#dumb btob back at it

[madammidnightsblog]

BTOB Punishments

WARNING : Sex, listed what kinks are used, dacryphilla, sex toys usage, dirty talking, degrading, angry sex, jealousy

Minhyuk

Orgasm Denial 

Minhyuk loves to cum until he can't, he loves the feeling of releasing on himself or the floor and made to lick it up like a whore but today he broke a rule. A major one. He went behind your back and went through your stuff. In your guy's house, privacy is important to both of you but today he went through your 'study' room, the room is actually where you hide your snacks and your gifts you were hiding until you got home and he had found the present you were hiding until his birthday but he found it, excitedly calling you to than you only to be scolded and told to be naked and on the bed by the time you got home.

He was tied to the bed, body glistened in the light from all the sweat and oil you've been smearing on him, your hand lazily stroking him, "You want to come, hm? You want to cum so badly, don't you? You look ready to burst any second, but Mommy won't let you, " Minhyuk's legs shook as the knot in his stomach grew tighter and his cries echoing off the walls, "No she won't and why is that hm? because whores like you aren't allowed to cum." You spat on his face.

Minhyuk was sobbing at this point, trying to do anything to get you to allow him to cum but all his words were drowned out by his whiny moans, "M-Mommy.. cu..cum... I wan...want to cum..!" Tears flowed down his face and a loud scream left his lips as you pressed a magic wand to his best red tip.

Sungjae

Spanking

He is known to be cocky and downright bratty so it's no surprise he is getting a punishment. Today was another petty trick from this boy but it was the last bit of your patients with him for the day and what he did was dumb. He thought it would be cute to masturbate in front of you when you were having an important zoom meeting with your boss and to make it worse, your boss even asked if you porn playing in the background because he wasn't being quiet about it, wanting you to know he was feeling good. You sent him a harsh glare which only made him smirk and cry out in pleasure, back bowing off the chair and head leaned back while his hand tightens around his base as he fucks into his fist.

After apologizing to your boss and telling him it was the neighbors going at it on their balcony, you both left the zoom. That's when you stormed over to Sungjae, grabbed him by the throat, "I fucking had it with you today." You growled. 

Sungjae only smirked, "Really?"

You pulled away and sat back down before patting your thigh, "Over here. Now." You barked while reaching for your paddle next to the table, in a box of couch pillows.

Sungjae's cocky attitude turned into panic, begging for you to forgive him this time only for you to yank him by the arm so he would be next to you. Timidly, he slowly laid on your lap; Sungjae was already naked, so you didn't have to deal with unnecessary things like moving clothes. You then raised the paddle in the air before slamming it down on his ass and luckily, he knew to count every spank. His voice grew higher every time said the number, his ass was a bright red, and his dick was fully erected, precum smearing all over your pant leg. You would make a snarky remark about his erection while taking the paddle between his legs and gently slap his balls, making him yelp and squirm. He wasn't a big fan of the paddle but feel the cool leather on his balls has him pressing himself onto it and you just pulled it away with a chuckle, listening to him whine for it but just to recive a slap on the ass once again.

Hyungsik 

Overstimulation 

Punishments don't come often to him because he is usually obedient and overall, a sweet baby but there are times when he slips up. He wants you to monitor his sexual activity so touching himself and porn isn't allowed without permission and today you caught him watching porn in your shared room. The computer screen plays a porno as he sits back in his chair with his hand palming his crotch, his eyes trained on the screen and soft pants escaping his lips with every gentle squeeze to his crotch.

"Dirty boy." You whispered as you slowly pushed a small metal rod into his dick before gently tugging at the handle.

The overwhelming feeling of cumming four times already was enough to have him lightheaded and this, doing sounding was too much. He was close to cumming again. You wrapped your hand around his dick and his base felt thicker than before thanks to the rod and you couldn't help but let a small moan slip out at the thought of stuffing it more until he broke. Hyungsik threw his head back and gripped the bedsheets while closing his eyes, moans leaving his lips with every stroke you gave his cock. It was as if his cock was being pushed to its limits and you couldn't care less about it and just continued to toy it, wrapping your free hand around his purpling tip and twisted your fist slightly just to hear the choked cries from him. The cries and shaking had you wanting more, you just couldn't get enough of seeing him like this and to make it better, his glossy eyes could barely focus on you as they blink back tears just to see clearly.

"N-No more Mom-Mommy! F-Full... I fe-feel so full." He cried as your thumb tugged on the rod.

Changsub

Humiliation 

Pictures and videos of him shoving a dildo into his sopping and needy hole was all you got from him when you were with your parents. So, you decided to cut the visit short and went home to deal with your brat. Once you stepped foot in the house, you could hear his desperate moans from the bedroom, so you stormed there to see him all spread out on the bed with the thick cock stretching his hole nicely and his head pressed into his pillow, whimpers and moans of your name leaving his lips as his neglected cock laid limp against his stomach. Once inside you had already made up your mind, you were going to punish him in a way he'll learn.

"What's wrong? I thought you liked taking videos?" You sneer as you video tape him getting fucked by a sex machine on the highest setting and a vibrator attached to his tip, "You seemed to like videoing yourself when I was gone." 

Changsub was crying as the humiliation spread across his chest and it only made him harder. His teary eyes looked up at you, "I..I do.." he sobbed as you squatted in front of him to get a better view of his hole getting rammed. Lube dripping from all sides of his hole and the dildo making lewd noises with every thrust. His thighs were covered in hickeys and handprints, his ankles held open since they were tied to the bed frame to show off just for the camera and they shakily tried to close despite knowing it wouldn't work.

He knew no one but you two would ever see that video but knowing you were filming him getting all fucked out for a show made him feel some type of way, wanting to cover himself even though the voice in his head was telling him to show you how good he was feeling. The camera was so close to his cock, you could clearly see all the veins that formed along his length and how they pulsed in need, and it made you drool. You felt like you should have done this sooner just judging how close he is just from you holding the camera and telling empty promises to show his band mates and possibly his fans to show how much of a dirty whore he truly was.

Peniel 

Teasing

Punishing him is extremely rare since he always follows your rules because he knows the rules are meant to be followed and he would never want to disappoint you. But today he had a bad day, the schedule was packed from twelve in the morning 'til nine at night, he barely had any free time even during the breaks, and he was just so exhausted so when you were clinging to him once he got him, he went off. Curses and yelling came from him which he regretted in an instant just seeing the dark look in your eyes and the frown that graced your pretty face. You could tell he was tired, but you missed him a lot since he has been so busy, but the outburst angered you, especially after he said some things he shouldn't of, and you knew you couldn't let it slide so easily. So, a punishment had to be put in place before any kind of destressing could happen.

"I-I'm sorry!" He cried as you pressed a vibrator to his nipples, the aroused buds standing tall and a cherry red from all the playing you have done. 

A huge smile broke on your face from his cries. He was squirming around on the bed as you tease his nipples and then his cock, stimulating him as much as you can while telling him how hurt you are between every sloppy kiss to his cock, making sure that you got it all nice and wet. His hips were jerking every time you pressed your tongue against the side of his tip, swirling the tip of your wet muscle around as you ran the wand across his sensitive chest. His body shook slightly while he cried out apologies which you just drowned out as white noise while you pulled away from his cock to smile sweetly at him. He barely could keep his eyes open with every press of the toy to his abused nipples, his stomach coiling as pleasure builds up and threaten to break when your warm hand came in contact with his twitching cock.

"I'm sure you are." With that, you began to jerk him off while switching from nipple to nipple with the vibrator and your tongue.

Eunkwang

Public Teasing

He was never a fan of being dirty in public because it could ruin his image and also cause a huge issue for his work but when it came to punishments, he knew this was on top of the list. You never had many issues where you had to punish him with this method since you knew this was something that pushed some kind of boundary, but that week he was pushing your patients and you were running out of punishments that stuck more than a day. He is a friendly guy so the stylist noona's are aware of that but at times he can be flirty with them like this week he was, and it was getting you a little more than upset. First it was buying them coffee to randomly bring them flowers which normally didn't bother you too much but, to make it even more interesting is that he got them merch he paid with his own money. You had enough of this, and it made you extremely jealous, so he had to be taught a lesson. You knew he was doing most of this out of the goodness in his heart because he was a nice and sweet guy, but you also knew he was doing this to get a raise out of you and it worked. Eunkwang was happy to see the jealousy in your eyes and the glare you would send whenever he walks into the room after you witnessed his "acts of good".

He was biting his lip hard to the point he tasted the metallic taste of blood, and he couldn't help but moan. Your hand was in his pants as you guys sat in the back of the dressing room and you weren't alone, stylists and staff were up and about to get everything ready for the music video and there you were, jerking him off under the blanket that was laying across both of your laps. His eyes were trained on you as you shoved his pants and boxers to his knees, your hand still wrapped around his cock, "It feels good, doesn't it?" Your lips were pressed against his ear as your hand quickly went quicker, "Having your worthless little dick jerked off in a room full of people, wanting to gain all the attention of the ladies so you can give everything your pocket can offer. Worthless little bitch, you are mine. and only mine." 

His lips slipped from his teeth as small pants and moans filled the row, "O-Oh fuck, no no,Mommy- please" he moaned as he bucked into your hand.

[readingadream]

A Twisted High

Pairing: Bang Chan X OC Alexa/Alex

Summary: Alexa's favorite thing is Ice skating and hanging out with friend's. Chris's favorite thing is Hockey and working for the family business. What happens when these two get paired up for a school project and become each others new favorite thing.

Genre: Mafia Au, Hockey Au,

Warning and Tags: Drug use, violence, eventually smut, fluff, angst

Word Count: 1957

Chapter Four

Chris’s POV

Trying to protect Alexa, I lock the doors, and not wanting to be reckless, I wait for the figure to make its move. But the figure turns around and makes its way back to my front door. I instantly pull out my phone to call Han. It doesn't take long before he answers. 

“Hey, sorry, I am making my way out the door right now. I had to convince BTOB to check out the East Wing. You owe me man, Changsub kept going on and on about how I need to be more serious. You know how annoying that is.” He sounds out of breath and irritated. Realizing that Han said he was inside, I turned around and checked on Alex in the car again to see if she was still in there and asleep. I then took a slight walk away from the car to where I first saw the figure.

“So you weren't just outside making your way to my car?” Not seeing anything, I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding and realized I was too tired after the park and really didn't feel like another fight. 

“No, why, did you see someone? Should I have brought Changbin or maybe a gun?” Han worriedly questions through the phone and I practically hear him stop in his tracks. 

“No, it's fine. I know what Hyunbin looks like so I will check the security cameras when I erase this hour. Now help me get Alex inside safe and unnoticed.” I hang up the phone as I see Han come closer. 

"Okay, so we have to be quick. I expect BTOB to catch on soon that there is nothing at the East Wing. I have your door propped open and also had the camera in your hallway stalled for another 3 more minutes, so let's go." I take one last look around and nod at Han, unlock the car, and take off Alexa's bag, putting it around Han, who is unbuckling her seat belt. 

"I got her, don't worry." I push him over a bit to scoop up Alexa. I move her hair in her face in case we run into anyone in the hallway and take one last look around to see if that figure is still around, but see nothing. I nod at Han to close the car door and we slowly make our way to the front to make sure no one sees us, as well as avoiding the cameras as best as we can. 

"Are you sure she doesn't need to get checked out by a doctor?" Han whispers as he opens the front door, cautiously checking to make sure no one is around before ushering me in, and I carefully get into the house.

“That's why I called you, dumb ass.” We make our way through the house and into my room, doing one last scan. 

“Wow man, that’s hurtful. I’m either a dumb, or an ass, but never both,” Han joked. I give him a fake smile, too irritated to really laugh or enjoy his joke. 

”I appreciate it, but I'm not really in the mood right now. Maybe save the jokes until after we get her in my room, okay?”

”Got it, boss.” After a few minutes, we finally pass all the cameras and make our way to my room.

”So… what’s the plan?” Han helpfully inquired, much to my annoyance.

”I’m getting there, shut up.” After a few minutes of silence, I had a plan in mind to at least get her out of my house and possibly located elsewhere… but where? “Okay. First off, I should treat my wounds-“

”You have wounds?! Where?” Han nearly shouted and practically jumped me, but I was expecting it and dodged my good friend.

”Nothing I can’t handle myself, mostly bruises and a few cuts. I can have them treated with ice and a couple bandages. We’re also lucky that all Alexa seems to be injured by is a lump on the head. That’ll be a problem for morning Alexa.”

”How’d she get that?”

”I have a feeling she tried to put up a fight, and somehow knocked her head on something. For their own sake, it better be because she hit her head on her own car and not by something, or someone, else.”

”Yeah, it does sound like her to hit her head from her own clumsiness.” Han snickered, and while it still upset me, I had to hold back my own laughter because yes, it did sound like her. It would be just her luck to endure all that fright with a rival gang and almost get away before she knocked herself out cold by tripping or something. I was able to hold back my laugh, but not the smirk that lifted my lip.

”If she did hit her head on her own, and if she remembers that bit, I’m sure she’ll be quite pissed when she wakes up.” I look over to the girl laying on my bed sleeping so peacefully. 

”I’m sure she’ll be pissed anyway, knowing her. Knocking yourself out isn’t a good look or a good feeling… just saying from experience.” Han finally gets me to let out a laugh thinking back to when his incident happened.  

”I know, trust me.” The two of us stared at Alexa for the next few moments silently, watching her contentedly sleeping without a care in the world. It’s almost like this evening didn’t happen at all. Unfortunately, it did, and I had to figure out why we were suddenly jumped from seemingly nowhere. How did they know I wasn’t with the others, and alone with a girl? I was so careful getting out there in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Was I tracked somehow?

”Hey man, you look deep in thought. What’s up?”

”Just thinking… Do you think someone put a tracker on me somewhere?”

”A tracker? Do you think someone would be dumb enough to try to put a tracker on you? Do they have a death wish?”

”I would hope not, but I don’t know… it seems strange. I went out of my way to avoid any suspicious areas and rival territories, driving randomly through fields and neighborhoods just to find an abandoned field and lot. But within an hour, we’re found and ambushed. Not only that, it’s as if they knew it was just her and I alone. Don’t you find that strange?”

”Very. Huh, I guess I didn’t think about that. Any suspects or clues?”

”Nothing yet, but I’ll think about it and get back to you. In fact, I’ll clue in the rest of the boys and see if anyone else might have a hunch. But for now, I really need to shower and take some meds. I’m sweaty and sore.”

”You keeping the bedmate?” Han teased with a wiggle of his brow, making me snort in lighthearted humor before lightly pushing my friend away. “If you don’t want her, I can take her off your hands.”

”Shut up and get out, you dork. Have a good night. Let the others know I don’t want to be disturbed.”

”Got it boss.”  Han snickers as he dodged my blow and ran down the hallway, out of sight and hopefully out of mind. While I typically didn’t mind his jokes and teasing, I just really wasn’t in the mood to deal with it tonight. I was exhausted, sore, and worried about Alexa. 

Heaving a deep sigh, I made my way to my ensuite bathroom to shower and dress my wounds. 15 minutes later, I return to my room completely ready for bed, but now faced with another problem: where to sleep. I had a king-sized bed, but I didn’t want Alexa waking up from having an unwelcomed ‘guest’ sharing a bed, despite there being plenty of room for us both to sleep on without touching each other. Heaving another sigh, I made my way to my couch on the other side of my bedroom, already made up with pillows and blankets - probably Han’s doing since I called when I was on my way back home. He likely knew I was going to put Alexa on my bed and I would get the couch, which was nice but also a dick move of him… not that I can say much except that my friend knew me so well.

After I situated my pillows and blankets, I fell into a shallow, fitful sleep. Every little bump and squeak woke me up, both for checking in on Alexa and making sure no one came into my room and discovered my little stowaway. By the time I was finally feeling like I could get some quality sleep, the sun was just about to rise over the horizon. But of course, I’m not so lucky, and a new problem arrived in the form of one of my other close friends barging into my room unannounced.

“Hey Chris! I was wondering if you wanted to go to the gy- OH MY GOD, IS THAT A GIRL IN YOUR BED?!” Changbin shouted, making me wince and check on Alexa to ensure he didn’t accidentally wake her up, which thankfully he didn’t.

“Changbin, shut up, I am trying to sleep.” I grumbled before trying to turn back over. Alas, my friend ripped away my blanket and got in my face with a scowl, which would’ve been funny if I was well rested and awake.

“Wait, you can’t go back to sleep. I got a question, man.”

“Questions that can either be answered by Han or myself when I get some quality sleep. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a nap to get back to.”

”A nap? But you just woke up!” He sounded incredulous. Again, it would’ve been funny if I was actually awake.

”Only because you barged in like the Kool-Aid man on a summer’s afternoon. God, man, take the hint and leave me alone.” I was so close to just throwing him out of my room, but he deserved better than that. If I tried to push him out, there’s no guarantee I wouldn’t also try to kick his ass at the same time.

”But… what about your gym time? You never skip gym time,” Changbin probed, now sounding a little more dejected and pitiful, almost like a kid being told he couldn’t have candy as an afternoon snack.

”Well, I have to today. Long story short, we got jumped last night and I got a little banged up despite winning the fight. I’ve also gotta stay close for when Alexa wakes up. I’m not sure how she’d react if anyone else was here when she woke up in a strange new place.”

”I suppose that’s true,” he responded thoughtfully, but then he seemed to visibly deflate again. “But that means I’ll be lonely at the gym.”

”You know that’s not true. You know Hyunjin will be at the gym, and Felix.”

”Hyunjin will just be taking pictures of himself, and Felix doesn’t have the strength to spot me on the bench press.”

”Then skip it for today, or wait until later and I’ll spot you. But please, just leave me alone to rest or else I’ll kick your ass.”

”Alright, alright, fine. Just…. Be careful, okay? Let one of us know if you need help with her. I’m sure we’ll be convincing.”

”Yeah, sure, not sure if I need you guys ‘convincing’ her of anything. Make sure the others don’t bother me either, alright?” With a grumble, my friend leaves the room, finally inviting silence while I fall back into a somewhat peaceful sleep, despite the birds beginning to chirp outside.

(Author's Note)

Hello I know it’s been awhile. I’m so sorry my editor was busy and was taking forever to edit my chapter four. But it’s my loves birthday so I had to post this chapter. I will also post chapter Five sometimes soon as well to celebrate.

[solitaryandwandering]

Current Tag Game

Tagged by @telomeke - their post was so fun to read! :)

Current time: 10:52 AM, hating Daylight Savings with all my heart and soul. It getting darker earlier is hell.

Current activity: Listening to a playlist, eating a granola bar, sitting on my bed enjoying a lazy Sunday after hanging out with my bestie yesterday.

Currently thinking about: What I should eat today, watching La Pluie later, the albums I want to listen to today to prepare for a Geese concert on Tuesday. Also, the roof of my mouth hurts :(

Current favorite song: This changes literally minute-by-minute but after referring to my November 2023 playlist I do have to say I've been jamming hard to BTOB's "Pray (I'll be your man)" lately. So dramatic! I love it!! Those vocals, Huta's (redhead) rap... yessss. Too bad the lyrics are somewhat corny and that choreo is dumb but... sometimes I just want something fun!

Currently reading: All the meta on this website, emails, insurance documents, etc. Nothing fun besides the meta unfortunately :(

Currently watching: La Pluie (and writing up my in-the-moment thoughts!!), Love in Translation, and slowly working through Laws of Attraction with the bestie. I'm loving them all, goodie for me!! Also watching Kiseki: Dear to Me and My Dear Gangster Oppa, which I'm also enjoying but not to the same extent as the prior three. I was watching I Feel You Linger in the Air but I was being consumed by it way too much so I put it on the back burner until I have more time to lose my mind (I also wasn't watching the uncut version which was A MISTAKE!!!!).

Current favorite character: Of the shows I'm watching now, Ai Di from Kiseki snatches that top spot with NO problem. I love him (and his outfits!!) so damn much. Louis Chiang is doing great work.

Current WIP: Mentally gathering together all the potential thoughts I could write about in my La Pluie watch-along later today!!

I have sworn off tagging, do this if you want!! :)

[shadowetienne]

Etienne’s Top Fives of 2022: Kpop Edition - Boy Groups

We’re on to Boy Groups as I continue down my list from the roundup post. This has in some ways been the hardest category to narrow down, specifically the order of 2nd-4th and who got the 5th spot (there’s a reason I’ve got 2 honorable mentions).

If a boy group has had subunits or members doing things solo, I consider that part of the group’s body of work for the year as long as they’ve also done some full group stuff. If only a subunit has been active, they’d probably get considered a boy group for the sake of this, and if only solos have been active, then they’d go in with solos.

The list with representative MVs is under the cut!

There were so many boy groups that did at least something that I enjoyed this year, including some that I hadn’t enjoyed anything from up until now. I think that part of the reason decisions this year were hard was that this was just an outstanding year for releases overall. Here’s a list of groups with songs that stood out for me this year in about the order that I heard them that didn’t make the list below: Up10tion (“Crazy About You” / "What If Love"), Onewe (“Universe” / "Montage" / "Still Here"), Drippin (“Villain” / “Zero” / “The One”), AB6IX (“1, 2, 3”), BtoB (“The Song”), Nu’est (“Again” disbandment song), Kingdom (“Ascension”), Ghost9 (“X-ray”), Just B (“Re=Load”), TXT (“Good Boy Gone Bad”), MCND (“W.A.I.1” < first time I’ve liked one of their songs), Vanner ("Rollin"), E’last (“Creature"), Omega X (“Play Dumb” < first song I’ve liked by them), TheBoyz (“Sweet” / “Timeless” / “Whisper”), Golden Child (“Replay”), Epex (“Hymn to Love”), P1harmony (“Doom Du Doom” < first song I’ve liked by them), and CIX (“458”).

Honorable Mention: Stray Kids

“Maniac” https://youtu.be/OvioeS1ZZ7o

If you’d asked me a few months ago, Stray Kids probably would have been making my top 5 hands down. I saw them live and they were amazing! They did a lot that I liked early in the year musically. I... didn’t like Maxident and especially the MV for “Case 143″ at all though (there’s... one song I thought was OK on the album), and it probably impacted their place here. I still love them! They’re among my top groups, but I was reminded that their music is hit and miss for me. It is good going back and listening to “Maniac” and remembering that I do love a lot of their music. I really wish that Maxident hadn’t felt so rushed for me because it definitely dampened my appreciation of their overall body of work for the year. They are incredible live though! And I appreciate that I’ve gained friends both on here and in real life over them.

Biases: Han, Lee Know, Seungmin

Honorable Mention: Ateez

“Halazia” https://youtu.be/SszP3hlQ55Y

Ateez came into this year for me riding the high of “Turbulence” that is probably to date my favorite of their songs, and I had high expectations. Their music so far this year has been interesting, but noting has quite caught me the way some of last years releases did. They were in very tight contention for making it into the 5th place, thus why I have these honorable mentions. I am very interested to see where they take their music and storylines next, and “Halazia” (linked above) was probably my favorite thing that they did this calendar year, it’s definitely an interesting sound and it may honestly grow on me further with more listens.

Biases: Seonghwa, Yeosang

5) Cravity

This has been a killer year for Cravity! I loved “Adrenaline” and enjoyed “Vivid” earlier in the year. They had a song all in English that I liked with “Boogie Woogie” (a rarity for me, often understanding lyrics impedes me ability to enjoy songs that I like auditorily). “Party Rock” (above) was definitely my favorite of their releases this year! It gets stuck in my head, it’s so catchy. I definitely replayed it a ton right after it came out too! Cravity has flirted with being on these lists since debut, but I think that the last time they made it on one was their rookie year (granted, they’ve not been around that long). I think that they’ve finally started to hit their stride, and I’m really hoping for more of them embracing this sound!

Biases: Jungmo, Minhee

4) Oneus

I’ve liked them since debut to some extent, and I’d properly fallen for Oneus as a group with “Luna” last year, but “Same Scent” and the entire Malus album was kind of what tipped them over from a group that I loved to one of my top groups. I had Malus on repeat for weeks. They’ve had a rough go of the past few months (don’t really feel like talking about this, I do have opinions, but it’s not a conversation I’m interested in having at this time), but they’ve had amazing performances since then. And I thought that they couldn’t make “Same Scent” better than it already is, and then they just recently released the traditional version (https://youtu.be/pIVfLX8zW00 warning has flashing lights), and it somehow makes the song even better. I love how they use traditional instrumentation and sound in their songs somewhat regularly!

Biases: Seoho, Leedo, Hwanwoong (I am aware that’s over half the group, no I will not narrow it down)

3) OnlyOneOf

I’m breaking my own pattern a little bit by putting “ズルい女“ (their Japanese MV) as the representative song, but it was my favorite of their full group pieces this year, and I think that it shows their choreo and how they make music, even covers, their own really beautifully. The real thing that put’s OnlyOneOf this high on the list is their body of queer work with the member solos this year in the “be” / “undergrOund idOl” series. “skinz” was important to me conceptually, but it’s one of my least favorite OnlyOneOf songs, and I feel like “ズルい女“ is more interesting to me than “Suit Dance.” I like their songs as a body of work immensely in general though! For the biggest reason that I put them on here, see the “be” series:

Yoojung’s “begin” https://youtu.be/MBx_9nygxaQ

KB’s “be free” https://youtu.be/WkKU-9VnNRU

Junji’s “be mine” https://youtu.be/fzEZeQBvVA0 (close contender for being my favorite)

Rie’s “because” https://youtu.be/6u_nwPzf3pI (my favorite, I love this song so much)

Mill’s “beat” https://youtu.be/H6qN9QFrOJs

Nine’s “beyOnd” is upcoming early in January 2023

They are exquisite storytellers in their MVs, and they have committed to telling compelling queer stories. They have incredible cinematic references throughout their MVs, and I just can’t praise their work enough as a whole! I have made so many posts about their storytelling and queer elements in their work, if you want to see more of my thoughts on them, just go digging through my OnlyOneOf tag.

Biases: Rie, Junji

2) Enhypen

It’s funny to me looking back that Enhypen didn’t make it onto these lists earlier. I was aware of them, and knew that I had some connections to them that made them appealing to me. (The one that I talk about more is that I watched Sunghoon and followed his career as a figure skater, I think that he actually made onto one of my figure skating lists when he was in juniors. There’s another one that’s more important, but that I don’t talk about as publicly.) I love the sound that Enhypen’s been living in recently, but they’ve overall had a sound that I’ve enjoyed from the start. I am very excited to see how they keep developing in the future! While I linked “Blessed-Cursed” above as my representative song for them (I’ve been going back to it consistently since it came out in January, it well deserves the spot), I want to also emphasize how much I loved “One In A Billion” (https://youtu.be/_ATqY9GFRh0) and “I Need the Light” (https://youtu.be/Pfq37N3eA7g) both of which are (at least kind of) OSTs.

Biases: Jay, Sunoo, Jungwon

1) Seventeen

Seventeen have been my favorite boy group since they debuted, and they show no signs of stopping that trend any time soon. I’ve loved their releases this year, among them another solo from Junhui with “Limbo” (https://youtu.be/k0sKWlEhVRk) which was a change from his usual emotional ballad fare, but let him show off his dancing and make an MV that was just incredibly gender. I also have a new favorite Seventeen song, dethroning “Home” in it’s long rein, with “Shadow.” I got to see them live this summer, and Redeim only partially managed to capture me losing my mind over them performing “Shadow” live. Their albums this year have been spectacular, and as always, I cannot wait to see what they decide to do next. I hope that I get to see them live many more times in the future (and if you get the chance to do it, they’re an experience).

Biases: Junhui, Wonwoo, Woozi

I would love to chat about any of the groups on this list! I had such a hard time narrowing this down to 5 this year, and it probably would have been easier to do a top 10. There was so much good music this year!

[hyuunsiik]

IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALIZE THAT’S ‘EUNKWANG’ WRITTEN ON HIS CHEEKS

[sunqyu]

reblog ‘n put your emotional support kpop video in the tags. which video helped you through dark or stressful times?

[leejungchans]

the backyardigans 😭😭

I REMEMBER WATCHING THEM AS A KID PLS THIS TAKES ME BACK 😭😭😭😭 i liked the penguin and the kangaroo 🥰 i remember my brother and i really disliked the moose for some reason 😭

[moscnios]

ONE PIECE CHARACTERS AS KPOP FANS+ / ☻

☻  /  commentary . . . full title would be one piece characters as kpop fans i’ve encountered. being kind of in and out of that community for the past 7 years now, i’ve encountered my fair share of fans. plus i just wanted to make some kind of shitpost between posts. kind of a call out post but all in good fun

NAMI

solely a girl group stan !!

doesn’t have anything against boy groups but she prefers girl groups

has a soft spot for 2nd and 3rd generation girl groups

her fave groups would be sistar, after school, t-ara, and exid

she knows their most popular choreographies

she would eat up touch my body by sistar

buys albums, lightsticks, and other merchandise in BULK, just to scam...i mean sell them to other fans online

ROBIN

a casual listener

she’s more of a ballad person as they soothe her and make nice background sounds

btob and iu are her go-to’s.

doesn’t have a preference over boy or girl groups. she’s honestly just there if the music is good

i like to think of her being a fan of groups with brighter/cuter concepts

enjoys late 3rd and 4th gen groups despite all of them being younger than her. she’s like a little proud mom watching them achieve their wildest dreams

“good for them”

SANJI

like nami, solely a girl group stan but for all the wrong reasons

is like those male fans you hear at the beginning of an idol’s performance who are screaming the fan chants. he knows all of the fan chants by heart

loves all girl groups

his fave group would be twice and no one can tell me otherwise

his phone wallpaper is a picture of either sana or nayeon during the feel special era. yes, feel special is his favorite song

camera roll is full of female idols, he could run his own update blog/fansite

album collector. buys all his merchandise from nami who overcharges him BIG time. but he’s too busy trying to buy every version of each album that comes out to add to his photocard collections

ZORO

could care less about actual fan culture, he’s just there for the music

was an AVID hater of kpop, thought it was dumb and he didn’t understand the appeal of it or why people dedicated so much of their time and money into these groups

until he discovered ateez through a fancam and he’s been a fan ever seen

his favorite song would definitely either be wonderland or answer

listens mostly to the title tracks, could hardly be bothered to listen to the b-sides

has a workout playlist full of energy-boosting songs that he listens to while he’s training

definitely shows luffy ateez music videos

USOPP

the gatekeeper.

you would think it’s his goal to go out of his way and stan groups who are underrated

and when they finally blow up, he’s always quick to remind people how much they slept on them

his pfp is definitely somebody from loona holding a gun

is a tiktok editor. all of his edits are amazing and always get a lot of love within the community

also posts videos of him doing girl group choreographies with chopper and nami

cannot name a single member of any boy group

CHOPPER

teen crush concept/bright concept enthusiast !!

his fave group is stayc

“stayc girls...it’s going down”

pretty much the opposite of usopp in this regard. he loves when his favorite groups get more attention and love because they really deserve it

definitely helps new fans with learning members’ names and personalities

is always getting into concerts, fan meets, and fan signs ( spending robin’s money on getting into these )

carries a photocard in the back of his phone case that he switches out every two weeks

LAW  (  me lmaooo  )

the secret stan who would rather die than admit they are a fan

looks around and makes sure everyone else is not around before he slips in his earphones and puts to love bomb by fromis_9

so help no one discovers he loves cute girl groups.

on the outside he’s just 😐😐😒😒 and then the music in his earphones is ✨🌸🎀🍬💖

supper yuppers is his most listened-to song right now, knows the choreography by heart, and every time he hears it he can’t help but do it. secretly he’s a really good dancer

has been caught by the other heart pirates who never let him live in down

KID

the toxic twitter fan who uses charting and views as a defense against other groups and their fans that he doesn’t like

“FLOP”

not only is he fighting other fandoms, but he is also fighting other fans within his OWN fandom

refuses to accept the fact that his faves have released a song he doesn’t like. therefore he will force himself to listen to it 20 times and like it just to be different

broke as hell. will probably never be able to get tickets to any of his faves concerts, is always watching them illegally on someone’s live stream

has a fake light stick because he’s too broke to buy the official one plus it looks real enough 

VIVI

the dance cover stan who learns the choreographies the day they are released and post them on tiktok and instagram

tends to dress in similar outfits as the members of the group

she posts a lot of those “kpop in public” videos to her youtube channel of half a million subscribers

was a big wiz*one. was absolutely devastated when they disbanded

loves female soloists, chungha and somi are her faves

JINBE

the well-seasoned fan who has been here in the community for YEARS

misses the good old days of when 1st gen was coming to an end and 2nd gen was starting up

a sechskies fan, nearly cried when they got back together for a reunion

is still around, isn’t really stanning any new groups though. kind of just there for the music. last group he stanned was probably girls’ generation

the one at the concert who doesn’t record or hold his phone out because he just wants to enjoy the moment

also, the protective one at the concert who doubles as security and makes sure everyone around him is safe and not in any need of medical attention

KIKU

the stan that other stan look up to and aspire to be despite her usually always being broke because she spends any money she has left on merchandise

she’s the one who has a fandom of her own somehow

has the aesthetic room you’d see on pinterest with posters, tapestries, and vinyl on the walls

is always dressed her best

she’s an f(x) and red velvet fan. f(x)’s pink tape was the first album she ever listened to and she hadn’t looked back since

does the fandom selca days with all of her biases from every group she stans

decorated her photocard toploaders with cute little stickers and they always look so pretty

© MANGEKYUOU. / ☻

[baekmond]

"Yes Master"

(Seonghwa Smut)

Includes: Seonghwa x (f)readers, somno, master kink, creampie, birth control, angst, spanking, short smut (Please do not read if you are uncomfortable, I am not responsible for what YOU read.) Currently listening to Beautiful Pain by BTOB

Seonghwa had entered your room taking off his shoes throwing them aside as he unbuckles his pants, his eyes stared at every part of you. Laying behind you on his side Seonghwa licked his fingers spreading the wetness around your pussy, you whined still fully asleep. Finally taking his cock he aligned it to your hole spreading his own precum against your pussy lips before pushing them into you. You gasp finally aware. "S-Seonghwa?" Seonghwa gave you a spank on your ass cheek making you whimper. "It's master." His cold voice gave you chills. "Yes m-master." Seonghwa lift up the white button up shirt caressing your boobs. His deep groans echoed in your ear as you sensually let out sighs in pleasure. The city lights was enough for you to see Seonghwa's face. Grabbing your thighs Seonghwa moved to them up opening them wider so he could go deeper and faster, your face was thrown against the bed below you. "Ah master!" Seonghwa's thrust was fast and hitting your g-spot, you whined grabbing the bedsheet. "P-please it hurts master." Seonghwa gave you another hard spank. "Your matters don't concern me, argh you are only here for your debt." Seonghwa groaned, his thrust getting sloppier and messier. Your legs was getting tired but you were close. "A-ah master I-I'm gonna cum." Throwing his head back Seonghwa finally shoots his semen into your pussy, you clenched around him as your legs shook. "Fuck" Seonghwa sighed dropping your legs back onto the bed. The warmness from his touch disappeared, you sat up fixing the button up shirt. Seonghwa grabbed his shoes putting them back on, you grabbed his sleeve making him look at you. "P-please stay, you seem tired." Seonghwa ignored your words walking out the door leaving you. You silently sat staring out the huge glass window with tears falling from your eyes. Tired, broken, used was all you felt in that moment. You wish to go back home but why would you, your family basically sold you because of their debt. "1 more year, just 1 more year then you can go on with you life alone." Your face buried in the pillow hiding the sounds of your cry. At first it was great having Seonghwa come to you everyday using you for sex, young and dumb you had thought it was because he loved you, now it was like a curse. Locked in the same room since you first came there.

[clue-can-writes]

Making Fun

Red Velvet 6th Member

Dumb Dumb Era

Jiwoo loves watching her boyfriend perform, but she didn’t think she would love it more when he performed her songs

Based on this ask!

*Minhyuk is the one in the red dress with braids and yellow tights, in case you wanted to know

The Red Velvet members had finished promotions for Dumb Dumb and their album, The Red a while ago, but the hype over the album was still present! Overall the song had been successful, even if Jiwoo didn’t like the concept that much. However, this era had helped her meet her boyfriend, even if it was just by chance! After their “non-date,” Jiwoo realised that she really liked Minhyuk, enough to fully go against SM and start officially dating the same day!

They had been texting back and forth, but they hadn’t gotten another chance to be together, as BtoB was currently promoting their EP, I Mean. Thankfully, they were at the end of promotions and Minhyuk and Jiwoo had been texting, trying to get a date for their date!

Minhyuk: Good Morning! :)

Minhyuk: Are you up?

Minhyuk: Babe?

Minhyuk: Babe?

Minhyuk: Jiwoo?

Minhyuk: Seo Jiwoo?

Minhyuk: Did you die?

Jiwoo: Dude. It’s 6 in the morning

Minhyuk: I just wanted to tell you I love you! :)

Jiwoo: Yea, I love you too. Now why are you texting me this early?

Minhyuk: I think the more important question is why are you up this early? You would sleep on the roof of a car if it meant getting a few more minutes!

Jiwoo: Yeri and Seungwan thought it would be fun to play a video game at 5 in the morning. I woke up when Sooyoung pulled me out of bed to make them stop fighting.

Minhyuk: That sounds fun!

Jiwoo: ....What do you want?

Minhyuk: Well, I know you don’t have anything going on, so I wanted to see if you were free tonight. We’re going on “The Boss is Watching” later today, but we should be done by tonight!

Jiwoo: Yea, that would be fun

Minhyuk: Has anyone ever told you how dry your texts are?

Jiwoo: Yea. Sooyoung told me to use more exclamation marks to make it seem like i’m interested.

Minhyuk: Well she does have a point! But I do like it! It makes me know that i’m really texting you and not a demon that took over your body!

Jiwoo:

Minhyuk: Babe?

Minhyuk: Jiwoo?

Minhyuk: I can see when you read my texts.

Jiwoo: Did you still want to go out tonight?

Minhyuk: Yes!! :)

Jiwoo: Ok

Minhyuk: Thanks for letting me know that you’re not a demon!

Jiwoo: Dude

Minhyuk: I was thinking we could pick up some food and then go for a walk! Since it will be later, we shouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding us! I can pick you up from somewhere and we could eat in my car!

Jiwoo: That’s good, but it does make it seem like you’re trying to kidnap me with food

Minhyuk: Would it work?

Jiwoo: ...Yes

Minhyuk: Great! I’ll pick you up outside your dorm at 9? Does that work for you?

Jiwoo: Yea, that should be fun!

Minhyuk: Demon

And with that, Jiwoo turned off her phone. Even if she acted like she didn’t enjoy his quips, she did! It made her feel like they were a real couple, instead of two friends just hanging out. 

“JIWOO UNNIE!! SEULGI UNNIE TRIED TO MAKE TOAST BUT SHE BURNED IT!!”

“IT’S NOT THAT BURNT! NOW SIT DOWN, ENJOY YOUR TOAST, AND DON’T YELL AT YOUR MOTHER!”

Jiwoo shook her head at the antics of her members, knowing that with Irene already gone for that day, she would have to take care of them. She and Irene shared a lot of the leader roles, even if only Irene had the official leader title.

“YERI YOU CAN’T WASH THE TOASTER IN THE SINK! YOU’LL DIE!”

Jiwoo could already tell this was going to be a long day.

(Time skip)

Jiwoo had less than an hour before Minhyuk would pick her up for their date and she could not stop bouncing with excitement. She told her members and SM that Moonbyul was picking her up to go to a movie she had been dying to see! Thankfully, Jiwoo had covered for Moonbyul on multiple occasions to the point that she basically owed her a favor.

“Someone’s in a good mood!” Wendy remarks, checking over Jiwoo. 

“I love whenever you hang out with Moonbyul! You always come back in such a good mood!” Yeri remarks from her spot at the table. 

Jiwoo smiles and walks over to the maknae, looking over her finished homework sheets. “Do you want me to help you with anything before I leave?”

“No, I’m good! Go enjoy your date with Moonbyul unnie!”

Jiwoo ruffled Yeri’s hair, chuckling at the baby. She was used to their teasing about her and Moonbyul, and besides, it was a really good cover! She went to the couch and sat down next to Seulgi, the younger girl instinctively laying her head on Jiwoo’s shoulder. Even if they weren’t that close, Seulgi always tried to find a way to snuggle with Jiwoo.

“Hey, did you guys see this?” Irene asked, walking over to the older girls. She pulled up a video on her phone. It was a clip from the show, The Boss is Watching, the same show Minhyuk said BtoB was promoting on!

Irene started the video and they heard Dumb Dumb playing. Jiwoo became confused because they weren’t performing, but her confusion turned into shock when she saw BtoB dressed as the Red Velvet members, performing Dumb Dumb! 

She was in shock watching her boyfriend perform more dramatically than they had ever performed before. She watched the full performance, noticing the fact that Minhyuk sang her ending ad-libs in the song! She sat back up, absolutely loving every second of that!

“Well don’t show that to SM or they might replace us!” Jiwoo said, gaining a few laughs from her members.

Irene turned off her phone, “I have to say, I don’t think we have ever performed the song like that.”

“We could always try!”

Jiwoo laughed at Seungwan’s comment, when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. She opened it to see a text from Minhyuk, telling her that she was here. She smiled and got up, “Bye guys! Monnbyul’s downstairs and I’ll be back tonight!”

“Be safe!” Irene called after her.

“DON’T DIE!!” Sooyoung yelled at her.

She shut the door behind her and walked down to her boyfriends car, already happier than she was before. She got in the passenger's seat and smiled up at her boyfriend.

“What are you so happy for? Not that I’m complaining, I love seeing you smile!”

“I just watched one of the best covers of one of our songs that I had ever seen! It was amazing! It was breathtaking! It was...”

“Me and BtoB?” Minhyuk asked, already knowing her answer. He didn’t think that it would be out this early, but sadly it was. “I have to ask, was it bad? We didn’t have that long to learn the choreography, so we had to work with what we had.”

Jiwoo smiled at him, “Yes, you did it amazingly! I was surprised at how well you 4 actually danced! Also, I don’t know why you had more energy it your minute performance than we have ever had performing that song, but it was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve seen all day!”

“I’m glad you liked it! I was thinking of you the whole time!”

“Yea, I’m sure you were!”

Unknown to Jiwoo at the time, but that was the moment she started fully falling for Minhyuk. The way he joked with her and made fun of her was all in good nature and she realised that she wanted to just spend a little more time with him, even if it was just for the night!

“Do you want to listen to some music? I know that great song by an amazing group and it just got released this year!” Minhyuk asked, as he reached for the radio.

Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb

[byulsgrease]

Is it cool if I make a request? :D

Something with Byulyi & F!Reader (being really close friends for a long time w/ mutual feelings towards eachother) having their first kiss in the rain? Just fluffy stuff 😄

ahh beloved anon you read my mind bc I was recently thinking about kissing in the rain! probably cuz there's another heat wave incoming and I'm here wishing it would snow in the middle of august

the panoramic almost makes me miss pining/flirting, but I would 100% simp for any of my mutuals tbh 🤔

so yes, this req is very cool with me. helps break up the smut 😳 hope you enjoy :D

love's like a movie

(moonbyul x gender neutral reader, ~1.2k words)

cw: food mention, but what's new? pure fluff otherwise

a/n: been listening to movie by btob a little too much lately

Byulyi had always been a charmer with a heart of gold. Every girl she managed to befriend pined after her swagger, straight or not. People frequently wondered if they wanted to be with her, or just be her. Her greasiness never failed to garner an eyeroll from you at this point, wondering how people in her life were so taken by her silly girl-crush facade. Of course you found it hypnotizing and kinda hot just like everyone else, but it would inflate her ego a little too much for your liking if you ever let on.

Using each other's thighs as pillows to nap on. Buying each other coffee during busy weeks, having memorized each other's order. Being down to spend time together at any time, regardless of how mundane the occasion - everything from walking her dogs to running errands. Big bear hugs and pecks on the cheek during big triumphs, meaningful embraces and a listening ear during the hard times. Everything that comes with any long-term relationship, having known her now for longer than you could remember.

The confession, if you could even call it one, was more like a shared understanding. The first "I love you" exchange happened long ago in causal conversation. The intent behind it grew and changed alongside your growth as people, but the core significance of the phrase always remained. As the years rolled on it just became obvious that no one loved you like she did, and vice versa.

Of course the unspoken nature of the relationship sometimes begged more questions than answers. Your cryptic attempts at trying to figure out where her head was at were mostly countered with a wink and a non-answer, but you were pretty sure she was on the same page. But the tiniest doubt always seemed to creep in at the most opportune moments - and there was that constant nagging in your mind of whether you could stand to create an awkward situation, let alone lose her. But all the wondering and worrying occupied far too much of your brain space over time, so you finally resolved to put it to the test.

~~~

"I'm hungry but I don't wanna get up," she complains, body sprawled out on the couch, absentmindedly spinning her glasses in her hand. Glancing out the window, it's one of those weird days where the weather can't make up its mind. That type of partly cloudy that gives way to dark gray and showers, and then 15 minutes later it's sunny again, like the rain never happened. "I'd walk to the convenience store but don't wanna get caught in the rain. Murphy's law, right?"

"Yeah, but if you wanna go you should go now, the rain just let up." A garbled noise emanates from the couch, but she knows you're right. She suddenly raises her head to look at you, expression noticeably brighter.

"You'll come with, right? Let's go! You've been inside all day anyway."

"Fine, fine." How could you say no to her? a snack? You reach a hand out to her and she takes it to pull herself off the couch. Even a simple handhold makes your heart skip a beat after all this time. Your head subtly shakes, kicking yourself and wishing you could just keep cool like her rings touching your skin. Her hand stays in yours as you lead her to the door, just an excuse to hang on a little longer. It drops only for you to hand her a windbreaker hanging off a hook on the wall and putting your arms through the sleeves of your own, arms swishing against the smoothness of the waterproof fabric.

You're not outside for more than 5 minutes when the sky goes dark again. Byul marches on, determined to get her snack fix. She already left the house, no point in turning around now.

The surprisingly aggressive rain begins as you both scramble to get your hoods up, droplets pattering down onto your thinly covered heads. Should've brought an umbrella, but the store's not too much farther. Somehow the casual stroll silently transitions into a power-walk, shoes splashing puddle water that dots the cuffs of your jeans.

Completely unannounced, clouds suddenly part and the suggestion of sun rays peek through the sky. You stop in your tracks and stare at each other, incredulous at the sheer unpredictability of the weather. Shrugs are exchanged and you're absolutely soaked, socks squishing in your sneakers. But there's no one you'd rather be on this wild walk with. May as well finish what you started— or well, take your chances— on the weather and her.

She stares up at the sky with wonder through her dewy droplet-covered glasses. Can she see? It’s probably better if she can’t in case I embarrass myself. She chuckles, finally speaking. "Why do I feel like I'm in a mov—" Her comment abruptly ends when you find the courage to link both your hands behind her neck, your lips clumsily crashing into hers. She hums against you, surprised, before she processes what's happening and relaxes into you.

You pull back a little, noses just brushing. "Oops, sorry. Was supposed to be more graceful than that," you whisper meekly, eyes not daring to meet hers. Honestly, it came and went too quickly, your racing heart and mind forgot to enjoy the moment. Her hands find the small of your back to pull you in closer, a floaty feeling moving through you while resting your arms on her shoulders. Whether her touch calms you down or makes you want to set yourself on fire, you have no clue.

She grins and inquires, "Mm, like this?" The pads of her fingers on your back press in, tenderly bringing her lips back to meet yours. The softness and warmth from being pressed together has you absolutely melting into her, completely forgetting about getting drenched by the rain. How like her to show you up. But could you really complain about finally kissing the girl you had loved for so long?

Again, the moment feels fleeting when she pulls away, heat in your faces shared by your touching foreheads. It's silly, standing wrapped in each other's arms smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk. But you couldn't care less.

"I was saying, why do I feel l like I'm in a movie? At least, before you interrupted me," she chides sarcastically.

"You can't tell me it wasn't a welcome interruption." Her face scrunches, acknowledging your point but not wanting to concede.

"Certainly an unexpected one."

"So it is like a movie."

"I was talking about the weather," Your smile falls into a glower, pulling back to stare at her dead-on. She can't help but laugh at the corner she's talked you into, beaming proudly.

"I can't with you," giving her the biggest eyeroll and shaking your head incredulously, but that can't cover up the fluttery feeling that eventually grows into a dumb-founded grin. "Can we go get our snacks now?"

"Yeah, let's go before it starts raining again," giving a cautious glance to the sky. You swear you can hear her repeatedly humming "love's like a movie~" as you walk hand in hand towards the convenience store.

[kebinwooo]

you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your favorite playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs then tag ten people! no skipping!

tagged by: @lsimu! hi chelle!!! man i haven’t been on tumblr in a long time and i’m back bc of your tag game LOL also i decided to be basic and shuffle my “liked songs” playlist since it best reflects my tastes (also bc i’m too lazy to organize most of my music into playlists LOOOL)

1. eraser - onewe (still one of my all time favorite onewe songs)

2. sorry for my english - in2it (funky and kinda dumb but so enjoyable)

3. drown - martin garrix ft. clinton kane (i actually haven’t heard this song in a long time oops LOL but clinton kane is a SINGER)

4. inolvidable - reik (YEAHHHH WE LOVE OUR CLASSIC LATINPOP SONGS IN THIS HOUSEHOLD)

5. home - yezi (also haven’t heard this song since my binge about two years ago but i remember now why i had it on replay for daysssss)

6. i’ll be your man - btob (STILL ONE OF BTOB’S BEST TITLE TRACKS)

7. justo ahora - dvicio (A BANGER I ALSO HAVEN’T HEARD IN A LONG TIME)

8. goodbye summer - f(x) ft. do kyungsoo (tbh i forgot this song existed for a while and only rediscovered it earlier this year but it’s so good ahhh)

9. holiday - seventeen (SEROTONIN IN A SONG)

10. em có nghe - kha (i had this randomly recommended to me on spotify when i was listening to vietnamese pop songs for a project and i loved it so much it went on my playlist LOL)

i haven’t been on here in a while so i have no idea who’s still active but tagging @kimminji9421 (is this even the right blog to tag, minnie? LMAO) and anybody else who wants to do this!

[maximura]

KINGDOM: EPISODE 1

Well. I said I wasn’t going to watch this because it’d stress me out but @lavender-kills and I just went through all the performances today. We have a lot of horses in this race. My rankings so far:

6. SF9: Good Guy/The Glory (Suits version). I felt it was a lot of posing and posturing. In Max World we don’t just give out points for being hot. I’m dumb but not that dumb. I think the performance was lacking something interesting. So Fine 9, they look great though. 

5. The Boyz: The Stealer (Theatrical version). This was theatrical af. I really enjoyed the choreography and the dude who rapped. Juyeon was beautiful. But ultimately, I felt the performance was a little lacking something too. I’m sure they’ve got much more to give though and maybe they’re just saving the best for later. 

4. ATEEZ: Wave (WTF version). I’m surprised they went with Wave when Wonderland was right there but perhaps they’re saving that one for later. I appreciate the drama and live aspect but man, that remix was not as good as it could’ve been. Their main problem here, and why I put them in 4th, is that they sound really patchy due to the physical demands of their performances. It was fun to watch but it was chaotic and messy. SF9 and TBZ were missing something but Ateez went too over the top (as usual). None of these groups had much consistency. 

3. BTOB: Beautiful Pain (Talent version). I really liked it! The talent and professionalism stood out here. They are like the antithesis of all the other groups because their chill energy just hits differently. It was surprising to hear about their participation in Kingdom but I think it’ll help them reach a whole new group of fans. I really liked their performance. There were no gimmicks or theatrics. Just talent. 

2. IKON: Rhythm Ta (Stoner version). In my heart, they were my favourite. Their swag, confidence and energy was fun to watch. They’ve grown so much. 2021 IKON is an entirely different group and I love them just as much as OG IKON. The remix of RT was awesome. Bobby (and the entire group tbh) is the only man in this competition who can slack and miss choreo but still look so fucking cool doing it. Haha. It’s just their brand at this point. This group just sparks so much joy. Donghyuk can get it. Grow out your hair again bro. 

1. Stray Kids: Miroh (Goth version). If we’re basing all this on technical merit then I think they should rank 1st. It’s really obvious how much effort was put into their performance and even though it was over the top, they just barely miss crossing line like Ateez did. It was also a lot more cohesive. I liked the GothMiroh remix and their use of the stage/space. Changbin with the sparkler-flare thingy made me go wow but he rapped over himself and it wasn’t on beat. They need to watch that bc he’s so much better when you just let him go live without a backing track. The guy at the start was really interesting. What’s his name? 

[avocadomin]

final kingdom rankings

i decided to do the dumb thing that took too long and ranked all of the kingdom stages based on my personal opinion and ranked my top 7 over all (unit stages included). once again this is an opinion and i’m more then happy to discuss other opinions on the stages, but don’t use this post to bash me or others if it differs from your own. this will include notes on both the performance and the music itself.

with that said i’ll keep it under the cut as this will probably be a long post (spoiler: it is </3):

quick note: i watched all the stages by group and each stage in chronological order as i was taking notes. there may be some repeats of things or i bring up something that’s in a lower ranking stage if a higher ranking stage was one of the more recent ones (hope that makes sense). also if you don’t want to read everything there’s a top 5 ranking and my own final group ranking at the bottom.

skz:

stage 3 - i’ll be your man: seungmin and jisung vocals!!! i’m still not too familiar with the original btob song so i’m not sure how skz’s version varies from it, but their version i think fits their team really well. chan took a little bit of a back burner this stage, but we really got to hear the vocal side of skz shine through this song esp in their lower register which i think it stronger then their upper one lmao. jisung is really the only one (that i think) can belt some of those high notes so consistently. on the actual performance side of things there was an interesting use of sets and props, but not over done. there were some really ineresting dance breaks esp at the end of the song. the story of the stage was also i think one of skz’s strongest (and no guns <3). i really hope skz does a song like this in the future cause they can obviously pull it off.

stage 2 - side effects / god’s menu: really loved how we got to see a different side of skz on this stage with their acting! i don’t think they had another stage that was quite like this one. also loved the mixing again with both side effects and god’s menu with how they used felix as the transition between the two songs, and the FAT synths during the ‘my head hurts’ right before going into god’s menu. while this is a strong stage musically, acting and energy wise. i feel like there was too much of a reliance on props and a lot of work was done by the dancers which was visually amazing!! but skz is a strong dance group too and i wish it wasn’t as flashy as it was.

final stage - wolfgang: this stage and their 2nd stage are honestly tied but i think wolfgang is slightly lower cause i prefer the mixing for the 2nd stage. really dissapointed there was no epic organ player that was killed at the end </3 but that aside i would say wolfganf is a just a really strong skz song that’s a little more in the 3racha style. i really liked how they tied in some of the points from their intro stages with the green mouth light things and some of the samples used in the track! the reason it’s middle of the pack (haha get it cause their wolves.....i’ll stop) for me is similar to the side effects stage as it relies a lot on their dancers and props. it was a really nice ending performance to end their time on kingdom. (also one of their most messiest stages, but it was probably the one with the least amount of time for practice with everything lmao)

intro stage - miroh: really great intro stage for the skz cause we really got a taste of what was to come with kingdom (sadly no jinnie). the mixing was insane and one of my faves i think for skz (esp minho’s part <3). it had the same height of energy as the original tack, just much darker, and there was decent balance between vocals, dance, and rapping. it also showed their great work as a team with the small stunts in the choreo.

stage 4 - god’s menu x d4: don’t get me wrong, this stage is really neat with the deadpool stuff, but it’s also a stage that won’t really age that well? it was more on the gimmicky side of kingdom stages and i’m not sure why they had a large chunk of the choreo with guns???? that’s not needed that you. going into the good things...binnie popped off!! he really stuck out to me this stage rap wise. also the drop for the first d4 chorus was very unexpected but also really satisfying? kinda reminds me of the drop in the chorus for 1team’s ‘make this’ (go check it out if you don’t know the song). over all a really fun stage and their energy was really good, but just wish it wasn’t quite and gimmicky as it was </3

ateez: man i miss mingi....comeback soon king

final stage - the real: ok this stage is also really really close to their wonderland stage but is just SLIGHTLY ahead it. this stage was probably one of the most fun ones to watch out of ateez’s kingdom performances because they seemed so loose? like they were really just feeling themselves on this stage and it just looked like they were really enjoying themselves out there like this is what they were born to do. i also love this song and it’s one of my fave recent releases from ateez again (i’m not too big of a fan of their fever series sorry </3). the energy, rap, vocals, choreo was just all there. i’m just really glad we were able to see one of these stages again where we go to see the group really just let loose and half so much fun performing before the end of kingdom.

stage 2 - from the wonderland: look...i KNOW there’s a tentacle, but i’m going to look past that. it might be the favoritism towards wonderland as it is one of my top ateez titles, but i think it they did do a really good job mashing it together with symphony no. 9. there was a decent balance between using props/reliance on dancers and the group actually dancing. jongho slayed that high note at the end, and it was actually placed well in the song where it didn’t seem out of place. and them the OUTRO just represents one of the main reason’s i love ateez with their amazing energy. high energy song, high energy choreo...just the perfect ending to get you hyped. also one last note....seonghwa looked so hot when he was walking through the line of dancers with that rifle (he just looked good this whole stage <3).

stage 3 - the awakening of summer: a very different style from the original and i’d say even a different style for ateez but it still works?? the beginning was a lil cheesy and not sure how the whisper talking/rapping through most of the song works for me, but the INSTRUMENTAL pls play it at my funeral...that synth line <3 i really liked the little choreo with the rope that san did and the overall choreo was also really strong. the outro was a little let down on the energy of it. it may be cause there was some slight timing issues with the vocals and backing track or they were just missing SOMETHING for it, but jongho slayed that belted note once again where i’m not too mad at it lmao.

stage 4 - answer: in the first half i really thought this was going to be one of my fave stages for ateez as the added strings were a nice touch and i loved how they made some references to their past songs and overall concept story line. overall musically in the first part it was decently balanced with a few ode to joy and answer. once it got to the part where it was the opera singers i was????? if they stopped there i think it could have still worked, but the ending there was just so much going on but it was also missing so much as well?? i didn’t understand jongho’s one belted note at the end. this was the only stage where i really felt it didn’t fit. they either needed to not add it at all or have him have one other note after it with maybe a break between the two notes to make it feel more complete. overall...a decent stage, but it really just didn’t have that ateez polish on it.

intro stage - wave: ok tbh i....kinda hated this stage? NOTHING on ateez or wave, just the song did not translate to the style they ended up choosing for it. i think say my name would have been a really strong intro song in the final style chose esp since it didn’t come up in their later stages. the choreo was really strong, but honestly the mixing just seemed like they forced two pieces together that didn’t fit.

the boyz: ok i just want to write a quick note as a general opinion i have across all their stages. tbz is a really solid group overall esp with dancing, but i feel like for kingdom they played it safe in a lot of ways and we didn’t see much variation of wow factors from their stages. they were good!! just (usually) fairly predictable like they set the bar high and then just never raised it again </3

stage 4 - monster: this ranks so high partially cause i love exo’s monster sm but besides that point </3 the vocal line seemed to be pretty much a copy paste from the original (not a bad thing at all) but once again the instrumental my beloved <3 i think because the vocal line was pretty much the same as exo’s made it a really nice balance between the original and tbz version. i wasn’t too sure about the giant snake towards the end, but it actually wasn’t too bad as it was more of just the use of an entrance, then just a bg prop after that. as with all of their stages, the choreo was really solid, but it was the arrangement of the song that really put this performance on the top.

final stage - kingdom come:  dance wise i think this is my favorite out of all their stages. they had neat transitions from their pre recorded parts of the stage and the live part of the stages. really liked the part where the hand off screen was controlling the chroeo. then the dance break/outro!! not sure what it was, but i think it just really highlighted their strengths in dancing as a group. the song itself didn’t stand out at all and i think that’s why it ranks lower then their monster stage. it sounds a lot like checkmate to me (possible blended with salty???) so it’s a solid track, but it just doesn’t sound that different from their past ‘finale sounding’ tracks. it was a nice stage to end on for them as it was really solid, and it capped of their time with the kingdom series well.

stage 2 - no air: tbh the orginal song for no air doesn’t do much but i LOVE this mix of it. it might be the slowdown of the chorus that really does it for me, but it’s one of my fave mixes for their stage. really solid choreo and i liked the paired dancing with the other dancers in the first chorus. i think tbz i one of the the better groups when it comes to non-power dancing....not sure how to word it, but they’re very graceful and i love when they show it off and the dancing in front of the white fabric was a really nice touch. they also pulled off their stunts really well!! that’s another things they’re pretty reliable in, but it’s something they don’t overuse which is nice. a very strong stage overall for them.

stage 3 - the red wedding: someone is going to murder me for this, but i’m not the biggest fan of o solo mio </3 tbz did a really good job with the song! music wise for me is just that the rap sections i think didn’t flow too well in their rendition of the song. i don’t remember how they fit in the original but it didn’t fit that well in this stage ;_; i thought the rest was really good! their use of props wasn’t overdone and added some interest to the choreo that was already really strong. also really enjoyed the sections in the birdcage with the female dancer. another really solid performance by them.

intro stage - the stealer: LOVED the choreo and formations for this performance. they’re a really strong dance group and i’m glad we got to see how good their dancing is with no props or anything. the song it’s self wasn’t too special, it was a solid mix but it seemed like something we’ve seen before? i think it reminded be of one of their stages from rtk, but i don’t remember which one ;_;

sf9:

stage 4 - move: CONGRATS TO SF9 FOR BEING THE ONLY GROUP THAT HAS TAEYANG. i could watch that man dance all day damn. the only thing i didn’t really like/understand was the very end where they were standing in the rain??? it would have been neat if they had one final dance break in the rain box or a solo dance or SOMETHING...it just didn’t need to be there otherwise </3 but everything else was SO GOOD. the concept of the stage was strong, the mixing was fit the group really well, and with move being such a difficult dance, the members did a really good job with it. the props/sets used i think added to it, and there was a good balance between those and the group actually dancing. glad to know taemin covers in the kingdom series did the original songs justice <3

final stage - believer: taeyang once again <3 overall the track sounds like a really solid b-side, but their performance really brought it up to a nice finale song. loved their references to their past stages with the props and formations with the dances, it wasn’t too much and didn’t distract from the rest of it. the use of reflections was also really well done!! that prop was super cool and loved how they played around with it. overall a really nice way to end kingdom for them, and i think dance and staging wise, it was one of my faves to come from them.

stage 3 - the scene: congrats sf9 for being the only group that has hwiyoung <3 tbh this stage would probably be my number one of they didn’t have the guns during the choreo </3 it just...brought it down so much for me (and the blurred out knife???). i think the mixing was pretty solid as it was close to tbz version, but made it fit sf9 really well. the fight scenes were super well done and i feel like did add something to the stage. then overall the dancing was really sharp this time around!! a super good stage....just take out the dancing guns.

stage 2 - jealous: this was one of the few stages outside the introductions that didn’t have a super heavy reliance on props, they didn’t rank well, and then we never saw a stage like it again </3 i loved this stage!! it didn’t change drastically music wise, but i really liked the kind of rock style? remix of now or never and it fit well with the concept of the stage. the formations!!! in this performance were some of my fave and loved the bits of choreo we saw when the members were dancing with the female dancers. there were some parts with the members weren’t quite in sync with each other, but overall it was really solid and sad we didn’t get to see a stage like this one again ;_;

intro stage - good guy: if sf9 just did suit concepts in the future i would not be mad <3 but overall a solid intro stage! there wasn’t much difference music wise except in the dance break in the beginning from the original song. choreo was pretty crisp and overall done well. there were no ‘wow’ factors in this stage, but a very solid one overall. 

ikon:

final stage - at ease: tbh i wasn’t too sure about the song in previews, but it’s grown a lot on me as this past week went on. it’s a great hype song and has the energy of ikon that i really love. the drop the in the chorus is really satisfying and it was just as satisfying visually in the performance as well. they used their dancers really well and the members also did really well with the chorus choreo. it was just overall a really satisfying stage for ikon and it was the only stage in my opinion they ramped up their more laid back energy and worked so well.

stage 2 - to the world: this is one of the stages that really does age pretty well. i wasn’t a huge fan of it mainly bc of the ending and it’s still not my fave but it didn’t take away as much from the stage as i remember. i LOVE both love scenario and killing me. the love scenerio portion of the stage i think it still one of my fave ikon moments. the acting was solid and i liked their story with it. in some ways i wish at least killing me was a little more hard hitting and less a copy and paste for the most part from their original. love scenario was an amazing opening but killing me needed something to make a solid ending song as it caused the energy of the stage to kinda fall off or not really raise at all. overall i do really like this stage, it just needs more of something for the ending.

intro - rhythm ta: i think this was my 2nd fave intro stage right being skz’s. i love the formation in the beginning and the vocal fry on the ‘ikon is back’ was a nice touch. it also just seemed like the most loose intro stage? like this wasn’t their first rodeo and just felt really comfortable on this stage. overall loved the energy of the stage, and there was solid mixing of the song and good choreo.

stage 3 - inception: this isn’t hate on bobby or anything but his rap parts really bought this performance down for me </3 it might have just been an off day or smth but...yeah. otherwise i really liked the stage!! the mixing was really intresting and they really made inception into their own ikon style. the sets used was also probably my fave overall? it was really really neat with the changing sets to match the song title. also the ending was super cool with the dancers in that final formation where they kinda slowed down. a really cool stage overall.

stage 4 - classy savage: family watching yg tv time <3 i think there was a really nice balance of both the original bp song and ikon’s style. tbh it seems opposite of what i said with the boyz..the insturmental seemed pretty close to blackpink’s, but the vocal/rap was very much the ikon style. the reason this one is so low for me is because it seemed like two separate stages with lisa? it was really neat that she was added, but it would have been so cool if he joined in with them for the final outro or something. she even had the same lyrics to the blackpink song as ikon’s changed so it just made it that much more separate. if lisa either joined in more with ikon or she wasn’t added at all i think this would have ranked a lot higher on my list </3

btob: another quick note....i think on the performance end btob is the opposite of tbz. they don’t do much with choreo but they’re such an enjoyable group to watch and their VOCALS are always so stable so i probably won’t have many notes on their dancing lmao

stage 4 - blue moon: concept and comedy kings <3 idk they were really feeling themselves but it looked like they were having so much fun on stage and it made me have a smile on my face the entire time. the concept of the movie worked so well with the style of the jazzy tune. i’m not too familiar with the original bside so i’m not sure how much it differs or if it does at all. there’s really nothing i would change from this stage...it’s just so enjoyable to watch from the concept, vocals, and peniel playing that piano terribly <3

stage 3 - back door: really close to their blue moon stage for me. i really feel like they got the hang of the kingdom stages at this point. i loved their remix of back door. they took a rap heavy song and turned it in to a vocal heavy one so well?? truly made it their own. the weird drop(?) after they say back door just works so well for me and the inclusion of the electric guitar is so NEAT. there wasn’t much as far as dancing except for the small bit at the end and in one of the ‘dressing rooms’ but it really worked for the concept of the stage. idk it’s just a really fun stage to watch and a really good hype energy at the end.

final stage - show and prove: TALK ABOUT A FINALE STAGE. i love this song on it’s own and it’s probably my top song or in the top 2 for the original kingdom songs. this stage is another one that’s so close with their blue moon and back door stage, but i think it ranks a little lower then the other two as there was choreo from the members (or at least not a lot at all). but even with that this stage didn’t feel any less grand then the other finale performances because they killed the vocal parts so much and the song itself is such a GOOD ending song. oh man i would rate this higher if dancing or concept also was involved ;_;

intro stage - beautiful and painful: (i think that’s what it’s called?): vocal kings <3 they really said we’re the best vocalists on this show with this intro and you know? they’re correct. i wasn’t too sure on this stage when i first watched it since it was so different compared to the other groups, but watching it again now it’s a really strong intro stage. btob is a really strong vocal group and they established that really early on and only gave us a taste of what they were really able to do. a great intro stage overall. 

stage 2 - missing you: overall the stage is really beautiful with the lighting and the trees, but similar to ikon’s stage with lisa it seemed really disjointed. the vocal sections were really strong on their own and the dance break section this was really cool on it’s own, but it didn’t mesh together super well :/ a decent stage for sure, i just wish they kept the style of the dance break or just kept it the style of the vocal stage. i think they might have just added that dance section in there as the other groups had such dance heavy performances and theirs didn’t, but again it just kinda took something away from it </3

unit stages: i’m not going to write notes on the unit stages cause i’ve already written so much on the group stages lmao but if you want to more about/wonder why one ranked lower then another than pls ask! i’m just too done with this post to write it now. i will say 2-4 are really close in ranking. love poem took the whole thing for me and i wasn’t a huge fan of wither rap unit stage </3

love poem

wolf

king and queen- both performances teams are really close in ranking after a rewatch

spark

colors

full dash

top 7 stages overall: cause i couldn’t choose 5 </3

love poem (i think it’s cause minnie brainrot but we’re not going to talk about it thank u)

i’ll be your man

blue moon

the real

from wonderland

side effects / god’s menu

move

final group rankings:

stray kids (call it favoritism, but they deserved it)

ateez

btob (if kingdom was only vocal/music they would have won in my opinion)

sf9

the boyz

ikon

[itsthebreakdown]

Year: 2015

Shows Active: 

The Show 

Show Champion 

M Countdown 

Music Bank 

Show! Music Core

Inkigayo

Chances to Win

The Show - 42

Show Champion - 40 

M Countdown - 46

Music Bank - 52 

Show! Music Core - 37

Inkigayo - 52 

Total - 269 (+27) 

Show Breakdown 

The Show 

2PM: My House (1) 

AOA: Heart Attack (1) 

B.A.P.: Young, Wild & Free (1)  

Boyfriend: Bounce (1) 

BTS: I Need U (2), Run (1) 

CNBLUE: Cinderella (2) 

EXID: Ah yeah (1), UP & Down (1) 

EXO: Call Me Baby (1), Love Me Right (1) 

F.T. Island: Pray (2) 

F(X): 4 Walls (1) 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart (1), Party (1) 

Got7: If You Do (3) 

Infinite: Bad (2) 

Infinite H: Pretty (2) 

Jonghyun: Deja-Boo (2) 

Kara: Cupid (1) 

Kim Dong-Wan: I’m fine (1) 

Kim Sung-kyu: The Answer (1) 

Lee Hong-Gi: Insensible (1) 

Red Velvet: Dumb Dumb (1), Ice Cream Cake (1) 

Shinee: View (1) 

Teen Top: Ah-Ah (1) 

U-Kiss: Playground (1) 

UNIQ: EOEO (1) 

VIXX: Chained Up (1), Love Equation (3)

VIXX LR: Beautiful Liar (1) 

Show Champion 

4Minute: Crazy (2) 

Ailee: Mind Your Own Business (1) 

AOA: Heart Attack (1) 

Apink: Remember (1) 

B1A4: Sweet Girl (1) 

Beast: Yey (1) 

Big Bang: Loser (1) 

BTOB: Way Back Home (1) 

BTS: I Need U (1), Run (2) 

CNBLUE: Cinderella (1) 

EXID: Ah Yeah (2), Hot Pink (1) 

EXO: Call Me Baby (3), Love Me Right (3) 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart (1), Party (1) 

Infinite: Bad (1) 

Jonghyun: Deja-Boo (1) 

Jung Yong Hwa: One Fine Day (1) 

Mad Clown: Fire (1) 

Minah: I Am a woman too (1) 

Red Velvet: Dumb Dumb (1), Ice Cream Cake (1) 

Shinee: Married to the Music (1), View (1) 

Sistar: Shake It (1) 

Taeyeon: I (1) 

VIXX: Chained up (1), Love Equation (1) 

Zion.T & Crush: Just (1) 

M Countdown 

4Minute: Crazy (2) 

Apink: Remember (1) 

Beast: Yey (1) 

Big Bang: Bang Bang Bang (2), Loser (2), Sober (1) 

BTS: I need U (1)

Davichi: Cry Again (1) 

Dynamic Duo: Jam (1) 

EXID: Up & Down (2) 

EXO: Call Me baby (3), Love Me Right (1) 

F(x): 4 Walls (2) 

GD&TOP: Zutter (1) 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart (3), Party (1) 

iKON: Rhythm ta (1) 

Infinite: Bad (1) 

Infinite H: Pretty (1) 

Jonghyun: Deja-boo (1) 

Mad Clown: Fire (1) 

Psy: Daddy (2) 

Red Velvet: Dumb Dumb (2), Ice Cream Cake (1) 

Shinee: View (2) 

Shinhwa: Sniper (3) 

Sistar: Shake It (1) 

Soyou & Kwon Jeong Yeol: Lean On Me (1) 

Taeyeon: I (3) 

Vixx: Love Equation (1) 

Music Bank 

Apink: Remember (1) 

B.A.P.: Young, Wild, & Free (1) 

Baek A-Yeon: Don’t if Ask to How (1) 

Beast: Yey (1) 

Big Bang: Let’s Not Fall in Love (1), Loser (2) 

BTS: I Need U (1), Run (1) 

CNBLUE: Cinderella (2) 

Davichi: Cry Again (1) 

EXID: UP & Down (2) 

EXO: Call Me Baby (4), December 2014, (The Winter’s Tale) (1), Love Me Right (2), Sing for You (2)

F.T. Island: Pray (1) 

F(x): 4 Walls (2) 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart (4), Party (1) 

Im Chang Jung: Love Again (1) 

Infinite: Bad (1) 

Jonghyun: Deja-Boo (1) 

Jung Young-hwa: One Fine Day (2) 

Lee Hong-Gi: Insensible (1) 

Naul: You From the Same Time (1) 

Niel: Lovekiller (1) 

Red Velvet: Ice Cream Cake (1) 

Shinee: View (2), Married to the Music (1) 

Shinhwa: Sniper (1) 

Sistar: Shake It (2) 

Super Junior D&E: Growing Pains (1) 

Taeyeon: I (3) 

VIXX: Chained Up (1), Love Equation (1) 

Show! Music Core

4Minute: Crazy (1) 

AOA: Heart Attack (1) 

Apink: Luv (2) 

Beast: Yey (1) 

Big Bang: Let’s Not Fall In Love (2), Loser (2), Sober (1) 

Davichi: Cry Again (1) 

EXO: Call Me Baby (4), Love Me Right (3) 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart (2), Party (1) 

iKON: My Type (1) 

Infinite: Bad (1) 

Infinite H: Pretty (1) 

IU: Twenty-Three (1) 

Jonghyun: Deja-boo (1) 

Kim Sung-Kyu: The Answer (1) 

Niel: Love Killer (1) 

Park Kyung: Ordinary Love (1) 

Red Velvet: Ice Cream Cake (1) 

Shinee: View (1)

Shinhwa: Sniper (2) 

Taeyeon: I (1) 

Vixx: Love Equation (1) 

Zion.T & Crush: Just (1) 

Inkigayo

Big Bang: Loser (3), Sober (1) 

EXID: Ah Yeah (2), Hot Pink (1), Up & Down (1) 

EXO: Call Me Baby (3), Love Me Right (1) 

GDxTaeyang: Good Boy (1) 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart (3), Party (2) 

iKON: Apology (1), My Tpe (2) 

Im Chang-Jung: Love Again (1) 

Infinite H: Pretty (1) 

IU: Twenty-Three (2) 

Jonghyun: Deja-Boo (1) 

Jung Yong-Hwa: One Fine Day (1) 

Mad Clown: Fire (1) 

Naul: You From the Same Time (1) 

Psy: Daddy (3) 

Red Velvet: Dumb Dumb (1), Ice Cream Cake (1) 

Shinee: View (2)

Shinhwa: Sniper (2) 

Sistar: Shake It (1) 

Taeyeon: I (3) 

Vixx: Love Equation (1) 

Zico: Boys and Girls (1) 

Achievements

Triple Crowns

Big Bang: Loser on Inkigayo 

EXO: Call Me Baby on Show Champion, M Countdown, Inkigayo, Show! Music Core, Music Bank 

EXO: Love Me Right on Show Champion, Show! Music Core 

Girls’ Generation: Lion Heart on M Countdown, Inkigayo , Music bank 

Got7: If You Do on The Show 

Psy: Daddy on Inkigayo

Shinhwa: Sniper on M Countdown

Taeyeon: I on M Countdown, Inkigayo, Music Bank

VIXX: Love Equation on the Show

First Wins: 

B.A.P. with 1004 on Show Champion 

BTS with I Need U on The Show 

Crush with Just on Show! Music Core  

EXID with Up & Down on M Countdown 

Got7 with if You do on the Show 

iKON with My Type on Show! Music Core 

Infinite H with Pretty on Show! Music Core

Jonghyun with Deja Boo on Show! Music Core 

Jung Young-hwa with One Fine Day on Music Bank 

Kim Sung-kyu With The Answer on the Show 

Kwon Jeong Yeol with Lean On Me on M Countdown

Lee Hong Gi with Insensible on The Show

Minah with I Am a Woman Too on Show Champion  

Naul with Emptiness in Memory on Music Bank 

Niel with Lovekiller on Music Bank 

Park Kyung with Ordinary Love on Show! Music Core

Red Velvet with Ice Cream Cake on Music Bank 

Super Junior D&E  with Danger on the Show 

Taeyeon with I on the Show 

U-Kiss with Playground on the SHow

UNIQ with EOEO on The Show

VIXX LR with Beautiful Liar on The Show 

Zico with Boys and Girls on Inkigayo 

Zion.T with Just on Show! Music Core

Milestones 

100 Wins

Girls’ Generation

75 Wins

Big Bang 

65 Wins

Shinhwa

55 Wins

EXO 

50 Wins

Psy 

Shinee

45 Wins

Beast

40 Wins

IU

Sistar

30 Wins

F(x)

Infinite 

25 Wins

Apink

CNBLUE

20 Wins

4Minute

15 Wins

VIXX 

Overall 

Highest Points for Song: EXO - Call Me Baby - 134,454 Points

Highest Number of Wins for One Song: EXO - Call Me Baby - 18 Wins

Highest Points per Group: EXO - 227,223 Points

Highest Number of Wins per Group: EXO - 32 Wins 

Rank

EXO - 32 Wins

Big Bang - 22 Wins

Girls’ Generation - 21 Wins 

EXID - 13 Wins

Red Velvet, Shinee, Taeyeon, VIXX - 11 Wins

Shinwa - 10 Wins

BTS - 9 Wins

Jonghyun - 8 Wins

4Minute - 7 Wins

Beast, infinite - 6 Wins

Apink, CNBLUE, F(X), iKON, Infinite H, Psy, Sistar - 5 Wins

Jung Young-hwa - 4 Wins

AOA, Davichi, F.T. Island, Got7, IU, Mad Clown - 3 Wins

B.A.P., Crush, Im Chang-Jung, Kim Sung-Kyu, Lee Hong-Gi, Naul, Niel, Zion.T - 2 Wins

2 PM, Ailee, B1A4, Baek A-Yeon, Boyfriend, BTOB, Dynamic Duo, GDxTaeyang, GD&TOP, Kara, Kim Dong-Wan, Kwon Jeong Yeol, Minah, Park Kyung, Soyou, Super Junior D&E, Teen Top, U-Kiss, UNIQ, VIXX LR, ZIco - 1 Win 

Notes

Video at the top is the song with the most wins.  If it is a tie, then it will go to the song with the highest points cumulative over the year, if it is still a tie, I put the songs on a random list and it chooses one.  

There were no recorded points for this year. 

I will be marking Milestones after 15 wins every 5 wins.  Sometimes within a year, groups will skip some milestones and just reach the next one.

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Inkigayo_Chart_winners_(2021)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Show_(South_Korean_TV_series)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Champion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_M_Countdown_Chart_winners_(2021)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Music_Bank_Chart_winners_(2021) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Show!_Music_Core_Chart_winners_(2021) 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWfsla_Uh80 

Music Show Masterlist  

Masterlist 

[sanstropfremir]

ok alright alright alright kingdom episode two

kinda disappointed that they only showed half the stages, but that's just an editing thing to draw out the content so you can air for longer, i'm not super surprised about that. i would have liked to evaluate them all at the same time, but at least this gives me time to go more in depth for all of them since they're full stages this time and I wrote 3000 words for last episode when they only had 100 secs. so this format will probably keep me sane for longer, i think. 

solid stages all round for them, none had especially glaring flaws on the whole. i'm not gonna do a full ranking for this episode since we haven't seen them all, but i will say that btob’s was my favourite from this set and both ikon’s and tbz’s stages were about equal; they both had things i liked and disliked in equal measure so i'm tentatively giving them the same ranking. full opinions and analysis on each stage below the cut, plus another section of general notes because hey what the fuck did you do to that stage mnet???

and for anyone that’s wondering yes i do have the qualifications. also seriously grab a drink or something because this is LONG.

some general notes

and here i thought this section wouldn't be as big as it was last time because mnet was going to get their shit together about the stage design, but noooooooooooo they had to go and make it worse! thanks mnet i hate it! remember how i said you shot yourself in the foot last time? well ya fuckin kneecapped yourself AND all your idols with this one ya dumb fuckin idiots. alright folks welcome back to stage design 101, my recurring segment where i explain the different types of stage layouts and their effectiveness for kpop idol survival shows, i guess.

ok so last week i covered the basics on theatre in the round and traverse staging, which i’ll link here if there’s anyone new or just wants a refresher. i mentioned that its likely that mnet will switch to an in the round style staging because it offers a lot more freedom for camera movement and also for directional blocking. well, i was wrong. so i'm gonna give you a quick rundown of prosceniums. a proscenium, proscenium arch, or just prosc, is an architectural feature that sits around the front ‘opening’ of the stage that delineates the stage from the audience. if you've ever been in or seen any pictures of old european style theatres it can be quite ornately decorated with scrolling, but it's almost always there in most western theatres. it basically provides your ‘wings,’ which are where you exit off into to get offstage, they provide cover from the audience sitelines. pretty much any theatre where the audience is directly opposing the stage across the 180 degree line is a proscenium stage, even if it doesn't physically have the arch. hell, movie theatres are prosc stages. now, there's a secondary architectural feature/device called a false proscenium, where you set a second, smaller archway inside the first prosc, usually done for a specific effect. think of it like a literal framing device; it's often used to visually signify that ‘this is a play, we are telling a story, please be aware that this is a play thank you.’ but sometimes, it can be a semi-permanent structure that’s set in place to narrow the prosc opening. we had this at my university, there was a false prosc set just inside the actual prosc because the stage had a hilariously big prosc opening for a university that never had casts larger than 24 people. so they set false prosc in to make the stage slightly narrower and to widen the wings, because it doesn't matter what size theatre you're in, you always need more wingspace. makes sense? ok, now here’s a very quick drawing of what i'm pretty sure the kingdom stage looks like:

before you get lost: stage directions are oriented to a person standing on the stage, hence SL and SR being reversed. a quick tip for remembering which way is upstage and which is downstage: if you go too far downstage you fall down (most stages are raised between 2-4’ from the floor, so if you step off the end you will actually fall.) the arrows on here signify the entrances i observed during the performances, which is not necessary in this explanation but i just thought it was interesting to note. still not entirely sure what the surrounding architecture is but it appears that the stage is a raised platform inside a room, and not actually built as part of the building. the ‘house’ is just a technical term for where the audience is, and in this case it's where it looks like most of the film crew and the producers/staff are. there’s pretty clearly a platform upstage centre, and i think there may be some others but i don't care about those right now. what i want to talk about is this dumbass false prosc they set IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STAGE. now i suspect that they did this to solve some problems that they could have had that i don't know about, since i don't know who the stage designer was and what the actual limitations of the space are. but basically they've built two stages and stacked them on top of each other to create one very deep stage, and then separated it off with a false prosc in order to control the size of the space a little better, and possibly to add some visual interest. this stage is functional for its purpose, absolutely, and i think, if mnet actually gave a shit about point of view and camerawork, it could produce some really interesting performances. however, because this stage is so deep, it kind of has the same properties as the traverse stage from before, but just with some big led screens in the middle for reasons. you extra have to pay attention to the directionality because you have all the staff and cameras concentrated in one specific cardinal point, so you have to get creative if you want to crossover between the two sides frequently. again, this is not necessarily bad; restrictions often produce some of the most creative decisions.  but! we have not seen a lot of consideration for camera and sightlines and audience pov, hence why i think this setup is dumb: it’s not facilitating the best performances it could.

ok now to the actual performances

btob

this is my favourite of the group because it's very clean lined and utilizes a few simple devices to pretty good effect. i realize these reviews are making me sound like i only like simple performances but i promise this is not at all true i'm just very critical and very picky. let’s start with the costumes, because why not. 

costumes

i like these very much, i love modernized traditional clothing in all forms, and these are very well tailored and well coordinated. they do the bulk of the work establishing the theme for the performance, along with the costumes on the backup dancers. personally i would have liked them to be a bit more colourful, à la the teal detailing that was on minhyuk’s final look. i'm getting a bit tired of the whole trend of having groups only wear all dark or all white, or maybe sometimes red if they're feeling spicy. obviously uniform colour is the easiest way to tie a group together visually, but on a show like this i think the groups would actually benefit more from looking distinct from each other internally rather than establishing the group as whole.

i liked that minhyuk had a costume change but i didn't really care for how it was how it was broken down. this is a very personal quibble because i literally have spent years prepping quickchanges but the method it broke down wasn’t the most visually compatible with the garment and felt kinda clunky. please ignore this anecdote it's just me being picky.

set

i loved the forest! a very excellent way to divide the stage area and obscure the weird stage lines/architecture that mnet has made. plus the snow, flowers, and fog? makes a really sharp and immediately indicative atmosphere, a very good use of visual shorthand to establish place.

i didnt love the screens, they reminded me a bit too much of rolling whiteboards from grade school, but they are thematically relevant. also, i feel like we didnt actually get to see about half the choreo for them? fuckin mnet and idiocy again. fun use of rear projection with the dancers’ shadows, and also good use of them to direct traffic, if you will. 

personally i think that the sheet gimmick from tbz’s performance would have been a better fit here instead of the screens, especially since the fabric motif was already established at the very beginning of the performance. plus you can do some really fun shadow work with a stretch fabric screen. 

personally i think there could have been a little bit more integration between the forest area and the screen area, or they could have done the whole thing in the forest space, but that would require a bit more consideration of camera and choreo maneuverability

sound

really liked this arrangement, obviously the song is iconic but they added a more traditional instrument sound. has good structure for the loose narrative that they had and they were well to label this as ‘theatre’ version because this did follow very closely to a traditional musical theatre sound and style

lighting

no complaints. the overall theme for this episode is apparently blue and red? again with them i like their dedication to a limited colour palette and i especially like the blossoms at the climax

staging

there was pretty clear camera choreo and a minimum of nausea inducing moves. i think some of the effectiveness of the staging got chopped by the editing but that’s not really btob’s fault.

i was just saying i wanted them to give minhyuk some time to shine, i was not expecting to get it so soon! this is a very smart choreo that proves you can be interesting without doing a lot of tricking. minhyuk obviously did a lot of practice and work with that sword, his movements are very fluid and he knows how to handle it. and it looks like its either a blunted proper blade or a correctly weighted replica. a lot of the times when sword choreo looks fake it's because the person either hasn't had enough practice or the weapon is not weighted/weighted incorrectly. only complaints are that you would never hold your fingers/palm that close and un-anchored over the edge of the blade, which is just a safety thing. also you would never scrape your blade on the ground like that, nor toss the thing like dead fish but that's a respect thing with a live blade and this is clearly done for dramatic effect so i’ll forgive it. please ignore this anecdote also it’s just my third dan getting uppity.

ikon

costume/set

smart thematically to go with the sort of miscellaneous 30s-40s (western) aesthetic because it's the fastest way to make it look like you built a theme with mnet’s weird pseudo art deco nonsense they've inexplicably got going on in the set dec. however, they should have stuck the theme all the way through, it would have been more visually cohesive and more interesting. we expect more hiphop/electronic sounding songs to come with these kinds of 4th gen costumes, it would have been anachronistic in a fun way to have them do that second half in 40s style suits. here’s a performance from sdc3 that uses that kind of anachronistic play (this was a combo stage with two ballroom dancers and it has a 20s aesthetic but close enough.) also here’s another routine from sdc3 that does a similar effect on a much more abstract scale, and also it’s a fucking incredible performance and it got slept on by the captains. also yes i know these are incredibly experienced career dancers but they way they construct narrative within their routines and their stage presence is SO GOOD. 

do not speak to me about the backup dancers costumes, holy shit i hate them. i hate them so much. how do you manage to hit too shapeless AND too fitted in the same fell swoop? i'm so mad at these. i'm neutral on bodycon dresses on the best of days but these were absolutely the wrong choice for this stage. generally kpop has abysmal costuming for female backup dancers on the whole but this is just like.....especially lazy. the point of the costume are to help give an indication of where and when you set your performance. they started off with a vaguely 40s theme and then jumped abruptly modern. why? also skirts like that are the literal worst choice for dancing in, hello?? the men’s looks are just sloppy, when you have a garment that big you want it to serve a purpose within the choreo, whereas with this it's just hiding the dancers’ movements.

as for ikon themselves, see everything ive said about black on black on black styling in the previous two reviews. 

the actual set is minimal and that's tragic. i mentioned mnet’s weird art deco theme and it was smart of them to try and play off that with a lack of stuff. definitely a mismatch of stuff pulled from yg’s prop storage, but they made it work as well as they could. no other meaningful comments i’m just kinda sad about it.

sound

the arrangement is fine, no complaints from me. they keyed up the old hollywood style musical theatre sound in the beginning which i really liked. i didn't mind the song/tone switch, i think they pulled it off.

staging

same as btob they learned more towards a theatrical style, which is smart for this particular format of show. i think this was the smartest staging of these three, and also i think the only ones to not get the crew in shot.

despite seemingly leaning into a more old hollywood style the narrative was a bit too loose for my taste. i'm not sure what i would have done to make it clearer at this moment since they had so little to work with, but i did get by on my previous knowledge of the songs. that shouldn’t be the only indication of narrative though! all elements need to support it!!

also like btob they had a pretty intentional point of direction and there weren't a crazy amount of spins. they also used the camera cuts the most effectively that i've seen so far. the first half is actually all in one take!!! incredible!!! thank you!!!! this is how you do it!!

the lighter flick gimmick was well pulled off and a good example of how to use a couple of simple tricks to good effect.

ikon as a whole has really great stage chemistry with each other, and they're extremely cohesive performers. this is a really strong physical performance from them, the dance was very solid and clean. good use of levels without verging into acrobatics. this might be the best group choreo i've seen so far, but we’re not very far so that's not a very high bar to clear.

it's a shame they had the budget of 1 banana.

tbz

i liked this stage better than their intro stage, but i still think they have a long way to go and they're still over ambitious. personally i find stages based on specific pop culture properties to be kind of twee and ineffectual, because it requires a specific knowledge of that pop culture property to work. sometimes the specificity can help with a narrative but you're at risk of alienating a larger portion of your audience out of sheer non-knowledge than anything else. 

costumes

again, interesting garments physically, but not much clarity of relation to the theme other than the colour. also the backup dancers???? another case of backup dancers being from an entirely different stage, what is up with those coats/dresses? looked more like they belonged in either sweeney todd or a vampire movie. 

hands in front of the camera again, but these were used much more effectively.  i'm not the biggest fan of mixing metals and i’m partial to silver on the whole so i didn't love the jewelry, but at least it was vague and stereotypical enough to denote ‘fire magic’ even if it does rely on a derivative middle eastern shorthand.

set

the stage set itself is fine, although definitely feels a bit haphazard to me. doric columns and frozen rocks and whatever that cover for the pyrotechnics was at the front, combined with the candles and the chaise lounge? like ikon, it felt a bit like they were pulling out of the props/set storage. not that all these things do not work together, it's just that you need a thread to tie them together, and this didn't have that for me.

sound

it's a crime they have a song called ‘no air’ and its not a jordin sparks cover. just saying.

i didnt really like this arrangement, again like their intro stage it didn't have a strong structure that suited the narrative, because they were pretty clearly trying a narrative on this one. also were most of the adlibs playback? they were singing live but there were so few shots of anyone specific singing. 

lighting

probably the weakest of the three. the projection design was a bit too tacky for me, and although i appreciated the small amount of variety in colour, it felt way too concert-lighting for me.

staging

the editing on this stage is wack and did no one any good. the hands leading/pov was a really smart device and they should have stuck out the one takes like ikon did, it would have made the whole stage feel a bit more cohesive. a lot better directional camerawork from them this time around, well done. again with the hands in front of the camera gimmick which i actually preferred this time, since they were a part of the narrative. the stretch/silhouette fabric i think they pulled off quite well, even if it didn't really fit thematically with the piece. i actually worked on a show a very long time ago that used this exact same effect with dancers and also rear shadow projection, and it requires a lot of rehearsal and trust to pull off well, so props to them. i think it was the wrong choice because there isn't an established motif for the fabric, so it kind of appears out of nowhere for one specific visual moment and then disappears, and i think that time could have been better served for something else narratively relevant.

again, these 4th gen groups are overly focussed on gimmicks as a way to make up for the lack of experience. personally i think this will be detrimental in the long run, and a reliance on gimmicks means that you don't trust your performers. tbz have the manpower to be doing some pretty cool collective dance work and i dont think its being trained or utilized correctly. they are suffering from a lack of cohesive stage presence right now and that can be fixed with training and time.

this might be because the group sizes are so different between these three but this choreo is very directionless. mnet is also providing to be absolute garbage at editing and i feel like i can't see the choreo at all.

this is a thing i've noticed with kpop camerawork in general, there’s very little regard for actually viewing the choreo as a singular work. and for some reason the camera always needs to be moving???? people do actually want to see what’s happening on the stage. the choreographer can only see from one spot, so from that spot is how they are intending it to look. you wouldn't need to upload full cams of every music stage if you just filmed the choreo properly in the first place. if you watch the two sdc3 clips i linked you can see a clear difference in maintaining the integrity of the choreo, even though both shows use several cameras and a lot of cuts.  obviously for kpop you want the money shots of idols’ faces but i definitely think there’s a healthier middle ground than what we have now.

ill wait for full subs but i want to know where in the fuck in sk you can rent a tank thas clearly been custom made for underwater photography, because that’s extremely cool even if it was absolutely unnecessary to the actual stage itself. i can think of several ways off the top of my head that would have achieved that same freezing effect without any of that wasted time and effort.

mnet decided to drop full cams while i was writing this and despite watching those my opinions are the same.

in conclusion, some more general thoughts:

i think ikon and btob got it right by leaning more into the theatrical than the cinematic, if that makes sense. i might be talking up my own ass here but these are theatre performances, and they should be treated as such. trying to do things that you can do on film isn't going to do you any favours in the long run, and it makes it harder to make a cohesive performance. i’m harping a lot about narrative but it is so important to performance. although it is not technically necessary, when doing big theatrical performance stages like this it does help with clarity of intent and general success. humans have brains structured around storytelling, it is literally the way our history has been passed down for tens of thousands of years. the atlantic published an article recently on narrative and memory, and it's a really excellent read for maybe after you've taken a break from this behemoth, oh dear god. 

tldr: the stages were good but disappointing in their own ways. mnet continues to sabotage via weird stage design decisions and bad editing. see you next week! (or in my ask box if you have questions)