#Up10tion things

[yanankim]

its so funny how mnet are pushing the ptg sob story on bp even tho up10tion debuted before ptg

[junseoing]

XIAO INTRODUCING HIMSELF AS BELOVED MAKNAE AND THEN HWANHEE INTRODUCING HIMSELF AS UNLOVED MAKNAE I-

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 0: Getting to Know the Boys Part 4: Team Unique

Hey, friends! This is the fourth and final post in my “episode zero” series of my MNET’s Build Up recaps. I’m giving you some basic background info on each of the boys, including where you may have seen them before, the group they’re in normally if applicable, and my opinion/analysis of their teaser performance. In the previous post, I covered Team Power. This will wrap things up with Team Unique. Woot!

Kang Hayoon

Hayoon is 20, and before this, he went on LOUD and Kookmin Singer. He may have met Jung Soomin (the kid from Chicago) on the show Loud, and he may have met Kwon Euibin on Kookmin Singer.

He was V07, and his teaser song is One and Only by Adele. He has a genuinely unique singing style that doesn’t at all match the way he dresses and looks. It’s a very specific vocal color that might not appeal to everyone -- deliberately somewhat nasal, but in a controlled way. It sounds retro-modern, the way that a lot of Western artists sing these days. He’s obviously a genuine talent, but I can almost feel his throat closing up as he sings. He needs a bit of training to really use that amazing instrument he has. I hope he gets it, and that it doesn’t destroy his natural color. 

Jeon Woong

Hair-stylist Unnies, what the fuck? Seriously.

Much better, thank you.

Woong is 26 years old, and was V11, performing Bad by Christopher. He sings the song almost exactly the way the original performer does, even down to the little purposeful vocal kicks. I would have liked to hear a bit more of his interpretation of the song instead of karaoke version. He uses falsetto to hit some of the high notes, but that’s ok, they’re very high notes and he sounds good. I like his singing in an instinctive way, but I’m not sure how well trained he is.  

Woong is in AB6IX, a four member group (used to be five) from Brandnew music. Like CIX, this is post-Wanna One group; Daehwi, a former member of Wanna One, is the center and face of AB6IX. Woong, meanwhile, is the main vocal. AB6IX started off doing pretty well, but one of their members, Youngmin, had a DUI arrest and had to leave the group in disgrace. It hurt the group pretty badly, and they haven’t really bounced back. Hopefully, going on this show will draw some good attention to the group, who I’ve always liked but thus far haven’t stanned. The song of theirs that I like best (of the ones I’ve heard -- there are lot of kpop songs, you guys, I don’t always keep up) is Close. 

And if you want to hear more of Woong’s voice, here’s his solo song, Moondance.  

Sunyoul

Sunyoul is 27 and a member of Up10tion. 

He has been on a few shows before this, including two reality shows devoted to trot, a uniquely Korean style of music, and a stint on King of Mask Singer in 2016 where he managed to convince everyone that he was a female trot singer. People were pretty surprised when they found out who he was! Seriously, check out his performance -- I don’t think I’d guess in a million years that this was a man.

For his teaser performance, he was V04, and did a song called Twenty Five Twenty One. He had some shaky moments, but showed his strong lower register and some serious vocal agility, moving from low to high notes almost effortlessly. I think he’s one to watch. 

Let me talk briefly about Up10tion. They debuted as a 10 member group in 2015, and didn’t really catch the world on fire. Several members went on ProduceX101 and two members did well enough that they basically started solo careers afterward instead of really bringing the fame home to the group. (I’m not criticizing them -- that was mismanagement on the agency’s part, not their fault.) Three members have left the group, and two members went on Boys Planet (Hwanhee and Xiao). Several members have left the agency, including Hwanhee and Sunyoul, and the future of Up10tion is really dubious at this point.  

Meanwhile, I’ve liked a few songs of Up10tion over the years, so it’s a bummer that they never really worked out. I think the first song of theirs that I liked was Blue Rose. Also, What if Love is great, especially the chorus, even if it sounds like they’re saying “ready for love” instead of “what if love”. In my opinion, a lot of Up10tion songs have weird intros and kind of mid verses and then awesome choruses held down by Hwanhee’s marquee vocals and Sunyoul’s sweet higher register. So if you listen to the first 30 seconds and you’re like “meh?” give the whole song a listen. Also, their song Spin Off was one of the best songs of 2021 and lives forever on my playlists. It’s one of those full-on kpop songs that isn’t really any genre, just sort of pop that makes you feel happy. 

Wumuti

Wumuti is 24 and is from China, though he’s actually an ethnic Uyghur, a Turkic ethnic group that is an officially recognized ethnic minority in China. If you read my Boys Planet recaps, you know that I have a soft spot for him. He just wants this so bad. Plus, and I don’t want to bum you out too much, but the Uyghurs are facing some pretty serious problems, including forced sterilization and labor camps and it’s really really bad. So I can’t help but always cheer for Wumuti, you know? 

He also seems like a really sweet, genuine, and hard working person. He seems pretty fluent in Korean and has been on all the Korean reality shows: Road to Star, The Dance & The Voice, Super Idol, Under Nineteen and Boys Planet. So this makes the third survival show in a row that Wumuti and Jay will be on together! (The other two were Under 19 and Boys Planet.)

Here’s one of my favorite Wumuti performances, gross lollipop aside. (He’s the one in the white hat.) Oh, now I miss Boys Planet!

Then there’s his cover of Antifragile, which he released shortly after getting kicked off Boys Planet. 

Ok, as for his teaser song, he was V12, performing Seven by Jungkook. He sounds fine, though I wouldn’t say at all his voice belongs in Unique. I think I’d call it Allround -- I couldn’t promise that I’d know his voice just from hearing it the way I would with, say, Hwanhee or Jay. Also, the rapping is a little cringe, but TBH it’s cringe even in the original version of the song. 

I think he was hoping to get people’s attention by singing a super popular song in English. His end game isn’t to make the top 4 of this show -- he wants to launch a solo career. I mean, that’s what I assume, anyway. I’m not sure if that will work out for him, but I hope it does. 

Lee Gwangseok, aka, Lee Kwangseok

Gwangseok is kind of a question mark overall -- I know nothing about him, not even his age. We actually learn on the first episode that he has no training at all and works as a model (!). So he has never been on any other show and he’s definitely not in an existing group. 

He’s V19 in the teaser song, showing off a unique, smokey, extremely thick kind of voice. I enjoy his performance, even though he’s singing a ballad, so that says a lot, though I know that some people may not personally like this distinctive style. I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed that he has no training. Maybe he just has good instincts, or maybe he had some light vocal training, like in high school chorus or something like that, because he can hit some fairly high notes in his chest voice. And some singers are charming without training -- Joni Mitchell comes to mind as someone like that. They sing the way they sing, and people can like it or not.

I’ll be really interested in see more of Gwangseok. I don’t know if he’s right for a vocal group based on harmonies, because his voice is so distinctive. However, he’s apparently quite handsome* and that combined with genuine vocal talent and his sort of self-effacing charm could give him a decent solo career.

*Those of you who regularly read my recaps know that I have no idea who is and who isn’t “handsome” or “pretty” in the kpop world. I often pick out the member who everyone thinks is the “ugly one” in a group and choose them as the one who’s best looking! So I have no idea. But the other guys on the show react in such a way as to indicate that he’s really handsome, and he works as a model, so I guess he’s handsome. 

Hong Sungwon

He’s a musical actor, and that’s about all I know. 

He was V21, doing Desperado by the Eagles. He sings it with a slight country twang, which is wild for a non-native speaker. (I assume he’s a non-native speaker? Maybe I’m wrong.) He has a rich, warm tone and impeccable pitch. I don’t love all his weird rhythmic choices in the song, but he’s trying to show that he’s fully singing live. It’s hard to critique a voice like this -- it’s just really good without necessarily really being all that unique. I like it a lot, don’t get me wrong. It’ll be nice to hear him sing more on this show. 

Neon

He’s listed as a solo singer, but I can’t figure out much more about him. There’s another Korean singer in this world named Neon Bunny (check out her song It’s You, one of my all-time favorites -- she’s not a kpop singer, she’s an indie artist and the song is amazing) and another Kpop performer named Neon who is a band called About U, so it’s hard to find out info about this particular guy with the same/similar name. I do know that he’s 28 years old -- that’s about it!

He was V33, doing Rush Hour by Crush. He has clean, nice vocals -- not particular unique, despite his category. He’s just really nice to listen to. Good pitch, good breath control, good power, all the good stuff. In fact, I think I would have put him in the Power category. You can see him in his silhouette performance standing quite a distance from the microphone, still singing loud enough to be heard clearly.  I’m looking forward to hearing more from him.

Kim Seohyung

Soehyung is a musical actor and has a similar singing style to Kim Seongjeong and Choi Haram. So it’s just not going to appeal to me, as much as I can respect his skill. His teaser song was V18, Me After You by Paul Kim. He did falter a little on one of the high notes, but I mean, it was just 90 seconds of singing one song, and mistakes happen. I think he belongs in the Power category, not the Unique category, but that’s just me.

A fan of his made this “Kim Seohyung cut” of episode 1 -- all 90 seconds that we got to see of him in episode one. MNET really doesn’t care much about Seohyung! 

Lee Hwanhee

Hwanhee is from Up10tion, but you might recall him from Boys Planet as the guy who ended up on General Gunwook’s team for Kill this Love. (Performance) You might also remember that he had to withdraw from the show midway due to his health issues. 

He is V38, performing Tomboy by G-Idle. He did the song justice, I thought, putting enough snap and sass into it. There were some backup prerecorded vocals that make it tough to tell how much he’s singing live. But I’ve heard enough of his vocals to know that he’s capable of some excellent singing.

I never got the sense that many of my 3-4 readers liked Hwanhee much, but I think he’s a really good vocalist. I like his distinctive, Baekhyun-esque vocal color, which adds nicely to Up10tion songs. However, he might be a tad outclassed by some of the other guys on this show, who have more training than he does. I think sometimes he wears out his voice and kind of runs out of steam while he sings. 

I think I would have put him in the Power category, but maybe I don’t really understand what the categories are about. 

Kwon Euibin

I can’t get over this official picture. Imagine being like, “Yes, this represents me. This is my brand. I’m going for that, like, pissed off substitute teacher vibe.” I mean. IDK.

He really likes beige sweaters over white shirts, I guess. 

Ok, so Euibin is only 25 years old, and my scouting tells me he’s a trainee going for the idol life. He went on two other shows: The Idol Band: Boy's Battle and Kookmin Singer. On the latter show, he may have met Kang Hayoon, the one who sang the Adele song for his intro clip.

He was V35, another fecking ballad, but his voice was unexpectedly sweet and pretty compared to his serious countenance.  He strained a little on some of the higher notes and the whole thing felt a little uneven, occasionally kind of shouty. It’s nice to listen to despite all that. I’m not quite sure what to make of him so far, so I’ll reserve judgment for now.  But again, not sure he’s “unique.”

Taewoo

Taewoo is 26 and my sleuthing tells me he’s a songwriter who appeared on a few other shows I haven’t heard of, Sing Again 2 and Vocal Play 2. 

He’s V28, Thought of You by John Park. I really like his voice. It’s slightly gravely, in a good way -- it has character. Finally, a unique singer who is actually unique. It’s hard to say how trained he is based on this clip but I know I want to hear more of him!

And that’s it! Gang, we did it. We made it through all 40! Now, I’ll move on to the recap at last. 

See you then and there! 

[gnwwkks2]

A Sweet Coincidence (Idol!Gunwook x F!Reader) Chapter 0: Before Then

word count: 1k

It was early February, the air was chilled and there was freshly fallen snow on the ground. The sky was a dull gray color and the wind was picking up at a rather uncomfortable speed. Contrasting to the weather outside, the dimly lit apartment was warm, the scent of hot chocolate and cookies were fresh in the air. If you looked around, it was a cozy little environment, at first glance you would have barely even spotted the girl cuddled up in her blankets on the couch. Her eyes were focused on her tv screen, her breathing even and steady, her hands were starting to fidget. 

there were three minutes left,

then two,

then one,

then it started. 

The intro of an unfamiliar show rang through the room, the girl stared at the screen as the narrator spoke his words and prefaces. When the episode finally started, the screen read “Boys Planet.” Y/n had been very excited to watch this show that had been upcoming for months. The trainees were announced months ago and she had already found many of them interesting due to their one minute pr videos.  As the episode came and went she thought back to everything she had just witnessed. All of the first audition performances played back in her mind, but one really stuck with her, along with a specific trainee. She had seen this guy before, she couldn't exactly remember where she had though. No, we aren't talking about contestants like Hui from Pentagon, Hwanhee and Dongyeol from Up10tion, Keita from Ciipher, and the Nine.i members, not even the previous members of TOO. She had seen this trainee before, not from being in a group, or acting, or modeling, but somewhere else. 

And then it hit her, it was a different survival show.

She racked her brain through the many different survival shows she had watched through the years, which one was it, where had she seen him? Oh, it was that one, ‘Wild Idol.’ 

Park Gunwook, from ‘Wild Idol’, you had watched this show ages ago, thinking back to that time, she remembered that she really liked and was rooting for him, how could she have forgotten him? You grabbed your phone and opened your gallery. You scroll back to when the show was airing and low and behold there were pictures of Gunwook and multiple pictures of drawings you had done of him.

Scrolling through all of them you came across many things you had forgotten about, including everything you had previously known about Gunwook. All of those thoughts that were hidden deep in your backroom files of your brain came flooding back. No wonder the young male had made such a big impact on you through his pr video and the first episode. Though it had seemed as if his persona had changed, a lot. He was way more confident and it seemed like he had matured so much, a lot can happen in just two years though. When his past show was airing, you found him absolutely adorable, but this time around he was way more attractive to you. 

Just like before the way that he performed showed exactly what he was capable of. He was talented, very talented, and the rest of the contestants on the show seemed to think the same due to the reactions they had when he was announced to be a three star. Even though he was ranked lower than everyone thought he would, it did not mean anything, he was still a talented kid that was not to be messed with. He impresses you. You admire him, not just as an idol, but as a person, a performer. His personality was just insanely likable, his passion could be felt through the screen, and his talent could ot be ignored. All of that plus his amazing looks, his build and his smile, 

And just like that, you were whipped for Park Gunwook for the second time in your life. 

It's crazy how fast someone can fall, and of course you fully believed that you would never be anything more than just his fan. Someone who supports him in everything he does, someone who buys his merch so they would chart higher. That's who you were, and who you always would be, just his fan. It seemed like it lasted forever, but in just a short amount of time, ‘Boys Planet’ was over and Gunwook was selected to be a part of the debut group ‘ZeroBaseOne’. Voting for him everyday for months on end was something you would never regret, and spreading your fanart got you quite a large following on your socials. You were now known as ‘that one gunwook fan, that really good artist.’ ZB1 had performed, met fans, filmed content, all of that leading up to their debut, oh their debut, it was wonderful. 

‘In Bloom’ 

What a perfect song, with perfect lyrics, and with not so perfect line distribution. It stood out, their whole album stood out, it broke records, they broke records. 

“The more I run to you everyday, The harder it becomes to stop.” That line, Gunwook’s line, details exactly how you feel. You will never stop running towards him, supporting him, loving him from afar. It’s a sad thing, something you would never wish upon another. You knew, you knew damn well you would always just be his fan, and you were okay with that ultimately, but somewhere inside, it hurt. 

Second after second, minute after minute, hour after hour, and day after day, you supported him and Zb1 with everything you had. And in that time you had found a mostly unknown but cozy cafe that you had spent most on your time in. Most of it consisted of drawing fanart for Zerobaseone, mostly gunwook. 

Little did you know that on one day, one summer day, things would flip upside down. Cliché, I know, but this is meant to be cliché. 

That day, he walked in. 

-------------------------------

I really hope you enjoyed this first little chapter!

taglist is open!

taglist: @jiaant11 @sunlisstuff

[emeraldbabygirl]

Three former members of up10tion and gon from argon and daeil from 24k and jongup and chunji from teen top all have bubble :( plus more of my favs have bubble that I want but I’m thinking I’m ready to delete my purchases like I think it’s cute and stuff but I can’t keep paying and I don’t know how to delete and cancel the purchases and I love Taewoong and Markie and Yanghyuk and I love getting cute messages from them even if they don’t make sense or respond to me I just think the idea is super cute and sometimes I give them cute messages and tingz like sometimes when I’m feeling down and I get a lil message even if they just ask what I ate it’s so cute and makes me feel a little better but I’m paying like over $30 for Yanghyuk, Taewoong, Kyubin and the neos and it’s hard to just leave my lil friends lol but it’s so expensive and stuff and I don’t really enjoy it anymore :( and I wanted to get Wonhyuk’s dm thing on Weverse but that is so expensive so I’m just gonna cancel everything. They don’t get mad do they? I mean they prolly don’t care but idk

[scarefox]

I think idol companies should come up with better names for their new groups than some random food or object names or keyboard smashes.

kpop group names become more weird with ever new group. Like I get it there are so many groups and it gets harder to come up with new names but think of the customer / fans when we have to say those names out loud when someone asks what group we listening to atm. And then you have to say things like "NewJeans" "En Butter" "UP10TION (up tension / Unbelievable Perfect 10 Members Teenagers Idol Open Now)"

[sweetmastermind]

Boy Groups ~ Kpop Masterlist

*My reading should be taken with a grain of salt, they are not set in stone, they are for entertainment purposes. They are not to fuel delusions or sent hate to the idols.

*Controversial ask through emoji system: how does it work? You sent your question with an emoji attached and separately send another ask with only the emoji you have chosen. Will respond to the ask with an alone emoji.

RULES + Readings I do

Request list

━━━━━━━━ ღ ━━━━━━━━

✦ &Team

General reading - December 2023

Views on Enhypen

Mini Personality for TAKI

✦ ASTRO

Cha Eunwoo - General reading - Sep 2022

✦ Ateez

Love reading

Comeback "Halazia"

Check-up - January 2023

How the industry views the group

Check-up 09/05

KQ Management x Ateez

✦ BTS

Masterlist

✦ NCT

✦ E'last

General energy - August 2022

Love reading - August 2022

✦ Enhypen

Masterlist

✦ EXO

Baekhyun - Love reading

Baekhyun - On/Off stage personality

Baekhyun check-up

Who is more protective + comfortable with skinship

Who is a heartbreaker

Baekhyun in a relationship

How they view the company

Kai - Love reading

✦ GOT7

The first thing they find attractive

✦ Ikon

General Reading - December 2022

✦ Monsta X

Minhyuk - Love reading

I.M - Love reading

Comeback "Beautiful lie"

First thing they find attractive

✦ NCT

Masterlist

✦ Oneus

General Reading - December 2022

✦ P1harmony

01 line - Love reading

General Reading - October 2022

First thing they find attractive

✦ SF9

General reading - September 2022

✦ Seventeen

DK - Love reading

Love reading

How the industry views Mingyu

Comeback - FML

✦ Stray Kids

Comeback "Maxident"

Love reading

General Reading - November 2022

The first thing they find attractive

Career

First half of 2023

How the industry views BangChan

How the industry views Han Jisung

Probable members into spirituality

Check-up BangChan

Dynamics

Check-up ~ Han

Who is Dating?

Kindest

✦ Trainee A

Check-up

✦ Treasure

Mashiro + Yedam check-up

✦ The Boyz

Sunwoo love reading

Eric love reading

First thing they find attractive

✦ TXT

General reading - September 2022

Taehyun - Bahiyyih dynamics

Soobin - Arin

HueningKai - Love reading

Love Reading

Strengths

Comeback "Sugar rush"

On/off personality - Huening Kai

Taehyun views on fans

✦ Up10tion

Kim Wooseok - Career

Love Reading

✦ VeriVery

Comeback

✦ Wei

Love Reading

✦ WayV

Comeback 2022

Lucas check-up

✦ Xdinary Heroes

Jooyeon Career

━━━━━━━━ ღ ━━━━━━━━

OTHER

Predictions

Girl groups masterlist

Soloist/Actors/Other masterlist

[sanstropfremir]

ok, so here's my miscellaneous music show stages post! idk what to even call it in terms of an 'official' title or whatever, but who cares. a lot of my fave stages already ended up in the fave stylings posts or i've talked about them in some other capacity, so this is just for outliers and ones that have stuck in my mind over the last year!

+

set design

test me - xdinary heroes, music core 220723 // the concept of the test me cb was an underground battle of the bands type thing, and i loved the set design of this specific stage because it's so subtle and builts directly out of the existing stage intrastructure. also the yellow jumpsuits are cute, so sue me.

invu - taeyeon, inkigayo 220220 // honestly, i'm just obsessed with the choice to use the led floor panels to to simulate a pool, ringed with the surrounding greenery. the rest of the designs is great but lighting effects are always gonna get me

voyager - kihyun, music core 220319 // i LOVE this ship, it's a great way to work the band into the stage with different levels all in association with the theme.

+

styling

feeling - kim wansun, music core 220108 // the only pants to every exist in the history of ever

wooah hip - mamadol, mcountdown 220127 // my villain origin story is that mamadol was a temporary project group. give us kahi back!!!!

chase - minho, mcountdown 221229 // people have slept on minho's solo which i expected, but honestly i really enjoyed it and i like how he very clearly showed that he had clear ideas that he wanted to explore than aligned with his own interests. the styling overall was not particularly notable bc it's a very naturalistic theme, but this patent leather trenchcoat really is something that only minho could pull off

what if love - up10tion, music bank 221014 // what is even happening with these outfits. i'm obsessed with xiao's shirt.

chronograph - victon, inkigayo 220130 // just looking at any pictures of hanse from any two victon eras should be enough to convince you that gender isn't real.

undercover - craxy, music bank 220819 // fun af fake chain props for the choreo, very theatrical!

focus - ha sungwoon, mcountdown 220825 // he only did one stage bc this was right before he enlisted, but did he need to bedazzle his cleavage like that? did you sungwoon??????? also this choreo is so fucking fast like holy shit you really did the damn thing even though you did not need to

me = naneun - just b, show champion 221130 // if anyone wants to fill me on on what fuck bain is wearing i'd gladly take any info. train conductor chic is all i got

dance with god - craxy, mcountdown 220224 // i can guarantee that on any given day those gold fringed pants will pop into my head at any random time

tomboy - wei, show champion 220608 // no comment

boom - minhyuk, mcountdown 220630 // no comment, but louder. again, another cb that almost made my top stylings list, but i can't keep rewarding him like this. any one of these stages gives me brain damage.

louder - tan, inkigayo 220626 // could not tell you what is going on here. a.c.e's stylist seems to be periodically working with tan and so their styling ranges from fine to excellent to batshit insane on any given day and every single louder stage is a hit. honestly all of their cbs almost made my top stylings list just for the sheer insanity of them.

alone - highlight, music core 221112, YOSEOB PUT THOSE AWAY I SWEAR TO FUCKING GODDDDDDDDD. dongwoon don't think i didn't notice you also but we're not gonna talk about it. also yoseob's collar for this stage i'm gonna be sick who allowed them do this.

+

staging and/or other

this GORGEOUS staging of kim jaehwan's back then, it's one of the few times that i've seen in the round used properly in a kpop context and maybe the only time i've seen it on a music show? also great set design and it looks so good with his pinwheel lightsticks.

tbh i just picked a random ascension stage for this, bc the sheer amount of production value they put into everything they do deserves being viewed even if they didn't make any of my other lists. prop kings, literally.

dkz's mcountdown special stage of lupin, because she's a queen and she deserves the love

plus a couple of not specifically music show performances, but they they are music program performances. mostly this is here for me to pimp kbs listen up bc NOBODY watched it except me and nana and it literally had some of the best stages of the year:

kihyun's solo performance of someone's someone on k-909, bc it's soooooo cute. honestly ppl watch k-909 too they put so much production value into everything

dkz on listen up performing a remake of in the rain, featuring kyoungyoon doing a standing backflip for no reason??

seungsik, subin, and sejun (victon) on listen up having a ball and also flipping a couch over

woohyun on listen up being sluttier than he should be allowed to be

ren on listen up god i miss nu'est so BAD

ghost9 on listen up absolutely WRECKING the hundred millionth kpop song named monster

swan absolutely wrecking on listen up stan purple kiss i stg

+

that's a wrap on 2022 posts! now i'm gonna get cracking on all my backed up asks 😭

[changbeens]

tagged by @chanrizard and @bangchanies thank youuuuuu

name: bee

sign: cancer

height: 5"4

time: 11:35 pm

birthday: july 1st

fave band/artist: skz, nct, ateez, victon, up10tion, fall out boy, taking back sunday, the academy is, cobra starship...

last movie: prey

last show: made in chelsea

when i created this blog: 2019, needed to get away from my old blog so started fresh

what i post: gifs and gfx of various degrees in quality, cOnTrOvERsiAL kpop opinions, random nonsense

other blogs: none, i force you all to perceive all of the things i like

do i get asks: yeah. yeah i do

followers: 4.3k (thank you wtf tho)

average hours of sleep: hours? in this economy?

instruments: primarily bass but also piano, guitar, drums, stylophone, ukulele, i have bongos somewhere...

dream job: person that makes sure changbin's clothes never quite show anything

dream trip: canada

favorite songs: DOODLEOODLEOODLEOODLEOODLEOODLEOODLEOODLE

i tag: i dont know, anyone who wants to i guess...

[kpopcookie0813]

MLT'S (Most Likely To)

This is where I will be adding the most likely to things here.

NCT

WAYV

THE BOYZ

GOT7

BTS

SEVENTEEN

TXT

ENHYPHEN

SB19

BOYSTORY

ATEEZ

TREASURE

EXO

MONSTAX

PENTAGON

STRAYKIDS

EPEX

P1HARMONY

SHINEE

ACE

AB6IX

ASTRO

BAE173

VICTON

VAV

MCND

TNX

XDINARY HEROES

IKON

RIIZE

XIKERS

SF9

ONEUS

DKB

8TURN

WEI

E'LAST

UP10TION

ZB1

BOYSTORY

CRAVITY

TEMPEST

&TEAM

BE:FIRST

VERIVERY

ACTORS

SOLOISTS

[beenzin0]

what do you think about yein going on Mr.Trot 2? I hate that its up10tions survival show era (again)

I can be wrong because I am not in the kpop know but I'm not mad about the trot thing because he's done it before and I DO think entering competitions is a cool fun way to draw more fans! The issue with Boys Planet and survival shows like that specifically for me is the MEMBERS OF A GROUP I ALREADY LIKE GETTING SUCKED INTO A NEW GROUP AND FORBIDDEN FROM INTERACTING WITH THE ORIGINAL GROUP I LIKED THEM FROM FOR 3-5 YEARS LIKE OMG, GIVE HIM BACK?!?!?! And the issue is. Up10 members are good and they will probably win. If they were losers I wouldn't care!

[kmwseok]

⌕ basic info . . .

kim wooseok (김우석) ; october 27th, 1996 ; scorpio ; mono, single and uninterested ; bisexual ; switch ; he / him ; introvert that believes he's extroverted ; idol au (undecided.)

KIM WOOSEOK had an interesting, yet messy life. but let's back start by back tracking a little. he was born in daedeok-gu, daejeon, south korea. he was casted when he was working at a part time job. if you told him 5-6 years ago that he would be living this type of life, he would have laughed in your face. as cliché as it sounds, he decided to join the entertainment industry after seeing his mother cry. he started with up10tion, went to produce, and then he finished with x1. it was eventful, but it was worth and he's glad that he's had the experience. wooseok is very passionate about the thing he likes and enjoys, and will not be afraid to show it. very demanding and sassy, but he means well. also a cat lover even though he's allergic to them.

an avid lover of — cats, drawing comics, playing video games, watching movies, drawing, reading poetry, discovering restaurants, chicken feet, his pomeranian maison ddadda and a bichon frise maison ppoppo.

an avid hater of — scandals, accusations, drama, plagiarism, lack of sleep (even though he barely sleeps.), loud noises, bad weather, neon colours.

[shadowetienne]

Etienne’s Top Fives of 2022: Kpop Edition - Boy Groups

We’re on to Boy Groups as I continue down my list from the roundup post. This has in some ways been the hardest category to narrow down, specifically the order of 2nd-4th and who got the 5th spot (there’s a reason I’ve got 2 honorable mentions).

If a boy group has had subunits or members doing things solo, I consider that part of the group’s body of work for the year as long as they’ve also done some full group stuff. If only a subunit has been active, they’d probably get considered a boy group for the sake of this, and if only solos have been active, then they’d go in with solos.

The list with representative MVs is under the cut!

There were so many boy groups that did at least something that I enjoyed this year, including some that I hadn’t enjoyed anything from up until now. I think that part of the reason decisions this year were hard was that this was just an outstanding year for releases overall. Here’s a list of groups with songs that stood out for me this year in about the order that I heard them that didn’t make the list below: Up10tion (“Crazy About You” / "What If Love"), Onewe (“Universe” / "Montage" / "Still Here"), Drippin (“Villain” / “Zero” / “The One”), AB6IX (“1, 2, 3”), BtoB (“The Song”), Nu’est (“Again” disbandment song), Kingdom (“Ascension”), Ghost9 (“X-ray”), Just B (“Re=Load”), TXT (“Good Boy Gone Bad”), MCND (“W.A.I.1” < first time I’ve liked one of their songs), Vanner ("Rollin"), E’last (“Creature"), Omega X (“Play Dumb” < first song I’ve liked by them), TheBoyz (“Sweet” / “Timeless” / “Whisper”), Golden Child (“Replay”), Epex (“Hymn to Love”), P1harmony (“Doom Du Doom” < first song I’ve liked by them), and CIX (“458”).

Honorable Mention: Stray Kids

“Maniac” https://youtu.be/OvioeS1ZZ7o

If you’d asked me a few months ago, Stray Kids probably would have been making my top 5 hands down. I saw them live and they were amazing! They did a lot that I liked early in the year musically. I... didn’t like Maxident and especially the MV for “Case 143″ at all though (there’s... one song I thought was OK on the album), and it probably impacted their place here. I still love them! They’re among my top groups, but I was reminded that their music is hit and miss for me. It is good going back and listening to “Maniac” and remembering that I do love a lot of their music. I really wish that Maxident hadn’t felt so rushed for me because it definitely dampened my appreciation of their overall body of work for the year. They are incredible live though! And I appreciate that I’ve gained friends both on here and in real life over them.

Biases: Han, Lee Know, Seungmin

Honorable Mention: Ateez

“Halazia” https://youtu.be/SszP3hlQ55Y

Ateez came into this year for me riding the high of “Turbulence” that is probably to date my favorite of their songs, and I had high expectations. Their music so far this year has been interesting, but noting has quite caught me the way some of last years releases did. They were in very tight contention for making it into the 5th place, thus why I have these honorable mentions. I am very interested to see where they take their music and storylines next, and “Halazia” (linked above) was probably my favorite thing that they did this calendar year, it’s definitely an interesting sound and it may honestly grow on me further with more listens.

Biases: Seonghwa, Yeosang

5) Cravity

This has been a killer year for Cravity! I loved “Adrenaline” and enjoyed “Vivid” earlier in the year. They had a song all in English that I liked with “Boogie Woogie” (a rarity for me, often understanding lyrics impedes me ability to enjoy songs that I like auditorily). “Party Rock” (above) was definitely my favorite of their releases this year! It gets stuck in my head, it’s so catchy. I definitely replayed it a ton right after it came out too! Cravity has flirted with being on these lists since debut, but I think that the last time they made it on one was their rookie year (granted, they’ve not been around that long). I think that they’ve finally started to hit their stride, and I’m really hoping for more of them embracing this sound!

Biases: Jungmo, Minhee

4) Oneus

I’ve liked them since debut to some extent, and I’d properly fallen for Oneus as a group with “Luna” last year, but “Same Scent” and the entire Malus album was kind of what tipped them over from a group that I loved to one of my top groups. I had Malus on repeat for weeks. They’ve had a rough go of the past few months (don’t really feel like talking about this, I do have opinions, but it’s not a conversation I’m interested in having at this time), but they’ve had amazing performances since then. And I thought that they couldn’t make “Same Scent” better than it already is, and then they just recently released the traditional version (https://youtu.be/pIVfLX8zW00 warning has flashing lights), and it somehow makes the song even better. I love how they use traditional instrumentation and sound in their songs somewhat regularly!

Biases: Seoho, Leedo, Hwanwoong (I am aware that’s over half the group, no I will not narrow it down)

3) OnlyOneOf

I’m breaking my own pattern a little bit by putting “ズルい女“ (their Japanese MV) as the representative song, but it was my favorite of their full group pieces this year, and I think that it shows their choreo and how they make music, even covers, their own really beautifully. The real thing that put’s OnlyOneOf this high on the list is their body of queer work with the member solos this year in the “be” / “undergrOund idOl” series. “skinz” was important to me conceptually, but it’s one of my least favorite OnlyOneOf songs, and I feel like “ズルい女“ is more interesting to me than “Suit Dance.” I like their songs as a body of work immensely in general though! For the biggest reason that I put them on here, see the “be” series:

Yoojung’s “begin” https://youtu.be/MBx_9nygxaQ

KB’s “be free” https://youtu.be/WkKU-9VnNRU

Junji’s “be mine” https://youtu.be/fzEZeQBvVA0 (close contender for being my favorite)

Rie’s “because” https://youtu.be/6u_nwPzf3pI (my favorite, I love this song so much)

Mill’s “beat” https://youtu.be/H6qN9QFrOJs

Nine’s “beyOnd” is upcoming early in January 2023

They are exquisite storytellers in their MVs, and they have committed to telling compelling queer stories. They have incredible cinematic references throughout their MVs, and I just can’t praise their work enough as a whole! I have made so many posts about their storytelling and queer elements in their work, if you want to see more of my thoughts on them, just go digging through my OnlyOneOf tag.

Biases: Rie, Junji

2) Enhypen

It’s funny to me looking back that Enhypen didn’t make it onto these lists earlier. I was aware of them, and knew that I had some connections to them that made them appealing to me. (The one that I talk about more is that I watched Sunghoon and followed his career as a figure skater, I think that he actually made onto one of my figure skating lists when he was in juniors. There’s another one that’s more important, but that I don’t talk about as publicly.) I love the sound that Enhypen’s been living in recently, but they’ve overall had a sound that I’ve enjoyed from the start. I am very excited to see how they keep developing in the future! While I linked “Blessed-Cursed” above as my representative song for them (I’ve been going back to it consistently since it came out in January, it well deserves the spot), I want to also emphasize how much I loved “One In A Billion” (https://youtu.be/_ATqY9GFRh0) and “I Need the Light” (https://youtu.be/Pfq37N3eA7g) both of which are (at least kind of) OSTs.

Biases: Jay, Sunoo, Jungwon

1) Seventeen

Seventeen have been my favorite boy group since they debuted, and they show no signs of stopping that trend any time soon. I’ve loved their releases this year, among them another solo from Junhui with “Limbo” (https://youtu.be/k0sKWlEhVRk) which was a change from his usual emotional ballad fare, but let him show off his dancing and make an MV that was just incredibly gender. I also have a new favorite Seventeen song, dethroning “Home” in it’s long rein, with “Shadow.” I got to see them live this summer, and Redeim only partially managed to capture me losing my mind over them performing “Shadow” live. Their albums this year have been spectacular, and as always, I cannot wait to see what they decide to do next. I hope that I get to see them live many more times in the future (and if you get the chance to do it, they’re an experience).

Biases: Junhui, Wonwoo, Woozi

I would love to chat about any of the groups on this list! I had such a hard time narrowing this down to 5 this year, and it probably would have been easier to do a top 10. There was so much good music this year!

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Ep 1, Part 1

Hello and welcome to my latest project -- recapping Build Up: Vocal Boy Survival from MNET. The show features some familiar faves from Boys Planet -- Jay, Wumuti, and Hwanhee -- as well as members of CIX, Just B, Up10tion, KNK, Newkidd, Ab6ix, Vanner, A.C.E. Fave1, BDC, IMFACT, M.O.N.T., WEi, and Pentagon. Don’t worry, it’s not Hui this time! I already wrote some posts in which I introduce you to the 40 participating contestants, divided up by their chosen category: Allround, Soul, Power, and Unique. Now, I’ll start actually recapping Episode One. Come join me, won’t you?  

It's tough to find a video link for the full show, and the one that seems most stable doesn't have English subtitles, so I'm going to try my best to write the recaps in such a way that even if you can't see the show yourself, or if the feed you have doesn't have subtitles, you'll be able to understand what's going on.

We begin with a woman playing with little glowing metal bricks. You know, as you do.

Also, those ombre nails kind of slap. 

The woman is our MC, Lee Dahee, who you might recognize (or might not) as one of the hosts of Road to Kingdom. I know her because she played the female second lead in one of my top five K-dramas of all time, I Can Hear Your Voice. (It’s not about singing -- it’s a courtroom drama/noona romance about telepathy and revenge. You guys, if you need a kdrama to watch, just watch this one, ok? Ok thanks.) She’s stunningly beautiful in that show. 

She looks… different now, I guess I’ll say. 

I wish that there wasn’t so much plastic surgery pushed in this business, because I genuinely wouldn’t recognize her, and I’ve watched that drama all the way through at least three times. Anyway. 

She begins to speak, and we hear snippets of various singers as she does. The snippets that we’re hearing are the 40 brief performances that were uploaded to Youtube to tease the show. 

She says, “There are various voices in this world.  Unique voice: A voice that is a genre itself. Soul voice: Voice that moves people with its unique sentiment. Power voice: A voice that solidifies its presence.  All ‘round voice: A voice that can harmonize with anything. When they come together and gain chemistry, a new harmony is created.”

I can’t help but think of Exo. Baekyhun has a unique voice; D.O. has a soulful voice; Chen has a powerful voice, and Suho has a sweet all ‘round voice. Hey, what do you know - the lady is right! It does create a new harmony! 

She explains that they’ve gathered together 40 vocalists for this show, looking for the best combination. It’s a bit of a Queendom Puzzle vibe, but vocal based. And out of the 40, we’ll be picking four. 

We hear from some of these 40 vocalists, speaking over each other, their faces hidden in shadow. We’re going to have to go with these MNET subtitles, that say things like “Catharsis is created when voices are stacked, especially when there are four.” I think it is supposed to mean, “A four part harmony can really bring out the emotions of a song.” 

It’s an MNET show, so it begins with some of the contestants walking in and commenting on how big and cool the set is. They think it looks like the Colosseum, which, meh, not so much but I mean, ok. 

We can’t know who they are yet. It’s dark in the studio and they can’t even see each other. They still bow and greet each other politely, chatting about how nervous and excited they are as they take their spots on their… I don’t know, transporter pads. Beam them up, Dahee!

They’re walking in in small groups, made up of members of the same “category”, and their name tags are color coded to their category: unique is green, soul is blue, power is purple, and allround is orange.

Left to right: Bain, Jay, Jung Soomin 

I love this Korean thing of just shouting at each other, “You’re good looking!” Even in the dark. 

Eagle eyed (and owl-eared) Boys Planet fans probably recognize this guy:

It’s Jay Chang, from Boys Planet! As I said in my other recaps, I love Jay's vocal color, which is clean and lovely, and though I think he could work on his technique, he's definitely a great singer. He also seems like basically a nice guy, though he gives off slight fuckboi vibes to me. Is it just me?

Hong Seongjun (former BDC), in the white jacket that makes him look like a waiter, recognizes his neighbor in the brown jacket as Seunghun from CIX. Hong Seongjun says, “excuse me… aren’t you from CIX?” Seunghun bows to acknowledge it, and Hong Seongjun says, “But you’re way too famous,” ie, to be on this show, and Seunghun says, “no, I’m not, I’m really not.” 

Another group enters, led by a mop of light colored hair that I think belongs to Geonu, also known as Lee Geonwoo from JustB, who you may have seen on I-land. 

Some more people come in, and one of the trainees -- this red haired fellow, my darling Bain -- says “oh my God! Sunbaenim!”

That hangul there says “oh my God” phonetically. 

My darling Bain, also member of Just B , has recognized Jeon Woong from Ab6ix. I don't have any data on where they would have met, but they probably have a lot of friends in common at the very least. I think a lot of idols know a lot of other idols since they all train together at different agencies and go on these reality shows together all the time.

People are surprised that Woong and Seunghun are on the show, but not as surprised as they are to see Yeo One from Pentagon, who enters to the strains of Pentagon’s biggest hit, Shine. One of the other guys says, “It was so dark, but he was so handsome that I could see his silhouette.” I think the translation is a little wonky here, but I love the idea that if someone is really handsome, you can see them better in the dark.

My darling Bain says to Jay, “I’m shocked to see such big players.” Jay replies, in English, “Big time players make big time plays,” and do you see what I mean about the fuckboi-ness? Even if you like him, you have to admit that’s a bit cringey. Sigh. Jay, honey, why'ya gotta say things like that?

Jung Soomin replies, in English, “I’m a small time player. I just started!” Soomin is American, specifically from Chicago, and I guess his head was cold that day. 

They’re all present now, each one standing on his own transporter pod bay. Oh, MNET. 

They all applaud in excitement for the beginning of the show, and my darling Bain interviews, “Welcome to Survival!”

The lights come up in the studio and now the boys can see each other. So now it’s time for them to react to how handsome and famous they all are.

Yoon Inhwan in his gray suit interviews, “When I looked around, I thought I was in trouble. Everyone was too handsome.” Look at all the handsome fellas, including Kim Minseo, in blue, and a bunch of idols, including Seokhwa from WEi, and two members of Just B: my red-haired darling Bain, and pink-mop-headed Geonu.

Just FYI: I’m going to keep calling Bain my darling, because I listened to his stunning cover of Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo and now you know I still love him, baby. I talk more about it in my episode zero recap.

Hilariously, our old friend Lee Hwanhee (from Boys Planet) says he’s intimidated by the other guys. Hwanhee is always a little insecure, isn’t he? I think he’s had a lot of setbacks as an idol, and it’s wearing on him. 

Neon, in green, tells his neighbor Hong Sungwon in the half gray, half white sweater that he feels defeated in terms of looks. Aww, you’re fine, Neon! I think you have a cute smile. 

Seokhwa from WEi voice-overs that he’ll dominate with music, not looks, and this fellow on the left…

… says, “this is about voices, right?” He is Park Jeup, from IMFACT, who is also a solo artist. I just have to say, omg, his bow. That is a full on pussy bow, you guys. That square, lantern jaw juxtaposed against that bow is a sight to see and I am here for it. (The guy on the right, wearing the red suit, is Hyukjin, from a nugu group called Fave1.)

Everyone’s excited to hear each other’s voices. 

Sunyoul (in the pink sweater) from Up10tion, same group as Hwanhee, is looking around the room and sizing up the other people, wondering if he can tell who is or isn’t a good singer based on their looks.

Then there’s a bit where a few people notice Jay. Kim Minseo, in blue, who sang Rolling in the Deep, kicks things off. He interviews that he was wondering if Jay would be there. Guess he watched Boys Planet too! Or Under 19, perhaps.

There’s this cute moment, where Hwanhee points Jay out to his neighbor, Seunghun from CIX. 

Hwanhee is like, “That guy over there with his hands in his pockets? He’s really good.” I bet that Hwanhee and Seunghun have met before, since they both have been in the game for several years.  Hwanhee is a year older than Seunghun and debuted around four years before him, so he's both hyung and sunbae to his nervous neighbor.

Then there’s a mini montage of them all recognizing each other -- Hyukjin noticing Jay, Hwanhee noticing Hyukjin, Bain noticing Hyukjin and pussy-bow Park Jeup. Hwanhee says that they’re “vocal monsters.” Hey, man, so are you! Where is your confidence, my friend?

But a lot of the contestants are intimidated by each other. 

Suddenly…the lights go down again! And to make it even scarier, the subtitles punk out for a few minutes! This happens at about 6 minutes into the episode. So, let me give my google translate a real workout until the subtitles come back. Here we go. 

A fanfare of glittering light heralds the entrance of MC Lee Dahee. The boys freak out. On screen, it says, “IS THIS TRUE?” as the trainees all stare open mouthed.

The camera does a full pan up her legs to her body, and on the Bilibili site -- now sadly denied to us all -- something in Chinese scrolls across the top, which my phone translated as “The English subtitle is so tiring.” I know that’s not quite what it meant, but I love it.

As Wumuti stares, open mouthed, it says “LIke a goddess!” 

Someone says, “Is this true? Isn’t this AI?”

“She’s a celebrity!" “Wow, she’s so pretty.”

As Hyukjin -- wearing that red leather suit jacket -- looks on, it says “Angel’s Descent.”

Hwang Inhyuk in his ombre pink sweater says “It’s a good thing you came out.”

Dahwee says, “Hello!” and they all say hello back. “I will go on this journey with all of you. I am the MC, Lee Dahwee.”  

On screen, as they all frantically bow, it says “Thank you very much <3 “

As our old friend Hwanhee gives the thumbs up, it says “Best MC-nim.”

I’ll give a sort of interpretation of the on-screen words’ translation since they don’t make a ton of sense. Basically, she’s telling them what’s going to happen next. There’s 40 of them and, through various musical missions, they’ll build a 4-member team. At the end, only one team will be selected to debut. This group will be an opportunity for the whole world to enjoy a kpop group with proven vocals.

Choi Suhwan in the black jacket over a white shirt and with parted bangs, says, “Ah… only 4…” 

This is Bitseon (from M.O.N.T.), on the left, and Taehwan (from Vanner) on the right. One of them is voice-overing, “I’m sure there will be a big fight over the song.” 

Lim Junhyeok, wearing a white hoodie that I guess he picked off the top of his laundry pile, voice overs, “there are many people who are good at singing.” Junhyeok was kicked out of Day6 after only being in it for six months -- I talk about it in my episode zero recap.

Donghun from A.C.E. is wondering what songs they’ll sing, I think. As I was writing these recaps, it was always so funny to me that Donghun is from ACE, because based on the way he’s dressed and his demeanor, he looks like he’s a detective in a noir movie who just got off shift and is about to order a whiskey at the bar. I hope you don't mind if I call him Detective Donghun in honor of that.

Dahee goes on that there are 40 participants, who chose what voice color represents them. 

And right around here the subtitles come back, bless ‘em!

Yoonseo in the red and black leather jacket says, “Allround voices go well with many genres,” and we see a few of the various Allrounders.

Next, we take a look at the Soul singers:

Then the Power singers:

And finally, Unique.

The weird LED stage they're standing on turns into a pie chart showing the breakdown of the categories, and that is delightful.

Then, Dahee announces that they’re going to dive into their first major mission: Voice Check. “You’ll listen to voice files,” Dahee says, referring to the teaser songs we already heard. “If you want to build up with that voice, press the button.” 

So this is a bit like the beginning of Queendom Puzzle, when the girls each performed for the others one at a time, and they all voted on whether each girl was good or not, essentially. Here, though, the boys are deciding who they want to work with in their teams of four. They’re choosing solely by the voice -- no looks, no sympathy.  

It’s worth noting that them wanting to work with someone isn’t necessarily equivalent to thinking someone is good singer. They’ll be looking for people who they think their voices would harmonize well with. Regardless, Dahee explains that “the outcome of the evaluation will impact your first mission greatly, so make careful choices.”

The boys are nervous -- what if someone gets zero votes?!? 

We see some staff members scurrying around giving them all some really uncomfortable looking plastic stools to perch on.

And as they’re settling in, Lim Junhyeok (former Day6) turns to his neighbor, Woong (AB6IX), and says, “Your name is Woong, right?” 

“That’s right,” says Woong.

“I knew you when you were at JYP,” Junhyeok says, putting his hand on Woong’s shoulder. 

Woong immediately gets really excited, jumping out of his chair. “Wait, you were at JYP?! When were you a trainee?” 

“Day6,” Junhyeok says, simply. 

“HYUNG!!!” Woong says, recognizing his old friend and giving him a hug. 

Filmed on MNET's very finest Idaho russet.

Aww! This is exactly the stuff I watch shows like this for. FRIENDSHIP IS THE BEST SHIP, you guys. 

They’re all asking each other what songs they sang, and from what we see, no one is telling anyone. Soomin, our friend from Chicago, asks Jay “Whad’ja’sing, whad’ja’sing?” They’ve got that English speaking connection. Jay, who is definitely feeling his oats, says “It’s part of the surprise.” 

Meanwhile, Hwanhee cannot take his eyes off the MC, Dahee. He’s like, this show is scary and I never do well on the 8 million survival shows I keep forcing myself to go on, but this gorgeous emcee is making it all worth it. I am going to use this as an opportunity to stare at her as much as possible before an actual bodyguard appears to drag me away. She’s 38 to his 25, but I believe in the power of love, don’t you?

They’re all nervous, especially CIX's Seunghun, who busies himself staring at the floor. Yeo One voiceovers, “How many of these people will like me just from hearing my voice?” Aww. As we'll see, that is Yeo One's major storyline -- he is used to being a good looking backup dancer in Pentagon, and wants people to actually like his singing voice.

Ma Jaekyung, in his too-big-for-him gray blazer, asks KNK's Inseong if he’s nervous. CIX’s Seunghun says his heart is beating like crazy. Taewoo wonders who the first one up will be.

The first song that plays -- at least, the first song we hear play -- is V02. Jaekyung and Inseong both recognize the song immediately and look at each other and say “Baby Baby!” in unison, almost like it was an improv exercise. 

Everyone recognizes the song -- we even see Dahee mouthing along -- and those of us who watched Boys Planet probably recognize the voice: Jay. 

The editors do this cute thing where they superimpose the image on the floor, but I really don’t think it was shown live.

I have to wonder if Wumuti at least recognized the voice? This is his third reality show in a row with Jay! But all we see is him saying, “well done.” 

Everyone seems to really like the performance. It is really good, naturally, though it wasn't completely perfect. (See my episode zero recaps for more info on what I thought of each performance. And please don’t get mad at me!) A lot of people are pressing the button to indicate that they’d like to perform with Jay. Can't blame them at all.

Hong Seongjun from BDC interviews, “He has a trendy singing style. He’d make up for what I lack.”

Everyone wants to know who the voice belongs to, but first, they’re going to reveal the votes, reveal the votes, reveal the votes, reveal the votes! The guys immediately realize that this will be their fate -- to have their vote talley revealed in front of everyone! Someone says, “oh no, this is like a public execution.”

The vote is revealed: 23 people voted that they’d like to work with V02 (Jay). Those who voted for him are surprised that only 23 voted for him out of 39, when to them, the voice seemed so good. Are people just way too strict? No. 

Kang Hayoon explains that he thought about voting for the voice, because it was amazing, but he didn’t think that it would harmonize with his. (Spoiler alert: I think he's right.) I think a few others had a similar thought. I’m pretty sure if the vote was “did you like this?” everyone would get 39 out of 39. Well... most people.

Of course, this voting criteria is a bit of a problem, because the show is using this voting system as a way to rank the contestants by quality, and yet the metric they're using isn't necessarily identical to the issue of quality. I guess it's better than voting whether the person is "better" or "worse" than you, like the girls had to do on Queendom Puzzle.

Dahee reveals that the voice belonged to Jay , and Hwanhee’s neighbor, Seunghun  from CIX, gestures as if to say, yep, you got that. Looks like Hwanhee at least recognized Jay’s voice!

Jay voiceovers that he was on an idol survival show (we see clips from Boys Planet) but didn’t get many chances to show his vocal skills. I mean, he did, but people just hated him for being foreign, mainly. Or for whatever random reason, IDK. Here at least people appreciate him -- his neighbors tell him he did a great job. 

Next up: V16, End of the Sea by Choi Baekho, as performed by musical actor Kim Seongjeong, the one in the tan jacket and striped tie. It’s a lovely performance, if not exactly to my personal taste, and everyone immediately reacts to his deep, rich tone. It’s a “real voice” that “fills the studio.” 

Seongjeong gets 25 votes, again, not an indictment one way or another on his quality. 

After that deep voice and sentimental performance, everyone is really surprised when he gets up and says he’s going to dance. He dances a bit while people clap, then unexpectedly just launches himself into the air with an amazing spinning leap. 

When he's done, he bows and says: “Dance, physique, and song. I’m the new actor, Kim Seongjeong.”

Dahee asks him if anyone has ever told him that he looks like well known actor Kim Woobin, and I guess I kind of see it. Seongjeong interviews, “Where do I look like him, exactly? What part of my face? My eyes? Is it because I look like a dinosaur?” and he offers us a huge grin that completely transforms his face. Aww!

What a cutey. 

Ok, in honor of his jump spin, and the fact that he said he looks like a dinosaur, I’m going to call him the “leaping lizard.” But I don’t mean that in a mean way. Like I said, I think he’s got a great smile! I like him. 😀 This is just to remember who I’m talking about. Cool? Cool.

Alright, I've used up my allotment of 30 pictures, so it's time to wrap up this segment of the recap.

And just as a note, the first 30-45 minutes of one of these shows are always really, really slow going for me as I get to know who is who. I have to do research, read Korean name tags, etc, etc, and it takes forever. I'm not going to promise to catch up to the show, but I hope to at least gain on it a little.

Thanks for following me on this ride! I'll see you in the next one!

[wuahae]

OMG OKAY CAT STRAP IN BECAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE A RANT

i cannot. actually believe that blue box bitch is making hui compete on bp999 after being in the military for two years. what the fuck. as a ptg fan it is super discouraging to see and i’m rlly worried about the future of pentagon :((( the gp999 contract was an exclusive 2.5 year contract, and if it’s the same for bp, then hui will not have been in a comeback for pentagon for nearly FIVE YEARS !!!!! being a uni is like being punished by god for real

also, this minghao thing hurts bro. ik he probably didn’t say it with the intention of being malicious but that does not change the fact that the sentiment is harmful… idk man, feels bad lmao. i’ve struggled w body image issues my whole life and to hear something like that come from minghao makes me feel uncomfortable and rlly insecure. never would have expected that from him (or any of them) but tbh that’s probably my mistake lol

sorry to dump all this on u and i’m sorry i’ve been m.i.a 😔😔 my tiny lil dumb brain is not working lately so i’ve been trying to take it easy ahdhsh ilysm cat 💛💛💛 take care of urself -🦁

i’m strapped in!!

THE BLUE BOX FJWKFKDK and yeah ,,,, i heard it was gonna be a full 7 year contract this time with the first half promoting only with the new group and the second half promoting with both your own group and the bp999 group?? but like idk i hope he pulls a nu’est where he gets super super popular and makes it to the end and then he doesn’t get voted into the final group wkhdwkkfwk but honestly we never know what the situation is until the show comes out with his interview :/ i’m not even a uni (real) i’m just a casual fan but its just so ….. 😭 btw the fact that hwanhee and xiao from up10tion who debuted around the same time as ptg are here too ,,,,, the trainees are about to get shown up!!!

and ok. when i first saw it the minghao thing was really disappointing to see and i know that this is said all the time but it doesn’t make it less true ,,,, east/southeast asian culture tends to carry the sentiment that being bigger is inherently bad and it’s not surprising that there was a clip of him saying those things and repeating that rhetoric when its the culture he was raised in.

BUT. THIS IS A REALLY BIG BUT. i also heard people saying that it was a mistranslation and the clip that went viral is actually not showing the full context? (p.s i don’t want to seem like i’m defending him or excusing minghao if he really did say those things but i’m just relaying what i’ve seen!) but basically the translation on the video kind of misconstrues what minghao was saying. the full context was that minghao was asked what advice he would give someone who was skinny and wanted to gain weight, and then asked for advice for someone chubby who wanted to lose weight. minghao then says that what’s most important is loving yourself, because when you love yourself you can know what’s best for yourself, whether it be exercising to gain, lose, or maintain your weight. and that initial thing where he says “stop eating” is said like . jokingly/sarcastically, because the host had previously said that he lost 15kg in one month from not eating and minghao was just referencing that again (and also after he says the joke he gets serious and says that this sort of thing was something he can’t just say carelessly, which is why he goes onto explain his actual answer and advise). the overall message he was trying to say was to love yourself no matter what size you are.

even so, i doubt minghao is completely guilt free in what he said (even if he didn’t mean it like that), especially since he’s still implying there’s a certain “body type” that’s considered healthy(?). but again, if it comes out that minghao really did say it like that then i’m disappointed but not really surprised, but also i think we shouldn’t jump to conclusions before getting all the facts straight :’)