Kpop thoughts

[haitangkitty]

There's been lot of hatred towards LE SSERAFIM which eventually got me more interested in them. I had been a casual listener but after CRAZY I became a fearnot. Aespa used to be my favorite kpop group after Red Velvet and I had been more invested in them for years. Today I listened their 5th minialbum "Whiplash" which I enjoyed more than Armageddon(which was a dissapointmen). It was a more cohesive album but I had to admit to myself that Aespa isn't going to produce more sounds they had on their first minialbum Savage. It's hard to let go because the cyberpunk concept is one of my favorites ever and their concept photos, styling, and MVs are imo best in kpop. But i have to be honest to myself when I'm not completely on board with the music. Even though SM is not the best company I have to admit they have made my favorite kpop groups and have had the best singers.

I've had LE SSERAFIM's whole discography on repeat for a few months now. After their documentary I really got interested in them. I don't know if this is somehow parasocial for me but I feel like they are more approachable than Aespa. Especially Sakura and Yunjin are very inspiring to me. Yunjin (like Irene) got cancelled by Korean incels for reading feminist literature which i appreciate :D

I'm excited that Wendy is collabing with Jin! I've seen some armies listening and supporting her. Wendy is one of the best kpop singers but she is kinda of underrated so I'm glad she's able to have a bigger platform.

The Newjeans situation has been a mess. I'm proud of the girls doing the livestream and adressing their treatment and also for Hanni to testify on court about workplace harrassment. The girls are so young but very brave. Some people got really paranoid over the drama and thought they are going to disband which I knew won't happen because they are too successful. I really need to watch some video to know more about the conflict because I'm still a bit confused about it.

The Taeil situation was very gross especially when it came just after a second nth room case in SK was revealed. I was a big NCT fan around 2020 and I was a little bit shocked. I really have no other words than I hope that the victim gets justice and healing. I follow some South Korean feminists on twitter and they're very brave for their work which is dangerous for them because incel culture is very strong in SK.

Overall it is weird to be a kpop fan when greedy companies and misogyny are also part of it. I've never participated in fanwars because they are dumb and take energy from the real issues in the industry.

Few weeks ago I saw ARTMS live! I had so much fun and the concert went by so fast. Obviously I wished they would have been able to play more LOONA songs but just hearing Hi High at encore was enough to satisfy me. For Halloween I'm going to a kpop club night which I'm really excited about! Last time I went there it was March and since then there has been many good releases I can dance to. This time they also play songs by boy groups and I haven't listened to any new kpop boy groups (other than a few Stray Kids songs). I happily take any recommendations!

Comments

[gourdier]

I actually started listening to LE SSERAFIM because of a gif that someone on Dreamwidth embedded in their post about the Crazy MV! And then I watched some of their live TV performances... and some game shows with them... and then I watched some solo interviews...

It was kind of surprising for me to learn that they have a dedicated hatedom afterwards :( I'm probably not in deep enough to be a Fearnot, but I agree with you that they seem very fun and approachable, especially Sakura and Yunjin. I'll definitely be following their musical releases because they really are fun bops, and I like that their group has members from all over. The Crazy MV also introduced me to the genre of Ballroom culture and vogue dancing, which is incredibly cool! I hope that the House of Juicy Couture get more gigs after featuring in such a high profile vid :D

I'm not totally in tune with news in the industry, except for the bits that my kpop friends relay to me, but everything that I've heard about the MHJ and HYBE conflict is very messy. Hopefully the groups under their management aren't too badly affected by the whole situation :(

I hadn't heard about the Taeil situation until now, though. Definitely seconding what you said, that hopefully she can get justice and heal from it in the future. It sounds like he's already facing consequences to his career, which is a start.

It sounds like you've had some exciting times, recently :O Kpop club night! I have no recs, unfortunately, but I hope that you have another great time at this one!

[haitangkitty]

Omg I wonder if it was me :D I also went through the rabbithole of watching their documentaries and interviews. It's so cool that LE SSERAFIM introduced voguing to a wider audience!

There's news about HYBE drama and documents have been leaked where they talk shit about other groups and specifically SM groups. Apparently both HYBE and SM have tried to sabotage each other and some people think media was paid to give positive or negative image of a group. So they have been involved in starting fanwars. It's a mess! As Jungkook referred to NewJeans situation "Artists are not guilty". I hope all the groups can continue their career despite all this hatred caused by greedy companies.

[gourdier]

Omg yes! It was this post! I saw it on my network page and fell in love with the duckwalking bit and Sakura with that hair and those nails!! So I owe you a belated thank you for introducing me to Crazy and LE SSERAFIM xD

And wow, I can't say that the news about SM and HYBE being so cutthroat is shocking, but it sounds like their corruption goes further than I could have imagined, personally... You said it, it'd be nice if the groups don't get pulled down by the companies' vendettas and the negative press that's sure to come out of all of this :(

[haitangkitty]

Yayy :D nice to hear!
Yeah I just hope this ends soon and the artists will get better treatment.