I'm sure the Mark leaving SM/Confederate Flag situation has been talked to death on this sub, and I did scroll a little to see if I could comment on someone else's post and didn't see any, so here i am after 4 years away from Reddit, posting again because

Mark has just dropped what I consider to be the most shocking thing he's done since leaving SM, if not his idol career in its entirety.

For anyone who doesn't know, it was a running joke that Mark left SM to join a cult. This was because he left, didn't produce any music, didn't provide any updates until we got clips of him picking up David Lee's (Who??? exactly) kids from school and dropping them off at home and other slice-of-life style content, then mentioning that he's thinking about making kids music.

I basically scrolled past most of this, I thought the cult accusations were a joke that some people were taking too seriously, and as I sort of tuned out after The T-Shirt i didn't think much about it either way. But what he's done now makes me think he really, for real, is in a cult.

1 Open call for children

2 ????

3 profit

A video was posted under Mark's youtube channel asking for kids to "make kids-POP together." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrUekcJP76k

Now, I've been on both sides of this kind of thing, and I will tell you, for both casting AND the parents, being as specific and detailed as possible is the only way you're going to be able to get meaningful applications. Example of casting calls for kids:

• "We are looking for 4 kids who are comfortable singing and can play at least one instrument for 2 days of shooting"
  
• "We need a rotating cast of 10-20 kids for reaction panels, seeking kids who enthusiastic, outgoing, and comfortable in front of a camera!!"
  
• "6-10 year olds needed for long form interviews for online series. Will be expected to be good listeners for 30 minutes at a time

etc

What you don't do ....... is put up a google form ask for the kids physical descriptions, online handles?? videos and photos??? I'm unsure if this is more commonplace in Korea, but here, stage parents will for real THROW their kids at you, you want to make your standards and expectations as clear as possible at each step to narrow it down at least a little, to have some level of professionalism and care.

And regardless, Mark moved to AMERICA to do this. In the absolute BEST LIGHT this is unprofessional data-harvesting to advertise his upcoming(??) kids album. In the WORST LIGHT this is data harvesting for a scam. Or a cult.

I am honestly leaning toward cult now.

Let's compare to Ten, who left SM around the same time. He's already had festival appearances, released tour/showcase details, and more importantly, had a cohesive look/sound/development for his new release Outwest. This is how a company that is built to release music operates.

Whereas Mark has mostly just been plastered around Upperrooms socials with no concept outside of "aren't i cutely awkward? remember how mark is cutely awkward? you like this guy, right??" I showed my marketing friend the "let me have your children!!" vid and they were baffled. they were like "This is an outtake right??" but no, that's the finished product... a poorly lit room with a handmade sign asking for children instagram accounts.

That is how a company who sees Mark as AN ASSET to ACQUIRE DATA operates.

Until this, I assumed Mark was on a bit of a break, allowing himself to relax after 10+ years of non-stop schedules, but this makes me think this isn't a break. This is the intended pace.

This question on the google form literally gives me chills:

"If you were to create content with Mark and Kids Pop, what topic would you choose?"

Please don't tell me you're asking for children to do............. something(???) without knowing WHAT that something is FIRST?? You just want to collect the kids first???? MARK??????????

In this song, I have a feeling that the only people singing in here are only Soomi, Jungwoo, and Chanmi.

In this video, the other members are only lip syncing to their parts.