into a direction that was previously undiscovered, there is method and creativity, the members of your group who specialise in songwriting and producing really value music and have mentioned influences both from past and present artists, and artists both kpop and non-kpop. Somehow a nice medium is created where you pay homage to other artists while creating something so magnificantly unique and distinct. 

At the end of the day that’s what ARA is, a group that does so well in being themselves, so much so that they easily became a group known for their kindness that extends to the fans themeselves, similar to Seventeen and Carats. 

Now we have discussed the group, and yes there are 20 members but each member has a presence so distinct from the other, so keep in mind yes you have many “sisters” but you are never overshadowed since you also play a very important role in your group. ARA was a very well-constructed group even during pre-debout, basically YG had a vision and they were very strict on making it work. So regardless of the size of the group the positions weren’t liable to change, so you were able to comfortably sit in the position of main dancer. 

A lot of your efforts goes towards being a dazzling performer, your efforts are never undermined, your fans honestly adore you so much. It’s not unfair, they obviously hold the other members in a high regard but your personality manages to win people over quite easily, even if they didn’t stan your group. You’re a breath of fresh air personality-wise, your cheerful nature is so comforting. You are just very genuine as a person, you are never something that you’re not. Aka you aren’t acting cheerful, you just are. Also can we just talk about how you literally have the right personality to be an idol?? You’re such an interesting person in general, so like hear me out you could post so many daily life vlogs and everyone would eat that up. You are actually a very mature, stable pillar to lean on for your group and the entire fandom, but you also aren’t extremely bossy or a prude. Just know that you are definitely an up-and-coming golden child.

~Debut Song~  Ruby Red in the style of Witch Hunt by Bibi

~Other Songs Include~ 

Temper Trap in the style of Devil by CLC

Magnifique in the style of nanana by MCND

Battle Cry in the style of My Heart Skip a Beat by PURPLE KISS 

~Debut Album~ Flare

~Stage Outfits~

~Relationships~ 

~Best Friend~ Shuhua ((G)I-DLE)

Now there is actually a very surprising dynamic between the two of you. Shuhua has a very distinct personality, people know who she is as a result of her confidence and lack of remorse when it comes to saying how she truly feels. It’s actually very similar to how the fans perceive you, you are genuinely yourself though you are more known for your cheery nature and strong work ethic compared to Shuhua and her fiery nature, you still have a very strong friendship.

Shuhua is the “yes girl” type of friend when it comes to you, she just has so much trust and faith that you will do good, no matter what you do. Essentially she is very biased towards you, often you get a more loving honest side of her. However if she can’t see where you are coming from or she thinks you’re acting irrationally (which rarely happens) she will always call you out for it.

That really is the beauty of your friendship with her its always so honest, and in this case honesty is a strength. Though you are both youthful and outgoing it is a very mature friendship, you both know how to give support which leads to an ideal friendship.

Shuhua absolutely bounces off of your personality, she is able to let loose and actually have fun with you. Your humour is something that caught her off guard at first and even if she had to get used to it, she came to love it. You are one of the few people that can make her smile without fail. And since she is so platonically whipped for you, you can easily persuade her to do anything you wish. You want her to bake with you? Done. You want her to dance with you? Done. You want an ARA and (G)I-dle collab? Done. You want her to play roblox with you? She will hesitate but DONE. This is practically where he yes girl attitude comes in, she will just be so down to spend time with you inbetween your busy schedules.

The last think I want to mention is that, this friendship was destined to be a good one from the start. Your openness to conversation and meeting new people was enough for Shuhua to feel comfortable. She never felt the need to filter who she truly was, she knew you could handle it. One of her favourite things is meeting up after a long time, while she did still text you she knows that you’re something else in person and she can never contain her excitement, she just wants to catch up and spill every thought and feeling that she has been bottling up inside for the day she can finally chill with you. 

~Friends~

Aisha (Everglow), Yujin (IVE), Chan (Stray Kids), Jungwon (Enhypen), Jeongyeon (Twice), Mimi (Oh My Girl), Mia (Everglow) and Jaehyun (NCT).  

~Boyfriend~ Hoshi (Seventeen) 

 Now this is honestly a match made in heaven, even Hoshi knew it. You know the feeling you get when you look at someone for the first time? The feeling where you feel like you’re breath is getting caught in your throat and your heart starts to chase its own custom rhythm? That’s how Hoshi felt when he first met you, it was honestly such a pure feeling to him. Hoshi is very in tune with his emotions and he wears his heart on his sleeve, so feeling such emotions was inevitable for him to feel at some stage of his life. But he didn’t expect to fall as hard as he did.

There is a very deep mutual respect and love for each other, I don’t like hitting people with soul mate terminology unless its true. And this is the case with you and Hoshi. Your relationship is the definition of a happy virus, so much hyperactive energy, puppy love, deep romance and general happiness. The way you met seemed to be already mapped out by fate years before you even got the opportunity to meet. 

In true idol fashion the two of you met through a Music Bank collab. It was the ultimate fanservice having two main dancers on stage together, plus it was an easy choice which two idols to have perform considering your energy and love for performing seems to rival his. You are both just energetic, loveable stars in your own right. What people didn’t expect was for the two of you to hang on to each other for a very long time after.

It wasn’t even like you knew you would date, it started with a really strong friendship. But the entire time you both knew that you were starting to really like being in each others lives. Before you were an item Hoshi would use whatever excuse he had to get you to be a guest on his tiktoks. He would easily take you dancing to Cheers with him over the other guys.

I know this just sounds like an overdose of fluff but it really is! You just understand each other, so your love story is nowhere as complex as others. But that doesn’t make it boring either. It’s actually so cool that love was more simple for the two of you. 

Now I didn’t go into how he confessed, because really he just asked you out on the spot one day. But what I will talk about is the fact that your relationship went public very quickly. You weren’t irresponsible or clumsy, maybe slightly but both you and Hoshi made the decision that you were both comfortable with a public relationship. Hoshi just really didn’t want to hide the fact that you were the source of his happiness and that you were a huge motivation for him to be the best person he could be. Hoshi is just proud of you 24/7 and he wanted to show it off.

The news that broke out was both expected and unexpected, like they could see the two of you making heart eyes but then it’s still a “Oh shit, this is real?!?” moment. But Hoshi isn’t a good actor so by the way he was acting, it was clear he was just some guy super in love with his idol girlfriend. You really are such a good pairing, practically a match made in heaven, the amount of love you receive as a couple is so overwhelming, but we can’t help but just stan this extraordinarily amazing couple.

~Crushing on You~ Sanha (Astro)

Now Sanha is actually very private about this, to a shocking extent. While the other idols listed below are open and have admitted that they admire you in some way or another, Sanha didn’t budge. Which is crazy considering he likes you the most out of all them, he is just secretive about it.  

It’s a very boyish love, that’s the only way I can describe it. He views you as if you are on your own pedestal above him where he can just admire everything you’ve worked towards. He is very intrigued by your work ethic, but it also goes deeper than that. It goes past admiration or idolising you, it’s like how you know someone isn’t going to be with you but you just really have a lot of love and respect because while you don’t have a relationship with them you are still in love with the traits that they possess.

Sanha has crushed on people without having met them in person but what really confirmed his feelings for you was the fact that he had met you in  passing a few times ad even then you never looked down on him despite your successes, it was that gentle side of you, the part that never fails to lift others up, that confirmed how he felt.

His crush on you will most likely stay a secretive crush, and he is happy with that. In his own little Sanha world you brought him happiness by just being an idol and doing what you do. So in his heart he will always list you as his ideal type, even as he gets older he just knows that you made him feel seen when you were around him and that meant the world to him. So unlike many others he isn’t possessive, he is actually completely content with you being in a public relationship with Hoshi because he sees it that you and your personality is making Hoshi happy too, just like how your interactions made him feel happy. 

He’s a very easy crush in the sense that he will crush on you from afar without ever feeling hurt or upset by your dating life or by what you want to do. He just likes you for you.

~Other Idols Crushing on You~ Jisung (Stray Kids), Cya (Onewe), O.de (Xdinary Heroes), Baekhyun (Exo) and Hyunsuk (Treasure)

~Extra Info~ 

You are one of the fondly remembered idols who participated in Pops in Seoul, you were actually very good at teaching people how to dance, a given since you basically did the same thing during your trainee days 

~Scandal~ You weren’t ever in a full blown scandal, but there was a moment where you got unneccessary hate because you were comfortable and doing your thing on stage and netizens claimed you were overdancing and trying to steal the show.

[trashvinnie]

Thank you as well!! I only really started this whole thing because I was inspired by your art, enough to start moving my ass to actually get to it. I’m used to having my head in the clouds and writing a lot of wips, but this is the first time that I was actually able to finish one of the longer works I had. I’m just really thankful to you for that? Like, your art was so striking and it painted the picture so strongly in my mind. Or, well. Imprinted the idea?

On the rapper thing, I actually have a hard time imagining any of them as rappers, and then envisioned both Ace and Luffy as dance focused and having mixed street dance styles. It felt like an eenie meenie (Chungha, 2024) miny moe moment of who will do more rapping. In the end, the actual wips have them doing an equal mix of both in songs with all three. Makes sense though putting it that way, that he’d get to use his wordplay more often if he focused on rapping(it’s why i put bobby as his rap inspo, actually)

Unfortunately in the solo songs part in the concert fic I uh. Ended up giving Ace songs with just vocals (since I imagined him having one of those loud fight for your life msgs, and Ace having the entire crowd yell FUCK THIS MODERN LIFE stuck in my head).

Meanwhile Luffy’s has mostly fun/melodic raps, with lil singing. Just vibes and fun, really. Mostly because I have now realized I don’t have any songs based on fun vibes that focuses on singing. I need to dig deeper in the kpop archives probably, but now that the actual concert fic is over, I can pretend either way works and that he’s actually not rap focused. I see him more as bouncy guy great at making choreo, but it’s a challenge to actually make him *stick* to it. I think I’ll just make it flexible at this point,?

Sabo I just have in a little bubble of pop/rnb/jazz singing. Funky sexy bar singer vibes. On the idols that inspire their characters, I change the details every now and then? Ex. Luffy’s vocal inspo includes taeyong for fun singing times despite how different he sounds from Woosung. I think I added it the day after i made this post. Whoops pt2?

The notes in general in regards to them as characters: I didn’t want to make it too long or complex in the pics, but I do edit them A Lot. Add some more inspirations and whatnot. Something I want to note on more is the fashion aspect, but even if I’m a fan of Key’s work (shinee) or what idols like atz or skz wear, im not good at picturing things in my head, so imagining asl in certain clothes doesn’t really… work for me? Also I’d think that asl would rather wear things that would be easy to dance/move in, and would only think about fashion only if it were for fashion’s sake.

(except Sabo, he tries going for good looking but mobile. I imagine they get busier as time goes though and he leans more still on musical aspect than the clothes, so the fashion is come and go for him)

I am also absolutely losing my mind on the art? The dyed hair looks so funky, Luffy with red bangs, Sabo with the tips and Ace with the half-half… I’m . Yelling? Im gonna eat your Deuce

Hard agree on taking away the melanin part. This is fictional and I will bend the rules of reality to fit for these boys. ‘Indie kpop groups don’t make it that big bc —‘ yes well now they do, more expensive promotional rights or not. That stuff doesn’t exist here. Their melanin is celebrated.

Also the additional notes on Deuce and Koala… would you mind if I just,,, permanently added that to my character notes for them hahaha,,, I really like those ideas omg,,, Deuce truly just that guy who Ace became friends with one day and then one year later he’s employed as a manager.

I already finished the first fic (their first stadium concert) of the series, but now I have to figure out how to write everything else. I’m usually not that confident but your art helps a lot (even the ones not related to the au like wittb also inspires me, your facial expressions makes my heart go boom, to keep it short) in keeping my brain inspired.

Whether or not you do add art to this au, you really did help me create the train and then keep it going, no matter what. Many thanks for that, and for these amazing drawings as well! Im also going to eat the Law you drew

Also misc fic inspo:

Thank you for taking your time to make those drawings, and hope you’re doing ok despite any real life happenings!

inspired by @where-does-the-heart-lie and given courage by @wolf-eared-fangirl and their own wonderful rendition of the asl kpop au.

i got inspired a whole lot by the notes and artworks from whery but also tried to make it my own by making it increasingly impossible realistically. one of those it’s a fanfic and i can make anything possible vibes.

all of these are just concept notes and ideas i was able to keep down for the past what? two months or so? there are a lot more wips and ideas, and i wanted to see if there was anyone who wanted to bump brains with me or was willing to indulge seeing my messy thoughts/notes.

i made law important because i am obsessed with not only asl but him too. no escape from the brain worms, really. even if he doesn’t really pop up in a lot of my current wips for this au…

i should make storyboards but my brain has latched to grps like exo or atz for like. clothes inspo. i have multiple concert wips that needed me to make an entire fake asl concert setlist so that was fun, considering how i ended up adding eng and jp songs… i cannot contain myself and have been repeatedly editing everything I have on this for months ,,,