#judging by current kpop trends I don’t think there’s going to be any new debuts blowing me away lmao

[bomnun]

not a very relevant post at all, once again just talking to myself, but I really feel my interest in the kpop industry and checking up on many groups fading so fast. wkly and lghtsm were the two “next generation” groups I liked the most and was the most attached to, and, idk, my enjoyment of them has become really … stunted mostly after the members leaving, and the obvious display of the fact that neither company wants to keep working on the (good) sounds and concepts they had going that I really liked … wkly’s next comeback (if ist decide to give them one at all) will probably not be in the same genre and style as ven para was, but I don’t think they’ll care to go back to bubbly, fun, songs sounding more like after school or tag me because that’s considered “too childish” and ist clearly doesn’t do that. with lghtsm it’s obvious a 180 is coming, and considering cube’s most popular group these days I don’t think it’ll be a 180 with…music enjoyable to me… plus idk the removal of the two members makes me feel so off. I like all eight, and I want to see the remaining six flourish too, but even if I end up liking the new stuff it’s going to feel…wrong.

[sunflowereveryday]

NCT Hollywood

TL:DR: I’m neutral about this new potential sub-unit.

I’m pretty sure a lot of Kpop fans read the news about SM x MGM to create a survival programme to debut NCT Hollywood. I know some of you guys want to burn SM because of that. On the other hand, we’re in the age of globalisation. SM creating a US-based group was going to happen regardless. Honestly, you just have to view NCT like the Avengers, they all have their own stories but when the time is right, they will join forces. Although I’m just a casual listener, seeing NCT grow as a brand is rather interesting and it was really cool to see how NCT 2020 connected the dots between 127, Dream and WayV. Don’t you think it will be interesting to see how SM will market their Japanese unit and USA unit? 127 is literally a Seoul based group whereas, Dream is living in a dreamland and, WayV are time/space travelers.

NCT Hollywood, I think it’s probably connected to their Youtube post, when they were scouting for new trainees. This new show is still in discussion and I doubt it’s going to take place within this year. By the time NCT Hollywood debut, some of the current member’s contracts would probably have expired or some of members would have already enlisted. SM mentioned at start of 2020, SM will debut another boy group by end of 2020, don’t worry about Shotaro and Sungchan. Let’s be honest, NCT Hollywood doesn’t mean NCT or SM will spoon feed them success. They would still need to fight for their success. Similarly when WayV debuted, was WayV spoon fed their success from 127 and Dream? No. They still had to appear on shows, host concerts and fanmeetings to get to where they are at. Sure SM can improve their management with WayV but 1) COVID is still around and 2) I personally don’t think putting them on a Korean TV show would be suitable since they are not K-pop group and the general Korean public are most likely not interested in a Chinese group. Furthermore, the fact that a Korean drama got cancelled due to using Chinese props. Do you think the general public in Korea will be open minded enough to watch a TV show with a Chinese group guest on it? Also, let’s not forget that Kick Back sold 200k+ albums (and trended on various digital platforms) with almost zero promotions during COVID - Not many groups can achieve such sales before COVID.

As a fan from 2nd gen, I do want to highlight the hypocrisy I see within the K-pop fandom. Whenever SM announce a new group, there will always be disagreements and repeating the same narrative ‘SM doesn’t need a new group, they need to focus on xx’ When Red Velvet debuted, fans said SM needs to focus on f(x), when NCT debuted, fans said SM needs to focus on EXO and when Aepsa debuted, fans said SM better not forget Red Velvet. The same narrative is being repeated years after years. Now NCT Hollywood was announced, they haven’t even finalised the line up or finish any form of training, some of you act as if they’re going to drop a debut single next month. Some of you say that SM needs to focus on their current groups, however when WayV debuted, did anyone hate that idea? No, instead we just wanted to see Kun, Lucas and Ten leave SM’s trainee basement. When SM obviously hinted NCT Japan line, did anyone hate that idea? No, we just want to see Shotaro and Sungchan debut in a fix unit. So why is it with NCT Hollywood, you all want SM to only focus on NCT’s current sub-unit and stop their expansion now? WayV debuted 3 years after NCT 127 and Dream, NCT 127 just began touring and Dream went on radio and TV shows here and there, 127 and Dream’s popularity was starting to pick up around 2018-2019 however, we still wanted to see SM debut WayV. And with the current Japan line, I’m sure many of you are still anticipating this sub-unit. So I do think it’s unfair to gun down NCT Hollywood, a sub-unit that’s in works and have yet to debut.

I’m not trying to defend SM’s business decisions or tactics but wanting to suggest another perspective. Because at the end of day, we don’t work for SM, I don’t think it’s fair to always blame everything on SM’s management team. However, please do take this post with a grain of salt. I just staying neutral since 1) I don’t work for SM, 2) how SM runs their business is not something for me to be concerned about and 3) I don’t blame SM for wanting to explore to different markets. You can’t always stay within your comfort zone, from time to to time, you have to challenge yourself.

Lee Soo Man World Domination Fantasy & Politics

I know people are always laughing at Lee Soo Man’s world domination views. But I don’t get what’s there to laugh about. Yes USA is big but I doubt he wants to dominate the entire music industry in USA. He just wants to create a realm where he can generate profit from. If you want to earn more money, you have to source it from other countries. Whilst I understand SM is a small cooperation compared to other global companies but what’s wrong with a small company trying to make it big? I don’t think it’s wrong for Lee Soo Man for wanting to expand their market and push themselves into different regions and territories. As a business, you have to take risk in order to grow. If NCT Hollywood fails, then tough luck. Better luck next time.

In addition, I always wanted to point this out. Why do people always laugh at SM trying to break into the US market? If you see US’s market as an unbreakable and untouchable market, don’t you think this is somehow succumbing to the notion of ‘white supremacy?’ Western companies constantly profit from Asian countries but when Asian countries wants to enter the Western market, it’s automatically viewed as a ‘flop’ or ‘embarrassing.’ I don’t see anyone stopping Sephora from opening stores across China. I don’t see anyone laughing when Pixie Lott made her Japanese debut (Dancing on my own ft GD&TOP). And I don’t see anyone judging Little Mix for collaborating with a J-pop group (Flower). So why is it especially funny that SM wants to debut a USA group? Alternatively, if it’s not succumbing to ‘white supremacy’, don’t you think it’s reiterating idea of ‘white fragility’? To be honest, no one is Asia loses their mind when a Western brands enters the Asian market. - On the contrary, this could be due to the normalisation of Western countries self-inserting themselves into Asia, aka colonisation...- But when an Asian brand approaches the Western market, some of you guys tend to lose your mind and try to protect and reserve the Western market. Are you scared that SM will take over the USA music industry, leaving people jobless? Are you trying to reserve the USA market for white owned companies? Globalisation isn’t about opening McDonald and KFC stores around the world, learning English and making people conform to Western standards and lifestyle. It’s having the world connected despite the geographical distance.

I understand that K-pop fans who listen to K-pop is for its East-Asian aesthetics. On the other hand, there are many people out there who aren’t interested in East-Asian culture and don’t listen to K-pop. For example, when SM debuted WayV, it was to create Chinese pop music for the Chinese market since not everyone in China listens to K-pop. Same goes for NCT Hollywood, it’s SM’s strategy to create pop music for the mass USA market than target a niche audience. I personally do think pop culture in general can easily be adapted and localised. So don’t think of it as LSM destroying K-pop, it’s not like he’s disbanding all his groups for this one USA group. But hey, if everything goes well, this could be an opportunity for some of you to work for SM and fulfill that fantasy of working with Kpop idols. In all honesty, this could be a good social experiment of trying to bridge the cultural differences between the West and the East. 

The only thing that bugs me is the survival show, I personally don’t like watching shows where I see a group of aspiring youths completing for one position.

Not gonna lie, I do find the word ‘Hollywood’ extremely cringe worthy.

[callmecayce]

Happy Donghae Day!

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017

Today marks the seventh annual Donghae Day. That is, it’s been seven years that I’ve been a kpop fan. This year also marked my two-year anniversary at my full time job (for those who don’t know, prior to 2016, I had been working two jobs for almost nine years). Not everything has been good, the state of the world gets worse, we lost three idols from groups I love, as well as author/chef who meant a lot to me personally. But it hasn’t all been bad or sad, it has been like so much of life - full of everything. 

My journey into kpop started with this post and has continued forward ever since. The links above are all of my previous Donghae Day posts, including the original reblog. This day has become more than just the simple reminder of my love of kpop. Instead it has become a celebration of the things, and the people, that I love. To me, Donghae Day, like kpop, isn’t just about the music or the idols. It’s about everything that comes with that - it’s about friends, food, love, life, and joy. It’s understanding that kpop is more than just an escape from the shittiness that is the world today. I am forever grateful for that Donghae gifset and for everything that has come after - from the music itself, to the tv shows, to the concerts, to all of the friends of I have made. 

Before I get into the really fun stuff - I want to take a moment to talk about those friends. People talk shit about women who like pop music, they judge you for liking cute boys, for writing fanfic, for listening to music, going to concerts, buying plushies/albums/whatever. But none of that matters, not really. What does matter? All these people I’ve become friends with. Over the past year (Donghae Day year as well as 2018) I have made friends with so many new people - some close friends, some not - and it is wonderful. This, to me, is at the heart of what I love about kpop and is deeply important to understand why Donghae Day is so important. Of all the things I love about kpop, it is my friendships that are the single best part. So, to all of my friends (kpop fans and non fans alike), I love you all. Thank you for being amazing people. ❤️❤️

And now … the fun stuff!

So, you say, seven years? And I say: FUCK YEAH, SEVEN YEARS!!! 

What has happened since last year’s Donghae Day? A LOT and sort of not much at all. Kpop-related, there were two really big events for me. One of the was that @namjoonrecyclables and I went to Chicago to see VAV! It was a fantastic concert, though we both realized that we’re getting too old (lol) to drive down to Chicago the same day as the show. It’s also the only concert we’ve been to in 2018 and our wallets are grateful. The other thing that happened was that I flew out to Colorado to see @jillwandersen after not having seen her since the concert in 2014. It was also quite a lot of fun. 

A lot of smaller things have happened this year. As I said above, I’ve made new friends. I’ve also gotten into a ton of new (and not so new) groups that I am trying to learn. I also bias way too many people (the list is ever-growing). I finally admitted that my favorite groups (aside from Speed) are Seventeen and SHINee. My husband is still there, though he’s left BAP. My boyfriend list has held steady (though this may be changing - read: growing). 

I also made this playlist, called Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. It’s 20 tracks long (for now) and about an hour and 12 minutes long. You can find it on YouTube and Spotify. Please, enjoy.

Last year I talked about all the nugu/underrated groups that I love - but I can’t do that this year. Not because there aren’t any, but because there are too many. I was talking to @killerzebras (also known as my sister) the other day about why I love kpop. She told me I didn’t need to justify why I loved it, but it got me thinking about what it is that keeps me loving kpop. I am really good at loving things, but it tends to be fleeting (for many reasons, most of them perfectly reasonable) - but kpop? My love for kpop appears stronger than even my love for pro-cycling, which, for a time, I thought nothing could break (that is another post for another time and probably not on here). 

I think there are two huge reasons why I continue to adore kpop. The first is because of the friends I’ve made, as long as I have friends who love kpop, I will keep loving it, too - sharing is something I have slowly learned to love and, within the passed year, have worked on embracing. The second reason is that there is always new content. People often talk about the fact that their fandoms (books, movies, tv shows) only have limited content and often the endings are just that - endings. That works for some people, but not for me. Kpop is different (again, for me), it is, for now, the gift that keeps on giving. I get new groups to love (my heart is forever big enough), new idols to care about, new music to listen to, and the groups I already love give me more music. There is always, always something new to love while still loving what has already been. It’s not all unicorns and candy, sometimes it’s heartbreak, but there’s always something for me to love. 

I’m sure that there are quite a few things I’ve forgotten to talk about this year, but this post is already way too long. Therefore I want to talk about two (hilarious) moments in 2018. The first is the release of Infinite’s song, Tell Me, and their comeback in January. Some of you know that for many years I was not a fan of Dongwoo, for various (and dumb) reasons. However, 2018 became the year that I turned into a Dongwoo fan. 

I mean, really. How did I resist for so long? Thanks, 2018 Infinite comeback, for changing me.

The second … the second thing is something I am still embarrassed about even while having embraced it. It is something that several of my friends (especially @namjoonrecyclables) have been waiting for literally ever to happen. I have, somehow, after all these years, become a proper fan of EXO. Why, you ask? WELL, THAT’S A GREAT QUESTION. And the answer is as equally as embarrassing - it’s because of a stupid Soompi EXO quiz. You think I’m joking, but I’m not. Google said, hey you like Soompi and kpop quizzes, why don’t you take this What’s Your Relationship With EXO? quiz and I said no, but also why not. I mean, I can’t count and didn’t notice that it was just the current EXO members in the picture (it was early in the morning and I didn’t look too closely and I like quizzes … ) and so I took it and then this happened:

Look, I’m not saying it was a good idea. In fact, it was a terrible idea and I joked about it and then SM released the We Young MV with Chanyeol and Sehun and even while I love that song I joked some more because it was funny, right? Me, stanning someone in EXO just because a Soompi quiz told me to. Except … I kept joking about it and everyone who knows me knows that my biggest kpop weakness is soft rappers and @namjoonrecyclables told me (on purpose, for which I love her) that Chanyeol is a soft rapper and I was like no. But also, wait he is? And then, because I’m me, I took another quiz and it confirmed the first Soompi quiz and then I was like, this is embarrassing as fuck but why not embrace it and now, HERE I AM. 

I love Chanyeol. I bias Chanyeol. And I’m an EXO fan. I think I need help because no one knows who I am anymore. But, honestly, that’s fine. So, I guess, thanks for that Soompi.

This year’s Donghae Day is on a Friday, which means it is a full-ass day packed with stuff. @namjoonrecyclables and I have both taken the day off from work (yay!). We’re watching kpop mvs and a kdrama. We’re going out to lunch and doing more of the same. Then my friend H and I are going out for dinner and to see a movie. Why? Because we can. Because it’s Donghae Day. 

Seven years is a long time. It’s the seven-year curse year not for me (I hope!), but for groups that debuted the year I got into kpop. Of the ones that debuted in 2011, these are the ones I love: B1A4, Boyfriend, and Myname. Myname debuted a few weeks after I got into kpop, it’s so wild. We’re all still around, hopefully for longer than seven years. 

Donghae Day is about all of this. It’s about having fun, it’s about loving the things you love so much that sometimes it hurts. It’s about doing what you love and being with people you love, and it’s about living. 

I say this every year, but I don’t know where I’ll be in a year. Will I even still be a kpop fan? The trend so far seems to be yes, of course! But you can never rule anything out. Which is why I love to pour my heart into being a kpop fan. Nothing lasts for ever, but I’m going to love kpop for along as I can with as much of my heart as I can. 

I want to thank you all for accompanying me on this journey - whether you’re a kpop fan or just someone in my life who tolerates my love. Thank you all and here’s to many, many more Donghae Days if that’s what the future holds for all of us.