Current Events > K-Pop summer topic part 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Which Pretty Girl is that? And I need to hear Le Sserafim sing The Boys

Is there another "Pretty Girl" that would be chosen for this type of thing other than Kara's

No other's come to mind, especially with the caliber of group's that were chosen to be covered

I know that and f(x) and I have no idea which is popular. I can't even remember how Kara's goes without listening again.

I guess Kara makes more sense too since they actually exist.

Kara's was a fairly popular title track and it looks like f(x)'s was just a b-side.

Kara recently released a "Killing Voice" video where it was included as well

I'll live there at least being one of the more decent BP songs there.

YamaChan posted...

That's funny. Ditto is stuck in my head.

Stay in the middle~
Like you a little~
Don't want no riddle~

I won't fill this thread with more chart data, but just know every factoid involving Ditto/NJ is preceded by the words "shortest", "fastest" and "biggest".

They're proving their epic debut was more than just hype. Boy.

I'll see myself out.

I'm with you on this.
I'm fixated on the execution. This is a popularity that wasn't driven by (ironically) hype or hard promotion. The quality of the product seems to be the focus and doing all the work. The team behind it all has been very smart visuals, vocal aesthetic, writing, musical melodic structure, conceptual depth, picking the correct performing talent to make it happen, and so forth.

While I don't want to get into contests and comparisons, I do still think NewJeans is a slap in the face to the industry because of this. Probably a very biased and messed up PoV, but I don't see the point of a group like Kep1er existing. They're still new, but don't bring anything different or substantiated to this industry; and this has nothing to do with the talent it's there. NMIXX too. What is that? What was that creative team trying to do? It's just...filler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD1UblIUEe4

I've noticed they (NewJeans) haven't been so vested in working out bridges or climatic high notes. I would like the latter to appear just as a further imprint of talent, but just like rap verses, it's not like the songs are lacking in any way without it.

When they start touring, it sounds like they're going to be able sustain some realistic and consistent performances.

And then I still keep tabs on ITZY. I thought the quality of work was there this year songs and performances but conceptually (both in terms of subject and sound) they're getting stale. The group has been growing into a veteran (but not at all old) stage, and there should be a better shift in reflecting that.

I think "Snowy" would've been better as the lead going into this winter. Debatable if it is a better song than "Cheshire", but I think it had the more ideal direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLUKXX0sfII
And Yeji is a solo act just waiting to happen.

And not to jump all over the place - Everglow complete unit sighting, albeit just a dance practice on an older track. If they stopped hiring GTA:O players as their stylists and writers, they're a very attractive group. Onda is night and day when you compare her running through ridiculous hair colors and then having her align with more familiar tastes. Maybe it really is different in Korea, but I say realism is the most attractive approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xed9HZcwN3U
A lot of missed opportunities with this group.

KaZooo posted...

NMIXX too

yeah its kinda hard for me to get into NMIXX.

but it did give us Lily, who is an absolute treasure

JYP you crazy for that one

AHHHHH

I FUCKING LOVE THESE WOMEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz-gKyCIf2A

finally, Opera Singer Yunjin to bless our holidays. I have ascended into heaven. i am seated at the right hand of the father.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_McIx4cL8o

OH NO IM DEAD AGAIN OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

https://youtu.be/neAIm6ognmY

Opera Yunjin + Ballet Kazuha

I imagine the production team had a "duh" moment and realized what they could do with that. I'm w/e with the actual play on Fearless, but good on them exploring that intro.

Sakura is slowly sounding better.

belated merry xmas to those who celebrate.

Blessed be Chuu

Please look forward to Season's Greetings

An SM holiday collab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOX73kBRyWs

Haven't given much mind to male artists lately, but interesting how Kai is making out a second career as a vocalist. I guess that's what happens when you're the youngest member of a group like Taemin - you get a huge benefit of having more time between when the group enters hiatus/disbands and military service.

Also, Jeno was a good pick. NCT Dream/U need to use his lower register more to change things up on main vocals with their singles. Unfortunately Dream became a no-go zone for me to check out. Sounds like they're catering to middle school girls again.

KaZooo posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOX73kBRyWs

im a simple man

i see Seulgi

i stan

So

chaewon said taco taco on stream when someone mentioned their hats look like sombreros

of course, folks are acting like shes in the KKK. A supreme racist who wants a wall

and

THEYRE RIGHT! Oh what so Mexicans eat tacos? Do Koreans eat kimchi?! RACIST!!!!

anyway I could go for a taco right now tbh

Looks like YG is finally about to debut their new girl group

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/2/3/AAL5lQAAECpf.jpg

And rumors are floating around about Blackpink transferring out of YG proper over to The Black Label

Im just hoping Teddy has zero involvement with the new group, man ran out of good ideas before Blackpink ever even debuted

Ruddager posted...

Im just hoping Teddy has zero involvement with the new group,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSts2s4ba4

I know its unlikely but let me have some hope for now

KaZooo posted...

Opera Yunjin + Ballet Kazuha

I imagine the production team had a "duh" moment and realized what they could do with that. I'm w/e with the actual play on Fearless, but good on them exploring that intro.

Sakura is slowly sounding better.

https://youtu.be/YhqF-texZko

So awesome how they they incorporated Kazhua's background as a ballet dancer into Kpop.

Ruddager posted...

And rumors are floating around about Blackpink transferring out of YG proper over to The Black Label

lol they're just going to ride that wave until the end of time.

Can't blame them, makes them a solid living.
It's just that the product sucks and too many people are blindly going to be sheep about it.

Won't judge the new group until I see them, but seems like there are some year-end movements with YG
Taeyang and Daesung out (though Taeyang is apparently going to Black Label as well.
Kang Dang Won (actor) is leaving

Musically, I think early Bigbang is still my favorite act from them. It was cooler when they were in more of an underdog position and had to make something out of nothing. Taeyang and GD needing to do backflips and stuff.

I don't really think anything of their more recent groups.

KaZooo posted...

Taeyang and Daesung out (though Taeyang is apparently going to Black Label as well.
Kang Dang Won (actor) is leaving

All iKon members just left today as well, YGE itself has very few actual acts left

In case you were trying to learn all the dance moves as a grown person.

https://youtu.be/Km71Rr9K-Bw

This told me a lot of nothing

https://youtu.be/rYyUpQ_veL4

That was kinda cringe.

When you need to pull people in for their testimonials like an As Seen On TV ad, sounds a little desperate

Chuu with lines
https://youtu.be/OHS1PYKoGuQ

And IZ ONE + Collab Yena > solo Yena.

Best. Year in Kpop. Evar. Except for Loona.

KaZooo posted...

Chuu with lines

See this is what I mean. God I love Kpop. Meanwhile...

_BlueMonk posted...

of course, folks are acting like shes in the KKK. A supreme racist who wants a wall

Honestly? Some people shouldn't be getting into Kpop. In fact they probably shouldn't be getting into anything. Sorry I'll tone down the obnoxious gatekeeper act... NOT!

Ruddager posted...

Im just hoping Teddy has zero involvement with the new group, man ran out of good ideas before Blackpink ever even debuted

Hahaha... ouch!

KainWind posted...

This told me a lot of nothing

Mmm... on the other hand it told me everything I needed to know for now. But let's not be too quick to judge I guess.

KaZooo posted...

Industry has progressed so fast. Aespa and Itzy are kinda their own dated sub-generation. They're not bad, but the trends just shifted.

Nod, along with other groups like Everglow, or else something like StayC, Weeekly, etc (Itzy trying to balance a good mix of both currents actually). I mean, every group's case is different of course, but these sub-generational groups have it hard, they have to claw their way out of their seniors shadow only to be met with a barrage of fresh, adorable rookie babies (with the occasional idol legend like Sakura thrown in for good measure... again talk about stacking your odds).

I'm fixated on the execution. This is a popularity that wasn't driven by (ironically) hype or hard promotion. The quality of the product seems to be the focus and doing all the work. The team behind it all has been very smart visuals, vocal aesthetic, writing, musical melodic structure, conceptual depth, picking the correct performing talent to make it happen, and so forth.

I really don't want to praise NewJeans now because it'd make the post ten times bigger than it already is. I'll just post a couple things I wanted to post way back when we were talking about choreo but didn't. It's long, sorry, just very detailed and it doesn't really say anything new, just articulates well a lot of the thoughts that come. In short you're right, a lot of very smart thinking goes into them. I like his analysis of Antifragile also but again, maybe a little too detailed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnExSBcFt10

Also this from way back which is just stupid clowns.

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2022/08/street-man-fighter-dancers-criticized-after-they-are-seen-mocking-newjeans-in-a-now-deleted-tiktok-video

While I don't want to get into contests and comparisons, I do still think NewJeans is a slap in the face to the industry because of this. Probably a very biased and messed up PoV, but I don't see the point of a group like Kep1er existing. They're still new, but don't bring anything different or substantiated to this industry; and this has nothing to do with the talent it's there. NMIXX too. What is that? What was that creative team trying to do? It's just...filler.

Mmm. Something interesting that happened this year is that while 4th gen was blossoming, 3rd gen was reaching its extremes. Did you notice that a lot of groups actually turned edgier this year? There is obviously a change in trends, but it's slow. NewJeans are the ones that are really pushing it. But I think the push will take the whole generation.

See, with me you know you're preaching to the choir. And yet, I love Itzy. I think they're amazing. I'm always surprised by how easy it is for me to like them. I think I've said it before, stuff that by rights should repulse me, I love it when they do it. And aespa... they are the ones that gave me something new. Because for me it took all this time. I can't just drop that now. I don't want to. Now, imagine the rest of the fandom, and it's not hard to see the reason behind things. There's a lot of resistance behind the push.

This was made by a Blink so it's fun to guess at the thought process behind their matching up, I mean some are obvious but there's some interesting ideas, too... Mostly though I just thought it was a nice little review of the last two years, maybe something to look up stuff one might have missed or forgot, I know I had a lot, I mean there's 150 songs here (although I'm only really interested in a few and I don't expect much to come out of it but yeah).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRjL8O6UzA8

Anyways, sorry if I was a little end of the year reflective, again I've had a blast, I hope you guys have a great one. :)

paerarru posted...

something like StayC0

I meant to say earlier during award season: I feel like StayC kinda got burned by the fast shift in trends. I still think Young Luv was of the best albums this year and it seemingly got forgotten.

Guess it doesn't help that Beautiful Monster didn't go in a favorable direction and Poppy was honestly underwhelming. The B-Sides of Young Luv completely destroy those.

SMCU had a number of performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaz7tqqfDlw

Can't say I'm big on GOT. Similar to SuperM they seem to try to push louder anthem-style tracks, when I think everyone wants to hear a more natural-sounding team up with the talent that's coming together. The last bit of the song sounded like it could've turned into something cool imo.

IU is in a relationship?

Korea right now: https://youtu.be/UEGVGqJEeCo?t=13

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

Their age and this video concept isn't of any wrongdoing, but it's crazy how it's executed to this depth along with Ditto. The lyrical concept I think kinda leans a bit more typical, but it's also thought-out/articulated very well. The hats with ears is silly, but also taking notice how many different looks they're experimenting with. This group is barely half a year old and their creative team is throwing everything at it.

I'd be repeating a lot of the same comments, but essentially I think they're keeping it up, and it furthers the point of how much they are steering this industry out of reach of competing groups. Like YG's group could just come in already steps behind. Man you really can't be telling me NMIXX and IVE legitimately won shit last year with their cheap and/or poorly-constructed products. Just no way.

Let's be honest. They only won because Newjeans debuted 7 months into the year.

I love this song, their concept, the creativity of their label and the very fun and fresh personalities of the girls who bring it all together.

Like I read elsewhere, NJ perfectly encapsulate a nostalgic charm with a vibrant energy that can appeal to both older fans and younger fans.

And they are literally rewriting the record books right now.

Over 800,000 albums pre-ordered
Broke a melon record for most listeners in the first hour with OMG
Ditto has been #1 on all charts for days and the only way it won't have the girl group all-time record is if their own songs takes #1
They have 3 songs in the top 4 on Melon and 4 songs in the top 10. 2 of them came out in JULY

I have never seen a group debut, rise and conquer this fast. Which makes sense. Because it has never happened before.

YG is actually giving Jisoo a solo release...

lol. lmao

Jisoo deserves the spotlight, but only real ambitions is just getting a good payday.
These solos have been mostly lackluster.

YamaChan posted...

I love this song, their concept, the creativity of their label and the very fun and fresh personalities of the girls who bring it all together.

The Ban Heesoo thing was a bit of a trip. Borderline eerie but they've implemented that cleverly.

*kicks door down*

NEWJEANS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!!

GFRIEND REVIVAL IS POSSIBLE BOYS

https://www.asianjunkie.com/2023/01/02/source-music-get-17-trademark-applications-for-gfriend-rejected-opening-up-possibilities-for-the-members/

The hats are really silly... but kinda cute, lol. I just, yeah nothing wrong with the MV, the (dark) humor and self reference are funny (a good follow up after the seriousness of Ditto) but yeah it's just pretty hectic and I just wanna focus on them and the music (lol...) so I'm super happy with the perf vids. I love OMG, you know I think it's already my fav song of theirs which is truly, absolutely insane. One thing is certain, there's no resisting NewJeans and this is their year. Okay maybe two things.

_BlueMonk posted...

GFRIEND REVIVAL IS POSSIBLE BOYS

Good for them, hmm, I wonder what the odds are on the other members coming back and/or somehow reforming.

Things I'm taking notice of atm, which may or may not suggest anything:

• Pre-orders and charts are strong.
• YT views aren't blowing up. And what's interesting to me is if that's making light of the inflation practice with other groups (which was pathetic imo), or because there's a spread of versions (we have 3 Performance vids out same day) out in a short timeframe, or if the concentration of streaming has moved on elsewhere.

I don't really pay attention to statistics, but given with how they're rising in popularity, I'm kinda wondering how this works.

Nice surprise. Looks like we get an actual EP in a couple weeks.

https://youtu.be/tUCT82t1Y8Q

Are you tired of performance vids? Well too bad here's another one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hcdQixxJdA

They still haven't done a comeback stage for this or Ditto

fucking

i love Yunjin god damn

https://www.tiktok.com/@rvizchae/video/7184823392107760901

Warms my heart to hear Orange Caramel so much these days thanks to Chaewon lol

Me realizing that Catallena came out almost 9 years ago now:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/8/AAPHT3AAEEUc.jpg

I think this is the first Mermaid stage performance they ever did
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdZieeRVMyg

Yeah first time, surprised it took so long but maybe they just were just putting off re-choreographing it for 5 members until now since they were pushing Blue Flame so hard in terms of b-sides from FEARLESS. But with the tour coming up later this year they need 5 member choreo for all their songs now. And damn, No Celestial was really made for live performances like this

Their first original Japanese song dropped digitally too, its being used as the theme song for a Japanese drama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-cLjWYZxtA&list=OLAK5uy_maOPBsBye6gbMrxGm9nfLJRkAD8nfybrA

It me or did they, kids, literally just make fun of that one guy on YT?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TgRjKjjxg7k

They pulled that one off without being truly offensive lol

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/3/AATvv_AAEEoh.jpg

Yunjin released another song, and they actually added her first song and this one to real streaming services this time instead of just soundcloud

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9trNIRzbPMc

Ruddager posted...

Yunjin released another song, and they actually added her first song and this one to real streaming services this time instead of just soundcloud

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9trNIRzbPMc

It's cool that they're giving her the freedom to release solo tracks. Wouldn't be surprised if HYBE is actually looking at releasing solo albums for her and/or Chaewon even early in the group's run....instead of waiting 50 years like YG did for Rose and Jisoo after BP was wearing itself out.

Crazy they keep dropping songs out of nowhere

Look man