KPop - aka Only Scott Cares - aka Not as Good as Metal

Wendy is from Canada. She learned English the same way we did.

And yes, while Koreans do seem to have a hard time understanding “proper” English pronunciation vs. Korean accented pronunciation of English, that isn’t entirely what is going on here. This is on a variety show, and they are teasing/pestering her for the purposes of comedy.

Ah, fair enough. It’s also somewhat amusing anytime someone is speaking a foreign language and all of a sudden, unaccented english out of nowhere is heard. I enjoy that aspect of it as well.

There is a treasure trove of videos of KPop idols doing exactly this waiting for you to watch them. Off the top of my head, here are some KPop idols that are from English speaking countries or speak terrific English. If you search for them you’ll find good stuff.

SNSD Tiffany, 2NE1 CL, f(x) Amber, EXID Hani, KARD BM, GOT7 Jackson, Eric Nam, UKISS Kevin, 15& Jimin, Jessi, GOD Park Joon Hyung, Jay Park, JYP, BtoB Peniel.

I’m sure those are many more. Also, this video is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyhNdGHMiMU

2 Likes

I havn’t been listening to any K-pop or korean-anything in months and months; been on a big Japanese City Pop groove (along with half of YouTube it seems) tho.

And so I have listened to this an unreasonable amount over the last week:

https://youtu.be/2MiQonPvlVM

And while I’m way into the aesthetic and all that the jam is good and another take-away: I’m glad to see someone who looks (is) my age in one of these joints. Are we finally seeing the OG’s age into their 30’s making waves? Cuz I fuck with that heavy.

There has been a KPop earthquake.

https://www.soompi.com/article/1217511wpp/jeon-somi-terminates-contract-jyp-entertainment

Jeon Somi is a girl who was still in middle school when she appeared on JYP’s reality/competition show SIXTEEN. She ended up making it to the finals, but was eliminated. The winners of that show ended up forming TWICE, the biggest active KPop girl group right now.

After that she went to compete on the first season Produce 101, which is now in its third season (PRODUCE 48). She won first place. I voted for her, but it didn’t matter, since she won by such a large margin. As a result she was a member of the temporary group IOI, but that group has been disbanded for awhile now.

After that she went back to high school and JYP. She didn’t have a group to join since JYP just started TWICE and wouldn’t start a new girl group again so soon. Somi kept doing celebrity stuff. She appeared on a lot of TV shows. She was on a cute web show called “Idol Drama Operation Team”. She also appeared on the second season of Unnie’s Slam Dunk, an amazing all-woman variety show that has sadly not had a third season. She also appeared in a lot of other commercials and such and generally just been around for some years.

Rumors have been starting recently that JYP would actually make a group with Somi in it. She was seen and photographed in public hanging out with other trainees from JYP, especially a girl named Shin Ryu-jin, who was the winner of a different (bad) show called MIXNINE. JYP has confirmed that they are still working on a group with Ryu-jin in it, and it is progressing nicely, but no further details are provided.

Now a sudden and shocking news that Somi has left JYP. This wasn’t her contract running out of time. Her (her family) and JYP mutually agreed to end the contract prematurely.

Without any details, speculation is running wild. Was she tired of waiting and she wants to go to a different company that will debut her earlier? Does she not like the direction JYP was going with the group? Does she not want to be an idol anymore? Does she not want to be a celebrity anymore? She is still only 17 years old which is frighteningly young for someone who has had such a life already.

Good luck Somi.

In other news. Red Velvet’s new album is still dominating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyLf7XuwpFw

And of course :bomb::bomb::bomb: is coming back again very very soon, and they upgraded the stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNuoL6nUMc4

It’s just a teaser, but I’ll post it anyway.

https://youtu.be/Rd0UqlRf1eE

LOONA OT12 debuted! Technically they held a debut concert, which I’ve never heard of before - once again, shaking up the group debut cycle. I might have shed a tear or two (jk) - this one is technically their “predebut” song, I think? I really like it.
https://youtu.be/AFJPFfnzZ7w

And the long-awaited debut song! (I personally am a huge fan of favOriTe over this, but this is cute).
https://youtu.be/846cjX0ZTrk

I’d really love for them to do more songs sounding like Heart Attack or Singing In The Rain. A lot of speculation they’ll break out into subunits for future work as well!

Someone is spending a lot of money on this LOONA business. I’ve never seen any group with so much push behind them.

1 Like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBuZEGYXA6E

Taeyeon (and someone I’m not familiar with) recently-ish released a new song with an LGBT-themed video. Say what?

https://youtu.be/X46z6f24c7o

It’s Melomance.

Thanks! I’ll have to check them out. I really liked their chill vibes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=1McYk39AnvI

https://www.soompi.com/article/1221893wpp/girls-generations-unit-ohgg-promises-new-track-will-dangerously-addictive

The five remaining SNSD members who have not left the company are going to for a subunit named Oh!GG. Apparently their song is going to be very addictive.

https://www.soompi.com/article/1221893wpp/girls-generations-unit-ohgg-promises-new-track-will-dangerously-addictive

Also, the fact that they are officially calling this a sub-unit is confirmation from the company that the three members that left the company have not left SNSD, and our dream of a full group comeback at least once in the future is somewhat likely, even if it’s far away.

This will also be interesting with just these five members, as they will each get more individual attention than they did when they were in a group of 8 or 9.

Lastly, BTS IDOL is breaking all kinds of YouTube records for most views/unit time. All the KPop sites are annoyingly posting news stories each and every time they cross an arbitrarily round number.

1 Like

While I was away in Seattle…

A new group called GWSN appeared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd2dzIqLPao

If you watch this your first thought is probably going to be “who is that incredible androgynous member wearing pants?” It’s Miya. Apparently Miya is the oldest member, and is 25. The second oldest member is 19. That’s a bit weird, but everything else about this is fantastic.

The final episode of Produce 48 aired. The new group is going to be called IZONE. All the produce groups have had punny names that can be read in so many different ways involving the number one, and this is no different. The really shocking thing is the final lineup, which I will not spoil.

NCT Dream is apparently going up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV1Es22E0RI

Sunmi is back. She’s definitely going up these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNWMZIf7eSg

The real news is that GG, or at least Oh!GG, is back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzLl-XpJt0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G66TZO2u8Fw

1 Like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1scjjbfNsk

So they released a version featuring Nicki Minaj. To no surprise, it’s one of those typical featuring deals where they obviously didn’t record in the studio together or even meet.

What is surprising is that she’s actually in the music video. Obviously she recorded her part of the music video separately, as they don’t appear together, but still that’s more than you normally expect from these things.

The real reason this is great is because at the very end of the video they show some #idolchallenge and there is footage of various fans dancing the choerography. I’m sure those fans are very happy.

https://youtu.be/ISNqnUVLVK8

Oh My Girl is back (and not the Banana version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Li_1m4G7k

A former KPop trainee spills the tea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTyrHOGqmVw

So I’m watching footage from Kcons around, like ya do (I’m not defensive, you’re defensive), and I was seeing this little diddy from kcon LA 2018 and I’m picking favourites (it’s black crop top girl, red outfit girl and, dude in jeans who dances to literally every song) when at around 5:30 comes BEAR OF COLOR. My hero. He was last seen at kcon 2018NY. I think I’m a fanclub of one for this guy.

Seriously though watch dude in jeans, by a quarter of the way through he looks like he’s about to collapse, yet he perseveres. Like I think he may have lost a bet. He is even one of the few to dance to GFriend

I find it really fascinating how the KPop industry, though it has improved, is still really awful. Full of body shaming, sexism, homophobia, agism, abuse, etc. Yet somehow, despite all that, the KPop fandom, especially outside of Korea, is more inclusive and welcoming than most other fandoms I see. it really is for everybody.

2 Likes