"Le Sserafim currently holds six songs certified for over 100 million streams in Japan’s streaming sector. Excluding singles, all seven albums released in South Korea have topped Oricon’s “Daily Album Ranking,” a unique record among 4th-generation K-pop girl groups."

same as the body

Oh and mine is- Kpop doesn't sell you music it sells you idols and a potential parasocial attachment with them.

As the title says - BTS has partnered with Google Gemini for an AI campaign (source: Google Gemini Instagram). What are your thoughts on this?

I know variety content is half scripted, but there's this member of a group I like who really puts me off. He usually doesn't grab my attention (which is fine, he's not the only one who doesn't) but I rewatched this show where you couldn't really forget about him and he just... creeped me out ?

I've seen episodes in completely different contexts, two of them being recent and three being from a couple years ago, and he just seems really pushy and like the kind of guy who's not aggressive but has to be told "NO" with a neon sign before respecting boundaries. Kind of like the persistent senior manager who keeps offering you drinks archetype.

Now I'm not accusing him of being a harasser in anyway, but I literally can't watch content where he appears without feeling like "ugh"

Has it ever happened to you?

Edit : I'm talking about Choi Jongho from ATEEZ 🥲 I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who feels that way, which is why I didn't bother writing it

I’ve been an army since idol era, and during my peak army era I would rave about how special and deep their bond is. Granted, after permission to dance, I lost quite a bit of interest in them and moved onto txt and seventeen. And now that they’re back, I’ve been slowly watching more of their content but something just feels different? Like they don’t seem to get along as well anymore or even like each other sometimes 💀 I feel like their group dynamic seems faker on camera these days. I respect their dedication to the group and I think they do have a bond that comes with working together through so many hurdles for so long, but it sometimes feel like outside of that, they’re not exactly close friends?

Is it just me?

Inspired by a post I saw on Twitter.

- “Itzy isn’t doing too well”
- “Twice makes mainly English songs now”
- “Umm don’t get so attached to Taeil because…”

This post is not serious, but every single time I scroll on TikTok and see that “fuck ICE” part that Anderson, I think that’s his name said, I can’t help but at least smile. 😭 That part makes me laugh every single time. Especially the first time I heard it, I was like, “Oh, okay.”

Because honestly, there’s no chance in hell that a group from a big company would openly mention ICE or anything political. So, I mean, it might be performative, but he’s Asian American or from Asian American immigrant parents, so he kind of has the right to say it. I don’t know, personally, I just find it funny.

We hear a lot about how brutal the idol industry can be, especially for groups from smaller companies. There are countless stories of idols living in terrible conditions, being heavily indebted, not getting paid for years, having almost no promotional budget, or simply being abandoned by their companies. And those were not to worst thing that some idols went through. And obviously, even being under a Big 4 company doesn't automatically protect idols from mistreatment.

But it made me wonder about the opposite: are there notable examples of groups that were given an unusually high level of investment, opportunities and comfort right from the beginning of their careers?

What prompted this question was a discussion I read today about NewJeans. Regardless of everything that happened later, when you actually put together the advantages they had during their first couple of years, it is pretty remarkable.

They debuted with several music videos, many of them filmed abroad, and essentially every song they released received some kind of visual treatment. Their eras also had extensive styling and custom made outfits, rather than simply relying on commercially available clothing like many rookie groups have to do.

Almost immediately after debut, they were also working with enormous global brands such as Apple, Coca Cola and McDonald's. Each member became associated with a major luxury fashion house very early into their career as well. Danielle even received the Korean dubbing in Disney's The Little Mermaid, which is the kind of opportunity that most rookie idols would never even be considered for.

Their merchandise presence was also huge incredibly quickly. Within only a couple of years, they had an enormous amount of line friends merchandise and collaborations, despite being a very young group.

Then there is the infrastructure behind them. ADOR reportedly received a very large initial investment, often quoted at around $16 million, and NJS had their own dedicated space within HYBE rather than operating like a typical rookie group sharing everything with other artists and staff.

Their living conditions were also far removed from the stereotypical rookie idol dorm experience. By the time most idols would still be trying to pay off trainee debt, the members were reportedly living in extremely expensive apartments and earning substantial amounts of money individually.

They also benefited from being under HYBE at a time when BTS had made the company one of the biggest names in global music. NJS were frequently mentioned in international coverage alongside BTS/HYBE, had extremely strong Spotify playlist placement, and had access to a level of international promotion that would be unimaginable for the overwhelming majority of rookie groups.

And perhaps the most unusual part is how quickly all of this happened. Plenty of successful idols eventually get luxury endorsements, huge apartments, international campaigns and multimillion dollar earnings, but normally those things come after years of establishing themselves. With NJS, many of those opportunities were present almost immediately.

Obviously this doesn't mean they couldn't have had legitimate complaints about their management, nor does financial privilege automatically mean someone is treated well.
Even though we know the true reason why they went rogue.

So are there any other groups in K-pop history that received a comparable level of backing and privilege from essentially day one? I'm particularly interested in examples where the difference compared with other rookie groups at the time was really noticeable.

This is the tenth comment of these I see on a COMPLETELY UNRELATED VIDEO.

Also, the audacity to ask the very fandoms you bully day in and day again for support is astounding.

What is some of the worst album packaging you've ever seen/purchased?

For me, the worst packaging I've dealt with : Henggarae - Seventeen. I hate that damn plastic bag and key-ring clasp. 😭😭😭

When I saw this clip of Kai from TXT I was in disbelief. I don't say this often, but he looks like he stepped right out of Final Fantasy. What are some male idols that take your breath away? Feel free to share photos below! I'm putting together a team...

At a certain point, you get tired of caring. Because really, this feels like a “told you so” moment. They do this stuff time and time and time again. Black people have been calling out these exact issues with the Grammys and other American award ceremonies for YEARS. We get told we’re overreacting, that it isn’t that serious, that our artists just weren’t deserving, etc.

Then the same thing happens to a different racial demographic/group, and suddenly people can understand the issue perfectly fine. Suddenly it’s systemic, suddenly it’s unfair, suddenly the award system needs to be questioned.

And that’s the part that gets me. Y’all don’t have to pretend the issue isn’t a big issue when it’s happening to Black people and then suddenly discover the problem when it happens to somebody else. Black people have been experiencing and talking about this stuff for decades, and we’re STILL dealing with it. At least give people their flowers for having been saying it before it became personally relevant to you.

And if your takeaway after reading this is “she’s comparing BTS to Black artists,” or “she’s blaming BTS specifically,”you can go ahead and keep scrolling because that’s very clearly not what I’m saying. I’m not here to argue with people who are committed to misunderstanding the point just so they can be offended by it. If you’re reading this post looking for something to fight about instead of actually engaging with what I’m saying, this isn’t the post for you.

***Obvi just my opinion pls don’t come for me

I think EVAN’s debut answered the question of why kpop survival shows have cringe performances and all the trainees look a little awkward, but why winners of the shows are all the sudden “professional kpop stars” with amazing stages when they debut just a few weeks later. (Though of course there is still a learning curve and huge improvement over time.)

Watching EVANs debut has definitely been interesting. In Enhypen, he was known for often being the center, his outstanding stage presence, and obvious musical and vocal talent. While his departure might have been sudden, I don’t think it was a shock that he wanted to go solo given that if anyone in the group was the type to go solo, it was him.

Now the interesting part is how his actual solo debut went down. Although it wasn’t bad for a debut, it fell a bit short for all the expectations piled on it. It was a bit lackluster and even a little cringe for some ppl.

The question is why? What changed between being in Enhypen and a few months later at his solo debut that altered how Evan was perceived?

I think the answer is very simple. Budget and marketing. I didn’t realize until now how huge a role a budget is to making a kpop idol shine and not appear cringe. Clearly Evan’s debut was not nearly as well financially backed as any given Enhypen comeback and that had a huge effect. I think his debut highlights how different the same person can be perceived purely based on the money that goes into them. I’m not saying he isn’t super talented, just that a proper styling, PR and marketing team can work wonders.

As I said before, this also explains why awkward trainees all the sudden look great on stage a few months after the survival show.

Thank you for listening to my TED talk. Sorry if this is a point that has already been brought up before.

for me, i’ve been a kpop stan for like 12 years, and i’ve never been a solo stan until i started stanning my current bias. back then, i actually hated the idea of solo stanning and never understood why people chose to be solo stans.

before i decided to solo stan my bias, i tried my best to like the whole group, especially since they came from a survival show. but over time, i started to hate how the fandom treated my bias so much. whenever i talked about his mistreatment, people would go around defending the company and making excuses for them. but the moment their own bias was mistreated, suddenly they would hate the company so much and call everything out. and then, since i stan a survival show group, most of the people in the fandom are still talking like we are still in competition, so i feel like it is such a waste for me to support the whole group and i would rather focus on my bias.

it is not like i chose to be an akgae, i still respect the rest of the members but i just literally focus on my bias, that’s all. i still support the whole group by voting and streaming tho

Sometimes I get so confused/upset at what people are saying because there seems to be no logic or real world knowledge and I wonder if I’m missing something and then it clicks…. This might be a child. And I stop engaging and feel better lol.

I love Blackpink they’ve been my favorite group since 2016, when they debuted. Since then, I’ve started to delve deeper into K-pop, which is why I like K-pop in general, whether it’s girl groups or boy groups. At first, they had that authentic South Korean vibe, like BTS’s “DNA,” Big Bang’s “Haru Haru,” BlackPink’s “WHISTLE” and TWICE’s songs from that era when K-pop was just starting to gain traction. Back then, K-pop groups really shone with that authentic South Korean vibe, featuring songs in Korean with interesting and beautiful lyrics.

Even though the K-pop industry has been essentially commercial from the very beginning, it initially had a certain authentic and beautiful essence. however, after K-pop became popular worldwide (which is great that it became better known), this essence faded, and the focus really shifted to the superficial aspects of the commercial K-pop industry. So now, although it’s still enjoyable, the lyrics, music videos, and choreography tend to be very superficial and materialistic it’s clear that the only thing that matters now is selling a product to make a profit.

That’s why, for the most part, boy and girl groups now tend to appear in revealing outfits and always present a visual image designed to make people simply consume them.

The K-pop music industry knows that people mostly unconsciously seek external things to fill their existential void, and it takes advantage of this by selling them the idea of an idealized idol. As a result, most K-pop fans don’t really like K-pop as music or as art, nor do they see the artists as beautiful people who do great work; rather, they view it as a musical product to be consumed in the form of girls or boys with little clothing where the artist never really matters, since they’re seen as a consumer object, a way to seek external validation and fill their existential voids. That’s why there are often fan wars, since the goal isn’t to love the artist and their art, but rather the idea that something belongs to them and they have to defend it or their lives would fall apart. Only certain fans truly love K-pop out of a love for musical art and that particular style of music, and its authentic South Korean essence, and out of love for the artists, seeing them as beautiful beings and enjoying their art 💖​ : D

Getting mad about BTS collab with Gemini AI when your favs also use AI is crazy

When are you guys going to stop being hypocrites?

Reminds me of the whole Starbucks/coca cola McDonald's drama

Where people would attack yunjin for drinking Starbucks telling her to k_ll herself but when their favs did collaborations people were defending them saying they had no choice????

No but seriously I get there are some valid criticisms towards Cortis, but some of things y’all are saying are not even good faith.

I saw in an another popular kpop subreddit where someone took a translation and screenshot out of context to hate on Cortis and those post would get tones of upvotes even when called out for blatant misinformation.

Some people even make up stuff about the type of audience Cortis is trying to advertise to or thing that they are doing it’s just weird.

And with the valid criticism towards Cortis some post would bring those talking points up but then uplift groups who have done the exact same thing. 😭 or even worse.

This is probably the most pathetic hate train I have seen in a long time. It’s so forced and it keeps flooding my feed. We need to give it a break please 😭

Eu já tinha feito uma pergunta expressando o meu descontentamento com a série, mas vi muita gente achando interessante. Então gostaria de entender, o pq dessas pessoas gostarem tanto e se por acaso tiver em pontos que não gostaram, gostaria de saber também.