#sm didn't give them much time for promo though:(

[ohmytyong]

i'm studying in the library and i want to scream

[jayflrt]

as much as im annoyed by the potential implications of the mhj/hybe drama i do feel like theres way too much speculation rn ... rlly doesn't sit so well with me that everyone is bashing on mhj alone (im not supporting her either though) and not bang sihyuk too. some hybe stans rlly js worship the guy and idk why . its not like he's innocent too. like those texts from him are so annoying too. abt if she's satisfied that nwjns is so popular and also abt trying to rival aespa / bp alone ...

hybe has sm power and r known for their mediaplay so i rlly do wish people would keep that in mind instead of doing their own speculation to bash on mhj . we don't know fs if she's the reason behind seunghan, youngseo, etc .... it seems so forced that everyone just collectively is making stuff up on their own theories and pissing on her. like im all for it when everything's done with but it's giving misogyny to me ughhh idk how to explain it eitherr without sounding like a mhj stan I PROMISE IM NOT TAKING HER SIDE T_T i just cant help but feel like poeple find it easier to hate and bash on women sometimes. even me scrolling x nowadays feels so annoying. literally feel so bad for illit and nwjns rn.

personally i was a teeny annoyed that illit had a similar image to nwjns w their nostalgia/coquettecore (also though just seems like cute/youthful concept is making a cb in general in kpop) but only because their songs on super real me were the exact type of songs i liked most from nwjns (super shy, hurt etc. the softer less peppy songs compared to hybe boy) so it bothered me that there was an implication that nwjns might be forced to distance itself to a more differing concept to keep some contrast btwn the two ... but ik that's not illit's fault at all (literally love the girls sm im a runext fan ^^) i feel like i can understand the upset that illit was getting a similar concept when every other grp before illit in hybe had more defined concepts seperating each other. but once again that's all hybe's doing ...... seeing the choreographers supporting mhj too makes it seem like not even the nwjns team or even all the staff were on board with the references in the choreo either...

anyways i do hope this controversy doesnt impede on either grps promos :( and i rlly hope everything gets sorted out... im srsly hoping this doesnt turn into a 5050 situtation again but with nwjns i was so upset when that happened . was curious on what your thoughts were or if u were keeping up with everything?

i feel like i've seen a good amount of people bashing them both but we could have different tls maybe !! but yeah i don't know why there's so many hybe stans 😭 it's been this way for a long time + armys idolizing bang pd back when bts was the only group under bighit. i feel like everyone needs to just accept that all these companies are trash and you can't be defending ceos

i do get what you mean because women are often criticized far more when those same things would be overlooked if a man did it,, however i don't think that's the case here 😭 because 1. she has an extensive history of s3xualizing minors back from when she was in sm and 2. it was revealed that she and bang pd bought out source music to debut a girl group so it's not that far-fetched to say that she could have sabotaged the trainees from source music, especially after she said that she didn't want to debut sakura because she was "too old." some of the other theories people are making definitely don't have much of a basis but i think most people also recognize that the main victims of all this are newjeans and illit + the other groups mhj dragged in with her. so yeah i wouldn't call it misogyny that people are going after min heejin, and honestly i'm even more surprised that people just forgot about how she sexualized shinee, red velvet, jisung, and newjeans and only started calling her out after this incident 😭 she's always had a LOT of defenders and personally i've never felt the need to defend billionaires :/ also mhj's a businesswoman who knows how to play the media herself. you can see it even in her press conferences; she's bringing up different groups to take attention off of herself and talking about her "relationship" with newjeans to garner sympathy from everyone

i think hybe definitely was shady for greenlighting illit's concept when it's clear there was inspiration from newjeans. i personally just assumed they discussed this with ador but i guess not?? so weird that they don't act like proper adults in that building. i'll also say that i don't think min heejin's concept for newjeans is original or considered "hers" but since most people associate that concept with newjeans, it's safe to say that illit's creative director probably got it from newjeans anyways. another thing about hybe tho is that i don't think they've been doing strong concepts for their groups. txt did have a strong one initially but bighit just stopped trying for them (probs bc their team got moved to source music 🥲) i think belift did a good job with keeping the vampire concept for enha consistent and i was initially scared that it would stop after hybe fully acquired cj enm, but i think they've recognized that enha just has too much connected to their vampire concept (their webtoon, storyline for their music videos) but enha's also been neglected by hybe a lot so screw them 🚶‍♂️

i hope this issue doesn't mess with comebacks either :/ it's like suspiciously right before newjeans' comeback, which throws me off because i feel like there's always some shit min heejin's pulling right before or during their comebacks (ex: inserting herself in the OMG music video at the very end) and it's so weird to me how she always talks about them as if she's the sixth member 😭

[djxiao]

I think aespa fans have the right to be mad for a lot of things one of them being one of the bg meber being a nepotism kid but everybody being fine with thar while giselle still gets hated for made up nepotism rumors. There is only 2.5 years difference between aespas debut and this one and now we can see that sm rushed aespa debut even though they had a lot of time to complete everything. Riize getting music show promotions for pre release and getting 2 pre release at that and now this physical album,I don't remember if nct had a physical album for their debut but red velvet certainly did and so did aespa. Aespa actually had 3 back to back digital singles to that sucked along with little to no content and promo. Even now they don't have a full album and all mys are scared that sm is gonna put the rest of the concert tracks in the new mini. If sm rushes the nggs debut and only gives them a digital single then we can all conclude that they are sexist mfs. And yes they did have a press release something along the lines that ride topped some chart and aespa fell below them which made the fans rightfully angry

i never said aespa fans don't have the right to be angry i literally said you're right to be angry over aespa's treatment and im on your side with that. im just against holding a grudge against another group simply because they got better treatment during a debut. they can't control what the company does just as much as aespa can't. wayv didn't have a comeback for close to two years and ten was out of the country for 9ish months and winwin was gone for 1.5 years. we didn't get any full group content for so long (and we still barely get any) and yangyang even said that at one point was worried because he didn't know if wayv would ever even come back. they still barely get anything compared to 127/dream in terms of cbs and tours and yet i don't hold it against the other units. the press release sounds to me like they were just saying riize has performed well so far in some metric and then using another well charting sm group as point of reference. that's nothing personal against aespa, its just how companies run they will always compare their groups. and in the case of charts, saying one sm artist charted high and surpassed another is not an attack on aespa, its just an objective analysis of the current positions of their artists in a constantly changing chart ranking. and as for of them being a nepotism kid, i've definitely seen him getting hate for it on twt. and are mys also mad at sunny for being lee soman's niece and chris lee's cousin? or is it just anton. the nepotism thing is going to follow all three of them for the rest of their careers and personally im not going to let it bother me. i like to embrace those types of things with humor because getting mad isn't going to erase it so i'd rather just have fun with it. as for the smngg, i full heartedly hope the ngg gets as good of a debut as riize, but im not going to spend my time worrying about hypothetical scenarios in the unknown future, it just adds extra suffering. we'll get there when we get there.

[peppertaemint]

I don't know if you've seen the new pic Kibum posted, but if you're online I'm sure you've seen the drama about it now...

I don't get it though, usually Key will say himself when he posts something if it shouldn't be shared, so I wonder if even he didn't see a problem with it at first? Why is one picture such a problem? Is Taemin not allowed to exist in public while enlisted?

This isn't a dig at Baekhyun cause I'm glad he was able to do these things, but didn't he have youtube videos coming out while enlisted? And I know he was all over his verified twitter all the time? How is just one picture different than that? Is it cause of the platform? Even though its not Taemin's bubble and he makes no money from it? Would their be so much drama if it had been posted to instastories?

I saw people saying there were articles, but there were articles written when Taemin went to Keys show?

I dunno where I'm getting with this, other than enlistment is confusing, I hope Key and Taemin in particular are okay, and I can't wait for this overlong awful enlistment to be over...

Hi Anon.

I have Bubble so I received the scolding directly via text! That was a shocker, lol. I'll give you my unvarnished opinion on this but as a warning, I'm going to be brutally honest about all of it. You're asking completely legit questions here.

The situation is nuanced, and I think for a lot of fans just the idea that they did something Kibum didn't like and felt the need to tell everyone off about was enough to either upset them or make them scared and 'fall in line." I deleted the posts I made and then I reflected because I never share Bubble content. But this time I made an exception — why did I do that? Because EVERYONE did.

So this is my opinion (don't take it as gospel because I have no access to anyone's thoughts). I think Key misjudged the reaction to that photo and how berserk everyone would go. He sees Taemin all the time; we haven't seen his entire face since his birthday in 2022 (lol). And, we've had virtually no communication from him in almost two years. "We" went nuts. Can anyone blame us? No. But Bubble is a paid service, and Kibum always reminds us not to share his shit. I never share anyone's shit publicly anyhow, but again it was ubiquitous, so I joined in. See the problem?

He had every right to get mad and remind of his boundaries and Bubble policy (there are financial penalties you can face for sharing stuff too btw). I also think he probably felt remorse over sending it in the first place since he likely misjudged what would happen. Is it all about breaking Bubble policy? No. And I don't think it's all about him being annoyed at fans breaking his trust either.

Baekhyun did have a personal YouTube account that he setup himself to use to communicate with fans during enlistment. It's my understanding he did this as a way to keep in touch without it having any links to promo/work. But, do you remember how he had to delete it all, and then he came online to tell us it's okay etc? I think that SM caught wind of extra scrutiny on people doing civil service enlistment, and it was a precaution. I also think this is why they've cooled it on Taemari, and it could be one of many reasons why Taemin stopped doing any posts at all. I'm not saying it's THE reason, but I think it's likely a factor.

There is a lot of criticism of celebrities who do civil service enlistment, and that criticism was present before the investigation involving Ravi and others came to light. People have been criticizing the option for years, saying it's how celebrities get out of doing "actual" service (let's put aside arguments about why that's wrong/insane, etc). Instead, put yourself in Taemin's shoes. He started service one way and is finishing it another. Wouldn't you want to avoid public ire and scrutiny over how you're spending your time in enlistment, ie. "living it up" etc. In my opinion, that's the worry over the photo being everywhere and now in news articles.

Why is the concert different? He went with Lee Soo-Man on the non-Beyond Live day as a private citizen, he kept his face covered the entire time—he even dressed low key. I have the same shirt that he wore (lol, imagine my surprise) except it's the branded version. He wore the non-branded version. Though he did have a Prada bag so maybe my argument falls apart but it wasn't like, in your face, was it? Anyhow, I hope you'll see my point. When he went to that soccer game, Jimin and Sungwoon were also there but they were in a fancy box. He did not sit in the box - he was just with the regulars in the stands. It wouldn't look so good to be in a fancy private box when you're supposed to be serving in the military, would it?

When Minho served, whenever he called Taemin he said he could never show his face. He was allowed to call him on VLives (or comment, lol) but he said specifically he can't show his face. They even argued about it. To bring this full circle, Bubble is a paid promotional, parasocial service. Even though for Kibum, sharing the photo is "private," it's still part of his work as an idol. So technically Taemin was in paid content. Is it a big deal? I really don't think it is (also is he definitely not discharged already?! o.O) so no one should feel sad or bad or whatever. Next time anyone shares anything on Bubble, I know it won't get shared. That's just how the fans roll. There's a level of respect here that is a breath of fresh air tbh.

Why is Baekhyun on Twitter whenever he wants but we don't hear from Taemin often? Personal choice. And that's a choice to be respected. It's not our business unless he chooses to share. Existential perspectives aside, we're part of "work" and the man is not in work nor getting paid for it right now, so he doesn't need to do shit. lol.

[house-of-laminations]

Hiiii ! I love your blog sm :) I was just wondering if you had advice to give to fellow tumblr writers? Even though I'm tagging and stuff I'm still really struggling to be seen on my new blog and its a little disheartening. If you don't have advice for that specifically, do u have any advice for finding and developing ideas? I hope you're having a good day either way because you really seem so lovely 🧚

oh my goodness thank you 🧚anon 💛 I hope you're having a wonderful day too!

Full disclosure: I'm making up this writing blog thing as I go along. I didn't expect any of my stuff to draw the attention that it has so the whole 'visibility' thing feels a lot like luck. That being said, there's a few things I've picked up on my decade+ on this site, as well as some things from being a little internet and design savvy.

Tumblr tag functionality is and always will be a mystery. However in times of yore, the tags that took search priority are the first five tags. Work out which are the five most common tags relevant to your topic/fandom - the ones that get the most traffic, and prioritize those.

Don't be afraid to shamelessly promo and reblog your own stuff. Lord knows the like-to-reblog ratio is atrocious - the only way things show up on a dash without an algorithm is through reblogs.

Link back to your stuff within your post as much as you can! You may notice I include a little back to masterlist at the bottom of my writing posts. It's at the bottom, not the top, because readers that enjoy your work will have made it to the end of the post, and it saves them the effort of scrolling back to the top once they're done. It's also a not-so-subtle hint that you have even more work!

Make friends! Follow other writing blogs starting out - and even the bigger ones - and don't be afraid to reblog their own work. Scream at them in the tags. Talk about what you like! I think people would be surprised at how many people I follow back because of the tags they leave on my fics.

Never let it dishearten you to the point where you stop writing. To be frank, tumblr is one of the hardest platforms to build an audience on. Please don't take it as an indictment on your passion - it's literally a hellsite. To counteract this share your writing with friends that you trust. All my stuff I really only write for one, or maybe two people. And they know who they are. It's their support that keeps me writing - not my follow count or my notes. One of the favourite things I have written has the least amount of notes, go figure.

In terms of developing ideas, I have a few pointers here too:

Write what you love. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but you'll find that ideas come more naturally when you enjoy what you do. It doesn't matter if what you love is trope-filled and cliche. Those tropes and cliches exist for a reason, and that reason is everyone loves them.

On that note: visit TVTropes if you feel like you're struggling with ideas. Follow a few rabbit holes. You may lose an afternoon or five to it. Sorry not sorry.

Don't be afraid to do what's been done before. So what if there are twelve other fics about kissing pretty boys/girls/enbies under the mistletoe? This is your own take, and you can bet your ass people will appreciate it because you're the only you to exist.

Along both of these points - work out what it is exactly that drew you to this fandom/media/genre in the first place. What expectations did you have going in, and how were those subverted by reality? Can you play in your original expectations?

Don't be afraid of a good mash-up. "omg imagine [x] au" has become somewhat of a meme with a few of my friends. Sometimes an 'au' is just an excuse to play with the tropes of another genre and that's ok!

Prompt generators are your friend.

Don't write alone. Find a friend who will happily just listen to your ideas. They don't even have to be part of the fandom. If you're feeling particularly extroverted, you could even join one of the discords that are floating around. The point is to find someone to share your ideas with so they can be excited with and for you. If you're anything like me it may also help to keep you accountable.

Consume other media. Don't let one fandom dominate. Go outside for a walk and experience life. This sounds cliche again, but sometimes all it takes to come up with new ideas is to just. Give yourself a break. Walk away and come back. And its hard to come up with ideas if you dig yourself into a single-media-hole.

I could honestly write a massive post on creating ideas and brainstorming because it's my favorite part of the creative process. It can be fun - There's so much potential at that point. But yeah this is getting long. I hope this helps! 💛

[dojae-huh]

I feel like DY needs a rest. After all, he demands a lot from himself. Atp, 127 already awared of this state, from the ani till now, I feel that they really care him. But I also feel that thanks to the direct interaction w fans, DY gain more strength these days, that makes me feel better. He has JH by his side anyway. Moreover, I believe that this cb is important to the group. I'm bitter that SM messed up w it after seeing their efforts, especially DY's.

He does need a rest, but he needs connection with the fans even more first. He sings for others, that's why exchanging a genre that he himself prefers to a genre that fans will like is worth for him. There are artists who don't want fame or acceptance, for whom creating something of their own for a small market is enough. As such, this comeback will be energising. I see fans telling him they like the covers, want 4 seasons back - the projects dear to him, his projects, not the company's. He won't be able to relax untill he fills in the void at least partially.

I've listened to a talk with a yt psychiatrist with a guy from a medical family. He called to ask for an advice on what to do with his future. The problem was that he realised achievements weren't satisfactory, so he was worried that if he goes into research, he might not be happy in his 40s-60s. He wanted to do big things like get a Nobel prize. The psychiatrist tried to show him how to realise that working with patients can be fulfilling. However, getting a medical degree and helping people improve or even save their lives was "the norm", "the least" for this person from a family of medics.

It seems, Doyoung plans milestones, and gets very low when he doesn't reach them in time. He sets a bar too high. And when he achieves a big thing, the joy lasts for a short time, and a new worry about "it won't last" begins. As the same psychiatrist explained, it's like climbing a tree and instead of looking at the nearest branch and progressing step by step being happy with each small achievement, look up at the very top and be devastated by the sheer length of the path, how far is the goal.

I think the Dome tour was cathartic for many neos. They fullfilled an idol dream (a dome stage) and were given love from thousands of fans who were waiting for them these past 2-3 years. That's why now they can try to relax and enjoy the comeback.

Doyoung is a workaholic. And this type has a very hard time resting, because instead of relaxing the head is filled with "I need to do something" buzz. Maybe Doyoung watches tv-series because they manage to suck him in in another reality and distract from his own life for a bit? We know Doyoung sends bubble messages after midnight on his way back even, sends polls to neos at 2-3 a.m., he always thinks about work. It's also possible he has the first quarter life crisis. He feels like for his age he didn't achieve as much as he planned, that he is falling behind.

There were several messes, but all in all the comeback gets more love than the previous one. SM properly caters to k-fans, satisfying all their previous demands. Remember how livid k-fans were about 127 meeting fans in US and spending a month there? Now they receive the same. A fan can be approached by a neo in a shop, can visit a special well-designed pop-up store and takemany selcas and buy merch. 127 even went to Busan and Daegu, showed that despite being a 6-year old global group, they are still "down to Earth". Lots of performance stages, nice performance clothes, travel diaries, live singing. Killing Voice is reviewed on YT a lot. Hopefully it will give 127 the label of a singing group finally.

I wonder about Neo Seoul though. The IG promo was weird this time, unsatisfactory. I don't know if shorts worked and helped to attract attentioin to the group or not, but where is the party? We never got it? Even if we'll get it in the very end, it's bad to lose the momentum and leave fans in confusion.

[ruinedbygaysstylinson]

Hi! I miss you with all my heart! Still not over that Cheriam shit show last night. I read that comment today "Even Liam performance and Cheryl been there too didn't help the sinking ship #XFACTOR rating last night." Then i checked and wow, ratings is so bad as hell. Seems like Satan promo company didn't work. Still pissed that Cheryl stole all Liam audience and news. But not surprised at all. Their body language saying the truth - they're strangers.

Hey Nonnie!

Long post ahead: Honestly last night had me rolling because it was a trainwreck on so many levels. Those awkward IG stories, her being interviewed and kissing Satan’s ass, the way they forced Liam to make an exit with her. It was so bad, I can’t believe it actually happened.

Initially I was under the impression that Satan gave Liam to Chernobyl to revive her career and also to punish Liam for standing up to him after Zayn left. Upon further review, I think the entire point of this stunt is to promote XF, and both Chernobyl and Liam are pawns to an extent. She was desperate and would’ve agreed to anything to get back to her previous level of fame. Satan doesn’t have friends and I guarentee he doesn’t care if Chernobyl’s reputation goes down the toilet. She is a messy person, and people will watch her simply to see her fail. Drama and problematic people/situations are good news for Satan, which brings us to the cringe fest that was last night:

In case you missed the show (I’m referring to the entire day btw), it started out with IG stories where Liam hung out with his parents and Chernobyl’s mom made a weird guest appearance in what I assume was actually Chernobyl’s house. Poor Karen even had to awkwardly stir a pile of some type of food (???) and act natural. The general consensus from everyone involved was that they couldn’t wait for Liam to perform. This intrigued me because XF is not what it used to be, and Liam’s body language didn’t scream happy and excited, before or afterwards.

Anyways, moving on. Liam arrived at XF alone and Chernobyl popped up later to take pics with random fans. She was also interviewed and gave a shout out to Satan himself, but the best part was the dude behind her that mocked her (@ that dude, who are you, please marry me 😂). She popped into an XF IG story (that was completely unrelated to her in which Liam was thanking fans) with no comment, context, or contact from either party. Liam was stiff as a board and clearly over it.

Liam’s actual performance was amazing! I personally liked the Kiss House Party a bit more because it was lower pressure and the audience at XF was meh. Liam doesn’t usually let his nerves affect his performance but I could tell he was a bit off his game, and rightfully so. It was still stellar, right up until his exit. Liam tried to leave backstage like a normal human before he was forced to make a U turn, go out into the audience to give Chernobyl a hug (one armed and awkward as hell from both sides) before they both left mid-show. The host’s reaction was equivalent to mine: are you kidding me, why does this need to happen, y'all can’t wait 20 more minutes for the results etc

They vanished for a while and then popped up in what has to be the single most cringey, awkward moment of this entire stunt. If you haven’t watched the IG story of them in the car from last night, check it out. Liam sounds strange from the beginning, they are blaring classical music, and Chernobyl couldn’t get any further away from Liam. He basically said “life doesn’t get any better does it” and then left room for her to insert a comment and she literally just froze and smiled for 10 fucking seconds while Liam cackled like a crazy person. He ends it by saying how surreal his life is, which I assume was a shot at his teenage dream of dating her when he first auditioned at the tender age of 14 (which he managed to include in the first story she made an appearance in earlier that day btw).

Overall, the incredible lack of chemistry between them is a bit mind blowing. He’s more comfortable with strangers and random fans than this chick he’s supposedly in love with. Idk if she is just a robot all the time or if she’s terrible at acting too or what, but dang. Put them together in a room and video them for 10 mins and this stunt will end itself. They are uncomfortable as hell together.

The entire thing was essentially an extension of “supportive” Chernobyl. First she talked the talk on SM leading up to the performance and then she walked the walk last night. I don’t think Liam’s performance and the weird way they acted together made the impression or provided the exposure that Chernobyl and Satan are after though. What it did do, however, is get the public’s attention. Pretty much all the comments I’ve seen have been about how strange their relationship is. Chernobyl got her articles about being so supportive and loving which will help her image when the split happens (she did everything right and the big, bad, immature man broke her heart. So sad). People aren’t gonna tune in to XF and coo when she premieres some lame song while Liam cheers her on from the audience. Their relationship is boring, quite odd, and they’ve both shut down all angles that could take their relationship further and revive public interest (marriage and another baby).

You know what people might tune in for though? Chernobyl’s first appearance after a sudden shocking split just weeks after Chiam played the happy couple for the XF audience. People will be curious where it went wrong, and, if nothing else, they’ll tune in to bash Chernobyl. Considering I’m starting to think this whole relationship was designed to create drama and ultimately get exposure for XF, it’s very likely last night will be their last outing before a split.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about her stealing the show last night. It was never about him to begin with, and the entire thing was a huge joke. People know it’s weird for her to be so involved in his life, and they aren’t impressed. I think the GP is hypercritical of him because of his relation to her, and that should change when they split and his team does some damage control. Also the majority of XF viewers aren’t Liam’s target audience, and despite the mess, BF is rising on UK iTunes. I just hope he’s had a relaxing day today with his family. After that shit show, he definitely deserves a break.

(Sorry for being MIA so much. School has been crazy recently but I’ll do my best to answer more asks as they are sent)