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obsessivedilettante · 5 years ago

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20 in 10: A Drama Retrospective

Since I’ve been all quiet on the drama front this year because of life reasons, I thought it would be fun to go back and pick out 20 of the most memorable dramas of the last decade. Maybe not necessarily the best dramas or even my favorites (although some are!), but two dramas each year that were somehow notable moments in my drama-watching timeline.

2009: Gateway Drugs

Boys over Flowers (KBS)

This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good drama. It is not one I think I can ever really rewatch (although I will happily revisit the 2005 Japanese version, and I had a hellava fun time watching the latest Chinese version). But! It was the first kdrama I remember watching, and the first step on the slippery slope of eventually becoming a Drama Addict. I mostly remember it being crazy popular on places like mysoju (RIP), and so I checked it out due to curiosity, and the rest, as they say, is history. Or, should I say, almost paaaaradise!

You’re Beautiful (SBS)

This one I also watched because it became crazy-popular online, and curiosity got the better of me. I really didn’t know much about k-pop prior to dramas, so I had no idea until after this drama that k-pop was more about pretty people in crazy fashion, dancing in syncopation in bizarrely lit rooms, rather than playing instruments. Because it was thanks to this drama that I got my crash-course on k-pop as a phenomenon -- both the fandom side, and the crazy things that artists have to go through to claw their way into the public’s view (nevar 4get the glorious ramen dance). Since Angel was a group that played instruments, and Hongki and Yonghwa were also from groups that played instruments, I assumed that all kpop were groups that played instruments. Oh, sweet summer child...

But it did get me started on my k-pop journey, first falling in love with FT Island and CNBLUE, before falling into the rabbit hole of the other prominent groups of the day. (SNSD! The Wonder Girls! Super Junior! DBSK! SS501! Kara! 2PM! 2AM! Shinee! BEG! Epik High! U-KISS! All the debut groups, like 2NE1, MBLAQ, B2ST, 4Minute, f(x), T-ara, After School... basically 2009 was a magical year in k-pop.)

If I had just watched Boys Over Flowers, I don’t know that I would have become a Drama Addict. But You’re Beautiful pushed me closer to the edge, with the zany humor of the Hong Sisters (and the desire for a pig-bunny of my own!). It would really be Coffee Prince that would push me over the edge, but that aired in 2007 so it doesn’t count for this list. But I had to mention it anyway, because, well, it’s Coffee Prince and where my love for Handsome Oppa began.

2010: More Than Candy

The Woman Who Wants To Marry (MBC)

A lot of the dramas I watched at first had that typical “Candy” character, the poor-but-scrappy girl who would somehow be saved by the guy and become the Cinderella she never knew she wanted to be. So it was a delight when I encountered women who were not only older than high-school-age or early twenties, but in their thirties, with rich full lives! Plus, this was one of my earliest introductions to the concept of the “noona romance” (a concept that I’ve since heartily embraced, of course). I started it primarily because Kim Bum was my favorite of the Flower Boys, but I stuck with it because I fell in love with the women (and I still have a girl-crush on Bu-ki).

Harvest Villa (tvn)

This show is insane. But in the good way, the way that the writer intended, and not in the “are a bunch of monkeys typing this script?” train-wreck way. There was basically no buzz about this show, and I feel like I somehow accidentally stumbled over it, but it was love at first sight. I’ve never forgotten the late hours binging it, being so sucked into the story that I absolutely had to finish it as soon as I could, disappointed that there wasn’t more of it to enjoy when I finally finished, bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, but satisfied.

I then later gobbled down this writer’s next drama, and her next drama, and the next, until everyone else finally realized thanks to Signal that Kim Eun-hee was as amazing a writer as I kept insisting to anyone who would listen (aka no one).

2011: To Binge or Not To Binge?

White Christmas (KBS)

I did not watch White Christmas in 2011. I actually watched it in 2013. I was always a steadfast binger, preferring to wait until the buzz about a show would sway me into spending my precious free-time watching something that would be worth my while (not that my drama choices were always good, but at least I tried to avoid the duds). I still prefer to binge, since waiting weeks for new episodes is vaguely frustrating when I want to know what happens next, right now! Plus, I’m very good at forgetting that I’m watching a show in the week-long wait for new episodes, and then just... never picking it back up again.

Despite watching White Christmas a couple years after it aired, it remains one of my favorites, and one I love to rewatch, even though I’ve already experienced whodunnit cliff-hangers and psychological rollercoasters. It became a tradition of sorts here on tumblr for a bunch of us to rewatch it over the holiday season -- alas, I haven’t joined in that tradition for the past couple of years, but I hope that somewhere in this blue hell hole that there are a loyal few keeping the tradition alive.

At least we have this drama to thank for bringing us all the model-actors that were new and clueless in White Christmas, but would later go on to be leading men in their own right. Of course, some of them haven’t exactly made the best drama choices (*cough*SungJoon*cough*), but then there are others (*cough*SooHyuk*cough*) that I’m impatiently waiting for to pick up a new drama so I can see those post-army abs.

Tree With Deep Roots (SBS)

This is the first drama that I recall live-watching. I vaguely remember regretting it at the time, since it was agony waiting for new episodes, but it was also fun to have a week to speculate and ponder the show. And what a beautiful show to ponder! This was also one of the few sageuks I actually watched, being generally intimidated by anything longer than 16-20 episodes, and my historical knowledge was a little shaky (before embracing my inner nerd and diving into mundane historical stuff just so I could better understand whatever drama I was watching at the time).

I don’t think I intended to continue live-watching shows, preferring the ease of binging at my own pace and schedule. But that was when I was still a casual, innocent addict, and not someone who would eventually make dramas a huge part of her life.

2012: The Joy of Overthinking

Gaksital (KBS)

Having had a taste of live-watching, I started to live-watch enough dramas to the point where I began to make notes about the premiere weeks. It was only a couple at a time, and binging was still my preferred way to watch, but now I was delighting in being part of the fandom, sharing in speculation each week, posting my thoughts on dramas and analyzing them to my heart’s content -- even though I knew no one except me would read my ridiculous essays.

But I started to feel more comfortable sharing my opinion with the world, interacting with fandom and not merely content to be a consumer, but gradually becoming a producer as well.

Reply 1997 (tvN)

This is it. This is when I went full-on Drama Addict. This is the tipping point from casual fan who quietly kept to herself, to becoming someone who stood on the mountain top yelling about ALL THE DRAMAS ALL THE TIME. I began to interact with other fans! To swap theories and share squee-worthy moments! I even watched episodes RAW just because of how desperate I was to know what happened, and even though the Busan accent stumped me more than once, it made me realize that my casual study of Korean was something to take seriously since I understood more than I gave myself credit for.

It was also the first time any post I made got more than a handful of notes, since I’d mostly hovered in the “less than 10 notes per post” category at the time. I was so proud of myself back then!

(This drama also notably marks the start of my Hoya obsession, which continues to this day.)

2013: Tumblr Friends (and Foes)

Flower Boy Next Door (tvN)

Having made myself comfortable on tumblr as a Drama Addict, I then discovered some other dedicated fans -- many of which I still follow to this day and who are now just a permanent part of my dash, no matter what their current interests may be -- in the FBND squad.

But I also discovered Kim Seul-gi as the Webtoon Editor (who I still love and adore and continue to use as my avatar), and her adorable romance with Dong-hoon remains one of my forever OTPs. As much as I enjoyed the drama romances, I’d never fallen so deeply for one to be so obsessed by it as I was Webtoon Editor and Dong-hoon. And tbh I still am. They’re just so adorable and pragmatic and she buys him a bag. Ugh. I love her so much, you guys.

Heirs (SBS)

Ah, yes. This hot mess.

I don’t know what possessed me to live-blog each episode. But I did. With snarky commentary and terrible screencaps. And suddenly I went from maybe 200 followers to over a 1000. That was a total shock! I met a lot of people because of that (and made some friends, as well as a few enemies who didn’t appreciate my opinion of certain characters), and ensconced myself as part of the drama-blogging crew.

It was from this that someone suggested I apply to be a minion at Dramabeans. Back then, I had a lot more free time than I do now, and I was watching a lot of dramas that Dramabeans didn’t cover, and wished they did so I could read more opinions about those shows. So I thought, “Eh, why not? It can’t hurt to submit something because the worst that would happen is I’d waste their time making them read my take on episode 10 of Let’s Eat.”

I fully expected them to turn me down. No one was more surprised than I was when I found myself agreeing to dive into the world of recapping.

2014: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Trot Lovers (KBS)

Recapping. It seems so easy when you’re reading the recaps. But actually creating them is a bitch. Hours out of my life were spent on this disaster of a trope-laden show with no plot. This was the third show I worked on for Dramabeans, and I hated it to the point where I seriously considered handing in my notice. (Immediately following up this show with the mediocre My Secret Hotel certainly didn’t help matters!)

However, it turns out that what I actually hated was being forced to watch a terrible rom-com and pretend to come up with insightful-or-at-least-neutral thoughts about it (since we were still new and couldn’t go full-on snark yet).

Misaeng (tvN)

This is what saved me. Being given the chance to immerse myself in such a unique, ponderous, thoughtful show restored my faith in dramas and the drama community. I loved spending hours on this show, soaking up all the little details, and then sharing that love with the world.

Misaeng made dramas magical again.

2015: Fight Me

Valid Love (tvN)

Realizing that I only seemed to enjoy rom-coms at arm-length, I discovered that my tastes often ran counter to the general drama-viewing public. Not all the drama-viewing public -- I’m not a “not like other fans” kind of fan -- but enough that I began to realize the whether a drama was popular or had good buzz was not necessarily the primary reason to watch it.

I began to have more faith in my own taste, based on past experiences with various writers and directors. Even if the premise (or first couple of episodes) seemed kind of weird and out-there, I at least wanted to give these artists the benefit of the doubt that I would enjoy their work, like I had previously.

So many people seemed to hate Valid Love, but I adored it. Still do (and still desperately wish Kim Do-woo would come out with a new drama -- it has been too long, writer-nim!). There were a lot of opinions about this show, even among people who seemed to enjoy it, but I vividly recall having to repeatedly insist that it wasn’t about the romance and argue that the knee-jerk infidelity-is-BAD opinions should make space for something more nuanced.

Ho-gu’s Love (tvN)

DramaFever was a pretty great site. It brought together so many drama fans and gave them a place where they could legally (and without fear of downloading random viruses) watch dramas to their heart’s content. Yes, there may have been some lingering resentment that they were the primary reason that so many amazing other sites were shut down (RIP mysoju and daebaeksubs), but dramas were more accessible than ever!

Eventually, DramaFever started to sub shows themselves and upload them weekly (instead of just using fansubs and uploading older dramas), and while they weren’t the best translations, they were at least better than machine translations from the Chinese subs. As I became more and more familiar with Korean, I found myself more likely to migrate to Viki since I liked the extra detailed translations. I could get the gist of a show without any help -- I wanted to instead delve into the nitty-gritty of the language.

But I never really hated DramaFever or felt they were particularly awful. Until they mistranslated something so terribly that it changed the entire meaning of a scene and ruined people’s perception of a drama, forcing me to continually defend the true translation.

That was the molehill I died on that day, and never again did I touch DramaFever. I feel bad that it eventually got unceremoniously shuttered. But I don’t think I’ll ever forgive them for the “condom” incident.

2016: Free Solo

Dear My Friends (tvN)

For two years I’d been happily working on one episode a week, sharing a show with someone else, until I was asked if I’d like to tackle a show by myself. I wasn’t sure how I could handle it, but I had the time in my schedule so I said, “Sure, why not?”

I was originally going to recap Another Oh Hae-young, but there was a last-minute switcheroo, and I’m so incredibly glad because this is perhaps my favorite recapping experience of all time, even more so than Misaeng. There was something so special about the luxury of having an entire show to myself, especially one with such a fantastic cast of characters and thoughtful themes. I didn’t have to try and figure out if I agreed with another person’s take -- it could all be my opinion.

Is that arrogant? Perhaps. But it was also therapeutic, as it reminded me once again how incredible and amazing dramas could be, and the privilege I had to share such an exquisite and thought-provoking drama with the rest of the world.

The Good Wife (tvN)

Surprisingly, this was what I had really wanted to recap that year, and the true reason I got Dear My Friends, since it aired just prior in the same time-slot as The Good Wife. I was desperate to have this show, willing to do anything to get it because I needed to see Jeon Do-yeon back on the small screen, to see Yoo Ji-tae smolder, to know how Korea would adapt such an ambitious show.

And I wasn’t disappointed! This is, perhaps, my favorite adaption of another work of art that I’ve seen in dramaland. It remained true to Korean sensibilities, but it also properly felt like The Good Wife. The cast was phenomenal. The costumes were exquisite. I wished I could spend more time in that world.

But I was also thankful, because without The Good Wife, I would have never have had Dear My Friends.

2017: Serial-Killers Are Cool

Voice (OCN)

I can’t remember how I got assigned to this. Maybe it was a scheduling thing. I do know that I really, really wanted it, since it would be Handsome Oppa’s first drama appearance in three years.

But it started me down a road of recapping a lot of serious and serial-killer-centric shows. Except for the times when I’d beg for a break and tackle something lighter, I was generally assigned the darker mystery shows with meaty plots, since apparently I had a knack for condensing complicated shows into something that made sense. (Also literally darker, and I eventually learned to automatically brighten every screencap I posted. You’re welcome.)

Not only did I love working on something with Handsome Oppa, I also had fun recapping the start of what would eventually become OCN’s stock-in-trade -- creepy serial killers. At the time, Voice shattered OCN’s viewer ratings (which would then be shattered again and again as more people would tune in to OCN shows). But Voice really helped put OCN on the viewership map -- as well as catapult Handsome Oppa into the public eye and lead him to a path of getting to choose whatever script he wanted to work on.

(Okay, maybe I made that last bit up, but he did begin to garner a larger following and remind everyone that just because he was gone from dramaland for so long, he hadn’t lost his acting chops -- or charisma -- or cheekbones.)

Black (OCN)

Oh, this show. It was basically my whole life while it was airing (well, the non-day-job part of my life). Each episode was over an hour long and jam-packed full of details that were pertinent to the story, and I had to somehow condense that all into 3000 words or less (I was not always, ah, successful...). It felt like I was back in recapping bootcamp, but the dial had been turned up to 11.

I’m weirdly proud of what I produced (although you’ll never get me to reread my old work). It was one of the most challenging shows to work on, but in the good way, not the Trot Lovers way.

Until the ending, that is. Sigh. That ending will live in infamy. I still, to this day, will get a few comments on the finale from people who watched it on Netflix, went searching online for an explanation of the end, and then discovered that they were not alone in being confused by the utter wtf-ery of the last twenty minutes.

2018: Fighting For My Love

Misty (JTBC)

So, Dramabeans kind of disappeared for a few months. Well, the site was still live. There were a handful of recaps. But... it basically just... stopped.

Those of us on the other side know about as you do as to why that happened. Minions are kept in the dark just as much as anybody, it seems. All we knew is that we weren’t being assigned anything and we seriously wondered if the site was going under, since adsense has become worthless these days.

But Mary and I kept talking about how much we adored Misty and were sad that we couldn’t talk about it with the world (and convince them to watch it with us), so we pleaded and begged and got the go-ahead to do a kind of chatty “open thread” which has apparently been a spring-board format for other shows. We didn’t get paid for this, and we were totally fine with that. We just wanted to provide some kind of content (while swooning over Kim Nam-joo’s pantsuits!).

Let’s Eat 3 (tvN)

This was my first real assignment after the dead period, and I once again got to do full recaps (with pay!). I started watching, thinking I’d merely tolerate the show (since I loved the first season vastly more than the second season), but it turned out to be my favorite of the three. Plus it felt fortuitous that the series I had submitted my application would be a series I’d work on four years later.

Sometimes it’s nice to spend time with a character you met years ago, to see them grow, to see how they became what they became. Drama trends (and love interests) will come and go, but Goo Dae-young’s love of food (and love of explaining the proper way to eat food) will never change. It was a really comforting drama for me to spend my summer on, and I’ll remember it fondly, even if I’m forever sad that it had to suddenly wrap-up two episodes early.

2019: Ten Years Later

Item (MBC)

This was the Trot Lovers of 2019. It was a nonsensical disaster.

I also had the added chaos of my real-life job -- one very different from the one I had when I was working on Trot Lovers -- as it began to increase exponentially in responsibilities and in stress. I reached a breaking point where I began to hate opening my computer where I’d have to spend hours attempting to explain a show that I wanted nothing to do with. I was miserable and depressed and couldn’t do it anymore. I never before asked to be taken off a show because I hated it so much, but there’s a first for everything.

Her Private Life (tvN)

I actually haven’t finished this show -- I’ve yet to watch the last two episodes. But I’m including it because, well, I didn’t finish any other show in 2019 except for Item.

As some of you may know, this has been a difficult year. It started with the unexpected stress of my job, when we suddenly lost one of our directors who passed away, and another director was let go (in a complicated situation that is ongoing, but the important thing is that it was during our busiest time when we really couldn’t afford to lose anyone), and another director left for a different job and I was basically the one to pick up all the pieces she left behind. It was exhausting and we were all past the breaking point but somehow miraculously holding it together.

I was looking forward to finally getting a much-needed vacation in September, and then, well, you all know how that went: the first night, on our layover in New Zealand before what was supposed to be three weeks in Australia, my father was taken to the hospital, and then, two days later, he passed away. Life has gotten even more chaotic and stressful and bizarre since then.

So no, I haven’t finished this drama, but it was one of the most wonderful moments of the year for me, watching this fizzy rom-com with my favorite actor, where he got to be charming and handsome and charismatic and finally kiss the girl he loves and have her love him back (and not die or be dumped, as he had been in so many dramas that had gone before). Lion Oppa was everything my heart could desire, and living in his world helped me endure the insanity that I wish I’d known would seem so much more tolerable than what would eventually befall.

Her Private Life reminded me of when I first fell in love with dramas ten years ago, when I would giggle and be delighted by the charming nonsense on screen -- of beautiful people falling in love and fighting against the obstacles between them (some more ridiculous than others, perhaps, but there are always obstacles), and ending up happily ever after. Pure escapism, of the frothiest kind.

A Drama-filled Decade

So, after ten years of dramas, what is the takeaway? What have I learned?

I suppose I’ve learned to trust my instincts and put more faith in writers and directors than actors. That analyzing dramas is fun, and it’s even more fun sharing it with others, and sometimes even more fun if you get paid to do it -- but everyone eventually reaches a breaking point. That I’m too earnest and optimistic to embrace a life of snark. That I want every drama to be good but most of them aren’t, except sometimes they are. That I’m not even sure which genres are my favorite; I just know what I don’t like.

That dramas are best as escapism, and not as work.

I don’t know how many dramas I’ll watch in 2020. I haven’t paid any attention to what’s airing, and I’m okay with that. Perhaps I’m entering a new phase in my life, or perhaps I just don’t have the capacity to escape right now.

But I am pleased to have had dramas in my life, and to have eventually made them my hobby. I’ve met a lot of amazing people and made some genuine friends through a shared love of dramas (or, at times, a shared hatred). I’m honored that all of you are still here and following me, even during this period of fandom silence.

May 2020 treat us all better, and may Kim Do-woo finally write another script.

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mastermistressofdesire · 4 years ago

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This is awful. I am feeling as helpless in front of BigBang as a Titanic passenger while the deck is shifting underneath them. I can see myself slipping into a new fandom and I am mad about it. But I’m not a fan of pointless battle, so could you please help this poor soul ? I don’t want to trudge in sewer waters, and I would love to a starter kit for this awful band. Do you have anything like this in your purse ? I would be much obliged. Thank you for listening to my request.

Yes come drown with us!

....I mean we have plenty of life boats to go around, we can huddle together for warmth.

I could start with the music recommendations but honestly music is such a no-brainer part of the Bigbang experience I'll tackle that last.

There's so much there!

However, I think if I start going into it- it won't remain much of a starter pack. So I'll do a little starter pack. And then a little level up pack.

Maybe some of these you've already seen!

Anyway Here goes:)

1. Starter Pack

Variety

Bigbang on Happy Together (available full eng subbed on YouTube)

Bigbang on Weekly Idol [Parts 1& 2] (Also available on YouTube)

YouTube Videos

https://youtu.be/1tHxEKhfVDU

youtube

https://youtu.be/OMLI3apqXnk

youtube

https://youtu.be/s-bzcL2pLf0

youtube

https://youtu.be/JlG0fz4WvoQ

youtube

I just added one fun short video for each of the members.( All under 5 minutes) Since most everything else is group stuff.

Parody

Secret Garden Parody- I'm gonna say nothing and just leave the link. It's an experience.

https://youtu.be/28dcGpE6YY8

youtube

Music

Fxxk It

Bang Bang Bang

Haru Haru

Bae Bae

Fantastic Baby

Loser

We like 2 Party

Let's Not Fall in Love

Some solos:

G-Dragon/Kwon Jiyong- Crayon, Untitled 2014

T.O.P- Doom Dada, Hi Haruka (since almost noone seems to recommend this I'll add a link!)

https://youtu.be/pghT57I4VRw

youtube

Taeyang- Eyes-Nose-Lips , RingaLinga

Daesung- It's a big Hit! , D-Day

....And that's a wrap for the starter Pack!

2. Level Up Pack

Variety

2days 1night with Bigbang

https://youtu.be/SSRzweY8vFQ

youtube

Bigbang Scout!

https://youtu.be/E8Qonb3UHLE

youtube

It's free right now! Because of the quarantine -definitely recommend watching while that lasts.

Documentary

Bigbang- The Beginning (This is Bigbang's pre-debut documentary- old but definitely gold, was probably what slid me firmly into stanhood) fair warning for emotions. Lots of emotions. https://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x3dypg

MADE Documentary

YouTube Stuff

For the misplaced nostalgia you get even when you've been into the group for a whole 2 days.

This is just gonna be cute stuff all around.

https://youtu.be/Ney6xJ0pWF8

youtube

To honour these two who have been BFFs for 20 years now.

https://youtu.be/9Zy5Bd_XyYY

youtube

An overview of their overall timeline.

Parodies

I love you (2ne1) cover by bigbang

https://youtu.be/p0_MShtDmUg

I have hit video limit on this post!

So let's just quickly go to music

Music

MVs

Zutter, Don't Go Home, Baby Goodnight- GD&TOP

GoodBoy-GDYB

Who You?, Crooked, Coupd'etat- G-Dragon

Always, Dirty Cash, Love Song, Sober- Bigbang

Wedding Dress, Only Look at Me, 1AM-Taeyang

Live performances

Café-live in MADE

If You- LIVE in Bangkok

Tell me Goodbye- LIVE in Tokyo Dome

MAMA award performances 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015- all of them.

Hope this helped in some way. Let me know anon!

And let me know if you need help sourcing anything.

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haogender · 4 years ago

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tagged by @vernons! im so late w this!! but tysm for tagging me

firsts

first group you listened to: i can’t remember, it was either 2ne1, bigbang or shinee.

first solo artist you listened to: my guess is gdragon?? maybe taeyang? could have also been tablo

first group to actually know their names: shinee

first song to make you emotional: i have no idea!! i do not remember!!

top 3s

top 3 male groups: seventeen, nu’est, shinee

top 3 female groups: loona, wonder girls, red velvet

top 3 solo artists: sunmi, yubin, taemin

top 3 songs of all time: this is way too hard to answer i’ll just say three of my faves but these aren’t the top 3 cause i would need to think about it more: it’s cold by epik high, starry night by standing egg, shadow by beast

top 3 biases: vivi, minghao, uhhhh lets say jonghyun ?

top 3 fandoms you’re a part of: i dislike fandoms in general they all have their collection of annoying people and shit takes so i can’t put anything here they all just suck

top 3 choreography: don’t wanna cry by seventeen, good evening by shinee and anything orange caramel has ever done (if thats not good enough fine i’ll just say lipstick)

ults

ult group: shinee

ult male bias: right now it’s minghao but this tends to change

ult female bias: vivi !!!!!!

i’ve been a kpop fan since 2012 so the first part of this was hard cause i cannot remember.... i’m kind of just trying to guess based on what i know i liked and what was popular.

i’m not gonna tag anyone cause i’m so late to this i feel like everyone who wanted to do it has already done it lol.

#be quiet alina #tag games

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shimmerjjang · 6 years ago

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VIP Diaries: (Meeting Seungri!!!) The Great Seungri Show in Manila 2019

Hello 안녕 안녕 shimmers and VIPs! Wow, I’ve been wanting to publish this post for a while now because this experience I had during The Great Seungri Show in Manila is a FIRST in my whole life as a BIGBANG VIP! I met Seungri and I got the sweet sweet chance to be in a photo with him. Not a standee, not a poster but the real Seungri!! Gurlll, I could go on and on about this but let me compose myself for a bit and talk about The Great Seungri Tour which happened in MOA Arena last January 19, 2019.

So, if you know me or if you’ve been following my SNS and happened to see one of my posts from last year, you’d know how much I loathe this area. I swore I won’t even go anywhere near Mall of Asia after the trauma I had from this horrible incident. And after that, I never attended any sort of event if it’s held around this area.

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME back here in months. Only BIGBANG can bring me back! The bitter memories are now replaced, thanks my Panda Seungri!!

This VIP concert experience is made possible by K-Music Insider! I’m beyond grateful for this chance because the truth is, my budget didn’t allow me to shed 10k upfront that time for the VIP seats and photo-op opportunity. I would’ve settled for a cheaper lower box ticket but I still made sure I hop into giveaways with the goal of getting a photo-op pass in mind. And dear heavens K-Music Insider blessed me with one! 넘너무 행복해 ㅠㅠ

Gates opened at 7pm and I entered the venue at around 7:15. There weren’t crazy lines so I just went straight to the entrance. There weren’t any chaos (thank goodness) and I know it’s a good thing, but I’m kinda sad too because we weren’t able to fill the entire arena. The show was announced late so many VIPs weren’t able to prepare them fundsss (including me haha)

BUT when the show started, it didn’t feel like the arena isn’t full! It was a whole new party out there!! Just exactly as how I expect a BIGBANG concert should be. I mean, Seungri is a total charmer and I’m sure all VIPs know that he’s the best at sweeping the crowd off their feet compared to the rest of the members. Seungri has been my bias wrecker since 2012! Oh well, but yo gurl is tough and my heart for G-Dragon won’t be swayed by anything!!!! \\(^^,)//

Here are some fancams I managed to take. I know, I wasn’t able to take that much because I really want to savor the moment. Also, this is my first time to attend a concert without my sister or cousin (huhuhuhu) so I don’t have someone to take turns with recording. But then again, all throughout my life as a K-Pop fangirl, I have learned how important it is to really get into the moment instead of recording each and every part of the show. So yep, enjoy my mini fancams!

Opening MV - Where R U From

BANG BANG BANG

Intro Talk (Some in Tagalog)

GG BE

If You

Where R U From

Fire - 2NE1 Sandara

I am the BEST - 2NE1 Sandara

Go Away - 2NE1 Sandara

Dahil Sa’yo Tagalog Cover - Pandara (Seungri & Sandara)

Seungri calling his mom (haha!)

Tagumpay (Seungri’s self-composed Tagalog song LOL)

We Like 2 Party

셋 셀테니 (1,2,3)

In My World

youtube

I’m so proud of Seungri! This is his first ever solo world tour and I can see that he did so well in pleasing and wowing the crowd despite the absence of his hyungs.

Did you watch the whole video? BOYYY I CHOKED WHEN HE SLAYED THAT TAGALOG SONG!! I swear that song by Inigo Pascual annoyed me for a while because I hear it everywhere. But gurllll, who would’ve thought that I’d learn how to love it. I’ve been singing it subconsciously right after the concert. I mean, I’m gonna be honest, he sounded more native than Sandara and Ryan Bang (he showed up briefly on stage too along with Anne Curtis) LOL

Dara was also a guest for Seungri’s show. Well, Sandara has always been a steady guest whenever BIGBANG would show up here for a tour! That’s OG YG Family for you, children! The 2NE1 songs she performed were immensely nostalgic. How can my eyes well up over happy songs? I’m still hoping for a 2NE1 reunion to fulfill my empty Blackjack heart! :(

Seungri has always been the life of the party and he’s so good at being in variety shows! That’s what he served us during his concert. For a short moment we all thought we mistakenly entered a comedy bar, not a concert LOL Seungri made my stomach burst out of laughter the entire night. He’s just GOLD! He even savaged his fellow BIGBANG members in front of us. haha! Ang lakas ng loob kasi everyone’s in the military haha

Seungri showed us funny photos of every BIGBANG member for him to roast... EXCEPT for T.O.P... So naturally, us VIPs will ask and look for him. When he wrapped the photos up without including TOP, all of us went “Where’s TOP?!!!” I honestly thought he’ll just brush it off, considering all the crazy controversy surrounding TOP, I won’t be surprised if he’ll just ignore us. But Seungri didn’t. He heard us and he gave us a very reassuring answer.

VIPS: “TOP!!! TOP!!! Where’s TOP?”

SEUNGRI: “Ah, TOP? He’s fine! I just wanna say he’s okay.”

ME: Wooooh!!! OMG OMG *hyperventilating*

SEUNGRI: “He’s super okay. Yeah. He will come back soon, don’t worry!”

VIPs: *crying and going wild*

SEUNGRI: “You know what, now in BIGBANG, TOP is MOST OKAY! hahaha We are all okay..”

ME: LAUGHING WHILE CRYING UGLY TEARS

Watch the full clip of that comedic/unexpectedly emotional part here..

The entire show lasted for around 3 hours, I think. Seungri gave us major K-Pop throwback as he also sang a lot of his great hits from his early solo career (Strong Baby, Gotta Talk to U, GG BE..), as well as BIGBANG’s! It was an amazing show full of nostalgia.

Here’s my only #OOTD shot from the concert, together with my fellow mod at BIGBANG Philippines - Chi!

We, along with the ladies of 2NE1 PH, as well as other VIP friends lined up for the photo-op right after the concert. Each photo with Seungri will be done by 10s and we’re fortunate enough to be the last ones in line so there were just 8 of us.

AND NOW! TADAAAAAA!! Here’s our official group photo courtesy of LOONG Studio, the official promoter for Seungri’s Manila leg of the tour.

I mean, let that sink in for a short moment. Gurl, MY EXISTENCE GOT PULVERIZED! I wasn’t sure of what was happening and if it really was happening at all. For the first time in my 10-year VIP fangirl life, I was able to see and interact with a BIGBANG member. INSANE!

As I was walking towards Seungri, my mind went blank. I just stretched my hand for him to shake and I told him that he did great on stage. OH DEAR I remember him just looking back at me, smiling and thanking me for coming to his show. I’m in a trance! And because I went straight to him and approached him first, I totally forgot everything I initially planned. I have my phone in hand to secretly record everything just for my personal memento but totally forgot!! Also planning to stand beside him (I was 2nd in line so I could’ve done that) but chose to just talk to him first so by the time I was done talking, everyone got settled already while I’m still lost in front of him! Also planned to stand on his right side because that’s my freakin’ angle but totally forgot!!! HAHAHAHA Basically, my mind stopped functioning LOL but I’m so happy I got to interact with the King of all Maknaes, SEUNGRI. Everything happened so fast and when we were asked to leave, I made sure I told him I love him! HAHA He’s probably tired of hearing that from everybody but at least I let it out my chest. ^^

Say hello to my very nervous smile!!!! HAHAHA My heart was about to pop out of my mouth! SEUNGRI is just super handsome and I’m not just saying this because I’m a fan. Like he’s legit handsome and his smile is so dreamy. He’s just genuinely friendly and there’s this warmth from him that makes you forget he’s a star. I guess I’m used to seeing K-Pop stars being cold in real life, but definitely not Seungri!

Ah, seeing him so close is definitely one for the books! Ah also, I would like to thank my Moonshot x Innisfree combo for keeping my foundation on point despite going crazy the entire night. hihihi~~ (I will review these two soon, promise!)

I’m beyond happy to see Seungri’s last show before he enlists. Their OT5 comeback may take a while because of their military schedule and all these sad controversies that still stir everything up unnecessarily! But hey, we’re all waiting at the Flower Road (꽃길) so I can only hope that the kings stay healthy and happy.

My next goal is to see all BIGBANG members in their Final world tour in Seoul - 2020, 2021, who knows! Really hoping to have the same amazing opportunity like this to meet all of them next time. IT WILL HAPPEN I CAN FEEL IT! <3

Read more of my VIP Diares here or my other K-Pop shenanigans here.

#seungri #bigbang #seungri in manila #BIGBANG VIP #VIP Diaries #VIPDiaries #BIGBANGPH #BIGBANG Philippines #The Great Seungri #the great seungri tour #kpop #event #VI #Victory

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coupsnim · 3 years ago

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My kpop journey is a little all over the place. The first song I consciously listened to was Gangnam Style (I say consciously because 2NE1's I Am The Best was used in several commercials) in 2012. My band director wanted us to do the dance in our marching show (to a Michael Bublè song of all things) and I searched out the video just to know what people were talking about. 17yo me thought it was weird and moved on.

In 2014/15 I had a friend in college who was a huge SHINee fan and she sent me a couple songs. In the spring one of those Fine Brother's Reacts videos came across my Facebook of teens reacting to EXO's Call Me Baby. I watched it, thought it was cool, sent it to my friend, and moved on.

Fall 2018 I was watching more FBE Reacts videos at work when the Call Me Baby video came up again. I watched it, decided to watch the actual mv, watched more mvs, and now here I am nearly 3 years later swimming in kpop.

EXO was my only group for just over a year before I started branching out. Seventeen was second and then Stray Kids. Now I have 7 groups I actively follow and 3 rookies I peek in on every once in a while.

Bit of a mess, but so I my life.

oh well, that was definitely a long journey ahah "17yo me thought it was weird and moved on" same, I was around that age too when gangnam style dropped and although I liked the song because it was catchy, the mv let me speechless ahah I remember thinking 'if this is kpop, then I'm not sure if I'm ready for all this' ahah

but I'm glad you gave exo a second chance, they deserve it for sure ☺️ do you mostly listen to bg or do you also listen to some gg?

also who is your bias in seventeen? and what are some of your favourite songs?

#carat anon 🥕

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sehxnismylover-blog · 8 years ago

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my adventures of being an anti to being the biggest stan of EXO

Hey ~ this post isn’t really a need-to-read blog but if you do read it then thank you. Since EXO’s 5th year anniversary is coming soon, I just wanted to share how much I fucking hated the whole genre KPOP itself and how EXO like legit changed my life. cheesy af but bear with me it’s a good story i tell ya, or so I think lol.

I haven’t been a kpop fan for long, but since I’ve been exposed to kpop since I was a kid I grew up listening to a few selected kpop songs which are from the groups every kpop stan should know about. I’m from the Philippines, and I’m still a junior in high school ~ ever since I was a kid me and my elder sister (who also legit turned into a kpop fan herself because of me // both of us were antis before) always tuned in on MTV because music is just the world to us. Back then, I was the biggest brat for One Direction ever since they debuted. So me and my sis would always tune in on MTV to see them, but since it was MTV Asia, ofc they would show groups from all over Asia. That’s when I saw all legends and the biggest hits on kpop like SNSD, 2NE1, 2PM, BIGBANG, SUJU, WONDER GIRLS, PSY, and EXO themselves.

Since EXO was already a big hit during the Wolf era, that was the very first time I saw them on TV and I sure as hell hated them the first time I saw them. I was all like, “Ugh, they’re disgusting” and “Why do they even exist” during that time ~keep in mind this was 2012 ~ I tried to let myself watch them but they never just grew on me that time, like ever. And so at school, my classmates were already aware of this rising kpop group EXO, and I could always hear the name Luhan and Chanyeol. I can never forget how much of a fangirl my friend was to them and I was always glaring at them for liking those types of music and bands since I was a hardcore Directioner during that time.

It wasn’t long since Growl was released, and it became a really huge hit here in the Philippines! I swear to God I remember always hearing the song in malls, in public markets, in stores, in the sidewalks and basically just everywhere! I began to hear more about this group but just ignored it since kpop just really wasn’t my style back then. I saw them around tv, on the news, newspapers and magazines and they just legit boomed during that time. My classmates went really crazy for them and I was still like, “Meh, those idiots aren’t even as famous as One Direction”.

Then came Overdose and EXO boomed even more but I still ignored. I saw them on TV when they had their first concert on Manila, they were on the headlines for singing a very famous filipino song called “Hawak Kamay” and was praised a lot by people and impressed some elders for that. ugh such an iconic time says my exo-l self who missed a lot during that time

Tons and tons and TONS of EXO merchandise were around the Philippines and everyone I see was always wearing them! Although some were not aware of who EXO was, the name EXO and the members numbers were a big fashion hit here in the Philippines. I always saw WOLF 88 printed on their shirts, some with the other members numbers and printed names like shit they still are a big fashion hit here in the Philippines until now.

Moving on, I didn’t hear much about EXO during the Call Me Baby era but I still saw them on tv and online. I kind of faded away from 1D since Zayn left lmao lol iconic time but I still liked the band and their music and all. After I faded away from 1D I was addicted to anime and became an animaniac lol. This isn’t much of an important part of my story so I’ll fast forward.

Fast forward to when I was like in the middle of high school, I have a friend who was a kpop fan since 3rd grade according to what she said, and as I’ve mentioned, ever since before I used to listen to a few kpop songs and I forgot how but I did discover Jay Park on tv and then listened to his music and had a huge crush on him for about 2 years before I became a kpop fan (i still listen to him now i luv his music) and then I listened to some of Taeyang’s music (ofc Eyes,Nose, Lips), with which I had no idea was part of legit the biggest kpop band in the world until I was tempted to listen to some BB songs and secretly listened to Growl when my sister wasn’t watching lmao because who doesn’t like that song???, So back to my point, my friend whom I never knew was a die-hard kpop fan since 3rd grade, was always silent since understandably not much of my friends were kpop fans when I first entered high school.

This part is for me, a hilariously pathetic excuse since this is the time I started being a kpop fan:

It was when we were tackling about the Music of Korea in class, our book had SNSD, Red Velvet, SUJU, 2NE1, and Wonder Girls and had a fun fact part about Dara since she’s called the Pambansang Krung-Krung (”krung krung” is a filipino slang which means foolish weird or crazy and “pambansang” meaning national so she’s legit called the National Weirdo of the Philippines lmao nothing offensive btw dont take it srsly) here in the PH. So after our class, our teacher told us to prepare a dance or a song in korean and put us in groups and I was a group leader since, not to brag, I’m pretty good at singing lmao, I got a little excited over the thought that we would probably sing Eyes Nose Lips or dance Growl and Fantastic Baby like that was already awesome for me. I had a friend who was really good at dancing so I assigned her to help out learning the choreo with me and I searched for what we were gonna present. I ended up choosing Come Back Home by 2ne1, EXO’s Growl and Good Boy by GD and TY. We didn’t have much time for practicing so we just dropped Growl and mashed up Good Boy and Come Back Home.

But while we were practicing our dance, we considered Growl and I downloaded the dance practices for our chosen songs, me and my group watched the choreos carefully and guess what? While watching the Growl dance practice, I suddenly felt weird while watching this EXO member I never noticed before. I asked my kpop friend about it, and I eventually found out this little cute boy was Baekhyun. He wasn’t my bias though, my first EXO bias was Tao but after I found out there were 3 members who left the group and Tao was one of them, I became sad. Tao wasn’t my ub tho.

After our presentations in class, when I got home I suddenly itched to search for EXO some more. I mean it wouldn’t hurt to know about them right? And so I searched and started watching interviews and watched EXO Showtime since people had recommended that watching that would be a good start for a new fan. I din’t watch all the ep’s of EXO Showtime but I did watch the famous episodes of the show, including the last EP which was when I suddenly fell head over heels for the fucking maknae Oh Sehun.

After that, Sehun just became my universal bias, and then I watched Monster and fell in love, and then I became their biggest fan after just one month. Always keeping up with updates, following all the members who had IG accounts, and officially became an EXO-L just when I celebrated with other EXO-L’s online during Yixing’s birthday last year when What U Need? MV came out and then eventually Yixing became my biggest bias wrecker ever.

I’ve only been an EXO-L for seven months, but I have memorized almost every lyric of all their albums and have downloaded every album on my phone. I know all their birthdays and their facts and their ideal types and I’ve memorized some choreos of their songs, I havent’t met them yet but I’m positive to see them before Xiumin’s military enlistment this 2019.

I’ve realized there’s nothing wrong with trying something new out, EXO became a big inspiration for my life, they made me change into a more hard working person. Because of them I actually considered not giving up my dreams of becoming a singer and because of them I actually learned to appreciate dancing lmao. They’ve helped me into focusing on my studies and suprisingly my grades went higher ever since I entered a new life of being a kpop fan.

I explored kpop a bit more after becoming an EXO-L, I also joined the BTS Army fandom shortly after becoming an EXO-L and after seven months of being a kpop fan I legit stan a lot of groups and singers now. I’m a multifandom girl now even tho EXO is my bias group.

I stan BTS, Seventeen, NCT, KARD, 2NE1, BIGBANG, BLACKPINK, DEAN, Red Velvet, GOT7, Jay Park and Heize. I know almost 500 kpop groups and I know a lot about the history of kpop and I know how to speak average Korean now and its only been seven months lol.

Anyways, that ends my long post lol. Cheers to you if you finished reading this. EXO SARANGHAJA! EXO AND EXO-L FIGHTING! Cheers to 5 years with our beloved idols!

(IM LEGIT SO EXCITED FOR THEIR NEW COMEBACK OMF BYE)

#exo #exo k #exo m #suho #kris #luhan #lay #baekhyun #chen #chanyeol #kyungsoo #tao #kai #sehun #kpop #kpop icons #music #bts #bigbang #seventeen #got7 #nct #kpop groups #xiumin

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jhopeimyourhope · 8 years ago

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So, it's been a while since I made a proper analytic post about the status of Winner within YG"s frankly totalitarian regime of awfulness. This is mainly because I couldn't face dealing with the whole issue since Taehyun's departure from Winner and the lack of support sent to the Winner members since then. But after reading this I think I finally realised it's time for an update. Now it's not just us incles acknowledging the, frankly, ridiculous behaviour of YG (as a collective, not just as a single person) but also well known international news sites. So that has to mean something right?

Lets do a step by step analysis of all the issues this article brings up, which will eventually lead to the conclusion: that YG isn't ready to debut a new boy group.

Firstly, he has already set himself a big task: comebacks for BlackPink and Psy. If we look at the average time between comebacks in the, so called, big 3 companies, YG is consistently the slowest. Furthermore, if we look at the timing after the first or second round of promotions between YG groups, we find that even if they have a strong debut, there is a general pause in promotions. It happened to AKMU, Lee HI, and Winner, to some extent Ikon (although I will admit there were some attempts with them) and it is now happening to BlackPink. if we consolidate everything we have learnt from YG's newer groups and their comeback schedules, and also everything we know about Psy since his blow up in 2012, we can see that having even 1 comeback from a group/solo outside of YG's sub labels within 6/7 months is difficult for them. So planning two? And adding a new boy group, established groups/solos and groups still considered rookies on top of that? it's near impossible.

Next is the well known truth that YG failed miserably in terms of staying true to Winner. I have made my opinion very clear, on youtube videos, on tumblr, even on my Twitter, but i will reiterate it now: YG has always resented Winner. He has always resented that he was in a way emasculated by the fact that he set them up to fail, knowing that Ikon was stronger in WIN, and was still trumped by the fact that the music/ personalities of Winner resonated more with fans of the time. That is not, NEVER, to say that if Ikon/Team B had won it would have been undeserved, but i think any Ikonic now can look back and say that Team B was missing something without Chanwoo, a member they never would have had , if they had won WIN. Any Ikonic can tell that back then they didn't lose because they weren't talented enough, but it was because it simply wasn't their time. Regardless, 2013/14 was YG's chance to cash in (if you'll excuse the crude phrasing) on Team A, but he proved in those months after WIN, with the delayed debut and the broken promise of a comeback, that he still harboured som kind of ill feeling towards Winner. Even in his promotions with Ikon, when he realised that he had, somewhat, misjudged either debut timing in relation to Winner's comebacks, or unintentionally created a rivalry between them, he retreated. He stuck not only Winner, but also Ikon in the dungeon.

And this is then atmosphere we enter the second half of 2016 with. Winner: dungeon. Ikon: on their way to the dungeon. 2NE1: may as well have been in the dungeon and sentenced to death by that point. Lee Hi: potentially in the dungeon? Trainees: most likely would never see the light of day.

The only solace we had was the imminent promise of a Big Bang comeback in autumn/winter 2016. One group. Context: of YG's 5/6 active groups, 1 had a comeback in late 2016. If that doesn't convince you that YG is not ready to debut a new group, i don't know what is.

In all the months following Winner, AKMU, and Lee Hi's comebacks and Ikon's debuts, he couldn't manage to wrangle another comeback out of at least two of them, then what evidence is there that YG could do this now? None. None whatsoever.

You only need to read the article, and perhaps a couple of text posts on Tumblr about YG's failings (management, not talent, wise) with Exit and Ikon, to get a grasp of the full picture. But even if you have no interest in those two groups, surely you've noticed to frankly strange silence from BlackPink and the disbanding of 2NE1. In terms of BlackPink, if we are to compare YG entertainment, the company, with an of the big 3, which is usually frowned upon but I think it only serves this analysis, then we can see that this is not a common trend among newly debuted groups. Both NCT and Red Velvet, the newest of SM's groups have weekly, or at least monthly, Vlives, TVs, or some kind of other role which puts them in a public space, which has taken place consistently since debut. It is the same with JYP, and even smaller companies, like Woolim and Pledis.

I am not bringing in these other companies to make comparisons between talent, I love groups from all of the above mentioned companies, but I do want to compare promotion tactics. Mainly between the big 3, seeing as they have similar levels of experience regarding internationally popular groups and work with a similar budget (to a certain extent). In this context, YG has consistently refrained from promoting their groups in a regular/ standard way. And there is a simple reason for this.

Big Bang was a hit. Of course there were popular groups before them, but the sheer talent of the members, the strength of their debut, and the commitment of the fandom did the majority of the YG management job for them. Remember th years of Big Bang's debut were the first years of online fandoms, when Kpop was just beginning to reach out overseas, meaning they were reaching a larger fanbase than ever before, quicker than ever before. In terms of talent, Big Bang were exceptional, in terms of management, the members did a lot of the work for YG. Therefore, in the years before 2NE1, a hit group on the same scale of Big Bang, YG entertainment had already become comfortable in passive promotion tactics. Allowing the members themselves to create the hype and only once that hype already existed, would they try to cash in on it.

So let's consolidate this: Big Bang created so much hype due to their talent, that YG as a company, only had to put them in public positions to make them popular. A similar thing happened to 2NE1. Of course there were other groups, soloists (who can forget Psy and Epik High?), but they were fairly autonomous due the respect they garnered in the industry. Then there was the pressure to create a group which lived up to Big Bang and 2NE1. Enter Winner, the animosity of YG coupled with the hiatus of Winner and subsequent debut and hiatus of Ikon, proved two things: YG is affected by emotions. YG does let those emotions contribute to his treatment of other groups. The even longer delay between comebacks of AKMU and Lee HI, which were strong but underrated by their own company, and the debut and subsequent silence of Black Pink coupled with 2NE1's disbandment paints a bleak picture.

YG is not ready to debut a new boy group. I will defend this viewpoint until the ends of the earth. I will never say that he couldn't debut a new group. Because to a certain extent, YG has insider knowledge that we fns will never be aware of, but i will maintain that he shouldn't. When should he? I would say 2 or 3 years from now, after an intense period of paying reparations to Winner, Ikon and other marginalised groups. Once he has established a legacy of sorts for these groups beyond "they had a strong debut" "they were the winners of X survival show" "they were the first girl group since 2NE1", then it would be appropriate to work on a new group. But like the article says, with so many unfinished projects and active (ish) groups, it seems like YG is not ready at all for another group.

the trainees are still young, let them mature, let them grow into the shoes of Winner, Ikon, Akmu, Lee Hi, 2NE1, Big Bang, Psy and Epik High, but don't make them walk whilst they are two sizes too big, or whilst there is someone else trying to fit into the shoe as well. Just think, YG, ask whether or not yo have given your other artist a chance to accomplish and express all that they can with full support before you debut a new group, because right now it just doesn't seem like you have.

Comment, reply, tell me your thoughts on this matter. Do you think yg should debut a new group? Why? Why not?

#ikon #Winner #2NE1 #Big Bang #AKMU #PSY #kpop #YG #Lee Hi #Epik High #yg entertainment #korean

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sailor-usako · 8 years ago

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KPOP starter pack

For @kingkuchiki :) And anyone else curious about kpop!

Sorry this is so long after I said I’d do it, I got caught up with life! This list is super long, I put way too many songs on here!! But, if you liked any of the songs on here let me know. I can share more with youuuu :)

Anywho, this list is a starter pack of kpop, similar to what my friends started me on.

Right now, my favorite song is Butterfly - BTS (Bangtan Boys)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKYWOUlq1o

and Blood Sweat and Tears - BTS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE9f-TEutc

More kpop under the cut~

The very first song I heard was Ring Ding Dong - SHINee. I used this song as my ringtone for literal years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roughtzsCDI

2009 was a wild time, and thankfully none of them really look that awkward anymore.

SHINee has a bunch of great songs! They tend to stay in the pop genre, though occasionally they’ll dip into hip hop and R&B. Here’s some of my favorites from SHINee.

Lucifer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dww9UjJ4Dt8

Sherlock (Clue + Note)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kyG5tTZ1iE

Your Number

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq3NB3U0Ps8 (This song is in Japanese, but it still counts as kpop since SHINee is Korean.)

Next up are my other favs BIGBANG. BIGBANG is easily one of the best hip hop kpop groups ever. They basically pioneered hip hop in kpop, and proved that it could be successfully integrated into the genre. I’d say at least 50% of their music is inspired by hip hop and R&B. A few of their members hang out with famous artists in LA. Some BIGBANG favs are

Bad Boy. This song gives me old school Chris Brown vibes, I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qnV55LUFVM

BAE BAE. This song is trap as fuck lol with a kpop spin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKD03uPVD-Q

SOBER. This song is fun and shows some of their pop side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBNQgq56egk

I’m not a huge fan of BIGBANG’s earlier stuff, so these songs are all from 2012 - present.

Next is EXO, a boy band that has both a Korean branch (EXO-K) and a Chinese one (EXO-M). I like this band, but they’ve been kind of weak recently. I only listen to EXO-K because I have no concept of Mandarin Chinese.

Mama. This song’s video makes no sense, but the song is cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc3__KmrlnU&list=RDFc3__KmrlnU

Overdose. The choreography in this song is A++

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI0DGvqKZTI&index=5&list=RDFc3__KmrlnU

What is Love. This is a great ballad type song that shows the vocal range of the groups members. And its baby making music so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6fPzVNIEB0&list=RDFc3__KmrlnU&index=14

Girl Groups and Honorable Mentions

I don’t have any girl groups on this main list because I find most of them awful. But there are some that I really love. I’ll list them here, along with more artists and songs that I really like.

Hello Bitches - CL. This song was SO popular last year. I want to walk into every building turnt like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o4Zj98FeX4

I am the best - 2NE1. This is the group CL was in, which just broke up last november.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_lSP8Vc3o

Abracadabra - Brown Eyed Girls. This song is ICONIC for some reason idk why, everyone knows this song haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofwFr8o8p0Y

You Know - Jay Park. Jay Park feels like a guilty pleasure to me lol. He’s Korean American and grew up in Seattle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0PqkT_dnxs

Doom Dada - T.O.P. TOP is a member of BIGBANG (also my baby daddy but he don’t know that yet)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAoME_aMm1w

Drip Drop - TAEMIN. TAEMIN is a member of SHINee, and is only 4 days older than me. (So that makes us soulmates, right?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz3mm3tPKfg

She is - Jonghyun. He’s also a member of SHINee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmNhfjzmMrU

Before you Go - TVXQ. The literal kings of the old generation of idols.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLBIy6t-X-A

#i made a kpop list #my music

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whatthekpopofficial · 6 years ago

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10 Of The Absolute Best Songs From U-KISS

August 28th marks the anniversary of idol group U-KISS! In fact, this talented group is celebrating their 10th anniversary since debut. U-KISS is a special group to me. They were one of the "first" idol groups for me in many ways. They were the first Kpop group I ever saw in concert. They were one of the first groups I ever stanned. Their press conference was the first one I ever attended as a reporter. They were the first group whose fandom I ever officially joined. They were the first group I ever bought merchandise from, and they were also one of the first groups that taught me exactly what it feels like to have a bias (Hello, precious Kevin!) and a bias wrecker (Still looking great, Eli!). As such, U-KISS was an important part of my life and a group that I will always think about with great fondness. Although more groups have entered my life since I first began to love U-KISS, there is no doubt I will always have a special place in my heart for all the wonderful members and their countless, amazing songs. To celebrate 10 years with this influential and talented group, let's look back at ten of their very best title tracks. Since they have so many Japanese releases as well, we will focus on Korean title tracks instead. They are listed in no particular order. 1) "Believe" - 2012 Want a great song that seems to capture the very sound that drew so many people into Kpop around this time? Look no further than U-KISS's "Believe." Mixed with a bright, electronic sound on the beat, their strong vocals and rap lines will still have you singing your heart out all these years later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_E0J2WIfw0 2) "0330" - 2011 This is an iconic U-KISS song that will bring a rush of sentimentality to fans as they listen. In fact, I may or may not have teared up watching this MV as I put together this list. For fans, this song will never get old and will forever remind them of one of U-KISS's best eras. https://youtu.be/h1zOhQQpw6U 3) "Neverland" - 2011 "Tell the DJ turn it up up up and da-da-dance a little more." If you can listen to this song without dancing, then I seriously wonder if you're even a Kpop fan at all. The perfect visuals! The dramatic makeup! The difficult dance! The fun beat! The catchy English lyrics thrown in so international fans can sing along too! This, ladies and gentlemen, was the golden era of Kpop at its finest. https://youtu.be/n3dF0Y7deb0 4) "Stop Girl" - 2011 Although "Neverland" may arguably be U-KISS's most famous song, "Stop Girl" is still one of their best! A sexy, hard beat balances out their smooth, clear vocals and gave birth to a new, mature sound for the amazing group. In fact, that strong beat still has such a modern sound that it is still relevant and perfect for Kpop fans today. Add in the crisp music video and you have one of U-KISS's best projects! Fun fact? They also released this song in English! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_AwyTp9qb0 5) "Man Man Ha Ni" - 2009 Ah, 2009... what a year! Back in this classic era, Kpop music videos might not have had the technology to be super high quality like the videos of today, but they made up for it with amazingly outrageous hair, outfits, and terrific dance songs that were made to get stuck in your head for days. Listen to this song and you will instantly be transported back in time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04v7dRrHvbg 6) "Bingeul Bingeul" - 2010 Since U-KISS is primarily active in Japan these days, many newer Kpop fans might not be that familiar with them. If someone were to ask me what their sound was like in early days, I'd tell them that it was a mixture of a young G-Dragon, classic 2NE1, and Brown Eyed Girls. As with most older Kpop videos, it can be hard to find the MVs in HD quality, but this is still such a fun video to watch. This was also one of their first songs to get really popular in Korea, with many other idols doing the dance on variety shows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtLWGX5yHFs 7) "DORADORA" - 2012 In 2012, U-KISS came for me hard with this deliciously sexy song. Six years later, this song is still a bop and the dance still makes me go crazy! If you don't believe me, check out the choreography for the chorus (thank me later!). "DORADORA" is probably the most quintessential U-KISS song out there and still a fan favorite. Watch it below! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vfiaNtF9B4 8) "Standing Still" - 2013 "Standing Still" is and forever will be my all-time favorite song from U-KISS! The music video is also a lot of fun and still keeps my attention today, even after seeing it too many times to count. From maknae Dongho's cool, man bun hairstyle and dramatic makeup (still squeal-worthy!) to Kevin's sexy moves front and center for the choreo, from Eli's stunning visuals and gorgeous hair color to AJ's deep, throaty rap, I will never get tired of this MV or song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOPHIx81bQE 9) "She's Mine" - 2013 U-KISS has always been known for their great, smooth vocals. As such, it made sense that they focused on vocals and just added in rap features for most of their tracks. With "She's Mine" in 2013, however, they changed things up completely! Leading off with fierce raps, they later transitioned to simpler vocals in the second part of the verse before adding in layered harmonies on the chorus. The sound was fresh, unique, and very sexy, and the result was a song that could easily be played on radios today. In fact, the layered and close harmonies style is something you still hear a lot of medium-tempo tracks from groups like BTS and GOT7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL2Gasb6QTg 10) "Quit Playing" - 2014 "Quit Playing" (also known as "Don't Flirt" or "끼부리지마") was something of a shocker for fans when the video was released. The slower track had a very sensuous vibe— something that was further emphasized with the seriously sexy music video. With this video that pushed the limits in Korean music (they even featured a threesome!), U-KISS was making sure everyone knew they were now grown men and more mature, but they were still one of the most relevant groups in Kpop at the time. https://youtu.be/r0pJ-mBHiV0 BONUS: "Stalker" - 2016 With such amazing vocals and great talent, why not show them off? That's exactly what U-KISS did in 2016 with their song "Stalker." The song had another great beat and dance to hook fans, but the special part of the song came via the vocal chops of members Hoon and Soohyun. While Kevin was almost always the most recognized vocalist of the group, Soohyun showed everyone he was a power to be reckoned with when he hit those clear, strong high notes towards the climax of the song. In addition, this was teir last Korean music video to be released and the last video to feature Kevin. As of yet, they have not made a comeback with the remaining members. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pN7REpLn3I The years have brought many changes, but U-KISS currently has five active members. However, Jun is currently promoting as a member of the temporary unit UNB, and Soohyun is now serving in the military (with others soon to follow). With various other things happening in the members' lives, we don't know when we will next see a release from U-KISS. However, we do know that fans continue to wait for them and the great music they will undoubtedly provide. To continue the celebration, click here to watch a special V Live broadcast from the members! To all the current members (Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Eli, and Jun) and the past members (Alexander, Kibum, AJ, Kevin, and Dongho), I want to say a personal thank you for being such a huge part of my own Kpop journey! Congratulations to U-KISS for 10 amazing years since their debut! We wish you all continued success on your own music journeys! lee1086 is the co-founder and director of What The Kpop. When not writing or editing articles, she is watching Kpop music videos or Korean variety shows. She is a huge fan of Super Junior and the perfection known as Eunsihae. She also loves EXO, SHINee, BIGBANG, and many more. When not obsessing over the flawlessness of Donghae or trying to decide if her SHINee bias is Taemin or Key, she is playing the piano, loving on her dog, and hanging out with her family and friends Media: As Credited Read the full article

#10thAnniversary #debutanniversary #kpop #NHMedia #U-KISS

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pensiveintrovert-blog1 · 7 years ago

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Why Fan Girling?

I actually don’t know how to start writing this but this is my journey of being a fan girl and my heartfelt thoughts about being a fan girl.

Being a fan girl is not easy, it has it’s ups and downs, highs and lows, and it can make you a little selfish of your idols. As you can see I’ve been fan girling most of my life, it probably started when I was a kid Hello Kitty and Filipino shows such as ANG TV, etc but it was short lived as I lost interest in watching television and mainly read and listened to music, that was the time when I started to fan girl slowly from NSYNC, BSB, STEPS, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, S Club 7 and many more but I was just a lowkey fan girl buying their cassette tapes and listening to them every single day, I just continued that habit of mine listening to music while reading books.

Not until I was able to use the internet, I think I was in 5th or 6th grade when I started to use social media, I started with Friendster, MySpace and Multiply hahaha I also learned how to use youtube so from there I started watching my fave singers performances and man was it a hassle to use the internet before, oh and I can only use our computer and internet on weekends so hassle pa more!

I lived a monotonous life during my elementary and high school days it was always home-school-home that was my routine I seldomly get the chance to go out and spend time with my friends. I was basically a home body and that’s when I started to feel alone and it spiraled down to me being shy and aloof to others. Music was my only way of coping and expressing how I feel. I can never leave our house without my mp3 player and earphones, it became my security blanket during those times.

Come mid 2008-December 2008 as I was searching for new songs on Youtube I came across a video of a certain kpop group (which I didn’t know who at that time yet cause I was more of a western music fan), watched it and I seemingly liked the melody of the song as I started humming the chorus after listening to it once, but it was just in passing so I just continued searching for new music and forgot the melody, not until a few days later when I hummed the tune again out of the blue, that’s when I started to get curious I searched for the song again on Youtube and it turns out the title was Marry U by Super Junior who has a whopping 13 members, since I had a hard time recognizing the members of the group as they have many, I just casually started to browse the videos on the right side of the tab and came across BIGBANG’s Haru Haru and I found myself liking the video and searching for performances for it, add to the fact that I easily remembered the members names as there are only 5 of them. That’s how my fan girling for kpop started I knew SuJu first but got hooked on BB but eventually I got hooked with SuJu as well, it was in 2009 that I started to learn about girl groups the first one I encountered was Girl’s Generation they were promoting Gee during that time but I didn’t have a liking towards them on the get go but I did research about them but I was more inclined to BB and SuJu during that time not until I heard their song “Way To Go” that’s when I started to have a liking towards them. I was starting to get hooked to kpop already during that time but I guess the biggest contributor to me being a kpop fan is knowing 2NE1 the most bad ass girl group ever (for me of course) I believe that they were the ones whom made me into the kpop fan girl that I am today. As the year went by I knew other kpop groups such as SHINee, FT Island, f(x) and KARA, there were other groups that caught my eye but the ones written above were really the ones I am fascinated with. I also created my twitter account this year and used it to fan girl over kpop as I have a fear of being judged (well I was still judged anyway).

During those times I started to watch TV again but mainly because of taiwanese and korean dramas, due to my liking of kpop music I leaned more into watching kdramas, if I remember correctly I finished Princess hours within 24 hours (addict much hahaha).

2009 was the biggest year for kpop as their music started to get known worldwide, but it was also the year of my first trial as a fan, scandals broke out here and there that year and I didn’t know what to do, I was affected, but barely had any updates cause internet was still slow that time (well till now) and I was really busy with school. Thank heavens I was able to surpass that and continue on with my fan girling.

2010 went by with a blur new groups arised but only one caught my attention CN Blue, I already love the band concept of FT Island so another one won’t hurt. This was also the year that I started to participate on voting for awards show, voting became a habit for me and also watching music shows weekly, I learned to watch via livestreams to be able to be updated.

I basically live and breathe kpop, my alarm tone was a kpop song, the songs I listen to when I take a bath is always kpop, I even forgot to listen to western music as I only listened to kpop and nothing else.

2012 was the start of me fan girling hard as in real hard, I was finally able to watch a concert and man was I so happy and emotional that time, add to the fact that we got inside the venue late and we weren’t able to see the opening, I was so disappointed during that time but I was also happy to hear my favorite songs and cried during Haru Haru. That was the start of a promise to myself that I will watch a kpop concert yearly especially when it’s my faves, and I was able to do it sometime even watching 2-3 concerts a year.

During those times I met so many people who have become my dear friends and we all started as online friends, that’s why I’m a firm believer of being friends online is good.

2014 was probably my hardest year as a fan, I have adapted the how tos of being a korean kpop fan that I don’t want anyone being with my oppa, he can’t date and all that shizz, so when Sungmin announced he’s dating and going to get married, man did I get angry af! I hated him and the girl he’s dating, I said mean words to them, I bashed them hard. I was hurt, in my mind that time oppa is only mine no one can have him, I was that immature. I also lost the will to fan girl because I was badly hurt, I lay lowed and just read updates, also took the time to reflect and that was when realization hit me, I had done something wrong and bad, I hurt the people whom have been my inspirations with my immaturity. I apologized dearly to both Minnie oppa and Saeun unnie and I was ashamed at myself for what I did, I tried to stay away from fan girling but I guess it’s already embedded in my blood. I still continued on with my tradition of watching concerts, but after BB’s MADE concert I layed low for the time being as work is getting the best of me during that time as well, but something happened in 2015 that I didn’t know I would ever do in my entire life.

I was never fond of watching TV, I would either watch k dramas on the internet or spazz around in my twitter account for my fave kpop artists, most likely about concerts and such. Being a social media savvy I always check the twitter trends in the Philippines and I noticed that a certain #ALDUB was trending for a few days already, being the curious me I clicked the ht and saw tweets about a certain Alden Richards and Yaya Dub, that got me to thinking, wow they must have so many fans for them to be consistently trending every day and mind you, they’re always on the number one spot. So my curiosity really got me and had me watching the episode the next day which happens to be their second weeksary. I was confused at first when the episode started since I wasn’t able to watch the very first ones, then here comes Lola Nidora with gigantic bags under her eyes, Yaya Dub being locked in the limousine, then a riding in tandem comes with a giant pink teddy bear and hands it to her and lo behold it was from her on screen partner Alden Richards who looks like an angel who has fallen down from heaven. I forgot how the episode ended that day but I decided to watch it again later that night, I pulled an all nighter and watched the first episode up to the latest episode and I was instantly hooked, who would’ve thought that a kpop fan like me whose world revolves around kpop and kdramas would fall in love with a local LT?

I was never an avid fan of a local LT until ALDUB came and I must say they have really changed my life, in terms of my personality I am becoming more of an optimist now rather than a pessimist unlike before, I learned to wait, as in really wait for the right person to come into my life and do not rush into things.

One thing that I don’t understand though is why is there always a need to compare the two, I mean they are a team right so why is comparison needed? That’s the most shocking thing for me, oh and the bashings and shadings as well I mean I am accustomed to the bashings already because heck in kpop they bash most of the time, but in here it’s like the two are always doing bad things wherein fact it’s the opposite?

This is also the only fandom I entered that have so many feeling KIA people oh and those who act like their mothers and tell the two to do this do that, I mean they have parents of their own so why don’t people just let them be?

I can withstand all the bashings thrown at the two but I’m tormented by those who act as if they know everything about the two, wherein fact they haven’t even had the chance to talk to them, some though act that way cause they have already taken a selfie with the two like wtf?

Being a fan of Maine and Alden has its ups and downs but it is so worth it. I would just like to give thanks to Maine and Alden for being able to bring out the optimistic side of me and for never giving up, thank you also for all the new friends that I have met because of you. I now have a new family because of you. Always remember this we will always be here, ready and armed to protect the two of you. No matter what happens, we will never give up.

For now I am laying low again on fan girling as I actually lost the will to do it after what I went through last December, but rest assured I will always be here to support and pray for my idols.

So this is my story.

PS. parts of this entry is written in my journal.

PPS: I wrote it when I was so goddamn emotional so forgive me for that.

#thoughts

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v-le · 7 years ago

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Kmusic: My Decade-Long Journey with Kpop

Foreword: I had been working on this post for a few weeks now, in between university and everything else. In the middle of its composition, Kim Jonghyun of SHINee passed away and shocked the world. I, too, was appalled, and I don’t think I will ever properly recover from his death. I want to dedicate this post to him. This story is about how kpop has grown with me in life. This story defines everything I have ever thought or felt about kpop and that now, very much includes Jonghyun’s passing. 수고했어, 종현아.

Book 1

I can’t really recall it, but the very first kpop song I’ve ever listened to was either “Nobody” by Wonder Girls, “Genie” by SNSD, or “Gee” by SNSD. I was about seven years old around then. My cousin had shown my sister these songs and she, too, quickly got swept into the music. For the first years of this exposure, I had heard a myriad of songs ranging from Super Junior’s “Sorry Sorry”, SHINee’s “Replay” & “Ring Ding Dong” & “Lucifer”, Taeyang’s “Wedding Dress”, Big Bang’s “Gara Gara Go”, Infinite’s “BTD” & “She’s Back”, 2NE1’s “Fire” and many many manyyyy more. These songs would waft out of my sister’s speakers whenever I was using my computer next to her’s in the computer room. And during those first years, I flat out hated these songs. I didn’t understand anything they were saying. They sounded obnoxious. And these boys that my sister was obsessed with weren’t even that good looking. I can recall that she was specifically infatuated with Donghae of SJ during that time. I can also recall going as far as to mock some of these songs, especially “She’s Back” by repeating “cheese pack” in an annoying tone back to her. Despite my detest for kpop during these several years, I unknowingly picked up a lot of knowledge on it. I could name many groups and recognize many of their songs, all from the fact that my sister played so much of it and I had seen her computer screen many times. Nonetheless, I complained to my mom, that I didn’t understand why she listened to that stuff when she couldn’t even understand it. My mom had told me that it was totally fine, it’s simply about the beat of the music, and that you didn’t have to understand it to like it. I remember feeling a little upset because she defended my sister. All in all, during these years of premature kpop exposure, I was petty, unrelenting, and simply immature. I didn’t like kpop.

Book 2

I remember for some reason, reasons unknown, one day when I was at my friend’s house in 5th grade, I decided to show my friends “Ring Ding Dong” for fun. I remember a few days before that, I had watched the “Wedding Dress” MV for the first time on my own and I cried, too. During these next months, my pettiness towards kpop began to dampen and I started to get pretty good at recognizing groups and songs, and maybe even some faces. The only issue was that I tried immensely hard, as if my life depended on it, to not let my sister see what I was up to. I knew that I would receive massive backlash from her, for being such a hypocrite. So throughout 5th grade and a little bit of 6th, I started to dip my toes in a little, into the infinitely large pool that is kpop. I slowly and secretly, grew minuscule fondness for some songs, but not enough to want to add them to my music library. I kinda liked kpop.

Book 3

In the early days of middle school, a really good friend of mine loved Super Junior to death. Another friend of mine listened to some kpop, but only a little bit here and there. One day they showed me a song from LEDApple and I can officially say that they were the first group I completely fell for. LEDApple had such a different, dynamic and unique vibe to them, that I almost felt like I had triumphed over my sister. I had found and enjoyed a group that she probably did not know at all, and their music was actually really really really good. Personal favorites include “Time’s Up” and “Someone Met By Chance”. Much later, they released “Sadness” and I was even happier with that song. I quickly learned the names of all the members and I considered them my favorite group of all time. LEDApple was my introduction into this “fangirling” gig that kpoppers lowkey highkey have to keep up with. With LEDApple, I learned:

How to memorize members

That MV meant “music video”

How to watch every single video of them that existed on youtube (although for them, it was minimal because they were so unknown)

That subbers were a thing, and for specific groups, too

How to watch variety shows of them

How to memorize birthdays

That Koreans have a different age system than internationally

That they wear excessive makeup

And much, much, much more

I would consider LEDApple to be my “first” for everything. I really did cherish them as a group, along with their music, and I slowly learned the do’s and dont’s of kpop during this phase. More than LEDApple though, I quickly became even more aware of more groups and songs, and I started to favor some more than others too. I liked kpop.

Book 4

My love for LEDApple started to dwindle as I discovered and started to really like more groups like MBLAQ, Big Bang, SHINee, SNSD, B.A.P, B1A4 and especially Infinite. I completely fell for Infinite as I listened to songs like “Paradise”, “Be Mine”, and “Can U Smile”. And yes, as I listened to more of their discography, I recognized some songs as the ones my sister had played in the past as well. Then, they released the Chaser and it was game set from there. I remember searching up Infinite’s profiles, comparing the images with their MVs and matching their names with their faces. I remember when I first saw Woohyun in Be Mine, I thought that he looked like Harry Shum Jr. AHAH how wrong I was…. I also remember struggling a little bit because the profile pictures I used were from their debut, with their slicked back hair and white button shirts and suspenders :’). Soon enough, I became very familiar with everything Infinite-related and I eventually claimed them to be my favorite group of all time (and to this day, they have remained as so). I really liked kpop.

Book 5

This book becomes a little hard to explain, simply because I feel like my emotions seemed to be mundane externally, but inside, I know that they were deep with a sort of affection that words can never fully explain. My love for Infinite was immense, driven, and completely pure. I did not have a favorite member, because no really, I just couldn’t choose one. All their songs were absolutely amazing; Infinite taught me how to fall in love with even the non-title track songs. Their entire discography is the only discography of any artists that I know like the back of my hand. Their choreography was always on point; they prided in being 99.9% synchronized with knife-like moves. I really, truly thought that they were all handsome in their own, unique way. Their personalities were genuine and interactions were always hilarious and the brotherhood between the boys ran as deep as blood. Their early days were the brightest ones that I can recall, and I am so grateful to have watched them develop since. They were extremely relevant within the industry, and “The Chaser” lifted them to even newer heights. I clearly remember their 2nd anniversary as well. I remember thinking to myself, that they were “SO YOUNG!!”, with Sungjong being just 18 years old at that time (which is exactly how old I am now, YIKES). Awaiting a comeback after The Chaser era was definitely an eventful one because I was so expectant and excited and it was the first (of many) that I experienced as a full-fledged fan. It took them nearly a year, but they eventually returned with “Man in Love”, and then “Destiny” immediately afterwards, and then on November 11th, 2013, I had the miraculous blessing to see them live in concert. It was my first concert ever and it was during their first world tour, as mere 3-year idols. 2013 was a year of big feats for Infinite and it all really was just a blessing. A mere five months later, I would again, see them, at the LA Kpop Festival on April 12th, 2014. Boy, was it a time to be alive as an Inspirit. During these few years, everything I did, in my life, really did revolve around them. My school projects, artwork, everything, had to relate to Infinite somehow. I made poems about them, I had collected a total of 24 posters of them on my wall, and I had also racked up physical copies of their albums, my first one being Infinitize on July 29th of 2012. When they posted fan events like the Infinite Love Letter Contest, and when the members used Google+ and when every little thing happened, I was there, and I was supporting them endlessly. As I transitioned into high school, Infinite released more and more things, and my love for them never dwindled, even for a second. When I went through rough times, in all the ways imaginable, Infinite was always there. In the beginning, I had made folders for photos of each member, otps, and the complete group on my computer. I even named the OT7 pictures folder “What I Live For ~”. My passwords all had to do with Infinite. I named all my devices like my computer and such “IFNT7”. The phrase “My love is Infinite” was my favorite of all time. Just the sight of some colors translated into Infinite to me. Every. Little. Thing. My heart belonged to Infinite more than ever. I loved and cherished them, and still do (but maybe not as blatantly), with a burning passion. And not just them, but I really did like other groups like ZE:A and T-ARA to name a few, during these times, but Infinite truly meant the world to me. I loved kpop, especially Infinite.

Book 6

During those fangirl days, I was not completely blinded by love to a point where I was oblivious to the future; rather, I was apprehensive in a way in which I knew that when I got “older”, I “wouldn’t love them as much”. I didn’t doubt that I wouldn’t stop listening to kpop, but I knew that i couldn’t be a diehard fangirl forever. And so, around 2015 ish is when school started to kick my butt, and i really did completely disconnect. Disclaimer though: I was still endlessly thankful for and in love with Infinite. I was so proud of them no matter what, and I supported them from the sidelines with a burning heart. In fact, despite the fact that the amount of attention I dedicated to them decreased, my love for them grew nonetheless. I was so so so thankful that they were just alive, whole, and still doing music. Together. However, I was physically and mentally incapable of keeping up to date with everything, not only Infinite-related, but kpop-related, during that time. I had realized that this was probably time to prioritize things in my life, and not feel so obliged to the whole kpop thing anymore. And so, with Infinite, I tried my best, but of course I did not try hard enough. I did enough to keep up with kpop releases and such, but that was about it. I had no time for shows and small activities and interviews, and all the things that I was an expert on in the past. I no longer had time to check thru all the infinite tumblr blogs I had bookmarked. Instead, I began to turn to the simpler things, as in the music. I realized that if there was one thing that was worthy of putting effort into, it was the music. I began to only care about the music that the kpop industry was churning out. And let me just say, that during this time was probably the beginning of the death of 2nd generation kpop as well. I started to dislike the style of music that Kpop was turning towards, and I noticed how saturated it was with random groups that couldn’t even leave a mark. I also noticed its immense rise in overall popularity: Kpop was becoming more and more mainstream at a rapid rate, and I was having none of it. Instead, I began to venture into k-indie, acoustic, soul, and simply put, healing songs. I turned to artists like Eddy Kim, Davichi, Baek Jiyoung, Kim Feel, Echae En Route, Roy Kim (one my truest loves), Ggotjam Project, Clazziquai Project, Urban Zakapa, Kassy, Fromm, and many, many, many more. I have had the blessing to watch these almost-nobody artists grow, release more music, gain a tad bit more recognition, and simply become even more amazing than they already were back when I discovered them at their early stages. (Sam Kim would debut later, in 2016, and blow me away as well. In fact, all the Antenna Angels). The music from these artists, kept me alive in a similar, yet different way, than Infinite had in years past. I didn’t need to know their faces or ages or personalities or honestly, anything, about them, to feel instantaneously better. These artists and their songs were healing, in a way where the only thing that truly mattered, was their voice.

A quick story about Kim Feel, who has come to be my all time favorite artist whom I would die for: I came across a song from Younha called 없어, and it blew me away. It was gorgeous. A hip hop duo, named Elupant featured in this song and I simply became aware of their name through this track. A few months later, Elupant would release the single Crater featuring. Kim Feel. I gave the song a chance because I vaguely knew of them, and I was once again, blown away. I did not know who this vocalist, Kim Feel, was, but I knew that he was indescribably amazing at singing, and something about his voice was just so different. For months, I wouldn’t even know what Kim Feel looked like. I barely knew that he was a singer because I had only seen his name from that one song, and his WIkipedia page didn’t even exist at that time. Then, in mid-June of 2015, I saw somewhere on Facebook that Kim Feel was releasing his first mini album, and that’s when I finally got some decent exposure to him. I finally saw what he looked like, how he placed second on SSK5, and how he had released several singles here and there in the past. His mini album, Feel Free, was everything I didn’t know I wanted, and I loved it to death. Later, he would go on to perform on Immortal Songs 2 and literally make me cry ugly tears from just one performance. Kim Feel is an artist that I got to know and fall in love solely through his voice and music and nothing else. That is the true beauty about singer-songwriters. He is an absolutely amazing artist and has come to be my most cherished one. Unfortunately, he is currently serving in the army right now, but my soul will always belong to Kim Feel and his music.

I didn’t really like kpop anymore.

Book 7

I want this part of my story to simply be about my current thoughts on kpop, in this moment in time, over a decade after first being exposed to this entire culture. In this book, I will pick apart the sort of darker sides in the Korean pop music industry, which are easily overlooked amidst the fervor of fans and idols and flashing lights. This is a perspective that I have come to hone throughout years of observance and trials and growth, and simply maturing into an adult alongside the ever-changing industry itself. My view of kpop has come to change in a way in which I no longer support several aspects of it. There are simply things that go on within the industry that I want nothing to deal with. Things that I have may have enjoyed in the past are now things that I do not need in my life any longer. Please remember that kpop goes beyond music and idols. It is a lifestyle. For many people, it is a way of living about their daily lives: listening to their favorite group’s music, watching countless videos and shows of them, keeping up with their daily whereabouts and activities, knowing their birthdays and family members and personal details, and simply associating themselves with their favorite group in any way possible, as much as possible. For many kpop fans, it goes beyond liking a group’s music: it is liking their looks, personalities, habits, style, affiliations, it is liking everything. It is true that this isn’t the case for nearly every fan in kpop, but I think it is safe to say that it is a common practice amongst many kpop fans. People come to live for these groups, but of course, there is nothing wrong with that. No one knows how to breathe and wake up every day and live for a kpop group better than I do. But I want to make one very important point clear: Kpop is a market and everything is a concept. Now, let me elaborate a little bit more.

1) It is a factory.

I do not recall it being this bad in the past, but nowadays, I can say for sure that groups are debuting left and right, nonstop, almost every week, or even every day. It’s just too much. Too saturated. Talent is exploited.

2) Most of these kids lack talent.

I know that every single new rookie isn’t completely talent-less, but in such a relentless industry, and especially nowadays with the sheer amount of people trying to break through, all these girls and boys look the exact same to me. Long ago, I gave up on getting into and keeping track of rookies. I decided that they I preferred my golden groups, the ones that defined that my own kpop era, and that they were the only ones I really had time for anyway. I am not saying this applies to all of them, because of course there are always exceptions. Take the latest show, The UNIT, for example. These people are supposed to be already debuted idols, looking for another shot at fame. Yet, the most jarring thing I noticed, especially with the females, is that they can’t even sing. Is that not a basic? These girls were out there on stage belting flat notes left and right and it was atrocious. It blew my mind, because even on P101, trainees who haven’t even had “experience” like those idols had, could sing significantly better. I don’t remember when the standard to become an idol dropped so low, but it is outright disappointing to me. For me personally, a nice face or some cool dance moves or a wholesome personality is not going to make you worthy of being an idol. You have to be a performer. And if you can’t even accomplish the basics, as in pull off the right notes, then why even try?

3) There is a lack of self-expression.

This is something that could be argued from several angles, and I am glad to agree that the stereotype has been changing more and more these days, towards a better direction. But if we are to speak straight from the debut days of Boyfriend or Infinite, or even SNSD for example, then the story is a little bit less complicated. It is simple: many of these groups are forced to do things that they do not necessarily want to or choose to do. Although it varies, almost every aspect of these people’s lives is controlled by their companies. The songs they sing, the dances that they dance to, the clothes they wear, the places they go to, the food they eat, the people they have to meet, and sometimes, even the things they say. These are very frequently not 100% under the artists’ complete control. And that is simply… pretty hard to grasp, but certainly true in most situations. Hence the “everything is a concept”. Because it really is. Many of the things that these artists do are a part of a concept that they must pull off, an image that they must present to the public, whether that is their true self or not, little do we ever know. Hoya’s talk about his departure from Infinite and Woollim does a really good job of exposing this sort of culture that goes on behind the scenes. Of course, nowadays at least, many artists are receiving more musical freedom and even the opportunity to partake in the very creation and composition of their own music.

4) Kpop idols are HUMAN.

This is one that I want to emphasize as if my life depends on it. Time and time again, I think the fact that kpop idols are human is something that people seem to completely disregard. I have never seen a fanbase as cruel and scrutinizing as the kpop fanbase. It almost downright scares me. Sasaeng fans are a reality that I wish did not exist, because they are just so rude, inconsiderate, and intense. Those manic, excessive fans really make me fear for idols’ wellbeing. Furthermore, there are so, so, soooo many incidents in which a Korean artist would do this or do that or say this or that and the situation is completely, totally, blown out of proportion. I have read articles about complaints that made absolutely no sense. I want to make this clear: Nobody's perfect, and neither are kpop stars. They will make mistakes, more than once if anything. But how, in the world, in any universe, does that give people permission to write hate comments at them? To bash on every little thing about them? To write petitions for them to leave their respective groups completely? Why do people think that is okay? Why do people not understand that, just like you and me, and anyone else, kpop stars have feelings. Is that so hard to believe? That no matter how small of a word or phrase you use to hurt them, you are instilling hate regardless. And that is not okay. It is never okay. Because they are human. The world, fans, no one, will never really know what is going on in an idol’s life. I do not want to make this part solely about Kim Jonghyun, but I think it is only right to mention him here. It was stated time and time again that Jonghyun was suffering from severe depression, to an extent where he took his own life. And the entire kpop world fell into complete shambles since then. Does this make it more transparent for everyone? That hate comments, that inner feelings and emotions, that all of these things are very real aspects of idols’ lives. It is so extremely hard, for me personally, to watch these idols become decreased to shoddy titles and names over the smallest of incidents. The hate needs to stop. Kpop idols are humans. Please.

5) The exhaustive work schedules.

This basically stems from the whole humanizing kpop idols thing. But I absolutely despise of the fact that is it common for idols to faint on stage, become hospitalized for over-exhaustion, or take breaks to recover. I have one simple question: Why do we have to work them until they reach that point? Are their bodies and capabilities expendable objects or something? Why is it okay? Why is it common for crying out loud? These people are literally worked to their limit, for several weeks on end. Once again, I’d like to point out that they are not invincible gods with undying strength. They are humans. There just has to be something done about the ridiculous work schedules that these people have to deal with. It just is not okay.

6) Companies are milking fans for their money.

This one is a big statement. It is not necessarily completely true for every single company, but it is definitely not wrong in any way at all. Think about why a company would start up a group in the first place. To give these hard working people a chance in the limelight out of generosity because they totally deserve it? No, of course not lol. There is a win-win situation within a lot of these groups, or at least the more successful ones. They earn lots and lots of money, a large portion of which goes straight to company, while also becoming famous and etc etc everything else they’ve always wanted. But companies are playing a game at the same time, marketing these groups to any extent possible. Ever wonder why groups frequently venture into the Japanese market? Ever wonder why groups have to release 4952548 different versions of one simple album (which is totally a newer-generation-of-kpop trend. groups in the past never did this)? Ever wonder why Lee Soo Man purposely created a multicultural group when it probably would’ve been much easier to just make a purely Korean one? Everything in the kpop industry, and I mean everything comes down to money. That is the reality of it. It is a market.

6) The music no longer sounds like kpop to me.

With the massive rise to global stardom that a lot of current day groups have acquired has come the musical shift into which, in my opinion, the overall sound of kpop is very much more westernized. Many groups are following the trend of releasing music that is edm, trap, tropical house, dupstep, etc -oriented. And for me, I’m not digging it. I fell in love with kpop because of sounds like Big Bang’s and Infinite’s older music. But now, the music is so completely different. A lot of these songs honestly just sound like something I would hear playing on the American radio. Which may just be the goal anyway. But for me, if kpop just sounds like everything else now, why would I listen to it? I originally liked it because it was different, and didn’t sound like everything else I was already hearing. But now it just does. Sigh.

7) There has been a complete generation shift.

This is something that I talk about extensively to my friends and peers. I’d like to say that it is something that I am very passionate about. There isn’t a day in which a part of me isn’t internally mourning about the death of my kpop generation. I think the generational shift becomes more and more apparent as time goes by: look at the groups that were active 5 years ago, and compare them to now. Are any of them even the same? Probably not. And that sort of reality pains me a lot. I understand that it’s simply about growth, getting over it, and moving on. But I’ll always reminisce from time to time. Here are the groups that defined my generation of kpop, and what happened to them:

Big Bang: indefinite hiatus (TOP is in the army, w/ the others well on their way)

SHINee: active (this one breaks my heart even more because not only did I constantly commend SHINee for staying whole and active, despite their apparent downfall in popularity and relevance, I was just always thankful for their undying perseverance as an older generation group. The loss of Jonghyun completely broke my heart because it was a reality I never wanted to believe in. I’m still in shock and it really does hurt to think how SHINee’s name will now forever go down in tragedy rather than legendary)

SNSD: indefinite hiatus (this one is a little hazy. It has been stated that the name of SNSD lives on, despite the members being in different companies. A sliver of hope remains for them)

2NE1: disbanded (first they lost Minzy, and then they completely fell apart)

LEDApple: disbanded (or at least i think so?? The members moved around all over the place and I’m pretty sure no one is left)

2PM: indefinite hiatus (Taec is in the army, while the others are doing their own thang for now. I have faith that they’ll return as 6 one day, though. Fight on, 2PM <3)

B1A4: active (i got to see them in feb, too, bless up)

ZE:A: indefinite hiatus (all the members are in separate companies. Minwoo & Taeheon returned from the army already while Kwanghee, Heechul, and Siwan are currently serving. The rest have been doing their own things as well. In fact, Kevin resides in Australia now. They have stated several times that despite being in different places and companies, the group has not officially disbanded yet. It warms my heart to think that there is still hope for them.)

U-KISS: active (they lost Kevin and AJ and Dongho in the year past and I know they’re still managing to stay alive with the addition of Jun as well)

Teen Top: hiatus (L.Joe was caught up in some messy legal stuff with his company and seemed to have left the industry as a whole in a rather ugly way… it definitely hurt to watch this pan out in the way that it did… nonetheless, Teen Top is basically still irrelevant anyway, despite the multiple comebacks they’ve had in years past.)

4Minute: disbanded (;__;)

Super Junior: active (this is such a blessing, honestly, to have Super Junior alive and active, despite alllllll the shit they’ve been through these past years. I know they’re definitely on the older side, but these guys are absolute legends and it makes me so happy to see them still together, even if just partially)

f(x): indefinite hiatus (their last release was in 2015 which means it’s almost been 3 freaking years since we last saw them active as 4, after Sulli’s departure. Wow… I really do hope to see them soon)

Apink: active (but barely relevant…They were also once 7, until Yookyung left in 2012, I believe.)

Girls Day: active (but not as relevant as they were before, either. Their recent, occasional releases have been decent, but not good enough to be big. They also technically lost a member before, too.)

BEAST: active as Highlight (They lost Hyunseung, and then they all left Cube. Miraculously, these boys kept themselves afloat and even established their own label together, as five. I am honestly so happy for what they have accomplished and even though it sucks that we’ll never hear the name BEAST in same way or affiliation anymore, these five guys are still going strong. I think they proved to me that they really do enjoy being idols, which is kinda rare considering how long they’ve been active in the industry)

VIXX: active (and probably one of the most relevant idols out of this list)

Miss A: disbanded (it was unclear for a while, but also pretty obvious because each member went their separate way. But JYP recently declared their disbandment official)

Sistar: disbanded (they were active for exactly 7 years, debuting and disbanding on the same exact day. This one definitely hurt)

BAP: active (they took a long hiatus somewhere in between, but it was well-deserved considering how ridiculously active they were back then. They still come back quite often nowadays, but it is unfortunately safe to say that they no longer leave the same impact as they did years before)

KARA: disbanded (despite adding Youngji after Nicole and Jiyoung left, they couldn’t last long enough. this one also hurt because of how spot-on their music always was for me.)

MBLAQ: indefinite hiatus (the name itself still lives on, and they never officially declared disbandment. but MBLAQ is probably one of the only groups that will go down in pure tragedy in my heart because I really did, truly, love them to death at one point. The departure of Lee Joon and Thunder threw this group into shambles and they barely managed to come back once as a trio, until their company disintegrated before our eyes and screwed them over even more. These boys used to be top of the top, dominating the industry in every way possible, musically and in variety shows, too. But lately, in fact, not even that recently, G.O. had taken to his personal social media to reveal the mistreatment and basically the complete shit they had to go through as idols. He was utterly traumatized by his experiences in the industry, to a point where he never wanted to sing again. But he talked about how the other 2 members gave him strength, as well as the few fans that were left to support him. MBLAQ literally dissolved into ashes right before my eyes, yet no one, and I mean no one, has been talking about this. They honestly just went through so much and have lost a lot as well. It hurt so bad to watch such an amazing group fall apart so fast, without even making a sound. Fuck the industry.)

Wonder Girls: disbanded (these legendary girls first faced the departure of Sun, and then Sohee. Sunmi was added into the mix after a very long hiatus, but they lasted for about 2 years until they officially disbanded)

T-Ara: indefinite hiatus (this group has faced a ferocious path of ups and downs. First with Hwayoung, and her departure, then with Areum and her departure as well, and then the very sudden departure of Soyeon and Boram. The four remaining members have decided to not renew their contracts with their current agency, but it is unclear if T-Ara still really exists at all at this point.)

Block B: active (and thankfully pretty relevant, I think)

Boyfriend: hiatus (Donghyun is on the Unit right now. I know they haven’t been super active in the past years, but when they tried, it was lackluster. They’ve definitely lost a lot of the momentum they once had years ago :( )

After School: indefinite hiatus (so many members have “graduated” in the past years, that only five are left now. I honestly can’t recall the last time they released music, but I can tell it’s been a very long time…)

CN Blue: active (but unfortunately very irrelevant anyway. They celebrated their 8th anniversary recently though! Congrats (: )

Rainbow: disbanded (so so so sad…)

Infinite: active (bless the heavens. Hoya’s departure shattered my world and I was admittedly a sobbing mess for several days on end. But their impending comeback is going to warm my heart and ears, I just know it. It’s been a good one whole year and a third since I last saw them come back. I have definitely missed their once steadfast presence. Welcome back, my loves <3 )

Welp, that was quite refreshing, to take a quick peek at the histories of these groups that once defined my middle school years. It definitely hurts to count how many times I had to write “disbanded” or “indefinite hiatus” because of how unclear and shaky a lot of these groups’ futures look. It has been pretty obvious for a while, that with the progressive crumbling of this once sturdy, strong, and seemingly invincible gang of groups, a new era of groups has been ushered in to take center stage and render the rest of the once-legends weak and irrelevant. Groups that used to make headlines on the daily basis and smash charts consistently are now barely hanging onto existence in the industry. It is quite painful to watch. There are many times where I just want to go back to those days where the names and faces and songs that were “mainstream” were the ones that I could actually recognize and enjoy. Now, it is quite the opposite. Adieu, my generation of kpop.

I just really don’t like kpop anymore. (but I still like Korean music! :) )

#kmusic #kpop #korean pop music #the untold story #this took a really time tbh #but it has been on my mind a lot #maybe this is like my final farewell to my once beloved kpop days aha #it will always hold a special place in my heart #but ive just kinda moved on from that phase #it's just not the same #but at least infinite is coming back!!#(:

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