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

Someone makes a video that shows everyone how to do it and they practice at home.

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Wendy and…

John Legend?!?!?!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BopyUOsA9X8/

STATIONx0 is killing it by the way. Their last track was an all-star team of Seulgi, SinB, Chungah, and Soyeon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR5CtMLuiqQ

Right now other than Yuri and Soyou’s solo releases there isn’t much going on. KPop seems to be in one of those low points where the ballads top the charts and the lower tier groups fill the music shows. I think everyone is parting the sea like moses to make room for IU an EXO coming soon.

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Oh man, That Stationx0 is just ridonks. Every time I see Soyeon I’m like “Wow, who is this, I should listen to more of her stuff!” and then I realize… I have.

This isn’t new at all, but I just wanted to highlight the choreo of G-IDLE’s Hann. I legitimately think this is the best (coolest?) GG choreography I’ve ever seen. Making a really strong play for ROTY…

https://youtu.be/EGuuBE7xjBk

G-IDLE I think is guaranteed to be ROTY. What competition is there?

I’m surrounded by Loona fans who are absolutely gunning for it, though I agree with you.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Loona (obviously), and I think the project as a whole is awesome, but if you just look at their fairly quiet official debut song vs G-IDLE bursting onto the scene… I really don’t know how they can be compared, unless you’re maaaybe trying to compare Loona-the-project (which was all “pre-debut”, so I don’t think it could even count by any reasonable means.)

I think LOONA is a better group in almost all aspects, and probably even has more international popularity. Over time I think they will be bigger than (G)-IDLE. But there is no question that in terms of Korean chart performance and popularity right now (G)-IDLE is way ahead.

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All the major KPop groups are chilling in the practice room while they wait for IU to stop hogging the charts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM0xDI5R50E

Right now it’s autumn, which means Korea blasts out the slow emotional music and not the summer jams. Got some Zion.T featuring Seulgi right now, but I’m not that into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqMYG2Riq54

Lee Hi is coming, which is great, but she’s going to cover Queen for the Freddy movie? Weird?

The big groups are coming back in November. While we wait, let’s enjoy a blast from the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE0thMsbLbM

Back from vacation and BoA came walking on in, upside down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlMg8FbcP7g

We thought that upside down walk was just for the music video, but she’s actually doing it on the music shows also XD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20N2nWYUHso

IZ*ONE debuted, but their song is meh, IMHO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZwr2a_lFWY

November is gonna be crazy though. Just about every major group has a release.

November of doom has begun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwd8N6K-sLk

So this only sorta belongs here, on one hand, but on the other, this 100% belongs here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOxkGD8qRB4&feature=youtu.be

So I know very little about the background of this, but from what I can tell Riot Games partnered with (G)-IDLE to make this amazing video.

It combines 2 things I love, KPop and really good animation. Shame this didn’t come out like 5 years ago when I was still into League of Legends.

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November continues. EXO couldn’t get ahead of IU, but it looks like TWICE will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAKsZ26SabQ

November continues with SOLO from Jennie of BLACKPINK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b73BI9eUkjM

Served cold with a side of beef from da queen CL

https://twitter.com/teayeons11/status/1061923361788489729

November also sees increasing backlash against BTS for use of Nazi and pro-nuke imagery in their videos and productions.

That story is such nonsense. KPop idols wear like 5 different outfits in a day. They have stylists that just throw clothes at them. Put on clothes to go to the airport. Change to comfy clothes for the actual flight. Change back to the other clothes again. Get to hotel or maybe even the venue, change again. Move to the next place, change again.

This is not the first incident where someone has worn a shirt that had something written on it that was problematic. It’s written in a language they can’t read. It looks cool. They put on what the stylist gives them without thinking too hard. They get to the next destination and change. Someone spots it because everything is on camera, and all hell breaks loose.

Imagine being basically a model. You are tired going to the airport in the morning. The stylists gives you a shirt with stuff written on it in some language you can’t read. You put it on and go.

You may be able to blame the stylists or the designer who made the shirt, but I’m going to give the singing and dancing boys who have only spread a message of love, and who wear what they are told, a full pass barring any additional evidence.

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Somebody needs to take the blame. Avoiding giving your “basically a model” hats with literal Nazi symbols should be a no-brainer.

It’s not like this is a uniquely Korean thing. Japan fucks up Nazi imagery too.

That doesn’t absolve whoever chose to outfit these "basically a model"s in highly provocative garments.

I said you can blame the stylist of the fashion designer. But this isn’t nearly the big deal that it is made out to be. As per our most recent podcast, there are too many people who are too emotionally invested for, or against, BTS. They identify as ARMY above all else in life, or anti-ARMY (maybe EXO fans or something). Therefore there is too much energy put into examining every public aspect of BTS. Any virtue they have is a miracle and any mistake they make is the ultimate DOOM.

Celebrities in the US commit truly heinous crimes. Murders, rapes, etc. and are given a pass. Their careers continue. First example, Mike Tyson. Rapist. Bit a dude’s ear off. Then he’s on TV and movies and shit without people even thinking about it.

Meanwhile, a KPop idol uses a location based snapchat filter, and that one post that took a fraction of a second forces them to make an apology and go into hiding for months.

I’m willing to actually forgive people who don’t spend 24 hours a day on the Internet for not having the highest level of social consciousness. I’m willing to forgive someone who spends all their time singing and dancing for not having the best history education. I’m willing to forgive someone for making such an honest mistake. If it is obviously that someone’s beliefs and message in no way align with the heinous meaning behind the imagery they have accidentally displayed, I’m going to let them go on that as long as they’re not like “fuck you, I’ll wear all the swastikas I want.”

In fact, I just realized while writing this that I am even more guilty of this than any KPop star. After high school and before college I went on a trip to Israel. While I was there I bought an Israeli flag as a souvenir. Also, flags are cool. Also, the Israeli flag is a nice flag, graphically speaking. When I got to RIT I put it in the window of my dorm room. All I thought of it at the time was that it was good at letting light in, but not too much light. Also it would show some jew presence on campus, not a bad thing from my atheist secular jew perspective.

Now I know better. I realize that flag means a lot more things to different people, I just didn’t see any of that meaning when I was 18. I don’t see myself hanging it anywhere anytime ever again. Am I an unforgivable bad person now? Do you actually believe I support Zionism because I naively hung a flag at the age of 18? Obviously not. I am bout as anti-Zionist as you can get. I hung a flag once, though, so I guess until I go into hiding for a few years I’m not welcome back into society.

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Most Koreans under 60 can read English pretty well, if slowly. It’s mandatory in their education system. Many can’t write or speak very well for a number of reasons(both with how they’re taught, and with more mundane stuff like lack of practice once they graduate), but they can definitely read it and generally understand it. They may claim they don’t speak or understand English, but often that’s a polite bending of the truth given when talking to English speakers - Korean people having severe anxiety in showing their English skills to native speakers is so common that it has a universally understood nickname, “English Nausea”.

You would be surprised.

Also, idols get a lot less education than other Koreans. Sort of like how college football players roll on through their courses.

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I’m a little scared to wade in, but I would agree with @Apreche here. I don’t think anyone would be thinking it’s a good thing when Nazi imagery is used. I also think that hopefully someday it can be corrected on a cultural level - at the same time, though, it often grinds my gears to see western folks talk about “How dare people not know what this symbol is associated with?” but not understand, for example, Japanese imperialist imagery. (I’m not accusing anyone here of doing so! But it is absolutely a phenomenon that exists. For better or worse, horrific things that have happened in war don’t always make it around the globe. It’s kind of this euro-centric view of the world.)

I also think that people tend to jump on idols for these things instead of companies or stylists, as was mentioned earlier. I think it’s okay to let companies know when the stuff they do is not good, but also, I don’t know, I’d prefer the energy be spent dragging X or Y idol to be spent fighting the actual nazis we have instead of dragging members of groups that have never shown they mean harm, or at least trying to reach out to companies at a higher level. At the very least, educate instead of berate.

As just a last anecdote, given the info I have seen of English speakers coming out of fansigns, the level of English comprehension is often extremely low - even when idols are trying hard because they want to talk with their fans. ¯|(ツ)/¯ I know of one idol who spent a year and a half studying in the US who has forgotten most of their English. Language tends to get lost if you don’t use it. I understand, too - I studied Spanish through middle and high school. I can’t speak it at all anymore, and I’m pretty bummed about it.

Sorry if it sounds like I’m just repeating points. I don’t think anyone would ever argue it’s a good thing, but I think there are plenty of arguments to be made for people to be… I don’t know, more discerning.

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