#but seeing the mv and songs they really do have a unique style different from the other units and i looooove it

[knightzp]

esupuri really are knights but if they were kawaii

[scotts-takes]

Top Songs from Enstars 2023

Number 2- Crazy Anthem

Before we get started- have you ever been as sad about something in your life as Kohaku was at the start of this song when his Sandwich fell?

Crazy Anthem is both a gift and a curse. It was our first Climax event, and thus set the template for things to follow. Unfortunately, Happy Element decided to put their best foot forward... and none of the other climax videos have been able to stand up to Crazy Anthem. Sure, many of them are detailed with large sets and tell a story, but none of them are like Crazy Anthem.

The first set is the "clubhouse", where we stay for 30 seconds, to see how bored Rinne is, how hungry Kohaku is, and to see Himeru grab the keys. If you look around, there is a ton of detail in this set- you have all the bottles of alcohol in the bar area, you have all the photos on the map on the wall, you have a variety of plants, you have the tropical exterior visable through the windows- simply put, this small area would have been a perfectly reasonable setting for an entire MV in the first 2 years of Music. So for us to only spend 30 seconds here really shows how ambitious this is.

We then get to the primary setting for the video, which is the car. We get to see different weather effects, passage of time via sun position, and we get to see the various characters singing. This, more than anything else in Enstars, feels the most like a real music video, something you could easily see a variety of music acts doing. We get various timelapses of them stopping at places, as well as them "hanging out" in the car. In many cases, we get unique positions and poses for the characters that don't get repeated- Kohaku sitting on the door with his feet inside the car, Rinne straddiling the door with his legs outside, etc.

The video keeps going. We get timelapse style, lower framerate sections of them going shopping, going to the arcade, and watching a sunset over a beach, them driving at night, before we finally return back to our starting point.

The video itself is a masterpiece. I think the Ra*bits video for Climax is a "better" video with a lot more to break down, but i think that song kinda sucks, while Crazy Anthem is incredible. I felt that the Climax videos got toned down as we went on, so I'm hoping that SOMETHING next year can get back to this level!

[prisoner-000]

Which trial's song from each prisoner is the better one?

Fun thing I thought I'd ask myself. Since most song vs. song debates come down to character preference how about we just pit one character's songs against each other? Tee hee.

Haruka - All-Knowing and All-Agony is my pick. The piano melody in the background is honestly just breathtaking. As much as I overall like Weakness' guitar and harmonies, i think AKAA is overall the better product.

Yuno - Tear Drop. The chorus just absolutely bangs and the synths are so good. This is a very slight win because honestly Umbilical is kind of on the same level in my mind - they're both similar in the vibes department, but have different strengths. I also have to give props for being the longest T2 song by far.

Fuuta - Backdraft. I'm pretty neutral on Fuuta as a character which makes me not listen to his songs quite as much... Extremely slight win, 'cause I like it's consistent level of energy. Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably say Bring It On (the last chorus especially is so damn good). Fuuta's CV's voice is an absolute treat.

Muu - After Pain. I was obsessed with this song when I first got into Milgram and still kind of am. It just sounds so uniquely 'lonely', conceptually extremely sad and yet somehow cheerful. It fits Muu's character really well. I also love INMF for it's isolated vocal moments where Muu's CV can really bring her all into it, but overall, this is my pick.

Shidou - Triage. I've never liked Throw Down all that much because it's always sounded almost Too normal and neutral to my ears. Triage has this soft melancholy in its instrumental and somber vocals during the verses. And also, that final chorus... OUGH. I can see why someone would prefer Throw Down, though.

Mahiru - I Love You. I really like how this song played with everyone's expectations when the previews came out. Mahiru rapping is so fun and really works compared to the cutesy idol-like chorus. The lines before the final chorus and the double-voiced rap part leading up to it is also fantastic. TIHTBILWY has instruments I like a bit more, but kind of suffers in the interesting concept department IMO.

Kazui - half. Gonna be a contrarian here, but this song has always been one of my favorites. It's very unique in Milgram's selection of songs with its slow, soft melody and almost minimalistic instrumental compared to the others. It sounds sad, Kazui's CV is so soft with his voice and yet expressive. Besides, it's a song about unrequited love. This was made specifically for me I feel. Cat is also really, REALLY good, i love Cat, but. Half. !!!!!!!!!!! I blow up

Amane - PURGE MARCH. DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF. I like Magic, but it pales in comparison to this song's mixing, its chanting, its concept, its MV.. GAHH!!! THE AMEN BREAK?????? The verse repeating the 'commandments' over Amane's singing? What else do you want me to say. This is a banger.

Mikoto - MeMe. Harder metal instrumental = me likey. The chorus is gorgeous, and the back-and-forth between the two styles is especially great. I prefer Mikoto's CV's voice in Double, but I can't say I prefer Double because it's just too damn short, not to mention it only being 2 verses and 2 choruses with a long speech break. I love Double, I really do (also because a piano is always good), but... MeMe has the tightest grip on me.

Kotoko - Deep Cover. I've never been the biggest fan of Harrow. I love Deep Cover's gimmick of counting the prisoners and the Undercover mirroring, plus it has Double's appeal with the bridge before the chorus sounding angelic. I wouldn't say I love it, but it's really good.

And . yup. Umm. Feel free to do this too if you'd like and you can fight me on my opinions i am objectively right always. Forever. Btw. Farewell

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

I have a feeling you won't really like taehyungs album. From the description it's gonna be a very romantic album 😅

I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. Ngl I was nervous because I feel like a lot of Taehyungs songs are very repetitive, but this one was different to me. Tomorrow's song seems like it's gonna be a very slow song so I might take back what I just said lol but I am excited to hear the rest of the album.

Something that I am really looking forward to is all his mvs. I know you mentioned there wasn't much going on in this one but I feel like the focal point was his outfits. Something I'm really taking notice from the album previews and this mv is that tae is doing an amazing job of being gender fluid. I always thought jimin did it best, but it seems like tae is really pushing the boundaries

I don't think so either, and it's not because of the romance. As long as the lyrics are good, it doesn't matter to me if they are romantic. I ove the Serendipity lyrics because they are so romantic and so incredibly sweet and pure. Don't by eAon and RM is a beautiful love song as well, and the MV is simple but so impactful in my enjoyment of the song. But imo Rainy Days and Love Me Again have pretty generic romantic lyrics which the songs and MVs are too generic to elevate.

Love Me Again is catchier than Rainy Days, and both songs are good but they're also very much run-of-the-mill K-RnB songs. I was very surprised to see that V isn't credited in either of the songs. He loves writing this kind of music but he didn't write his debut songs? I mean, if you're outsourcing, aren't you supposed outsource something better than anything you could've come up with? Isn't that the whole point? Sweet Night is better than this, and so is 4 O'Clock.

What I really don't get is hiring MHJ. Rainy Days is like if Pinterest and IG had a baby video together. It's like a pretentious People Pt. 2. I really don't like these kinds of aesthetics, sorry. I don't understand how anything so far is visually interesting. The trendy, retro pics are not unique at all - and not my style -, the album cover isn't that pretty and the concept of it being delivered to your house is meh, and the pic of Yeontan with the V check mark is honestly so ugly.

The outfits in the MVs aren't enough to interest me personally and I barely noticed them. I don't think V is more genderfluid than Jimin or Jungkook. He's wearing trendy menswear stuff which in recent years has become a lot more genderfluid as a whole, and he definitely likes that kind of clothing, but Jikook to me are still more deliberately genderfluid. Jungkook was more conventionally masculine in Seven but look at his new CK campaign, and so many of his rl looks. Suga has modeled genderfluid looks as well (for example, the infamous LV skirt and the Maire Claire photoshoots).

I don't know, the songs are solid but don't pack a punch or show V in a new light so far, and the promotions and investment on the visual aspect of it aren't paying off for me. I'm even less interested now that I heard V won't be credited in his album. Whatever happened to his millions of song drafts?

Thanks for the ask!

[aplateoflasagna]

My thoughts on Batter Up by Babymonster

First things first; I really liked it! It's a good song and I'm happy to see that most people agree. Of course there is critisism, but there always is when big 4 groups debut (though I agree big 4 debuts should be held to a higher standard because they have all the money and connections)

The song is good. I'm not going to call it 10/10 because there are some things I wished were different, but overall I'm very satisfied with the result. It's catchy and it will still hold up when they are further in their career.

The chorus is a bit empty but it grew on me after a few listens. I do agree it sounds a bit too much like Lisa's Money. It sounds very much like a YG song (which is good for me because I love the YG sound), but with that, they kind of failed to let Baemon have their own unique sound right from debut. I remember YG stating that WINNER's music needed to be completely different from BigBang because they were YG's new boygroup and he wanted them to be unique and that worked. Now Baemon is getting compared to Blackpink and I understand why. It might be too similar to Blackpinks music which is a shame because the Babymonster members have such unique voices and they don't sound like BP at all.

And that's my second regret with the song. Their unique vocals don't stand out enough because there isn't enough singing in the song. They sing in the pre-chorus and that's kind of it. The verses are talk-singing and the chorus is empty. It would have been cool if they debuted with a bside that showed of their vocals more. (something RnB!)

The rap was great! I'll have to wait for Hyunsuk to go on Weverse live but It does seem like he wrote Ruka's part and Asa wrote her own rap. I'm happy Asa was able to fit her fast style of rapping in the song. I really love it alot.

I like the YG ending, I like that it's a song fans will be able to party to and chant to together with the members at the end. It has a fun vibe that's shown with the members smiling while performing the choreo in the MV (especially Chiquita!)

The MV is fun and, just like the song, will hold up well in a few years. It's a bit all over the place though, it's like they wanted to show as much as possible and forgot to make it narratively coherent. It's lots of cool sets that don't really have anything to do with eachother. I do think the the two themes in the MV were clearly 'Youth' (the classroom, the school bus, the uniforms, baseball) and 'New Beginnings' (Batter Up, the broken egg, the broken cage, the defrosting of the ice (I'll admit that one's a stretch lol). I'm happy it's so crowded though... After watching the teaser I was really worried it would be like 3 sets in a white void, so I was relieved watching the MV

The best scene is definitely Rora's flower scene. She looks absolutely gorgeous and she stole my heart 🙈

The outfits are all great too. I don't have a single complaint, they all look fantastic in every scene!!

They haven't shown the choreo much, but I'm not really impressed by what is shown in the MV. That doesn't really mean anything though. There have been many instances where I ended up loving the choreo if I saw it performed in full.

Spreaking of performances, will Baemon even go on music shows for Batter Up???? Apparently they aren't attending Inkigayo this week?? There has been no confirmation for any other music show performance and in december lots of music shows won't be broadcasting at all...

I've been a YG stan for quite a few years now and time and time again my patience and faith in the company is tested I swear to God. I have long learned not to get my hopes up, but only giving bare minimum promotion to your first girl group in 7 years seems a bit much no?? I really hope this is not the case and many more content is to come, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised it there wasn't.

There are many thing I probably forgot to talk about, but this is most of it. I miss Ahyeon, I think this concept would suit her very well and if she ever rejoins the group she would fit in perfectly! Nevertheless I'm very proud of the records Baemon has broken already. Most watched kpop group debut MV in the first 24 hours ever 👑 + most watched Kpop group MV in the first 24 hours in 2023 🏆

Congratulation on debuting Babymonster! 👏👏👏 I hope we get to see a live performance very soon 🙏

[riboonies]

I posted 205 times in 2022

1 post created (0%)

204 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@7nsomnia

@wonwooridul

@silvysartfulness

@zvezdacito

@bearplush

I tagged 194 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#art - 89 posts

#enstars - 20 posts

#deukae - 20 posts

#seventeen - 19 posts

#ensemble stars - 18 posts

#dami - 15 posts

#jjba - 15 posts

#svt - 14 posts

#loona - 14 posts

#nature - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 43 characters

#they are happy little blobs and i love them

My Top Posts in 2022:

Enstars MV Review - 'Believe 4 leaves'

Hello!

I’ve wanted to do this kind of thing for a while and I hope to make it into a little series as I really enjoy these sorts of things!

Our point of discussion today will be ALKALOID’S latest mv: ‘Believe 4 leaves’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amQWzsFo-7I

I’ll start with saying I am VERY HAPPY ABOUT MAYOI BEING CENTER!! He’s vocals have always stood out to me in past songs and I think this role in the song really did him good!

I was really unsure of this concept when I first started watching as it was not what I expected at all from them- but as it went along I really enjoyed it! I’m really happy to see how Happy Elements is expanding on the way they make these mv’s!

The setting was very different from usual and gave me ‘Castle in the Sky’ vibes, which is always a good thing.

It went really well with the STORYLINE they decided to include in this- another thing Happy Elements has started putting in (another example being fine’s ‘Feather of Arc’.) Fans can interrupt what is going on which I think a lot of us will have fun with.

Aira being upset at the start caught me off guard, it was interesting to see that level of emotion.

And then we got Mayoi’s relieved smile that was somehow filled with raw emotion??

I LOVED THE CHOREOGRAPHY- Enstars MV’s tend to have some pretty good dances but this one was definitely one of the best I’ve seen. It gave me kpop vibes a lot with the style, especially the part at the very start (stream WA DA DA by Kep1er). It didn’t get boring and is one that I think some fans would really enjoy learning!

And now for the best part about the mv…. MAYOI’S VOCALS???!?

Now don’t get me wrong, I think all the members have really nice vocals and flow really well together, but Mayoi really stole the spotlight in this one.

He had a LOT of high notes- and literally all of them were very unique. Some were very raspy and sounded really funny but they fit the song so they’re still good (ex. 1:09, 1:55). And then the others were GODLIKE and made me scREAM BECAUSE LIKE OKOEE (ex. 1:44 and 2:11).

So overall this is probably one of the best enstar mv’s I’ve seen as it was good in all the parts it should be. I really hope to see more enstar mv’s like this because it was really well done! Um thank you for reading, I hope it was actually interesting for some of you! I’d like to do this again and hopefully gain more structure for how I do it! Thank you!!!

24 notes - Posted January 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[leenaur143]

💫 Golden Hour: Part 1 💫

💙 Blind

10/10

- hongjoongs voice strain parts 🫠🫠🫠🫠

- his style has improved so much he's just embracing it now and im so happy for him

- i love this chorus so much this is such a festa song ahhhhhhh SOMEONE LET ME SEE MY BOYS LIVE I NEED TO SCREAM "TAKE MY SOUL TAKE MY HEART EL AMOR ES CEIGO" WITH THEMMMMM 😭😭😭😭🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 LOVE IS SO FLIPPING BLINDDDDD AHHHHHHH

- Someone commented the song sounds like it would belong in the World Cup and THAT IS EXACTLY IT I AM LOVING THIS SO FLIPPING MUCH AHHHHHHH

💛 Work

8.5/10 🔥

- this is such a groovy song like the mv is such a vibe and I like the beat so so much I've been waiting for my summer anthem and i think this and Blind are ITTTTTT 

- the 8.5 is only cause of the mv and me being mildly overwhelmed but the song is a 9 its so sickkkkkk

- criminal not to have a fur coat in the mv but thats fine the ostrich makes up for it 😭🤣

- the money monster scares me. truly. that is what wooyoung was referring to when he called jongho the monster of capitalism 

- seonghwa bouncing more than bouncy in that car (which is so sick btw i remember seeing those lowriders that bounce in like those old school retro american movies ahhhh i wanna in ride one)

- JONGHO'S HIGH NOTES MY SAVIOURSSSSS

- yeosang and chicken are the best duo don't argue im right. 😌✌️

💙 Empty Box

9/10

- I predicted this and Blind would be my faves from this mini album and I'm 2 for 2 right now 🥹😭🩷 

- I want to drive through a countryside at twilight on a summers night, playing this and taking in life - that's the vibe I'm getting and I absolutely love it so much

- joong's rap too 😘 the like you adlibs too its so 🥹🙂���↕️

- mingi's voice fits it so well too like the calm emotional vibe isnt broken by rap which is easy to do and they just performed it so perfectly 

- i'll always miss you though 🥹😭💖

- 'something more than better' is such a feeling that we've all been chasing 🤧

💛 Shaboom

6/10

- oh my days i fully thought i was listening to bob marley 🫠 its so 3 little birds coded (what a legend by the way rest in power king)

- OH WAIT NAH THE BEAT SWITCH AHHHHHHH 

- shaboooooooom ghost vibes 

- if i was haunted it would be by them i think like god forbid but they are the type to go shabooooooo as a joke and no one laughs 🥲🤣

- whos striking whos body hmm 

- this is so unique i feel like it will grow on me but its so much to take in first time with all the tempo switches and different musical skills that are going over my non-musical self - i'd love to know more about its creation process 

- i'm just not used to it in kpop or other music but that's a me problem 

- the EDM style at the end 🤖

💙 Siren 

7/10 

- omg SEONGHWAAAAAAAAAAA 

- his deep voice is going to be echoing in my ears like a siren 

- omg the whispers 

- is that yeosang with the dynamic drop bit i need to know nOW

- its me and yeosang saying "this is our siren" against the world 

- the whispers to the yells AHHHH this would go off in concerts man AHHHHHHHHHH i really like this i feel this will grow more on me tooo ahhhh

- its the almost cult-ish style of ringing siren for me 💀🤣

💫 Overall: I am really happy that I waited to listen to Work and the rest of Golden Hour: Part 1 until after my Physics exam cause it truly felt like the 'reward' I was searching for. I've already started watching some of the content surrounding the comeback and I'm so happy I liked the EP because it's definitely something new and unlike what Ateez have been showing us these past few years. We got used to their high energy, high power bops and now they've given us a little nudge that hey we can do other genres too (as Atiny we knew this but others could potentially be surprised by the range our boys are capable of) and as a hip-hop lover of course I loved the vibe of our a-side ahhhh shfhsh GOTTA WORK

[redpiperfox]

There were so many November comebacks, I literally penciled them into my planner at the beginning of the month. Because this is my stress relief, and I like to know what I have available to me, thank you very much XD

But with a bunch of comebacks comes not being able to keep track and appreciate them all, so I'll be doing that here, in--

Highlights of November Comebacks~

feat. Soojin, Kiss of Life, Stray Kids, Aespa, Red Velvet, Kard, Collab (Soyeon x Winter x Liz), and The Boyz

Soojin

Gonna be honest, I'm just happy that she's alright. I'm glad she's back to music, I'm so happy to see the elgant dance style that's so Her, and the influences in the music that had highlighted her in GIdle that she gets to claim for her own now. It seems to be a really good time for soloists, especially soloists that have had their name dragged through media, and I'm so glad she's come with a full project and a full album. The mv itself is beautiful and artistic. I think on my twitter I said it was "artistic from sound to set," and the incorporation of the four elements cinematically made me want to break out my sketching pencils and watercolors, so beautiful!

The album as a whole has little beautiful moments, but next to all the drop-dead steal-your-breath stuff from the rest of the month, the mellow sounds don't really hold their own? My favorite is "bloodredroses", but maybe that's because of it how it calls back to Jo Yuri's "Bruise", and it sounds so quietly painful.

Kiss of Life

Was not expecting the drawling cowgirl music in the back, but their style has me hooked. Album wise I think they're in a niche of RnB-kpop melding? I love KoF's ability to not compromise on individual style in pulling together a cohesive and bold sound, it makes me think of Blackpink, but more mature, where each member has strong footing both visually in their scenes and characters, but also vocally and in the choreo. The vigilante of Gotham behavior in the plot of the mv made me love it all the more-- as a visual, this mv stands out from cookie cutter kpop formulas, and it serves the girls so so well. I was hoping for a harder hitting song as a whole, but just like Shhh grew on me, I expect this to as well, especially with how much individual power the lines have.

The album bursts in "different-ness" from one b-side to the next, and holds all their sassiness. I smile everytime "Gentleman" plays, it's so in-your-face. The touches of noir ambience is beautiful and unique, and they have my ear.

Stray Kids

Your girl was seated. I was anticipating. I was getting back into my Skz roots with God's Menu-Back Door and all my pride and hype for Thunderous, I was ready. Sononically, I think we're still in the same era as 5 star, where Skz have found the formula that works for their title tracks, subverting kpop into something unexpected. The four sets and the different emotions disappearing till only pleasure was left was terribly clever, and the choreo has Hyunjin written all over it. I think Jisung's rap part stood out the most to me, and they pushed a good amount of vocal power into the production. Although kpop wasn't ready for it, the rock version of the song sounds like the Correct version, but I can't complain-- they didn't wait till a year end show to remix it and never hand it to me this time XD

The album as a whole is a step better than 5 star, in it's diversity of tracks and album creation. There's enough spotlight for their vocalists that make me happy so :3 "Megaverse" was an instant repeat [and I'm coming back before I post this to say the mv is A+! Clever and proud in a way fitting to the music], and I listen to "Cover Me" literally for Seungmin's voice, hot damn, Hyunjin was selfish with that production into that final chorus and it shows~!

Aespa

Murder girls always grab my attention, I was just confused why Aespa was doing it tbh XD I think each comeback with them is getting better and better-- the mv itself seemed so pulled back and stripped visually, but then it had sharp clean moments that make you gasp. It feels very caution-to-the-wind with her vengeance sort of murderess? Like Batman throwing his insignia up on the sky, or painting a billboard red with the blood of the guilty. It absolutely lived up to it's teasers, and although I was confused why they were doing the almost-same thing as Red Velvet, and why SM was screwing both groups over by releasing them so close together, I think this aespa comeback might be my most favorite yet, and their bsides are *chef's kiss*~ "Trick or Treat" hits in all the right places.

Red Velvet

I had just come off of relistening to Seulgi for the season. I absolutely adore their melodic horror. Given the fact that Birthday was more on the cutes side, I was expecting something classical, something perhaps a little regal, but all the way with the horror. So the chorus was unexpected to say the least, with that touch of cute and carefree. The mv itself being dark (...literally XD had to turn up my brightness ALL THE WAY) and twisted into a plot of girls breaking free of their captivity only to be arrested for arson was an interesting juxtapositioning? It was the sort of short film that had me rooting for them, and the touch of slightly supernatural in the production was enough air of mystery to unsettle me. I had to listen without the video to truly love the title track.

As an album, Red Velvet presents the perfect November sound, of transitioning slightly horror-imbibed with a hint of festive-tinged. Nearly every b-side was a favorite for me, with a special glance at "Will I ever See you Again?" for grabbing me with two hands on my face. But everything, from "Knock Knock (Who's There?)" to "One Kiss" and "Bulldozer" spin a Corpse Bride/Nightmare Before Christmas delicacy and mastery, in every key change and harmony. ...I might do an album breakdown/essay, that is how much I love this album as a whole.

KARD

Kard's mellower, non-title track material is hit-or-miss for me, so I'm going to have to save this for a rainy day, because between all these top notch titles, it's hard to remember this. But the sound is still authentically Kard, and unlike "Without You" this doesn't feel like the girls featuring the boys like how some of their songs have been feeling.

Collab (Soyeon x Winter x Liz)

Was not expecting but all my girls!

The path to my heart is paved in gold and decadence, you could make the worst song ever, but you set your mv in this sort of glamour, you'll still have my attention. As a collab, it struck me that these are very unique, very talented voices coming together, and I wasn't convinced that their strengths were highlighted? But! As a song, it's a bop, and the three unique sounds, and maybe the fact that we get a collab at all is a win and I absolutely love. I want to put this next to Off The Record by Ive, but also, I was overlistening to Wow Thing Collab (Seulgi x SinB x Soyeon x Chungha) and this feels like something to step into those shoes, and that makes me happy XD

The Boyz

oOOOH when I saw a stealer-maverick-roar style concept! The anticipation I had! And there was no let down! The music production was A+ makes me want to listen to the whole album. The video also has it's absolutely stunning moments, my love for that last scene with half their faces cycling through, but also for all the individual scenes! Their child-like/boyish comebacks are hit or miss growers, but /these/ comebacks! Yess~!

[starswallowingsea]

alright i'll put this in the post and not just keep it in the tags but basically idol mobages have to have some sort of gimmick to differentiate them from the others on the market. enstars has 3d mvs for all of its songs that you can put different characters into with different outfits, d4dj uses a dj booth layout for its game along with allowing for medleys of its various songs to be played, hypmic does like a record scratch thing as well as theming itself around rap battles. project sekai's gimmick is very obviously vocaloids and it uses this a lot in its marketing and such.

however, i think project sekai is trying too hard to be multiple things at once rather than focusing on what makes it different from the other games. they have 3d videos for some of their songs like enstars does, but because the bar layout for the game grays out the background by default, you don't see the video very well while you're playing. ensemble stars, to get around this problem, makes the lanes transparent against the video background so you can see the video while you play (and some beat maps do play on visual cues as well as audio ones if you play with the 3d mv on). ensemble stars is also meant to be easy to pick up since it was made with beginners to the rhythm game genre in mind, but it does have its own special beat maps that break several rules in map design that keep it interesting.

d4dj is another straight lane game that doesn't have music videos, but they have a gimmick with how their lanes are set up. you have the normal tap notes like you see in project sekai, but instead of flick notes you have the faders and disks which change the sound of the song as you play, which adds to the experience while you're playing. project sekai just has simple tap, hold, and flick notes and while the notes can vary in width, it doesn't really impact the game itself so it seems like an odd choice to make with their game design?

and hypmic is probably the most different from project sekai but it still has its own gimmick that it plays into. rather than a small game cut of the song like some of these other games, hypmic splits the songs into parts so you can play the entire song over 2-5 parts. they also utilize a ring style layout but have two different types of hold notes, yellow and green. the yellow ones are simple holds and green ones rotate the entire map to where the note goes, adding depth to the game play.

i've tried to play project sekai a few times and it just doesn't know what it wants to do. it has 3d mvs like ensemble stars and it has a straight lane layout which. those two don't really mesh. anything you can find in project sekai you can find it better in another game. d4dj does the world interactions and also just has the best live 2d of any of these games (in my opinion. its very very smooth), you can do office or club decoration in both d4dj and ensemble stars, d4dj has a more creative and inspired straight lane layout and ensemble stars has better 3d mvs in general and knows how to utilize them with its layout, and while hypmic doesn't really have any of these things, it does still manage to hold its own with its rap battle gimmick and the drama tracks and manga for the story. project sekai leans very very heavily on that vocaloid theming and doesn't really put any effort into actually making the game like. enjoyable or unique.

having thoughts about what makes an interesting idol rhythm game

[kingdomtual]

So you wanna learn about Kingdom

Let me make it easy for you! Kingdom has had a recent comeback and I know there are a lot of new kingmakers on the scene, or people who may want to become fans! Awesome, we love to see it! (Updated!)

Kingdom is a group of seven who all have stage names that are associated in some way with a historical king. That’s about as far as the history aspect goes, however, because they are all kings set in fictional lands that have some awesome historical and cultural nods to the real world (mostly in the fashion and setting)

The boys are: Dann (leader), Arthur, Mujin, Louis, Ivan, Hwon, Jahan, and Chiwoo (Former Member).

Fans are called ‘Kingmakers’ and the boys often shorten that to ‘Kingmes’, because it sounds cuter LOL

Each ‘chapter’ (comeback) will feature one of the boys. So far we have had a feature with Arthur, Chiwoo, Ivan, and Dann. Louis is next! At the end of every MV there is a teaser for the next king, so always watch to the very end!

Kingdom won two awards during 2021 (their debut year!) which included ‘Next Generation Hallyu Award’ from Newsis K-Expo Awards, and ‘Focus Award’ from AAA!

Chiwoo left the group on May 25th, 2022 due to personal reasons. The group is continuing with the remaining six members.

Hwon was added to the group on August 31st, 2022. 

Kingdom debuted with Excalibur, featuring Arthur. You can watch the MV right here! Excalibur

They have a very dynamic style with colorful fantasy settings. Arthur’s main aspect was his destiny to take the throne, and aligning himself with the other kings to do so. It was a great introduction to all of the characters we will see in their continuing storyline ‘History of Kingdom’.

Their first comeback featured Chiwoo and the title song Karma. You can find the Karma MV right here! Karma

The dynamic style returned, no doubt about it, even with the different style and setting. Chiwoo’s main aspect was how he was torn between taking care of his kingdom, and doing as his heart dictated and protecting everyone. Chiwoo shows us a different aspect of being a king, and it was really good to see the boys stretch their acting skills in this more tortured chapter.

Now their second comeback we have Ivan’s chapter and the title song Black Crown. You can check it out right here: Black Crown

In this chapter we see their same style, that beautiful scenery and dynamic acting, but we’re definitely met with a lot of cool and intense aspects we hadn’t seen before! We see two versions of Ivan in this MV. Fate Ivan (white hair, white robes) and Chaos Ivan (black hair, dark outfit and royal outfit). These two versions of Ivan are fighting for the black crown, which seems to give the wearer unspeakable power, but at the cost of being controlled. But as the song says ‘We run the world’, so whoever owns the crown will run the world. There are definitely magical aspects to this MV as well, which I love because we hadn’t seen that previously but Ivan has been hinted to be the magical one since Excalibur, so it’s nice to see that follow through.

Then we had History of Kingdom Part IV: Dann, with the title song 승천 or ‘Ascension’.

Ascension showed us Dann’s kingdom, the Kingdom of Change, which was once a beautiful and peaceful place now being torn apart by war. This era was unique, because we actually got two MVs to show us the entire storyline, so please also check out The Song of Dann (Promise) for the entire story which I will briefly summarize. 

In this chapter, we see that Dann was betrayed by his own people, which led the kingdom to destruction. The bodyguard that we see in The Song of Dann spreads lies in order to keep the girl he loves away from Dann, and to cause his kingdom to fall.

In the end, Dann is left standing alone with his great sorrows and heavy losses. His kingdom is lost, the betrayal has destroyed his people and the peace that once surrounded this place.

We now await History of Kingdom Part V: Louis, which was just announced and will be on 10/05/22!

But maybe you’re thinking...I just wanna see the boys doing fun stuff! Well, guess what? Their youtube channel and tiktok are full of fun videos of them just being themselves. You can check out their youtube right here: Kingdom

(I’m sorry I don’t have a tiktok but you can look them up if you do LOL)

Also if you’re ever looking for updates or kingdom content you can check out kingdom-source for any youtube videos and performances!

Since I’ve already written a lot and it’s becoming a tl;dr situation...I’ll leave it there! But my ask box is always open to talk about my top tier group Kingdom. Please be sure to give Black Crown a listen and enjoy their performances! Thanks for coming to my ted talk LOL

[gaykey]

OH MY FUCKING GOD HE DANCES TOO?!?!!!?!

I played through Face and Bad Love, and then I had a breakdown - they are such different albums, but still so cohesive and with a clear musical direction and still clearly just different sides of the same artist and and and

I DIDN'T THINK MUSICIANS MADE ALBUMS AS A CONCRETE PART OF THE ARTFORM ANY MORE, I THOUGHT STREAMING HAD RUINED THE CONCEPT OF THE ALBUM in favour of the single and the second single and the third single and the fourth single and youknow, individual tracks that will do well on their own

Chemicals IS such a vegaspete song!

(no, I didn't do MVs I just pulled him up on streaming, but then you said, and youtube and WHAT THE FUCK whimsy and bombastic and emotional and THAT's ART AAAAHHASFJHdgh) I LOVE YEARS&YEARS how have I not heard this before, god dammit HIS VOICE, it SUITS

I don't. I don't know how to process. THE STAGE PRESENCE IN THOSE CLIPS?

yes pls recs I have a long weekend

oh he dances anon - he fucking dances.

he's an amazing dancer actually. he picks up choreo super quick and is known for watching a dance only a couple times before being able to do it. his speciality is girl group choreos 💓

and you, you just get it, anon. key's style is so clear in his music (it's like that with all the members of shinee and their solo work. they all have a unique style to them, and it's so cool to see.) and it makes it even better somehow? like idk, it's just so him.

the whole of bad love was a concept that key said he's been thinking about and wanting to explore for years. like 10+ years. so, the whole thing is really special to him. he had full say on nearly every part of it. even down to the design of the physical albums (which you should totally look up anon, because they're so fucking gorgeous) which is not common in the k-pop induatry at all.

and mmm yeah with k-pop - i'm assuming this is your first k-pop? - they don't do that whole? releasing singles from the same album thing.

they have an album - usually either full-length or mini - and an entire concept that it revolves around, and only have one single from the album that they promote.

sometimes, with a full album, they're do a repackage a few weeks later - the same album for the most part BUT with an entire new concept, single and some new tracks - for example key's face & then the repackage i wanna be.

it's all about the album. it really is an artform.

yeah his bad love mv is just............god what a time. amazing. the theatrics! again, it was so him.

and yep! his voice suits y&y music so well, i really hope he & olly collab again in the future. like a proper si gle with qn mv qnd everything.

recs lol, well, now i don't know where to start? it's hard, because anon, i've been a fan of key and shinee pretty much 14 years now and i warn you

i am not normal about this.

hm, how about some of my fave lives from him?

every teardrop is a waterfall cover

good good

bad love

helium

also, this is a classic little interview with him that shows his personality a bit ♡

seriously can't get over how much you're enjoying his stuff. it has warmed my heart honestly. i love when people appreciate and love him.

[sanstropfremir]

pls do talk more about b*s and their current image (censoring because if you don’t have great things to say i don’t want you to be attacked by their crazy stans :))

i always bring this up when i talk about them but it’s really :( that they are the way they are now. like i was a fan because of their hyyh era and their songs about the troubled youth. and of course they can’t stay in that image forever (because we all grow up and it would just be v fake if they tried to continue it given their status and wealth now.) it’s just disappointing that they went down the ‘safe, disney image’ and are releasing generic mainstream pop songs people will forget after a couple listens. i’m no longer a fan of them now but yuh.

also not to mention how they essentially made kpop boring for me now lol i wish companies had fun with their music selections instead of aiming for whatever b*s has. like we will never get a group like orange caramel again (i know wjsn chocome’s concept was similar but it just didn’t feel the same. you talked about it before and i wholeheartedly agree with ur points.)

thank you for the consideration of censoring the name but honestly i'm not that worried about it. i do however find the increasingly creative ways people censor it to be extremely hilarious so keep it up if you would like.

i addressed most of the first part of your ask in the second part of my response here, this is now the third installment in a series, somehow. (the first part is here).

not to level this at you in specific anon, because i know a lot of people share this sentiment of kpop being 'boring' now, and while there is an element of this that is influenced by bts, and although it is true we aren't getting the same level of wild that produced orange caramel, there is actually interesting and kinda weird stuff happening in kpop; it's just not by the groups that are getting the most attention. dreamcatcher has been out here doing horror rock since their debut in 2017. onf has put out two excellent summer pop tracks with fun and stupid genre mvs. i love this recent ghost9 track. i'm obsessed with the instrumental in the chorus of bdc's moon walker. just b debuted last month with a strange bang yongguk track and a very 2013 feeling mv. here's another weird and fun boy group debut, blitzers. a.c.e have put out favourite boys, the fave boyz remix, down, and higher as their last four releases which all have the most coherent and well designed concepts in the last year. and while i'm at it i might as well include take me higher and undercover. oneus put out a mad max themed performance video randomly for no reason like three weeks ago. the rest of the industry were cowards for not following up on to be or not to be with a shakespeare comeback wave. rip onlyoneof but they gave us a whole three week comeback of dick grabs. hanya brought my attention to this weird as shit debut track from a group that has now totally disappeared. knk's sunset exists. we moved on way too fast from the mv because taeyang was being cunty on music shows but sf9's teardrop has probably some of the most interesting shots in a kpop mv in the last several years. and we definitely moved on too fast from my favourite just some guy and goofy movie character woodz's feel like.

i think it's pretty fatalistic to view bts as having singlehandedly made the industry boring because honestly......i don't think they have. if you want to talk about the downturn to plainclothes styling....well that's shinee's fault. and the general trend to less dramatic fashion and visual tastes is not exclusive to the kpop industry, it's been a whole cultural trend. the mid to late 2010s were the rise of 'normcore' and we haven't burst the bubble yet. bts is just reflecting trends happening in the wider world, and in particular the western one. for the most viewed kpop mv of 2020 dynamite did....what exactly? it didn't really spawn any significant copycats in terms of sound or aesthetics, with the exception of maybe superm's we do if you look at it a bit sideways. although this is one of bts' better styled mvs, 70s retro did not make any resurgence in kpop styling, EXCEPT in magazine and fashion shoots, which it was already doing in the west. taemin's criminal was significantly more influential; i can think of at least three different male soloist mvs that borrowed heavily from it. honestly i think stylists and groups are trying to steer as clear as possible of whatever aesthetics bts uses, lest they accidentally doom themselves to a (perceived) slighted fanbase. plus, there's been a pretty sizable resurgence in contemporary hanbok styling, so even though there is a lot more outward attention going to things like international promotions for other groups and whatever the hell sm keeps trying to do with nct, i think a fair amount of companies are interested in maintaining the koreanness of kpop while facilitating broader global access.

and honestly, bigger acts have also put out interesting things in the last year. we did all see taemin's back to back release roster for ngda right? criminal? idea???? advice???????? fuck, chocolate was barely a year ago. whatever your opinions on yunho are, thank u is fucking brilliant mv. sunmi's tail. lie to me and tell me the mv for you can't sit with us isn't fun as fuck. i dunno what the hell the new nct127 song is gonna be like but the teaser photos and mood sampler are weird as hell and i'm absolutely interested. he's only kpop adjacent at the moment but jackson's 100 ways and lmly are really sharply produced low budget mvs with clean and interesting visuals. maniac shot to the top of my most listened immediately after it dropped because lia kim AND those slick horns in the instrumental???? ten's paint me naked was not at all what i was expecting but it's still fun as hell and has a pretty unique aesthetic.

the tldr of this whole three parter is this: bts has always been reactionary to wider cultural trends and that's been how they've made it this far. yes their influence on the industry looms very large because of the predominence of them on the scene, but it's mostly in the perception of kpop rather than in the artistry of it.

i don't think any company is going to be able to achieve what bts and hybe have, which i think is fine. they're the scale tipped too far. hopefully by now most companies have probably noticed that they don't need to cater to the western market so hard, and that it's probably not a good idea to offer their artists up on the racist chopping block of the western pop scene. you can market to an international fanbase without trying to gun for a grammy or for billboard or whatever. creating interesting art should be at the fore, not numbers goals. but we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens in the next year or so.

[thedaytheworldburned]

‘Can’t You See Me?’ Lyric Analysis (The Day The World Burned, We...)

Ahh, my namesake  (and my first title track with TXT)! Perhaps I should have started with this one...

Released with The Dream Chapter: ETERNITY, May 2020. 

The song marked a distinct shift in TXT’s style and concept, from youthful and magical to dark and vengeful. Fire was a particular motif, in the MVs, choreography, and lyrics. This was a complete plot twist, and was both completely unexpected, and absolutely what we would expect from TXT. It perfectly rounded out the Dream Chapter trilogy, and showed the beginnings of the consequences of the boys’ mistakes in the previous two albums. Along with Minisode, it bridged into the dreaded Chaos Chapter.

The Korean name of the song, which translates to, ‘The Day the World Burned, We...’ is very unique and interesting. It ends on a cliffhanger with the elipsis, and has an aspect of uncertainty - we never know - do we fill in the gaps ourselves, or do they just not tell us what they did? The matter-of-fact nature of the name makes it very creepy, like they just stood by and watched everything burn (think of that meme of the grinning girl in front of the burning house). Let’s just say, it’s considerably more creepy than the English title.

The song itself describes the falling out between the group, and the consequences of their anger and pain. It is very sinister and Gothic. There are a few interesting line distributions, and some interesting transation differences. 

For instance, the line ‘friends don’t understand me any more,’ is sung by each of the members individually, except for Beomgyu, who only sings it with others. Was this a stylistic choice, or does it have meaning? Does Beomgyu not voice his concerns because he doesn’t want Taehyun to notice that he is the sketchy one? He did murder Taehyun in the MV, so maybe he’s just trying to cover his trail?

The teasers that came with the MV were ridiculously confusing, and I still don’t really know what was going on. But everyone is suspicious in some ways - why did Soobin lie? Why did Beomgyu murder Taehyun? Why did Yeonjun cause so much destruction? What happened to Kai? And why is Taehyun investigating and staring into our souls constantly? 

No one is in the right.

The choreography is also key in telling the story of ‘Can’t You See Me?’ It, along with the MV, styling, teasers, and especially the lyrics, shows both chaos and insanity, and many symbols of a broken friendship and youth (think the ‘crumbled sandcastle’ and the pinky promise).

In my storyline playlist, the track is after ‘Blue Hour’ and before ‘Magic. Why did I put it there? I don’t really remember. Perhaps because the end of the ‘Blue Hour’ MV shows Beomgyu stepping on the book/grimoire, a symbol of their friendship and power, and because ‘Eternally’ comes after ‘CYSM,’ and ‘Magic’ comes before ‘Eternally’. 

Yup, I think that was it.

Full lyric analysis below the line.

Can’t You See Me? (The Day The World Burned, We...)

‘Scintilla’ is a synonym of ‘iota’, but this didn’t seem to make sense, so I dug deeper. It also seems to be a variety of blueberry. Blueberris represent youth, eternity, optimism and confidence in the future. All of these are aspects of the TXT storyline which bloomed in the first two albums and burned in this one.

HYBE really like their flora and fauna references.

It’s a lyric analysis post, but I ought to mention the choraography here. In the ‘who’s a liar?’ part, Kai and Yeonjun make pinky promises. It is debated whether Beomyu makes a finger gun or a pinky promise. Soobin and Taehyun both cross their fingers - ihding their lies from everyone else. This is kind of ironic - Soobin’s asks ‘who’s a liar’ while he himself is lying. 

We know that Soobin lies, which is an element contributing to the rift between the boys, but we don’t know why Taehyun lies - he is just trying to solve the mystery of who started the breakdown of their friendship. Although it’s possible he lied to get close to others and find the answer. We know that Kai and Yeonjun, although they have their suspicious elements, aren’t liars. 

No idea what is going on with Gyu. I’m not sure Gyu knows what’s going on with him either.

I would also like to mention that one piece of lost media - the stage where Soobin made a pinky promise instead of crossing his fingers. This happened once and once only. Taehyun still crossed his fingers. No one knows why this happened, and whether it was a mistake, or was a specific message as part of the storyline. At this point, after searching so much, I kind of wonder if it ever actually existed, or did I (and many others) hallucinate it?

The last two lines of this verse are also, ‘gone in a dream, something, something, abandoned island, that forgotten melody.’ This mention of Magic Island being forgotten is interesting - in this era and the MAGIC era, it is both burnd and forgotten by the boys. It is another symbol of their friendship, and is forgotten as they drift apart.

So, Soobin and Yeonjun are the two members who say ‘save me,’ and it is pretty clear why they want to be - Yeonjun wants to be saved from his endless death, and Soobin wants to be saved from the state of being forgotten and alone that  he is in during the ‘Eternity concept trailer.’

Conclusions

This song, and the whole album, did major heavy lifting in the story. Very important, very snazzy, and wonderfully dark and Gothic. It is on the border of horror, but is perhaps even more horrific for its real life inspirations. 

I just love it so much. What a time to be alive during CYSM era!

[himbodemon]

HC: The brothers as KPop Stans

I have an itch to scratch.

Purely self-indulgent headcanons that sprung from the thought of Asmo dancing to HyunA like yes king serve it up

DISCLAIMER: All are fully fluffy/SFW except for Satan’s which is mildly suggestive.

LUCIFER:

Not a fan AT ALL. Finds it too loud and flashy & cannot understand why so many humans are infatuated by it

Gets wee woo by pristin stuck in his head and is FURIOUS about it

You’ll be hanging around in his room while he works, scrolling through your D.D.D when you hear him breathe out a deep little “we are pristin...” followed by a painfully disgruntled groan of annoyance. You try so hard not to laugh and fail.

Might end up occasionally listening to acoustic / orchestral covers and arrangements of some of your favourite songs so he can try and connect with you / understand your interests. 

If you forced him to pick, Fave singers / groups would be AKMU, IU and Hwasa (The instrumentals aren’t really his style but he finds her singing style / voice soothing and also she’s... gorgeous wow...)

MAMMON:

Yeah the music’s fine and all but people are paying $50 for Photocards!?!?!?

One of those people that buys like, 200 albums to get into a fansign, only to sell off the fansign ticket for an extortionate price

I fully believe that Mammon would like to visit MC’s room whenever he’s stressed out or overwhelmed, and they’d just sit and listen to music together - maybe subtly dancing along with their shoulders or tapping their feet but mostly just silently enjoying each other’s presence

You’re doing that one day when he tells you to play “That one song he likes”. You immediately know it’s ‘HYLT’ by Blackpink

Probably in love with the flashy MV’s, every time he sees a new model of car in the background he wants to buy one for himself

Fave groups would be BLACKPINK, BTS and EXO

LEVIATHAN:

100% in love with cutesy girlgroups

Will listen to Twice’s ‘candy pop’ on a loop for 12 hours straight because it’s so precious and bubbly and the girls are so cute??? plus he can pretend they’re still 2D waifus that way

Walks into your room to show you the new lightstick he just ordered, only to see you practicing the choreography to ‘cheer up’. Immediately flares up in a blush and BOLTS out at record speed

Please don’t dance around him his little weeb heart can’t take it

Every time he gets into a new group, it only takes him about a week before he’s fully memorised their online profiles and knows every single fanchant

Might get a little upset if you compliment an idols looks/visuals/talents because he’ll start comparing himself to them, says things like “W-Why would you be interested in me?? I’m not exactly Jungkook now am I???”. He knows it’s hypocritical with how overly invested he gets in idols but he is the avatar of envy after all, it can’t really be helped

Fave groups would be TWICE, K/DA (not his music style but pretty 2D catgirl makes his brain go brrrr) and Weeekly

SATAN:

You’re sat in the living room watching KPop MV’s, he walks past you and just so happens to see the AOA ‘Like a Cat’ MV on your D.D.D

You’ve successfully piqued his interest

Would ask you lots of questions about the industry, different groups, what you like about it etc..

Would do a lot of research into significant figures of the genre and probably knows every single detail about KPop Slave Contracts, if he’s feeling argumentative might ask how you can enjoy a form of media that treats its artists so badly

Any group with a jazz / sultry aspect is immediately going in his playlist. I know a lot of people put Satan down as a metal-lover and while I fully agree, I could also see him appreciating some nice brass music now and then.

Will never stop pestering you to dance to ‘Like A Cat’. From the first glance all he could imagine was you dancing to it in their stage outfits and... wow. 

Fave groups would be AOA, Mamamoo and EXID

ASMODEUS:

Absolutely 100% a KPop stan. He finds the experimental fashion, showy choreography and grandeur aesthetics so enticing and it’s 100% his style.

I HC Asmo as a big big dance fan, I think he’d adore how it can be dainty, strong or elusive fully depending on the way you perform it. He probably already knows tango, salsa, pole dancing and ballet and spends a bunch of his free time learning his favourite choreographies (the main ones being Chungha’s ‘gotta go’, EXO’s ‘Love shot’, Red Velvet’s ‘bad boy’ and HyunA’s ‘how’s this’ or ‘Lip & Hip’)

Diavolo decides to hold a Devildom talent show at the end of the semester to celebrate the exchange program going well. Asmo IMMEDIATELY calls you asking you to perform ‘Naughty’ by Irene & Seulgi with him. You both rehearse it in secret and fully tear up the stage when the talent show rolls around. You win, which he fully expected, and leave the brothers in a mix of confusion, adoration and embarrassment. 

Thirsts over the idols as if his life depends on it. The prettiest idols for him to look at and fantasize about are BTS’ V, Weki Meki’s Doyeon (Only in the stuff she performed as an adult post-IOI), EXO’s Suho, (G)I-DLE’S Soojin and SNSD’s Tiffany

Fave groups would be: Every Single SM Group he’s such a whipped SM Stan

Red Velvet are all beautiful, SHINee’s vocals are delicious, EXO’s discography is... the perfect level of lewd for him, F(x)’s unique style is beautiful and WOW Luna’s solo work is just his style, but his most most loved SM group is Girl’s Generation and he will NOT hesitate to bust into a fully rehearsed performance as soon as he hears ‘the boys’ on your playlist.

BEELZEBUB:

Has never heard of KPop before you introduce it to him. You were both cuddling together in his room while he snacked on the gummies you’d bought him, listening to you excitedly ramble about this new KPop group that you thought he’d like!

A die-hard metalhead, can’t enjoy any music that doesn’t hurt his ears a little bit, so he’s already mentally preparing how he’ll pretend to like it and is just grateful that you were thinking of him, when suddenly his eyes are met with Dreamcatcher’s ‘Chase Me’ MV

And wow. Wow. This isn’t what he was expecting at all. Electric guitar? drums?... NOT bubblegum pop?

Doesn’t become a major fan but definitely adds a lot of the heavier songs from their discography to his gym playlist, still happily listens to your excited ramblings and talks about other groups, but will probably pay a bit more attention if you mention a Dreamcatcher comeback.

Fave groups: Exclusively Dreamcatcher, but also likes ‘Clap’ by seventeen as an exception since he finds the guitar riff mixed into the instrumental cool.

BELPHEGOR:

Not interested. Similarly to Lucifer finds it too loud, too bright and too in-your-face

Not a huge music lover in general, but can tolerate some easy-on-the-ears gentle songs. Has a soft spot for Melanie Martinez & Lo-Fi.

You can try all you want to convince him to enjoy it, show him whatever cutesy MV’s you want, as many live stages or variety shows as possible, even the sweetest most gentle kdrama OST, he’s not interested.

You send him ‘ZZZ’ by LimeSoda jokingly and tell him it’s his theme-song, he’s not amused.

Fave groups: None.

Songs he’ll tolerate if you’re listening to them: Pporappippam - Sunmi, Why So Lonely - Wonder Girls, Butterfly - LOONA, Night Rather Than Day - EXID, Kazino - BiBi

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

The Hare Hare MV is very Twice. That is to say, it's very cute and fun at times, but not super cohesive; it's a bit of an eye sore, some dance scenes seem poorly edited. But I like the outdoors scenes a lot. Twice rarely shoot out in the open, so that was refreshing and fit the song really well. The main issue I have with the MV is actually the styling. It just doesn't fit the song. Throughout the MV, Twice either wear their TTT's era y2k fashion or their Set Me Free/Cry For Me/ICSM/World Tour/etc. go-to fashion. It's so uninspired, like they're just recycling concepts. Hare Hare sounds very different from their other releases, both Korean and Japanese, and even the MV is unique for them, so JYPE should've capitalized on that and given the girls some more unique styling to fit the bright, somewhat offbeat vibe of the song. I think the song is really cool and the dance looks really cool too, so I wished they had better styling. At this point, I agree with people who say Twice need to change their styling. I love the tight dresses with the garters and the chunky boots but both Twice's styling and music are too consistent at this point. I appreciate they always deliver but I want to be surprised. They would benefit immensely from a concept change. They're too Twice. I love Twice, but I wish they'd release a song in a different style; for example, with a different line distribution, in a lower pitch, with a more relaxed MV, etc. I think the styling would follow naturally.

Anyway, Catch a Wave is very cool, but too high-pitched. I think their Japanese songs, especially the bsides, tend to be very high-pitched and most members struggle to sound comfortable. The instrumental and melody are super solid but I don't like Dahyun and Momo's adlibs and the "Catch a wave" hook is too much for a lot of the members, who sound very strained. It's still a good song, but would probably sound better with other voices. JYPE's music production could also be improved. It doesn't sound all that smooth or natural? Don't know how to explain it.

Still, like I said, Twice always deliver so kudos to the girls for that, and I'm looking forward to seeing the whole choreo! But I still don't get why they released the song a month before the MV. They killed any impact the MV might've had and the song's momentum too... Twice's promo isn't great. I remember the teaser for The Feels dropped over a month before the song did, and I got so angry at the long wait, but then forgot the song was coming out... I'm probably not the only one that happened to. Don't know what Twice gained from doing that.

[chqnified]

Opinions on nmixx debut

I've read a lot of reviews, especially on tumblr about their debut and i found the different perspectives pretty interesting so here goes mine that nobody asked for :)

I think I'll start with, i actually lowkey liked it? It's not a type of sounding song I'd usually like, however i do feel as though contrary to what some kpop stans are saying, it did sound unique. I didn't listen to the song and go hm this sounds familiar. I did personally like the third part concept of o.o best, it sounded more my style. I feel like jype could've made the 3 kind of concepts into full on separate songs with mvs, maybe that would've been superior? But i still think overall, it was good. It grew on me the more i listened to it.

I feel as though these girls will have a lot of stage presence. I'm talking especially in particular kyujin, jinni and lily. They really shined in the mv and were really memorable. In fact, I don't think i have ever memorised members of a group and their names as quickly as i did with nmixx, after 2 watches of the mv i knew who was who and who sang what part. Lily's vocals, she deserves all the hype that nmixx stans are giving her, they're so distinct and i genuinely love her voice so much? There are very few idols who i think about having unique vocals, and she is one of them. Her voice is like how i feel about NingNing from aespa, you just know it's them and they really give it yk?

I believe that people are being a little disingenuous when saying that the girls don't stand out or have charisma. Jype's groups (mainly talking twice, itzy and stray kids) all really have members with charisma who you remember and imo can't help but like them, nmixx isn't an exception. I think that they do have more presence than a lot of popular groups (no hate to any of them).

Tank, I'm not a huge lover of atm, I don't dislike it though, again it may grow on me. I do think jype made a good choice in making o.o the title track.

It was far from being the worst debut in history, i think this is probably another wonyoung and jennie situation but with the whole group, people hate on them because they're jealous. They kind of give me a mix of itzy and skz vibes. More so stray kids, people hate on them, claim their music is noise etc, hate on the members, try to drag them down, but that's just because they have something about them that's different, if that makes sense. Nmixx are the new it girls, wbk.

I would love to see the group self produce music though, i feel like they have the talent to do so and if they did they'd be immensely popular? They have literally everything else going for them.

Conclusion: i am going to buy their debut album lol

Oh and as a final note to add on, people comparing o.o to next level by aespa.... They don't even sound the same? Just bc they're a similar genre doesn't mean it sounds the same or is a copy.