#anyways side from that the entire song is a straight up fire bop

[carolinakncws]

@girlpsych​ picked was forced into 93 | spotify wrapped meme

DEAR READER — TAYLOR SWIFT / bend when you can, snap when you have to

Evan stood on the precipice of ‘ AFTER ‘ to his current self, which was the ‘ BEFORE ‘ of his life’s turning point, the one that had brought him to Hawkins in the first place. He had chased leads, chased down loose ends, down any rabbit hole or cursed path, trying to scramble, desperately digging in the soil, through dead and forgotten secrets to try and find out what had happened to her.

Dear reader, if it feels like a trap you’re already in one

He’d found HER, instead, the vision that haunted his dreams, all of his waking hours, and coloured herself into his daydreams. Gwen. Four letters was all it took to shift his world on its axis, to send his heart spiralling in a different direction entirely, to make him DREAM and WISH and LOVE again. Things he knew the old Evan had been capable of, but the one who had come to Hawkins had tucked away carefully, only to be opened under very particular circumstances.

Dear reader, burn all the files, desert all your past lives

Fingers found her jawline, dancing their way along to her hair where they sunk themselves in. He’d never felt silk before but was certain this is what it was, luxurious and beyond his reaches, yet here was Gwen in his arms, showing Evan that he could find reasons to keep going. All he had to do was reach out for them. So he took the chance to step away from the one-track minded young man who had come to Hawkins with only one path in mind, and he let God, the universe, show him another way, lend him another source of light for his journey. Gwen was the guiding light now, and as he kissed her he let his heart open, he let the worry of pain and distraction fade away as he tasted what he’d always expected to be peach but was something closer to cherry. A surprise, as always, was Gwendolyn Blake, and Evan breathed her in as he took a moment between parted lips, the pair of them brushing against each others in a way that Evan was certain would be burned into his memory for the rest of his life. He’d pick her up then, arms around her waist, and they’d find the comfort of his bed for the evening. He’d remind her that love was worth chasing, that there was nothing to be scared of — as each piece of clothing was kissed off of her.

You should find another guiding light, but I shine so bright

He stood now with her hand in his, the photograph of his sister he kept protected in his hand, trying not to show the ways his eyes prickled every time he saw it. There was no going back to the hopeful Evan, the one who thought maybe if he hid his sister’s face then someone, one day, would approach him and say ‘ I saw a girl who — ‘ and he could let the emotion flow from his eyes, freely now, knowing she was real and others had seen her, too. Without this photograph she was merely a figment of his imagination, wasn’t she ? A phantom, a curse, perhaps, proof that the Devil was real and he worked inside the mind, not through people, but through the world inside Evan’s head.

These desperate prayers of a cursed man spilling out to you for free, but darling, darling please — you wouldn’t take my word for it if you knew who was talking

Gwen was who Evan had come to love, the one who stole all of his hopes away from dusty boxes in cupboards to genuine possibility, into the hope that Evan could exist outside of the world he’d built for himself. It wasn’t God that restored a sense of faith in him, it was chestnut hair and a smile that send his heart into overdrive. Evan knew that she was the comet in the sky, rare, beautiful, mesmerizing to watch and yet in the blink of an eye could disappear.

It was up to him to find the courage to change his trajectory and aim for her.

— to a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there

[insomnihan]

han’s Entire Thoughts and Feelings on CLC’s “Devil”

THEYRE BACK SO IM ALSO BACK ON MY BULLS HIT STAYING UP UNTIL 2AM TO WATCH IT AS SOON AS ITS UP aka its TIME AGAIN to be a loud CHESHIRE™ ON TEXT POST

there are no read mores here so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ its my brand

ALRIGHT SO-

THE SONG IS A FUNKY JAZZY BOP™ AND A HALF its the kind of song you just literally BOUNCE in your seat and make you sway from side to side THAT CHORUS IS INSTANTLY CATCHY AND ADDICTING TO LISTEN TO i love the guitar and horns and that weird laser whistle sound????? so much throughout the song!!!!!!! theres a part that goes ‘i tried to be so polite’ that elkie and seungyeon sinGS UUUUUUUUUUGGGHH THATS SO SATISFYING TO MY EARS THERES SO MUCH SEUNGHEE I NEARLY CRIED SHE SINGS THE CHORUS TWO (2) TIMES HER TONE IS INCREDIBLE AND WHEN SORN SINGS IT AFTER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- (THE SECOND CHORUS WITH YUJIN IS FANTASTIC TOO) YEEUNS RAP OKAY LISTEN I LOVE HER RAP BREAKS IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR SONGS AND THIS ONE DID NOT DISAPPOINT THAT INSTRUMENTAL BREAK PUNCHED ME AND THERES MORE YUJIN AND EUNBIN!!!!!!! THEY KILLED THEIR PARTS THEY WERE SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! no im not gonna talk about seunghees breath from the first second we know how i feel

THAT BRIDGE with eunbin and elkie was pretty interesting it stays upbeat and it passes really quickly i dunno why but it felt a little off??? i dunno why??? it just does to me??? i feel like it ends too soon??? just a smidge tho- and it barely makes it to three (3) minutes???? (no is about the same length) but im still BOPPING

sidenote: apparently seunghee mentioned (i dunno where tho) that this song is similar to pepe and that sure is true lmao

THE DANCE remember when i just mentioned how it makes you wanna bounce and sway WELL THATS BC theres a move in the chorus that does just THAT!!!!!! the moment i saw it i copied the move like I GOTTA IN FACT the choreography for the entire chorus is SO fitting like its just lots of hip and shoulder movement BUT it just feels so RIGHT- during yeeuns rap part theres a little bit of a move they did thats similar in their song ME and lowkey i thought that was cool!!

THERES SOMETHING ABOUT that hip move that murders like the way they swivel around first and their hand movement with it and then leading into the side to side just SO SATISFYING TO WATCH especially during the last part in that darker setting!!!!!!!

seunghee starts the dance............................... thanks........ the dancing during eunbin and elkies parts during the bridge was lowkey kinda funny but i found myself following and copying it like sticking my hands out like they did in the video BUT overall it goes with the vibe of the song VERY well!!!!

THE VISUALS the overall video premise reminds me red velvets russian roulette like they are REALLY trying to KILL EACH OTHER IN THIS MV (or at least injure each other) with the soap slipping pushing sorn off that chair dropping that thing on yeeuns head that vacuum literally THROWING DARTS and LIGHTING FIRES and THE MOST DANGEROUS OF ALL....................... stepping on legos.........

SUPER COLORFUL............................ BUT FINISH IT WITH BLACK AND DARKNESS i thought that was interesting LIKE i knew it was coming from the teaser images but i DONT HATE IT the song is called ‘devil’ after all going all dark and lowkey menacing at the end is welcomed here!!!!!! i feel like its supposed to lowkey represent their concepts from debut to now yknow???

I LOVE ALL THE BRIGHT COLORS THO especially the yellows and pinks BUT THEN paired with colors like that blue and green and salmon color or whatever like THAT is just P L E A S I N G™ to my eyes there was ALWAYS a bit of all these colors in nearly ever scene and theres just so mucH BALANCE its pretty refreshing™ if you ask me

BUT THAT ENDING WITH ALL THAT LOWKEY CREEPY (but like not really) PROPS LIKE ALL THOSE BARBIE HEADS AND EYES LIKE THATS AESTHETIC™

SOME SCENES THAT I LIKED AND WANNA MENTION:

FIRST SCENE WITH THE ALL OF THEM AT THE TABLE SURROUNDED BY DESSERTS I WAS HOOKED I KNEW I WASNT GOING TO LOOK AWAY FOR A SECOND 

FIRST DANCE SCENE WITH THE BLUE AND PEACH COLOR OR WHATEVER COLOR THAT IS 👌

THE BATHROOM WITH THE HOT PINK WHERE SEUNGYEON AND YUJIN WERE IN and then made her fall over with the soap and seungyeon acted like she was eating it in the middle of a bathroom

THE ROOM SEUNGHEE AND SORN WERE IN WITH THE YELLOW CHAIR (love putting her in yellow chairs i guess) nearly lighting her on fire seunghees face after makes me laugh lmao

THE DARK GREEN AND ORANGE.............................. Y E S

THAT ALL YELLOW ROOM ELKIE AND EUNBIN WERE IN and it contrasted with elkies bright pink dress and eunbins darker outfit my eyes feel so blessed™

THE DARK SCENE LIKE THEYRE IN A HAUNTED MANSION WITH THE FLASHING LIGHTS I LOVE-

I CANT EVEN DESCRIBE IT I JUST LOVE LOOKING AT THEM

(okay but that chair sorn was on only had one leg i just wanted to mention)

AKA I LOVE EVERY SCENE I LOVE THIS C H A O S™

T H E M

OKAY DENIM ON DENIM YOU DIDNT HAVE TO ATTACK ME LIKE THAT™ AND the construction boots????? really?????? in front of my carton of barbie heads?????? YOU ABOUT TO MAKE ME WORK FROM HOME????? why would you do this if you KNOW HOW I FEEL????? but................... thank you i owe yoU MY LIFE- maybe its just me but at the moment ive been really feeling more brighter things so this.................... is some good food and like i know theyre supposed to be menacing but those black outfits make them look like an all-female biker gang more than anything-

also LEGS™

you usually save the best for last HOWEVER SEUNGHEE a whole WOMAN™ SHE REALLY KILLED ME THIS TIME AROUND i mean is there a time she doesnt kill me lets be real FIRST OF ALL BLACK HAIR BUT ITS STILL THE SAME LENGTH THANK YOU that dark green dress just suits her SO well!!!!!!!!!! also i just love green SO CLASSY™ with the headband and black heels pls- THAT light blue denim on denim with black crop top with the little pony tail...................... at ease i LOVE that look on her so much i dont think yall understand!!!!!!! then the BLACK DRESS!!!!!!!!!! the shoulders out!!!!!!!!!!! the thigh high boots!!!!!!!!!! when she does that dance move with her hips her figure accentuated by her belt.................. at ease x2 (also that one second of a scene where shes smiling over her shoulder in the black outfit i just wanted to mention-)

yujin pls that pink plaid outfit with the pink heels with your purple beret youre sO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LISTEN that denim with the crop top jacket???? with the orange and pink twin braids I CANT SHE LOOKED SO GOOD WITH THAT OUTFIT ON AND THEN THE BLACK LEATHER (is it leather) and the little two BUNS ON THE TOP OF HER HEAD!!!!!!!! A LOOK™!!!!!!!!!! i just always always think shes just so cute but also so fierce????? it breaks my neck i dunno how to describe it i just really like her face????

SEUNGYEON BETTER LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE WITH THAT PINK AND GOLD TOP WITH THE BLACK SKIRT STUNTING WITH HER BEAUTIFUL TAN SKIN she looks so so SO GOOD with the short hair BUT LIKE i love that hairstyle in general so thats to the SURPRISE OF NO ONE shes wearing a darker blue denim but i cant understand the shirt??? is it a jacket wrapped around like a shirt??? so the black outfit with the leather shorts and then she threw the jacket at the camera like the Baddie™ she is................ thanks-

must you be so beautiful sorn??? the braids with the clips in the dark denim with the black crop top i cANT- THIS HAIR COLOR IS STUNNING ON HER I DUNNO HOW TO DESCRIBE THAT COLOR BUT IT LOOKS SO GOOD SHE IS SO FINE™ DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT YELLOW FIT WITH THE PLAID YELLOW BERET HOW COULD SHE LOOK SO GOOD WITH SO MUCH YELLOW ON????? that black outfit with the single bun on the top of her head and her hair is like super straight and the boots to her knees im SO-

yeeun you always kept your bob pls keep iT FOREVER- the one piece dark blue denim with that big green clip in your hair YOU MAY BE FIERCE BUT JUST LIKE YUJIN YOURE CUTE™ that red dress with the black heels and then they gave???? you extensions???? for your high pony tail with the black bow??? its cute but i mean i feel like that wasnt needed??? it wouldve looked great with just her short hair i dunno fashion FINALLY the last black outfit with the black hat and one glove and black boots that outfit HITS like pls punch me

DOES ELKIE JUST............... HAVE TO look like a princess?????? like she just always looks like a princess i cant explain it!!!!!!!!! SHE JUST FEELS SO PRINCESS-LIKE honestly i feel like its bc whenever they kinda make her hair wavy or something like that it just makes her more classy looking??? the denim two piece and her skirt is actually half light and half dark blue honestly thats a Look™ its cute!!! that hot pink dress with the one sleeve im HERE FOR IT!!!!!! PLS SHE LOOKS SO CLASSY!!!!! the black outfit is just a black dress BUT the black combat boots and her silver accessories like literally kill me with that hammer youre so stunning™-

so we agree that eunbin took that pink wig from jisoo right?? from ddu-du ddu-du?? jk but IM SO GLAD TO SEE HER MORE IN THIS MUSIC VIDEO!!!!!!!!!! WITH MORE LINES!!!!!!!!!! ANYWAY the light blue was fitted rather loosely but it still looked SO BOMB ON HER and her hair was so straight and that really made that whole Look™ that black dress with her kinda messy hair with combat boots while she was vacuuming elkies hair is an ABSOLUTE LEWK™ I LIKE IT A LOT!!!!! but seriously something about that pink bob is like............... im not sure if i like it??? i think i do??? the grey hat and fringe really pulls that whole look together honestly

tldr: *chefs kiss*

LIKE this was their style and sound of music i believe in the beginning and its nice to hear it again in a new way!!!! its fun and the instrumental even after listening to it so many times im still dancing along with it!!!!!!! i slept late as hell (bc yknow i had to watch this mv) and had to wake up hella early but I AM PUMPED FOR THE REST OF MY DAY!!!!! i mean like no which also barely hits three (3) minutes but im sure just like with no im not gonna mind that duration

IN CONCLUSION: MY MOOD WAS LIFTED TENFOLD LISTENING TO THIS I FEEL SO ALIVE NOW

[manchestereyes]

my ii experience (spoiler free!)

So my II show was exactly a month ago now (what the HELL) but no matter how much time passes, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the feelings of elation and connection I felt that day and night. And I hope I never do.

I was lucky enough to have meet and greet for my show (you can read all about that experience here if you’d like and watch the video of it all here!) but right now, I’d like to focus on what happened after that, all leading up to the actual show. Don’t worry, this won’t have any spoilers--rather, I’d like to focus on the things I felt while Dan and Phil were onstage. Because oh man, did I feel a lot, in the absolute best way.

As the meet and greet itself took a lot out of me, I chose to just sit in the lobby of the theater with my friend Kayla afterwards to process everything and fight with the horrendous cell service just so I could post my photos on Twitter and Tumblr. Honestly, if Dan and Phil ever tour again, I hope they don’t come to the Rosemont Theatre and can book somewhere in downtown Chicago instead--not only because downtown is easier for me to get to but also because those theaters hopefully wouldn’t leave me without service for a solid half hour before they opened the doors to let us go to our seats. But anyway.

The coolest part about these couple hours of waiting, though, was that I actually had a few people come up and talk to me (if that’s you, by the way, hello! Sorry I was a bit of a flustered mess but I hope you had a wonderful time at the show!), saying they recognized me from my meet and greet pictures and/or knew me from Tumblr. As someone who’s so used to fading into the background, this was huge for me. Not only did I feel like I had a connection with real people I’ve had actual conversations with online, but for the first time in two years, I had actual real live people I could enthuse about Dan and Phil with. I could do this enthusing out loud. I didn’t have to limit it to furiously typing at my phone and constricting my vocal chords so that only the tiniest of squeaks could escape.

I was truly myself for the first time in….god, I don’t even know how long. And it was the best feeling ever.

(Also why I miss the day and the show so much now and would give anything to see it again buuuut we’re not gonna talk about that right now!)

Walking into the theater floor and down to our seats was probably the most thrilling thing I’ve ever experienced. Finally, the stage I’d been seeing over and over again for three months was right there and freaking huge and glorious. Despite being all the way on the far right side, right by the speaker, we still had an incredible view that made my splurge on those resale tickets SO worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to an actual stage since the last choir concert I sang in at the end of my senior year of high school. Exhilarating doesn’t begin to cover it.

After taking the obligatory selfies with the stage, I had a couple more people say hi, surprisingly enough--including someone who said they had read all my fics and loved them (hi if you’re reading this!! ily!!! And I’m so sorry for being a bit of a frazzled mess! There was just so much going on and my brain couldn’t quite process it all lol). And for me, that was one of the highlights of the entire night. I won’t lie, I was hoping for this in the back of my mind ever since tickets went on sale but I never expected it would actually happen. I now know how Dan and Phil feel when they run into people on the street who say they love their videos. It really does mean the world.

No wonder they wanted to do a second tour so badly.

I should add at this point that the pre-show playlist was straight up FIRE. Just like with TATINOF, Dan and Phil did a really good job of putting all the best songs in the last half hour or so before they went onstage. I won’t spoil any of this either (even though I know most of us have been bopping to these songs since April) but just know that I was dancing in my seat with the biggest smile the whole time. And then one of the coolest things happened:

A couple girls started running around the main floor seats with a pride flag and EVERYONE started cheering for them. And then other people joined in with various other pride flags. And the cheering grew even louder, if that’s possible. I had the biggest rush of love for all these people in the theater, from all kinds of places and stages of life, who had all come together for these two dorks and who shared some commonalities and maybe even some life experiences, no matter how old we were or where we came from.

For a few seconds, I felt connected to every single one of those 4,000 or so people. Even though I only talked to a handful of them.

And that feeling only intensified once Welcome to the Black Parade (finally) came on and the whole theater glowed with the light from hundreds, maybe even thousands, of phones.

I really wish Dan and Phil could have seen that. Because it really was so beautiful it almost made me cry.

Seeing the real, actual Dan and Phil on that stage...I don’t know if I can ever describe it. It was the biggest rush but it also felt so comforting at the same time? Like I was meant to be there. It really gave Dan’s earlier affirmation of “We’re proud you came here today!” a whole new meaning.

Maybe actually going to the show was never a question for me--I was going to get there one way or another--but yeah, there were times where those obstacles seemed insurmountable. But I got there. And it was so worth it, a thousand times over.

I have to say, one of the best parts came near the beginning of the second half: Phil was talking about something (I don’t remember what) and Dan was standing right in front of me (sldkfjlsdjflsdkjgkljhlfksdfghjlskh) looking out at the audience--I assume in an attempt to quell some serious heart eyes. In the process, though, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Dan because, come on, he was right there and gorgeous as heck and I’m convinced I made awkward eye contact like two or three times with him. Like, I swear his carefully controlled face was screaming, “Why the hell are you looking at me and not my gorgeous bf??”

Well, Dan. It’s kinda impossible not to look at you. (And maybe I like watching people’s reactions. And maaayybeee my demon may have jumped out. But like, it’s impossible for it not to at this show.)

Phil can certainly agree to that first assertion, though. Especially in the first half, when every time he tried to take his eyes off Dan, they were dragged right back there in two seconds by some force even bigger than the two of them.

I still can’t believe I got to see that with my own two eyes.

Overall, Dan and Phil most definitely achieved everything they were hoping for with this show and so much more. I was on cloud nine the entire time they were onstage. Even better, though, I felt like I was right where I should be. Like I was coming home. And I met some incredible people who I’d freaking LOVE to meet up with again if we ever get the chance.

For someone with pretty bad social anxiety, that’s something of a miracle. And it’s all thanks to these dorks who met each other on the internet and created an entire life together. Pretty inspiring, isn’t it?

[popliar]

K-Con Australia, 20170922-23

The first Australian K-Con was held over the last two nights in Sydney, and @proteinscollide​ and I were there. I'm very behind on everything else as a result! I need to watch Knowing Bros! ANYWAY, short version: IT WAS SUPER FUN. Lots of rambling under the cut as usual.

22 September: SF9, Pentagon, Victon, Girl's Day, Exo

23 September: SF9 (again!), Up10tion, Cosmic Girls/WJSN, Wanna One, Monsta X

Overall this was an extremely well produced show and a really fun show - I had such a good time! Okay, the "convention" part not so much (I'll talk about this a bit at the end of the post) but at both evening shows, the concert ran like a slick machine, stage following stage with no pause, good sound and no technical hitches. Visually the show looked great, with massive screens giving good views of every performer as well as fantastically atmospheric backdrops.

It didn't sell out on either night, and again I'll talk about possible reasons for that more later, but as a vehicle for hallyu and for promoting Korean culture this is potentially such a powerful instrument. One of the most striking K-Con images for me is the footage of K-Con Paris from 2016 - the pan from the section of the crowd for the French dignitaries and delegates, all politely seated and clapping, to the massive auditorium of French youth going absolutely wild for these pop groups from the other side of the world. This show didn't have that element of official endorsement, it was much more a straight-up pop show, but hey you never know, that might come…

Soft power has its limits, for sure, but within those boundaries Korea is working so very hard at being the very best it can be. I admire the gumption, and more importantly to Korea I am happily consuming the product! Give me more product! I'm here for this!

As far as line-up goes, this K-Con wasn't the best. Exo are absolute stars of course and there were other notable groups like Monsta X and Girl's Day; on balance however this was a really rookie-heavy sausage-fest. The prevalence of rookies is probably partly bad timing - the show coincided with the DMC Music Festival (which was eventually cancelled anyway due to labour disputes, argh, we could've had it all!).

But the boy-heavy line-up? Frustrating. Apparently WJSN and Girl's Day are the first girl groups to perform here since 4 Minute some three-four years ago. WHY? Perhaps there's a perception that since Western fans are mostly girls then they'll only turn out for boybands - I know in Korea the audience for girlgroups is skewed towards boys. However, here in the West, pop as a whole is coded so heavily female that I'm sure wouldn't be a problem. I've been to many Western female pop star concerts and trust me, the girls SHOWED UP. Hell, at this very same arena, Little Mix are performing later this year. Besides, this argument falls flat if you look at other K-Con line-ups which, although boy-heavy, still manage more than a measly 2 girl groups. Gosh I'd have been so happy with the addition of any ONE of Red Velvet, Mamamoo, Blackpink, Pristin, Gfriend, Twice, etc…

...that was a long intro. Let's talk the show.

Chanyeol (EXO)

Night 1

The first night of K-Con began with a pre-show of kpop dance cover groups (they were all good but some were REALLY GOOD) and Kevin from U-KISS as MC (did u know he looks like Lee Pace around the eyes?), doing his cheesy best to hype up the crowd and also promote the con's primary sponsor.

Then the show got started with a VCR, featuring Monsta X's Minhyuk in a sort of spaceship-themed narrative? I don't know what I saw but apparently K-Con's first Oceanic showing needed heroes or defenders or something, i.e. kpop groups? Whatever cool. I do know it involved Minhyuk looking at a picture of a kangaroo so we're all good.

Also apparently Sydney is the city of "arts and culture" and also "romance"? I'm flattered on behalf of my home, and I can assure you we have plenty of all three, but really?? Those are not, like, the first words I associate with Sydney. But ok, you do you K-Con!

Exo's Suho and Sehun then came on as the night's special MCs to deliver a brief introduction and be cute together and make the crowd scream. Naturally, there were Exo jerseys and banners and lightsticks all over the place; earlier in the day I got handed a cute banner to celebrate Chen's birthday, which I then promptly used to test proteinscollide's knowledge of Exo band names. (She improved greatly through the evening!)

First group up were rookie boyband SF9 - I've enjoyed their songs and MVs without knowing much about them. This rapidfire 3 song performance made me more of a fan! They just hit all their beats really well, both in terms of performance and in their brief introduction ment, advantaged by one member who was a fluent English speaker. Their line distribution is kind of weird - there's maybe three members who dominate the vocals and the dancing, especially Taeyang who I kept thinking of as "that one guy who looks like Shinee's Jonghyun" - but not enough to detract overall. I have no favourite but maybe my favourite is the rapper with currently red hair who reminds me of SVT Jeonghan and Pentagon's E'Dawn.

Something like K-Con is the perfect platform for a rookie group to get this kind of exposure. My own first exposure to kpop (aka the reason for my eternal downfall) was winning free tickets to a Boyfriend & JJCC show - I knew nothing about them, knew next to nothing about kpop, and JJCC were a hot mess sorry - but seeing the groups in person and live was enough to make me want to know so much more. I feel like this SF9 set functioned in much the same way. It was SO much more impactful than just an MV or a youtube clip or a gifset. This is how fans are made! (That said… I'll get to it, but SF9 got two bites at the cherry. Why?)

Next up were Pentagon and their brief set was great. Their songs are such bangers - I SAID BANGERS, DON'T AT ME - and they were really polished and powerful. Kino's opening dance solo was super charismatic, and E'Dawn (aka the only one I can consistently recognise) was working that jawline of his so well, lol. He does the bad boy thing very well! I admire it! For their ment, they played the "Pinata" game as seen at other K-Cons this year, i.e. a random game was selected. (Would the game be 'Propose'? It was not propose, but one member did get down on one knee to E'Dawn anyway, good job good fanservice.) In this case it was a random dance play, and it was very amusing and silly.

Probably my favourite thing about Pengaton is how far and fast proteinscollide has fallen for them. Can you believe at this time last year she didn't even know all the MX member names? Now the student has exceeded the master! Post your Pentagon post bro!

Sehun and Suho came back to introduce a special stage: Exo's Chanyeol in duet with WJSN's Seola, for his OST track Stay with Me. This was a nice, pretty interlude and a bit of a breather after the fast pacing of the first two sets.

Seola (WJSN)

Third rookie group Victon bopped cutely to a very Australian-themed video backdrop and they were very entertaining, without necessarily making me want to seek them out further. I think that's more to do with their concept being more cute than Pentagon and SF9's, so less appealing to me on those grounds. But they have their charms and most importantly one had a mullet! I'm HERE for the mullets, don't even think I'm joking.

Next up were Girl's Day. They're down to 4 members now but their experience and their casual confidence made them so enjoyable to watch. They played their hits including Something, Expectation and Ring My Bell with such a sense of fun and sexiness, dominating the stage and playing to the crowd with the relaxed ease of vets who have nothing to prove. There was a hunger to the rookies that gave them more edge but sometimes you just wanna watch really talented ppl relaxedly doing their very talented thing.

With everyone acutely aware there was only one act left to take the stage, a couple of SF9s came out to MC a special stage. They did the usual "how are you guys enjoying the show" and "we love Australia" and all that jazz, and then made the fatal mistake of asking an open-ended question:

SF9 MCs: so who is Australia's favourite boy group? Crowd: BTS!!! MCs: Yes, Exo!!! #awkward

I lol'd! I am sorry! Bless you Exo but c'mon!

This was followed by a brief VCR of Australian fans naming their favourite boybands, and then a really fun special stage of boyband covers:  Pentagon covered GOT7's Hard Carry;  SF9 covered Exo's Monster; and Victon did BTS's Fire.

At last it was time for EXO - MUCH CHEERING FROM CROWD!  Exo-Ls were out in force. There were also tons of lightsticks in the crowd and everyone was hyyyyped.

Now some context for my reaction: I can name all the Exo's and I like some of their songs, but I don't quite click with their aesthetic/dynamic in the way that I do with BTS, etc. They were also at something of a disadvantage, with D.O absent from the line-up (I had to count them twice to make sure sob) and Lay MIA from this entire comeback (though I guess that's no longer surprising).

So let that be the background for me saying that I was totally entertained and impressed by their set. Starting with Power and ending with Ko Ko Bop, they came out and gave a great show. They are after all professionally charming and who was I to resist?

For me again it's that idea of a live show being so much more powerful than a video, even for something as preplanned and artificially constructed as pop. A concert is such a powerful reminder that it's more than the performer, and it's more than the audience too - it's about the relationship between the two, that alchemy of atmosphere and act that you only get in that specific environment.

Yes, Kai was deadly with his fucking winks and seductive looks (how dare you sir), but the way the audience reacted to his performance is what made the show go off. Xiumin aka Cat Pirate was also a scene stealer for me, and it was very darling when Chanyeol threw confetti at his head at the end awwww.

(I just wish, like, SM were less SM-y. I got a message from proteinscollide after the show - "Girl walking thru car park: shout out to SM who never give reasons for why members aren't there and if they're ok". Um, yep. I had to check on twitter to find out that D.O was off filming a movie.)

Ending stage was as usual with everyone coming out as tons of confetti rained down. I think a SF9 hugged a Victon? AWWW FRIENDS. A good night.

Night 2

We started again with dance cover groups - colour me EXTREMELY impressed by IME Dance Studio - and Kevin from U-KISS giving away a prize to whoever in the crowd did their best impression of their favourite thing to do in a hotel room. This led to a really hilarious scenario as the cameras zoomed in on 2 girls "dancing" together. "Yes, they're dancing!" Kevin said, "of course they're dancing!" Everyone just cracked the fuck up, Kevin included. They got the prize, bless them, which was - ofc - a free hotel stay!

The show started with the same VCR as the day before and then I was EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED by Monsta X's Jooheon and Shownu taking the stage together to drop an absolutely fire performance. Jooheon's duality is amazing - cuddly scaredy-cat off stage, fucking monster on stage - he was SO GOOD. Shownu's dance break was great as expected and I cried tears in my heart bc I love them.

SF9 returned for the second evening - again, they were slick and impressive, and they namedropped kangaroos and meat pies in their intro ment, good work on ticking off those keywords lol. But I really don't know why they got sets on both days? Did FNC decide they really wanted to build that fanbase and made the necessary commercial arrangement with the promotors? Like I said, stages like this can be real turning points in making a fan. So that's fascinating. If anyone knows, lemme know?

Daehwi (Wanna One)

Three Wanna Ones then took the stage to briefly MC. It was definitely Kang Daniel and uh, two other Wanna Ones! *hastily googles* It was Daehwi, who was the most fluent in English and was super cute & cheesy, and Minhyun, who was also cute but I don't remember much? Sorry team. The only Broduce bro I can 100% identify is Daniel, and sometimes Jaewhan. But! I think I'll remember Daehwi from now on - he was pretty memorable and did the most heavy lifting in the ments. Anyway they delivered some potted intros and then on to the next one.

WJSN then performed a special stage, covering two Kylie Minogue songs as two subunits - Locomotion (which I note came out in 1988, older than every single K-Con performer except for Sojin of Girl's Day) and I Can't Get You Out Of My Head (2001 - there are rookies debuting born in 2001! And younger! God i'm so old). Firstly much love for preparing a special stage with local appeal that didn't feel pandering and really spoke to the long history of amazing women in pop, and secondly THEY WERE SO GOOD. Fun, bright, poppy - I love them.

They were followed by Up10tion who did a high energy set and I remember why I liked them! They're good! I don't quite click with all their songs, especially their more recent ones which I feel are a bit hit and miss, but just like every other group in this K-Con they delivered their set with professionalism and skill and charm.

There was then a brief interlude with MX's Kihyun and I.M, MY TWO LOVES, MCing an audience dance game. We got to see Kihyun doing the Twice TT dance and my world was made. Gosh I love them.

WJSN

WJSN then came back for their set and I just really like them so much. They have that sleekness that I've come to associate with Starship because of them and MX, with both groups always having good choreo and catchy hooks. I like their concept a lot too - they're cute sassy cheerleaders, yes, but I also feel like there's this very cool edge to them, they could easily cut you! I love that! As they acknowledged in their ment, 2 members couldn't make it due to filming schedules (I think it was Cheng Xiao, the dancey/gymnastic one? And Mei Qi, possibly? I'm sorry, I don't remember) but they were still very good and I enjoyed their set a lot. And their main rapper - god, I'm sorry, I don't know if it was Bona or another member - she was SO GOOD? She had so much stage presence. Gosh. I need to find out her name.

Next up were Wanna One. Now, ofc, Produce 101 never officially aired in Australia. We had to watch it on the internet like a bunch of animals. And yet out of all the groups on both days, their fans were definitely the most intense and the most scream-y - yes, more intense than the Exo-Ls and the Monbebes!

I only ever saw snippets of P101 and as I said I can only ID Daniel with certainty, but I was, hmm, not surprised I guess that they turned out to be endearing? CAN U IMAGINE, a group of young men voted for according to their charms turns out to be extremely charming?! The shock!  (From a purely commercial standpoint, what a brilliant exercise this has turned out to be. I think the limited timeframe for Wanna One to make bank lends an edge of urgency to their fandom and means their machine is also geared to maximum efficiency. Make! Bank! Now!) And because they're young and new, there was a certain edge of rawness and spontaneity to them which is naturally part of their appeal too. I still don't quite know what I feel about Kang Daniel - like I know he's very fond of cats and therefore a good person, and he has this easy, cocky stage charisma which makes his appeal seem very straightforward. But I think I found him most endearing when he missed a step at the end of his dance solo and there was just the cutest expression on his face, like "my bad."

For their Pinata game, they did photo time with hyung line posing "cutely" and maknae line posing "sexily" followed by some kind of free for all - A HOT MESS, lol.

Daehwi also went off script - or at least, he said he went off script, but can you ever really know? We need to go deeper! - and wished happy birthday to Kuanlin, getting the whole audience to sing along too, awww. As I said: what a group of charming young men; the self-awareness that they were constructed to charm ultimately means nothing.

FINALLY MONSTA X. They're, like, my second favourite group after BTS so I think I would've been just fine if they'd shown up and waved at us and sang like a song or two. But they didn't! They were really, really good. As headliners they had a signficant chunk of time and I think I was smiling from start to end, non stop.

They've turned into such good performers - with something similar to that same easy confidence that Girl's Day and Exo had - and I felt like they really did the most, on the second night, with connecting to the audience. Their performances were all on point, and everyone of them looked and sounded great but Jooheon especially killed me with swag and Wonho's collar & cleavage can fuck right off, ISTG. It just made me so happy to see them doing these songs and choreo I love so much - Shine Forever and Beautiful and Fighter - and they ended with Hero, my very first MX song, which was amazing. (I am a little sad they skipped All In but ok I can live with it.)

For their ment, they played the proposal game, with three members doing their very best fanservice lol. A very happy woman in the standing area got to be audience surrogate as I.M laid on cheesy lines (something about angels and heaven, IDK, why is he like this and why do I love him so much), Kihyun sang a ballad to her (next to me proteinscollide died a death), and Wonho came down to the barrier to to give her a heart, selfie & cheek kiss. It was so! Cheesy! And Wonderful! #the selfawareness does nothing

Everyone then came out for the goodbye, though MX were the only ones who felt relaxed enough it seems to actually get silly with the confetti and do some more spontaneous bows & waves to the crowd. By comparison to every other group on the 2nd night, they must be the old hands at K-Con by now - they've done SO many. Gosh I hope they come back to Australia for a full show. I love them so much.

Fuck, I'm now at 3300 words so let's wrap this up quick:

Unlike other K-Cons which seem to have a proper programming and convention stream, the "convention" part of this was really a disappointment. Minimal programming, minimal stalls (less than 10 vendors), all in one room. It was free entry which is fine I guess except that people were queuing up forever to get inside due to the limited capacity and it was H O T (over 30 C each day) out there. In the end I queued for an hour, and spent about 15 minutes inside. It was really not worth it. Luckily proteinscollide & I had options and just went away for a few hours to pass the time before the show, but I imagine there were a lot of kids left hanging around Olympic Park all day with nothing to do.

The shows didn't sell out. What does this mean? Possible thoughts:

-It was really expensive and the audience skews young. Like, the premium tickets were REALLY REALLY expensive and good tix were expensive. I could afford decent tix, but if I were in my teens? No way. I'd have had to ask my parents for it.

-Sydney has had a run of shows including an Australian-exclusive BTS show. If you're interstate and you already spent $$$ going to BTS, or for that matter $$$ to go G-Dragon in your own state, how much money do you have left over for concerts in this year? There is a limited capacity for this audience to keep spending. Promoters should be careful not to spread us too thin. Put more shows on in Melbourne! (Though I don't know - are there more Koreans and east Asians in Sydney? I suspect there are. The audience, again, skews heavily to those of us who are Asian-Australian.)

-Exo, MX, and Wanna One are very popular but don't have the same mainstream reach in Australia as BTS. BTS also had the advantage again of being earlier in the year, only the 2nd major kpop tour in the year I believe. Since then there's been other kpop and khip-hop shows for people to spend their money on. I really thought Exo would give BTS a run tho, given how well their latest album performed on Australian iTunes charts.

...that was not a quick wrap-up.

TO CONCLUDE: I HAD A GOOD TIME, THANK U FOR READING.

[pharahlesbian]

hi, so i just followed you recently and i see you're into kpop. i've been trying to get into kpop for a while (esp the girl groups) but it's just such a big community i have no idea where to even start. do you know what i should do or who to listen to?

ok ok im so happy someone’s asking me about kpop lol? i generally dont talk about it that much. pls feel free to talk to me more as u get into groups and such. anywayy, here are my favs!!

(everything under the cut bc im about to talk for a while)

GIRLS

-f(x)

top bias, favorite group ever, i love them. they debuted as 5 members (victoria, amber, luna, sulli, krystal) but sulli left the group in 2015, right before their most recent album. managed by sm entertainment, debuted in 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7MHZpSNJQc 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8I8QGFA1oM 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnku4o3tRB4 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j7Umwfx60Q 

look up any of their stuff, i have literally their entire discography lol they really don’t have a bad song, imo. they were introduced as like a “cool” little sister group to girls generation, another sm girl group who’s really big in korea and who u might have heard of if ur sort of already getting into kpop. 

-girls generation (snsd)

speaking of girls generation, lol. their korean name is “so nyuh shi dae”, hence the snsd acronym. they debuted 10 years ago under sm, and they’re so impactful on korean culture that they’re like in textbooks and shit. they’re currently 8 members (taeyeon, yuri, yoona, sooyoung, tiffany, hyoyeon, seohyun, and sunny), but they debuted with 9. jessica left in 2014 after some messy shit with the company. snsd is like HUGE in japan. their japanese songs are so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVCubhQ454c 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_gfD3nvh-8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8j_XEn9b_8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq7ftOZBy0E 

-red velvet

one more sm group lol. i kinda hate sm because they treat their groups rly shitty but i love their groups so much. ANYWAY, red velvet is sm’s most recently girl group, debuted in 2014 with 4 members: irene, seulgi, wendy, and joy. in march 2015, they got a new member, yeri, which everyone was kinda confused about. she was super young at the time, like 16 i think, so maybe she was too young to debut in 2014? dunno. their concept is that they can do girly concepts (red) and more mature, r&b type concepts (velvet). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFgv8bKfxEs 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpAn9ryoB4Y 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGdbaEDVWp0 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px2Q47O0_eE 

-twice

managed by jyp, another big company like sm. debuted in 2015 with 9 members (jihyo, nayeon, jeongyeon, sana, mina, momo, chaeyoung, dahyun, and tzuyu). they were formed after participating in a survival show called sixteen where sixteen jyp trainees competed to be in the new girl group. i’ve been following them since their debut so i have a special place in my heart for them. also they’re all younger than me so they’re all my daughters 

they’re pretty huge in korea atm, and everyone’s calling them the next snsd, which is making snsd fans (sones) all pissed off and starting a really dumb fan war. this is why i dont rly align myself with kpop fandoms lmao theyre all so embarrassing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rtV5esQT6I 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7rCyll5AeY 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePpPVE-GGJw 

-gfriend

another favorite. i forget what company they’re under. they debuted in 2015 with 6 members (sowon, yerin, yuju, sinb, umji, eunha). they’re from a super small company but theyre so fuckin talented that it caught everyone’s attention. also they went viral because yuju fell down a lot on a rainy stage once alskdfjs. they’re super known for their really tight dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxnD5AViu6k 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-CKVr6Z1Tw 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag2R7Mt8yI8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se8bbsUFjC8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8CydQ-Y3Hs 

-mamamoo

debuted in 2014 with four members: solar, moonbyul, wheein, and hwasa. literally the most talented and straight-up performers in every sense of the word, on this entire list. i havent even written the boys list yet, but they beat all of them. they have amazing chemistry, beautiful harmonies and dancing. they have amazing control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGgrRoMJ6Yc 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h41Rrk_6rzs 

they’re literally so funny and cute and charismatic and talented as hell, pls get into them

BOYS

get ready for this list to be like dramaaatically shorter lmao anyway girl groups are better than boy groups bye

-shinee

best of the best. shinee fucking invented singing, dancing, and the concept of boy groups altogether. they’ve done some really stupid concepts, but somehow they ALWAYS WORK. they’re under sm (surprise, surprise, i love everything sm does ugh) and debuted in 2008 with 5 members: onew, jonghyun, key, minho, and taemin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DocBfPIgk70 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dww9UjJ4Dt8 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF53cptEE5k&spfreload=1 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcu7yZBeSKw 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJua7KEP_oE 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nchkAmc49p4 

-bts

literally everyones fucking obsessed with bts, including me. stands for bangtan sonyeondan, which roughly translates to bulletproof boy scouts. debuted in 2013 with 7 members: rap monster, suga, j-hope, jin, jungkook, v, and jimin. they were like crazy hyped-up pre-debut, which is probably why they’re so big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw540DtB5mM 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8MfJg68oCs 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALj5MKjy2BU 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE9f-TEutc 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEeFrLSkMm8 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Sistar

Exo

Ladies’ Code

Wonder Girls

2ne1

Block B (if ur into homestuck you’ll recognize nilili mambo)

Girls’ Day

Oh My Girl

After School/Orange Caramel

Pristin

Seventeen

AKMU (duet)

Ailee (solo)

AOA

IU (solo)

Lee Hi (solo)

Blackpink

CLC

Crush (solo)

Dean (solo)

Exid

Monsta X

4 Minute

Kara

WJSN