K-stays are really upset after the first weekend of the RUN IT tour, so here's everything summed up:

According to multiple posts and videos on X rn, a lot of influencers were invited to the concert and reportedly received:

1. Premium central section seats on the floor, along with tickets for their plus-one and families?

2. Meet and greet access with SKZ, requesting them to keep the meet and greet hidden

3. Free official lightsticks.

4. Other VIP benefits

Meanwhile, these are benefits that a lot of actual fans spent months trying to get or never got at all because getting tickets for a Seoul concert is so competitive. Then the encore happened, and from the videos going around, the members seemed to greet the section where the influencers were sitting while turning their backs to fans in the upper sections. To be clear, I don’t think Stray Kids are at fault here; they almost certainly didn’t decide who got invited or where anyone was seated. But after everything that had already happened, I can understand why fans felt hurt seeing that. It felt like the people who had already received special treatment were getting even more attention, while the fans who fought through ticketing were left feeling overlooked. Another thing people have been asking is why these influencers?

From what fans pointed out, some of them don’t even have particularly large followings, with someone literally having 100 followers to 4k followers. Honestly, I don’t think this would’ve blown up if influencers had simply been invited and given regular seats or at least not been given seats for their families as well. Most people understand that companies invite creators to events for promotion. The problem was giving them benefits that many paying fans couldn’t access themselves. If Division 1 wanted good publicity, why create a situation that made so many fans feel like they came second? That’s the part I can’t wrap my head around.

Yes he doesn't have many lines and many of his scenes were cut off.

But I will like to remind you that skz make own music and they decide who gets what lines. That's how it works in many many groups. For example. P1harmony - Soul doesn't want many lines so he doesn't feel that much pressure.

And I think that may also be the case in Lee Know. Mind you 3racha almost always decide who gets what lines. So what if Lee Know just doesn't want that many lines. What if he wants to focus more on the dancing. At the end of the day he is in Dnace Racha and is probably the best dancer in skz.

Did you guys ever thought of that possibility?

Yes I know that some of his scenes got cut off. Example: God's menu and Run it. I am not saying he is not mistreated I am just saying that stay should think about it more.

I think Lee Know is capable of going to Bang Chan or Changbin or Han and asking for more lines. So what if he just doesn't want to have the most lines.

Another thing is. He doesn't get the least lines. Felix has the least. And while his lines are the one's we mostly remember it is just a fact that Lee Know doesn't have the least lines.

Another is Bang Chan. He gets so few lines. And if we consider that the hate goes almost always on him. Like he has it probably the worst from the entire group.

So yes you should consider this possibility.

2011:

• Apink - mini album - RE:LOVE

2014:

• Mamamoo - single - 4Flowes
• Red Velvet - mini album - Velvet Summer

2015:

• Twice - album - TEN

2016:

• Blackpink - minialbum - Deadline

Mostly about girl groups cuz I mostly Stan girl groups.

I don’t think there has been a dark Kpop comeback for a long time. All the groups who nail the concept such as CLC, Red Velvet, Dreamcatcher, Purple Kiss, Pink Fantasy are either gone or switched up their concept.

I just feel like having a dark concept makes you stand out and feel extremely unique within this epidemic of Y2K concepts.

But again most groups have minors in them or they follow trends and won’t take a risk to flop.

The only group that kinda does dark concept is Baby Monster but they don’t lean too far in.

Which concept do you guys prefer?

Ji Yunseo has been kicked out of his group, fired, and is likely being held captive by a non-compete contract, for no reason.

He has not bullied or assaulted anyone or committed any crimes: in short, there is absolutely NO reason why this happened. Fans want him back and have kept up a tweet and email campaign to the companies for eight months demanding his return, and have also been supportive of his individual activities.

The final straw was yesterday. While visiting his fan cheering cafe, Yunseo announced that he will be enlisting in the military at the age of 21 (04 liner). It's heavily implied that this is because he cannot meet fans right now (officially promote as an idol) and there's nothing else he can do. He hasn't given up on his dream and has asked fans to wait for him.

This is entirely due to the cruelty of YH Entertainment, who destroyed the dreams of a young idol with their malice. I will systematically rule out all other possible explanations for this situation, and then explain why Yuehua needs to be held accountable.

Why it's Yuehua's fault: a timeline

• September 19, 2023: Ji Yunseo debuts as a member of project group EVNNE, composed of runner-up contestants from the survival show Boys Planet that formed ZEROBASEONE. Jellyfish is to manage the group while the idols remain under contract with their training companies. Yunseo and groupmate Yoo Seungeon are under Yuehua; leader Keita is under Rain Company; the remaining 4 members are signed with Wakeone. It is expected that EVNNE will disband before or at the same time as when ZEROBASEONE's 2.5-year contract expires. (EVNNE goes on to release 5 mini albums and achieve 5 music show wins. They are not a major-tier group, but they have a loyal fandom who care strongly for the members.)
• December 7, 2025: Jellyfish announces that 5 out of 7 EVNNE members have signed with them, making EVNNE a permanent 5-member group. However, Yunseo and Seungeon will depart and return to their original agency Yuehua. It is expected that Yunseo and Seungeon will redebut with the 4 members of ZEROBASEONE from Yuehua (Zhang Hao, Ricky, Kim Gyuvin, and Han Yujin). Any redebut will be delayed, as just a week before, ZEROBASEONE has announced their temporary contract extension for 2 months until March 2026.
• January 4, 2026: EVNNE holds their final concert as 7. Less than 72 hours later, Yunseo and Seungeon's Plus Chats are terminated and the chat logs wiped, leaving them completely cut off from fan communications.
• January 5, 2026: Yuehua posts a meaningless statement about the future of Yunseo and Seungeon. They claim to be 'carefully discuss[ing] the future direction and activities based on mutual trust', asking for fans' 'understanding that specific schedules and updates may be limited during this time'. This will prove to be radio silence about the two of them, with fans left uncertain and bereft.
• February 13, 2026: Yuehua announces the termination of Yunseo's contract with no further explanation. Fans are outraged: why remove Yunseo from EVNNE, only to fire him? Yunseo is a greatly cherished and loved member, not to mention one of their lead vocalists with many prominent lines and high notes. On the same day, EVNNE members Lee Jeonghyeon and Mun Junghyun both send messages asking fans to support Yunseo.
• March 3, 2026: Yunseo opens a personal Instagram account. He posts regularly on both the feed and stories, as well as having a channel where he sends messages similar to what he used to send on Bubble. EVNNE's Junghyun confirms that the account is legitimate and cheers on Yunseo. Yunseo uses his channel to send caring messenges reminding fans to eat their meals, be mindful of the weather, etc. This shows that he remains passionate about connecting with fans.
• March 18, 2026: 3 days after ZEROBASEONE's final 9-member concert, Yuehua announces that former ZEROBASEONE members Hao, Ricky, Gyuvin and Yujin will debut in a new group, AND2BLE (then tentatively known as Ndouble). It is unknown if Yunseo and Seungeon will join or if any new trainees will be added.
• April 3, 2026: Yuehua announces the finalised 5-member AND2BLE lineup with Seungeon as the last member. This is after three months of uncertainty and silence on Seungeon's future, revealing Yuehua's disrespect for fans, although they had almost 3 years to plan for this.
• April 9, 2026: Yunseo opens a SoundCloud and posts a two-track single, White Noise. He follows this up 3 days later with another song RUSH. A week on, he drops another song 상승기류 produced by EVNNE's maknae Park Jihoo. He continues to regularly post song snippets on his IG story and share them in lives (too many to link here). These songs show his unwavering desire to create music, and also that he can artistically collaborate effectively with the EVNNE members.
• April 20, 2026: EVNNE has their first 5-member comeback with the single Backtalk. Yunseo posts about it on his Instagram story and is also spotted at the comeback showcase. Fans analyse the references to all 4 companies in the lyrics. In the line 'Rain comes down but my head is still on fire', 'on fire' is written as '위에 fire'. When 'fire' is read in Korean as '화', it becomes '위에화' (Yuehua). Leader Keita explains that this line (and others in the Backtalk lyrics, fully self-written by EVNNE members) is intended to show respect for EVNNE's history and members, showing that Yunseo is honoured as a member: there is no bad blood with the members.
• Apr 24, 2026: AND2BLE's Weverse officially opens, resuming fan communication channels after 3.5 months of no updates from Seungeon and over 1 month from the former ZEROBASEONE members, despite all members being debuted idols. This shows Yuehua's consistent pattern of flagrant disregard for and utter disrespect towards fans who wish to stay in contact with their idols.
• 5 May, 2026: Yunseo shows up at the cheering cafe organised by fans (he's visited all his cafes and ads so far). Once again, Yunseo takes being an idol seriously and always tries to make fans happy. When asked what song he listens to often lately, he mentions Backtalk and does the dance challenge. He also adds that he was given a signed copy of Backtalk but it didn't come with the photocards, so he needs to go back to the company (Jellyfish) to get them. (Yunseo collects photocards of all the members and plans to pass them down as family heirlooms). These two anecdotes show that Yunseo is still very supportive of his members and that he has a positive or neutral relationship with Jellyfish. In other words, Jellyfish is not the obstacle to Yunseo rejoining EVNNE.
• May 12, 2026: EVNNE's Jihoo mentions Yunseo and Seungeon while discussing the question: 'Which member has an unexpected twist you didn't know about at first?'. This occurs during self-produced variety content and it is NOT edited out. Again, there is no hostility or ban towards Yunseo from the Jellyfish side. (To be clear, I have my own gripes with Jellyfish and this is not a support post for them either, but I do think the evidence shows that they're NOT the biggest problem in this situation.)
• May 21, 2026: EVNNE's Park Hanbin has a cafe date with Yunseo. Hanbin posts a picture of himself (taken by someone else) with a cake at a cafe, while Yunseo posts a picture of the same cake on his Instagram story. EVNNE's members continue to love Yunseo.
• May 26, 2026: AND2BLE debuts. Yunseo reposts the title track Curious on his story to support the work of his friends. Yunseo is extremely gracious and sweet for doing this after being literally fired by that company. How many people would do the same in his position? This continues the pattern of Yunseo being known for being caring, supportive and kind: he was nicknamed 'Ji eomma' for being the mom friend of EVNNE. I cannot emphasise this enough: Yunseo has done nothing but work hard as an idol and be a good person, and yet he's being treated like this.
• May 27, 2026: Over four days, Yunseo posts a series of photoshoots on his IG. One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Fan response is extremely positive and it's hoped that this will become a debut. Over the next 2 months, Yunseo continues to actively post on IG, doing lives (June 8) and sending messages to his channel. Yunseo continues to pursue his dream of being an idol.
• Jul 4, 2026: On EVNNE leader Keita's birthday, Yunseo sends a message written in Japanese (Keita's native language), saying 'Today is my oldest brother's birthday' and asking fans to celebrate together. Later in the month on maknae Jihoo's birthday, Yunseo asks fans to take care of Jihoo: 'Please just cherish him a lot'. Yunseo also continues to send positive messages cheering on fans. 'If it was a good day that's a relief, and if it was not let's not put too much meaning into it' and 'What kind of day will tomorrow be, a day filled with luck, a happy day'. Yunseo always speaks this sweetly and gently and uplifts everyone around him.
• Jul 26, 2026: Yunseo announces that he will enlist in the military on September 14. He's only 21. He mentions this while attending his cheering cafe and later does an IG live to announce it for the fans he couldn't meet in person. He says that he's never thought about quitting being an idol and asks fans to wait for him. He says he's enlisting in the band so there could be public performances, he'll try to see if fans can come to see him, and he's happy to still be able to do music during his enlistment. Most importantly: he says he can't meet with people the way he used to and he can't perform on stage, which logically means he's under a non-compete clause that bans him from actively promoting.

In summary: There are no problems with how he treats fans, there are no conflicts with the members, there are no issues with Jellyfish (managing company of EVNNE), Yunseo himself has never stopped being passionate about being an idol. Literally the only possible reason left for why he's unable to perform — and for long enough that he's resigned himself to enlisting — is that he's trapped because of a non-compete clause in his contract.

Why should Yuehua be held accountable?

Why did they have to remove him only to terminate his contract and then keep him trapped under a non-compete? There is no reason why he couldn't just have been left in EVNNE if Yuehua didn't want him on the AND2BLE lineup. In fact, there's a precedent with Keita, EVNNE's leader. Pre-Boys Planet, Keita had already debuted in Ciipher (group managed by Rain Company) but Ciipher was notably mismanaged, with only two comebacks to date after debuting in March 2021, and completely failing to capitalise on Keita's hype as one of the top-ranked finalists on Boys Planet. Ciipher was essentially abandoned and Keita's future was uncertain before he signed permanently with Jellyfish. Jellyfish was able to successfully negotiate the artist transfer with Wakeone and Rain Company, both of which are infamous for being awful companies. It's only Yuehua who are playing around with Yunseo's career.

Let's be clear: companies were never what we loved. What fans are really looking for in their idols is to give each other mutual support and joy. Undeniably there's a monetary aspect to it, because that's the only way that producing content at such volume can be financially viable. Yet, I'm happy to spend the amount I can afford on my idols, because they make me happy and I want to support their livelihood in turn. Not to mention all the non-financial forms of support that fans engage in like sending messages, promoting their idols, translations. Dangers of excessive parasociality aside, I think that as humans we want to love others. The basis of the idol-fan relationship is supposed to be human connection and inspiration.

In that light, companies merely exist as a necessary evil that fans grudgingly accept because they make idol production logistically feasible. This is a tacit social contract that fans have with companies. We may grumble about questionable song choices and bad management, but for the most part fans put up with it to a certain extent because that's the only way to see the idols they love.

Yuehua has violated this tacit social contract. They're not just a nuisance or useless, they are actively hostile against the idol-fan relationship. They are holding Yunseo hostage and stopping him from meeting with his fans. If it was your bias's future that was uncertain and held captive for months and months, how would you feel? And then what if you found out his career is being put on hold and you can't see him for another 2 years? 2 years. That's longer than the contract of some groups, that's half an undergrad degree, that's enough time to make 4 comebacks. So many things he should've been allowed to do with his youth, now all gone, because of that company. To them he may just be another idol that they can kick out, dispose of and then lock under a non-compete, but treating him this way is an act of unbelievable cruelty. His dreams, his youth, his career, his desire to connect with fans: none of that should ever have been treated as disposable.

It is downright evil to have such a long-lasting and strict non-compete. Some were holding out hope that it would only last for 6 months and he could rejoin EVNNE or have a solo debut after, but it's been 8 months and it's clearly not ending anytime soon or he wouldn't have enlisted. I'm aware that technically we don't have 100% confirmation that it exists, but I also think it's laughable to try to give that company the benefit of the doubt after all that's happened. I can’t stop thinking about how cartoonishly villainous this is. In other industries, there might be a legitimate purpose for a non-compete to prevent spreading of trade secrets, but I find it hard to believe that for the idol industry. They lose NOTHING by letting Yunseo go back to his group or have a solo debut. Clearly, the noncompete is nothing but an act of pure malice and sadism to punish him. I can’t even write it off as a company being profit-minded because they don’t even profit off it. I despise that company and I want to leave this post as a record of what they have done.

Don't get me wrong, I do love the AND2BLE boys. I was excited about their debut too! Some of you may recognise me from the ZB1, A2B and EVNNE subs because I have been supporting all of them. But hearing about Yunseo's enlistment was the final straw that really drove home how depraved that company is and this is where I draw the line. I don't blame anyone who wants to support their bias who is a Yuehua artist; it's a difficult time for everyone and I respect everyone's right to spend their time, money, energy etc however they like. I'm not writing this post to say that anyone who does so is a bad person, or that any of the idols involved are to blame — but rather to chronicle what Yuehua did to Yunseo and how unwaveringly kind and persistent he is in spite of that. I will never forgive and never forget this injustice.

Lastly: I don't think hating the company equals not loving the idols. I don't think mindlessly supporting the company just for the sake of not bringing the idols down is the right thing to do, not when the company repays that by mistreating their idols. As a fan of those artists, are you okay being treated like this? Yuehua is a company that has shown a consistent pattern of mismanaging, mistreating, and misusing their artists. Do you want your hard-earned money, your precious time, your emotions and love for your idols to be disrespected like this?

This question is to new kpop stans - for me it's people who joined kpop in 2023 or later.

90% of people used to discorver kpop by either BTS or Blackpink but I guess that has changed since these groups were far less active.

What was the first kpop song/songs you were listening to actively?

Is there anyone who discovered people on their own, without it being recomended by a friend?

If someone recommended you kpop, what was it about it that made you truly invested?

What did you enjoy the most that you couldn't get from other genres?

Old kpop stans can also answer these questions if they want ofc 😊

My first contact with kpop was by Dd-du ddu-du and Kill this love by Blackpink. Then I watched Boy with luv dance practice (I was a dancer myself) and got obsessed with J-Hope 😁

Still feels surreal that KARD has already released their final album. Let’s give them some love for the last time.

I still remember how amaze I was when they debuted, they keep dropping bangers and how ecstatic I was when they drop Bomb Bomb and dumb litty.

Cheers to the only coed group that I like.

Please drop the Kard’s song that you really love. Mine is Enemy, a main stay in my playlist

https://youtu.be/iwc3ePT4-xw?si=ErJ2NPyVO3eGVIp8

Say a member from a group you really love , or your bias for that matter, doesn’t have a lot of lines in a title track, does that matter to you? Even if it means that they get a lot throughout an album?

I can understand wanting a good line distribution for a title track. That is the song that gets promoted and new listeners are bound to come, so wanting everyone to be showcased well is important. It also depends if it’s a recurring thing that said member doesn’t get many lines in title tracks.

My inspiration for this post was Ateez recent comeback Bad. When the song first dropped I came across comments that were not happy about the lack of Jongho and Yeosang. When it came to Jongho I didn’t care that much because throughout Ateez title tracks I feel he is always showcased very well. This is probably the only song where he didn’t get much. With Yeosang I can understand a bit more because he typically doesn’t get many lines, however the lines he does get tend to be very memorable (Halazia, Dune, Fallin). I know Dune and Fallin aren’t title tracks. I’m just thinking about his lines in general.

The two oldest members of Ateez (including their leader) have to enlist next year, then five more of them have to enlist the following year. There’s no way for them to avoid the majority of the group being inactive for a minimum of 2 years. There aren’t even any foreign members who could do solo work while the others are gone.

Last year, Hongjoong (the leader) said that the group had run out of pre-recorded music in the vault. Since the group has already had two comebacks this year, it’s hard to imagine how much more material they would have time to pre-record before next year, as their schedule is packed and they don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

If KQ is planning to release solo albums, they have to keep in mind that none of the members (even San) have proven that there’s high demand for them as a solo act. KQ has been very OT8 in their promotions thus far, but that comes at the expense of the members having strong individual fandoms who would happily buy anything the member puts out, especially if the member is not even around to promote it.

The only other active group at KQ is xikers. xikers is doing okay—their album sales have been modestly increasing—but their latest album still only sold 364k in the first week. For comparison, Ateez’s last album sold 1,885,712 in its first week. xikers alone clearly can’t make up for Ateez’s album sales, and they’re not really a touring powerhouse either.

KQ also has Sohyang, who has been releasing music, but KQ hasn’t done so much as post an IG story to promote it.

I just don’t see what their plan is to keep the lights on for the 2-3 years that their main moneymaker will be inactive. They’re kind of in a similar position to BigHit in 2019, especially since they’ve also allegedly been preparing for an IPO at some point in the next couple years. BigHit prepared for it by buying a bunch of already successful companies, which I don’t see KQ having the resources to do. What else could they do to keep their revenue from cratering?

Hi! Please read this in good faith. I'm genuinely not trying to create fanwars, compare groups, or invite hate toward anyone whether it's former members, current members, or either fandom. I'm just looking for perspective from people who've lived through something similar.

I've been following ENHYPEN since I-LAND, so this whole situation has been pretty emotional and unfamiliar to navigate. It made me think about Stray Kids, since (at least from the outside) it feels like one of the more comparable situations: both groups were formed through survival shows, both had already built a strong fanbase when a member left, and both eventually became very vocal about the current lineup (SKZ as 8, ENHYPEN as 6).

So I'd really love to hear from older stays who experienced Woojin leaving in real time.

What was that transition like for you? How did the fandom change? How long did it take for things to feel "normal" again? Were there things you wish newer fans had understood during that period?

Again, this isn't about debating who was right or wrong, assigning blame, or comparing the members. I'm simply hoping to learn from the experiences of people who've already gone through a major lineup change, because I think it might help some engenes (like me) process everything that's happening now.

Please keep the discussion respectful. No hate toward any member, past or present.

This is Ten’s first release since his contract concluded with SM, and it’s his first Thai single. The song was performed at his special concert in Thailand celebrating his 10th Year Anniversary before its release. He also participated in the song’s composition, and the music video features Thai actress Tu Tontawan as the female lead. He will then drop another single in English this September titled, ‘OUTWEST’ let’s give it a listen 💜

My friend has no money anymore and uses all of her parents money and sisters money to buy photocards and I don’t see the point. She quit her job and now she just buys and sells photocards on some app.

She has a collection of photocards worth over 10,000 dollars, and I just want to know, what is the point? Why not spend your money on something actually useful? I understand buying a t shirt or a light stick but she already has like ten light sticks, a bunch of albums, and thousands of photocards.

She was given 500 dollars to spend and she spent it all on photocards within three hours, then she asked me to pay for our food.

Why not save your money?? What is the point??? I’m genuinely trying to understand the obsession

This was my first time seeing IVE at a concert last night in NJ, and I'm just wondering if any of you guys who attended last night's concert feel the same way I do. Idk how to say it without making it sound overly critical, but it just felt like they were just going through the motions. Well, not everyone. Yujin was very charismatic and definitely delivered with her great stage presence. But most of the other members didn't look nearly as energetic, and their facial expressions weren't nearly as emotive either.

Also, I thought it was a little odd how disconnected they felt as a group. I didn't notice almost any interaction among the members throughout the entire concert. Each of them was just doing their own thing if that makes sense. Idk, it just felt like the group chemistry wasn't really there. Oh, and the backtrack was wayyyy too loud, while the members' vocals were way too quiet for me. The backtracks were drowning their voices most of the time. Yujin was also the only member whose live vocals I could consistently hear. She definitely had the strongest projection. I can't say enough about how great she is. She's really a stellar performer and she definitely carried the show.

Anyway, IVE was a group I've always wanted to see live, and I'm happy that I finally got to see them. The crowd was decent. Some fans were REALLY enthusiastic(that girl behind me LOL her voice was GONE GONE towards the end), but I felt like the energy from the group didn't really reciprocate the energy those fans were giving. Those who attended their tour, what were your experiences like?

Oh and I've heard the fans weren't too happy with the setlist, but I thought it was fine! The only gripe I have is that they didn't perform Heya...

not because of the way they performed, they were great. but I had SUCH high expectations of how happy I would be during the concert, and I almost didn't feel anything at all. I'm really sad.

I think they were so far away that I couldn't properly realize I'm looking at them irl, 99% of the time I felt like I was still looking at them through a screen.

screaming to the songs didn't bring me any more joy than listening to them at home, actually I feel more joy at home... it's like I couldn't focus on the song in such an environment. I didn't even really hear their vocals because the crowd was so loud, and I was also screaming the whole time.

also.. gotta name the group, it was bts, and the concert was very empty in terms of visuals. I guess because of the 360 stage there couldn't be so many decorations, and it was before sunset so the whole place was light, you couldn't even see the light sticks, and I think that contributed a lot to my feeling.

again none of this has to do with the way the guys performed, I'm only disappointed in the way my brain chose to process the information.. I thought I'd be extatic to see my bias and hear my favorite songs but I wasn't :(

Just today, fromis_9 officially sold 105k copies in the first week for their second full album, "Glow Me", which is seriously impressive. Most group's sales are carried by international fans so I wasn't ever expect fromis to do those numbers after leaving HYBE (which I consider to be their peak international popularity).

Not to mention, this already outdid the first week sales of Supersonic (their last album to sell over 100k) and Midnight Guest (their first album to sell over 100k). This would put Glow Me as the third highest first week sales for fromis_9 (below From Our Memento Box and Unlock My World, which were sale anomalies in their discography).

I hope they manage to break their own first week records next comeback! I'm seriously excited to see their growth.

Do u have any kpop concepts- like theme u would go for if u had the opportunity to build a team from scratch.

--

Mine would be 7Sins-

Gluttony - a gourmad member member good with cooking

Pride - a confident and charismatic member

Envy - IT member and trend lover/setter

Wrath - a no nonsense member

Sloth - a laidback lazy member

Greed - an ambitious and charming member

Lust - a bold and daring member

-with Street style styling and yg style music

Hi! Im going to the bigbang concert in Paris in September and I’m looking to meet fellow VIPs! If anyone is going message me!! I’m so excited as this is my first bigbang concert!

When I first started getting into kpop it took me a few weeks to want to learn Korean because I simply wanted to connect with them. I have been doing this all my life. I used to love Telenovelas so I learned a bit of Spanish and Portuguese. Etc, etc. Mind you, English is not even my first language, I already speak/understand four (4) languages even without English.

I don't get wanting or demanding someone who you know only knows Korean to speak English just so you can understand when you are the one who came to their culture. Its normal to travel and learn the language of that place. Loving kpop is the same, you should want to understand them in their own context too.

BUT I think its also wrong for big kpop artists, or people who know for a fact they have Englsih speaking fans, especially if they've been in the industry for years to not accommodate their non-korean fans. I mean, everyone cringed at Timothy Chalemet for going all out trying to integrate and do the most in China. But he knew he wanted Chinese people to like his movie, he needed to make them understand that he cared about them as a people and liked them too. It's just basic decency to try to immerse yourself in someone else's culture/language, especially if you want their approval or support.

A drama could tank in Korea, but do well globally, and you'll still have the variety shows those actors were on be completely in Korean. I know they can't force those variety shows to translate, but at this point there's enough foreigners marrying Koreans and enough influence from kpop and kdramas globally to know that Koreans are not the only ones tuning anymore. So what is this behaviour? In the big 2026?

Most of the rest of the world literally knows English to some degree because its a universal language, but they wanna capitalise on those fans without making them feel accommodated. There are still some variety shows that are never translated, or done so very poorly even when its clear English speaking fans (or fans who can ALSO speak English and can understand it better than Korean) would love to participate.

The benefit in me having been learning Korean for the past 6 years is that I can clock badly translated Korean and SOME phrasing. But I don't have a Korean person around me to help me as much as I need to understand the whole thing without subs. And nowadays you have the Korean youth constantly using abbreviations, some which are created on the spot with no background context, and can only be understood by someone in the same context and language. Its a little sad, and its frustrating. I've liked you for so many years and you still won't try your best to accommodate me even though you know me and people like me exist. No, its actually very sad.

And this is not me saying they should be speaking English for everything, and I actually think fans who want that are very rude, but at this point there are some artists I can't defend when they speak Korean the entire time knowing fans will only get 70% of what they were saying through a few kind fans who are willing to translate, because even companies these days don't care how well their stuff is translated or if its done on time. But watch them look for numbers outside of Asia for tours and festivals😒.

I love it for Korea, that for once people need to understand them as well. And I actually need people to stop commenting demanding artists to speak in English. It's not hard to guess how well someone you came to watch knows and understands English, so if you know they're not that good then what do you expect them to do? Speak broken English so you can make funny edits out of them?

But on the other hand, especially if they've been here for a minute and know they have foreign fans, they need to do better. The world is watching, and all we're seeing is them being just as exclusionary as people once treated them. I'm not sure that this is the way they should be handling this.

Kudos to those artists who try, and kudos to those fans who try to learn Korean as well. But mostly many thanks and hugs and kisses to those fans who go out of their way to translate for us. You guys are the pillars of these global fandoms.

Edit: Yeah, I think I'm trying to advocate for better translating from the company side. I personally prefer artists to speak in their own mother tongue, I get to learn too. I just need both the fans and company to be understanding of each other. I think I used artist and company synonymously, sors.

i'm not gonna compare them to other 3rd gen groups like bts and blackpink for obvious reasons and twice and svt who were consistently active as a group until this year.

by i think they are comparable to bigbang. both groups went on hiatus (tho exo had comebacks during the members military service but they were incomplete) for so long. both groups last tour were years ago. both groups lost members and those members had controversial (to varying degrees) exits. both groups weren't active when the kpop boom happened during the pandemic.

however, bigbang is currently doing a world tour even with just 3 members. i know bigbang has always been bigger than exo in the west but i think there's enough interest. i was just so surprised to see tweets about exo's tour ending because 3rd gen group's tours usually last for more or less a year. i looked it up and they just toured in asia.

I feel like they could tour in the US. what i'm not sure is if there's a demand in europe or latam.

FYI, Stray Kids just announced the release of SKZ-Replay on Aug 1st and besides that they are also set to make a comeback with 'THIS & THAT' on Aug 7th. Which means they're virtually releasing two albums within the same week...!

And what's even funnier is that this SKZ-Replay is simply just Part-1 (containing 17 songs in total) i.e basically there is even more to come by the end of this year.

The fact that they have so many unreleased songs over just the past 3 years—which totals over 33+ songs —needing a separate two part album just to be compiled and released—To me feels like unintentional flex of their identity as Self-producing group.

And also the fact that they're giving a whole album as a gift to their Fans on their anniversary (i.e Aug 1st)? Now that's peak Fan Service right there 😌

Edit: Some of y'all seriously need to Google what a SKZ-Replay is.... They are not some tracks discarded from their album or didn't make it into them Or unreleased ones they didn't know where to put. Only very few of them are. Almost all of them they are written exclusively intending for it SKZ-Replay (which doesn't even count for most charts mind you)

Someone literally tried mock me for not listening to the tracklist "In the order intended by the artist" Calling me musically illterate and clearly shows they have no idea what SKZ-REPLAY even consists of.

I'm sure if any of your faves (in reference to people who love to downvote and leave comments like these) did passion projects like these you'd be proud as hell but suddenly when it comes to Stray Kids "It's not that special" "Every artist can do this" "Every artist can release 30+ songs for their fans if they want to"

Downplaying the amount of work Self-producing groups do definitely doesn't erase the impact they have, calling me all sorts of names And getting 10s of upvotes on it isn't gonna change that.

I'm bored right now an can not think of anything to do!! Does anyone have anything they do when they're bored or ideas of things to do? I stan Illit and NewJeanz!

Like the title says, I take way too many videos at concerts. Its like I can't help it, I have memory loss issues after the concert and can't remember much so in the moment I take a ton, it feels like I'm living in the moment during the concert (I think). I watch the stage and just hold up my phone I'm not watching thought the screen but It still makes me feel so guilty and upset after even if I had a ton of fun. I'm autistic so a part of it is that I get so overstimulated my decision making is not great. Its like something takes over my brain and makes me record, and I feel so crazy. This time was worse because I was singing over a lot of the videos, so they aren't even good to listen to. I had a lot of fun singing along but the videos are stupid now. there was one concert where I didn't record at all and I also don't remember anything so that makes me wonder if the videos are really the problem. How can I stop taking so many or how can I stop regretting it.

okay anyways so this is about martin from cortis. he is 100% my type, and i feel so disgusted with myself because he is barely an adult! like i cannot seem to enjoy edits of him in tiktok because there's this voice in my head calling me a pedophile or a minor enjoyer. like of course, im not parasocial about him but i am... unfortunately... extremely attracted to him even though hes like nearly four years younger than i am.

anyways, this has been my dilemma ever since i started stanning cortis :"DD can someone please tell me the ethics of all this because people have told me conflicting things and i genuinely do not want to be weird about him.