#also put seunghan back. this is fucking ridiculous

[sanstropfremir]

I'm curious to know your thoughts on riize? I know some people think they don't feel like an sm group but tbh I think they are being similar to like 90s era kpop groups. Anyway I actually have been enjoying their music and wow watching them dance impossible choreo is so fun.

love them! i really like the musical directions they've gone in and how they do embody the feeling of early boyband much more than most other groups have managed to. unsurprising that they do some challenging choreo, bc how could you not with shotaro right there, and i'm really glad impossible got the full house treatment bc i crave the fancy footwork like choicest of drugs. i'm also a big fan of all the music that they've released so far, and i love how their new ep is so delightfully dated (complimentary). that being said, i DO agree that they don't have the full sm sound, simply because yyj isn't there to help produce them. i've said it before and i will say it again, he was so fundamentally instrumental to the 'sm sound' and even to the sound of kpop itself, that now that he's gone no group is ever going to sound like that again. it's just the truth. i think the current a&r team are doing a great job with riize (we will not speak of any other groups.) but we could have had so, so much more.

[gem-de-lune]

heyyy I just read all the posts about seunghan and riize. it gives me so much of hope to fight for our boys. thank u very much for that.

i was wondering how things are between riize and the people surrounding them specifically their managers (i hope they have the boys' best interest at heart), their staff (i saw a post on twt saying staff were laughing at the funeral wreaths), the 2 directors (is it true one is pro Hani and one is against him joining riize?). how does sm higher ups view c5 fucking up in general?

and based on ur posts it confirms that riize didn't know Hani was cornered and bullied into giving up. they must have found out after everything went down. do u see a difference in how riize treats different parts of their fandom? it sickens me to think of those poor boys doing boo heejoo fanservice to those k- and c-monsters. do u see a large portion of them getting karma for putting a 21yrold through something so traumatic; not just for him but also riize, ot7 briize, kpop fans?

Is there a disparity between SM higher-ups and C5?

3 of Wands + The Tower Reversed

Kinda. SM higher ups are kinda just watching the situation from afar thinking it doesn't involve them in their long term- but the vibe is that it's creeping closer to a point where is does in fact involve them. C5 is in a situation (tower reversed) where they are avoiding collapse. This is similar energy to the 10 of wands that i keep pulling. I think SM had literally saved the situation to a degree by having an Aespa CB, but they are still looking at C5 to hurry up and get things together. C5 is embarrassed by the entire ordeal and SM higher ups are kind like "?? Get up??".

How do SM higher-ups feel about bringing Seunghan back?

10 of Pentacles + 8 of Swords

They think it would be a happy ending but also they think it would reel in more international money which they like. They are generally leaving this in the hands of C5 but they have a clear stance. They are very annoyed at the fact that C5 is embarrassing themselves by flip flopping in the first place and being controlled by fan's whims. But generally they are not against bringing him back- it's just that C5 is milking it and holding ono pride when they are literally trapped at all angles. They think C5 needs to embrace the change of times.

Final notes:

I think a lot of SM higher-ups are more liberal and internationally focused, but these management and production teams are more conservative and domestic focused. This makes sense bc higher ups are corporate businessmen and women focused on capitalism and the pd and management teams literally only deal with domestic affairs and probably did not even see how much intl fans wanted seunghan back at all during those first 48 hrs. Ridiculous. All SM groups need an International Management Coordinator (Pick me choose me)

For the 2nd half of your ask, you probably already saw the ask abt this, but I will post it here too: