#made in korea

[madeinkorea-blbambeyond]

MADE IN KOREA

Series: Let Free The Curse of Taekwondo

LEE SEON

KIM NU RIM

[loonarii]

MADE IN KOREA: EP. 1 (my thoughts on the tv show for that british kpop bg sm decided to do for some unknown reason)

So if you didn't hear, SM Entertainment is the latest kpop company to dip their toes into the concept of a western kpop group - we had VCHA from JYP and their show A2K, KATSEYE from HYBE with their show Dream Academy (and I believe upcoming Netflix docu-series?), and now we have 'Dear Alice' from SM with the show 'Made In Korea: The K-Pop Experience'. Unlike the previous two groups, Dear Alice is a boy group, and are specifically all British, whereas the girls of VCHA and KATSEYE are from all over the world. As your local british kpop stan with access to BBC iPlayer (where this show is streaming) I decided to watch and drop my thoughts on the show and see if its any good, basically.

Right off the bat, the pitch to SM was clearly: 'we will make you a new One Direction' - like you can easily pick out of the lineup who is supposed to be Harry and Zayn and so on. It's not a stupid idea because after South Korea, the UK is probably the biggest exporter of music groups beloved internationally, but I doubt whether kpop stans will take to this well. At least they are promoting this on the BBC, directly to the UK, which is presumably their target audience.

They keep calling this whole thing an 'experiment' which it obviously is, but the higher ups at SM seems to be very on edge about the whole thing - after the groups first performance to Heejun (the director basically) she called a fucking emergency meeting with the SM team and the british producers - there generally seems to be a lack of confidence in the success of the group.

In the beginning of the episode they briefly mention (but for the most part gloss over) the audition process for this show, claiming they chose the five boys for their talents in singing and dance. Throughout the episode though it becomes apparently clear though that they (in the nicest way possible) don't really hold a candle to the debuted idols from SM. The whole show is based on this 'make a british kpop group in 100 days' gimmick, but the truth of the matter is you need a lot more than 100 days to become idol level good at dancing and singing - most idols train for 2 years minimum, some upwards of 6. I have no idea why they didn't choose boys with more preexisting skill in the audition process, or just give them longer to train - perhaps there could've been a bootcamp for a month before the going to korea bit to build basic skills - none of the 5 seem to be overly familiar with the kpop industry and it seems that pretty much all of their context as to what is expected of an idol is drawn from the SMTOWN concert they attended before their training began. They came off as quite unprepared, and Heejun's harsh comments to them in their evaluation clearly came as bit of a surprise to them. It is only episode one though, so i think if anything, now they know the level they are supposed to be at.

All of them apparently have a background in theatre or dance in some capacity (one of them is a tiktoker... ok) but only Dexter and maybe Reese struck me as having much aptitude for kpop dancing, but again it is only episode one so I'll cut them a little bit of slack. They struggled a lot with coordination and accuracy, but from my perspective as a dancer myself and kpop stan, the dance they learned to their song 'Feel the Vibe' (we will get to that don't worry lol) was not what I would call hugely difficult?? the members other than Dexter lacked a lot of fluidity but none of them were awful and I think with a lot more training they could be quite good. Olly seemed to struggle a lot with the dance, and there was some chatter from the producers that members could be cut, and if I had to guess anyone right now to be dropped (momentarily, I'm assuming anyone they kick is going to pull a Momo and be brought back) it would be him.

The song 'feel the vibe' is like.. what you would get if you asked an AI to spit out a 'boy group song' - it has a little bit of RIIZE energy so I wouldn't be surprised if this was an abandoned demo of theirs, but it also feels a little kidz bop? lmao? It's fine basically, not very exciting but not totally unlistenable. My main concern is that its quite a high song especially in the chorus, and the boys seem to struggle to hit the notes. Giving them a song that is out of almost all of their ranges is kind of setting them up to fail especially when they had a week only to learn it. Their poor vocal performance also explains why Heejun was so unconfident in this groups success - SM is is the kpop company known for its vocalists, being able to sing like Ningning or Taeyeon may not be necessary to succeed and debut in other big companies, but in SM vocals are crucial. Again they did only have a week, so at the very least potential is there.

They did a lot of b-roll content of them seeing the sights of Seoul, they did a gangnam style bit (god help me) met with Shindong (...), met RIIZE and TEN of WayV etc etc which was cool i guess - i hope this is a mainstay in the series and not just an introductory element.

Overall the show is not boring by any means, if a little cringey at times, my only concern is that the group that will emerge on the other side will not be up to par? I guess we will see.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[janjanenrico]

Victory Liner 87

Coach builder: Hyundai Motor Company Model: Hyundai Universe Xpress Noble Coach Transmission: Manual Area of operation: Provincial operation Fare type: Air conditioned Country of origin: South Korea

CTTO: @techno2025

[cloysauce]

he's really evil ok

[serenar50f18]

Traditional versus modern

[fr0ggys]

am i the only one who saw Blaise and thought he was Paul Aron's long lost twin or some sht

this is me coping with logan sargeant getting dropped

[leche-flandom]

I gotta hand it to The Heirs.

I've never watched a show where I went from instantly hating so many characters in the first episode to fully loving them in the last. Choi Young-do, Han Ki-ae, and Lee Bo-na were flawed, obviously, but watching them was more enjoyable than the romance bits sometimes.

[the-mesozoic-system]

CAN YOU FEEL THE

✨️VIBES✨️

EVERY TIME YOU MOVE A LITTLE CLOSER TO ME

RUNNIN THROUGH YOUR BODY LIKE ELECTRICITY

ITS IN THE AIR AND EVERYWHERE GET INTO THE BEAT

CAN YOU FEEL THE

✨️VIBES✨️

OH IM SHAKIN OH ITS TAKIN OVER MAKIN ME DANCE

SO COME ON OVER COME IN CLOSER GIMME YOUR HAND

SPEAKIN BODY LANGUAGE THAT WE BOTH UNDERSTAND

CAN YOU FEEL THE

✨️VIBES✨️

[nikadoramas]

Meu Oppa favorito 🫰🏽

Apesar de tudo, Amor ❤️

[madeinkorea-blbambeyond]

MADE IN KOREA

PARK SHIN-HYE

PARK HYUNG SIK

[garlic-press-collection]

Kitchen Holder (?) Brand Garlic Press. What I had assumed was a nut cracking part of these style of Garlic Press is apparently suitable for opening screw top jars. Would have to be a pretty small jar lid I think. Maybe bottle tops is what is meant All aluminium construction and Made in Korea.

[janjanenrico]

Usagi Express 8843

Bus Builder: Hyundai Motor Company (South Korea) Model: Hyundai Unicity Intercity Bus

CTTO: @techno2025 (a.k.a. Wristwatch collector)

[huiracha]

HYUNJIN AS EMOJI for ELLE KOREA

[cloysauce]

now it's mr crash-landing-on-you and mr a-moment-to-remember!!

[ric381jk]

SAMICK AV5 & AV6 (2007 MIK)