#turns out lots of effects make for a nice mv

[akito-shinonome-daily]

🎤 day 128 🎵

➥ today’s akito is from the 2DMV for the akuma no odorikata/devil’s manner cover by mirai toshi de acchi kocchi/team wandering in the futuristic city for the 2024 april fool’s event!

[married-2-the-music]

K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Chung Ha

Chungha first debuted in 2016, through the temporary group I.O.I., which also launched the careers of soloist Jeon Somi and actors Kim Sejeong and Kang Mina. As a soloist, she debuted with Why Don’t You Know in 2017 after I.O.I. 's disbandment.

Here are my credentials: I’d consider myself a casual fan of Chung Ha, who I know mainly through her friend Sunmi. I’ve heard a decent amount of her title tracks, and a few b-sides, but I’m looking forward to hearing more of her songs and forming a more accurate opinion of her work as a whole.

Why Don’t You Know is surprisingly chill with its acoustic guitar and lighthearted whistling effects, but has a calm kind of tropical summer catchiness that’s honestly pretty effective. It’s not an instant classic, as it does sound a lot like other tropical-inspired songs, but I did like it, minus the rap, which felt a bit too harsh for a song like this. (Also, can I say, I love that yellow, green, and red cardigan she wears in the MV! It’s stunning.)

From the EP, Hands On Me is a jazzy little opening, and I wish it was longer. It reminds me of a 9Muses track in the best way possible. Make A Wish continues that jazziness with a self-assured, smooth Chicago-esque showmanship that I really appreciated. It’s definitely a shoulder-dancing song, if you know what I mean. Cosmic Dust is a pretty traditional ballad, but provides a nice showcase for Chung Ha’s vocals.

Roller Coaster is pretty minimalistic at its beginning, and I was a bit worried that it’d be boring, but it turns out that those worries were unfounded. By the chorus, it spirals into an engaging dance floor bop that had me nodding my head. My only gripe is that I wish it took its high points a little higher, with perhaps more vocalizing or more of a cathartic point at the end of the chorus (a la TXT’s Chasing That Feeling), but overall that’s a small critique.

From the EP, Offset, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Do It at the beginning but I grew to appreciate its energy. I liked Bad Boy a lot, though I enjoyed the fast-paced verses and pre-choruses more than the chorus. Its last minute got me, though, and it became a solid hidden gem of mine. It was a bit of whiplash, though, to go from the fun of Bad Boy to the abject heartbreak of Remind Of You, a good lesson that not every album necessarily needs a ballad if it doesn’t fit in.

Love U is a song that I hadn’t realized I’d actually heard before, since I’d only heard the chorus. The opposite of Roller Coaster, its intro starts with a hard-hitting trap beat, while the song itself feels more like Why Don’t You Know with its bright summery energy. I enjoy the background vocalizing and the underlying drum beat too, though I feel like the chorus is a bit too empty for me to like as much as I did Make A Wish or Bad Boy. From the EP, Blooming Blue, I enjoyed the bright call-and-response of “I’m in love, I’m in love” from Cherry Kisses and the bass guitar contrasted with Chung Ha’s high voice in Drive.

Gotta Go is a single, and intrigued me right from its unique flute-meets-trap sampling, that matches with Chung Ha’s signature synthy background. The chorus is very interesting, because it both is and isn’t an anti-drop; it doesn’t exactly release the tension of the song, but it doesn’t let it fall away either. Instead, it’s a little like a Taemin track in that the tension never really goes away. I do like the high note before the last chorus, though I wish that there was more of a bridge. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this one. It’s not a favorite, but I don’t hate it, and I don’t think I’d skip it if it showed up on my shuffle.

Snapping picks up similarly to where Gotta Go left off, with a beat in the middle of a lot of k-pop; not a super invigorating one, but not boring by any means. I’m glad that the anti-drop was left until the end of the chorus, as if it was the entire thing, I would be disappointed. I do really like the “now I let you go.” As is, I don’t mind this one, and I wouldn’t skip it, but I wouldn’t search it out either.

From the EP, Flourishing, I had a clear standout in Chica. Clearly taking influences from Latin Pop and some Spice-Girls-esque feel-good-you-can-do-it-babe Girl Power, it’s hard not to smile when you hear it, especially at the “chica, chica, see you’ve got it all; chica, chica, see you’re beautiful!” All in all, it’s a delightful addition to my playlist. I also liked the song Flourishing itself, especially its pre-choruses.

Now, we start Chung Ha’s 20-song epic Querencia, which has four sides, Noble, Savage, Unknown, and Pleasures, and each has a title track. Side A, Noble’s, is Bicycle, a sing-talk track that leads with a trap-beat background and melds K-pop girl crush with Ariana Grande-esque lyrics. I…really do not like this song. I have a very low tolerance for “I’m cooler than you” music in general, but when it’s pared with such an empty chorus and feels like a recycled Blackpink b-side? Yikes. Sorry, Chung Ha. From Side A {Noble}, I liked the subtle Latin-pop influences and interesting percussion of Masquerade and the great, chugging beat that’s so great at leading Flying On Faith (a rare completely English song that I loved).

Stay Tonight is Querencia’s second single, and thankfully returns to her signature synthpop. The verses had me nodding my head—a huge improvement from Bicycle—and had me excited for the chorus. But, after the great high note in the pre-chorus, the chorus itself didn’t feel like enough of a payoff, instead feeling more meandering and unengaging. While I absolutely liked it more than Bicycle, it’s not in my top 10 of her singles.

From Side B {Savage}, I enjoyed the way-too-short a-capella section at the beginning of the choruses and the “don’t make me, don’t make me dream of you” in Dream Of You (another English language track I enjoy). I also liked the breathy vocalizations in both Bother Me and Chill, Chill especially.

Play is the third single, and embraces a more playful and upbeat sound that harkens back to Why Don’t You Know, Love U, and Cherry Kisses. Though the subject isn’t that different from the other two, the genuine fun that its chorus is when it explodes and the excellent interpolation of reggaeton (in both the beat and the choreo) and brass makes this one something special. The chorus here absolutely delivers, with several parts all coming together to form a very satisfying payoff. Definitely my favorite single so far.

Demente is also a single from this side, and shockingly, it’s all in Spanish. It’s not unusual for K-pop idols to release songs with Latin pop inspired beats, or even in different languages, but this is definitely a rarity. Demente (which means “crazy” in Spanish), is honestly a really solid, catchy pop song, and (though Spanish isn’t my first language) if I didn’t know that she wasn’t fluent in it, I wouldn’t have guessed. As I’ve mentioned on my blog before, I’m a linguistics major, so this was a delight to listen to. Genuinely, kudos to Chung Ha, and to Guaynaa, the featured artist, who has the distinction of having a rap that I thought really added to the song. From Side C {Unknown}, my hidden gem was the acoustic guitar and piano led, comfortingly slow Byulharang.

X is the final single from Querencia, and is a more emotional, stripped-back performance that Chung Ha dedicates to her mother and the work that they both put in to achieve her dreams of becoming an idol. Filmed entirely in black and white and featuring an enormous, Godzilla-like Chung Ha wandering through a tiny, closed-off city fighting against her, it’s a great example of why soloists should write their own tracks. It’s imbued with a lovely sense of pathos and feels like a fitting way to end a magnum opus of an album. From Side D {Pleasures}, I liked the restful album closers in Everybody Has’ traditional ballad structure, the calmly catchy Comes N Goes, and the instrumental Querencia.

Killing Me is another single, and while it’s similar to Gotta Go, it feels sleeker and more streamlined, focused on achieving the goal that is its chorus. Because of this, it’s quite short–under three minutes–and, though it’s not the best of her singles, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Another perfectly fine track that I wouldn’t skip but wouldn’t search out.

Sparkling feels more like Roller Coaster than anything from Querencia, which had me excited right away. It has, well, unsurprisingly, a sparkling quality to its instrumentals, and would be right at home on a dance floor. It’s delightfully bubbly, tip toeing and tap dancing all over the place with delight, and that energy is infectious. As always, I wish it had a more defined chorus, but I really like the lead-in in both the bridge and pre-choruses.

From the EP, Bare & Rare, Good Night My Princess caught my ear immediately with a sense of warmth that’s unusual for a ballad, and I loved it even more when I found out that Chung Ha wrote it as a thank you for all the sacrifices her mother made for her to be able to grow up and pursue her dreams, similarly to X. The song features Chung Ha’s voice at its most lovely, and it made me tear up a little, if we’re being honest. I also enjoyed Bibi’s feature and the excellent sense of drama in Crazy Like You, the celebratory mood in Louder, and especially the crying-on-the-dance-floor vibes of Love Me Out Loud (which gets more addicting with every repeat).

I’m glad I did this! I enjoyed Chung Ha’s work more than I thought I would, although I shouldn’t be surprised as a big fan of Sunmi and synthpop in general. I learned that she writes many of her own songs, and that she speaks some English and a little Spanish, so color me impressed. I found a bunch of songs I enjoyed—mainly b-sides—that I added to my playlists. So I’d say you could consider me at least a fan now!

My Top 5 songs are Play, Love Me Out Loud, Chica, Cherry Kisses, and Flying On Faith, with Good Night My Princess as an honorable mention. Chung Ha gets an 8.25 out of 10 from me, which is about what I expected. I think that where her songs often falter for me are the choruses, which unfortunately is one of the most important parts. When she pulls it off, she’s made some excellent tracks. But more often than not, I find myself loving the buildup but being disappointed by the pay-off. There were very few tracks I didn’t at least enjoy, and this isn’t me saying that I think her work is bad. But with just a few changes and a greater sense of pay-off, she would have a pretty unbeatable discography.

Next time, we’ll be starting a two week series on a pretty huge girl group, and we’ll be having a boy group supplemental next week. Tschüss!

[roquog]

First on the list of my favorite MVs (in no order) is the video for Coquetterie Dancer. This is the music video that moved me to make this list. I watched it over and over when it first came out and thought about it for a long time after.

Content warning for flashing lights, flickering, bright colors, eyestrain, cartoon blood (rainbow colored), implied animal death, and mention of death. Also, maybe body horror ? A guy's body turns into fluid but they aren't in pain and it seems to just be for visual effect.

The character designs featured are so good. I especially liked the red rooster guy that appeared during the first chorus. The proportions were stylized very nicely for every character. The designs were done by ヤスタツ (Yasutatsu) according to the credits.

The animation done for the dancing is amazing. There's the opening dance that gives so much character to the main guy. I don't know much about dancing but it gave me the impression of an amateur. The dude's slip! It was animated so well!

The dancing that really lodged itself into my brain though, were the ones done by the red rooster throughout the song. I envy their energy. They're not just dancing but also murking people left and right while moving so whimsically. The skipping when the dog is running after them: beautiful.

The duet at the end! They do a perfected version of the main guy's dance together. I barely got to know these characters from a few minutes of visuals yet I felt like I was watching a really touching moment. And the way Red swings the other around!! You can see the weight!!!

The literal fluid animation was so impressive. The splatter of blood carried a lot of energy. At the part where the dog died, it managed to make me feel so sad. The animatiors were able to put so much personality into liquid. I really felt the impression of an animal struggling for it's life :( There's also the dance at the end and, again, they were able to convey so much feeling with it. Disorientation and embracement (literal and figurative) are the only words I have to describe it.

The background art is great too. I'm not sure from what or where the influence for the setting was taken from, but I really like it. That and the textures added on top of the figures really give it a old feeling I love. It stands out against the scenes within the red void. Yummy contrast.

(Also, wanted to note, I'm just going to talk about the visuals because that topic is what I have the language for. My love for the music is indescribable at the moment but I still love it so much. That's the case for everything I put on this list.)

Here are the credits from the video's description:

Music & Lyrics: 煮ル果実(@vinegar_vinegar)

Vocals: 宮下遊 (@miy_yuu )

Character Design: ヤスタツ (@yasutatsu_)

Movie: うぐいす工房（@uguisu_uguisu）つくしやま（@TsukushiBon

Two names credited in the video but not the description are: 田中　優士 (Tanaka Yushi) and うろ (Uro).

[yuuana]

Music Monday #236: ATEEZ - Youth release: December 2023 genre: Kpop cw: violence, implied abuse, arson, flashing, unsteady cam

I did say I was going to keep featuring my best boys until they ran out of unit MVs, so if you're surprised I'm still on my ATINY bullshit, then shame on you, no cookies for you. XD

In the past, ATEEZ's members have often commented about how it's a shame ATINY don't get to hear Mingi singing more often, both because Mingi has a great voice and because singing makes Mingi so happy, but was something he'd thought he wouldn't be able to pursue after his voice dropped in puberty. As one of ATEEZ's main rappers, that is what audiences hear from him most often. And with him being paired with his BFF (and main vocalist) Yunho, it was initially expected that Yunho would lead the singing and Mingi would add some rapped verses here and there. Instead, Youth is the Mingi Show with Special Guest Yunho - Mingi does all the rapping (of course) and the larger share of the singing and while Yunho does have some lines to himself, mostly he turns up in the color lines, offering those high notes Mingi can't hit and harmonizing beautifully. And in my opinion, it's the perfect balance as Mingi's voice, especially when in the upper end of his range, infuses a certain wistful longing into a song about why being young isn't as easy as people think and the pressures of life, along with the importance of not facing it all alone.

This video, unlike the MV for IT's You, has a lot more storytelling elements to it. Of course there's still some amazing dance sequences, because Mingi and Yunho are both main dancers, but other than the few group dances, most of the scenes are dedicated to forwarding the story of the power of youth. It's was also mostly shot outside, in cold weather, so that final fire probably felt nice.

If it's been awhile since you last watched ATEEZ's Inception, now would probably be a good time to do that. Don't worry, I'll wait. ;)

Back? Good. While IT's You's callbacks were more in effect than story (since IT's You had very little actual story movement), Youth is much more direct - the scenes are unreal, of course, but still continue the story of Yunho's grief for his elder brother, killed in a horrible car crash, and Mingi's decidedly unhealthy home life. This makes a second suggestion that we're returning to the A 'verse close to the events of Inception, though of course even that is a bit of a herring - Inception is dream sequence upon dream sequence in the first place, with scenes mostly showing the members' backstories, twisted with grief, rather than current events. The "current" of Zero Fever part 1 is Hongjoong getting the team back together, but since the storytelling abruptly jumped to Z for part 2, what happens next is ... what we'll find out in the next major release, I suppose. ;)

THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL continues to kick butt and now ATEEZ are making history as the first male kpop idol group to have stage time at Coachella. On my birthday. The universe is a cruel bastard. XD

Want to see Music Monday deep dives more often? Sponsor a song selection! For the low, low price of one (1) KoFi, I'll write up the song of your choice. ANY song of your choice. Yes, even that one that's been played to death. Yes, your obscure faves too. With sponsors, I can stop skipping weeks and falling further and further behind in the releases! Sponsor a current CB for the next open Music Monday slot or sponsor a throwback for a Thursday feature! But seriously, if you've been enjoying my selections and analyses, we (me and the foster kittens) would love a KoFi in thanks. DW | Twitter | Mastodon | Bluesky | Ko-fi | Patreon | Discord | Twitch

[insertdisc5]

Hey, if you're still willing to make it, I'd be interested in the RPGmaker MV tutorial (please)! (Always been curious to use it, but I know absolutely nothing about game dev...)

OK OK OK SO.

This tutorial technically applies to all RPGmaker versions, but I’m using MV so maybe it doesnt apply 1 to 1. I have MV because I got it when it was on sale, but as a rule I think you should get the newest one (right now it’s MZ)!

RPGmaker actually has a tutorial that’s inside the software itself! I highly recommend going through it and making a test project to remember the different things... But mostly imo as long as you understand switches and variables you’re all good. This tutorial will probably make WAY more sense if you went thru the tutorial already.

(also this is... less a tutorial and more “things i wish someone wouldve written down in an easier spot to find” lol)

P L U G I N S. USE THEM. THEY WILL SAVE YOU SO MUCH TIME.

Plugins are pretty much little bits of programming that you can add to your project to change your game. It’s pretty useful if you know how to program, but if you’re like me, it is REALLY USEFUL because there’s a lot of really talented people doing some great plugins out there. (iirc rpgmaker ace uses “scripts” instead of plugins.) Plugins in MV are .js files! To add them to your game, drop the js file into your project’s folder>js, and then in rpgmaker go to tools>plugin manager, and select the file through here. I am writing this down because it took me a good long while to find out.

As for great plugins, i CANNOT recommend yanfly’s enough. They have a bundle of their whole library for 30$ and imo it is a MUST BUY. Other notable plugin makers are GALV, Himeworks and moghunter. Also if you got rpgmaker’s dlc there’s plugins in your rpgmaker local folder. Took me months to even realize.

A few more things about plugins:

-if you use a plugin, CREDIT THE MAKER!!! I recommend making a list of the plugins youre using along with the creator’s terms of use-- some might be fine with just being credited, but some might ask for you to contact them first. Some of those plugins might be a few years old and you might not be able to contact the creator-- on my end I tried to leave a comment somewhere on their website at least.

-some dont play nice with one another and might create bugs! Sometimes it’s just a matter of reordering them in the plugin manager (higher plugins take priority or smg? usually plugins tell you where to place them, like “put this one at the top so it doesnt break stuff”).

-usually if i had like something i wanted to do in rpgmaker (like... having a visible hp bar for enemies) i’d just type “hp bar enemies rpgmaker” on google and it usually did the trick. rpgmakercentral is a great ressource

-If you get a bug theres a 90% chance it’s because of your plugins. In that case the fastest way to find out which one is to turn off all your plugins and turn them on one by one until the bug happens. then you have found The Culprit and can act appropriately

MEMORY

Um when youre maybe 40% done you should play your game with the task manager open so you can see how much memory your game uses. As a reference I think mine runs around 300-500MB, which is fine and works on most computers. (i think omori is 600MB?) You should do this just in case because you might find out your game runs at upwards of, uh, 3 gigabites of memory or something. It is absolutely not something that happened to me. No siree. It definitely hasnt happened because I added a glitch animation effect to every single torch in the game and it caused the game to leak memory like crazy. anyway. check the memory at some point

PIXEL ART

pixel art and tilesets in rpgmaker is hell i have blocked it out. Look it up yourself and struggle along. Using the already existing tilesets as a base was very useful. Or just buy some tilesets online and save yourself time

SKILLS AND GAME BALANCING AND REFERENCES STUFF

heres a few ressources i found useful~

-damage formulas 101

-skills: what you’re doing wrong

-making a balanced game

-how to balance an RPG: or, how to not make your game feel completely broken, unless that's how you want it to feel

-yanfly’s “let’s make a game” comics

-studio zevere’s map design timelapse

-another map design timelapse

-the rpgmaker forums and rpgmaker subreddit have saved my bacon more than once if you get stuck on something! also google, CANNOT praise google enough. just ask google questions.

CREDITING

Credit every ressource that isn’t yours. Can be from icons you found on itchio to plugins to sound effects you found on a website. The standard seems to be credits inside the game (whether as a choice in the menu or at the end), and a credits text file inside your game folder. I personally added each person’s website so if you need ressources just look there lol

EXPORTING THE GAME

dont fucking export as mac don’t do it it’s hell if you have a mac and its actually  impossible to export to mac if you have a pc. I got lucky enough to have a friend who both possessed a mac AND rpgmaker MV. But it still has problems and even some industry ppl told me “lmao you made a mac version I would NEVER” so just save yourself time and don’t export to mac. Exporting to PC is pretty self explanatory

A QUICK EXPLANATION ON SWITCHES AND VARIABLES

Those are very important to make a game and it took me a while to understand so heres a little section about it lol. maybe it’ll help

To take START AGAIN as an example, when you use a crest and the tears disappear, using the crest makes the “Tears1Gone” switch go from OFF to ON. The tears themselves have a second page where if Tears1Gone is ON, then the tears aren’t here anymore.

For variables, they can be anything but i only used them as numbers. So for the barrels, every loop the “BarrelCheck” variable starts at 0, and every time you check a barrel the “BarrelCheck” variable goes up by one. If you check barrels a lot there’s different events, like siffrin thinking that the people of the house must rly like nuts, right? For that, I have a conditional branch that pretty much goes “if BarrelCheck=5, then event is “wow they rly like nuts”“, “if BarrelCheck=12 then another event happens”, “else just the usual dialogue.”

Here’s a tiny bit of how it looks like in practice! The tutorial might explain it better. It took me a little bit to understand how to even use it lol

as for event pages also: REMEMBER PAGE PRIORITY GOES FROM LEFT (least priority) TO RIGHT (the prioritest). So if an event you’ve added doesn’t start it may be because the page order you made is wrong.

THE CREATOR BRAIN ZONE

Making a game is hard. But it can also be extremely fun. But also it’s haaaaaard!!! How do I even make a gaaaaaame!!!

Play games that you love again. Take notes. Notice the very small parts about a game that make it incredibly easier to play. Add that to your game. As an example: i played the great ace attorney as I was making the prologue. AND. did you know the dialogue in ace attorney has a very slight pause at every comma or semi colon, and a longer pause after periods or exclamation points and stuff. Did you notice. Are you losing your goshdarn mind over it now. Well someone made a plugin to reproduce that so go say thanks

also you WILL hate your game at some point. and at that point you gotta push through it and tell yourself “well. if i hate it. maybe i should just. make it better” and add like a cheesy scene about people eating snacks. works every time

anyway in general just analyze why you love/hate video games and add that to your game. just be extremely annoying about it. Like i just LOVE flavor text in games so I added it EVERYWHERE. Did i get worried it was gonna get annoying? Yes. Did a lot of people really like the flavor text anyway? Also yes. Make a game you’d love to play and it might click with people. Also what would be the point of making a game you don’t like to play??? NONE!!! SO BE AS SELF-INDULGENT AS POSSIBLE, GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!

also make a devlog post every two weeks with what you did in the last few days so you can see how far you’ve come later lol

thats it thank you i hope this was somewhat useful

[canyouhearthevoices]

Streaming culture and its effect on Fandom - are you an ATINY if you don’t stream?

I’ll put the TL;DR at the top: Yes, you are. ATINYs have gone a little nuts lately.

So, streaming culture is a core element of kpop as we know it today. Everywhere, you see people telling you to ‘stream’ something, to vote for something, to reblog something. And, as awards season will soon be in full swing, now is a fitting time for this.

Things I will discuss in this (long) post;

The growth of streaming culture + its place in current kpop

The prevalence/emphasis of streaming fandoms

The values of streaming culture, its downsides, and other measures of success

Activities fans complete to help an artist grow, and why.

Reasons to vote/stream, and reasons not to vote/stream

Arguments against non-voters and why they are wrong

How an artist promotes a streaming environment

Not voting = boycotting?

Criteria to be an ATINY, and what makes you a good ATINY or a bad ATINY?

Please read as much or as little as you want. Everything is below the line.

The history and growth of streaming

Music shows have been a large part of Korean pop culture since the 1990s, when shows such as Music Bank and Inkigayo began airing. Run by popular streaming networks as weekly broadcasts, live and recorded, these shows gave wins to the artists who were on top of the charts during any given week. As the first gen of kpop moved into 2nd and, eventually, 3rd gen, these music show wins became incredibly important.

They were based on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to), judge rankings, album sales, views of performances on Youtube and other platforms, audience votes, and digital streams of songs on Korean music streaming platforms. They went from a ‘weekly top 10′ style to a complex system, where artists would promote their song and would do so with the intention of both gaining fame, and, perhaps more importantly, 1st place wins. 1st place wins became a symbol of a group’s success. If they didn’t have one, they were either unsuccessful or underrated. When they got one, it was a huge opportunity to gain fans, advertise the group, and for the fanbase and group alike to  have a nostalgic moment of their journey together.

Groups’ success is commonly measured by their number of wins, and fanbases work hard to achieve wins for their favourite artist. This has led to organised fanbase efforts, where fans, en masse, vote for idols, by their albums to boost chart positions, and perform other actions, such as Twitter trends and streaming the performances on Youtube.

So, what is streaming?

Most commonly on Youtube, and at other times on Korean apps such as the Melon app. It involves fans repeatedly watching or listening to a video/song in order to boost its views, which in turn has other effects, such as boosting the artist’s position on the chart, or contributing points towards music show wins.

This also contributes towards other awards, such as MAMA and MMA, and the number of views that a group gets on a performance or MV has become symbolic of their popularity, despite this number often being either inflated (due to streaming) or an underestimate (as not all fans of a group will watch MVs).

This has also led to the rise of the ‘stream ____’ comment/post. Usually they are nice, and ‘stream’ is a stand-in for ‘watch and enjoy’, or ‘check out’, but sometimes, streaming goes a bit far.

Streaming has become a science. Fans have figured it all out, and it is very easy to find guides on how to stream in the most effective way possible, either online, or especially under MVs where the fanbase is trying to gain a lot of views. It’s all designed to manipulate the Youtube algorithm into counting as many views as possible while deleting as few as possible (some activities, like watching the same video on repeat, and watching it muted, can cause Youtube to think that the viewer is a bot, and therefore to delete all views for that account).

And, of course, there are those videos of people who have tens of computers set up, all playing the same playlist on repeat with many copies of the required MV.

Fandoms have become known for their sheer streaming power. The reason Blackpink is so big, for instance, is because Blinks stream their music to the top of the charts for each and every release, no matter how good or bad it is. The same can be said for ARMY, and their record-breaking streams. BTS wins hundreds and hundreds of awards, just because of the sheer streaming, buying, and voting power of their fandom.

These fandoms and others have caused smaller fandoms to feel the need to ‘catch up’, be as good as the others, and have convinced many people that the true measure of the group’s success is through these measures - how many views do they have, and how many wins?  

Kpop vs the West

Streaming, album sales, downloads, and other forms of engagement such as twitter follows are still important measures of success and important factors leading to awards in the West. However, to a much lesser extent. And fans of, say, Justin Bieber or Billie Eilish aren’t ‘required’ to stream as part of their daily fandom activities. Those fandoms are much less organised (and arguably less dedicated) than may kpop fandoms. I’ll discuss this again later.

Basically, streaming is a much more important part of kpop, jpop etc than of Western music.

Streaming - a necessity?

As I said above, the presence and growth of large groups and fandoms, such as BTS, Blackpink, EXO, and others, has led to the belief that streaming is a necessity for a fandom. If the fandom doesn’t stream, is it even a real fandom? We see again and again how these fandoms get so organised to stream, and the great results that they are getting.

If your fandom either doesn’t stream, isn’t large enough to stream well, or doesn’t stream properly, chances are you aren’t winning a huge amount of awards. So, I guess it is important, but ‘essential’ is a bit of a strong word.

Other measures of success other than streaming + streaming numbers?

Album sales

Social media followers + engagement

Size of fandom and attitude of fandom

Youtube comments + their nature

News coverage of group

Funding a group gets + number and quality of comebacks

General knowledge of group

Size of other fan activities eg. Facebook groups, fanpages, birthday ads

Number of + size of cover groups etc

Growth/size of birthday projects (eg. Charity donations, adoptions of animals, etc)

All of these measure the success of the group through their popularity, rather than strictly numbers and awards. Most of them are more qualitative than quantitative, so usually aren’t as valued by most people. But, I can tell you that they are far more important than they are given credit for. For instance, BTS isn’t known as the ‘most popular group worldwide’ because of the number of people who religiously stream their content and buy each and every thing they put out, go to all of their concerts, etc. They are known as the most popular group because of the sheer number of people who know their name, casually listen to their music, and watch some content occasionally. A group is far more popular if they have a huge casual fanbase than if they have a smaller number of intensely dedicated (and very wealthy) fans.

Positives of streaming culture as a measure of success

Can give a rough estimate of how large and dedicated the fandom are

Can also give an estimate of demographic (younger people are less likely to have jobs, and therefore more likely to spend more time streaming, thus, groups with a younger fanbase will generally have higher streams)

Fans vote with views, tweets, literal votes etc - allows the company to quickly see what was popular, and adjust to that information

Negatives of streaming culture as a measure of success

Shows dedication of fandom more than size

Does not give an indication of general popularity + casual fans

Can inflate + obscure other info (eg. actual size of fanbase)

Becomes a necessity/overly emphasised

Allows anti-fans to attack/snipe streaming parties

Generally creates toxicity and a divide between those who stream and those who don’t (especially in smaller fandoms)

If a fandom (*cough* ARMY *cough*) builds up enough streaming power, no one will be able to win awards through the current system other than that group/fandom

Other issues (see; Girl’s Planet 999 + voting system)

Positives of streaming culture in general

Tighter audience-artist relationship

Highly motivated and organised fans

Allows fans to band together to achieve something

A reward (the group’s happiness at receiving awards) for their work (streaming)

Allows fandoms to have huge power as consumers over companies, individuals, etc, and therefore to have positive influence (demanding companies look after artists, raising money for charities, etc)

Negatives of streaming culture in general

Creates toxicity

Fanwars

Sniping, manipulation, accusations etc

People fall out of love with the artist/music etc due to pressure

Streaming becomes a job rather than a joy/hobby

Divided fanbases

Activities completed by fans to increase an artist’s success/awards

Monetary; Attending fansigns, buying albums + concerts, buying birthday merch, lightsticks, buying subscriptions, etc

Engagement; Retweeting/Twitter trends, following on social media, streaming videos + songs, replying to posts

Direct actions to awards; Voting, or fulfilling other criteria (such as buying albums and streaming)

Other; Making fanart or edits, watching fan-made videos, interacting with fans and non-fans, creating fanpages, promoting the group on social media, etc

Reasons to complete these activities

Monetary; you have money + are interested in the products that are being sold

Engagement; you have spare time and enjoy/want to engage

Direct actions; you have spare time + want to

Other; you have spare time + want to

Reasons not to complete these activities

You don’t have money, don’t have time, and/or don’t want to (yes, that’s literally it).

Things people say about those who don’t stream

You’re lazy

You don’t deserve to be called a fan

You’re not a proper/real fan

You don’t deserve to celebrate any success the group gets

You have the time/money, there’s no reason not to/don’t be selfish

[Artist] deserves awards

[Artist] is working hard, they deserve a better fanbase

You’re letting [artist] down/you’re betraying [artist]

You’re the same as people who boycott them/antis

Why the above statements are wrong/what is wrong with them

‘You’re lazy’

This is just wrong and mean. Laziness implies a lack of care, and no lack of care is shown by not voting/streaming. Each fan shows care in a different way, and there is no obligation for fans to show ANY care at all. Not streaming isn’t ‘lazy’ - it’s simply a different way of being a fan.

‘You don’t deserve to be called a fan’ AND ‘You’re not a proper/real fan’

Statements like these always make me wonder when the sole requirement of being a fan became to religiously stream and vote for all of a group’s content? I’ll discuss this later, but this was never an obligation or a requirement of being a fan. This statement is usually followed up by some kind of guilt-trip (I will discuss this later too) about how you’re letting the artist down by not streaming, and THAT is why you don’t deserve to be a fan. But who are you letting down? It’s a parasocial relationship, the artist will ALWAYS give you less than you give them. Even listening to one song once is SO MUCH MORE that you have done for the artist than that artist has done for you personally.

So, yeah. Not a requirement of being a fan to stream, and those who don’t stream are CERTAINLY real fans.

‘You don’t deserve to celebrate any success the group gets’

Not sure about the logic behind this one. The entire fandom SHOULD celebrate, as a whole, when an artist achieves something, or gains success/recognition. Those who didn’t stream or ‘directly contribute’ to the success (even though they certainly did contribute, as they were a fan), can and should celebrate the success of the group. The only issue is if they claim that they did something they didn’t (like streaming).

‘You have the time/money, there’s no reason not to’/’Don’t be selfish’

I also don’t understand how not streaming is selfish. Perhaps they mean that you don’t show any care for the artist? In which case, I’ve already discussed it above. If they mean ‘selfish’ as in ‘prioritising yourself and your enjoyment over others’, well, yeah, it is, I guess, but this would also mean that ALL consumption of media/entertainment is selfish, because you only consume what you like/what gives you pleasure. And this is how all media SHOULD be - only comsume what you like, how you like it. Otherwise, it defeats the whole purpose of entertainment. If you don’t like streaming, there is literaly no reason to do it. And this answers the first statement - sure, there’s no reason not to, but there is also no reason TO. If you like the artist, and have the time and money that you are willing to give up, there are other methods of support that you may enjoy more, in which case, you should do those, instead of whatever the rest of the fandom wants you to do.

‘[Artist] deserve awards’

Well, duh. Most artists do. I don’t think this was ever a disputed fact?

‘[Artist] is working hard, they deserve a better fanbase’

Yeah, they probably are working hard. Yeah, they probably do deserve a great fanbase. But this is just guilt-tripping - saying that it is the person who is addressed’s fault that the fandom is not as good as it ‘should’ be. Not only are fandoms just in the right place they need to be at any given time, but also, each fan plays a specific and crucial role. No fan is letting the group down or lifting them up by how much or how little they do. It is the fandom as a whole which does, and everyone has exactly the place they need in the fandom.

‘You’re letting [artist] down’/’You’re betraying [artist]’

You LITERALLY CAN’T ‘let them down’/’betray them’. Say it with me; It’s a PARASOCIAL relationship. You NEVER promised the artist ANYTHING, and therefore, you CAN’T betray them or let them down. Even the smallest possible actions of yours, such as watching an MV once when it comes out, and the never again, is SO MUCH MORE than what was expected of you by the artist, or than you were obligated to do.

So no, you’re not letting them down.

Unless, of course, you DID promise something - ie. borrowing someone’s account to vote for an artist and then voting for a rival. But that’s letting the fellow fan down, not the group.

‘You’re the same as people who boycott them/antis’

This statement is so wrong that it hurts my  brain to think about the thought process behind it. Luckily, I’ve only seen a few people say it, but that is a few too many. I’ll discuss this one later.

Things that are often said that ARE  guilt-tripping

It’s important to recognise these signs, as they are commonly used and often affect a lot of people.

I have had someone tell me that saying these things is not guilt-tripping, as ‘other people can’t cause you to feel guilt, it’s not possible for others to guilt-trip you’. Not only would I like to point out that this statement WAS guilt-tripping, in and of itself, but, here is the definition of guilt-tripping;

Notice how both definitions mention how the feeling is caused by an external source? Of course, you can guilt-trip yourself, but the vast majority of guilt-trips are caused by others.

So. Things that are often said that are examples of guilt-tripping?

‘They’re working so hard’

[Insert a long list of all the times artist said they only slept 2 hours, or were injured etc]

They’ve suffered so much for us and you aren’t even bothering to give back to them?

It’s not that hard to vote

It literally takes 2 minutes, you’re smart enough to figure it out

Don’t you have ears?

If you don’t know if you’ve been guilt-tripped or not, just think - do you want to vote/stream, or do you just feel the need to do so because so many people have pressured you into doing it? Do you find yourself thinking about how hard the group has worked, and considering whether or not you’re a bad fan for not streaming/voting?

Then you’ve probably been guilt-tripped.

How does an artist promote a streaming or non-streaming fandom?

I’m sure we all know by now that, regardless of size, some fandoms are more dedicated to streaming, and some simply aren’t, just by their nature.

Some fandoms that are heavy streamers; ARMY, Blink, EXO-L, Once, Stay, most Produce/survival show fandoms

Some fandoms that are not heavy streamers; MOA, ATINY, Carat (and Cubic), Moomoo, Monbebe, Engene, Shawol, most solo artist fandoms

So, why the difference? We can see a lot of crossovers between the groups, whether it is their concepts, music, crossovers in the fanbases, etc. A lot of ARMYs are also Mombebes, or MOAs, and a lot of Moomoos are Blinks or Onces. There are many factors that affect whether or not a fandom streams, or feels motivated to stream.

Artist’s content/concept

Number of comebacks

Location of fanbase (International, Korean, etc)

Age of fanbase

Occupation of fanbase

Gender of fanbase

The environment the artist promotes

What is the environment the artist promotes? And how do they promote it?

Well, it’s a very subtle and hard to measure thing, but the fact of the matter is that some groups promote streaming and some don’t. You can’t really see the source, only the effect it has, through the fandom’s attitude. I’ll give the best examples I can manage.

IZ*ONE

Was created through a survival show with picks the most popular members via votes. Through encouraging a relationship with the contestants, and therefore encouraging the fans to spend a lot of time voting for them, the group build up a dedicated fanbase, which flows over to debut and causes the fandom to stream.

BTS

Bighit has gone about as para-social as possible with BTS. The amount of content they put out, the amount of fanservice they do, and the nature of it all all encourages intense dedication from the fandom (or, at least, the younger members of it). ARMY are heavily encouraged to believe that they have a high chance of meeting and dating any given BTS member, the same way fans of OneDirection were encouraged. The amount of insight you get into their struggles and everyday lives adds to this, and creates an intense bond which leads many fans to be incredibly dedicated, and therefore to stream/buy each and every thing BTS puts out. The genius way in which Bighit marketed BTS, which led to such a devoted fanbase, is arguably the single greatest reason for their success today, and their dominance worldwide.

Mamamoo

Mamamoo, in concept and music, have similar ‘vibes’ to 1950s-1970s Western groups, so, despite creating a close artist-audience bond and a large fandom, their fandom is less dedicated to the cause of awards, and more dedicated to the sheer act of music. Their enjoyment comes from seeing the girls happy and performing, rather than from seeing them win award after award. I think this was very well foreshadowed by their lightstick. Such a chill artist-audience relationship doesn’t encourage much streaming, just enjoyment and wholehearted support.

ATEEZ

Although most of their music falls sqaurely into the ‘pop’ genre, ATEEZ have a similar vibe to 1980s rock groups (through their style and performances), and to dance groups (through their intense choreographies and focus on dance) neither of which inspire a lot of streaming. Additionally, the majority of their audience is working-age, and therefore don’t have time/have more important things to do than stream, and the majority of fans are also international. Most international fans are less likely to stream (unless they are from the US or UK), because numbers aren’t emphasised in many entertainment industries as much as they are in East Asia, the US, and the UK. Therefore, it is seen as less of a priority. The divide between old ATINYs and new ATINYs (who originate from different sources) has recently led to an intense divide in the fandom over the streaming-or-not-streaming issue.

TXT

TXT both have the same vibes as ATEEZ (dance focus and 1980s rock), and have the addition of a storyline that plays out a lot like a movie franchise, with a name (The Star Seekers), and everything. ATEEZ have a storyline too, but, through allowing the fandom to vote for title tracks, they give the fans a role in the story, whereas MOAs are generally quite removed from the TXT storyline outside of theorising. This leads to the group inspiring less of a streaming culture, and more of the culture a franchise like the MCU would get - fans who are dedicated to the storyline, and who love it to the ends of the world, but who aren’t inclined to watch it on repeat, unless they’re looking for clues, or in the mood. Naturally, this leads to a lower streaming rate. Not to mention that TXT have a pretty solid place in the industry, through music show wins, awards, and expert preference, so they aren’t in need of a dedicated fandom to boost their numbers the same way groups like ATEEZ are.

This makes me think - maybe groups that focus on storylines just don’t encourage as much streaming? I can’t think of a group with a storyline (other than BTS, whose storyline isn’t front and centre) who have a heavy streaming fandom.

SEVENTEEN

Seventeen just really do their best to have a ‘your friend/best buddy’ vibe, and you wouldn’t stream your best buddy, would you? Carats and Cubics are far more interested in enjoying Seventeen’s content on a regular basis, encouraging others to join the fandom, and creating their own fan content, than they are in streaming or winning hundreds of awards. This attitude has also grown in the fandom after they realised that Seventeen will always either be ignored by awards shows, or beaten by the sheer power of ARMY, so, with the accepted idea that there isn’t much that can be done, they turn to enjoying content instead of streaming it.

Now, of course you can stream AND enjoy it, but not a lot of people do, especially if they can’t see the direct benefit of their actions (awards for the artist).

Why not voting isn’t like boycotting an artist.

This deserves a whole post by itself. The ignorance behind this comes from the ignorance of the power of he collective. Which all fans should know about, because fandoms wouldn’t exist to begin with without a collective.

So, how about we think about the numbers game?

A person who boycotts a group will not consume any of their content. They won’t watch teasers or MVs, won’t view or like social media posts, won’t watch any content from the fandom, won’t create their own content, and they CERTAINLY won’t buy albums, go to concerts, or stream. They might even report all instances of the group that they see, so that that group’s presence on the internet, and, therefore, ability to gain new fans, is lessened.

What about a person who doesn’t vote? They could be any level of fan, from hardcore to vaguely interested in the group. Let’s go with the lowest possible denominator. Someone who is a fan of some other groups, and is very vaguely interested in the artist. Maybe they like their performances, or two of their songs.

That person probably watched 1-3 MVs, listened to some songs a few times on Spotify, and maybe they liked a few social media posts, or watched a few videos by members of that artist’s fandom.

The impact that this vague, casual fan has to increasing the group’s popularity is RIDICULOUS. It is infinitely higher than that of someone who boycotted the group.

The fact of the matter is, the majority of views, likes, etc, that a group gets aren’t from the super hardcore fans who are constantly voting and streaming, have created multiple accounts, etc. The majority of views are from casual fans, watching the MV a few times because they liked it, or those who were just checking the group out. Not only does the collective of many casual fans do so much more for the group than a single hardcore fan (and certainly do more for the group than a boycotter), but they also further boost the group’s popularity, as they may make a SINGLE post about the group, which introduces more people, who become fans, and introduce more and more and more. It is an ongoing cycle.

You know, airplanes don’t make their money off the 10 people who flew 1st Class. They make their money off the hundreds and hundreds of people who devoted a lot less money to fly economy.

BTS isn’t successful because of the hundred thousand-or-so fans who are willing to spend millions on them, and stream until they drop. They are successful because of the literal hundreds of MILLIONS of people who check up on them, buy one or two albums maybe, and watch the MV 5 or so times.

If we got rid of all of the fans in a fandom who streamed and voted constantly, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to anything other than perhaps the number of awards the artist got. If we got rid of all of the casual fans of these artists, all of the people who hardcore streamers equate to ‘boycotters’, or those who have ‘let down’ the group and ‘don’t deserve to be fans’, the group would PERISH. They would cease to have any relevance or any platform, and most of them would have to leave and find another job within a year.

That person who only watches MVs a few times doesn’t sound so useless now, do they?

There are so many small actions which casual fans take which are crucial to the group’s success. Without the casual fans, there is no group and their is no fandom. Just remember; it all adds up.

With that in mind;

[Definitive] criteria to be an ATINY.

If you don’t fulfill these, I’m sorry to tell you, but you ain’t an ATINY.\

Criteria to be a casual ATINY/not-quite-an-ATINY

Watch (occasionally, regularly, religiously, or otherwise) ATEEZ’s content - must do one or more of the following; watch their MVs, watch performances, watch variety shows (eg. FEVER Road), follow on social media, watch fan-made content, or watch other group-related content

Criteria to be a fully-fledged ATINY.

Must tick the above dot-point, along with the following;

Know basic group info (a few songs, concept, company or the like)

Know the members (name, rough age, can recognise them) AND love/support ALL of them

Don’t be a saesang

If you can tick the four dot points above, well, congrats. You are a fully-fledged ATINY, and no-one can tell you otherwise. You passed the ATINY test, and if anyone tells you you didn’t direct them back here, to the definitive ATINY test.

So, criteria to be a GOOD ATINY?

Don’t get into fanwars

Don’t judge other groups and fandoms

Don’t judge other ATINYs

Continue to love ATEEZ

Not being a saesang (duh, saesangs aren’t ATINYs)

(Just generally be nice and chill)

Wow. Congrats. I guess you’re a good ATINY too. It’s really that easy.

Things that DON’T make you less of an ATINY.

Not streaming

Not voting

Disliking some songs

Critiquing the group (constructively, of course)

Not watching MVs

Not following on social media

Not buying albums

Not attending concerts

Not wanting to do any of the above things

If you tick the first four dot points, it literally doesn’t matter what else you do, no matter how much or how little. You ARE an ATINY. That’s literally the definition of being an ATINY that I just laid out for you. So now, maybe you’ll have more fun laughing at this conversation I had with someone;

This is one of the few MOAs I have seen actually get annoyed with someone else about not streaming/voting. For the most part, MOAs are pretty chill, and that’s how it should be.

And that’s it. That is finally all that I have to say on the topic (for now, at least). I will leave you with this post on ATINYs, and with the reminder that, if you love all the members of ATEEZ, chances are that you’re an ATINY.

And I love you, ATINY. <3

[sanstropfremir]

Hey love, hope you're having a nice day

My mom strongly believes Taemin has a thing for using some sort of element to cover his head in most of his MVs. Obviously we're both too dumb to catch the symbolism (if any) so I thought why not ask someone who knows?

So what do you think? Is there any deep reason behind the head bags or is it just an aesthetic thing?

anon!!!! mwah!!! i'm having a better day because you sent this in!!!!

your mom is right, taemin absolutely has a thing for covering his head, specifically his face! you can see masks and/or veils (under the cut):

in the hit the stage performance of sayonara hitori

in the offsick concert teaser

in the nippon budokan performance of i’m crying

in the move mv here (there are several shots from this scene), and here

in the want mv here

there’s a quick shot of him pulling off a veil in criminal

and of course, advice. and again.

also some other images:

1. from the ngda act 1 promo photos

2. from the 2kids promo photos

3. from the move album scans

4. the cover of ngda act 2 messiah version

5. an actual bag over his head in the criminal mv

6. from the most recent short vcr in the ngda beyond live

7. from the sayonara hitori album scans

this is not an exhaustive list because i know i’ve missed some; i'm 80% sure there was a mask with the red outfit in the ngda act 1 scans but this is enough examples i think to show that it’s definitely deliberate. and i'm not even bringing up all the times he physically covers his face with a body part or it’s obscured through an effect, because then we gotta talk about the famous choreography, the idea choreography, the just me and you vcr, and countless promo photos and album scans from essentially every era in his entire solo career.

the backbone of the kpop industry in its current state is the idols' faces. human nature has proven time and time again that the easiest way to catch an audience is through a pretty face (by whatever the standards are at the time), and in an industry built on militant commercialism, of course the emphasis is going to be on those faces. you can see it in every bit of content. turning physical albums into mass collectibles, with multiple versions, giant photobooks, photocards. an idol’s face IS their uniform. when an idol doesn’t want to be seen, what's the first thing they do? cover their face. (and people still take pictures of them anyways). i’ve seen countless times on vlives and ig lives where an idol is wearing a mask and there will be a stream of “show us your face <3”’s until they do. their face is their brand. every decision a stylist, a publicist, a company makes is to optimize exactly how beautiful they can make their idols look, because that’s by and large what the fans want. obviously it's a product of the larger trend in unattainable beauty standards fueled by social media, but i'm not going to talk much about that, because it's a lot. if you’ve followed me for long enough (probably just for more than a few days tbh, since i talk about it constantly), you’ll have noticed that i'm a huge proponent of ‘ugly’ hair trends, and i'm a huge proponent of ugly styling in general. when idols have to be fashion models as well as inhuman performing machines, you’re setting them up to everything that plagues that industry as well, which means massive complexes about their faces and bodies, in the most mild of terms.

‘ugliness’ has freedom in it. part of the reason why i’ve gone extra insane for advice as a whole is because it IS ugly. taemin’s extensions ARE awful. his hands are blackened and dirty the whole mv, and so are portions of his body. he’s visibly flaunting his real tattoos*, which are still deeply stigmatized in the east. we see him get in a car crash. in arguably the most flattering/conventionally attractive outfit, he’s got heavy mascara tear tracks. the song isn’t particularly melodic, the choreography is childish and jerky, the lyrics directly call out the people that treat him like an object. and of course, the mask. all of these are cracks in the facade, confronting us, on purpose, with the crumbling of his perpetually pretty, perfect persona. he's hurt, he's angry, he's got his hands deep in the grime of living in the public eye that the public refuses to see, and now he's going to smear it all over himself until you DO see it. at the end of the mv his triumph is not that he washes himself clean, but that he paints overtop. gesso on an old canvas; a fresh start, but fundamentally informed by the things underneath.

taemin uses masks as a way to deface himself. both in the literal sense of removing his face from the equation but also in the synonomic sense of the destruction, the obliteration, the vandalization of himself. of his brand. known as sm’s pretty boy since he was 14, who is he if he doesn’t have his face?

as a general device the masks are an entreaty to address him on his own artistic merit. but they do often have specific meanings within their contexts. in the i’m crying performance it is to remove himself as an entity all together; he is anonymous now, an unseen narrator to the performers on stage.** in move and want it’s for emphasis on his body; proof that he can still ensnare you with his limbs alone. pulling off the veil/reversing it back on in criminal as a revealing/concealing of the two sides of himself on display in the mv. the literal suffocation of one of those sides with a plastic bag. the voice in idea says ‘you are my messiah,’ but the cover of the album denies confirmation of that identity.

there’s more to be dug into here, especially with the ngda act 2 photos but i’d have to go back through my catholic iconography notes again and this would be a lot longer than it already is. i’m also looking at this from a western perspective, there are undoubtedly double meanings specific to a korean context that i haven’t clocked. but that’s the reason i love his work so much! it stands up to a lot of rigorous analysis and there’s always going to be something that i don’t catch right away, something more to learn.

---

* we learned like yesterday that his hip tattoo is a peony, which he named as symbolizing freedom. peonies tend to have primarily positive meanings across east asian cultures, but in victorian floriography, they mean shame and sometimes anger.

** this style of performance is very common in cirque du soleil shows, especially the older ones from the early 2000s. it's pretty common to have a ballad or operatic singer featured as a ‘narrator’ to a specific story section of routine. i’m sure this is probably frequent in other places as well, but i’m naming cirque specifically because that’s where i’ve seen it the most, and also because there is an actual circus performer on stage during this. plus there’s a guy in a pierrot costume, who is probably the most famous clown***. (although the costume is technically wrong because pierrot is supposed to be unmasked. (ironic plays loudly in the distance))

*** clown of the technical variety and not clown of the honk honk birthday variety.

[minachuuu]

Something About the Sunshine

❣Something About the Sunshine❣

❤ Pairing: Ryujin x Reader

❤ Genre: Fluff

❤ Word Count: 4.2k

❤ Song Suggestions: Surf & Nobody Like You by Itzy and Something About the Sunshine from Starstruck

Literally everyone but Ryujin found suspicious the amount of times she had been repeating the words 'It's just a friend's trip!' when asked about your upcoming vacation together to California. Her bandmates laughed the first time, but by the twenty-seventh time they were around to hear it they just mockingly imitated Ryujin. They were a hundred percent sure every single employee on JYP knew she was going on a ‘just friends’ trip’.

But it’s not like they didn’t notice how Ryujin’s eyes glow when she’s talking about you, how she messes her hair when somebody asks her about you, or how she goes from the fiercest and bravest person when you are being attacked by a nasty spider minding its business on wall, to the softest and clingiest girl when she cuddles with you on movie nights.

Maybe the ‘it’s just a friend’s trip!’ wasn’t trying to convince anyone, but herself.

The day arrived, and you were sitting in Itzy's living room, waiting for the car to arrive to take you both to the airport.

Yuna sat down by your side eating a tuna wrap, still wearing her night suit and the messiest mane you had ever seen. You were very used to seeing them all like that, since you are really close to Itzy, others have even mistaken you for their manager since you are basically always around them.

“Want some?” The younger girl extended her snack to you courteously, her voice still raspy from being awake so early.

“I’m okay Yuna, thanks!” You tried to hold back a giggle at the sight of Yuna clumsily existing at five o’clock in the morning. “Why are you up so early?”

“Schedules, practices, couldn’t stop thinking about this wrap…” She got lost in her own subconscious as she stared at the piece of food embraced by her hands. “It’s not even mine, but why would someone leave it abandoned in the fridge like that?”

“The car is here!” Ryujin rushed out of her room with her suitcase in hand. She fashioned a huge smile and a weirdly big enthusiasm for this time of the day. “Time to go Y/n!”

You stood from the couch, scrambling the younger girl’s hair to which she just looked at you drowsingly dumbfounded. You both headed towards the door carrying all your luggage.

“Have a nice trip! Bring me a gift, and don’t come back unless you’re dating” She whispered the last part, urgently took another bite of her tuna wrap and a smirk teasingly appeared on her mouth.

The last thing you saw was Ryujin throwing a beanie straight to the younger member’s face before closing the door behind her. 

Even though the flight was long, the 12 hours passed swiftly in between naps, movies and little scattered conversations with Ryujin. You could talk about anything all the time and never get tired, but couldn't fail to see something bothering her, deep inside her conscious the entire journey. 

After picking up your luggage and grabbing a taxi to your hotel, the effects of hour difference and the hustle of the trip started to dawn on you. And you were both so tired that you failed to realize the room they gave you had only one queen-sized bed. It still wouldn't have bothered you, you both had shared even smaller beds before. 

Ryunjin jumped into the bed as one should, patting the side for you to join her. You laid beside her, as she wrapped her arms around you. Both not hesitant to fall in a deep slumber. 

The clock marked 7 O'clock, and a little ray of sunshine peeked through the disheveled curtains and rested over your eyes, waking you up with its warmth. You stretched your body grasping your reality, this was not your house and you were not in Korea anymore. Carefully stretching your body, you recognized the presence of the girl beside you. Turning around, you saw her calm and resting expression, the image plastering a smile on your face. 

You silently rose from the bed, tip-toeing towards the sunrays. You warily slided open the door to the balcony, being welcomed by the sights of a waking city, illuminated by the dawn of a new day. That's when suddenly you felt a pair of arms surrounding your neck. The familiar embrace made the moment even more special, as you took in your hands those that rested in your chest. You stayed there in a comfortable silence, feeling Ryujin's breath and smile forming against the back of your neck. 

"Hey…" Ryujin broke the silence first. "Sorry about what Yuna said back home, she was just-" 

You released a light chuckle, finally having the answer to her worries. "I know Yuna, she's not the serious type." 

"Yeah…" Even with a weight lifted from her shoulders, Ryujin couldn't help but dwell on the matter. "I guess she was just joking." 

"But hey, we didn't come here to be locked down in the hotel room, did we?" You turned around, jokingly punching the other girl's arm. "Let's go!" 

"Twelve hours of flying are pretty heavy," She watched your enthusiasm fly as you scattered throughout the room, grabbing some things from your suitcase and heading to the bathroom to take a shower. "Are you sure you don't want to stay a little more and-" 

"Oh, c'mon!" You grabbed her by the hand, shaking her mind up. "We'll just go for a walk, grab something to eat. It's not like we're going to Disneyland right now."

"Sounds good to me!" Ryujin didn't hesitate to match your enthusiasm and rushed to get her stuff ready. "Where do we go?" 

"Actually…" You fidgeted your hands playfully. "It's a surprise."

-❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️-

“Venice beach?” Ryujin’s eyes grew as big as the moon. “This is where I-”

“-filmed the Nobody Like You music video!” You both said at the same time.

“Yes!” An eager smile was painted across your face at the sight of the shimmer in the other girl’s eyes. "I thought you might like coming back…”

"And I prefer the company a whole lot more this time!" Her fingers interlaced with yours as she chuckled at her joke. "Please don't tell the girls I said that."

"I'm texting Yeji right away-" 

"What, no!" Ryujin threw herself for your phone but you reacted quickly, prompting a whole game of tag for your phone. 

"Hi Yejiii-unnieeeee!" You started a voice note at the same time that you tried out-running Ryunjin in the still calm paths of the boardwalk. "The flight was fine and we landed perfectly! The hotel is very cosy and the sight's amazing. But Ryujin just said that she prefers me over yo- AH!" 

You felt your body be wanked from the floor, your back landing against the sand. Your phone flew from your hand, and Ryujin dove to reach it, landing beside you. An endless stream of laughter followed, one of those that make your eyes tear and your belly ache. Ryujin made sure the voice note didn't send, but to her bad fortune, Yeji had already listened to it and typed her response: 

Glad the trip went alright! And don't worry, we already knew Ryujin prefers you. Not only over us, she prefers you over anything or anyone really. 

Ryujin's cheeks flared up as she read the message, the laughter in her disappearing abruptly. She sheepishly handed your phone back, playing nervously with her hair as you read it too. 

"Awwww!" You mockingly teased her, wrapping your arms around her head. "Do you really love me that much??" 

"I… Well, maybe, yeah- I don't know-" She couldn't even finish a coherent sentence, trapped in between her nerves and your teasing. 

You stood up, still giggling at everything that just happened, glaring at the fine line separating the sky from the sea as it shined a light blue with little hints of orange and yellow as the last minutes of sunrise bathed you in their light.

This gave Ryujin a perfect view of you, as your silhouette was perfectly enframed on the sun rays hitting your body. She smiled at the way the sun rested on your soft cheeks, your smile competing against it for the brightest thing in her life. 

It started dawning on her, that maybe it was true. Maybe she did prefer you over anything and anyone. 

"Care to give me a tour Mrs. Shin Ryujin?" You proposed with a fruity and jestering voice while extending your hand, breaking her daydreaming. 

She took your hand as she stood and shook away some sand in her clothes. That Ryujin from the hotel room who wanted to rest and who was a little too much inside her head banished in a matter of seconds, pulling you around the stores and streets she visited with her group mates. You weren't complaining at all, aside from being Ryujin's best friend you were also a huge fan of Itzy. Always present, front row on their performances, shows and even sometimes rehearsals. And there was nothing better than listening to an excited Ryujin showing you around and retelling her memories with the glow in her eyes reflecting all the light of the vibrant place. 

You walked among the shops and food stands, halting in front of a familiar stand, with displays full of sunglasses of different shades and shapes. You both tried a thousand different styles after finally deciding on a matching pair. A round dark frame with the crystals tinted to each of your favorite colors. You kept walking along that ally, hands intertwined as you pointed to all of the little details you found along the way.

“And here…” Ryujin smirked teasingly at you, stopping in front of the skate rental where Itzy got theirs when they filmed the Nobody like you MV. “It’s where the fun starts.”

“Oh no.” You pushed her away from you, a nervous but playful giggle escaping your mouth. “There’s no way you’re going to get me on one of those.”

“You asked for the full Itzy Experience Tour didn’t you?” She lowered her new sunglasses to glare at you teasingly. 

“I- Yes but…”

“Then it’s time for you to learn how to skate.” She turned around, quickly renting a pair of skateboards from the man tending the local. She came back, holding the skateboards on each hand, handling you one of them with a triumphant smile. “Here Y/n, I even rented the helmet, knee pads and elbow pads in your favorite color, they will match with your glasses!”

“It’s not like I don’t like how they look Ryujin.” You sneered, taking the board on your hands. You examined its weight, hesitating to put it on the ground. “I don’t know how to ride one.”

“Oh I know, I’m going to teach you!” She confidently rejoiced in her talents, as she fastened the safety equipment around her body. “If I was able to make you dance Wannabe, do you think I can’t do this?”

“How many times have you rode one of these?” Ryujin stopped her movement at the question, clearing her throat pretending not to listen to you. “Ryujin-ah…”

“Maybe like…” She stood up, her face trying hard to convey a sense of security but only managing to sound arrogantly sweet. “...Once?”

“That’s it, we’re dying today.” You laughed as you put your safety equipment on, shaking your head in disapproval at yourself, since you still were willing to do anything for the girl in front of you, especially when a hit of her puppy eyes started peeking out of her.

“Okay first, one foot. Straight.” After you were both equipped and ready, she started demonstrating on her own board, stepping with her left foot on the board, turning around to make sure you were following the instructions. You imitated her movements with so much less confidence. "Now, you'll push with your right foot and…" 

You only watched baffled, your body refusing to move as she glided through the plaza with no problem. Pleasantly surprised and relieved that she still had the muscle memory to remember how to stay on top of it. A smile emerged in your face at the sight of your bestfriend making an effort to keep herself going, giggles filling the air as she circled you with ease. You took your phone out to capture the moment, and the instant Ryujin noticed the camera, her idol-self came out, acting with charisma at it, flustering you with the winks and smirks she gave to the lenses. 

“C’mon, now it’s your turn.” She approached you defiant, confident. Her presence and attitude helped you grab a bit of courage, but not enough to start without a little bit of help. 

You innately searched for Ryujin’s hand, not surprised when you realized she was already offering to take yours. You firmly put your left feet on the skateboard, and pushed gently with the right, helping you glide, as the girl beside you jogged at your speed. You tried again, now gaining more speed, and then tried once more. The sea breeze hit your face, rampaging your hair, a big and refreshing change from the city air you were so used to breath all the time back home. Your body flinched at the velocity you were traveling to, but Ryujin didn’t let you fall, her support helping you stay on.

“You have absolutely no permission to let go of my hand Shin Ryujin.” You babbled, holding on for dear life to her hand which was probably the only thing keeping you from falling down.

“You know I never would.” For a moment, all those worries in Ryujin’s head dissipated. You blushed at her words and she smiled at your sun-kissed image. 

It had a certain charm for her, you needed her protection and guidance, as she only focused on you staying alive and having fun. You stopped for a while, ecstatic at the thought of still being alive after that. 

“You are a very quick learner. Or maybe I’m just an excellent teacher.” Ryujin joked, earning a slap on her arm as she helped you stabilize yourself to get off the board. “I think you're ready to go on your own.”

“I only could do that because you were grabbing on to me!” You whined.

“I’ll be close to catch you if you fall.” Her smile was kind, protective, the kind that made you melt into everything she said. A big part of your friendship was teasing each other non-stop, but when it came to serious matters, there was no one out there you trusted more than Ryujin.

“Promise?” You trembled.

“I promise.” 

You, a little bit more confident now, repeated the steps to get over your skateboard and you pushed, gently. When you stabilized your body over the moving board, you repeated but with a stronger push. With a bit more confidence now taking up, you started steering with the weight of your body, your nerves releasing themselves in the form of giggles. 

You noticed Ryujin skating close to you, now skillful enough to be focusing you with her phone while gliding around to get some pretty takes and pictures of you. She cheered, a wide grin adorning her face as little wrinkles appeared on the edges of her eyes, the way they did when something made her stupidly happy.

You were so focused on Ryujin’s antics and she was so into you too, that you failed to see a slightly raised sidewalk straight in your path. Ryujin caught a glimpse of it just in time to jump towards you, surrounding your entire body with hers. With her feet landing first in a patch of grass, the scenario of you both flying through the air and landing into concrete was avoided. But thanks to the speed your bodies carried and you not being able to stop them, you still tripped down, Ryujin falling on her back and you right on top of her. You were quick to raise your heads, realizing they were only a few inches away, blood rising, coating your faces in red.

“Maybe I should-” You were quick to get up, no scratches or bruises in sight. Ryujin seemed free of injury too, so you extended your hand to help her up. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t worry. I’m totally okay.” She took your hand and stood up, fixing her clothes. Her hands instinctively wished to check you, and help you fix yourself too, but a certain tension that filled the air stopped her from doing so. “Are... are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine too.” You responded, fixing your hair yourself and avoiding her glance.

Ryujin went to pick up the skateboards, leaving the silence between you lingering for longer than it should. While walking back, you both caught a glimpse of each other’s eyes, making you release an stressed giggle, easing the ambience around just a bit.

“Let’s take this back and grab something to eat.” Ryujin proposed as you walked side to side back to the skates rental, an strange and awkward quietness encircling your steps.

-❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️-

You sat cuddled between Ryujin’s arms, the sights of the sea in front of you as you both enjoyed the beach, snacking on some american-flavored chips that you found on a K-mart along the way.

“Close your eyes.” You playfully demanded Ryujin.

“Why, what are you going to do to me?” She asked.

“I’m going to give you one of these flavors randomly and you have to guess which one it is!” 

She obeyed, closing her eyes and releasing you from her embrace as you reached for your target. You grabbed one chip from the five bags sitting in front of you and gently placed it on Ryujin’s tongue. She opened her eyes at the instant flavor that filled her mouth, confused and maybe even a bit disgusted.

“Is it really that bad?” Your laugh bursted at her expressions.

“No, it’s just that-'' She kept chewing the chip, her face contorting even more with each second passing. “It’s interesting?”

“That’s what people say when something tastes bad but they don’t want to be rude about it” You kept laughing, looking at her amusingly. “Well, what flavor do you think that was?”

“I’m gonna say…” Her eyes and brows exaggerated her thought process as they playfully moved up and down. “...salt and vinegar?” 

“No, Pickle-flavored!” You raised the bad of chips, triumphantly. “I told you these were a bad idea!”

“No! I had some hope for these!” She grabbed the bag from your hands, disappointment in her eyes as she examined the chips closer as if that could magically enhance their flavor for better. Ryujin extended the bag to you. “Here, try one and tell me what you think.”

“After seeing your face? I’ll pass, thanks” You pushed away her hand with the bag and her eyebrows furrowed.

“You can’t make me suffer alone! The chips thing was YOUR idea!” She started throwing one of her usual tantrums, shaking the bag in front of your face now. You kept throwing your head backwards and she answered by leaning in even closer, mumbling her complaints in a cute tone. Neither of you noticed when, but suddenly you found yourself laying under Ryujin. The instant she realized your position, she stopped her fit and the blush in her cheeks flared up.

“You have some-” In your attempt of diffusing the situation, you reached your thumb towards her lips, paralysing even further the girl on top of you. She couldn’t take the flood of ideas invading her mind that the sight of you staring straight at her lips, caressing them gently created. 

She quickly sat up, distress all over her face avoiding looking at you as much as possible. You were both just friends, nothing more. Why do those ideas start appearing now? No. Why was Ryujin not able to suppress those ideas now as well as before? 

You followed her, looking straight at her conflicted face now being illuminated by the sunset in the horizon. Your hand reached for her chin, gently pulling it to meet your eyes with hers. You felt her breathing halting at the action, to what you offered a delicate smile.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” You skipped the ‘something’s bothering you’ talk, you knew your best friend enough to know she would deny everything, try and cover anything. 

“Yes, I know…” Now Ryujin’s eyes were the ones who could decide to rest on your eyes or in your lips, with even more ideas invading her mind. “I just don’t know where to start.”

“Would it help if I start this time?” You smiled even wider, hiding the amount of courage you were trying to gather inside your mind. 

Ryujin looked at you perplexed, as she expected you to keep pushing for her to talk but got this instead. She shook her head remembering your question, to which she nodded as an answer.

“It’s not new, I’ve been dealing with all of this for a long time but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. And maybe it’s not even the best time to tell you, giving that there’s an entire vacation together at risk…” You started mumbling, your eyes diverting all around you as your train of thoughts backed up from the enthusiasm. 

“Hey…”  She used your techniques against you, grabbing your chin and raising it to meet her eyes. Your nervous rambling woke up Ryujin’s protective side, as she now offered you an uneasy smile. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

You deadlocked your eyes on her, serious. You jokingly slapped her arm for using your own weapons against you, but like a magnet, the silence between you only called for your eyes to be lost on hers. You couldn’t tell thanks to your nerves, but you were getting your faces closer with each second passing. A deep sigh from Ryujin’s side broke the tension, aided you to gain back your courage, you were going to blurt it out now or nev-

“I like you. Maybe I could even dare say that I love you Y/n.” Ryujin sputtered first, avoiding your eyes. Your breath halted, earning a gasp at the sudden confession, bringing your hands to your open mouth. Your mind was way too shocked to remember how to properly function, paralysed in the moment. At the awkward silence created, Ryujin gathered all her body strength to look back at you, her mind racing a thousand miles per hour to find a way to save the moment. “It’s okay if you don’t return-”

“Shin Ryujin, I was going to tell you that!” You moaned playfully, the entirety of your body relaxing now as you could help painting a huge smile across your face.

“You- what?” It was now her turn to be astonished. Your unusual response made it even more confusing to her, as the scenarios that her head created were of totally different colors from the one presented in front of her. It wasn’t until you stopped nervously giggling and locked eyes with her again that you realized that you had to explain yourself.

“I love you too dummy.” You cupped her hands in yours, happy tears blurring your sight from excitement. 

“Oh. OH!” Ryujin’s whole face illuminated as the facts dawned on her, her worries floating away with the sounds of the sea in the background. She released a chuckle as she confidently put her hands around your waist, pulling you closer. “Does that mean I get to-”

“Yes! A thousand times yes!” You giggled, not even bothering to listen to the rest of her sentence, knowing exactly that what followed was something you’ve waited for a long time.

Ryujin excitedly cupped your cheeks, pulling you towards her. Your lips clashed with urgency, dancing at the rhythm of the tropical music in the background of Venice Beach, earning a smile from both that could only be eased as you joined your lips each time after breathing for air. The warmth of the sun setting in the horizon, filled your bodies from head to toe, as your beating heart took care of the inside. 

Time is never the first thing that counts when you’re sure you just found the love of your life, but when you parted your lips again and looked around, the lamp posts started turning on, some neon signs from the stores behind you started coloring the streets. You sighed, resting your head on your girlfriend’s shoulder. A comfortable silence surrounding you both, with everything but your heartbeats synchronized resonating in the air.

“The girls are going to lose their mind when we tell them.” You broke the silence first, sighing at the idea popping in your head.

“We’ll worry about them later.” She laughed as her mind painted the picture too. “Let’s keep this between us for now, we’ll plan a prank in the plane back home. Deal?”

“Deal.” You chuckled at the suggestion, glad that your best friend was back. And even better than before, cause now you get to kiss her whenever you want.

The last rays of sun lighted you both like a spotlight in the end of a show, but what it really felt like was the beginning of the best adventure, by the side of the most amazing person in your life.

[thedaytheworldburned]

Streaming Culture and its effect on Fandom - are you a MOA if you don’t stream?

I’ll put the TL;DR at the top: Yes, you are.

So, streaming culture is a core element of kpop as we know it today. Everywhere, you see people telling you to ‘stream’ something, to vote for something, to reblog something. And, as awards season will soon be in full swing, now is a fitting time for this post.

Things I will discuss in this (long) post;

The growth of streaming culture + its place in current kpop

The prevalence/emphasis of streaming fandoms

The values of streaming culture, its downsides, and other measures of success

How and why do fans support a group?

Reasons to vote/stream, and reasons not to vote/stream

Arguments against non-voters and why they are wrong

How an artist promotes a streaming environment

Not voting = boycotting?

Criteria to be a MOA, and what makes you a good MOA or a bad MOA?

Please read as much or as little as you want. Everything is below the line.

The history and growth of streaming

Music shows have been a large part of Korean pop culture since the 1990s, when shows such as Music Bank and Inkigayo began airing. Run by popular streaming networks as weekly broadcasts, live and recorded, these shows gave wins to the artists who were on top of the charts during any given week. As the first gen of kpop moved into 2nd and, eventually, 3rd gen, these music show wins became incredibly important. 

They were based on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to), judge rankings, album sales, views of performances on Youtube and other platforms, audience votes, and digital streams of songs on Korean music streaming platforms. They went from a ‘weekly top 10′ style to a complex system, where artists would promote their song and would do so with the intention of both gaining fame, and, perhaps more importantly, 1st place wins. 1st place wins became a symbol of a group’s success. If they didn’t have one, they were either unsuccessful or underrated. When they got one, it was a huge opportunity to gain fans, advertise the group, and for the fanbase and group alike to have a nostalgic moment of their journey together. 

Groups’ success is commonly measured by their number of wins, and fanbases work hard to achieve wins for their favourite artist. This has led to organised fanbase efforts, where fans, en masse, vote for idols, buy their albums to boost chart positions, and perform other actions, such as Twitter trends and streaming the performances on Youtube. 

So, what is streaming?

Most commonly on Youtube, and at other times on Korean apps such as the Melon app. It involves fans repeatedly watching or listening to a video/song in order to boost its views, which in turn has other effects, such as boosting the artist’s position on the chart, or contributing points towards music show wins. 

This also contributes towards other awards, such as MAMA and MMA, and the number of views that a group gets on a performance or MV has become symbolic of their popularity, despite this number often being either inflated (due to streaming) or an underestimate (as not all fans of a group will watch MVs, certainly not within the first 24 hours).

This has also led to the rise of the ‘stream ____’ comment/post. Usually they are nice, and ‘stream’ is a stand-in for ‘watch and enjoy’, or ‘check out’, but sometimes, streaming goes a bit far. 

Streaming has become a science. Fans have figured it all out, and it is very easy to find guides on how to stream in the most effective way possible, either online, or especially under MVs where the fanbase is trying to gain a lot of views. It’s all designed to manipulate the Youtube algorithm into counting as many views as possible while deleting as few as possible (some activities, like watching the same video on repeat, and watching it muted, can cause Youtube to think that the viewer is a bot, and therefore to delete all views for that account).

And, of course, there are those videos of people who have tens of computers set up, all playing the same playlist on repeat with many copies of the required MV.

Fandoms have become known for their sheer streaming power. The reason Blackpink is so big, for instance, is because Blinks stream their music to the top of the charts for each and every release, no matter how good or bad it is. The same can be said for ARMY, and their record-breaking streams. BTS wins hundreds and hundreds of awards, just because of the sheer streaming, buying, and voting power of their fandom. 

These fandoms and others have caused smaller fandoms to feel the need to ‘catch up’, be as good as the others, and have convinced many people that the true measure of the group’s success is through these measures - how many views do they have, and how many wins?  

Kpop vs the West

Streaming, album sales, downloads, and other forms of engagement such as twitter follows are still important measures of success and important factors leading to awards in the West. However, to a much lesser extent. And fans of, say, Justin Beiber or Billie Eilish aren’t ‘required’ to stream as part of their daily fandom activities. Those fandoms are much less organised (and arguably less dedicated) than may kpop fandoms. I’ll discuss this again later. 

Basically, streaming is a much more important part of kpop, jpop etc than of Western music. 

Streaming - a necessity?

As I said above, the presence and growth of large groups and fandoms, such as BTS, Blackpink, EXO, and others, has led to the belief that streaming is a necessity for a fandom. If the fandom doesn’t stream, is it even a real fandom? We see again and again how these fandoms get so organised to stream, and the great results that they are getting. 

If your fandom either doesn’t stream, isn’t large enough to stream well, or doesn’t stream properly, chances are you aren’t winning a huge amount of awards. So, I guess it is important, but ‘essential’ is a bit of a strong word.

Other measures of success other than streaming + streaming numbers?

Album sales

Social media followers + engagement

Size of fandom and attitude of fandom

Youtube comments + their nature

News coverage of group

Funding a group gets + number and quality of comebacks

General knowledge of group

Size of other fan activities eg. Facebook groups, fanpages, birthday ads

Number of + size of cover groups etc

Growth/size of birthday projects (eg. Charity donations, adoptions of animals, etc)

All of these measure the success of the group through their popularity, rather than strictly numbers and awards. Most of them are more qualitative than quantitative, so usually aren’t as valued by most people. But, I can tell you that they are far more important than they are given credit for. For instance, BTS isn’t known as the ‘most popular group worldwide’ because of the number of people who religiously stream their content and buy each and every thing they put out, go to all of their concerts, etc. They are known as the most popular group because of the sheer number of people who know their name, casually listen to their music, and watch some content occasionally. A group is far more popular if they have a huge casual fanbase than if they have a smaller number of intensely dedicated (and very wealthy) fans.

Positives of streaming culture as a measure of success

Can give a rough estimate of how large and dedicated the fandom are

Can also give an estimate of demographic (younger people are less likely to have jobs, and therefore more likely to spend more time streaming, thus, groups with a younger fanbase will generally have higher streams)

Fans vote with views, tweets, literal votes etc - allows the company to quickly see what was popular, and adjust to that information

Negatives of streaming culture as a measure of success

Shows dedication of fandom more than size

Does not give an indication of general popularity + casual fans

Can inflate + obscure other info (eg. actual size of fanbase)

Becomes a necessity/overly emphasised

Allows anti-fans to attack/snipe streaming parties

Generally creates toxicity and a divide between those who stream and those who don’t (especially in smaller fandoms)

If a fandom (*cough* ARMY *cough*) builds up enough streaming power, no one will be able to win awards through the current system other than that group/fandom

Other issues (see; Girl’s Planet 999 + voting system) 

Positives of streaming culture in general

Tighter audience-artist relationship

Highly motivated and organised fans

Allows fans to band together to achieve something

A reward (the group’s happiness at receiving awards) for their work (streaming)

Allows fandoms to have huge power as consumers over companies, individuals, etc, and therefore to have positive influence (demanding companies look after artists, raising money for charities, etc)

Negatives of streaming culture in general

Creates toxicity

Fanwars

Sniping, manipulation, accusations etc

People fall out of love with the artist/music etc due to pressure

Streaming becomes a job rather than a joy/hobby

Divided fanbases

Activities completed by fans to increase an artist’s success/awards

Monetary; Attending fansigns, buying albums + concerts, buying birthday merch, lightsticks, buying subscriptions, etc

Engagement; Retweeting/Twitter trends, following on social media, streaming videos + songs, replying to posts

Direct actions to awards; Voting, or fulfilling other criteria (such as buying albums and streaming)

Other; Making fanart or edits, watching fan-made videos, interacting with fans and non-fans, creating fanpages, promoting the group on social media, etc

Reasons to complete these activities

Monetary; you have money + are interested in the products that are being sold

Engagement; you have spare time and enjoy/want to engage

Direct actions; you have spare time + want to 

Other; you have spare time + want to

Reasons not to complete these activities

You don’t have money, don’t have time, and/or don’t want to (yes, that’s literally it).

Things people say about those who don’t stream

You’re lazy

You don’t deserve to be called a fan

You’re not a proper/real fan

You don’t deserve to celebrate any success the group gets

You have the time/money, there’s no reason not to/don’t be selfish

[Artist] deserves awards

[Artist] is working hard, they deserve a better fanbase

You’re letting [artist] down/you’re betraying [artist]

You’re the same as people who boycott them/antis

Why the above statements are wrong/what is wrong with them - with some ATINY examples

‘You’re lazy’

This is just wrong and mean. Laziness implies a lack of care, and no lack of care is shown by not voting/streaming. Each fan shows care in a different way, and there is no obligation for fans to show ANY care at all. Not streaming isn’t ‘lazy’ - it’s simply a different way of being a fan. 

‘You don’t deserve to be called a fan’ AND ‘You’re not a proper/real fan’

Statements like these always make me wonder when the sole requirement of being a fan became to religiously stream and vote for all of a group’s content? I’ll discuss this later, but this was never an obligation or a requirement of being a fan. This statement is usually followed up by some kind of guilt-trip (I will discuss this later too) about how you’re letting the artist down by not streaming, and THAT is why you don’t deserve to be a fan. But who are you letting down? It’s a parasocial relationship, the artist will ALWAYS give you less than you give them. Even listening to one song once is SO MUCH MORE that you have done for the artist than that artist has done for you personally. 

So, yeah. Not a requirement of being a fan to stream, and those who don’t stream are CERTAINLY real fans. 

‘You don’t deserve to celebrate any success the group gets’

Not sure about the logic behind this one. The entire fandom SHOULD celebrate, as a whole, when an artist achieves something, or gains success/recognition. Those who didn’t stream or ‘directly contribute’ to the success (even though they certainly did contribute, as they were a fan), can and should celebrate the success of the group. The only issue is if they claim that they did something they didn’t (like streaming).

‘You have the time/money, there’s no reason not to’/’Don’t be selfish’

I also don’t understand how not streaming is selfish. Perhaps they mean that you don’t show any care for the artist? In which case, I’ve already discussed it above. If they mean ‘selfish’ as in ‘prioritising yourself and your enjoyment over others’, well, yeah, it is, I guess, but this would also mean that ALL consumption of media/entertainment is selfish, because you only consume what you like/what gives you pleasure. And this is how all media SHOULD be - only comsume what you like, how you like it. Otherwise, it defeats the whole purpose of entertainment. If you don’t like streaming, there is literaly no reason to do it. And this answers the first statement - sure, there’s no reason not to, but there is also no reason TO. If you like the artist, and have the time and money that you are willing to give up, there are other methods of support that you may enjoy more, in which case, you should do those, instead of whatever the rest of the fandom wants you to do.

‘[Artist] deserve awards’

Well, duh. Most artists do. I don’t think this was ever a disputed fact?

‘[Artist] is working hard, they deserve a better fanbase’

Yeah, they probably are working hard. Yeah, they probably do deserve a great fanbase. But this is just guilt-tripping - saying that it is the person who is addressed’s fault that the fandom is not as good as it ‘should’ be. Not only are fandoms just in the right place they need to be at any given time, but also, each fan plays a specific and crucial role. No fan is letting the group down or lifting them up by how much or how little they do. It is the fandom as a whole which does, and everyone has exactly the place they need in the fandom.

‘You’re letting [artist] down’/’You’re betraying [artist]’

You LITERALLY CAN’T ‘let them down’/’betray them’. Say it with me; It’s a PARASOCIAL relationship. You NEVER promised the artist ANYTHING, and therefore, you CAN’T betray them or let them down. Evn the smallest possible actions of yours, such as watching an MV once when it comes out, and the never again, is SO MUCH MORE than what was expected of you by the artist, or than you were obligated to do. 

So no, you’re not letting them down.

Unless, of course, you DID promise something - ie. borrowing someone’s account to vote for an artist and then voting for a rival. But that’s letting the fellow fan down, not the group.

‘You’re the same as people who boycott them/antis’

This statement is so wrong that it hurts my  brain to think about the thought process behind it. Luckily, I’ve only seen a few people say it, but that is a few too many. I’ll discuss this one later.

Things that are often said that ARE  guilt-tripping

It’s important to recognise these signs, as they are commonly used and often affect a lot of people. 

I have had someone tell me that saying these things is not guilt-tripping, as ‘other people can’t cause you to feel guilt, it’s not possible for others to guilt-trip you’. Not only would I like to point out that this statement WAS guilt-tripping, in and of itself, but, here is the definition of guilt-tripping;

Notice how both definitions mention how the feeling is caused by an external source? Of course, you can guilt-trip yourself, but the vast majority of guilt-trips are caused by others.

So. Things that are often said that are examples of guilt-tripping?

‘They’re working so hard’

[Insert a long list of all the times artist said they only slept 2 hours, or were injured etc]

They’ve suffered so much for us and you aren’t even bothering to give back to them?

It’s not that hard to vote

It literally takes 2 minutes, you’re smart enough to figure it out

Don’t you have ears?

If you don’t know if you’ve been guilt-tripped or not, just think - do you want to vote/stream, or do you just feel the need to do so because so many people have pressured you into doing it? Do you find yourself thinking about how hard the group has worked, and considering whether or not you’re a bad fan for not streaming/voting?

Then you’ve probably been guilt-tripped.

How does an artist promote a streaming or non-streaming fandom?

I’m sure we all know by now that, regardless of size, some fandoms are more dedicated to streaming, and some simply aren’t, just by their nature. 

Some fandoms that are heavy streamers; ARMY, Blink, EXO-L, Once, Stay, most Produce/survival show fandoms

Some fandoms that are not heavy streamers; MOA, ATINY, Carat (and Cubic), Moomoo, Monbebe, Engene, Shawol, most solo artist fandoms

So, why the difference? We can see a lot of crossovers between the groups, whether it is their concepts, music, crossovers in the fanbases, etc. A lot of ARMYs are also Mombebes, or MOAs, and a lot of Moomoos are Blinks or Onces. There are many factors that affect whether or not a fandom streams, or feels motivated to stream.

Artist’s content/concept

Number of comebacks

Location of fanbase (International, Korean, etc)

Age of fanbase

Occupation of fanbase

Gender of fanbase

The environment the artist promotes

What is the environment the artist promotes? And how do they promote it?

Well, it’s a very subtle and hard to measure thing, but the fact of the matter is that some groups promote streaming and some don’t. You can’t really see the source, only the effect it has, through the fandom’s attitude. I’ll give the best examples I can manage.

IZ*ONE

Was created through a survival show with picks the most popular members via votes. Through encouraging a relationship with the contestants, and therefore encouraging the fans to spend a lot of time voting for them, the group build up a dedicated fanbase, which flows over to debut and causes the fandom to stream.

BTS

Bighit has gone about as para-social as possible with BTS. The amount of content they put out, the amount of fanservice they do, and the nature of it all all encourages intense dedication from the fandom (or, at least, the younger members of it). ARMY are heavily encouraged to believe that they have a high chance of meeting and dating any given BTS member, the same way fans of OneDirection were encouraged. The amount of insight you get into their struggles and everyday lives adds to this, and creates an intense bond which leads many fans to be incredibly dedicated, and therefore to stream/buy each and every thing BTS puts out. The genius way in which Bighit marketed BTS, which led to such a devoted fanbase, is arguably the single greatest reason for their success today, and their dominance worldwide. 

Mamamoo

Mamamoo, in concept and music, have similar ‘vibes’ to 1950s-1970s Western groups, so, despite creating a close artist-audience bond and a large fandom, their fandom is less dedicated to the cause of awards, and more dedicated to the sheer act of music. Their enjoyment comes from seeing the girls happy and performing, rather than from seeing them win award after award. I think this was very well foreshadowed by their lightstick. Such a chill artist-audience relationship doesn’t encourage much streaming, just enjoyment and wholehearted support.

ATEEZ

Although most of their music falls sqaurely into the ‘pop’ genre, ATEEZ have a similar vibe to 1980s rock groups (through their style and performances), and to dance groups (through their intense choreographies and focus on dance) neither of which inspire a lot of streaming. Additionally, the majority of their audience is working-age, and therefore don’t have time/have more important things to do than stream, and the majority of fans are also international. Most international fans are less likely to stream (unless they are from the US or UK), because numbers aren’t emphasised in many entertainment industries as much as they are in East Asia, the US, and the UK. Therefore, it is seen as less of a priority. The divide between old ATINYs and new ATINYs (who originate from different sources) has recently led to an intense divide in the fandom over the streaming-or-not-streaming issue.

TXT

TXT both have the same vibes as ATEEZ (dance focus and 1980s rock), and have the addition of a storyline that plays out a lot like a movie franchise, with a name (The Star Seekers), and everything. ATEEZ have a storyline too, but, through allowing the fandom to vote for title tracks, they give the fans a role in the story, whereas MOAs are generally quite removed from the TXT storyline outside of theorising. This leads to the group inspiring less of a streaming culture, and more of the culture a franchise like the MCU would get - fans who are dedicated to the storyline, and who love it to the ends of the world, but who aren’t inclined to watch it on repeat, unless they’re looking for clues, or in the mood. Naturally, this leads to a lower streaming rate. Not to mention that TXT have a pretty solid place in the industry, through music show wins, awards, and expert preference, so they aren’t in need of a dedicated fandom to boost their numbers the same way groups like ATEEZ are.

This makes me think - maybe groups that focus on storylines just don’t encourage as much streaming? I can’t think of a group with a storyline (other than BTS, whose storyline isn’t front and centre) who have a heavy streaming fandom.

SEVENTEEN

Seventeen just really do their best to have a ‘your friend/best buddy’ vibe, and you wouldn’t stream your best buddy, would you? Carats and Cubics are far more interested in enjoying Seventeen’s content on a regular basis, encouraging others to join the fandom, and creating their own fan content, than they are in streaming or winning hundreds of awards. This attitude has also grown in the fandom after they realised that Seventeen will always either be ignored by awards shows, or beaten by the sheer power of ARMY, so, with the accepted idea that there isn’t much that can be done, they turn to enjoying content instead of streaming it.

Now, of course you can stream AND enjoy it, but not a lot of people do, especially if they can’t see the direct benefit of their actions (awards for the artist).

Why not voting isn’t like boycotting an artist.

This deserves a whole post by itself. The ignorance behind this comes from the ignorance of the power of he collective. Which all fans should know about, because fandoms wouldn’t exist to begin with without a collective. 

So, how about we think about the numbers game?

A person who boycotts a group will not consume any of their content. They won’t watch teasers or MVs, won’t view or like social media posts, won’t watch any content from the fandom, won’t create their own content, and they CERTAINLY won’t buy albums, go to concerts, or stream. They might even report all instances of the group that they see, so that that group’s presence on the internet, and, therefore, ability to gain new fans, is lessened. 

What about a person who doesn’t vote? They could be any level of fan, from hardcore to vaguely interested in the group. Let’s go with the lowest possible denominator. Someone who is a fan of some other groups, and is very vaguely interested in the artist. Maybe they like their performances, or two of their songs. 

That person probably watched 1-3 MVs, listened to some songs a few times on Spotify, and maybe they liked a few social media posts, or watched a few videos by members of that artist’s fandom. 

The impact that this vague, casual fan has to increasing the group’s popuarity is RIDICULOUS. It is infinitely higher than that of someone who boycotte the group. 

The fact of the matter is, the majority of views, likes, etc, that a group gets aren’t from the super hardcore fans who are constantly voting ans streaming, have created multiple accounts, etc. The majority of views are from casual fans, watching the MV a few times because they liked it, or those who were just checking the group out. Not only does the collective of many casual fans do so much more for the group than a single hardcore fan (and certainly do more for the group than a boycotter), but they also further boost the group’s popularity, as they may make a SINGLE post about the group, which introduces more people, who become fans, and introduce more and more and more. It is an ongoing cycle. 

You know, airplanes don’t make their money off the 10 people who flew 1st Class. They make their money off the hundreds and hundreds of people who devoted a lot less money to fly economy. 

BTS isn’t successful because of the hundred thousand-or-so fans who are willing to spend millions on them, and stream until they drop. They are successful because of the literal hundreds of MILLIONS of people who check up on them, buy one or two albums maybe, and watch the MV 5 or so times. 

If we got rid of all of the fans in a fandom who streamed and voted constantly, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to anything other than perhaps the number of awards the artist got. If we got rid of all of the casual fans of these artists, all of the people who hardcore streamers equate to ‘boycotters’, or those who have ‘let down’ the group and ‘don’t deserve to be fans’, the group would PERISH. They would cease to have any relevance or any platform, and most of them would have to leave and find another job within a year. 

That person who only watches MVs a few times doesn’t sound so useless now, do they?

There are so many small actions which casual fans take which are crucial to the group’s success. Without the casual fans, there is no group and their is no fandom. Just remember; it all adds up.

With that in mind;

[Definitive] criteria to be a MOA.

If you don’t fulfill these, I’m sorry to tell you, but you ain’t a MOA. 

Criteria to be a casual MOA/not-quite-a-MOA

Watch (occassionally, regulaarly, religiously, or otherwise) TXT’s content - must do one or more of the following; watch their MVs, watch performances, watch variety shows (TO-DO), follow on social media, watch fan-made content, or watch other group-related content

Criteria to be a fully-fedged MOA.

Must tick the above dot-point, along with the following;

Know basic group info (a few songs, concept, company or the like)

Know the members (name, rough age, can recognise them) AND love/support ALL of them

Don’t be a saesang

If you can tick the four dot points above, well, congrats. You are a fully-fledged MOA, and no-one can tell you otherwise. You passed the MOA test, and if anyone tells you you didn’t direct them back here, to the definitive MOA test.

So, criteria to be a GOOD MOA?

Don’t get into fanwars

Don’t judge other groups and fandoms

Don’t judge other MOAs

Continue to love TXT

Not being a saesang (duh, saesangs aren’t MOAs)

(Just generally be nice and chill)

Wow. Congrats. I guess you’re a good MOA too. It’s really that easy.

Things that DON’T make you less of a MOA.

Not streaming

Not voting

Disliking some songs

Critiquing the group (constructively, of course)

Not watching MVs

Not following on social media

Not buying albums

Not attending concerts 

Not wanting to do any of the above things

If you tick the first four dot points, it literally doesn’t matter what else you do, no matter how much or how little. You ARE a MOA. That’s literally the definition of being a MOA that I just laid out for you. So now, maybe you’ll have more fun laughing at this conversation I had with someone;

This is one of the few MOAs I have seen actually get annoyed with someone else about not streaming/voting. For the most part, MOAs are pretty chill, and that’s how it should be.

And that’s it. That is finally all that I have to say on the topic (for now, at least). I will leave you with this post on ATINYs (rip ATINYs, they’ve had some trouble with this whole issue lately), and with the reminder that, if you love all the members of TXT, chances are that you’re a MOA. 

And I love you, MOA. <3

[btsandvmin]

What made you like Jimin individually and Taehyung individually ? And do you have a slight preference between the two ?

I love all the members so much, and for me picking a bias is still kind of difficult. I have concluded that I do bias both Jimin and Tae but kind of switch between them at different times for different reasons. As for a bias wrecker I legit cannot choose and it changes all the time.

The way I got into BTS was through the BST MV and then trying to learn the members (the first one I learned and checked up on was Namjoon). I also got fascinated by the BU storyline as storytelling and analysis/reviews is a big hobby of mine (the fandoms I’ve been in are many, and character/story analyses/reviews/theories are something I have engaged in a lot). 

On top of that I work in the media industry and have an interest for visual storytelling as well and I got hooked by the concepts, the beautiful MV and the both story-based and symbolical clues they left. I also loved their music and like groups in general because of the interesting vocal dynamics you can create.  Basically, BTS managed to hit all my buttons and I had to look up more.

Mind you, I barely knew the members' names properly and I was already investigating the meaning of their MV and storyline. I listened to their album and loved the songs before I could tell which member was who. (Both Awake and First love made me cry without even knowing the lyrics).  I also have to mention how much I love both of Vmin’s voices, who are both very unique and interesting. I basically biased their voices before I knew who they were. (Fun or sad fact but I am really bad with faces and actually learned the members' singing voices before their faces.)

Let’s just say that I got into the music and visuals/concept first, and then started to consume material to get to know the members. They all also had incredible chemistry between each other and reminded me a lot of one of my favorite j-pop groups with their dynamics. 

What I started to watch was “get to know them” videos and recent interviews and clips, meaning from BST era. It was hard for me to not notice Jimin (even though vocal line were the ones I had the hardest time separating from each other in the very beginning). And perhaps even more so since the introduction videos tended to have a lot better and varied things to say about Jimin amongst vocal line. But even on his own Jimin simply stood out to me during the BST era when I joined. He took a lot of space in the group as a performer (especially with his high notes, his dancing, his hair and his outfits all combined) but also as an individual in off stage material. I fell for his voice and performance and the “Jimin effect” was hitting me hard. 

I also related to him a lot. I am a sort of clingy but shy person who is a perfectionist and likes being in control. I also thought he was both cute and funny without being too over the top with things like aegyo (I mean, we all know he is horrible at it when he tries to do it on purpose). I think the way Jimin is so open (though private) makes him easy to understand and relate to. He has a lot of different moods and there is an honesty in how much he shows us even though he clearly still remained in control.

As time went by, I found myself focusing on Jimin more than the other members and I realized my bias. I was simply drawn to him more than the others from the start. That in turn brings me to Taehyung... Because honestly, at the time it was impossible not to notice their closeness. And looking up a lot of old material, where Jimin was there was also Taehyung. They were very clingy and had a lot of cute interactions. One of the first things I watched of their more off-stage material was also Bon Voyage in Scandinavia (being from there myself I was extra curious) and the Vmin moments in there just cemented their bond for me.

I am not saying I only appreciate Tae for ship reasons, simply that Vmin got my attention early on and that did make me focus more on Taehyung as well. I thought as many that he was a bit odd, but very funny and playful, that he was incredibly good-looking (my opinion from the start was that JK and Tae were the most good-looking) but also a bit difficult to read. Taehyung made me want to understand him, and I was interested in him for quite different reasons than how I related to Jimin. I love him for his way of thinking and how he seems to have this innocence or happiness in the small things about him. Like, Tae getting lost in Sweden but still being happy about the small adventure, enjoying himself and stopping to blow on a dandelion might just be one of the most endearing things I have ever seen. (Honestly, another point I relate to Jimin on so much is his love for Tae and how he just makes us smile no matter what he does.)

Of course, as they change and as I get to watch them more, the more I find to love and appreciate (as well as flaws of course) and now I would say all the members are just very precious to me and I love them both for who they are on their own and for their bond as a group. It is impressive and not to be understated how rare it is to find a bond like theirs. I have seen many groups, and few are as compatible as BTS, and few seem to truly love each other the way they do.

But as for bias it will likely always be Jimin and Taehyung unless there is some drastic change.

For Jimin I love the way he dances while controlling every fiber of his body, the way he pours love into all his relationships but isn’t afraid to call people out, the way he keeps getting funnier (I think Jimin’s sense of humor is so underrated), the way he acts like an angel but actually has the whole world fooled (and he knows it), the way he shows his emotions so animatedly no matter if he gets annoyed or laughs with his whole body, the way he knows his principles and stands his ground when he believes in something, the way he works so hard to improve and better himself both as a performer and as a human, the way he thinks about things deeply and is so eloquent with how to express it, the way he is there for both ARMY, his members and even strangers because he is empathic to his core. There is a lot to love with Jimin, and he always makes sure to return that love when deserved.

For Taehyung I love the way he stand against the norms, the way he shows it’s ok to be different and embrace himself and others without judgement, the way he almost plays with us when he performs, the way he sings with such emotion and how he loves to express himself through all kinds of art forms, the way he learns and take in valid criticism but isn’t afraid to call bullshit, the way he knows when to be serious but also the importance of having fun, the way he is both the biggest dork and a fierce performer at once (I mean he can be so unapologetically silly and then suddenly switch to lethal seduction), the way his unique way of thinking opens up to new points of view, the way he can’t help but show his excitement or love for something and wants to share it with the people around him. He goes all out when he loves something and doesn’t hide his opinions when he doesn’t. Taehyung is just a very honest (though perfectly capable of lying and fooling us thank you very much) and incredible person that I both admire and adore.

There is just so much, and even small things get to me, like don’t get me started on their smiles, or even just their habits when they laugh... (how Tae usually laughs quietly but once in a while will let out these light giggles, or the way Jimin seem to automatically covers his face when he laughs).

I love them both to death (as all the members). It is not easy to just sit down and pour years of love into words, but I tried. I love them both as singers, performers, artists, and humans. I also love them as soulmates and how much they both just spread love and positivity to the people around them. The impact they have had on me, and surely many of you, is hard to comprehend. I am so lucky and happy that I decided to become a fan of this wonderful group and these wonderful people.

Phew, that was a lot wasn’t it? All opinion based, probably a bit hard to understand and not very well structured either. This is all just a flow of consciousness, and I likely forgot to mention a lot of things I could have said. Even so I hope you found it a nice read. :) Thank you for the ask.

[in-superbloom]

okay so. i never really did a review (feels weird to call it a review tho so let's say a very opinionated essay that's totally the opposite of what college taught me) for wfttwtaf but i never really know how to do that for any album, doesn't matter how much it makes me feel feelings, bc i simply can't write about my own emotions in cohesive thoughts ✌🏻😔

so instead, i let my brain do this thing he usually does when i listen to an album that leaves an effect on me, which is pretty much just creating visuals for the songs bc apparently my feelings translate better into images/vibes rather than words lmao but since i am unfortunately not skilled to drawn/paint/created actual visual stuff, i just wrote them so i'm gonna leave them here bc why not <3

i just really love when music (art in general, but especially music for me) makes your mind run wild & be so inspired that you can't help but create something based on that feeling <3 a great example of that is the amount of art everyone here (on tumblr!sos verse, but also tumblr & the internet in general) create based on other peoples' art & i just *clenches fists* really love that 💜

anyways !! if you're reading this, i hope this makes sense to you & if you wanna chat about the album, my mail box is always open 💜

• track one: starting line – like the mv, but he's running like he's trying to get away from something, always looking behind his shoulder, stumbling on things/people on the streets. also maybe not flying?;

• track two: saigon – then he reaches a tiny but unique/eye-catching door, gets intrigued & enters. he has to go downstairs through a dark and narrow corridor, he hears muffled music coming down there. he reaches the door & the music is now clear, it looks like there are disco balls everywhere ((pink, blue and purple bc ofc)), the place is packed with people dancing & just vibing™. he goes to the dancefloor, but soon it gets overwhelming so he tries to reach a wall or the other end of the club, but he can't. the more he walks, the furthest he feels from the walls. everything has a psychedelic look, also some of those trippy effects he used on motion, and no one seems to notice/ care about him. this goes on until the end of the song, then he finally finds a door ((not the one he came from)) and opens it;

• track three: motion – he expects to find a street, but instead he's inside a room. it's a bit dark, all he sees are shadows, but then suddenly everything turns into an explosion of colors ((when the songs picks up in the beginning)), all dancing in front of him, making him feel lost & dizzy. he keeps walking, but every now and them he stumbles on something ((random things like animals or weird props or stuff that aren't supposed to be alive, but are)). he admires everything with a childlike wonder, touches things and then they turn into something else, or change form/shape/color. in the end, he's distracted looking at something and then falls like the floor reached an end;

• track four: place in me – he fell right there where he is in the mv/visualizer, it goes on like that;

• track five: baby blue – make it look like he fell asleep after the end of place in me, so he's very confused when he wakes up & it looks like the place is falling apart, like end of the world type ((like the lamentis thingy on loki)). things are exploding & he can see another planet very close to the one where he is. it's a bit scary but it's a breathtaking view nonetheless. he's mesmerized, but also kinda already accepted his fate? he's not trying to run to find a shelter/salvation or anything, just watching it all fall apart. at the end, he stops, turns around & looks at the path that he was walking ((full of nature things colored in every shade of blue and also glittery dust)) and he's just admiring it when he's hit by a big rock maybe? or a moon, who knows;

• track six: repeat – he's throw away to somewhere that's not collapsing, it looks like a pathway in the woods? but like, no florest too near, and it's sunny but not too warm, and the path is filled with green grass and flowers. he lands in a place that looks like a field but not quite. and then after walking for a while, he finds himself, but another version of him. maybe a younger one or an older one or both? like, they both just stop and stare at each other and kinda do this lil dance of trying to touch the other & watching the other, both a lil frightened but completely intrigued. maybe the older version of him? ooooh maybe it starts with an older version, but then every time present luke gets distracted by something else or turns around for a second, the other luke is getting younger, until he's just a lil kid. the ending is the mini luke offering his hand for present luke to grab, so he can lead him to a house that was near where they were. ((or maybe mini luke makes him run after him));

• track seven: mum – luke enters the house & immediately recognizes it as the house he grew up in. every step he takes, a wall or an object or a room brings a memory & it plays it out like a hologram. lots of memories. then in the guitar solo part, he finds a guitar in the room where he used to play the most when he was a kid ((maybe some cool&cute effects going around him, representing the sound coming from the guitar)). before the solo ends, you can see a shadow in the threshold of the door, and when he finished the guitar solo, luke turns around and smiles, getting up to hug the person ((it's his mum)) but maybe you never actually see her face?;

• track eight: slip away – he steps out of his childhood house and enters this big dark room. there's only a lil blue light coming from the very center of the room. when he gets closer to it, he sees it's a lil star, who looks very scared. as soon as she notices him ((he tries to reach her)) she runs out of the door on the other side of the room. he's worried&intrigued so he follows her, but when he opens the door, he immediately falls, this time he's in what looks like the clouds ((blue hues ofc but clearer ones, not as dark shades like the ones in place in me & baby blue)), and soon he finds out he can "swim" through them. he does that for a while until he sees the lil star and tries to follow her again. this goes on until he finally gets close to her, but when he touches her, she literally slips from his grasp bc he's being teleported again ((but make it look like she's the portal));

• track nine: diamonds – it starts with a close up on the water maybe? and then the camera keeps getting higher & suddenly he falls into it and soon the camera follows. he's distorted for a bit, especially when he notices he's already too deep into the water, away from the surface. then he tries to swim to the surface, but there's a bunch of things?? or like weird and mean seapeople maybe? trying to drag him down ((kinda like that scene on harry potter & the goblet of fire)). he tries his best to fight them, but what gets him away from them is a group of nice seapeople who came to his rescue. then they all swim away from the place they were ((also maybe slip in some diamonds or things that look like them around there?));

• track ten: a beautiful dream – he reaches a lil city? under water with the help of the nice seapeople & then there's this piano on the ground ((maybe covered in seaweed and stuff like that)) and he's immediately drawn to it. he plays/sings the song ((maybe like the guitar effects in mum, the sounds coming from the piano affect the place around him even tho it looks like he barely notices it)). when the song is finishing, he notices a white light coming from the surface. he looks at it & then follows it;

• track eleven: bloodline – then he's getting out of the water? at some beach perhaps? he's slowly getting out of the water & there's this beautiful sunrise behind him. he's singing along, looking like he just came out of a battle but at the same time he's in peace with himself, looking not exactly happy but relieved. he's walking on the beach, making his way home but he's not in a hurry. then in that lil bit in the end of the song, he gets out of the frame after looking straight to the camera maybe?? and the camera focuses on the sunrise and then everything goes black;

• track twelve: comedown – he wakes up in a bed ((like, this is him waking up from all these dreams)) & he's slightly confused bc the dreams felt so real, but he's feeling better & not so lost anymore. he goes out in a walk that maybe shows every place he was in his dreams? but like, this time you see what they really are bc every place in his dreams was inspired by a real location/thing, just reimagined. but like, he doesn't enter anywhere, he's just walking & you can see the places on both sides of the street. like, it's clearly a set up location but it's just representative. maybe you can see some of his friends/family at some of these locations or maybe they're all together in one place? but they don't look at him, they're just talking&laughing with each other. he looks happy, at ease & he's smiling, wearing a yellow or gold shirt. in the end, he reaches a cliffside maybe? somewhere that leads you to think that he'll go through another portal, but then he suddenly stops, looks down at the cliffside and crouches down bc he saw the lil blue star from slip away but it's now a necklace. he picks it up, with a small&easy smile and then looks at the camera, gives a bigger, real smile, gets up and turns around, going back to where his friends&family are, but the camera stays there, just watching him go.

// now some notes bc i love to over explain myself //

• the "water" one was supposed to be slip away, but alison @bandsanitizer was talking about a beautiful dream these days & said that something about the song reminds her of a sonar-like sound & the idea of searching for something, so that got me thinking about the ocean & relating it to this song and it also makes a lot of sense with what the album represents in my mind, so it made me change that. thank you for that miss alison, it's always a pleasure to read your thoughts 😌💜

• & it also fitted well with the “i can't fight the bloodline living in the seams back home” line from bloodline, so i wanted that one to be related to the water as well bc that's all i can think about when i hear that lyric;

• something in common that appears in every single one: an object or something related to time, since it's the big common theme on the whole album;

• in each song he's wearing the same outfit he wore in the starting line mv (white tee + black pants + converse) but in each one of them, that red shirt is in a different color;

• i had the visuals from starting line to mum very clear in my head on my first listen of the album, but i only truly finished writing all of this yesterday bc i wanna listen to halsey's new album and see if my brain does this thing again, but i wanted to finish wfttwtaf first <3

& that's it bc i already talked too much for a day lmao if you read all of this, you're a true hero & i love you <3 have a nice day 💛

[exo-s-victory-lap]

searching for the plot: limitless

Korean version:

Plot: Mega No

....bizarre absolutly bizarre at every level the styling is atrocious the direction is weird the shtick is both overly used and used to no effect i have no idea what the creative vision of this was supposed to be. Obviously i hate the hair its gross badly done. At first i thought the styling and found bad quality footage element was supposed to make this a nostolgic thing but the constant blank faces and uttlerly expressionless line deliveries convinced me that this was going to turn into a horror thing. Its very unsettling for no real reason. THeres no plot but i feel like its TRYING to have one, if that makes sense. Theres a lot of unconventional things happening here so the director WANTS something he just also never actually makes anything HAPPEN. Theres alos no conception between the song and the styling which makes this even stranger because limitlessness is the groups core concept and this is just....verging on found footage horror its very confusing 0/10.

Plot check: MEGA FAIL

Japanese version:

Plot: still no

Better, sooooo much better. THe orange outfits actually stnad out and are era specific which is rare for NCT. ALso hiiiiii taeyong vocal fry. The MV is funny because i think this is the start of the NCT formula ie. streetclothes styling aesthetic based mv with no plot that implies some sort of urban/vaugly si-fi conflict that never actually happens on screen, parking lot dance shots, lots of running from camera and use of angles in group shots.  The song is 10/10 the MV was nice when it was released the shot of mark getting overtaken by the gas cloud is 10/10 but it feels like there no real concept holding things together. ITs just a bunch of cool shots one after another that have no real point.

Plot check: fail

[joan-deactivated20230204]

after doing a ton of testing this evening this is the list ive ended up with for huntmaster pile. 80 cards ended up being a whiff bc it increased the chances of drawing nonfunctional hands when a lot of what makes this deck good is combining specific a+b pieces (ghoul + dispute, innkeeper + inquisitor, huntmaster + a cheap shitty creature); but as long as inquisitor has the chance to turn itself off i really think that you need to play around 26-27 creatures with mv 3 or less, and in order to do that i think going slightly above 60 might be a grim necessity. if inquisitor gets fixed tho then you absolutely go back down to 60.

skullport merchant was something i overlooked initially but its really overperformed, and has a decent chance of edging out augur of autumn entirely. being able to turn late game treasures/shitty guys into cards while also ramping you is a huge get in this deck for making your grindy gameplan more successful. sorin was also something i overlooked but i think as a 1 of hes really solid. he performs really nicely against control & in sac mirrors, which are the hardust matchups for this deck (aside from dragons, which is pretty much unbeatable).

im also starting to consider moving away from glasspool mimic, ive already cut one to make room for other stuff. the cards not bad though, like beyond just being a combo with inquisitor its just a solid card to cast to get another huntmaster/brutal cathar/something else going. the thing is that im starting to question how good the inquisitor -> glasspool sequence actually is overall. theres definitely the chance to just spike a game by putting 10 power on board t3 but in other situations ive found that the deck doesnt really struggle with building up board presence. inquisitor getting a huntmaster or a skullport merchant is often not that much worse than putting 2 inquisitors and another creature into play. like at this point whats keeping glasspool mimic in the deck is less “its good with inquisitor” and more “its a good card that also happens to produce explosive turns via inquisitor sometimes”, but given that, it might be correct to go down to 2!

concealing curtains has also been A+ and has made the control matchup no longer literally unwinnable. trading up on mana with all interaction and taking away their best answer, and pressuring the life total is all really effective in those matchups, and huntmaster grabbing a curtains can be a really tough sequence for control decks to beat. i still maintain that concealing curtains is the most underplayed and underhyped card in vow, this things great

[alonelyhollowgram]

I Listened To 40 (+1) King Covers

I decided to listen to a bunch of King covers since there are so many and why not? This is my feelings on them. The song is originally by Kanaria sung by Gumi. I don`t know who this post is for. Under the cut due to the length.

Flare - This is the first cover I`ve listened to, so I might be biased. I really like this one. Flare`s deep voice fits the song perfectly and she sounds great with plenty of energy.

Risu - Definitely not bad. I`m kinda missing  some pow in her voice though.

Kanata - It sounds good. I do wish she went a  bit lower in tone. Also her “hahaha”s felt more like she`s giggling, personally I prefer the clearer “Haha” ones instead. 

Towa - Towa`s voice is really great in general and I feel like it shines in songs like this. I`m not the biggest fan of  the “pah”s (0:56), it sounds like it has gone through a filter. 

Shion - Shion`s cover seems to be the most viewed cover in Hololive and I can understand that. She sings the song a  bit softer all around (1:00, for example). This makes the cover feel a bit smugger, which plays with Shion`s strengths. 

Roboco - Holy harmonies, batman! That was my first reaction. This was a unique take on the song by adding things like  harmonies and extra laughter. She sings some of the lines differently by changing the tone of her voice at certain points reflecting the lyrics. However, I feel like her voice becomes a bit too airy at some points in the songs,     especially at the high notes (0:21). This is a bit off topic, but  shout-out to the English subtitles! You can tell that effort has been put into it.

Matsuri - It sounds fine, but it doesn`t really stick out. I really like the way she rolls R in Ratata (1:28) though, so much that it`s kind of a highlight of the cover.

Watame - Her voice fits this song. I`m not entirely sure what the choir (?) is (0:52). It`s a bit strange, but it doesn`t detract from the cover. I like her “Haha”s.  

Sora - Sora`s cover isn`t very intimidating/threatening, I find it rather cute! I really like how the “pah”s goes in the left ear and in the right ear independently. The instrumental kinda sticks out too.

Reine - Wooow. That was great! I`m at the point that I can really appreciate someone having a different take on this  song. The remix sounds good, the MV adds a lot of energy and Reine sounds good too, of course.

Sukoya - Let`s finally step out of Hololive. Yeah, this is pretty good. She sings this a bit softer (like Shion) which fits her well.

Chima - Good. This cover uses a bit of an echo thing which I think makes it sound better (1:07).

Asano Sisters - I think the one singing is Ruri? I`m not familar with them. It doesn`t really stick out, but she sings it well. 

Nui - Her voice is smooth. She also uses the choir effect, not as effectively as others though. Not the biggest fan of her “Haha”s.

Kizuna Ai - This is the 15th one I`ve listened to in a row She sings it well, but it doesn`t stick out.

Gero - This is the first cover by a guy I`ve listened too. Just that makes it special. I like it a lot. The instrumental sounds unique with an organ sound at times and it has extra voice effects.

Luz - This one uses a lot of backing voices like a creepy whisper and more. Pretty OK all around.

Meychan - Pretty good. Not much more to add.

Nanana - This one surprised me. It was a  pretty standard cover until 1:40 when her voice became deeper, and the  avatar changed to someone with shorter hair! Very exciting. Just by being different makes this one better.

Soraru - He sounds good. I like his “Haha”s.

Kagura Nana - Pretty good. She adds laughter in the     background sometimes and puts her voice through a filter. It makes it     sound different. The last “you are king” (2:14) was really     cute. 

Lumi Celestia - This cover was sung very soft and airy. It doesn`t sound as good as I`d like. Another shout-out to the English subtitles. They are really nice.

Kotone - I like her voice. Sounds strong. 

Kuzuha - I think this might be the cover with the most views. Wow. i get it. He sounds good and the song fits him.

Shien - His voice is nice. It fits the song. His “haha”s are a bit weak.

Alfakyun - There are multiple people singing  this, right? It sticks out on that alone. Well, it sounds nice.

Rinu - I like how she sings this. Makes it feel  different than the others. 

Honma - Wow the MV! I haven`t been this  excited since Reine`s cover. I`m not that into her voice, it`s a bit too squeaky.  

Inamtr/ 猪��� 祭 -いな まつり -  This one gave me quite the laugh haha.

Rion - This was nice. Her laughs were cute.      

Tojiro - I wasn`t very into his voice, but sometimes he sings kind of like a growl which is interesting. 

Shima - Back with the choir and organ thing. It sounds fine, but it doesn`t stick out.

Mafumafu feat.  nqrse - This was a pleasant surprise. It starts off with an original rap. This version is a duet. Both do a good job, the inclusion of nqrse was a good decision. It sticks out a lot.

Tamaki - It`s fine. He doesn`t sound as good with the high notes though.

Sukoya (again) - Turns out there is another version. This time it`s a remix by DJ WILDPARTY. At this point I`m just happy for something different. It sounds good, but some parts are better than others. 

Utako Suzuka - This one reminds me of Nanana`s cover because both change their voices to be more masculine later in the song. I prefer Nanana`s cover over this one, but it still sounds fine.

Melissa - This cover isn`t that different from the rest, but I like it a lot. They sing it well and from 1:55 and to the end is unique with the growl Melissa does and more. 

Kaida Haru - This cover can get rather breathy at points lol. I`m not the biggest fan of that. 

Chigusa - I think this song shows off her vocals well. This is another that changes voices in the middle of the song. From short hair to long hair this time contrasting the others that changes the voices. It sounds good.

Leona - Her voice fits this song well. Sounds nice all around. I`m into it.

*Belmond - It`s been a couple days since I listened to the King covers, so the break gave me time to clear my mind. The first though I had after listening to Belmond`s version is wow. He made the song his own. The first 30-ish seconds was quite the first impression. I thought it was really cool. The entire instrumental felt like that to me, it was nice. Belmond`s voice is so powerful in this song. It sounds good, and it complements the instrumental well. The video itself is also nice. The smoke is a nice touch.

I`m done! Wow, that took some time. I was probably more open to the starting ones than the rest. I guess that`s what happens after listening to the same song so many times. I`ll take a long break from this song haha. 

 Anyway, here is a list of the standouts:

Flare: She was the first cover I listened to and I do really like it.

Reine: This one was very good. Definitely worth a listen.

Roboco: This was very unique. 

Nanana: The change is pretty cool.

Inamtr: This one gave me a laugh.

Mafumafu feat.  nqrse: Another unique one.

*Melissa: Yeah, I thought this one was nice.

*Belmond: This might be recency bias kicking in, but still.

(* signifies an edit.)

[becomewings]

Sea

BTS Universe Elemental Series : Water

“There is something about the sea that makes me well up with emotions. ...

The next minute, we were all looking out onto the sea and shouting our dreams. … Each of us cried out a story that would never reach any destination. … All of my senses came alive. The others' voices became entangled and formed an intricate web with the somewhat fishy but refreshing scent of the sea and the strong breeze winding round my fingers. Before I knew it, I was screaming out onto the sea. Amidst the thundering drilling sound, I couldn't hear what my dream was.”

— JungKook, 12 June Year 19. The Notes 1.

〰〰〰꩜〰〰〰

“Beyond them was the sea, and above the sea was the sun. The entire scene looked like a still frame. …

We’d all met again, sprung JiMin from the hospital, and returned to this same beach. It was all unplanned. ...

‘It was June 12.’ I remembered it exactly because the photo we had taken on this beach was marked with the date. I sometimes took it out and stared at it. I didn’t tell anyone, but I felt on that long-ago day that I had finally found a real family. Real brothers.”

— JungKook, 22 May Year 22. The Notes 1.

〰〰〰꩜〰〰〰

“After returning from the sea, we went back to our solitary lives.”

— SeokJin, 13 June Year 22. The Notes 1.

〰〰〰꩜〰〰〰

I’ve been feeling pretty discouraged lately, especially after witnessing in real-time how much greater the reception is for new/topical content compared to older/more comprehensive content like this blog (this was within my own content on different blogs, to be clear!). It feels like an uphill battle sometimes, so I am deeply appreciative of all of you who have shared my works, and especially to those of you who also sent in supportive messages recently. I’m not giving up yet. Thank you for joining me on this journey. ♡

This is the first entry in a multi-part Elemental series, which will in turn be broken down into several subseries (Water, Fire, etc.). I know my most recent post featured a lot of sea imagery and I do usually try to space out similar themes, but this felt like a good place to start!

A little behind-the-scenes peek at my process (and inevitable misadventures), if you’re curious... I’ve been steadily compiling screenshots from every BTS Universe MV to help myself organize and plan themes, but I still have a few to go. I knew there was a shot, somewhere, with a rippling effect over the boys by the car at the sea. However, I didn’t have a screenshot of it in any of my folders, and after skimming the list of videos I was convinced that I must have missed it from one I’d already completed. As I skimmed through older MVs and it failed to turn up, I began to wonder if I’d made it up. While seriously contemplating that I’d lost my mind, I happened to check Epiphany, one of the MVs I have not captured yet, and... lo and behold, there it was at the end. Serves me right for procrastinating on the capturing. :’) I decided to splice that clip together with the original appearance of that scene/footage from the Prologue because I was already making tough choices while paring down to 10 images. It’s a little grainy, but I spent a ridiculous amount of time working on the first spliced version, scrapping it because I wasn’t happy with the alignment, redoing it from scratch with better scaling between the two, and creating the crossfade. All for just 1/10th of this set!

As I’m focusing more on gifs now and have learned very basic coloring with some practice sets on my side blog, I do want to state that I am (currently) making the decision not to color these BTS Universe sets, aside from small level edits and contrast boosting so the gifs turn out a little cleaner. I recognize that this is not the most aesthetically pleasing choice and that most creators harmonize color palettes when compiling sets from multiple videos. It is my personal intention on this blog, however, to represent the selections as close to their original versions as possible. This better demonstrates how the aesthetics and artistic decisions of the MVs themselves have developed over the lifetime of BTS Universe. Also, despite the lack of color alterations on my part, I do try my best to achieve a composition that is both narratively and visually cohesive, striking a balance between story and art. (I don’t know if anyone has caught onto me yet, but I quite enjoy “reflections” in my image layouts.) And of course, this doesn’t take into consideration all the time I spend gathering the Notes quotes and planning out whether they are more appropriate as captions or in the body text.

Anyway, if you think that I’m making a terrible decision, please feel free to yell at me in my ask box. Or if you have something nice to say, you can yell that in there too. ♡

I Need U (Original Ver.) [1] HYYH On Stage: Prologue [2-5] Epiphany Comeback Trailer [3] Run [6] Love Yourself Highlight Reel '起承轉結' [7] Euphoria : Theme of Love Yourself 起 Wonder [8-10]

[cbspams]

ONF - New World (Performance MV)

The last one. Ahhh, when I first committed to watching RTK, I wasn't sure what to expect and I didn't know anything about the other groups. I'd seen TBZ's Reveal (Catching Fire) which lured me in and I'm grateful for it because I got to see all the other amazing performances everyone pulled off. Beyond just the performances, it was really heartwarming to get little glimpses of the hard work everyone puts into each stage and how they're always supporting each other, within their own teams and outside of it. I would definitely recommend watching RTK if you're interested in getting into any of the groups featured, and even if not I would still recommend watching the performances because they're all so unique in their arrangements and stages. It's the kind of thing that can only happen on a competition show.

Thanks for putting up with all my ranting and know that I love you if you've read all my different thought posts. I hope you all look forward to Kingdom: Legendary War as well, it's gonna be HYPE!

Alright dudes let's get down to it.

Admittedly I did not love ONF for a lot of RTK. They're a great group, but I felt like their stages didn't favor the same kind of theatricality other groups had. And when they were ranked highly for We Must Love + Moscow Moscow (2nd round, My Song) stage, I was frankly a little miffed.

I adored their stage for It's Raining though, and all throughout RTK even if I didn't love them I still thought they were wonderful. Their reactions were so entertaining to watch and their stages were all fun and well executed.

I struggled watching New World a bit because I couldn't get over the fact they went back to more simple performances when It's Raining had been so elaborate.

The performance MV for New World is amazing. I understand the live performance had to be filmed indoors and that because it's indoors and because the stage is black and the stairs are black and the bleachers are black, the impact is different. But I'm really sad about that because the open air film location they did for the performance MV fit the song's vibes so much better. The kind of controlled sunlight, the open air lattices of the building they were standing on, the contrast between the dark outfits the members had and the bright cream of the building's plaster. All of those contributed to such a different vibe for the song, which is so bright and fun.

The opening to the light performance is a short film, similar to ONEUS and Pentagon. I'm not too sure about this but it seems to start with fast cuts from their previous MVs? And then slows down marginally to give a bit of storyline that seems to be a combination of pre and post apocalypse/societal collapse in a fantasy/cyberpunk mix world? Yeah, I dunno I've watched it 4 times and that's the best I could come up with. Especially because the ending shot is several very large meteors crashing through the atmosphere and like, those are pretty deadly so...?

In the pre-performance bit with the ONF members, they had discussed a theme of Pandora's box. Most people know that Pandora's box is a symbol of curses and tragedy, often tied to themes of humanity's greed versus humanity's innocence in listening to the gods. On opening the box, all the diseases and negativity inside flooded out to torment humanity but Hope remains in the box to allow humanity to maintain light in the darkness, and only humanity can give up hope.

NGL I was really excited to see how they would execute that theme. But then?? They kind of treated the box as a time capsule? I could kind of see it like them put their hopes into the box, which is an interesting twist on the tale of Pandora's box but also Confusion because that's definitely not the theme of that story. I kind of let it go though, because maybe they were just borrowing inspiration from the story and not actually trying to represent it.

Moving onto the actual performance and song. The intro is so intense! It's a really interesting fit because the rest of the song is way more dance upbeat/electric. But as far as openings go, pretty impactful and very pleasing to watch the ripple effect with the backup dancers down the aisle.

Again with the colorful flashing lights. Cool? Yes. Contributing to the aesthetic? Not particularly. Productive to the storyline? No. Part of the performance? Yes. Shruggy on this one, I don't really have anything to add that I haven't mentioned in previous commentaries.

I do really like the song though. Just as a piece of music, it's so fun to listen to and has definitely joined the ranks of my usual kpop bops. The kind of light, fast electro beat is something to jam to. Wyatt's voice is just so good, especially as part of the pre-chorus. The contrast makes it delightful to go from verse one to chorus. The lyrics and message of the song are really well thought out and executed as well, talking about reaching a better world and turning away from hurting each other/the environment/generally being hurtful.

OKAY. So this part is actually something I really adored: the sort of robotic formation. Wherein the members stand in the center of several backup dancers who seem to place on pieces or armor or something onto the member's limbs. A very clean cut, fast paced dance sequence that really strongly reminded me of early iron man scenes in which the different parts of armor were installed on the body. Also lowkey reminiscent of magical girl transformation hahahaha. But it's done so cleanly and while the camera angles make it hard to focus, it's still such a treat to watch. AND THEN. The members come up to the shoulders of the backup dancers and for Wyatt's lines, they're just!! In control! If y'all have watched power rangers or Gundam or Aquarion or Neon Evangelion or like, any of those then you know what I'm talking about, in which the human character slides into some massive machine and controls them from the inside to fight monsters (kaiju) and stuff. And the next bit with J-US and the hands! Creative, interesting imagery, just a complete delight to watch. It's just sooooo fun and I love that for ONF, I really do.

I genuinely think that their theme doesn't make much sense without the context of the lyrics and even then it still feels clunky and sort of inspired by rather than actually embodying the concept. So I'd dock point for them for that personally because I think that when themes are introduced and performed, they should show up as more than just a simple prop. But also I acknowledge that dance and musical performances like this (not musicals) aren't necessarily intended to be storytelling, especially in 4th gen kpop. I do like their theme with the keys and opening, I feel like the performance would have been enhanced if instead of using pandora's box, they choose to use the gateway to the new world. A bit on the nose but a lot more impactful with the key turning bit after the second chorus.

On the key turning bit with the weird holographic box: Dude. Those backup dancers? So clean. Nice stiff steps that feel very robotic which goes wonderfully with the costumes. The keys they each take actually read RTK ONF if you go clockwise from the left (MK). Just a neato little fact. Attention to detail is so good. And the timing of the key turns, of course it was gonna be to the beat but like still! Satisfying af.

Why Wyatt grabs the box and slams it to the ground I don't know. Maybe it has to do with the line dive into new world.

The high notes. Again. Literally just. What the fuck guys, they're so good. I'm gonna cry. The stability, the pitch, just. (sobbing)

The LED screen in the back is interesting? Is it supposed to be a door into the new world? Probably?

Dance break!! Guitar solo!! The door tradition into the weird stripey LED screens that just feels so chaotic and kinda like I'm going through a movie warp portal. Somehow when combined together it all works lmao??

I love the bridge. There's no reason for it, I just love Wyatt's fast paced lines and the kind of dun dun dun fast tempo beat tapping.

The ending of running away from the camera, towards the little cliffs and the LED screen was a good choice because the last lines refer to how they'll never stop as long as they're alive. Not the most impactful ending but definitely satisfying given the song's lyrics and meaning. Again, that lack of pandora's box kind of haunts me?

Overall if I consider this ONF performance compared to their others it doesn't feel quite as thought out and executed. Similar to their We Must Love + Moscow Moscow performance where I couldn't really see the marionette theme, I couldn't really understand the idea of Pandora's box in this performance and I really wish they had chosen perhaps a gateway to the new world or some other theme instead because it would fit much better. It's also a little lackluster compared to the performance MV that had a lot of contrast which created more focus and contributed more to the atmosphere of the performance.

Still, as a performance on it's own, it does pretty well and I'm really happy for ONF to have performed it. Thank you RTK for introducing me to this song and to ONF in general, I hope they continue to release some really good stuff.