#we were at a BTS concert 2016

[eureka-its-zico]

Please take as much time as you need. I really hope you are ok. I'm sending lots of love your way.

I have good days and bad days. Right after I found out Missy passed suddenly, my stepmom let us know my dad has congestive heart failure. It all just felt like a lot all at once. I would like to say I would rather be emotionless, but Missy deserves to be missed and remembered always.

[jikooklove9795]

JIKOOK & NOV 8th 2015

In South Korea couples have a unique and delightful way of celebrating anniversaries marking special milestones. They commemorate these milestones by exchanging personalized gifts, going on romantic dates, by wearing matching clothes or by sharing photos documenting their relationship. This is done in recognition of their continuous love and appreciation.

Now let's dive into see how Jikook celebrates a special a date in their relationship.

On Nov 8th 2015 Jikook posts their first video together on twitter

Exactly 100 days after Nov 8th 2015 Jungkook made a tweet about the importance of lyrics in a song and uploaded his cover of Nothing Like Us by Justin Bieber

One year later on Nov 8th 2016 Jimin posts a video of Jungkook and him sitting together on a plane

On Nov 8th 2017 Jungkook releases his first ever GCF. It was video documenting Jimin and Jungkook's private trip to Japan in 2017. A trip Jungkook planned and arranged as a birthday gift to Jimin

On Jan 26th 2018, which is 811 days from Nov 8th 2015 Jimin posted this pic. Do you see the black & white reference at the foot of the champagne glass? Interesting right??!!

On August 2018 BTS were in Malta filming BV Season 3.

1000 days after Nov 8th 2015 Jungkook posted a selca while in Malta at 10:13 local time which is Jimin time

And on the 1500the day from Nov 8th 2015 Jimin posts a selca at 1:50

Now before we move on let's take a moment to remember that Jimin won the Search King Challenge question where BTS had to find the 2000th day from the first episode of Run BTS. He used the NAVER Anniversary Calculator. Jungkook was not far behind. He was about to answer but lost by a few seconds to Jimin. Hoseok had no idea about the calendar while Namjoon went for Google. So, this shows Jimin often uses the calculator for finding important dates and anniversaries

Okay, now back to our main topic.

BTS PTD Seoul Concert in March 2022. And during the concert...

He said "This is Jimin from grade 2 class 3 number 15". Cause March 10th 2022 was exactly 2315 days from Nov 8th 2015.

Remember the rectangular Maison Margeila pendant which Jimin wears? He wears the one where the number 11 is encircled.

Let's take out 11 and add all the other numbers on this pendant.

10+12+13+14+15+16

And we get 80

So, what do we have

11/8

On Feb 21 2022 Jungkook posted a video on his IG highlighting 23:08 which is basically 11:08 however the story was originally posted at 1 am

On October 26th 2022 (which is 13 days after Jimin's birthday and 13 days to Nov 8th) while in Qatar Jungkook posted a pic on his IG at 11:08 pm KST

There are a myriad of references to 11/8 from song covers, song recommendations ending at the 1:18 mark to pics posted by both Jimin and Jungkook.

Both Jungkook and Jimin has shown how they are serious about these numbers relating to their relationship or those about each other. Reminds me of how Jimin started a live on Sept 1st 2023 wearing a 1997 model watch adjusted to Jungkook's birth time

Nov 8th 2024 marks their 9 years of togetherness.

So, let me conclude this post by wishing the couple a

"Happy Anniversary"

💛💜

Credits to the owner of the video

[jmdbjk]

Episode 2: Adolescence 

Beyond the Star, produced by HYBE Media Studio

They begin by conveying how important concerts are for them. Concerts. Not performances. Concerts.

They thought they “made it” in 2016 when they booked the Olympic Gymnastics Arena for a concert. It was the dream venue for idols at the time and are amazed they are performing there and never imagined they’d have a concert that big.

During the interviews where they are expressing their thoughts about what performing during concerts means to them, we see footage of different concerts illustrating what they are trying to explain. 

Hobi harkens back to their first concert in October 2014 for The Red Bullet tour, at Seoul’s AX Korea with 6,000 in attendance. He says they didn’t care about how many hundreds or thousands were there, they were just so thankful for the fans who came to see them.

Attendance rose at each progressive concert. Their fourth concert in 2015 had 13,500 in attendance at the Seoul Olympic Handball Gymnasium, and their fifth concert in May 2016 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, mentioned at the beginning of this episode, had 25,000 in the audience. They were in awe at how huge it was when they first arrive at that venue, looking out at the empty seats before they began rehearsing.

They were always so emotional during their ending ments, so thankful for what they were experiencing after knowing how hard they’d worked from debut up until the end of each one of those concerts.

In the early years, the hearts of those young men were bursting with passion and to see so many fans supporting them had to be an overwhelming relief, its no surprise their emotions overflowed.

Though they finally saw their hard work being appreciated, the joy was tempered with having to deal with pushback.

One of the things I noticed that was not mentioned yet in Episode 1 was how much pushback, bullying, negativity and hate they received from their peers and other fans outside their team and company from the very first day.

Working their asses off to fulfill their dreams while being faced with all that makes it even more amazing that they stuck with it. 

It was them against the entire kpop industry. We all know how much BTS is hated by other kpop fandoms. We see it daily on the X timeline. The jealousy is real, it's destructive and it's dangerous.

BTS is untouchable now but in 2013, Jungkook was 15 years old. A CHILD! Jin was 20! BigHit had no money. There was a point after debut when they were asked to move out of the dorm because the company couldn't afford it anymore. Underdogs is an understatement, truly what the hell did they think they were doing up against all these established kpop groups, their fandoms and the big 3 companies?

Now, in Episode 2, we start to hear how the guys handled all this. For some of them, they did not handle it very well. Namjoon talks about his panic attacks and how he avoids the internet and going online during a song/album release. 

In Episode 1 we saw Hobi and Jin so thrilled and excited, anxiously waiting and monitoring online their very first album release at midnight on June 13, 2013 and for Namjoon to tell us now he can’t enjoy the thrill of that is so devastating to me. 

When an artist sends their art out into the world, it is like a living part of themselves, an extension of themselves that they lay bare to the world. The visceral reaction of panic when seeing people hate you for it…and the amount of courage it takes to ignore that and keep going and make more art to release into the world…I challenge anyone to show me they have THAT amount of courage.

And I implore you to understand the depths these guys LOVE their fans ESPECIALLY BEFORE THEY WERE BIG to keep doing it in spite of the hate.

Yoongi was incredibly diplomatic when he says “we had a lot of unreasonable controversies.” I would have said "we had a lot of total fucking bullshit that meant nothing thrown at us by a bunch of stupid butt hurt people." There, I fixed it for you, Yoongi.

They had a ludicrous amount of people gunning for them, hating them for being successful, hating them for being different. Jealousy drives people to do the most hateful things.

Jimin says, “having to deny the bad rumors was always so upsetting.”

Namjoon recieved death threats during the Red Bullet Tour. Early on they were accused of chart manipulation because they sold so many albums. This is the company had no money, there was no money to spend on chart manipulation!

They were accused of plagiarism and brought to court and were exonerated because it wasn't true.

Jimin received death threats at the end of the Wings Tour.

Being the humans that they are, with feelings and emotions, Yoongi says they and the fans were getting desperate and spiteful in the face of all this backlash and hate. 

The fan song “2! 3!” was an anomaly. It is somewhat somber for a song dedicated to fans. Most fan songs are light and cheery. But this song fit the emotions BTS was experiencing and bonded them closer with their fans and was again, another instance of the members being sincere and genuine in their expressions. 

The emotional scenes of BTS standing on stage, Army singing the lyrics back at them, waving their purple plastic bagged Army bombs, has to be one of the best memories for them. A truly bonding moment between artist and fan.

December 2016, Mnet Asian Music Awards, they win Artist of the Year. It is their first major award. Yoongi says “in a movie, the ending credits are supposed to roll at this point.”

They’ve reached the top… as they knew it. End of story... 2016? Nope.

Early the next year while they were on the Wings Tour, they were told they were going to the United States for the Billboard Music Awards. No other Korean act had ever done that before. They had no expectations for that trip. They had no idea what they were supposed to do when they got there.

It’s kinda cute seeing them prepare and wondering what to expect. They are so young and you can tell they are trying to figure out if they’re supposed to try to emulate the image of a western pop star.

When they get out of the van at the red carpet event, they all look around the back of the van to the other side of the street and see the fans screaming at them. They knew who the real fans were and they wondered what everyone else thought: perhaps people were just curious about who they were. 

Namjoon wonders how different it may have been had they, the members, been a little more culturally proficient, meaning at that time, they were inexperienced, naive and ignorant about the impact they were making. It was all a big wonder to them at that point. They were thinking “do they even know who we are?” 

Then they win Billboard’s Social Artist award, not a major award but still, it had been won by Justin Bieber for many years prior and now it was BTS’ opportunity to kick in the door. And they did. With all seven pairs of feet. Western artists began to take note and wanted to collaborate with them. The thorn in the western music industry's side had arrived in the form of this team of 7 and their fans.

Yoongi thought it was a one-off token award, but then they were invited to perform at the AMA’s. They can’t believe they’ve made it that far. 

They are soaring and going places they never imagined they’d go. Everything seemed like a fairytale, the success, the adulation, the global attention…

But it was happening too fast, their young minds, their emotional development and sense of self never had a chance to mature and catch up to their work load and the pressures and expectations their image and success placed on them. They never had a chance to stop and assess themselves personally and consider if this level of fame was something they even wanted.

Literally, they never. stopped. working. When they say "we just kept running forward" that is not a euphemism, it is literal.

As soon as one event, concert, appearance, fan meet, photo shoot, shooting Run BTS, music shows, whatever was over, it was on to the next one...from plane to hotel to venue back to hotel back to plane, to be repeated over and over.

In mid-2017, by the time they talked about resting for a while, it was perilously close to being too late. They still had the rest of the Wings Tour to complete through December. Some of them had already considered quitting. Some did not possess the confidence to endure the burden. Some of them wondered if pausing was the right thing since they were doing so well. 

They were confused by how they could be feeling like this after they’d worked so hard to get to this point.

The title of this episode is "Adolescence" and it pertained not only to the members who were just emerging from it and their careers that had gotten past the starting line and now riding an almost out of control rocket to stardom. It also was a point in time for the company trying to get its feet under it, for its leader Bang PD trying to steer this team, to figure out how to manage this worldwide sensation they'd created.

Bang PD had to learn how to deal with his team's enormous success as he watched them begin to burn out. He embraced a philosophy of focusing on the importance for an artist to have autonomy and be happy as a person which was not a thing in the kpop industry at that time. He was worried about their mental well being and their happiness. He suggested a break.

They knew there was an "end" coming eventually. End of contract, military... et al. They pondered the inability to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and that it couldn't "end" with them being unhappy.

We know in 2018 they renegotiated their contracts. 

For a group as close as they were, as committed as they were to their careers and to each other, they had to come together and discuss how they were feeling while being burned out, they had to admit to each other they wanted to quit. We don’t know the nitty-gritty details of how it went down but they worked through it and re-committed to each other and their team.

They didn’t give up and that tells me not a single one of them are quitters.

My own personal thoughts are that they recognized they needed to stop at that specific point in time and regroup. They knew enlistment was coming eventually and the typical life-cycle of a kpop group had been about 7 years when idols aged and younger ones took their place. But they'd reached places in the stratosphere that none other had before. I think they paused, recalibrated and actually let themselves seriously think of a future after enlistment that would allow them to keep up this level of success, to keep pushing boundaries...and therefore they re-evaluated what was in that contract to include things that ensured their well-being so they could grow. That new contract was set to expire this year, well after Jin was supposed to be back from the military and most likely all of them. I am curious to know what that original 2018 contract planning included...

Anyway, I accidentally rambled a lot adding extra context and my own thoughts while watching this episode.

Review of Episode 3 next…

[seoul-bros]

Jikook Week 35 Complete (06/08 - 13/08/2024)

Their thirty fifth week in the military is now complete and time to celebrate this milestone with a look back at this week in 2016.

BTS were on the last leg of their Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage: Epilogue tour extension and this week they gave their last three concerts in Bangkok (06/08) and Tokyo (13&14/08).

They headed to Bangkok on 04/06/2016........

performed on 06/08 and were travelling back home the next day.

There are lots of fan cams of the Bangkok concert on line including this one of I Need You

and this one of No More Dream

On the 12/08 they travelled to Tokyo for the last concerts of the tour. Can you spot the difference? Yep Jimin went blonde for the first time.

TwiX Link, TwiX Link 2, Twix Link3

That night, Hobi started a live and then, after briefly visiting with Jimin and helping him get Taehyung to break dance for a ramen cup, he leaves Jimin to live stream on his own. Asked if he could invite another member he tells us that Jin goes to bed early and then....

Jimin proceeds to show ARMY how well he eats....

teaches us the use of ga in Busan dialect and orders everyone to bed in an outrageously flirty manner because it is after 10 pm.

Finally on 13/08, Jikook's recording of the choreography for Own It dropped. I remember the first time I saw it and I was blown away by the dancing but it isn't just that. The low lighting, the fact that it is just them alone in the studio at what we assume is late at night makes the tension all the more palpable.

Doing what you love with someone who excites and inspires you, what could be better than that?

Post Date 13/08/2024

[namjoonboo]

Can you write a suga x male reader where him and Bts are practicing for their performance and male reader is watching suga dances and he starts to feel horny, also suga is a power bottom in this

Interesting dances..

Suga x male reader

Warnings: power bottom! Suga, sub top male reader, smut, daddy kink, praise kink, edging, overstimulation, horny! Male reader, teasing.

A/N: sorry for not responding to this request,, I have been busy lately and I'm making this fic with my silly friend 😇

Support my silly friend guys1@!!1:

@ang3lcutie

....

Suga was practicing for a concert about one of their songs from 2016 called "Youth" with the other members. Suga was teasing Y/N right now before their practices. Suga put his knee on Y/N's crotch and rubbed his knee. "Oh my god Suga.." Y/N said closing his eyes and suga had his head on Y/N's neck. Y/N could feel Suga warm breath.

"When we and the others are done practicing, the video will be up on YouTube. I hope you watch it." Suga said in a teasing voice pulling Y/N closer to him. Y/N blushed deeply as Suga left hickeys on Y/N's neck.

...

Y/N opened up YouTube on his phone. And he went to Bts's new video. Since Suga told him to watch their practice video. Y/N clicked on the video to be surprised with their dancing moves. "Woah" Y/N thought to himself and flushed. But Y/N's eyes landed on Suga. Y/N couldn't keep his eyes away. Y/N gulped and pressed his thighs together and bit his lip. "God dang.." Y/N said quietly as he watched Sugas moves.

Y/N's hand slowly went down and down and down slowly. Y/N took a deep breath and started to, well tease himself. "Ahh..~" Y/N said deeply as he took his cock out of his boxers. Y/N started to pump his cock up and down as he saw Suga dancing so sexy..

Y/N heard the door open and Y/N quickly turned off his phone and Y/N looked up to see Suga looking at him. "Wha- why are you here..?" Y/N said shocked taking his hand off his cock. "What are doing..?" Suga said questioning. He then saw Y/N's cock out of his boxers and Suga then gave Y/N a teasing smirk. "Ooh~ Y/N? Are you touching yourself without me? Oh you naughty boy..~" Then Suga started to walk towards Y/N to tell him to get out from his chair. And to wait for him to get the lube. "This is what you get for being a bad boy Y/N~" Suga said finding his lube bottle and going towards Y/N.

Suga told Y/N to stay right were his is and Y/N obeyed him. Suga pushed Y/N on their bed. And Suga crawled up to Y/N and put his lips against Y/N's own lips. Suga pulled Y/N more closer and roughly kissed him. Y/N moaned and put his hands on Sugas shoulder's. "What's my name baby?" Suga said making Y/N look at himself. "Daddy.. your name is daddy.." Y/N said looking into sugas eyes. "Good boy.~ but I'm still going to punish you for touching yourself without me.." Suga said taking off the cap of his lube and putting some on his hand and putting some on Y/N's big cock and his hole.

Y/N moaned deeply as he could feel Suga going down on him. "Daddy!!~" Y/N said trying to keep in his moans. Suga went more rougher and deeper. "Ur so big baby~" Suga moaned out in a deep voice. Y/N was about to cum but then suga said "uh uh, you aren't going to cum now.." Suga was basically edging the hell out of Y/N. "Now come here good boy~"

After all of this, Y/N's cock was very sore. But Suga enjoyed edging him.

....

Made by namjoonboo on February 15th 2023

[tokyokookmin]

MY FAVOURITE JIKOOK STAGES

Jikook - power duo/aces of the group / main dancers/axis of the group. Yes, I'm talking about Jikook. The power couple. The duo rocks the stage with their charismatic personality and appearance. Amazing visuals. Sexy body. Powerful moves. Amazing vocals.

I thought of doing this post since we don't really get to talk about their dynamics on stage often. So, here's a post featuring my favourite JIKOOK stages as a unit in live concerts, off-stage dances, MV's and events. Also, keep in mind that I'm not ranking the stages. Whichever moment crops up in my mind first secures the top spot ya :)

Let's get it

BEST OF ME

The most epic part of their choreography. Jikook as a unit with their power moves.

LOTTE FAMILY CONCERT

2. BTS 5TH MUSTER

3. BTS 4TH MUSTER

HONORABLE MENTION

4. 2021 NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE

5. BEST OF ME BTS COMEBACK SHOW

6. BTS BEST OF ME DANCE PRACTICE #2022FESTA

RUN BTS

BTS YET TO COME BUSAN RUN BTS

FIRST OF ALL. THE SONG. IT'S LITERALLY SUCH A HYPE SONG. SECOND. This is my latest FAV JIKOOK MOMENT ON STAGE - CHOREOGRAPHY WISE. It's a shame we only got one moment. But hey, it's good enough!

DYNAMITE

Let's never forget our QUEEN, DYNAMITE. The best pop song in 2020. BTS's ENGLISH SONG DEBUT. 2020 BTS was delightful!

BTS DYNAMITE DANCE PRACTICE (CUTIE AND LOVELY VER)

2. BTS TIME MAGAZINE DYNAMITE PERFORMANCE 2020

3. BTS SBS GAYO DAEJUN 2020 DYNAMITE PERFORMANCE

HONORABLE MENTIONS

BTS DYNAMITE 2020 GRAMMY AWARDS

BTS DYNAMITE 2020 AGT

BTS DYNAMITE LATE LATE SHOW W JAMES CORDEN 2020

THE TONIGHT SHOW W JIMMY FALLON DYNAMITE BTS 2020

BOY WITH LOVE

Cutesy, Subtle moments.

1. MMA 2019 BWL BTS

2. BWL IHEART MUSIC

3. BTS 5TH MUSTER

COMING OF AGE CEREMONY

1. FESTA 2016 BTS

We only had one performance but it was amazing. Jikooks power moves are splendid. I absolutely adore their efforts to produce a fantastic dance cover for the FESTA 2016 event.

BLACK OR WHITE

BTS PROM PARTY

Again. We only had this performance once though it indeed captured our hearts. An iconic song.

BLACK SWAN

I saved the best for the last. Yes, Black Swan. That one performance went viral in 2020. It amazed everyone. They were the cover of the news and the talk of the town for multiple days. Their immaculate and gracious dance moved all of us, didn't it?

BLACK SWAN MMA 2020

It was beautiful. Mesmerizing. Gracious.

I wanted to put this here as well

It's a wrap. I hope to continue this post soon!

All usage of Twitter links, Article links and Youtube links are provided. You can find them on my Twitter page if needed. I retweet all the tweets I use for my posts as a reference.

I said I'll be more active. Sometimes I just need to put this blog aside to tend more to my personal life.

xx, tokyokookmin.

[peachjagiya]

https://www.tumblr.com/peachjagiya/749351087478292480/httpswwwtumblrcompeachjagiya7493066218434560

I hope you don’t mind if i add my two cents. I read this ask and realized that we as human beings really have a problem seeing these idols as actual human beings who have layers and complicated feelings.

This non shipper anon mentioned that Jikook stopped being as close around 2021 but that is definitely not true. First of all, many shippers especially taekookers feel like there was a sudden uptick in jikook moments around a certain time (2017) but that is not true at all. Go back and watch content from the very beginning and pay attention to the boys talk on Lives, during festas and other moments and you discover that Jk and Jimin had always been very close. Jimin was the one who Jk spoke to when he got back from the US and contemplated abandoning his dream to become an idol and go for dancing instead.

https://x.com/chicknbunny13/status/1750750874031296552?s=46

In a log they did in 2013, we had Jimin and Jungkook telling us that the two of them were in the habit of putting blankets and sleeping together on the floor outside their rooms. The very first bangtan bomb that was ever posted was a of Jk taking videos of Jimin back in 2013. During Festa 2014, we heard from the members that Jk usually piled clothes on his bed to go sleep in Jimin’s bed and even back then, when Jk was asked which hyung comforted him the most, he said it was Jimin. Fast forward to 2015 when Tae did a Live from Japan in the hotel room that he shared with Jimin and mentioned that Jimin and Jk were together even though the 3 of them had planned to do a Live together or in 2016 where Jimin was the first member Jk ever gave a birthday gift to. I am listing some of these moments chronologically just to show u that Jimin and Jungkook had always been close, very close infact it’s just that jikook as a ship gained excess popularity in 2017 after Jungkook posted GCF in Tokyo. So it’s not really that there became an uptick in Jikook moments from there, it is that people started paying more attention to Jikook after Jungkook’s GCF. The best way to see some if these things is to watch Vlives and bangtan bombs from pre 2017 era and you will see what i am saying.

As i mentioned before, non shipper anon said Jikook used to be close till like 2021 and mentioned that their last sighting outside of work was around march 2022 but that’s not true at all. Remember that in PTD Vegas Jikook were joined at the hip, they left the concert venue together on all 4 days of the concert and one of those days, they went out to eat with Yoongi and staff and some non shipper Armys visited the restaurant they went to in Vegas and said they were told that Jikook sat together on one table and yoongi sat on another with staff. Plus Jimin and Jk still boxed together with Tommy Saem (Jk’s boxing coach) and based on that April 2022 Live with Vminkookkhope, jikook were even on a diet together. So many times people forget to facture in the point that Jimin started working on his album in May. Immediately after PTD in Vegas Jimin moved in with Pdogg to work on his album because he literally had nothing prepared so i can imagine that during that period, Jk and Jimin didn’t spend as much time together because Jimin was busy and i also noticed that Taekook seemed to get really closer during that period. Infact we all saw taekook hang out outside of work more frequently by the end of 2022 and part of 2023 than we had seen in all their 10 years of being BTS. Like anon said, jikook were the ones always together everywhere both in and outside of work. Even in 2021 while they were in LA, we found out that Jikook worked out together everyday, came back from concerts together, ate together and untop of that, Jk spent alot of time in Jimin’s room hanging out with him. So i feel like the distance we sensed between jikook starting 2022 was mainly because of how busy Jimin got. It tracks.

I am not someone who really believes that any of the members are dating each other but i know that Jimin and Jungkook have and have always had an extremely close bond since debut. It wasn’t always very visible because of their somewhat complicated dynamic and because of the fact that other pairings like taekook, yoonmin and Vmin overshadowed jikook but that bond had always been there and if you pay attention, you see it.

I believe that taekook too have always been close but i also believe that there was a period where they grew a little distant. I know that, that is not something taekookers will ever agree about but it is clear to me because i have been in this fandom since the end of 2015 and have watched alot of things unfold. I agree that jikook were paired up alot at some point but i think that was because of their chemistry and closeness and not because BH had some agenda to push. How does pairing pple in subunits potray them as closest or a couple? Jikook as a ship gained recognition and popularity not because of the company but because of Jungkook and his GCF and yes seeing them together alot on content enforces certain beliefs but did yoh ever think of how you saw them? What are they doing when you see them on content? Most times you see them together in the back even when they are not the main focus of the camera or you see them coming and going together or you see them staying back to rehearse or practice together, or you see them staying back to watch and support each other during their solo practices, or you hear members talking about them as a unit. Hobi saying Jk and Jimin always stay up late together, or Joon saying after watching Jimin and Jk run around/ get along so well he got inspired or Tae mentioning on more than one occasion that Jk and Jimin were spending time together late at night, or Hobi saying that he ate with Jikook who ordered food together. It’s not one thing and certainly not company content that gives people the impression that jikook are extremely close.

Even in chapter two where it was clear that those two probably didn’t see each other as much, anyone could still feel how much they love and missed each other, especially Jungkook with his Jimin centric Lives and constantly inviting Jimin to come over for chicken, boxing, lives etc. Those two are really good friends who are very important to each other and it is normal that sometimes, when life happens and people get busy, some distance creeps in. I feel like that is what happened with Jikook after 2022. They started doing different things, Jimin working on two albums at once, Jk not working on anything and was bored outta his mind up to the extent that at some point, my man was visiting almost all the meat restaurants in korea all alone lol and then he started hanging out with Tae alot after that and then later got busy again. That is life.

I'm not going to assume this is your intent but tangentially, I'm feeling real tired of "JK hung out with Tae cos Jimin wasn't available."

Tae is only valuable when someone else isn't available? That's dehumanising.

But I'm sure that's not what you're saying because you at least recognise Taekook are close and aren't total strangers who got invited seperately to the Dreamiere and just happened to bump into each other.

Jimin was recording an album, he wasn't in solitary confinement?! Tae and JK recorded albums last year too? They all found time to go to Jeju together when JK was undoubtedly busy with album stuff.

Oh I don't know. It's ok if Jikook didn't see each other cos they didn't want to and made time for other people during their schedules, man. TKKrs accept there are times when it looks like JK and Tae might have been beefing. That is also life.

[bangtanpurplearchive]

BTS trip through time. August 2015

The very first Run BTS!!! Episodes launched this month. The first episodes that launched weren't that long nor did they have any pictures.

Vlive had just launched and this month BTS started to use it to post lives

RThe red bullet tour continued

We also had BTS Japan Official Fanmeeting Volume 2. --UNDERCOVER MISSION- in Osaka- Japan (Osaka Festival Hall) (Jimin passed out during rehearsals) (archive)

We had some magazine features

150824 BTS at ASTA TV MAGAZINE September Issue. Translation. (archive)

150825 1st Look Magazine PUMA. (archive)

150830 [A.R.M.Y #2] Happy Birthday to you~ (September) (filmed during undercover mission Japan 18th Aug)

Those early Run BTS episodes were a joy to watch!!!!

Made me miss them even more!!!!!

[stupendousfoxthing]

Hi 👋

I am new to your blog and I've enjoyed it so far. Thanks for opening up your asks by the way. Just wanted to find out from you how you got into believing in Taekook if you are willing to share.

Thank you! I used to answer questions for anons years ago but kind of hit a wall when I was getting hundreds of asks a day and a lot of them were trolls. I still have the same beliefs about Taekook and I've been chatting with people here for the last few months and I like the vibe. So I hope I can add something worthwhile to the conversation. It's funny because when I first became a Taekooker Tumblr and YouTube were my first preferred places for discussions. I got into this in the latter half of 2016. I had been a BTS fan since 2014 but HYYH era pushed me to do a much deeper dive not just into them as artists but who they were in their lives outside of that. I was falling down the rabbit hole of watching compilations of sweet BTS interactions (all members) on YT, and I just happened to see a comment from someone who said they had been a Kpop fan for a long time and had seen a lot of ships but the only one they actually thought could be real was "V and Jungkook". I'm JK biased, so I was like "oh really?" 😂 At the time there weren't really analysis videos everywhere the way there are now (and I don't watch those because I find them cringey), but there were two very active accounts called Maknaez and cutetaeboy(I think???). They basically just updated every few days with new Taekook "moments". No analysis, just pics and video clips compiled. As I said, this was second half of 2016. The Smart Event had just happened. Bon Voyage season one had just aired. Wings era was beginning and then launched them into awards show season. It was a wild time to find Taekook. For me, something just clicked right away. The Smart Event was so intriguing, and the Bon Voyage cuddle is still as mind-blowing to me now as it was then because it's so clear and so intimate. I started keeping up with them constantly and found some Taekooker friends. Award show season was CRAZY. I still remember pics and videos of the "I'll be your man" moment hitting the timeline and I was finally like "oh so they're actually dating, good for them" 😂 (bonus wider angle showing JK softly touching Tae's hand after he sang) Here I am 7+ years later and it just keeps adding up, I think it is pretty simple math. A big moment for me is the Citi Field nape kiss. It's probably still my #1 just because for me it's the one moment that has no platonic explanation. And I'm absolutely sure because I was at that concert. No one is going to tell me it was fanservice, because I was in that venue watching the big screen and I know for a fact that it was hidden from view. I actually met one of my Taekooker friends for the first time that night after the concert and neither of us knew it had happened, but you better believe we were screaming at each other in dms at 1am when the first pics and videos started popping up on Twitter. That was a crazy moment. Solo era further confirmed everything for me. I feel like this is already getting too long so I won't start going off about everything that happened in the last year and a half because I'm sure we'll get around to discussing it eventually. I hope this is a satisfying answer to your question, and thank you again. ❤️

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Happy Festa BPP! Is this something ppl do? Wish Festa like holiday? Ta! Happy Festa anyway!!

Don't know if you've said this before but how did you become army?

***

Hi Anon,

Honestly, no. I don't think wishing people Happy Festa is a thing within ARMY... People reminisce and all that but actually sending wishes, not really. But it's a nice gesture so I appreciate you sharing that festive energy with me.

All the Festas are sweet but something about a 10-year anniversary evokes strong memories. It's been a wild ride.

I've talked about how I became ARMY many times, but I can give an abridged version here.

I watched BTS's debut showcase No More Dream for the first time, some time in August 2013 but I don't remember which day exactly. I had heard about BTS by that point, (a lot of people had, which was unusual for a group from a small company and further shows how strong an impression they made at debut), but I didn't get around to actually watching their stuff till August.

I felt they were strong performers but had no other real opinion about them, and kinda forgot about them for a year, till their Dark & Wild comeback in August 2014.

After that album comeback, I consistently kept up with BTS but didn't really think of myself as a fan. The way I engaged with k-pop was to check out several groups I was interested in, sometimes go to their comeback shows if I was in Korea, attend KCON concerts, read Korean forums, etc. Like a fan of many groups but a stan of none, if that makes sense. So, I sort of watched BTS from the sidelines in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Throughout this time, I realized I loved every new musical output from them more than the previous one. It was clear they were improving not just their songwriting, production, exploring more genres, etc, but that they had a very distinct voice - a consistent message in their storytelling that seemed to come from their own lived experiences, for all seven members. Executed at the highest level. And that was something I had never, ever seen in k-pop or anywhere else really.

Of course, during this time, their fame, fortune, and success multiplied as well. And the latent animosity I'd observed since debut towards BTS from the wider k-pop fandom, just became more overt the more BTS became successful. That mess with EXO fans and the Blue House was particularly disgusting and soured my opinion on most fans of SM groups and the wider k-pop fandom. But by 2018, when it was clear BTS's rise was definitely stratospheric and already beyond the realm of k-pop, the gloves were off. The hostility became extremely blatant to the point k-pop stans were working with real life neo-nazis to physically assault Japanese ARMYs who were attending a concert, they were spam calling Japanese newspapers and Jewish foundations in America to put out a statement condemning BTS, and asking for the American government to blacklist BTS.

It was bonkers.

Sulli had ended her life just before the hate campaign against BTS hit a fever pitch in Fall 2018. I liked her a lot and her death shifted something in me - it made me re-evaluate my distanced, detached almost apathetic approach to k-pop beyond the music, especially regarding hate campaigns from k-pop stans that used to run completely unchecked and only escalated and became more sophisticated especially when the target was someone who broke against the norm. So, I linked up with some J-ARMY friends and we spent a weekend coordinating with local Japanese police to track down some k-pop stans working with neo nazis to assault BTS and ARMYs, and by the end of November 2018, I was calling myself an ARMY.

Nothing has really changed since then compared to how I was a fan of BTS before. Except that now, I buy their albums more consistently (it was kinda more sporadic / spontaneous before). I've never been a collector so I don't really care about PCs and what not. I educated myself on charts and fandom norms, and started watching more of their non-music content. I was already very familiar with their personalities and interpersonal quirks (jikook has stood out to me since 2015, yoonmin, namgi, namseok, and sope since 2014, and taekook since 2016 or so), but since 2018 I've found myself enjoying more of their auxiliary content though it's still not something I seek out (I still haven't watched SOOP 2 for example, lol).

Most of my friendships with fans of other k-pop groups I've maintained till now, and I still check out almost every new release in the industry when I have the time, and becoming a fan of BTS has been wonderful.

The ARMY community gets a lot of flack, like all big fandoms do, but there's a real community of genuine and smart people here that I appreciate. BTS has never disappointed me - and I had to really think before writing down that sentence. This industry is harsh, cruel. BTS had to navigate channels no k-pop group or Korean artist has had to before, they've single-handedly elevated an entire industry into the social consciousness of the wider world, and are still holding on to their relentless drive and sense of wonder.

These seven men are remarkable. They're some of the hardest workers I've ever seen. Fully dedicated to their craft and their team, artists and performers in every sense of the word. I thoroughly enjoy being a fan of the music they make, and supporting their growth as artists and people.

Happy Festa everyone! I'm treating myself to Taro ice cream topped with pistachio nuts today to celebrate. Maybe we should make this some kind of holiday lol.

[dearweirdme]

The baby Taekooker just dismissed the Citi Field nape kiss as "excessive" fanservice, the airport video as Jungkook falling onto Tae's neck, and the Bon Voyage cuddle as meaningless and not even to the level of puppy love so good luck with that. 😂 I was at the Citi Field concert, that nape kiss absolutely was not fanservice. It was not part of the performance the way the Anpanman, DNA, or Boy With Luv "moments" are. The only people that saw it were the people in the pit to the sides/close to the stage. I had someone send me a video she had shot from the front angle in the pit, it didn't show the kiss and she didn't know it had happened either. It's not on the official concert DVD, you see what the official cams saw and the nape kiss is hidden. Because Tae hid it intentionally. You can see him watching Jungkook on the big screen in the back as he approaches to see exactly where he needs to stand to be out of view. It starts around the 3:46 mark here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHYfA8Ewfls Nape kiss for me is THE conclusive non-platonic moment, it's not even questionable. Bon Voyage cuddle was still new when I first became a Taekooker and I still can't believe it was allowed, but how Taekook was treated in official content changed a lot after 2016.

Hi anon!

I think baby taekooker and I come at this from different perspectives. I don’t expect to find the obvious signs and I think Tae and Jk in general don’t try to expose themselves. Personally, I saw no hidden kisses in the footage baby Taekooker sent. There’s instances where they do seem to send each other kisses during concerts, but to me those mostly fall in the realm of fanservice (which doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy doing it though). The nape kiss is very different to me, that was not meant for fans, but just for Jk. Jk’s reaction to it is a surprised sweet one. There was a seriousness behind it imo.

There’s many different kinds of shippers around. Tkkrs amongst themselves don’t always agree and we don’t have to. The way I look at this situation in general is that we are not looking at a normal relationship here, we are looking at a secret one. One that is being hidden by both Tae and Jk themselves as well as by BH/Hybe. Looking for conclusive evidence is futile, because that kind of evidence imo just doesn’t exist (at least not for fandom). So I look at the subtleties (and I have a nice ask from the Korean-American anon to follow this up) and the differences between Tae and Jk and the rest of BTS. When you look at Tae and Jk in the context of the whole.. they are different and their bond stands out. But I do not think there’s specific moments like kisses that can be considered actual proof. To me it’s the accumulation of many things, rather than enlarged over analyzed moments. Which is why it’s always so hard to describe what sets Tae and Jk apart from the rest.

[jikooklove9795]

TIME TO CALL ME DELUSIONAL BUT HEAR ME OUT!!!!!

One of Jungkooks last lives was him wearing the black and white Nike jacket.

Later we seen Jimin wearing the same one.

Everyone pointed it out..

Not to mention they were even matching with wearing beanies but back to my point-

A year ago today Jikookers were in Japan together, they’re safe place really.

Once he saw the snow, Jungkook said he’d remember that moment with Jimin while enlisted.

Today. 11/27. Jungkook changes his/Bams IG pfp with him wearing the same black and white Nike jacket…

Do you see where I’m going with this???

Hey Anon 😊

You really got some points there

We got to see Jungkook wearing the Nike Swoosh Black Jacket along with a black beanie during his Dec 8 2023 live

But we have seen him wearing this Nike Jacket in a live before, right?

When?

The March 14 2023 live. Where Jungkook started the live at 8:11 KST (cough 8/11 cough). The same live where he teased Jimin's SMF pt2 reminding us all that something amazing is gonna come up at midnight. It was White Day in SK.

On Dec 27 2023 we see Jimin wearing the Nike Swoosh Black Jacket along with a black beanie in BTS Monuments Beyond The Star

Jimin was in self quarantine at the time. So, its from Dec 14 2021. We get to know about the date from Jimin's phone screen and also from his conversation with Hoseok the same day

Now let me do a brief recap of Jungkook's Dec 8 2023 live.

When Jungkook starts the live, we see him walking home. He's going home after his workout. He talks about Bam (cause there was a rude comment asking him if he abandoned Bam), how he adopted Bam, took him home and cared for him, about Bam's training center, how he often visits Bam there and brings him home whenever he can. It is during this live that he hints that maybe Bam will have an IG in the future.

He sings songs for ARMY. Complains about the sweat. And changes his outfit to a purple hoodie just 15 mins before the live ends.

Now let's talk about the second part of your ask. About Jikook's conversation in Japan

Jikook got their first snow of this year in SK on Nov 27 2024.

Jungkook changed Bam's IG profile pic on Nov 27 2024 to this pic

And posted a new pic of Bam (the 13th post as pointed out by sydneylaurelseven)

When I saw Bam in this outfit I immediately thought of Jikook twinning on Valentine's Day in 2017

The song is a romantic one released in Dec 2017.

These lyrics:

I hope the white snow will pile up tomorrow morning

Then I'll make you a warm cup of tea

Just keep staying by my side

Promise me

So, I think when the first snow fell in SK Jungkook was reminiscing about his time with Jimin in Sapporo. And also about Bam. His cute family of 3.

According to SK tradition, if you experience the first snow with the person you like, it will lead to a long lasting true love between the two. Because of this many couples promise to meet each other at a certain place to enjoy the first snow and hope for their love to be eternal.

BTS did this interview on Dec 2017. Here, Jimin said that his wish was to see the first snow every year.

And he did. He did it with Jungkook on Jan 8 2018. Their first snow together as a couple (that we know of). Maybe they had watched it before too but this was the only one they shared with us till now. They let us in on their cute, romantic moment

When asked about their favorite weather:

On Nov 25 2018 Jikook went on their ice skating date right after they landed in SK after their Japan Concert

This sweet, romantic moment where Jungkook wakes up, climbs the mountain, brings snow with him and gifts it to Jimin cause he knows Jimin loves snow. And we see Jimin being worried about Jungkook feeling cold. Both of them always thinking about the other

Jikook playing with the snow filters designed by Jimin (Oct 10 2016)

On Nov 25 2023 Jikook flew to Sapporo. Sapporo is also a wonderful winter honeymoon destination for couples.

Jungkook enjoying his trip to Sapporo with Jimin and expressing it

Also, do you notice the watch Jimin is wearing?

He's wearing the same watch he wore during his Sept 1 2023 live. The 1997 model watch, which was set to Jungkook's birth time when he started the live (I love that moment so much. Its so romantic and loud. There's no other explanation to why he did that other than the most obvious one which is proudly showing his love for Jungkook).

Jikook had so much fun in Sapporo, enjoying each other's company, creating memories to take back home with them

Did Jungkook post those 2 pics intentionally on the same day when the first snow fell in SK?

When we (jkks) saw those 2 pics our mind immediately went to Jikook, right? Because in the first pic of Jungkook with Bam, Jungkook's jacket is the same as the one Jimin was also seen wearing (including the black beanie). The second pic is the one where Bam's wearing a green and grey jacket. Again, Jikook were seen twinning in green and grey jackets on Valentine's Day.

So, is it all a coincidence?

In my opinion Jikook and the word coincidence don't go hand in hand. Cause once, twice or even thrice can be considered a coincidence. But when it comes to Jimin and Jungkook its not a coincidence but a consistent pattern of their choices.

We have seen the whole Jikook sharing/ matching clothes, accessories saga, right? They even did it during their Solo Era. So, I'm not gonna share all that here since most of you would have already seen it. But I'll share some which looks really interesting:

1) Jimin wearing Jungkook's old T-shirt in Hoseok's bday live

2) After Jungkook uploaded GCF Tokyo an Army commented under the official BH tweet asking Jimin if he's dating Jungkook and if he is then to post a selca with glasses. After 3 days Jimin uploads a video where he is seen wearing the same green hoodie which Jungkook wore during their Tokyo trip, with a glasses filter on. He captions it "glasses"

3) Jikook in denim shirts. They looked and acted so couple coded here that Namjoon asked them if they were dating to which neither of them responds nor denies it

4) BTS pic with TXT where Jikook are wearing matching black outfits along with the hats

5) Jikook in couple pajamas for LGO MV. Jungkook wanted it to be as realistic as possible. And thats why there were seen sharing a room together cause thats what they have been doing in real life. Sharing a room, a home and being a couple

6) Jikook's color coordinated outfits for AYS Sapporo (Black & beige and Grey)

7) The staff had already prepared pajama sets for them, which can be seen on the bed but they chose to wear the couple pajama sets they brought with them

8) Jimin wearing Jungkook's sweater to bed in Winter Package

Jikook knows very well that we catch on to the hints and clues they keep dropping here and there.

So, I don't think we are delusional if we connected the pics Jungkook uploaded today to Jikook. Cause I think that's exactly what Jungkook was hinting at. And Jungkook himself said that when its gonna snow during their ms he would recall the moment he shared with Jimin during their Sapporo trip.

But add to it Bam too cause he's also a part of their family. So, when it snowed today in SK Jungkook's thoughts were filled with Jimin and Bam. His small, precious family.

Have a nice day, Anon 👋🏻

Credits to the owner of the video

[vtkira]

Bts hyyh merch guide (pt 1)

I'm going to make a merch guide to each of the eras to help people collect but I figured i'd start with hyyh since it was one of my favorites ₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊

The obvious (albums):

There's a light blue and light pink for pt 1 and dark blue with dark pink for pt2 which im sure we all know by now but there was also a limited Taiwan edition!

As of right now these are kind of hard to find; but without pc only cost ~$30. Outside of the photocard/postcard the only real difference of these is the inclusion of the lyrics in chinese plus more cds. These were released only for pt 1 in both the white/pink versions!

The photocards are going to COST YOU though, with a general range of $150-200

There also was 2 Japan kayo nekka versions that had a inclusion of a dvd too. On the dvd was just the run mv plus a photo gallery. PLEASE do not buy the listings of people selling the cd alone with no photocard for around 100, if you look harder on ebay theres many for closer to 40 or 50!!

these photocard prices are even worse than the last, normally being 200 to 400 from what ive seen. at least youll have a easier time finding listings for these (┬┬﹏┬┬)

DVDS:

The first dvd for hyyh was in 2015 and was released on 160223, this one only covers the Seoul concerts (which were the first 3). The first 2 dvds show the last day of the in Seoul concert, and the last one has 5 performances in Japan, VCR making film, prologue, rehearsals, practice making films and concert making films. The 2nd dvd also includes a VCR interview and talk about hyyh. All in all this is 346 minutes long :) If your lucky you can get this for $100 no pc but I would count on it being 200-370. The pc normally is around 100 too 😭

2016 live on stage epilogue dvd - This included of course film of the concert but also the poster and bridge shoot, md shooting film, concert practice and concert making film. you can find links to watch it for free with english subs here!

This dvd will cost around 170-200 and most (thankfully) have pc included. The pc alone will probablyyyy cost you around 60 even though ive seen ones way lower (you have to just look hard).

Theres also a blue ray version for around 95-160 (originally sold for $53.78) This one I THINK has the same stuff on it but its only in 2 dvds. I really cant tell if the postcards were a pre order benefit or not plus if it came as a set or random. Theres barely any listings for these but they only go for like $30 each (its like a breath of fresh air typing a price that low)

2016 BTS LIVE Kayo Nenka on stage epilogue Japan Edition Deluxe Edition DVD - this was released on January 18, 2017 so you should notttt be spending anywhere near as much (id guess 60-90?) This comes with 2 discs,the limited edition has a 132 page photobook and has bluray plus dvd but the regular just has the bluray no photobook. There is also a regular version with just dvd. These ones are the regular:

The regular is really hard to find nowadays but I think the general price range is 50-80??

Concert merch:

This hoodie only came in one size, Im not too sure the price of the zip up but the normal hoodie for the epilogue was $30.42 so we can assume it was about the same. nowadays expect to pay 200-600 for it LMAO

The shirt came in medium and large, i cant find any pricing info or current listings for this but i would assume it would be in the hundreds. The problem is theres so many unofficial shirts with this pattern being sold so it drowns out all the official listings. you MIGHT have luck getting this on some old instagram or tumblr account though!

one size beanie- current cost is around $200 but older accounts on twitter or tumblr sell for $45. yall im gonna be honest I cant find the post for the 2015 tour merch for the LIFE of me so im not going to know any original prices

bandana 600x600- GOOD LUCK BUYING THIS THING only place i can find listings is carousell which were all really cheap (~$15) but then again they are old listings.

I cannot find these damn socks ANYYYYWHERE on the face of the internet. your guess is as good as mine chat

pickets- very few listings of these out here but they are only like $70! (crazy if you remember people sell love yourself ones for 50 and 60) BUT you can 100% find listings for way lower (around 20 or 30) they are just rare

program book- these are only 40-60

this is going to be more like $200 for a set of just one members, its way easier to find the 2016 ones

photo set- there was multiple sets of these (not sure how many IM SORRY) ; one goes for about 100

I reached the max for pictures on here so go to pt 2!! i hope this guide helps you guys ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[curiousquail]

Album art by Joey Guthrie

It's been ten years since After the Lights Failed, and that's long enough. We proudly present the sequel

Empty Victories

May it bring you joy, sorrow, solidarity, closure - whatever you'd like it to mean to you. It means the world to us.

Purchase:

Bandcamp - https://curiousquail.bandcamp.com/album/empty-victories

Itch.io - https://curiousquail.itch.io/empty-victories

Mirlo - https://mirlo.space/curiousquail/release/empty-victories

Stream:

Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/album/empty-victories-ep/1750536709

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/4MnI5Xuisp0odiSBBWAWBT?si=bT-MZtvSTGqet-_O0_eTxQ

--

Let's dive into the behind the scenes on this record and why it took ten years lmao:

ATLF is a very special record to us as a band and to me as an artist - we were a bunch of little shits making nerd music and thought 'hey what if we tried to use kickstarter' and had no idea how successful that would be.

Once the record was released we pretty much immediately started work on what was going to become the follow-up. If you saw us perform live between 2016-2019, you may have even heard a few of these songs in their early iterations. Hell, our Tiny Desk TWENTY SIXTEEN entry was the title track.

Joyce tracking her solo in Empty Victories - a parting gift to the band before she left the country to join the Queen Musical 'We Will Rock You' as the lead guitarist (hand-picked by Sir. Brian May because of course she was).

Principal tracking for the record began in 2016 at Rhythm Academy - a drum school where Joey taught - they had given us permission to use the place after-hours. Most of the photos throughout this piece are from these sessions.

Getting ready for Drum preproduction at our rehearsal studio in San José. I lost this Life is Strange shirt in 2017 when I moved to the Coachella Valley. No idea what happened to it.

For a story about the future and time shenanigans at the end of the world(s) I think it's fitting that part of this new record was recorded over the span of ten years in between other projects. Some of the songs have drums from 2016 with percussion from 2019 or gameboys added in 2021, Erin or I harmonizing vocal takes with ourselves from nearly a decade ago - Empty Victories has been a process and we're proud to get it out to you now.

Group vocal session - we also recorded group vocals for a Petriform song that night.

Most of the band proper lived in the Bay Area until about 2016; Erin moved to the PNW, in 2017 I relocated to the Coachella Valley and we continued working on music remotely as well as syncing up for live shows when schedules allowed.

Nobody puts Joey in a corner

Except Joey, I guess

In 2018/2019 we put out Twelve Months, a songwriting/video exercise where each month we'd get random restrictions assigned and write a song / film a performance video of it before the month was out - the idea was it would be a smaller, more rapid fire release approach while we worked on Empty Victories in earnest. Rarely were any of us in the same room for these sessions but there was hope that we'd get to do more shows of those songs live - again, while working on Empty Victories on the side.

I was hilariously bad at remembering to turn the fan off during acoustic takes and having to start over

I can't say that we had a bunch of concrete plans (in fact the two concerts we had locked in for 2019 - MAGFest in Maryland and a PDNF reunion in San Francisco - I missed for health reasons, and the band performed with recordings of my vocals) but in my heart, in January of 2020 I put out into the universe that this was going to be the year we finished Empty Victories and got back on the road.

but it turned out both the hard drive with all of the mixing session files for the record and the backup drive....had died.

and then Covid hit.

Lol, lmao

Josh's energy is always infections (on stage or in the studio)

but hey! In 2021 I found an external USB drive that had all of the raw audio tracks from the recording sessions. No mixing, no processing, just the straight-from-the-microphone takes from the various recording sessions we did throughout 2016

The seagate USB drive of hope (sponsor us you cowards)

So while it wasn't quite starting back at zero with everyone needing to re-track their parts, it was a massive step back towards actually having a finished product. A lot of work needed to go into it getting cohesive.

Listen, if you get the mic's for the violin positioned correctly and you have a violinist who is incredibly expressive and a talented dancer, you have to put down some fucken ground rules

Michael "Gunther" Chiang, the engineer who worked with us at Dirt Room on ATLF reprised his role and came up from Santa Cruz to help with tracking

We had a fair amount of our own gear but Gunther brought his rig (again, a bunch of which we used on ATLF)

And there were some omissions - things that weren't on the drive that caused some panic. Most notably, Joyce had tracked for three of the songs before she left for her Queen journey and the only thing that survived was her guitar solo from the title track.

ERIN WAVEFORMS

At this point she'd moved out of the Bay Area already and so scheduling her time in the studio was tricky but absolutely worth it.

There were fevered calls to members of the band "Hey uhh can you re-track this part" or "I need drums for track 3, we didn't do that in the first session". Everyone was a real sport about the whole thing - and I wasn't entirely on-top of it because we were working on other music or other projects or life was happening.

For frame of reference on how all over the place this was, I had to do Gameboy retracks in 2023, and Erin wrapped her final vocal parts for the record this month - so when I say there are times when she's harmonizing with herself from a decade ago I'm not fucking around.

I don't remember why we had so much New York Seltzer - I think I was bringing it but it became this like ongoing joke. (Sponsor us you cowards).

Since After the Lights Failed, we've put out some music that I'm super proud of - Twelve Months and Branching Paths were a LOT of fun - but due to the incredibly hostile nature of streaming services, most of these have not made it outside of Bandcamp or Itch.io - I don't know if that'll change, but it did feel wrong to not push for this sequel to ATLF to be as available as its predecessor was so it will be. (Just most likely not on release date)

That said, the best way to financially support any artist is to buy from them directly when available, and in most cases Bandcamp is as good as that can get (though Mirlo looks really promising). Streaming a song earns an artist fractions of a cent. I'm not gonna make a 1:1 comparison but I can say if we had more financial stability in 2016/2017 we likely would have finished and released this record much sooner (and hopefully before the drive failures).

Anyway, thank you for reading this far, and for supporting the band even though it's been a weird trajectory for us. This won't be the final Curious Quail release but we are saying goodbye to an era and heading toward the future.

A future that - despite the lyrics of track six - will hopefully come.

[stormblessed95]

Hi Storm, thank you for answering my ask re Jimin always get what he wants. Yes, Jimin confirmed this in festa. And the video I mentioned in my earlier ask was an old video, he mentioned his wishes were to hold a concert in xxx, to win xxx awards…etc. and those were wishes that had not been achieved yet when he shot that video. I tried to search for that clip but no luck… Jimin is amazing and inspiring, when he said he always achieve his desires, he was not lying. And he keeps proving it to us 💜

They did wishes for Festa often. Are you thinking if any of these earlier ones?

In 2014, Jimins wish was that he wants to punch suga hyung lol. Hobis wants bangtan to have their own concert with army, Jins wish is to have my own building, RMs wish is to have a lot of clothes, Vs wish is to drive this year, Jks wish is for bangtan to win first place.

In 2015, Jimins wish was "to hold a bigger concert then we have before." Jins wish was to do an eating variety show, jhopes was for BTS to win best singer, Taes was to go to Han river and have fun with the members, Yoongis was to perform at Jamsil stadium, JKs was for them to each have a solo song in an album, RMs was to do a another mixtape and go on a trip as a team

In 2016, RMs wish is that they will work hard and do well forever. Jins wish is that things could last like they are and for Jimin to do more eat Jin lives with him. Taes wish is for everyone to stay safe and not get hurt. Jimins wish is to get everything they want to and keep getting along. Jks wish is to keep being successful and for the members to get everything they want. Sugas wish was for them to be healthy and find happiness in family and between the members. Hobis wish is that they win Best Artist Award. (And then they did!)

If it wasn't any of these, I'll probably need more details to find the video you are thinking of. But it's pretty emotional looking back on these early years BTS wishes and goals and see how they've achieved EVERYTHING they said they wanted. Even when at first they thought these wishes were too big and impossible. And look at how much farther they've come too!

[peachjagiya]

Hey there, BABY ARMY! As someone who's been around since 2016, I've seen BTS and the fandom evolve in fascinating ways. Let me tell you about a period that really tested our strength – the Taekook roller coaster of 2019.

Back in the day, things were simpler. Sure, 2017 saw a bit of a "separation" from Bighit, with limited content beyond a single selca. But there were enough crumbs – dispatches, award show interactions, playful moments – to keep shippers satisfied.

Then came 2019. Now, this year was a doozy for a Taekook shipper like me. It felt like everything had changed. Gone were the candid behind-the-scenes interactions, replaced by a carefully curated public image. Interactions seemed superficial, almost choreographed. It was like Big Hit was desperate to rewrite the narrative. Remember the iconic Anpanman and DNA interactions? Gone. Replaced with a calculated push for another pairing. Dispatch, once notorious for dropping Taekook bombshells, started focusing on other pairings. Even their "I Love You" sign, a secret handshake of sorts, became a group thing

This strategy felt manipulative. It made me question everything. Were the boys still close? Was it all just a performance? The worst part? The awkwardness seeped into their on-stage interactions. Even Jungkook, usually so carefree, seemed hesitant around Taehyung.

Bighit, it seemed, was playing a clever game. They'd sprinkle in a few, heavily edited Taekook moments (diff anon have mentioned previously) while simultaneously hyping up another pairing. That's why in the eyes of general fandom those moments are nothing in front of other ship content. And no matter how we explain of taekook bond of that time it will always lack in their eyes. It felt like they were trying to downplay their bond, portraying them as just bandmates rather than close friends. This aggressive strategy took a toll, especially on Taehyung. The free spirit we knew seemed subdued. Their once-exclusive moments were now public knowledge, and they were forced to fabricate stories on camera.

My saving grace? Those rare moments when the facade crumbled. Taehyung's subtle eye contact at award shows, the way their bodies moved in sync, the now-legendary Vlive moment (May 2019) – these were testaments to their unbreakable bond.

Even with the restrictions, they tried to be close at concerts. This was further complicated by Jungkook's awkwardness – a sign even the general ARMY noticed. This is where Taehyung's infamous "Weverse imagination" comment comes in, but that's a story for another day.

A Turning Point:

Now, let's rewind a bit. Remember the disbandment rumors around 2017? Interestingly, 2018 saw a surge of previously unseen tk content in the form of Bangtan Bombs. My theory? Two things were at play: disbandment fears (with Taekook's relationship potentially a factor) and their contract renewal in May 2018. These cut scenes were a way to pacify the the members, especially Taekook.

However, things took a sharp turn after the renewal. Bighit's "ship-flopping" became more aggressive, butchering Taekook moments and shifting focus away from the hyung line. As RM himself admitted, without the pandemic, they might have disbanded again.

The Aftermath:

The #taekookisoverParty trend marked a shift. Taehyung started responding in English to avoid misinterpretations, and interactions resurfaced. This begs the question – if there was a genuine separation in 2019, how do we explain hotel room shares, the natural flow of their interactions now, and even their hug at the GDA 2020?

The forced public separation feels like a fabricated narrative. The whole SOOP conversation felt like a way for Bighit to avoid taking blame. Protecting the artists? Valid. But twisting the narrative to the point of misunderstanding artists, that's where I draw the line.

This turned from a "suspicious moment" to a rant, I apologize! But as someone who lived through this period, it stings to see new ARMYs offer neutral perspectives without acknowledging past events. It's crucial to understand history before forming opinions. Don't settle for a neutral perspective. Learn from the past. This scenario isn't just about a ship, it's about the power dynamics between artists, agencies, and the fandom caught in the middle. Remember, sometimes, the most captivating stories are the ones that lie beneath the surface. Also, this is just one interpretation amidst a sea of ARMYs. But hopefully, it sheds some light on the intricate web of emotions and narratives surrounding these two precious members.

I'm sorry for the text wall but m not usually an active user. Have been reading old blogs from a few days and saw a same perspective. I also saw one of your anon asking about taekook bond 2019-20. To the anon, here you go.

Thank you for this context! 💜

But as someone who lived through this period, it stings to see new ARMYs offer neutral perspectives without acknowledging past events.

Forgive me if I've misinterpreted this but is this directed at me? I try to stay in my lane as best I can. I've received criticism for having a decisive opinion as baby army too so maybe I do err on the side of trying to give a neutral read? I don't know.

Essentially, I'm aware of all the stuff you mentioned here but don't have the context of watching it real time. Apologies if my opinion ever reflects that in a way that upsets you.

Thank you again for context. It's really good to read it this way. 💜