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0613magazine · 2 years

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210513 Rolling Stone

The Triumph of BTS

How seven young superstars rewrote music-biz rules and became the biggest band in the world

“This is a very serious and deep question,” says RM, the 26-year-old leader of the world’s biggest band. He pauses to think. We’re talking about utopian and dystopian futures, about how the boundary-smashing, hegemony-overturning global success of his group, the wildly talented seven-member South Korean juggernaut BTS, feels like a glimpse of a new and better world, of an interconnected 21st century actually living up to its promise.

BTS’ downright magical levels of charisma, their genre-defying, sleek-but-personal music, even their casually nontoxic, skin-care-intensive brand of masculinity — every bit of it feels like a visitation from some brighter, more hopeful timeline. What RM is currently pondering, however, is how all of it contrasts with a darker landscape all around them, particularly the horrifying recent wave of anti-Asian violence and discrimination across a global diaspora.

“We are outliers,” says RM, “and we came into the American music market and enjoyed this incredible success.” In 2020, seven years into their career, BTS’ first English-language single, the irresistible “Dynamite,” hit Number One, an achievement so singular it prompted a congratulatory statement from South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in. The nation has long been deeply invested in its outsize cultural success beyond its borders, known as the Korean Wave.

“Now, of course, there is no utopia,” RM continues. “There’s a light side; there’s always going to be a dark side. The way we think is that everything that we do, and our existence itself, is contributing to the hope for leaving this xenophobia, these negative things, behind. It’s our hope, too, that people in the minority will draw some energy and strength from our existence. Yes, there’s xenophobia, but there are also a lot of people who are very accepting. . . . The fact that we have faced success in the United States is very meaningful in and of itself.”

At the moment, RM is in an acoustically treated room at his label’s headquarters in Seoul, wearing a white medical mask to protect a nearby translator, a black bucket hat, and a black hoodie from the Los Angeles luxury label Fear of God. As RM has had to explain too many times on U.S. talk shows, he taught himself his fluent English via bingeing Friends DVDs. Still, he makes understandable use of the interpreter when the conversation gets complex.

RM is a fan of complexity. He was on a path toward an elite university education before a love of hip-hop, first sparked by a Korean group, Epik High, detoured him into superstardom. Bang Si-hyuk, the cerebral, intense-yet-avuncular mogul-producer who founded BTS’ record company, Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE), signed RM first, in 2010, and gradually formed BTS around the rapper’s talent and magnetism. “When I first met RM,” says Bang, “I felt a sense of duty that I must help him grow to become a great artist after acknowledging his musical talents and ways of thinking.”

When BTS debuted in 2013, Big Hit was an underdog startup in a South Korean music business then dominated by three huge firms (Bang had been a producer for one of them, JYP). Now, thanks to BTS’ success, HYBE is a publicly traded corporation so large it just snapped up the American management company behind Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. “We always set goals and standards that may seem ideal, and try our best to get there as close as possible,” Bang says. “It’s still the same.”

A lengthy recruitment and audition process brought RM his six bandmates: fellow rappers Suga and J-Hope, and singers Jung Kook, V, Jimin, and Jin. Jung Kook, the youngest member, whose multiple talents include an extraordinarily soulful tenor, had offers to sign with multiple entertainment agencies, but chose Big Hit and BTS because of RM. “I just simply thought RM was really cool,” Jung Kook says. “I really didn’t know a lot about being a singer. But when I saw him rap, I just thought he was really, really awesome. And I believe maybe it was fate that drew me to him.”

Suga and J-Hope were the first two members to join after RM, at a point when Bang imagined a pure hip-hop group. (There were a bunch of other rapper trainees on board with them, all ultimately jettisoned in favor of the singers as BTS became more of a pop hybrid.) Suga, also a fan of Epik High, as well as American rappers like T.I., was already a skilled rapper when he joined, much to his parents’ displeasure. “They didn’t understand rap music,” says Suga. “It’s natural that they were against what I was doing. I think that helped me work harder because there was something that I had to prove.” On the intense 2016 solo track “The Last” (recorded under the alias Agust D), Suga revealed battles with OCD, social anxiety, and depression. “I’m comfortable now and feeling good,” he says. “But those sort of negative emotions come and go. For anybody, these emotions are not things that need to be hidden. They need to be discussed and expressed. Whatever emotions I may be feeling, I’m always ready to express them.”

With the group’s sunniest personality, J-Hope is beloved by his fellow members. (“I think J-Hope can run for president of the world,” says V; “There will be at least six votes from us,” RM adds.) J-Hope is a stunning dancer, and a surprisingly aggressive rapper, a skill he learned in his trainee days. “When I first started training, all the members were rappers,” he says. “So when you went into the house, beats were dropping. Everyone was just rapping in freestyle. It was kind of not easy to adapt at first.”

Jin, whose background was in acting, was recruited on the street by a Big Hit scout on the basis of sheer handsomeness. He’s developed formidable musical skills, but enjoys joking about the attention to his looks. “I want to emphasize, for the record, that everybody went berserk about how good-looking I was,” he says of a recent appearance on a South Korean TV variety show. At the same time, he can be touchingly insecure. “I lack in many areas,” he says. “Other members will learn a dance once and they’ll be able to dance right away to the music, but I can’t. So I try to work harder so I don’t hold the other members back or be a burden.”

V, a fan of jazz, classical music, and Elvis Presley, with a distinct baritone, ended up a Big Hit trainee by accident, after showing up to support an auditioning friend. He was a “hidden member,” who didn’t appear on camera in the endless vlogs and other ingenious online promotion that preceded BTS’ debut in June 2013. “I actually can’t understand it whatsoever,” he says now, with a laugh. “Why did they do that? Why was that the concept? I really had no idea!” (Bang belatedly offers an answer: “We needed momentum to announce that the team called BTS was finally complete. V had great charms in terms of appearance and personality, so I thought it would be impactful when he was revealed last. It was an effective strategy in forming the team’s overall image, as well as leaving an impression of each member.”)

Jimin is a virtuosic, formally trained dancer who also hits some of the most impossibly high notes in BTS’ catalog. He has a strong perfectionist streak. “Dancing was my own world and my own space,” says Jimin, who feels he owes BTS’ fans flawless performances. “For their sake and for their devotion, I shouldn’t make mistakes.”

He’s also deeply attached to his team. “We were very different people that came together,” Jimin says. “We argued a lot in the beginning, of course, but I think now, because we have spent so much time together, I began to like even the things about the other members I used to hate. The time we spent together really made us close, like a family. No matter where I go, there is someplace that I can come back to. I’ve come to feel that way about our group.”

RM carries himself with a level of gravitas that was perhaps incongruent with his initial stage name of Rap Monster, officially shortened in 2017. He drops quotes from Nietzsche and the abstract artist Kim Whan-ki in interviews, and celebrated his 26th birthday by donating nearly $85,000 to a museum foundation to support the reprinting of rare fine-art books. He and Suga fill their rhymes with double- and triple-entendres that would impress U.S. hip-hop heads who’ve never thought much about BTS.

The group as a whole shares a penchant for weighty themes, basing an album cycle on Jungian psychology, brilliantly using Pluto’s loss of full-planet status as a romantic metaphor on the song “134340,” lacing music videos with a labyrinthine ongoing storyline. Even their between-song banter is full of uncommon depth. “We all have galaxies in our hearts,” RM once told an arena full of fans. “Even my dad, who works every day. And my mom, who’s a realtor. And my little sister, too. Even the stray dogs and stray cats on the street. Even the rocks on the ground. . . . But there are people who will never know this until they die.” (Later, he’d co-write the 2019 BTS track “Mikrokosmos,” which draws on a similar theme.)

It’s not uncommon for the members of BTS to shed a tear or two while they’re addressing fans onstage. Along with their comfort with makeup and iridescent hair dye, it all plays into their instinctive rejection of rigid conceptions of masculinity. “The labels of what being masculine is, is an outdated concept,” says RM. “It is not our intention to break it down. But if we are making a positive impact, we are very thankful. We live in an age where we shouldn’t have those labels or have those restrictions.”

In their early days, with their singles “No More Dream” and “N.O.,” BTS wrote directly about the frustrations of South Korean youth, who faced relentless pressure and competition in school and the job market. (BTS were carrying on a tradition: K-pop progenitors Seo Taiji and Boys hit similar thematic notes in the early 1990s, while drawing on then-current American hip-hop and R&B, just as BTS would — the first single from Taiji’s group prominently samples Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise.”) BTS has since learned that their initial message, along with later lyrics that grapple with identity, self-love, mental health, and much more, had enough wider currency to make them spokesmen for a global generation — literally: They’ve addressed the United Nations General Assembly, twice.

“When we wrote those songs, and those messages, of course, it wasn’t from some knowledge or awareness of the education system in the United States or anywhere else,” says RM. “We were teenagers at that time. There were things we were able to say, from what we felt and from our experiences about the unreasonableness of school, or the uncertainties and the fears and anxieties that teens have. And a common thought and a common emotion resonated with youth, not just in Korea, but in the United States, and the West.”

BTS’ full name, Bangtan Sonyeondan, translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts,” and the idea, roughly, was that they would be friends and protectors of youth, on an almost spiritual level. (Later, they declared that BTS also stood for “Beyond the Scene.”) “I didn’t want them to be false idols,” Bang once said. “I wanted to create a BTS that could become a close friend.”

In December, BTS had another Number One U.S. hit with “Life Goes On,” a wistful ballad that stands as the definitive pop response to the pandemic year. But because the lyrics are almost entirely in Korean, the song received virtually no play on U.S. radio; its chart position came from streaming and purchases, and the obvious demand wasn’t enough for radio to reconsider. RM, for one, is still hopeful that particular wall will shatter. “If they feel it, I think they will change,” he says. “The barriers are still breaking down. It keeps going on and on.”

In the meantime, BTS is following up “Dynamite” with another English-language single, “Butter,” due May 21st. Like the lighthearted “Dynamite,” “Butter” has no heavy message. It’s a pure, swaggering dance-pop celebration in the retro vein of Bruno Mars, with layers of Jam and Lewis-style synths and boasts of being “smooth like butter” and having a “superstar glow.” “It’s very energetic,” says RM. “And very summery. It has a very dynamic performance.” There’s clearly more music coming as well — several Western songwriters who’ve worked with the group in the past say they’re currently in touch with BTS’ team about new songs.

By taking a strong hand in the writing of their music, BTS have always stood apart from traditional K-pop methods, and, for that matter, much of songwriting-camp-dominated U.S. pop, too. (Whether BTS are actually part of K-pop at this point is a hotly debated topic among their fans, known as ARMY — many believe the group has transcended the label.) “They feel organic and unique,” says Late Late Show host James Corden, a fan who’s had them on several times since 2017. “It never feels like they’re in the machine. They are the machine.”

RM and Suga have both been producing for years, and Suga has numerous songwriting credits for other artists. Outside of the members’ contributions, most of the production and songwriting was long accomplished in-house at Big Hit, with Bang and a team of producers and songwriters collaborating. Starting circa 2017, Western songwriters and producers joined the process, but their contributions were part of a group effort.

Head producer Pdogg tends to select the best melodies and sections from various creators, who could be anywhere in the world. “It’ll come back and they’ll say, ‘We love these two parts that you did,’ ” says August Rigo, a Filipino Canadian songwriter who worked on the 2020 singles “Black Swan” and “On.” “ ‘Then we have this verse, and we have this section that we’re not quite sure of.’ So it’s like piecing a puzzle together in collaboration with BTS. . . . It wasn’t like, two days and it was done. No, it was two, three months, maybe six or seven revisions.”

In at least one case, BTS ended up scouting collaborators on their own. After the Brooklyn production duo Brasstracks noticed one of their songs playing in the background of a behind-the-scenes BTS video, they tweeted about it, and soon heard from Big Hit. “The next thing we knew there was an email, saying, ‘Hey, we’re doing this and we’re looking for this’ and ‘BTS is into your work,’” says Ivan Jackson, one half of Brasstracks, who previously worked with Mark Ronson and Chance the Rapper. “I just think they have their ears to the ground in a way they don’t get their flowers for. Because we’re not huge producers. They didn’t get Timbaland.” Brasstracks sent a beat that ended up as the track “Dis-ease,” with a bridge section added by Pdogg and another producer, Ghstloop. “It was a really awesome case of collaboration,” says Jackson.

“Dynamite,” produced by U.K.-based pro David Stewart (not the Eurythmics guy) and written by Stewart and songwriting partner Jessica Agombar, another Brit, was an exception. HYBE put out word that BTS were ready for an English-language single, and BTS and their label chose the song from multiple submissions. “ ‘Dynamite’ would not have been released if BTS had been on tour as scheduled,” says Bang. “The project was chosen to shift the mood as a response to the pandemic situation. I thought it matched BTS, and that the song’s trendy vibes would be better expressed if sung in English.”

Forming a Covid bubble, BTS kept busy in the studio last year, first with “Dynamite” and then November’s album Be, the mellowest and most mature work of their career, which includes “Life Goes On.” But 2020 still provided their most time off since they joined Big Hit as trainees. For years they’d cheerfully mention how behind on sleep they were. Last year, they finally got some rest, and all of them speak of months of reflection and self-discovery. For Suga, who had been quietly struggling for years with a shoulder injury sustained while moonlighting as a delivery boy during his trainee days, it was a chance to finally have surgery. “There were times,” says Suga, now feeling better, “when I couldn’t lift my arms in a full range of motion during a concert.”

The bond between BTS and their ARMY is real, and the guys have genuinely missed their fans, missed the road. “When we couldn’t go on tour, everybody felt a sense of loss, a sense of powerlessness,” says Jin. “And we’re all sad. And it actually took us a while to get over those feelings.”

“The roar of the crowds and ARMY is something we loved,” says Jung Kook. “We miss that more and more. And we long for that more and more.”

BTS are as passionate in their advocacy for their ARMY as the fans are for them. “The ARMY is a lot more levelheaded than even we are,” says RM. Fans have lived up to BTS’ faith in them again and again, assembling professional-level documentaries, embarking on ambitious research and translation projects, and collectively matching BTS’ million-dollar donation to Black Lives Matter in just 25 hours.

Over the course of the group’s existence, none of the members of BTS have acknowledged any romantic relationships, though several have alluded to dating before they joined. The official line is they’re too busy. The usual pop-group thinking might suggest BTS worry about fan reaction on this subject, but Suga, at least, rejects that idea. “I have a hard time understanding this question,” he says. “The ARMY is a diverse group. In this hypothetical situation, some may accept it, some may not. Whether it’s dating, or something else, they’re all individuals, and they will understand things differently.”

In 2018, BTS negotiated a renewal of their contract with Bang’s company, committing to another seven years as a band. Two years later, they were given a financial stake in HYBE. “It’s very meaningful,” says RM, “for us and also the company, that we admit and recognize each other as true partners. Now Big Hit’s success is our success, and our success is Big Hit’s success.” It also meant a multimillion-dollar windfall for the group when HYBE went public last year. “That’s very important,” RM says with a grin.

There’s a pitfall waiting for BTS that every enduring male South Korean group has faced: In light of ongoing tensions with North Korea, men are typically required to start a 21-month term of military service by their 28th birthday. Jin turned 28 on December 4th, but that month, the government passed a law offering him a direct reprieve: “A pop-culture artist who was recommended by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to have greatly enhanced the image of Korea both within the nation and throughout the world” would now be able to wait until he’s 30 to serve.

“I think the country sort of told me, ‘You’re doing this well, and we will give you a little bit more time,’ ” says Jin. Military service, he adds, “is an important duty for our country. So I feel that I will try to work as hard as I can and do the most I can until I am called.”

Assuming that the law isn’t changed again, offering another extension, Jin understands it’s possible BTS could go on without him for a while. “I have no doubt that the other members will make a good decision because, you know, this is not something that I can tell them what to do,” he says. If they do spend time as a six-piece, “I’ll be sad, but I’ll be watching them on the internet and cheering them on.”

Suga is 28, J-Hope is 27, and RM turns 27 this year, so their service looms as well. At least one K-pop group, Shinhwa, got back together after their own time in the military, and are still a group after 23 years. BTS may well aspire to that kind of longevity. “So, yes, we will want to see ARMY as we do now,” says V. “I’m sure it will work out so that we can continue to see ARMY. About military service, or what will happen, we haven’t discussed it in the specifics amongst ourselves, but I’m sure it’ll work out eventually.”

For Jimin, at least, BTS is eternal. “I don’t think I’ve ever really thought of being not a part of this group,” he says. “I can’t imagine what I would do on my own. I think when I become older, and I grow my own beard” — he gestures to my facial hair and smiles — “I would like to think that at the end, when I’m too old to dance, I would just like to sit onstage with the other members and sing and engage with the fans. I think that would be great, too. So I’d like to keep this going as long as I possibly can.”

Source: Rolling Stone

#2021 #bts #rolling stone

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somethingusefulfromflorida · 4 years

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World War Z was published in 2006, but takes place in 2009 at the earliest. Late in the book, astronaut Terry Knox states that the International Space Station took over 10 years to complete; it started construction in November 1998, and Chief of Staff Karl Rove Grover Carlson says that the Republican party barely eked back into power after a disastrous 2-termer who started a “brush fire war” in the Middle East (George W. Bush). He mentions an election year, but he doesn’t specify if it was the new president’s first or second term, so it’s either set right after 2008 or 2012. This was written before the Nintendo Wii was announced, but one chapter mentions that people brought their GameCubes with them as they fled their homes in search of safety in the frozen Canadian wilderness. This same chapter also mentions that they didn’t know how to pick survival gear; a park ranger finds a SpongeBob SquarePants sleeping bag frozen in the mud because its owner didn’t know the difference between a child’s indoor sleeping bag for slumber parties and a real insulated survival bag for camping.

The new president is never named, he’s just told be be pro-big business and anti-regulation, pushing a placebo zombie vaccine through the FDA to jumpstart the economy. When shit hits the fan, he is “sedated” and his vice president takes power; we’re never told what happened to the president, whether he was bitten or had a stroke, just that he was “sedated.” His Vice President is directly implied to be Colin Powell; he’s former military with family in Jamaica and black. He appoints Howard Dean to be his vice president to form a bipartisan coalition; he is never referred to by name, but it is clearly supposed to be Howard Dean. He was a rising star in the Democratic party from Vermont whose wife is a doctor and whose career imploded after he had a passionate outburst. In 2004, Howard Dean gave a speech where he started passinately screaming about how he was gonna start sweeping state primaries and ride a wave into the White House, punctuating his point by going “HHEEUEAHHGH!!” This was political suicide in 2004, and he was laughed out of the race. In the book, he is referred to only as “the Whacko” because of this. It is implied that he was Powell’s second choice for VP, his first being Barack Obama; the Whacko says that the Democrats wanted somebody else, somebody of the same skin color as the president, but that the country wasn’t ready for that. In 2004, Obama was a candidate for senate in Illinois, so popular and so well spoken that he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention before he even won his seat; then and there, pundits already had him pegged as the first black president, they could see the writing on the walls. The Whacko becomes president when Powell dies of stress, but he is consistently referred to only as the wartime Vice President, out of respect for his boss.

Also, the Attorney General is implied to be Rudy Giuliani; all that is said about him was that he was the mayor of New York and once tried to give himself emergency powers to stay in office after his term. Giuliani did exactly that after 9/11.

Other real life figures mentioned in the book

Fidel Castro; a ton of Cuban Americans flee the continent and return to the island during the zombie war, and he jumpstarts the economy by putting them to work as cheap laborers and slowly integrating them back into Cuban society. He rehabilitates his image by stepping down as dictator and democratizing the country, voting himself out of office before the “nortecubanos” could hang him for decades of war crimes.

Nelson Mendela, referred to by his birth name Rolihlahla, the father of modern South Africa, he personally invites Paul Redekker, a former apartheid era political analyst, to solve the zombie problem; in the 80s, Redekker created a plan for the white minority government in case the black majority ever rose up against them. In real life, Mandela lowered the temperature when he was elected president, saying that revenge against the apartheid government would do more harm than good. In the story, Mandela uses this as justification to reuse the apartheid era plan to handle the zombie outbreak instead. Redekker is so overcome by his compassion and forgiveness that he has a mental episode and dissociates, believing himself to be a black South African.

Kim Jong-il, the dictator of North Korea, he withdraws all troops from the DMZ and shuts the entire country down. After months of radio silence, it is revealed that the entire country’s population has vanished; all satellite imagery shows a desolate wasteland, no zombies, but no humans either. He presumably moved everyone into subterranean bunker systems where he not only control their lives as on the surface, but now their access to food, water, and air. He presumably became the god emperor he always wanted to be; either that, or the entire tunnel complex has been overrun, turning every man woman and child in North Korea into zombies. The South Korean government refuses to send a expedition into the North to figure out what happened, lest they open up one of the tunnels and unleash millions of zombies onto the surface.

Martin Scorsese, mentioned in passing only as “Marty,” a friend of world famous film director Roy Elliot, who himself is a thinly veiled pastiche of Steven Spielberg. Interestingly enough, the audio book features Martin Scorsese doing the voice of the conartist who created the placebo vaccine

One chapter has a ton of vapid celebrities hole together in a fortified mansion on Long Island, and takes great care to show each of them getting torn apart not by zombies but by regular people who storm the facility because they were stupid enough to broadcast their location on reality television. A redneck with a “Get’er Done” hat (Larry the Cable Guy) and some bald guy with diamond earrings (Howie Mandel) blow themselves up with a grenade. Rival political commentators, an annoying guy who talks about feminization of western society and a leathery blonde (Bill Maher and Ann Coulter) have end-of-the-world viking sex as the facility burns to the ground. A dumb starlet (Paris Hilton) is killed by one of her handlers and her little rat dog escapes on foot. A radio shock jock (Howard Stern) actually survives the war and restarts his show.

Michael Stipe of REM joins the army to fight the zombies

Another war veteran mentions how his brother used to have a bunch of Mel Brooks’ old comedy skits on vinyl record, and how he and his squad acted out the “Boy meets Girl” puppet skit with some human skulls. Mel Brooks is author and narrator Max Brooks’ father.

Queen Elizabeth II, refuses to evacuate England when the island is overrun by zombies. She intends to remain in Buckingham Palace “for the duration,” mirroring the fact that her parents refused to evacuate to Canada during World War II.

Vladimir Putin declares himself Tsar of the Holy Russian Empire, an ultra-orthodox religious state that has armed priests execute political dissidents under the guise of mercy killing people who have been bitten by zombies.

Yang Liwei, the first “taikonaut” (Chinese astronaut) has a space station named after him

While the main conflict is about government responses to the zombie pandemic, we see glimpses of a greater war torn planet.

A major plot line involves a Chinese Civil War which sees the entire communist politburo nuked out of existence by a rebel sub commander, as well as an attempted “scorched space policy” where the government planned to blow up their space station with scuttling charges to cause a cascade of space debris to encircle the Earth and prevent any other countries from launching missions in the future (this is known as Kessler Syndrome in real life, and was featured as the inciting incident of the 2013 movie Gravity). The People’s Republic becomes the United Federation.

Iran and Pakistan destroy each other in nuclear war; everyone thought it would be India and Pakistan, but they had very close diplomatic infrastructure in place to prevent such a catastrophe; Pakistan helped Iran build a nuclear arsenal, but as millions of refugees fled from India through Pakistan to the east, Iran had to blow up some Pakistani bridges to stem the flow of zombies, which led to a border war and eventually total nuclear retaliation.

Floridians flee to Cuba, Wisconsinites flee to Canada, the federal government flees to Hawaii. Everything east of the Rockies is abandoned and ruled by warlords until the government sorts itself out and mounts an expedition to clear the continent of zombies by literally marching an unbroken line of soldiers stretching from Canada to Mexico across the wasteland to the Atlantic.

Israel withdraws from Gaza and the West Bank to become super isolationist, building a wall around the entire country to stop the zombies getting in (they were the first country to respond to the pandemic, and the most successful), but the religious right rebels against the secular left in a civil war that sees Jerusalem ceded to a unified Palestine.

It is an amazing, multifaceted story with so much going on that nobody recognizes. It was written as a response to the end of the Cold War and the start of the War on Terror. It’s about a geopolitical shift, a change in the status quo, a disaster from which the world never recovers; America before 9/11 was a very different place than American after 9/11. Iraq and Afghanistan changed everything, and we’re still feeling their effects to this day; the story uses the zombie apocalypse as the next big international disaster the world must adapt to. World War Z is World War III with zombies, and I think it would do a lot better if it were published today, now that we’ve had several decades to respond to the fall of the Soviet Union and the endless wars in the Middle East and a global pandemic.

#world war z #wwz #max brooks #book #novel

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bao3bei4 · 4 years

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kpop music videos that gave their fans sexual brainworms

OR accidental fetish pop and its fringe fanbase: meditations on gendered desire

large warning here: i am someone who has been into kpop for the past 10 years. however, i have always been an extremely casual fan. i do write fic, but not rpf. if any of that makes you not want to hear me talk about kpop rpf (or you don’t want to hear about it in general), please keep moving.

anyway, obviously pop is corporate, soulless, and manufactured. but sometimes some truly bizarre shit gets past the committees and destroys a generation. these are their stories.

the video that started this is all is got7’s just right, released july 10th, 2015.

yes that’s all 7 members of got7 (one is out of frame) shrunken down for your viewing pleasure. they live in your room and tell you you’re just right.

this sheer fetish power of this video is nerfed only by how utterly sexless it is.

they’re styled like and dance like this. it’s a totally unironic sendup of the seminal work that preceded it by four years, “what makes you beautiful” by the white kpop group “one direction.” the chaste energy of the whole thing makes you legitimately wonder if the good people at jyp have just never heard of microphilia. (during a dramatic reading of this piece, here a friend interjected seriously, “i think it’s korean culture not to talk about things like this, fetishes in the workplace.”)

it’s for the best, honestly, though because the actress in the music video is lee ja in, who was 11 when the video was shot. considering that the members themselves ranged in age from 18-23 at the time, i think it’s actually very impressive that we only have to cancel one.

you receive absolutely no prizes for guessing that it’s jackson wang we’re sending to social justice prison. why’d he do this? no one asked.

at any rate, got7 fans, or “gans” (they actually call themselves igot7s which is too twee for me), have much to think about here: all 7 very small members of got7 sneaking into their room, possibly weird age play, and jackson wang eating a very large cake.

let’s see what they actually did.

twitter was actually very tame. the most charged thing i found was (unsurprisingly) from a bts fan (“ban”). i don’t actually know what it means, but i think it means something.

so, of course, i turned to the internet’s last bastion of free speech, where you can say whatever the fuck you want and receive cheers, or as the kids say, “kudos.” that is, i read fanfiction.

for those of you who don’t know your herstory, i started my journey at Asianfanfics.com, where, at the time of writing, there were 12,067 got7 stories. i want to start this by saying that i think feminism won, because someone was paying real human dollars to advertise their irene/wendy fanfiction on a banner ad, which is quite possibly a win for women for everywhere.

anyway, Asianfanfics.com’s search engine sucks ass (i kept on finding stories about different combinations of bts members worrying about their weight and being reassured by another member that were entitled “just right”), so i decided to look through all got7 stories written between july 2015 and december 2015.

but, alas, not a single got7 microphilia fic to be found.

also, some genre commentary while i’m here: i think the stories i respect the most are the “[y/n] is a ordinary girl who’s assigned to be got7’s manager! can she make them into superstars? as sparks begin to fly, can she keep it professional?” like fuck yeah that sounds like a kickass dating sim. it almost definitely already is one. i salute all the teens around the world for buying into the fantasy of dating a boy band member that they themselves sell you.

however, i don’t think i respect the “[member a] and [member b] are mafia/jocks and nerds/college students/high schoolers” concepts. in my opinion, the whole fantasy of boy band member is their personas, their hidden real personalities, their celebrity, and the show business setting. find a different intellectual property if you wanna write about school. i even respect the “yugyeom drank girl juice [not estrogen] and turned into a sexy girl” story more, because at least it knows exactly what it wants, and also because they’re all still boy band members. well, band members. shout out to yugyeom.

so, anyway, i looked elsewhere. at the time of writing, archive of our own only had 11,645 got7 stories, but it does have a better search, so it effectively has more. as an aside, i think it’s so funny, and mildly disorienting at first, that archive of our own separates the “music & bands” section from the “celebrities & real people” section. boy band members aren’t real people.

the first problem i encountered is that only 20 or so stories were written within a year of just right’s release. absolute cringe gans. don’t you care about your boys? there were zero stories tagged “vore” or “microphilia” either. stories containing the word “tiny” that were rated either “explicit” or “mature” were all normal (“normal”) size fetishization rather than, you know, just right.

however, i learned my lesson from twitter. i realized that what had happened was that watching this video had created sleeper agents, just waiting for their activation phrase. that activation phrase? bangtan boys. and yeah, lo and behold, there was one! unfortunately (fortunately?) it had nothing to do with got7, let alone just right, so i’m not going to talk about it.

basically what i learned is that this video may have actually been very normal, and my brain has just been destroyed by being too online at a young age.

however, there are plenty more videos in this genre. i present to you exo wolf, a banger from may 30th, 2013. i say banger, because in a comedic inversion, it’s actually fucking terrible.

this video is pretty self-explanatory in terms of why it might induce certain responses.

let’s get the formalities out of the way. this video, the member who’s getting cancelled is kai. he has braids in this video :/

also skating on thin ice: xiumin and chen. guys what was up with the whole exo-m thing? like, we’re gonna have a cpop subgroup, but it’s going to be part chinese members and part korean members that we’ll give a chinese name? unsurprisingly, the three exo members who have departed from the group are all chinese. they weren’t able to stand the microaggressions probably. but xiumin and chen remain uncancelled as an official chinese apology for five thousand of years of on-and-off invasions of korea. sorry guys that was kinda fucked up. our bad!

anyway, there are basically three avenues for exo fans to take: 1) humans with wolfish characters (usually wolf pack dynamics, which even wolves themselves don’t fucking use so i think all of you should shut up. the real omega here is your brain), 2) werewolves (duh), and 3) wolves with human characteristics (i.e. standard furry fare).

exo themselves let all these possibilities exist at the same time, superimposing them over each other, which is very woke and egalitarian of them. let’s see what the people decided. awoo.

Asianfanfics dot com had many stories in this vein. i feel very validated that this time i was able to correctly predict a fetish. that said, briefly returning to my earlier comment regarding alternate universes: it’s intense psychic whiplash reading about these vampires and werewolves, and going okay okay luhan is a vampire this that whatever, and then seeing the actual real performance photos the author attaches at the bottom of each chapter. bro i forgot these were actual people.... it breaks immersion so bad... i’m sorry, i just can’t believe that any of these dancing boys are having weird vampire sex with wings or whatever.

archive of our own also had many stories in this vein. and i think there are some important difference between the two sites worth talking about.

first of all, i think the higher engagement rate of archive of our own really enables some of the authors to get super bold. it makes Asianfanfics.com seem a little quaint, actually. like the wordcounts are waaay longer, for one. it’s uncommon for a story hosted on Asianfanfics.com to be more than a few thousand words long (most of them could easily be published in the new yorker), whereas some of these archive of our own people have written full length novels about if the members of exo were werewolves. i guess it’s just intensely demoralizing for the aff.com crew to get, like, three comments per story.

the second big difference is that i’m noticing more common themes between the ao3 crew’s writing. like stan intertextuality, or plagiarism, or whatever, but they seem to be implicitly engaging with each other’s characterizations, storylines, and tropes. i think it is because they probably all follow each other on twitter. (i have been active on twitter for three weeks now so i am an expert on fanfiction twitter.)

anyway, like not that i am a particularly big gan (cannot even list all the members), but these people seem to have reached a very specific consensus on how jackson wang, for instance, would react in a variety of situations that really surprises me? if i were to sit down and write a got7 story, i think the fuckboitude, the douchebaggery is a big part of his charm. not to be nationalist or anything, but for god’s sake, he’s from hong kong. but these people have him as very sensitive, lots of protective instincts. not that i understood what anyone on aff.com was doing with his character either, but they did all seem to be doing different things. “kudos” to that, i guess.

but: exo. wolf. i searched the “wolves” tag. this filtered the list down from 33459 stories to 52 stories. and the “wolves” tag was very different from the aff.com “wolf” tag. for the most part, aff.com liked stories where a member was a wolf (usually shapeshifting), feral boy, lots of y/n, lots of y/n dating a feral boy who is secretly a wolf.

ao3 really, really, really likes alpha/beta/omega stories. sorting by the most popular stories, only five on the first page weren’t a/b/o. and one of them was a cis f!baekhyun story, so i think the intended effect was communicated. anyway, let’s talk about some of the themes.

first of all, i’m disappointed. today’s bonus cancellation is of ao3 “wolves” writers. why the fuck are you drawing so heavily from european wolves?? there are wolves in asia!! you don’t need to keep giving their packs and ranks weird latin names. i will kill you. i hate italy. korea literally has a native wolf. i hate all of you!!! if you want to write caucasian wolves go watch that dumbass cw show!!!! my god.

the second theme (the first one was white supremacy) is that no one wants to be a wolf who fucks. i think that we need a sex positivity movement, or something, for omega rights. like, are all of you doing okay? you’re queering misogyny by inventing new genders to oppress. another level to “no one wants to be a wolf...” is the “who fucks” part. there are so many consent issues. and not even in like, a sexy intentional way? in a “i genuinely do not think this author understands how their writing comes off” way. unfortunately i am sensitive to untagged sexual coercion, and there was a lot of that.

at any rate, the aff.com wolves were at peace with being wolves, very self-actualized. the ao3 wolves know that every minute they spend alive on this bitch of an earth is suffering, and also sex.

the third theme is the evolution of y/n. y/n, who, in a startlingly woke move for aff.com, is almost always korean, is a girl main character stumbling into love, boy bands, and wolves (i think it’s because aff.com is oldschool kpop fandom, so therefore heavily asian itself in userbase). but y/n is not the main character in ao3 stories. she is the straight best friend. in what i think is a hilarious move, ao3 authors invert the gay best friend paradigm to give the gay main character a straight girl as best friend. she usually calls him “a gay,” she has lots of thoughts on boys, and she knows his sexuality better than he does and before he does. (sidebar: if all the men are gay, and all the women are straight...)

there’s a really fun twist to this, though, because the main character is always a self-insert in fanfiction. but where older fanfiction like aff.com was at peace with this and literalize it via y/n shenanigans, modern fic writers who haven’t finished distangling their complicated relationship with wanting to be a man who loves other men instead simply imbue their main character with their essence. a little voodoo doll sehun, with a lock of y/n hair.

this creates a deeply ambivalent relationship with gender in these stories. the main character is usually an omega, but one who resents being an omega. their body and its parts is usually described, if at all, as ostensibly intersex (except more offensively), but in practice, these discourses inscribe a trans body. (nb: i think cis writers approach this in a really fucked up fetishizing way, but i hope by this point we know that that goes without saying) it’s incredibly straightforward to read this, and see the underlying desires and fears in a heady cocktail of unfiltered writing that’s deeply confessional. you know when freud had people say whatever the fuck they wanted and figured they’d eventually free associate into releasing their subconscious into reality? yeah.

okay, and while we’re on the topic, let’s talk f(x) nu abo, released on may 4th, 2010.

this is a blitzy, maximalist, amped up dance hit that even has its own applause and cheers built in. it’s so fucking annoying, and i love it.

this song is on here because the second most popular kpop a/b/o story on ao3 is called “nu abo” except it’s about bts. that’s offensive enough in its own right. write something about f(x) (702 works). when will women win the right to have their own self-lubricating holes.

anyway, even though f(x) is probably innocent in all of this, i’m still cancelling amber liu.

for queerbaiting. who told her to look like ruby rose but hot? and for what? i’m also cancelling her for racism, but that wasn’t in this video.

moving on to a double feature: vixx voodoo doll and vixx chained up, released november 19, 2013 and november 9, 2015 respectively. this is because while voodoo doll is more formative, i think the fans who write fanfiction today got into kpop more recently, so we are casting a wide net.

anyway, voodoo doll is jam packed with weird pseudo-medical imagery, blood, vivisection, bondage, puppet shit, femdom, sharps, piercings, asphyxiation, dollification, stabbing/penetration metaphors, and a really sick and catchy dance. god that looks like the list of tags on the a/b/o wolf stories.

for this song, we’re cancelling you, for being way too into this song when you were 13.

vixx voodoo doll made me goth i guess! insert that pic of the your music saved me sign, except it saved me from getting into emo or pop punk probably.

chained up, comparatively, is much more tame. the only thing of note about it is that there are around 10 completely different chokers and choker looks the members wear in this music video. also they’re singing about being chained up, but that seemed a bit obvious.

we could argue that voodoo doll is gay while chained up is gay (derogatory); that voodoo doll is queer while chained up is gay; that chained up is a sensitive masterpiece of omega4omega sexuality. but we’re not going to.

we’re going to talk about what voodoo doll fanfiction was and was not. first, Aff.com had plenty of it. however, i was extremely disappointed to see that much of it did not hew to the spirit of vixx voodoo doll. my god, the voodoo doll becoming the one preying upon you disgusts me. the fantasy of the voodoo doll is that of absolute power. the idea that the doll itself has agency? instantly breaks the fantasy. i’m even not into voodoo dolls and i’m offended.

i also don’t think it’s part of the voodoo doll fantasy to release the doll. the only story on there that involved Y/N kidnapping vixx members like in the music video was unavailable because the author deactivated their account. come back qxeen what did you see.

i think this got off track, actually, in that i was mostly wondering why these people imprinted differently onto vixx voodoo doll than i did. like i don’t think you’re supposed to actually like straightforwardly absorb the morals and aesthetics of music videos like it’s propaganda. however, it’s more entertaining if you do. i hope ao3 doesn’t let me down.

out of the then 5932 works in the vixx fandom (the least out of every group so far, excluding f(x) because they’re women), 59 of them included the word “voodoo” somewhere. that’s 1%. i legitimately can’t tell if that’s high or not.

after some more cursory reading through the first page of popular results, my big takeaway is that people watched that video and wanted to be tortured and enslaved? but not, like, in a sexy way where the torturing is the point, the way where the point is to suffer bravely and beautifully, to endure the world’s harms like jesus on the cross, and then to fall into the arms of a beautiful boy who may or may not be the one hurting you in the first place.

there’s a certain predictability to these fantasies. like it’s not even masochism, which would be fun at least, it’s literally just like the desire to be beautiful, even as you suffer. and i do find that a little boring. (but, i mean, you can’t help being a woman!)

sidebar: on chained up. what’s interesting about chained up, is that most of the then 38 “chained up” works (likely because the video has no storyline) are about the members fucking during chained up promotions. no one’s ever actually chained up, but whatever. it’s fine. it’s fine!

anyway, here, more than ever, the nature of desire is stripped bare. i’ve written before [elsewhere in the unreleased tshirt cinematic universe] on how kpop boys are, through fandom, re-formed as white, or more strongly, i guess, blank slates. it’s really interesting to me how so much of this dynamic of projection is enabled by the fact that they’re asian men. they’re infantilized, feminized vessels; they’re seductive, but childlike, oblivious to their own charms, so nonthreatening; they have uncontrollable desires for sex, they’re scared of sex. and above all else, white women submit themselves to them, insert themselves into them. basically kpop fans tend to rework old school yellow peril and emasculation fantasies to reenact their own desires, often white, often cishet on them.

what i am saying is that there’s another thesis about forced feminization and its racialized subtext in here. obviously gender is a racialized construct to begin with, but like it’s fascinating to argue that when white women remake asian men according to their own desires, that is, into themselves, they (hopefully) unintentionally echo these old fears about the sexual order.

it illuminates, it seems, the underlying dynamic in the denigration of asian men, which is of course the fear of miscegenation. now, my breathtaking ability to make everything about me aside, miscegenation is interesting because it presents a racial synthesis, beginning to collapse and trouble the artificial designations of purity. so we make asian men into white women, and end up with an unsettling hybrid. i’m sure this has deep implications for me personally.

but i think we already knew that quite a few of these people had yellow fever, so let’s talk about the gender dialectic at play. basically, the above dynamic, of making men into women (whether literally, in body; or subjectively, in mind; or even relationally, as they are objectified into passive vessels for your desire) coexists with the ostensibly converse dynamic, in which the straight women desires to be a gay man. these aren’t necessarily in conflict: it could easily be that these are different writers writing different stories, that both are ways of expressing discontent with existing in a raced, gendered body, or even that the end product of both is the same.

it’s been a while without a picture. all of you now have the legal right to hunt and kill me for making a d&g joke.

anyway, what i want to talk about is how these two fantasies can coexist. that by making a man into yourself, you can speak on your own desire in a passive way. my normal interest is analyzing forced masc fantasies (albeit in chinese opera lol), and they bear little to no resemblance to this kind of fantasy. this kind offers plausible deniability, of course, because wanting things is embarrassing. but also the fantasy isn’t about wanting to be a man, it’s about having no choice but to be a failed one. the gender pessimism running through these stories is palpable. basically andrea long chu wants what wolf fanfiction writers know: everyone is an omega, and everyone hates it.

at any rate, this racialized dynamic is one that i wasn’t sure how to bring up throughout this piece, mainly because there is no definitive way for me to tell the race of any individual writer, beyond just like the clear and present vibes that i receive. but i think it structures a lot of the fantasies contained in this essay. (i felt more comfortable bringing up the gendered dynamic, because it was fairly trivial to find out the current gender of the person writing each story i was reading.)

obviously we should return to the specter haunting this conversation: the very much alive david eng. i think this sort of argument is familiar to readers of racial castration, especially his chapter on m. butterfly. btw sorry for mentioning that play 2 out of 3 posts on this blog. i have problems.

let’s talk about the parallel imagery between the depiction of gallimard’s final speech and the fanfiction i’ve described above. in it, gallimard makes himself into his own dream woman, dressing in yellowface and robes, the costume of puccini’s original madame butterfly. and he laments his lost love:

there is a vision of the orient that i have. of slender women in chong sams and kimonos who die for the love of unworthy foreign devils. who are born and raised to be the perfect women. who take whatever punishment we give them, and bounce back, strengthened by love, unconditionally.

in that, i see the self insert, and i see the sufferer of vixx voodoo fic. the fantasy that gallimard has about asian women is repeated, this time about asian men and a helpless identification with them. and on some level, gallimard’s women do have something very compelling to identify with: they suggest that there’s a way to endure white male violence without sacrifice, and even more potently, to enjoy it on some level.

but onward to the titular racial castration. eng argues that gallimard’s wilful ignorance of song’s true gender is a psychic castration -- song’s masculinity is diminished so that his own can be enhanced within their relationship. this, eng believes, acts out “richard fung’s contention that in western imaginary ‘asian and anus are conflated.’” this process stabilizes the relationship between the asian man and the white woman: they occupy the same place within the sexual dyad.

this is, i think, why some people are addicted to writing from the bottom’s perspective. again -- not implying that irl bottoms don’t exist or that bottoms are psychically castrated lol -- but rather that you can fantasize about this ideal asian man that you can come to embody. in kpop rpf, rather than it being between a white man and an asian man (unless someone’s started writing chad future fic), it’s between two asian men. so this transformation is performed. whiteness is always intruding and so i think eng is helpful here to making it visible again.

this essay isn’t a callout or actual cancellation or anything like that, i do wanna be clear. i guess i just like talking about fantasies, even the embarrassing ones, and where they come from. i think oftentimes in fandom spaces, we write a lot of stories off as idfic, and i think virtually every single one of the stories i referenced to write this fairly uncontroversially fall into that category. but i think calling something an “id” something or the other naturalizes the satisfaction it gives as purely instinctual and unconscious, when i do think there are deeper narratives at play. while i didn’t ever actually reference the base here (sorry), i do think it’s worth talking about how real world power shapes & maintains the superstructure, and thereby our fantasies.

anyway in conclusion, maybe i was the one with sexual brainworms the whole time.

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thesuitelife547 · 3 years

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WM Acquisition Thoughts

Let me preface this by saying that I’m no expert in business matters, let alone business matters in South Korea, and that this opinion comes from a longtime standing fan of WM Entertainment. Of course we’ll probably never actually know why this acquisition happened or why it came about but I just wanted to give my thoughts about the subject and give some overview. Also, I apologize if this sounds like a report at some points, I did look up some information to make sure that I understood the subject matter as well. This also isn’t trying to defend or look down upon the decision. I’m just using this as my outlet to express and attempt to gain an understanding of the situation.

Also if anyone has any thoughts or opinions they want to share, feel free to reach out through any of the platforms that I’m on!

Thanks! - Marisa

For those of you that may be unaware of the subject matter, it was released today that RBW had secured more than 70% of WM Entertainment’s stock and has thereby made WM Entertainment into a subsidiary of theirs. With the word subsidiary, the most common example that I’ve seen being thrown around is the agreement that happened with Woollim Entertainment and SM C&C. I think it’s important to note a couple of things with what happened there, though. Probably the most important would be that after signing the merger in 2013, it was actually undone and reversed in 2016 and Woollim went back to being its own independent company, kind of. So technically yes, they are a subsidy of SM C&C, I think, at this current moment but what happened in the beginning was a merger. Which brings me to my second point. It’s important to note that what happened between Woollim and SM C&C was actually a merger rather than an acquisition, which it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen, at this moment, between WM and RBW. Obviously things could change since they do apparently own more than 70% of WM’s stocks now so unless something is outlined in their contract regarding that type of thing, I guess I’d just say that anything could happen.

But anyway, let me give a brief rundown on what happened between Woollim and SM C&C in 2013. First, I think we should understand what SM C&C actually is. That company itself is actually a subsidy of SM Entertainment that was acquired by them in 2012. The company currently operates as a production company, theatrical production company, and travel company but of course has actors, actresses, and various entertainers, it seems like mostly MCs or people who frequently or only do variety, signed to them. Anyway, so what happened is that the two actually merged to create Woollim Label. The definition of merger includes when companies join together to create a new single identity. SM C&C still was a company by itself, though, but I think it was just that Woollim was merged with a division within the company of SM C&C. See, this is a bit complicated, haha. But the creation of Woollim Label shows that it was a merger. However, in 2016, it was announced that SM C&C would be establishing Woollim Entertainment to handle its music business while they kept some of the stock, but not enough for a majority. What that essentially meant is that Woollim went back to being its own entertainment company in a way. SM C&C still has stock, but they weren’t merged together anymore. Rather, I think, Woollim then became more of a subsidy of SM C&C if that makes sense.

Enough of that, though, let’s get back to the current issue at hand.

I find it very interesting that RBW got 70% of WM’s stock. Typically, if whoever is buying the stock wants to become a majority holder, then they just buy enough to make them the majority. Most of the times it’s numbers that are nowhere near 70%. But those companies could be publicly trading their stock and the way that they get the majority is through buying out other companies and company individuals rather than the general public that might have that stock. That’s what different about WM, they’re a private company. That is something that could potentially change, though. Essentially with that 70%, RBW has the say to do what they want with WM but I’ll get into that later. But I think it’s strange that the number 70 just came about from somewhere. I wonder how WM’s stock was previously divided before this and if it was somewhere in the agreement about how the stocks should be divided upon the acquisition, I’m pretty sure it probably was. We’ll probably never know those details, but I don’t know, 70% is strange to me and doesn’t make sense.

To put an example on how strange I find the number 70, let me set up an example situation. I’m not saying that this is actually what happened but just putting in into perspective why I find it so strange. So let’s say that WM’s stocks are divided amongst the people in the company and investors in a way that would make achieving 51% possible, or even 50.1%. Anything over 50.1% would technically give RBW the majority hold over WM. Therefore, in an administrative sense, the majority that they get at 51% would be the same control that they get at the 70%. Maybe RBW aimed for a higher percentage to ensure that they would actually have control and that they wouldn’t somehow get removed as technically “being in charge” or if they got more financial rewards on having 70% of the stock. I don’t know much about the exchanging of stocks, especially in private companies, but 70% seems like a lot even if they want to securely have the majority in the company. If they weren’t comfortable with sitting in the 50% range, they probably could’ve gone to 60% but even then that seems a little high when, in most public companies, the majority is seemingly secured at around 25% – 30%. Once again, though, we’re talking about a private company, two private companies really, so things are definitely different. Also, with private companies, they don’t have to release information about any of this because the general public isn’t involved in any of their business proceedings.

So I’m not sure if it’s the same in South Korea, but at least for the United States, the private company is the one that approves the buying of the shares because they aren’t available on any public platform. It seems that for the most part, the people who have stocks in private companies are either the employees themselves or investors unless the company goes and seeks out people to purchase it. I think the case between the two companies is a little different. I already mentioned that WM is a private company but RBW is, too. RBW was also created from a merger back in 2015 between WA Entertainment and Rainbow Bridge Agency. Therefore I can only assume that either both companies sought out each other or one company went to the other with a deal. Either way, because they’re both private companies, there was no way for RBW to do an underhand deal on WM because WM would have to approve the stocks purchase in the first place. I never suspected that they did, but I thought I’d add it just in case anyone might’ve thought about that happening in the future.

But then another question would be whether they plan to go public or not, as in make themselves a public company where the general public can buy stocks. If that’s the case, then is the 70% that RBW bought going to be available to the public? Then is RBW going to get whatever profits or stuff is associated with those bought stocks? Or maybe to put it in a different perspective, they’re saying the 70% because they already sold the 30% back to the company? If that makes any sense. I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe another way that this all went down was that RBW actually bought 100% of WM but left the 30% of stock out of it so that, I’m going to assume Lee Wonmin has that 30%, he is technically in charge of the subsidiary? But thinking about that and majorities, that probably wouldn’t hold true because then, if they go public, anyone could get over 30% of that WM stock and then be in the majority over Lee Wonmin. I guess it all just depends on whether RBW has any intention to go public or to make WM a public subsidiary, too.

I know this is getting long but I’ll just end on my opinion about what’s going to happen in the future with this whole acquisition and subsidy stuff.

Like I’ve said before, the 70% definitely makes me nervous a little. I’ve stated my reasons for why RBW might’ve gone for over the majority but at the same time, it just kind of doesn’t make sense why they would want 70% unless to make sure they have complete control. At the same time, they have said that WM will still be able to keep their management in place therefore I’m wondering if maybe the 70% has more to do with the future rather than the present? Technically, since RBW owns the majority of WM, they could essentially tell them to do whatever they want and they could, technically, dissolve WM as a company. They have the majority vote so it wouldn’t be illegal for them to do so, unless there’s some sort of law or certain requirements that must be met that I’m unaware of. I want to believe that there is probably something within their contract about that, though, that wouldn’t let for such a thing to happen. Still, it’s strange and I honestly always think that I’ll see the 70% as a strange number, especially in regard to stocks and shares of a singular company.

I know that it’s been reported that WM’s management is supposed to stay the same but I hope it remains that way. I know that there are some things about them that people, me included, are unhappy with them about but they do treat their artists well and have created unique brands that fit their groups. I guess the only underlying worrying thing would be that 70%. But as long as this stays as an acquisition, and WM remains as a subsidy of RBW, then I don’t see any sort of issue, as long as WM remains in control of their own artists.

Maybe this acquisition is beneficial for both parties. Like I stated before, if there is a decision to go public, they could get more capital overall since stock tends to go up when one company acquires another. Additionally, they may have better, or more, resources to work with since they’re technically working together. Hopefully there are some sort of strengths that each company have that they can work together to create an overall better situation, but that’s all stuff for the administrative side. On the side of the artists, from what it seems right now, it doesn’t seem like much is changing. The companies aren’t merging into one so it doesn’t seem like the artists are technically becoming labelmates. Sure, they may work together in the future, it would be easier to do that with this, but I still think that they’ll identify themselves separately and as part of separate companies since WM Entertainment still technically exists.

The closest example that I can think of where subsidies are involved is when people think about the Disney company or even about Comcast. Sure, both of those companies are huge and it doesn’t really relate to RBW’s acquisition of WM, but it helps to think about how subsidies work in a way, or at least I think so. Both Disney and Comcast are large companies that hold multiple companies underneath of them as subsidies, some that people might not even realize are owned by them. Take Comcast as the first example, I’m pretty sure one of their subsidies is NBC, which they actually 100% acquired in 2013 after only having the majority. Still, Comcast is the parent company. Parent companies are companies that own enough stock in other companies to be considered the majority. The other companies that are under a parent company are considered to be subsidiaries of the parent company. On the other hand, for Disney, they’re considered a parent company to ABC and even Pixar is considered to be their subsidiary.

I guess what I’m trying to show is that sometimes companies are able to govern and manage themselves even if they become acquired by a different company. The definition of a subsidy is that they operate as a separate and distinct corporation and that their obligations are not usually a liability of the parent company.

But I apologize for this being so long and congrats if you made it this far and my thoughts made any sense to you. I wasn’t really trying to get anywhere with this, I was just mainly just using it as an outlet to express my understanding of the situation at hand and maybe try to clear up things that others might have questions about. I wasn’t trying to look down upon or defend the decision made, just trying to gain a better understanding.

If anyone does have any questions, if you want to say something that I might’ve missed, or if you have your own opinions on the subject matter, please feel free to reach out to me on any of the platforms that I’m on! I’m always looking to hearing what other people have to say about the subject. Or even if there’s something else you want to talk about, feel free to ask away!

Thanks! - Marisa

#b1a4 #wm entertainment #oh my girl #onf #text #thoughts

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sawadeekannyeong · 3 years

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Thailand: Southeast Asia’s unexpected epicentre of K-pop

How Thailand contributes to South Korea, and how South Korea gives back in return

i. Intro

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Video: Clip from Thai entertainment show hosted by Moddam Kachapa. (Source: YouTube)

On September 11, 2021, Thai MC Moddam Kachapa talked about the solo debut success of Blackpink’s Lisa.

“This is what we call world class, truly world class, it’s finally happened to our country.”

Lisa (real name Lalisa Manoban), a K-pop idol who was born and raised in Thailand, got her start under YG Entertainment in 2016, as a member of girl group Blackpink. The group itself has achieved worldwide success, even being credited by South Korean president Moon Jae-In for spreading K-pop content across the globe. Lisa is the only member of the group who is not Korean, and the third to break out into solo endeavours.

Her debut single album Lalisa was considered a huge success. With 736,000 copies sold in South Korea within the first week, it broke the all-time record for most sales in a single week for any release by a female musician — leaving her more than worthy of a celebration.

But in acknowledging Lisa’s success, Kachapa discredited the success of other Thai K-pop idols in the industry: namely, 2PM’s Nichkhun and GOT7’s BamBam.

“We’ve never seen a (Thai) superstar go this far - back then we had Nichkhun, but he wasn’t successful to this degree. We also have BamBam, but he too didn’t manage to get this far.”

Photo: Screenshots of netizens’ tweets regarding Kachapa’s statements. (Source: Twitter)

His statements struck a chord with long-time fans of both artists, who felt there was no need to bring them down in order to praise Lisa. Many even acknowledged that the three are friends, and did not see one another as competition.

Photo: BamBam, Nichkhun and Lisa with one another. (Source: various)

This incident proves one thing – Thai fans of K-pop are proud of all the success their own citizens have achieved, and actively acknowledge that debuting in the K-pop industry is an achievement to laud over. It reflects the level of respect Thai netizens have for K-pop, revealing just how popular K-pop is in Thailand.

ii. The import of Thai idols

A survey conducted with 500 Thai citizens in 2019 revealed that 45.6 percent of respondents considered K-pop to be very popular in the nation, with an additional 27.2 percent considering it to be quite popular. The Korean Wave, specifically the rise of K-pop, has been present in Thailand for more than decade now.

The import of talents like Nichkhun, BamBam and Lisa are both a result of this rise, and also help to maintain this popularity. The respect they are treated with in their home country is nearly unparalleled.

Nichkhun (2PM)

In 2005, when he was just 17, Nichkhun was scouted by JYPE Entertainment representatives while at the Los Angeles Korean Music Festival with some friends. He admitted to having no knowledge of Korean culture, and did not understand why he was scouted.

“I didn’t know any singers, I didn’t know what JYP was and when I was scouted, I was really skeptical about it because I don’t really speak Korean, I didn’t know anybody there.”

The Los Angeles Korean Music Festival (now known as the Korea Times Music Festival) was launched in 2003 to give Korean-Americans living in Southern California a taste of “home”. The festival grew increasingly popular among non-Koreans, due to the widespread recognition of Korean culture in the United States, and in 2013, 95 per cent of tickets were purchased by non-Koreans.

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Video: 2PM performing at the 2014 Los Angeles Korean Music Festival. (Source: YouTube)

The booming presence of the Korean community in Southern California and the rise of Hallyu in the United States were both factors that contributed to Nichkhun’s recruitment into JYPE. His debut as a member of 2PM in 2008 cemented his status as the world’s first K-pop idol from Thailand.

He is incredibly popular in his home country, earning the nickname “Thai Prince” for his good looks, wealth and talent. He also acknowledges that as a foreign K-pop idol, he helps to globalise K-pop, and spread awareness of it beyond just South Korea.

I think I’m the international bridge that connects the group to places outside Korea. If the group were only Korean members, the reach would be very Korean. But because I’m there, I make the group a little more international.

BamBam (GOT7)

BamBam (born Kunpimook Bhuwakul), is a member of GOT7, formerly under JYP Entertainment. Growing up in Thailand, his interest in Korean culture was primarily because his mother was a huge fan of singer Rain. The two of them even attended some Rain concerts together in Thailand, a testament to the singer’s popularity in the region.

BamBam actively took part in K-pop competitions growing up in Thailand, like a Rain cover dance competition, and the Thailand LG Entertainer Competition (which 2PM’s Nichkhun and Blackpink’s Lisa were coincidentally both present at).

Photo: BamBam, Nichkhun and Lisa at the Thailand LG Entertainer Competition. (Source: YouTube)

At 13, BamBam passed the JYP World Tour Audition in Thailand and subsequently moved to South Korea to become a JYPE trainee. Debuting with GOT7 in 2014, his popularity in Thailand soared and BamBam went on to receive the nickname “Thai Prince”, just like his predecessor Nichkhun.

He endorses many brands in Thailand, including mobile network operator AIS, Yamaha, and Vivo.

“Someone had called me “nation’s treasure” before. I felt really good when I heard it. I want Thai people to be proud of me. I am proud of being Thai. I always say it wherever I go. We’re K-pop idols or whatever, we’re still Thai.”

Lisa (Blackpink)

Lisa’s story of how she debuted is similar to that of BamBam’s. In 2010, she attended an open audition held by YG Entertainment in Thailand, and was the only winner out of approximately 3000 contestants. Moving to South Korea at the mere age of 13, she proceeded to become YG’s first non-Korean trainee.

Since Blackpink’s debut in 2016, the group has achieved constant success. Lisa’s fame is nearly unparalleled – she is the most followed K-pop idol on Instagram, boasting 61.9 million followers (as of October 2021).

The star, who like Nichkhun and BamBam is highly respected in Thailand, made sure to boast her Thai roots in her debut single.

"I wanted my album to give a Thai feel as its gem, and YG's producer, Teddy, arranged the lead track in the way I expected. I also sported Thai outfits in its music video and made traditional Thai dance movements.”

The ever growing globalisation of K-pop, like Korean music festivals and idol auditions held in other countries, contribute to the growing pool of non-Korean K-pop idols. K-pop is becoming increasingly accessible, not just for fans, but for those aspiring to join the industry.

Other Thai idols have sprouted in the K-pop industry since, like NCT’s Ten, CLC’s Sorn and G-Idle’s Minnie. All of them contribute to growing cultural relations between Thailand and South Korea, as South Korean President Moon Jae-In said himself.

“ In particular, the peoples of our two countries are curious about each other and share a mutual affection. A number of talented young Thais are making a name for themselves on the world stage as members of K-pop acts, including Nichkhun of 2PM and Lisa of Blackpink.”

iii. Getting what you give

Where K-pop has benefitted from Thailand, Thailand has benefitted from K-pop.

All of the “Big 3” labels – JYP, YG and SM – have expanded their businesses to Thailand: JYP launched JYPE Thailand in 2010, its official Southeast Asian branch. The following year, SM launched a joint venture called SM True with Thailand’s The Visions Group. And just this year, YGMM was launched as a joint venture between YG and Thailand’s GMM Grammy.

Korean music festivals and conventions are also commonplace in Thailand. In 2011, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, South Korea’s Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) held the MBC Korean Music Wave in Bangkok. It featured the biggest groups of the time, like TVXQ, Miss A, Girls’ Generation and SG Wannabe, and was hosted by 2PM’s Nichkhun, alongside Yuri and Tiffany from Girls’ Generation. MBC Korean Music Wave returned to Thailand two more times, and its last iteration received a turnout of 20,000 fans.

Photo: Tiffany, Nichkhun, and Yuri at MBC Korean Music Wave in Bangkok 2011. (Source: Soompi)

More recently, in 2018 and 2019, Thailand became the only Southeast Asian country to host KCON. The convention, held to celebrate all forms of Korean culture, originally began in 2012, in the United States, and has since expanded to eight countries. Thailand’s KCON was hosted both times by 2PM’s Nichkhun, and saw performances from artists like Stray Kids, Iz*One and GOT7.

Photo: GOT7 at KCON 2018, including BamBam (3rd from right). (Source: Tofupop Radio)

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic might have halted K-pop concerts and conventions in Thailand for the time being, but the craze shows no signs of stopping. The K-pop phenomenon has trickled its way down to Thailand’s grassroots, benefitting blue collar workers like tuktuk drivers and roadside hawkers.

Photo: Thailand’s popular tuktuks are now adorned with K-pop idol advertisements. (Source: Reuters)

The drivers of Thailand’s distinctive tuktuks have been hit financially by the pandemic, with most of their income normally coming from excited tourists. According to Reuters, avid K-pop fans have been turning to these tuktuks as a way to advertise their favourite idols. As part of a larger anti-government protest, teenagers stopped paying for their K-pop idols to be advertised on public transport, and instead mobilised tuktuks to celebrate birthdays and album launches.

Samran and many others now drive their empty tuk tuks around Bangkok with a banner of a different K-pop sensation each month, stopping for young Thai fans to take pictures and use their service, often with tips.

Similarly, meatball vendors in Lisa’s hometown of Buriram in Thailand have seen a rise in sales of up to 1000 per cent since an unexpected shoutout from her. In an interview on popular Thai talkshow The Woody Show, Lisa mentioned missing the meatballs sold near the train station in her hometown.

Photo: Meatballs being sold in Lisa’s hometown in Thailand. (Source: Bangkok Post)

“People buy and eat them right there at Buriram train station. They’re really popular. The highlight is the sauce found only in Buriram.”

Business had struggled for these vendors as a result of the pandemic, with many people afraid of eating out. Some vendors even had to shut down stalls.

"Now some shops have about 2,000 orders a day. This is unprecedented and business is even better than pre-Covid 19," said Bordin Ruengsuksriwong, the provincial Tourism Industry Council president.

It is no doubt that when pandemic restrictions ease up, more Thais will find themselves flocking to South Korea to follow in the footsteps of Nichkhun, BamBam and Lisa, while K-pop groups will be marking Thailand down in their tour dates.

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mee-the-people · 3 years

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SISTAR: How the Kpop Queens of Summer Stay ‘So Cool’ 4 Years After Disbandment

Summer 2021 marks another summer without a SISTAR comeback. As every SISTAR fan, (and hopefully every KPOP fan knows) SISTAR disbanded in May 2017, after releasing their final EP Lonely. I only really got into KPOP in 2018, so I discovered SISTAR much later, but when I heard their 2013 summer hit, Give It To Me, I knew I was going to be dragged into the rabbit hole that is SISTAR’s discography. I loved everything about that era… as a fashion enthusiast and someone with a background in dance, I always look at the WHOLE era, as well as the song, of course, when I’m making my assessment of a KPOP era. That’s what I did first with SISTAR’s Give It To Me.

GITM gives the audience a Moulin Rouge vibe, which I thought was so unique when I first watched the MV and stage performances. That’s one of the things I always loved about the original “summer queens” themselves, SISTAR- their summer concepts were always fresh, original, and unique. It’s easy to think that there’s only so many summer concepts/ideas a group can pull off or when people think of summer concepts, they only think of songs with beachy vibes. But SISTAR pulled off a number of (always classy) sexy, summer concepts- whether it was the flirty, retro theme that Shake It bought upon us in Summer 2015 or the mature, sophisticated theme that was presented by I Like That in Summer 2016. (One of my favorite SISTAR eras overall!)

Shake It reminds me of the “comic book aesthetic” with the bright, flashy colors and the bold-lettered art themes. There’s a minor storyline in the MV, which adds to the songs charm and definitely “feels” like a retro summer, although I couldn’t get over the fact that this song doesn’t really have a bridge or substantial verses. I think this song is simply meant to be fun and not a song where you think too deeply about the lyrics, so in that way, this song excels, because it’s incredibly catchy and whenever it comes on my playlist, its upbeat rhythms always give me a boost of happy.

Like GITM, I Like That is one of my absolute favorite SISTAR eras. The song, choreography (which seemed more complex compared to their previous era dance routines), outfits, and concept in general were unique and unlike anything they had done previously. I also really liked the lyrics in this song, because even though it’s about finding out about a cheating boyfriend, instead of just blaming the douch-y boyfriend, SISTAR blames themselves for thinking that they can “change him,” (A concept that every woman, including myself, has thought in regards to a man… moral of the story: don’t fall in love with potential! But I digress…) which is actually a self-aware twist to something that’s (unfortunately) so common in relationships.

One of the things about I Like That that I liked (😊) is how they made use of props in the most effective and efficient ways in both the MV and the stage performances. There’s something to be said about props being used properly- in my opinion, if you choose to have props in your stage performances, it kind of makes or breaks the performance, because if those props are just a waste of space, it will show. Luckily for SISTAR, they not only used props to enhance the performance, but they made sure to have control over the setting and not the other way around. I especially liked how they used their long flowing skirts as curtains, making it part of their routine, and the stage props (as well as the MV props) didn’t feel too close together or “tight,” adding to the song’s glamour.

Despite all of the good things I Like That had to offer, my only complaint is that member Bora didn’t get enough of a rap verse. With most K-pop songs, l normally don’t think the rap goes with the song, but in I Like That, I thought Bora’s verse actually went with the song, so I wish she had gotten another rap verse in place of the somewhat awkward bridge (“I’m so fine, I’m so fine…”) that seems out of place compared to the melody and rhythms of the song.

If we’re talking about “conventional summer themes,” I would say Touch My Body and Loving U would be the most “summer-y” when it comes to the traditional K-Pop summer concept, but even when they went the conventional summer route, SISTAR stayed true to their unique group flair. Even though the navy crop top and floral print shorts from the Touch My Body era is an ensemble that you could probably buy at Target, it’s still an iconic outfit and one of the stage outfits I think of when I think of SISTAR. 2012 summer splash Loving U is certainly a bop and the outfits from that era seem like laid-back and casual summer outfits that you would wear to the beach or to an amusement park. In terms of the song, it’s a good song if you’re looking for a light pop song, but it’s not on my top 5 list of favorite SISTAR songs.

By this point, I knew I was a fan, and as I was discovering more of SISTAR’s songs, I came across their debut song from 2010 called Push Push. It’s a catchy enough, electro-pop song, which is decent, but if that was the first SISTAR song I listened to and not Give It To Me, it may have taken me longer to get into SISTAR’s music. There wasn’t a discernible “concept” surrounding Push Push, so it’s hard to really place it on the same level as some of their other summer jams. I will say that one of their live performances of this song was at an amusement park (which you can easily find on YouTube), and that was a cool aesthetic and it must have been a fun experience for the girls.

A song that’s less popular, but still one of my favorite SISTAR songs is 2010’s Shady Girl. It received moderate success when it was released in August 2010, and SISTAR were still a “rookie group” at this time. (It had only been 2 months since they debuted in the industry at this point!) I thought the flight attendant theme was a little cliché, but the outfits were still on point. Most SISTAR choreography is fairly easy, and Shady Girl is no exception. This era is still one of my favorites, despite the fact that they went the conventional route and it wasn’t really the “sexy summer” theme that SISTAR are known for; however, I think because this group was still trying to find their footing in the Korean entertainment industry as rookies, this concept tended to be “safer” than some of their other concepts.

And of course, the song that put SISTAR on the map and defined their superstar status was none other than 2011’s So Cool. So Cool is a dance-pop tune that stayed in the Top 10 for 5 consecutive weeks and was the first number one single by this group. If you watch the music video and the stage performances, you’ll notice that the choreography in the music video is different from the stage performances, because of a dance move in the MV that was deemed inappropriate in South Korea’s conservative society; hence the slight choreography change for the stage performances. I like the general idea behind the lyrics of the song- that idea being the way to get revenge on a horrible ex-boyfriend is to look amazing (which they do! I love ALL of their stage outfits during this era…) and to remind yourself that you’re “too cool” to waste your time being sad over him. So, in a way, I like the sexy, empowering theme behind this song; however, while the song is catchy, it is easy to get tired of after a few listens.

Spring 2012 brought Alone upon us. Although this comeback was not during the summer (obviously), it was different than what SISTAR had previously done up until this point, and when I discovered this song, I was here for it. The black and red combo for the concept pictures really suited the vibe that the song gave. Alone is a ballad that talks about heartbreak and the feelings of loneliness that you experience afterwards, which is not only real, but it is also a universal feeling that anyone can understand and relate to. While I liked the outfits during this era, I thought they were purposely made “plainer” to emphasize the jewelry, which is a fashion statement in and of itself.

One of the things about SISTAR that I find so admirable is that they were able to hold their own against artists from the “Big 3 Companies.” Any K-Pop fan knows that if a group hails from SM, JYP, or YG, that group is almost guaranteed to be successful in the K-Pop industry, because of the resources, connections, budget, and experience that the CEOs of these Big 3 Companies have managing (successful) artists in the industry. It is a well-known fact that SISTAR is not from one of the Big 3 Companies- they were managed by a smaller company called Starship Entertainment. Even despite the fact that their success wasn’t guaranteed when they first started, they were still able to “sell the concepts” for every one of the songs that Starship churned out when comeback season came.

A girl group from a smaller company was able to, not only compete with girl groups from Big 3 Companies, they were also able to become the most streamed girl group EVER with over 1 billion streams in their 7-year career together! And not only that, they have THE MOST consecutive #1 singles by a K-Pop girl group EVER with 9 singles under their belt. Not bad for a girl group that came from a smaller entertainment company. I think it is human nature to root for the underdog, so it really speak volumes about how hard SISTAR had to have worked to compete with girl groups from the Big 3 Companies, which makes me even prouder for them when they achieved their success together.

Most K-pop fans know that summer isn’t the same without SISTAR, but going back and listening to their comebacks certainly feels like summer...

#SISTAR #summertime #KPop #summerqueens

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dailyexo · 5 years

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[INTERVIEW] EXO - 191213 Billboard: “EXO Talk 'Obsession’ Album & Future: 'I Hope that the Name of EXO Can Grow’”

"It’s been seven years since EXO arrived with 2012's MAMA EP, and since then the boy band has spent much of its time atop of the South Korean music scene, with hits like 2013’s “Growl" and 2015’s “Love Me Right” setting them up as a dominant act throughout much of Asia. Last month, they unveiled their sixth LP, Obsession, ending the year -- and the decade -- with both a new sound and a hint towards what the future will bring for the men of EXO.

Fronted by a lead single also dubbed “Obsession,” the 10-track album is bookended by Korean and Chinese versions of the song, which turns the group towards hip-hop-inspired sampling and an intense Auto-tuning, blending their more typical R&B and electro-pop styling with musical elements that at first seem anachronistic and jarring. But it’s the perfect way to set up the story they’re trying to tell.

For EXO, the majority of their musical releases have been tied into fictive narratives revolving around the members and fantastical, sci-fi plot lines, ranging from the extraterrestrial to the supernatural. For Obsession, which peaked at No. 198 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Dec. 14, EXO presented oppositional sides to themselves through a series of teaser images and videos ahead of the album’s release, setting up an epic battle between EXO and their X-EXO clones, which played out in the music video for their single. The song’s apparent disjointment on first listen is meant to go alongside the visual elements, representing a dialogue between the two warring parties.

“Honestly, when we look into a song we think about what kind of performance will work and whether a song will fit the kind of performance we want to put on,” Kai tells Billboard. “So when we heard this song, we thought it was a really good fit in the sense that for the Auto-Tune it matched the idea of the two different EXOs, EXO and X-EXO. The Auto-Tune kind of gives us the vibe of communication between the two different parties having a conversation, so it was a very specific move that we took.” He said he thinks EXO will win the fight, eventually, “Because anytime you watch a movie or read a comic the hero does win. X-EXO is temporary so they’re going to disappear anyway.”

The idea behind the storylines that EXO utilizes to promote their music is to better get their music across to fans -- known collectively as EXO-L -- and also to better relay content in the age of digital media, where visuals are just as important as audio elements. It’s been something the group has been utilizing since their earliest days, and each member has supernatural powers associated with them that often are featured in their branding. “We’re not just a group that sings and dances,” says Chanyeol. “For people watching us, of course they know the storylines are fake. But like watching a movie, it's another way for people to fall for us more deeply. It gives people a back story about how we were formed. Our storyline isn't just incorporated into our music or videos, but it's incorporated really well into our concerts as well. We do feel that it really allows people to become properly immersed.”

Kai and Chanyeol are two of six EXO members that participated in the album, alongside Baekhyun, Chen, Sehun, and Suho, following the enlistment of Xiumin and D.O. in South Korea’s military, fulfilling the country’s mandatory draft requirements, and Lay focusing on a solo career in China. The six other members are expected to similarly enlist and take temporary hiatuses from the industry in the near future.

The new dynamic has given EXO’s members opportunities to explore different sides of themselves, and Chanyeol says that it’s also opened their eyes to how they work together and cover for one another in case of any issues. Each member "has to pull their weight so whether in singing or dance, there are parts that won’t be hidden,” he says. “It would be a really big problem [if we made a mistake] because it would be really obvious.” For Suho, who is EXO’s leader, the diminishing numbers makes him reflective. “The fact that we’re unable to perform with all the members is a little bit sad, so when we look at old videos we do feel like, ‘Oh, there are a lot of members in the group’ and we’d like to come together as a full group.”

As all able-bodied South Korean men are expected to take time off from their lives to fulfill the country’s draft requirements, EXO knows it will be seeing more such changes in the near future, and the act will likely not look the way it once did for sometime. But rather than dwell on the past, the men of EXO are looking towards the future, and 2019 saw many of them work on alternative projects, where it was releasing solo music, such as Chen, Baekhyun, Xiumin, and D.O., or working with new units, like Sehun and Chanyeol’s EXO-SC and Baekhyun and Kai in SuperM, along with numerous other professional activities. “We’ve received so much love for our units and solo projects, but at the end of the day the most important thing is the team and group’s performances,” says Baekhyun. “The fact that we’re able to show all these different sides to us also allows us to show different sides of EXO as a group and show how diverse we are, and how each of us have our own talents.”

When asked how they feel about their career over the past decade and what they hope for the future, Chanyeol responds that the members of EXO feel that they’re focusing on the present and facing each moment on its own. “To be honest, when we do interviews when we’re working we realize that as a group we’ve become very comfortable. Rather than us having to go out of our way to go do something, it’s become very natural for us. It’s grown with time and come naturally, this sense of maturity.”

Though EXO and X-EXO battle it out over the Obsession album, the duality of the release is also reflected in the members’ struggles to explore their identities as individuals beyond the act: how to be both a member of EXO and a man in his own right. As EXO have grown in their career, they have also grown up: youngest member Sehun debuted as a teenager but is now 25-years-old. Unfortunately ill on the day of the interview, he was silent throughout much of the discussion and his health hung over the act like a cloud, with frequent references to how, as they get older, they need to take care of themselves better. “These days, seeing that our physical health is part of our workload, I feel that a healthy life, health in general, is very important,” says Baekhyun. “Rather than thinking about more of what we can do to grow as a group, I feel that we all have begun to focus on seeking individual happiness. Right now, a lot of our focus is on how each person is able to find their own happiness and health, and use that when we come together as a group to move in the right direction.”

Suho echoes this, saying that their branching out as individuals beyond the group is a way to take care of themselves as individuals after years of focusing on the collective well-being. “In the past, EXO’s schedule didn’t allow a lot of individual talents to be focused on but starting from the beginning of this year we were given the time to really focus on ourselves, whether it was internally or externally. It’s not just us as a group, but I think everybody needs that kind of self-care. It was good for everybody.”

Even as they focus on themselves, the group is still the focal point of EXO’s identity. “We came together, got very close, and without the passion that we had as a group I don’t think we would have made it as far as we have come,” reflects Baekhyun. “When it comes to being satisfied, as people I think that we’re never 100% satisfied.” This passion towards improving and always seeking something closer and closer to perfection, but recognizing that is impossible and that there is always something more to be done, is emphasized by the members’ responses when asked what their obsessions are: Kai says he’s a workaholic, and Chanyeol says his competitive nature is to the degree that it could be considered an obsession. (Meanwhile, Baekhyun’s obsessed with games, and Kai jokes that Sehun is obsessed with alcohol, as it is well-known he’s one of the group’s members who enjoys drinking.)

One place where Chanyeol at the very least is satisfied in is EXO’s music. “When it comes to our music, I’m 100% confident that we release quality music,” he says with pride. “It’s almost like we’re not following trends but we don’t fall back behind either.” He and Sehun tried to push their artistic side in a new direction with EXO-SC’s What a Life EP in July, and there was a bit of a negative response from some fans over the title song’s music video, which featured the pair partying it up with female dancers. But he says it’s all good, as there’s no moving forward without trying new things, and it’s always good to hear differing opinions. “We wanted to do something drastically different. You could say it was so completely different from what EXO typically releases. It was a very dramatic challenge for us, and even though there was some backlash from fans, for me personally it was a big motivating factor, that I need to show more new sides and that there are many new challenges to take on.”

It’s important to EXO that their audience takes in all the different sides to themselves that they have to offer, and Chen says he hopes that listeners recognize that there’s a difference between an artist releasing a single and an album. “If you listen to the whole album beyond ‘Obsession,’ you’ll recognize that all of the songs are good,” he says; his personal favorite is “Groove.” “I feel that there is a tendency that people just listen to the title track, but it would be really great if people can listen to the whole album because every song is really great.”

Moving forward, EXO knows they’re shifting into a new era of their career, but they express a desire to always remain as one. “I hope that EXO is able to continue just the way it does right now, but beyond the group I hope that each individual member is able to find his own happiness,” says Baekhyun. “We may not go on music performance shows all the time in 10 years, but we hope that we can release albums here and there. In that we can all live our own lives and come together, happily, as a group.” He pauses, and adds with a wry expression, “I think that in 10 years, hopefully we’ll be able to release something like a ballad or an R&B-heavy song where we can just stand around rather than dance.” Other members quickly jump in and refute this though. “That’s not EXO’s thoughts, that’s Baekhyun’s thoughts,” Sehun says with a laugh, while Chanyeol adds that he hopes EXO is “a very cool group” 10 years down the road; Kai adds that he would like to continue dancing as long as his body allows for it.

“As time passes, like our members, our fans are going to start pursuing their own lives as well,” says Kai. “As they fall into their own lives, when they suddenly have a thought of EXO, I hope that one thought that comes to their mind is, ‘It was a really good memory being their fan.’” Suho echoes this, repeating “A good memory” in English with a nod of his head. Baekhyun agrees with this desire for their time together with fans to be thought of warmly, but follows up with the suggestion that the idea of being a memory, while heartwarming, is limiting. “I really hope that we aren’t a group that is remembered as a group that’s part of the past, because when you think of that you think about these groups that don’t really promote and they don’t really do anything as a team. I hope that, whether individually or as a group, we continue to promote and that the name of EXO can continue to grow.”"

Photo links: 1

Credit: Billboard.

#EXO #EXO K #EXO M #191213 #exo im #exo k im #exo m im #p:news #t:news #fs:billboard #comeback:Obsession

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anxiety-is-my-lullaby-fangirl21 · 3 years

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Kinda forgot i got tagged by @alicethecamelhas2humps (thank you btw didnt mean to take so long to post this) for this answer 20 questions tag 20 blogs

Name: Delaney but call me del or lullaby

Pronouns: she/they?

Zodiac: Aries

Height: 5ft 1.5

Nationality: american

Fave band: tends to change but all time low and stray kids tend to always be around

Fave artist: (i never know if these are talking about art or solo singers) if we're going with art artist vincent van gogh but if we go with fave solo artist i really have zero clue lmao probs watsky?

When you created your blog: 2013 i think

Last thing you googled: bdsm test

Lucky number: i have a lot?? 4, 6, 8, and 16

Other blogs: kpop-is-my-lullaby21 (kpop) a private nsfw one that i dont want most people following me on here to follow (no offense)

Why you chose your url: so originally i was a one direction blog and in my url it had fangirl21 as part of it and so i kept that when i changed to a 5sos blog and kept it again when i changed it to this and i did it to match with what i had for an ifunny name bc i liked this more lmao

How many blogs are you following: 513 ive been meaning to go through and unfollow a lot of inactive accounts or ones im not into anymore

How many followers do you have: 163 way less on others

How many hours of sleep do you average: it varies too often ill get 4 hours one week and 7 another

Instruments: a little bit on 5 guitar, uke, violin, piano, and harmonica i know the violin the most but prefer playing the uke

Currently wearing: some blue winnie the pooh sleep pants and a blue cami

Dream trip: gosh so i have a lot of dream trips i really want to take a road trip with so many friends visiting 48 outta the 50 states but i also wanna take a trip to the uk, Australia, and south korea

Fave food: i dont have one i do like french toast a lot for breakfast tho

Fave song: changes to whatever im listening to in the moment lmaoo

Tags:

@fantastique-bastard @random-whovian-tomorrow-today idk who else so just do it if you want to

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lunatens · 4 years

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about me tag ✨

tagged by @ggulovebot tHANK U MIMU these are so fun 🤩🤩 yayay

name: that is ✨classified✨ skkfkdsj ok i don’t really care anymore if y’all know my real name so if u rlly wanna know u can ask

nickname: i don’t have any irl but here i go by luna because it’s fun and i think it’s a pretty name so 😌

zodiac: pisces!!

height: 5’10 or 178cm (yes i am the exact same height as the loml mr joshua hong wow)

languages: only fluent in english bc i’m boring 😔 but i also know a decent amount of ancient latin and a bit of korean!!

nationality: canadian

favourite season: fall (hehe mimu we match!!)

favourite flower: forget me nots!!!! altho bluebells and peonies are also really nice

favourite scent: i love anything that smells like outdoors, so probably like cedar or fresh rain if that counts lol!! also flowers hehe

favourite colour: rose quartz and serenity um i think pastel purple!!! but i truly love all colours

favourite animal: mmmm killer whales!! but it’s so hard to choose omfg i just love animals so much

coffee, tea or hot chocolate?: i’m not typically really big on hot drinks, but i like hot chocolate once in a while! and i’m trying to start drinking tea lol. but if we’re talking cold drinks then coffee all the way i love iced coffee (when there’s..lots of sweet things in it lakfksks) and also iced tea!!

average amount of sleep: during the school week probably like 5 hours and then on weekends usually like 10 lol

dogs or cats: god this question is so hard...i’m gonna say dogs i think? but i really love cats too

dream trip: i really want to go to korea with my sisters!!! or also back to japan!!!

number of blankets: i usually sleep with just one but many pillows/stuffed animals

blog est: ooh good question...i’ve been on tumblr since like 2013 but this blog i think i made in like march 2019? i feel like it’s been longer than that tho jeez

random fact: my friends and i are having a presentation night tomorrow and i’m doing mine on seventeen and it’s 2 hours long...but i made a kahoot for them at the end so that’ll be fun!!

tagging: @cutiejoshi (finally i get to tag u back in something hehehe) @noniesgirl @hannie-dul-set @changbinniee @jaehyunicecream of course only if you guys wanna!! 💖

#tagged #mimu <3 #tag game

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egle0702 · 4 years

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[TRANS] GQ June ‘20 - Wooyoung Interview

2PM Jang Wooyoung: “I lived hard like crazy”

2020.05.21 INTERVIEW

Wooyoung has blazed through life, but he also knows how to be quiet. That’s why he’s smart and strong. Like steel that has been repeatedly heated and cooled down.

You’re attentively monitoring during the shooting, has anything changed since you’ve been discharged from the military? My face hasn’t changed or anything like that. Rather than that, I’m just amazed. I had no idea I would be shooting a pictorial so soon after the discharge.

I suppose there must’ve been so many things you wanted to do. Every time I had some time off in the army, my head felt overwhelming. What should I do next? How should I live? All sorts of thoughts flooded in. In order to not have that time wasted, I transferred those thoughts and worries into written words. At first, there was a lot of embarrassing content, even for me. But it got better after a while. Aside from my future plans, I also looked back on my interpersonal relationships and my way of life. I thought whether I have lived well, whether I haven’t made mistakes when dealing with others.

I can feel your determination. In the army, there are a lot of kids who are younger than me. If I ask them about their worries, they would usually say: “You’ve already achieved everything, you don’t know how we feel.” We might come from a different starting point, but the fear of a beginning is the same. I’m more afraid compared to when I was 17 or 20 and just honestly ran towards my dreams.

You’re 32 now. In your opinion, what privilege does this age give you? Disregarding how you’ve spent your 10s and 20s, I think it gives you the chance to be kinder. You could say that you become mature. You become a better and stronger person when you look back at your past mistakes and experiences. If you add a drop of that 20s spirit into the mix, it’d be even better.

What was Jang Wooyoung like in his 20s? I was busy filling myself up, and then pouring everything out the moment I was full.

You’ve lived hard; after all, your work requires you to keep on showing something to the public. Generally speaking, I could divide my 20s into “before” and “after” by placing the mark on when I was 25. Right after the debut, I really lived and worked hard. Back then, there was a saying “killer schedule,” and the saying wasn’t a lie. I worked hard and was extremely busy, but I’m thankful for it. When else you’d be able to live like that. Compared to my efforts, the popularity achieved was great, I also made money. But once I turned 25; shall I call it adolescence? It was a mess. I wasn’t present in my life. I considered dropping everything and going back to my hometown in Busan.

But that didn’t happen. There’s only one thing that proves my existence; and that was the reason I pulled myself together. “I’m a member of 2PM, I cannot betray 2PM.” From that moment on, the meaning of “let’s live hard” changed. Making sure that I wouldn’t cause harm to others, I had fun, met a lot of people, and decided to learn a lot of things including drawing. Through feeling and experiencing as much as possible, I wanted to awaken the senses within me. I lived hard like crazy.

You expressed those feelings in the song “I like” that’s included in your 2nd solo album, right? 2PM, drawing, piano; you talk about the things you like, and then you say “I’m curious about everything in this world, I want to know, I scoot off.” True. I feel strongly about that song, but every time I listen to it, I can’t help but snort. I wonder whether I really should’ve been that honest with my lyrics. On the other hand, I wonder how hard it must’ve been. I feel sorry for Jang Wooyoung from that time.

What are you curious about these days? Laundry know-how. Haha.

I heard you say you’re into laundry in the video interview just now, too. I’m nurturing my daily life skills. I want to try and deal with things like laundry and cooking on my own, without any help.

Aren’t you curious why 2PM’s “My House” that was released 5 years ago is suddenly riding a new wave of popularity? It’s definitely something we’re thankful for. I think about it this way. 2PM as group never did anything by force. At first, we showed high level performances that could be practically carried out by young men in their early 20s. We danced, sang, and did acrobatic performances. Brimming with energy, we sang straightforward love songs. After that, we toned down on that power a bit. We began telling sad love stories with our eyes in love, and then we arrived at “My House.” Like a natural process of a brat growing into a mature and charismatic lover. I saw a comment that said “I’m sorry, I’ve become your fan just now,” but I’m actually thankful because it feels like these people have recognized the things 2PM have done in our natural flow.

It’s your 13th year since your debut. How does it feel when you hear that someone has just found out about 2PM? It’s only natural that someone doesn’t know us. The general flow of the trend changes really fast. The competition is also fierce, so you need put a lot of effort if you want to appeal to the masses. But then suddenly, we’re back into the spotlight through “My House.” In the middle of a hiatus no less. I think it’s a miracle.

Aside from “My House,” what other song comes to mind if you had to perform it again? I want to try and pour my entire soul into performing “Without U” that was released 10 years ago. I was responsible for the part where I had to make my singing feel like crying out loud, but back in the days I was the only one to lip sync because the situation with my voice go so bad, I even had vocal cord nodules. I’m still very disappointed I couldn’t perform it live.

2PM has reached the top, your skills were also acknowledged. How do you see yourself in the context of Korean music scene? Hmm, I can’t think of anything else than “Korean idols.” Our activities haven’t always been smooth, but I’m proud of it.

I heard that the meaning of your group’s name is the “hottest time of the day.” When was Jang Wooyoung the hottest? There was a concert in Germany in 2013, commemorating the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Germany. We performed together with senior Lee Mija. I was shocked when I saw her rehearsal. It’s already amazing that she’s still actively performing, but I could feel that she’s constantly striving to sing well. At that, I couldn’t help but freeze and promise myself “Jang Wooyoung, pull yourself together, and work hard.”

You’re the type who learns everything first-hand by experiencing it, right? I heard that you sought out senior Choi Baekho after watching his documentary to share your worries about music, even though you’ve never met him before. That was when I was going through that “adolescence” in my 20s. I felt consoled after watching senior Choi Baeho’s documentary, but there were still things I was frustrated about. So, I contacted him because I wanted to know how he managed to endure everything through his long years in the music scene. Here’s what he said during our first meeting: “My songs will keep on getting better with age. Just like the songs I sang in my 40s were more beautiful than the ones I did in my 30s, I’m heading towards being complete.” When I heard that, I felt like someone slapped me.

I think you can already give advice to someone who’s having similar worries. Have you ever experienced that? I have younger friends in Busan. We danced and dreamed of debuting together. It might sound selfish, but ever since my debut, I’ve never told them anything positive or hopeful about this line of work. When I passed the JYP audition, there was one young friend who cried together with me. Even to that friend, I said: “Can’t you please give up? I wish you didn’t suffer as much as me.” Back then it was really hard mentally and physically. Now my thoughts have changed. If you’re desperate and you’re confident that you will enjoy this constant fight with yourself, I would tell them to go for it. But I would like to tell them to come up with a wise approach to this because it’s easy to get tired and give up along the way.

You’re famous for having focused only JYP auditions. Do you still remember when you placed 1st at the 1st open audition? That must’ve been my 6th attempt to audition. Had I failed back then, I would’ve tried again. I sometimes watch the videos from that time, and I both like it and feel regret. Because the me on the screen looks somewhat tired. If I had allowed myself a little bit more freedom, stepped back and looked at the reality, I would’ve been a lot stronger kid.

What do you think you’ve done really well in life? That I’ve never calculated or analysed anything rationally in my relationships. I liked the other person without knowing anything about the world, and I suffered a lot when the relationship ended. I have my regrets, and I’ve also heard that it’s not a good way to approach a relationship, but someone like me just couldn’t help it. That experience made me into what I am today. I don’t regret it.

How important is love in life? If a person is of no. 1 importance, then love is no. 0. It’s a vague concept, I don’t even know if I can express love properly, but I can feel love through people.

It’s your birthday in 3 days, what would you imagine as a perfect gift? When I was serving, our company moved to a new building. The building is big, and the facilities got better. The practice rooms are also great. I wish I had my own personal space there, could be small too, where I could practice dancing all day long without bothering about others. For real.

So, shall we make an appeal? In your opinion, how much did 2PM contribute to JYP’s new company building? A lot, I think. It’s a 9-storey building, so I’d say around 4.5 floors?

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

CREDITS

· Feature editor: Kim Youngjae

· Photographer: Go Wontae

· Hair: Yang Hyungshim at Yangyangsalon

· Makeup: Kim Doyeon at Yangyangsalon

· Editor: Heoram

Source: GQ WEBSITE

Kor-Eng: Egle0702

#GQ #GQ Korea #Wooyoung #2PM #Wooyoung GQ #Wooyoung interview #translation

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2idiots · 4 years

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so... i'm thinking about getting actually into n.flying. i've listened to their title tracks and their most recent album, and i can tell the members apart and know a little about them (i think hwesung is my bias atm) but where should i start if i want to learn more? thank u!!!

I support your decision to dive into N.Flying head first, they are chaotic individuals that deserve all the love and support in the world. I'm not sure of any great resources to just learn everything about them right off the bat, especially because a lot of sh!t has happened to them since they first started promoting in Japanese clubs in 2013.

Read more for an overview and some youtube recommendations... warning there’s a lot, I wrote you a book and I’m sorry. But also please read if you’re interested ⇟⇟

An important timeline of major life changing moments:

They officially debuted in Korea in 2015 with FNC label, starting out as a four piece band with Seunghyub, Jaehyun, Hun, and Kwangjin (their first bassist). These songs had a lot more stereotypical rock vibes, this is awesome and lonely. They were a LOT more angsty here

Hweseung came into the mix in 2017. He finished up his military service in 2016 and joined FNC for 8 months before joining N.Flying for the Real where they use him as bait to catch a mermaid lol. They also lightened up on the angst... kinda 🤣🤣. This time also included Hot Potato and HOW R U TODAY?

In December 2018, Kwangjin "voluntarily" left N.Flying because he was seeing fans outside of schedules. Also because rumors of sexual harassment to female fans in events. As of May 2019 he filed a lawsuit against his accusers and denied all rumors. (There's not much published news past then other than Kwangjin enlisted and has won a few medals in the military.)

Back to a four person group, their senior Lee Jaejin (from FTISLAND) subbed in as their bassist on tour

Their first win happened on March 2019 with Rooftop. Which Seunghyub wrote and first published to his soundcloud (go check it out, he is so crazy talented). They performed it on tour before "officially" releasing it with FNC (cause FNC sucks). This is the win where Jaehyun sobs so hard he can't speak and a bunch of groups hug him (most notably Rowoon from SF9). (Starlight was also released on Seunghyub's soundcloud prior to FNC's release.)

Now we're mostly caught up (on major life changing moments in their career)! Dongsung officially joined N.flying January 2020, however he had been playing with them as an unofficial member before his addition was announced. Dongsung previous debuted with (disbanded group) Honeyst, also under FNC (FNC sucks). He also trained with the rest of N.flying and you'll might hear Seunghyub talk about how he has always been friends with Dongsung and was there after Honeyst disbanded in April 2019 to encourage Dongsung to keep performing. His first MV was Amnesia but his first official debut (I guess you would call it) was Oh Really.

Lol you're really getting a whole novel and I'm so sorry for that. Just a few more things I promise. Here is a quick overview of the members:

Seunghyub/JDON: The leader/ rapper and deeper vocalist, he has actually no control of them, he writes/composes/produces, he is a maknae collector, v nice see here and here

Cha Hun: the lead guitarist, an emo boy, owned by his cat Romang, i have no doubt he will poison you if you talk bad about her, kinda evil like actually evil, only a few days older than Jaehyun but still thinks he's old, ½ of 2idiots

Jaehyun: drummer, has an absurdly big mouth, the embodiment of pure chaotic good, laughs like this 😆, still acts like the maknae even though he is now the middle child, has a cute dog that I think Hun sees as competition, ½ of 2idiots

Hweseung: lead vocalist, amazing vocals go watch Still Love You (you'll know why I sent you around 3 mins in), loves pats (they literally all pat him except maybe dongsung but give it time), he did so many immortal songs b o y

Dongsung: bassist, current maknae, apparently he has m u s c l e s, father's son (seunghyub is his dad), he worked really hard to be here and if you're not nice to him I'll fight you

Now you might be curious about:

Why is Seunghyub a maknae collector? Well this single father started with Jaehyun as the baby, then added Hweseung as the baby, and now Dongsung is the youngest member. Lol and he definitely spoils his three children

Why is Seunghyub 28 (international age) and not enlisting? He had a bad accident that caused chronic pain in his leg, he's had multiple surgeries and it pushed back their debut. He was exempt from enlisting.

Why is Hun evil? Well he has a habit of cheating to make other members more confused (see the dreaded game of mafia poor seunghyub), just as chaotic as Jaehyun but it's hidden behind his emo exterior

Why is Jaehyun so chaotic? Good question no one knows. If you find out please share.

What is 2idiots? I thought there were 5 idiots? Correct there are 5 idiots in this group, however 2idiots is Jaehyun and Hun's youtube channel where they do dumb stuff and are hilarious.

Anyway thank you for joining me on this journey that you probably didn't ask for 🤣. If you want to learn more I suggest watching 2idiots, Seunghyub's Summer Camp, that one cooking thing, the weekly idol with Day6, this questions video, and many more.

#sorry for this novel about N.flying #i just love them so much and I want the whole world to know how amazing they are #most (if not all) of the things i said have articles to back them up so if you need me to link more things then let me know and i well #also anon hweseung is amazing and I'm glad you love him #I support all the members here even though I scream about seunghyub a lot #also my favorite 2idiots videos are the floor is lava' the one with jaejin' and the couples jenga #if you want more info I'll control myself better next time so feel free to ask me #also if I don't get at least one like on this I'm gonna cry because I spent my whole morning doing this :(#i know it's my fault i spent my whole morning doing this but still :((((#also sorry for the late response I passed out mid-seungwoo live lat night #anon #ask #n.flying

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jewish-privilege · 5 years

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In the synagogue’s March newsletter, Ricki Gerger, president of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., castigated those who ask fellow congregants who don’t “look like them” such questions as, “Are you Jewish?” “When did you become Jewish?” and “Tell me about your journey to Judaism.”

“I have never in my life been asked a question that challenges my identity as a Jew … but any-color-but-white Jews are asked about that all the time in just about any Jewish space,” she wrote. “Look, not everyone who comes to our synagogue is white. We have some folks here who don’t look like most of the people here. So? … In 2019, it’s time to get comfortable with the growing diversity of our kehillah,” or community.

The Conservative congregation’s rabbi, Aaron Alexander, estimated that about 10 percent of the synagogue’s 6,000 members are Jews of color.

Now, an analysis of Jewish population surveys commissioned by 25 national or local Jewish communities across the U.S. has concluded that Jews of color have been systematically undercounted for decades. And an analysis of the three most comprehensive studies available — the American Jewish Population Project (2013-2019), the 2017 San Francisco Bay Area Community Study, and the 2011 New York Community Study — has led researchers to estimate that Jews of color now represent an estimated 12 to 15 percent of American Jews.

“I hope our research will be used to inform community planning and resourcing, and that there will be a shift in the Jewish community to understand itself as multiracial,” said Ilana Kaufman, director of Jews of Color Field Building Initiative, the nonprofit group that commissioned the analysis.

The analysis was done by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the University of San Francisco. Using calculations from Brandeis University’s American Jewish Population Project that put the total American Jewish population at 7.2 million, they estimate there are about 1 million Jews of color in the U.S.

Ari Kelman of Stanford University, the lead researcher, noted that the only Jewish population survey to “breakout Jews of color” was the New York study, which found that there were 87,000 households in which there were non-white, Hispanic or multiracial Jews out of the 694,000 Jewish households in the eight-county area, or 14 percent.

...A spokeswoman for UJA-Federation of New York, which commissioned the New York study, said its Jewish population surveys are conducted every 10 years and are “committed to understanding the full diversity of New York’s Jewish population. Our last Jewish population study … was one of the first community studies to include questions about race, and our next study will similarly aim to present the most accurate picture of the New York Jewish community.”

...By the year 2050, demographers estimate that the U.S. will become majority minority, observed Diane Tobin, director of Be’chol Lashon in San Francisco, which she founded in 2000 after adopting an African-American child and beginning to raise him Jewish. Its goal is to strengthen Jewish identity by raising awareness about the ethnic, racial and cultural diversity of the American Jewish community.

Nearly all of the Jewish population surveys commissioned in the past, Tobin observed, were focused on “the behaviors of Jews who populated our synagogues and JCCs and sought to learn what they wanted.”

But by zeroing in on Jews of color, the New York survey learned they are more likely to consider themselves “partially” Jewish, to be intermarried and “to feel uncomfortable at Jewish events and activities.”

“They are less likely to identify with a denomination, observe holidays, connect to Jewish institutions, or feel part of a Jewish community,” the survey continued. “And although they are a highly urban group, they are much more likely to live outside of the ‘primary’ neighborhoods of Jewish residence. Instead, they tend to reside in areas with relatively low Jewish density.”

Isaiah Rothstein, 30, an Orthodox rabbi who grew up in a multiracial Lubavitch family in upstate Monsey, said he knows “many Jews of color who were born Jewish and who take their Judaism and religious life very seriously. … I also know Jews of color who don’t go to synagogue because they don’t feel a sense of belonging. It is changing a lot, but most Jews of color do not feel comfortable in the synagogue.”

The old joke about Goldstein going to synagogue to pray to God and Schwartz going to talk to Goldstein is very apropos, according to Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Be’chol Lashon’s education director, “because part of the reason we go is to be with people we know.”

Rabbi Lina Zerbarini, spiritual leader of Kehillath Shalom Synagogue in Cold Spring Harbor, agreed, saying: “People go where they feel they are not going to have issues, and it is not comfortable for people to walk into a synagogue and have people ask why they are there. When I adopted three black girls, the first question was whether I would raise them in the Jewish community because they would not see people like themselves in Jewish settings very much.”

“I would suggest that for most of our 4,000-year history we have not been white, and the experience we have in the U.S., where so many Jews think that Eastern European Ashkenazic Judaism is normative, is not,” she added.

(In Israel, less than half — 47.5 percent — of Israeli Jews are Ashkenazic.)

The absence of Jews of color in the Jewish community is seen by Kaufman, director of the group that commissioned the study, as “in some ways a result of racism.” But Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, spiritual leader of Central Synagogue in Manhattan who was born in Korea to a Jewish American father and Korean Buddhist mother, said she believes that although there are “inherent biases, I don’t know if I would call it racism. There has been an Ashkenazi normative assumption by Jews in America that color our perception of who we are and what the Jewish community is.”

“We in America are an aberration, and we should see this [study] as a reclaiming of the mixed multitude of the mosaic of Jewish diversity that we have been since the beginning of our diaspora existence,” she added.

...Be’chol Lashon’s director of community engagement, Lindsey Newman, said she works with “Jews of color and ethnically diverse backgrounds to address their needs. I am hopeful because this conversation is now on the mainstream Jewish agenda in a way it has not been in the past. … We want to help build communities where Jews of color are seen and celebrated for the benefit of the entire Jewish community. A Jewish community that acknowledges its own diversity and is able to engage across differences is a stronger and more just Jewish community.”

Rabbi Abusch-Magder acknowledged that “we’re at the beginning of really understanding this and talking about this in the Jewish community. We don’t necessarily even know how to begin to unpack it.”...

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bulletproof-korean · 4 years

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Favourite BTS lyrics 💜

To celebrate the many almost 6,5k holy moly followers and also the third anniversary of this blog, I made this post about my favorite Bangtan lyrics!

Mostly I wanted to say thank you and that.. I really don’t deserve you all ♥ I started this blog for my own studies but when I see your messages that it helped you too it makes my heart all fuzzy and happy~

I still want to cover many of their older songs but they just keep releasing new musicㅋㅋㅋ I know I keep talking about myself instead of giving you some real content but I’ll say this last thing. I am of course not a native Korean speaker and I sometimes do have trouble understanding all the hidden meanings in their lyrics but I can definitely see how my Korean skills have improved since starting the blog. I have been in Korea for a pretty long time too and have studied the language outside of what I post here but when I compare my skills to where i was three years ago, it’s crazy. By that I mean YOU CAN DO IT and DON’T GIVE UP because it may seem impossible but it really isn’t!! Learning a language is not impossible no matter how hard it seems, you just have to take many small steps and... keep going, you nice ;)))) ♥

You know it all, You’re my best friend 아침은 다시 올 거야 어떤 어둠도 어떤 계절도 영원할 순 없으니까 You know it all, you’re my best friend, morning will come again Because no darkness or season can last forever

- 봄날 (2017), spring day lyrics are amazing as a whole but this particular one for me personally reminds me that everything is fleeting (no matter if bad or good). It was probably meant to be a hopeful lyric but it has this double meaning for me.

Nevermind, 부딪힐 것 같으면 더 세게 밟아 임마 Nevermind, 포기하기에는 우린 아직 젊고 어려 임마 Nevermind, if you feel like you’re going to crash, step on it man Nevermind, we’re still too young to give up man

- Nevermind (2015)

We are young and wild and free, 답도 없는 고민 그 속에 빠져 있지 마 경계선 위에서 위태롭다 해도 웃고 떠들며 바람을 가르자 때론 바보같이 멍청이 달리기 실수와 눈물 속에 we just go We are young and wild and free, don’t dwell on worries that have no answer Even if it’s risky on the borderline, let’s ride the wind laughing and talking We can be foolish and run like crazy but we just go amidst all the mistakes and tears

- So What (2018)

친구와 가족 조차 멀어져만 가네, 시간이 흐르면 흐를수록 더 조급하네 나 혼자인 기분, 나 혼자인 지금 모든 게 사라졌음 해, 신기루처럼 사라졌음 해 사라졌음 해 이젠 빌어 먹을 나조차도 사라졌음 해 이렇게 세상이 나 버려지네, 그 순간 하늘과 멀어지네, 떨어지네 Friends and even family are getting more distant, I’m more and more impatient as time goes by, the feeling of being alone, me alone I wish everything would disappear, disappear like a mirage, disappear, now I wish that even my damn self would disappear. The world throws me away like this, in that moment, I’m getting further away from the sky, I’m falling

- So Far Away (2016)

가만히 있어도 풍경이 바뀌는 버스와 비슷한 듯 조금씩 다른 빌딩 역한 듯 아닌 듯 삶의 향과 따뜻한 척하는 차가운 공원들 늘 헤매야 하는 사람들과 너무 많은 한을 품는 한강들과 혼자 하늘을 볼 수 없는 그네들과 좀 늦어버린 나 Buses that change the view even if you stay still, similar yet slightly different buildings, The smell of the disgusting yet not disgusting life and the cold parks that pretend to be warm, The people who always have to wander and the Han river that holds too much han, Those who cannot see the sky on their own and me who is a bit late 청계천의 비린낼 사랑해, 선유도의 쓸쓸함을 사랑해 돈만 있으면 살기 좋다던 어느 택시기사의 한숨까지도 I love you I love the fishy smell of Cheongyecheon, Love the lonesomeness of Seonyudo, I love even the sigh of that one taxi driver who said Seoul was a good place to live if only you have money

- Seoul (2018), this song was released when I was in Korea and it became really special to me. It embodies the atmosphere of Seoul perfectly.

가장 깊은 밤에 더 빛나는 별빛, 밤이 깊을수록 더 빛나는 별빛 Let us light up the night 우리 우리대로 빛나 tonight Starlight that shines even brighter during the deepest night, starlight that shines brighter the deeper the night is Let us light up the night, tonight we’re shining as we are

- 소우주 (2019)

내게 돌을 던져 우린 겁이 없어 anymore, we are we are together bulletproof 또 겨울이 와도 누가 날 막아도 걸어가, we are we are forever bulletproof We are not seven with you Throw stones at me, we don’t have any fears anymore, we are together bulletproof Even if winter comes again or someone tries to block my way I walk forward we are forever bulletproof

- We are Bulletproof: the Eternal (2020), let me cry another river ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

The entire predebut song 학교의 눈물 (2013), UGH! (2020) and basically their entire discography 😂 no but really, most of their lyrics are so meaningful and people who don’t pay attention to it are missing out 😛

Tell me your faves! 💜

#korean langblr #bts lyrics #personal #bulletproofkorean #korean lyrics #i hope my translations aren't awkward~

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giapism · 5 years

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I took a Harvard course on dealing with pandemics. Here’s what I learned about the Corona Virus.

A couple of weeks ago, I enrolled in an online course named “Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic” from Harvard University in hope of gaining a more educated standpoint on how to deal with the current COVID-19 situation.

In this post, I’ll combine what I’ve learned in the course with my own research and observations into lessons applicable to COVID-19 in 5 sections: 1) A comparison of COVID-19 to Ebola, the most recent pandemic; 2) Trust and Community Engagement as essential elements for success in the fight against pandemics; 3) What you can do as an individual to fight COVID-19; 4) What nations can do to fight COVID-19 and 5) Helpful Resources. Feel free to read all or skip to the sections that interest you the most.

1. “Not enough people die from Corona for it to be dangerous! Ebola’s death rate was way higher!”

Opening up the long post, let’s talk about how COVID-19 has been continually compared to past epidemics and how these comparisons seem to make sense, but really don’t. With the overall mortality rate of COVID-19 at only 4% compared to the double digits of its predecessors, many people—like the young man below—are skeptical of whether it’s really that dangerous at all.

The tweet then follows with a specific comparison of COVID-19′s then 3.4% mortality rate to the 2014 outbreak of Ebola’s 50% mortality rate in attempt to downplay COVID-19′s dangers and justify OP’s “you only live once” mentality.

Looking at this gap, COVID-19′s dangers couldn’t possibly compare to past outbreaks, right? Well... not quite. While the statistics are correct, the way they’re used here completely disregards other important factors regarding the context of how these diseases are spread, making it hard to compare whether one is “more dangerous” than the other at all.

If you really want to compare, you need a holistic comparison of the contexts, resources available, responses and much more. I’ll give a few examples below to show how the two epidemics are different:

A. International and Local Response

In case of the 2014 Ebola epidemic, WHO took extremely long to declare the situation an international emergency. The first Ebola cases hit in December 2013, but only 8 months later did WHO announce “emergency” status. By then, with no funds/aid to buy medical equipment and no volunteer health workers mobilized to aid the severe lack of doctors on site, the damage done was already too great. More than half of the 2500 patients had already lost their lives. With no resources and no international help in those entire 8 months, local governments struggled immensely, resulting in responses so weak that many citizens lost faith in the system. This meant there was no unanimous cooperation to fight Ebola in the beginning.

With COVID-19, WHO’s pandemic warning came much faster: less than 4 months after the first case in November 2019. This means that countries will have more time to prepare themselves in advance before the virus reaches its peak in their own lands, and that funding/aid can be efficiently funneled to places currently that need them the most. In China, where COVID-19 first appeared, the government were incredibly robust in responding to the crisis, immediately locking down the region, mobilizing resources and educating their people. Unlike the West Africans with Ebola, the Chinese had trusted their governments and been highly involved in the fight against corona since the beginning. It only took China 2 months to shut down schools, whereas it took the West Africas 6-7 months. For the Ebola epidemic, these delays dealt a fatal blow to their already sky-high number of casualties.

B. Resources Available in Countries of Breakout

In Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia where most cases of Ebola broke out, there were severe shortages human resources, medical equipment and training on how to handle the disease. Already tiny, under-equipped clinics couldn’t handle the influx of patients. Sierra Lione had roughly 51 physicians for 5 million people, that’s a 1:98,000 physician to citizen ratio, and protective equipment was so lacking that people initially had to use plastic bags in place of gloves. Without personal protective equipment, many health workers ended up dying from the disease, leaving less people to care for increasing cases. Countries like America also discouraged volunteering, firing everyone who wanted to help in Africa for fear of them bringing back Ebola, driving down the number of outside helpers even more.

While there were definitely shortages in Wuhan, the first epicenter of COVID-19, China definitely had better resources and medical facilities available for its citizens. Following the outbreak, 23 000 doctors and nurses were mobilized to Hubei Province (Wuhan is the capital of Hubei), that’s a ratio of around 1:2,500 physicians to citizens. Still a crazy stretch, of course (even assuming that not every citizen will fall sick), but already way, way better than the ratio in Ebola hotspots. China is also much richer than the West Africas, and besides the money the Chinese Government was pouring into the COVID-19 fight, many wealthy Chinese businessmen and celebrities donated millions of dollars worth of medical equipment, masks and money to fund research and treatments.

China had far better capabilities to deal with COVID-19 than the West Africas had with Ebola. Perhaps you could consider Ebola’s high death rate a reflection of the struggling African response, and COVID-19′s lower one a reflection of the more prepared Chinese one. It’s NOT, however, a direct reflection of which diseases is more dangerous on its own and by how much. If COVID-19 had broken out in a country with the same resources as West Africa, the death toll would undoubtedly be much higher.

But that was at the beginning of the outbreak. Now, the situation around the world isn’t looking too great. COVID-19 in over 190 countries, many whose medical systems are sorely under-prepared to handle the virus, placing nations at risk of healthcare collapse. As medical supplies, human resources and hospital beds run out, more people will unquestionably die. The mortality rate has already risen from 2% to 4% since I started writing this article.

C. Infectiousness and Scale of Disease

Miraculously as it seems, Ebola mostly stayed within the African nations with only 14 cases outside (USA-11, Italy-1, Spain-1, UK-1). This was because Guinea, Sierra Leone and Libera (regions most affected) were already fairly isolated nations, and being right next to the sea prevented the virus from spreading in that direction. Local governments set-up strict border control, and international airlines/private companies basically stopped flying to Africa so few people could carry the virus outside affected areas.

While Ebola spreads through direct contact, COVID-19 is spread through droplets that can cling to hard surfaces, making it much more infectious. Despite Hubei’s lockdown, the virus managed to spread to over 190 countries across the world where cases will only continue to rocket unless governments act fast. Just for comparison, yes Ebola killed 50% of cases, but its scope was much smaller with 28,637 cases in contrast to Corona’s 430,000 cases (and counting). COVID-19’s scope is wider than not just Ebola, but also 2003′s SARS (26 countries, 8098 cases) and 2012′s MERS (27 countries, 2494 cases) which it is often compared to. An outbreak of this scale hasn’t been present since the Spanish Flu in 1918 (which affected over 500 million people).

Now how does that translate in terms of danger? Well, with outbreaks focused in few regions like Ebola, it’s much easier to coordinate support from international organizations (MSF, WHO...) and other nations. People know exactly where they should be sending resources and supplies, and where to direct help. But when all 195 countries are infected with the virus, it’s impossible for WHO to help all nations that need it because there just aren’t enough resources! When everyone’s struggling to contain their own cases, helping other countries just isn’t a priority anymore. The world can come together to help 3 countries, maybe even 30, but all 195? That’s a completely different story.

Mini conclusion: Don’t be fooled by COVID-19′s seemingly low mortality rate into thinking it isn’t dangerous. COVID-19 is of larger scale than all recent pandemics, including Ebola, and threatens to bring a bigger danger: the collapse of healthcare systems worldwide. Governments can lower cases and deaths by taking strict preventative measures and ensuring enough resources/supplies are always available at hand.

2. Community Engagement + Trust = Success (well that’s the gist of it, anyway)

A. Community Engagement vs. Individual Satisfaction

In countries like China, Vietnam, South Korea, and recently Italy, governments have taken strict measures to control the virus, including but not limited to cancelling schools and events, issuing detailed quarantine/treatment protocols and educating people of the disease nationwide. Citizens have banded together and are closely cooperating with their government to overcome the epidemic. The Vietnamese Prime Minister has even called the effort “Chống Dịch Như Chống Giặc” which roughly translates to “Fighting the virus like fighting against invaders/enemies.” This is not an exaggeration. With every single person and community fully engaged and playing their part to stop COVID-19, it really does feel like we’re “going to battle.”

Countries with the highest levels of community engagement and strongest government responses have proven to be most successful in dealing with pandemics time and again. They don’t even need the most money or best medical equipment, just complete trust in their government’s efforts and the mindset of everyone doing their part for the greater good.

Interestingly enough, many countries successfully containing COVID-19 are Asian despite being closer to the initial outbreak, which might reflect the emphasis on “community” in Asian cultures, while Western nations that prioritize “individuality” generally end up doing worse. For example, at one time Italy and South Korea both had around 7000 cases, but Italy’s death toll was 366 while South Korea’s was 50. Koreans had shut down schools and public events, issued tens of thousands of tests, and were all self-quarantining. Italy had seen thousands of cases the week before, yet citizens at that time showed little concern and still gathered en-mass, allowing the virus to spread more quickly. This was right before the Italian Government announced COVID-19 as a national emergency and locked down the entire country—only then did people start taking it seriously.

Notice how both situations dealt with viral spreads, but Koreans’ strict abidance to community guidelines early on helped lower the number of fatalities drastically, and now Korea is reporting fewer and fewer new cases every day while Italy’s numbers are still increasing exponentially. Likewise, in America where governments ignored WHO’s emergency warning and failed to take precautionary measures against COVID-19, numbers are soaring with over 30,000 cases accumulating in 3 weeks. Countries where people choose to indulge in short-term individual satisfaction end up facing far worse consequences than countries which choose to sacrifice some personal liberties early on for the greater good.

B. The Problem of Trust

So now let’s talk about trust, another crucial factor in dealing with pandemics. When Ebola hit the West Africas in 2014, one of the biggest hurdles hindering recovery early on was the complete lack of trust between citizens, the government and even international helpers. When physicians from abroad first showed up, they were shunned—locals didn’t trust these strangers in plastic suits and goggles, speaking tongues different from their own. Locals didn’t trust that the healthcare system could actually cure them, and in many districts people stopped going to clinics entirely for fear of contracting Ebola. Imagine the complications that arose because of that lack of trust! People refusing to visit clinics meant more severe infections, more deaths, more transmissions, and lack of cooperation with government efforts.

The early days of Ebola were a medical disaster. It was only when the government solidified trust with citizens by training community health workers and educating nationwide about the disease that things started looking up. Likewise, to successfully control and overcome COVID-19, governments and their citizens must trust each other wholeheartedly and closely cooperate to push back dangers.

“Learn to trust the government if they're taking action. It’s not because they're more intelligent or more prepared than you, certainly, but they are the only people with access to all of the available information. Knowledge is power, now more than ever. We are able to evaluate and predict the effect of the measures, so there's a reason they've been taken.” — Angelo Sidonio.

Right now, trust is a big problem. People all over the world are in panic because they don’t believe their governments are doing everything possible to keep them safe. And they’re rightfully concerned! As food banks and shelters close down due to lack of volunteers, over 320,000 homeless people in the UK, unable to self-isolate, face even greater dangers than before. In America, where almost 40 million people live in poverty and another 3 quarters live paycheck to paycheck, sky-high medical bills can either discourage citizens from seeking treatment, or push those who do into bankruptcy. And that’s assuming they even get treated, for although America is taking some measures like “social distancing” only a tiny number of cases are being dealt with. As of March 23rd, Spain and America both have around 30 000 cases, yet Spain has finished treating 4,400 cases while America has only treated 636 — that’s a difference of seven times!

Until governments can prove themselves trustworthy to their citizens, the efforts to contain COVID-19 will be long, arduous and without unanimous support. This means ensuring even the most vulnerable groups feel protected and assuring citizens that should they contract the virus, they will get quality treatment that won’t break the bank. Trust minimizes panic, boosts morale and creates unity, putting the country in a better position to defeat the pandemic.

Mini conclusion: To overcome pandemics 1) Citizens must trust that the government is doing everything possible to protect them (gov. should actually be doing this by the way!) and 2) Everyone must be fiercely involved in community engagement, playing their part to stop the disease spread. Personal sacrifices are sometimes necessary for the greater good. Trust minimizes panic, boosts morale and cooperation.

3. So what can YOU do about all this?

A lot of what I’ve just said points to systematic issues and government decisions that most of us can’t really change (unless you’re perhaps planning to become the next world leader, then yes, please go ahead and change them), so I’ll talk a bit about what we can do as students or individuals. There’s obviously all that stuff about washing your hands and self-quarantining which I won’t repeat—you can access WHO’s guidelines here and Vietnam’s guidelines here—but below are some other important things worth considering:

A. Raising Awareness and Educating Others

In many countries, there has still been no official nationwide efforts to educate the public on the risks of COVID-19, leading to many citizens either misunderstanding, trivializing or being ignorant of the topic. If you live in such an area, do your part by raising awareness on the following points, plus any more you can think of:

“Othering” and Exoticizing

COVID-19 brought about another disease: racism. Across the world, Asians are being shunned, discriminated against and seen as “carriers of the virus.” Many Chinese restaurants are losing customers, and some Asians are even getting beat up for wearing masks.

This is what you would call “othering”—somehow exoticizing COVID-19 as something intrinsically separate and different from oneself. “Oh that’s a Chinese disease that originated from exclusively Chinese practices of eating wild animals! It has nothing to do with me!” Saying this makes people feel “separated” from the risks because they don’t partake in these “distinctively Chinese” practices that lead to COVID-19. This is all false security, though. COVID-19 and its modes of transmission isn’t “distinctly Chinese” and consumption of wild animals is found across the globe (France, America...)

To exoticize human practices as “different” or “savage” is clearly racist and shouldn’t be condoned/ignored under any circumstances. However, do be careful as to how you go about responding to these people. If you’re aggressive, it will most likely backfire. If you can, try to remain calm and build understanding (most of these people are just ignorant, not inherently evil and incapable of love), as attacking them will only make them more defensive. More importantly, check on the victims of racism: let them know you support and stand by them.

“It’s only dangerous in ______! We’re safe here!”

But are you really? In a world as interconnected as ours, is there really such a thing as ‘only local’ anymore? Do you have family members or fellow citizens in epidemic hotspots? With millions of trains, cars and airplanes flying between cities, states and countries, do you really think there’s no chance that the virus will spread to where you currently live? At the start, we all thought COVID-19 could be contained in China, yet now it’s in 190 countries with rocketing numbers! There’s no such thing as completely safe, and many precautions are free and easy.

Trivializing: “It’s not even that dangerous! I’ll go to the pub if I want to! Plane tickets are on sale, so maybe I’ll go travelling too!”

Please don’t be irresponsible. You might not be at risk, but walking around and going to crowded places increases the chance of you picking up the virus and spreading it to others with who won’t survive! Perhaps you’ll end up passing it to your parents, grandparents, or someone with underlying health problems whose infection would be fatal. Perhaps you’ll pass it to someone without health insurance, who can’t pay for the cost of treatment. Remember that it won’t just be you suffering if anything bad happens, but those around you as well.

B. Educate Yourself: Study the Situation In Depth

Next! Other than teaching others the basic know-hows of COVID-19, it’s also important to educate yourself. And I don’t just mean knowing the basic symptoms and 6 steps of hand-washing. Most of us are self-quarantining with not much to do. Go deeper.

If you have the time, study how nations, NGOs and international organizations dealt with past pandemics, which methods succeeded or failed, and how they’re currently dealing with this epidemic. How is funding for research related to infectious diseases allocated and how can we improve the system for information sharing between scientists and nations? How and when does the WHO, World Bank, UNICEF and other UN Institutions allocate funding, humanitarian aid and expert help in a time when demand outweighs supply? What levels of involvement and accountability are to be expected at the level of individuals, communities, nations, and international organizations and how should they work together?

It’s a lot of knowledge, certainly, and you needn’t learn it all at once. But understanding the relationships between public health, economy and politics (even at a very basic level) will be tremendously helpful in making sense of why governments/organizations do what they do, and how our lives will be affected. At the end of this article I’ll list some resources I’ve found valuable for you to check out if you’re interested.

4. What Nations Can Do (Not an Expert Though So Maybe Don’t Quote Me On Your Essay)

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert on this so if someone actually does this and it ends up failing, don’t sue me. But alright, after taking the course on dealing with pandemics and observing how countries around the world are reacting, I’ve pieced together some basic steps that might work.

S. “TEST, TEST, TEST!”

In a press briefing on 16th March 2020, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announces “We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test!” He emphasizes testing, isolation and contact-tracing as the backbone of the response, and urges nations to ramp up on these measures. That’s not to say that social distancing isn’t important—it is and we MUST continue to do it —but quarantining alone is not enough to extinguish the pandemic.

South Korea’s success in driving down it’s number of cases from exponential increase to few new cases per day is largely credited to its efficient testing. South Korea has issued over 380,000 tests since the COVID-19 outbreak in its country, and is testing some 20,000 people everyday. By testing suspects or those with mild symptoms, carriers are isolated and treated before they can spread it to others, well before their condition becomes fatal. With the recent donation of testing kits from WHO and other organizations, hopefully many more countries will also see the lowering numbers of this nation.

A. Nationwide Education on Pandemic

Next, to put out the epidemic, countries must provide ongoing, consistent and thorough education to the public about COVID-19 nationwide, regardless of whether they’re epicenters or not. No, a government official going on TV to say 5 sentences about the breakout is not enough. You cancelled classes? All your students should deeply understand why it’s so important that we don’t gather in crowds and spend that time isolating, not gathering at parties to ‘celebrate.’ Instead of the occasional “just wash your hands” reminder, comprehensive hygiene protocols should be put up noticeably everywhere and everyone should be able to repeat them.

Schools, hospitals, companies, communities and families must all have guidelines for dealing with the virus (appropriate to the level of severity in their area), and constantly be reminding their members of these duties. Every individual must deeply understand what they’re dealing with, what the risks are and how they can play their part in fighting the epidemic.

B. Standardized Procedures & Training

To educate, there needs to be standardized guidelines, procedures and protocols to educate with. Perhaps it would wise to train physicians around the country instead of just those at epicenters: that way when new cases arise away from the epicenter, local physicians can treat them right there instead of transporting them to hospitals in other cities, increasing chances of spreading the disease along the way (Vietnam is doing this.) Train community workers too, so they know how to handle local cases and can educate their communities--in an emergency like this, no community must be left ignorant.

For the general public, training on remote working is necessary too: many companies and schools are struggling with effective online meetings and communications. It’s only when everyone’s forced to work online that you realize many teachers don’t know what the heck they’re doing and everyone’s webcam/mike is off because they’re actually looking at memes instead of studying.

C. Strengthening Emergency Responses

Perhaps two months ago this section would be named “improve your healthcare system to prepare for the worst” but now that we’re in the middle of the outbreak, it’s impossible to fix everything as we go along. Instead, right now nations must strengthen their emergency response systems. This means being able to re-allocate funds and human resources to necessary areas, build/transform new treatment/quarantine wards and hospitals quickly, and ensure no shortages of medical (and general) supplies.

To meet demands in dire conditions, this requires governments to think outside outside the box and be resourceful, transforming their current assets (even if lacking) into something usable. In Singapore, this means using the army to pack masks and supplies for the population. In Vietnam, it meant clothing factories switching gears to mass-produce affordable, safe cloth masks to make up for shortages. It could mean governments hiring airlines and restaurants to make food for people in quarantine, transforming army camps or hotels into quarantine wards, quickly finding ways to train new personnel or creating an online health reporting system for their citizens. Whatever the case, an emergency like this one requires governments to step up their game and respond faster.

D. 10 Recommendations for Reform Before The Next Pandemic

To get more onto the academic side of things, after the Ebola outbreak of 2014, the Harvard-LSHTM Independent Panel on Ebola came out with this report, outlining 10 reform recommendations to help deal with future pandemics. I feel like a lot of it is still relevant today and should be adopted by nations to tackle the COVID-19 situation. I will quickly summarize the report in bullet points below because it’s super long, but check it out for yourself if you have time:

Prevention:

Nations must invest domestically in their core capacities (strengthening healthcare system, education programs...) The global community should provide poorer countries with funding and help to invest in these capacities.

WHO should promote early reporting of epidemics. There should be financial incentives for countries that report early to 1) Help deal with the outbreak and 2) Compensate for economic losses.

Response:

WHO should create a Center for Outbreak Response with strong technical capacity, generous budgets and clear accountability lines.

WHO should create a transparent, politically protected Committee with the power of declaring public health emergencies (right now only the Director General can declare public health emergencies).

An independent UN Accountability Commission should be created to assess worldwide responses to major disease outbreaks.

Research and Development (R&D):

Rules/guidelines on operating during/between outbreaks should be developed to oversee efficient research and ensure access to the benefits of research.

Research funders should establish a worldwide R&D financing facility for outbreak-relevant drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and non-pharmaceutical supplies.

Governing global system on prevention and response:

Create a Global Health Commission in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

WHO should focus scale back expansive activities and focus on it’s core functions. In outbreaks, focus on 1) helping nations improve core capacities 2) rapid early response and assessment of outbreaks (including potential emergency declarations) 3) establishing technical norms, standards, and guidance and 4) convening global community to set goals, mobilize resources, and negotiate rules.

WHO needs to reform to be more effective. Member states should be vocal about choosing a strong, competent leader.

Again, these recommendations were made after WHO’s response to the Ebola outbreak of 2014. Although COVID-19 will bring about many new difficulties not yet covered in this report, it’s still a valuable guide for how we can prepare for the worst. WHO has since carried out multiple reforms, and despite the severity of the situation, are responding faster this time round to provide the world with information to tackle the crisis. Looking at successes to contain the disease around the world, we know what works. If all countries could apply those measures responsibly, we can pull through.

5. Helpful Resources

Lastly, I’d like to share some resources I’ve found tremendously helpful in understanding this COVID-19 ordeal. Check them out when you have time!

First, the “Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic” online course from Harvard University that I mentioned at the beginning. The course runs for 1 month and is totally free! I got a lot of valuable insight from it on international responses to major infectious outbreaks. Although only Ebola is talked about in specific, a lot of it can apply to other diseases too, and I highly recommend it for basic understanding.

For general information:

Vietnam’s COVID-19 website from the Ministry of Health

World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Updates and General Information

Worldometer (COVID-19 case tracker)

Interactive Map showing global COVID-19 spread - Johns Hopkins CCSE

Interactive Map showing global COVID-19 spread - WHO (out of the 3 trackers, Worldometer usually updates fastest)

This one Mark Manson article on Individual vs. Systematic risks and other risks and biases of COVID-19

New York Times has good articles for US coverage, CNBC for worldwide-ish coverage, but Western media has a bias against China, so check out South China Morning Post for coverage from the East.

Ghen Co Vy - A Bop to Wash Your Hands to

Scientific Journals/Sciencey sources to track research reports. While normally many journals charge fees, recently all information regarding COVID-19 has been changed to open-access:

The Lancet’s COVID-19 Resource Center

Cell Press COVID-19 Resource Center

Elsevier COVID-19 Information Center

The BMJ

WHO COVID-19 Global Research Database

That’s all I can think off right now! I’ve linked most of my sources in the article, and will provide additional updates to information when I can. For now I hope this article was useful and helped you learn something new about the COVID-19 pandemic, no matter now big or small.

Depending on the situation, our days of self-quarantine can last anywhere from a few weeks to months. In that time, remember to stay vigilant and take necessary precautions to protect yourself and your community, but also stay calm because panicking won’t help. Eat and drink healthily, stay clean and safe, learn things and look out for others. Let’s conquer this virus together!

All statistics are of 25th March 2020 and prior.

#virus corona vũ hán #coronavirus #covid-19 #world health organization #education #social problems #socialdistancing #quarantine #sars cov 2 #eng #science #healthcare

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