Lurker > YamaChan

https://youtu.be/MO3uEWJv4OY?si=TZ7ylNMlpeT_C4fg

First girl group ever to win Artist of the Year at the MAMAs and MMAs

Only 16 months old. Only 15 songs.

They are already legends

So. This was the most YG coded song that they could've chosen for Babymonster. I don't hate the song (except for the climax of the song), but I don't love it either, and I think it lacks impact and any sign of evolution in YG's approach and methodology.

We're still filming MVs in static all white set pieces with barely anything going on aside from the girls posing in their outfits and showing flashes of the choreo.

They're leaning into the same bad girls with an even badder attitude energy that everyone associates with BP and 2NE1, but unlike with those two, I don't buy it.

YG, it isn't 2016 any more. The girl group landscape has transformed and is more competitive than it has ever been--this kind of effort won't let BM reach their potential.

Those are my thoughts, and it seems like both international fans and Korean fans are largely underwhelmed.

KaZooo posted...

they kill it like usual but that stage design for Super Shy is pretty insane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw0EKb0R28Y

The transition into those adorable OMG outfits was just as great

I might be accused of being hyperbolic again, but hear me out.

Given the context of that stage, that was one of the most impressive K-Pop performances I've ever seen, and I'm fresh off four Mamamoo concerts, two Twice concerts and a BlackPink concert in the past 2 years alone.

This ranks up there.

The context I mentioned earlier being that NewJeans came out of freaking nowhere just a year ago, have never performed in the US before, had their songs blow up on every chart in the world, including securing the #1 album on the Billboard 200 along with 3 concurrent songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (and becoming only the fourth girl group and first K-Pop girl group ever to have 5 songs chart on the Hot 100 in a calendar year), and with all that hype, they have to perform in front of a MASSIVE crowd of festival goers and fans of all types of artists--there was a ton of pressure for a group that has such limited experience. Oh, and they're all still freaking teenagers.

Yet they commanded the stage and had the full engagement of that entire crowd from start to finish like the veteran groups I saw in concert. Their set was honestly like a fever dream that ended too soon.

I've been to a lot of K-Pop concerts. This festival and their set was special. NJ will never forget that day for as long as they live, and anyone who was there will never forget that experience either.

KaZooo posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df8u26GfBSw

That's a lot of backup dancers. This isn't really the sound I'm into but the chemistry between the two works so well, and simple set design make for a solid release imo.

Of course! It's MoonSun. No two idols on the planet have better chemistry than these two. They're having so much fun with the Mamamoo+ promos and I'm loving it.

Know what I also loved? Going to lollapalooza to see NewJeans for the first time and for their US debut.

That was absolutely the wildest most frenzied K-Pop event I've been to and NewJeans fucking killed it. Literal tens of thousands of people singing all their songs.

Look at this. I was only 15 to 20 rows back so I had no idea so many people were there behind us.

https://twitter.com/newtannies/status/1687448365531893761?t=ovnDTmxtrlGYQ3JSXJGg2A&s=19

And what happened during Super Shy will stick with me forever.

https://twitter.com/newtannies/status/1687248699645194240?t=_AOA82w9p2GQcN0oEvFODw&s=19

What an experience

I'm headed to Lollapalooza for what will probably be the last K-Pop event I attend this year.

Looking forward to finally seeing Hype Boy performed live by NewJeans

I prefer Left Right/Shooting Stars style of XG if I'm being honest

Because I don't think anyone linked it yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJdqn5v4Dkw

The creativity is turned up to maximum for this MV

Isn't Lee Haein, former Produce 101 and Idol School Contestant, the producer or creative director for that group?

I think it's safe to say I was 100% right about Hype Boy being one of the biggest hit songs, not just in this generation, but ever.

It spent 49 weeks in the Melon top 10. A record obviously. And it was only finally pushed out by...another NewJeans song.

On the topic of the top 10, NewJeans has literally spent their entire career in the Melon top 10, and most of that time it's been with multiple songs.

Super Shy debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 at 66 as well, and that's with 20+ Taylor Swift songs crammed at the top. They're not even a year old and have had 3 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Like I said months ago, we've literally never seen anything like this. They are in their own stratosphere.

As for my queens, MAMAMOO, well MAMAMOO+ to be specific, I loved their new release too. MoonSun is the most powerful duo in K-Pop. No two idols have better chemistry in the business (just ask their lifelong shippers), and this latest release was no exception.

They're long past caring about charting and trending, after being in the game for 9 years and counting, and I enjoy the experience of their exploration of the genres they want to perform together.

Like I said, I'm eating WELL.

Guess it's up to me to link my ultimate favs and my new favs

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsYSSVoQnP4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJDMAjwxthM

I'm eating well as a fan this summer

My friends are Onces, and I was invited to both concerts. Rare that I'll turn down invitations to K-Pop concerts. They were also the first two K-Pop concerts they'd ever been to, so I wanted to be there as the veteran concert goer.

Just got back from seeing the last stop for the U.S. leg of Twice's Ready To Be tour in Atlanta.

I went to their previous tour last year, which was at the Forum in Oakland, and I can say that this concert was magnitudes better than their previous tour.

There were pyrotechnics, live band, a lot of special stages, tons of fan engagement and live singing from the members the entire 3 hours they danced and sung in the smothering, southern heat and even in the rain that started to pour down by the encore stages.

I give the concert an A+. I'm not a Once by any means, but it was a fun and very well-paced concert.

KaZooo posted...

kcelgrGY1h8

It's the intro/interlude to their album actually.

All the songs are meant to be listened to in sequential order. Super Shy is dropping at midnight EST!

https://twitter.com/NewJeans_ADOR/status/1670611109454434304?s=20

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/1/3/AAAZxBAAElKt.jpg

KaZooo posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAxY6-77Nnw

mesmerizing at this angle, probably even more so in-person.
Not sure if the choreographed sets were with true live vocals, although for the most part I've been under the impression they can actually back it up.

I almost went to this, but I prioritized Mamamoo for obvious reasons (being a huge stan) and there was a schedule conflict.

I've already seen Mamamoo twice in two weeks, and will be seeing them a third time next week. Maybe a fourth before they leave.

I would gush about how great they were (and it wasn't even the best Mamamoo concert I've been to), but this reddit thread by someone who knows basically nothing about K-Pop says it all

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/13qqvsx/never_really_heard_of_kpop_before_but_got_dragged/

All the new songs are great, but my favorites are

UNFORGIVEN
Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's wife
Fire in the belly

Why are LSF album intros so damn good? Hydra was a fantastic opener, and now I'm loving Burn the Bridge

It's been an exciting 2023 so far for K-Pop as a whole, but that news was just soul crushing to read.

It's just sad and instantly pulls me back to the sick feeling I had when we lost Jonghyun, Sulli and Hara.

RIP

Chris Pratt is a confirmed NewJeans and PINKBLACK fan.

Kek

XGPop

Guess IVE will be the only girl group with a proper full album until we see what NJ returns with in June/July

New full length Aespa album on 5/8

KaZooo posted...

Charlie is a real one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjwuMvwlG6c

Man of culture