#idol project 3 ep

[sanvees]

I just don't understand how you like S*l? He is actually right up there with T**g for being the worst. There is nothing good about him, sorry.

i don't understand the wild and weird hate against sol (or even remotely comparing him to tong) but here we are, anon. like if joe out right saying sol is a good person can't convince ya'll... idk why you're asking me?

anyway... you asked for my thoughts and opinions, so you shall receive.

sol is just a really interesting dude to me. he's just some guy that i think is really neat. he's a thai kpop idol and FAMOUS famous but he isn't like tong about it. he's kind and just a really good-hearted person. he's the sunny type, cheerful, caring, and loyal to his friends. like joe, sol is a sunflower in the toxic showbiz world msi is set in.

(tbh i see him and ming, who is also a fascinating character, as kind of two sides of the same "rich and famous" coin. ming is cold, aloof, calculating with walls as high as elon crust's ego is inflated. and then there is sol, open and kind-hearted. which is exactly why he and joe hit it off. funny though, ming and sol are petty but like on completely opposite ends of the petty spectrum.)

after lovingly bugging @zhouxiangs for novel spoilers i really wished the series had touched more on sol and joe's history instead of just a few throwaway lines here and there because sol's story ;3; my smol bean of a son. (and this is where media literacy and nuance comes in :D but y'all barely have any of that.)

joe and sol were very close . they ate, trained, and slept (sleeping type of slept lol) together. they did everything together. and then sol found out joe was gay (in the novel sol was also struggling with his sexuality) and then joe confessed to sol. joe liked sol first (not this weird warped reality y'all are living in where sol has been obsessing over joe). but anyway, sol was young and scared and dumb. he was afraid of being taken advantage of and also of his own feelings for joe and he ran away. joe got over it and never held it against him.

while in korea, it seemed that sol struggled to connect with people and went through some tough times as a trainee (i'm quoting from porsche's interview) and he realized his true feelings for joe so when he had the chance to return to thailand he took it and he sought out joe to reconnect. as a friend, as more.

was he supposed to have some sort of psychic link with joe that he was already seeing someone? obviously not. but when joe made it clear he liked ming, sol backed off romantically. he didn't back off as a friend though. (idk about y'all friendless gremlins but if one of my close friends was in the situationship from hell that joe was in... i'd also try and make them see reason, open their eyes. like sol once having feelings for joe does not diminish his friendship with joe. at all. (yes the scene of joe and sol in the van in ep 6 means everything to me. joe and sol were friends, brothers even. and that scene showed it.)

fyi, novel sol recognized joe too :D

ANYWAY, it was interesting to see the change in sol after joe's death. he isn't his usual cheerful self, but he's still kind and polite if a bit more reserved. and i for one love the cattiness with ming he has going on? LEAVE MING ALONE i see y'all shouting but me I WANT HIM TO PUNCH MING IN THE NUTS ONCE (if y'all can project, so can i) like ming deserves to catch a bit of shit from sol (his 'khun chai ming' sent meeee), since his and tong's bullshit directly contributed to the death of his best friend.

is sol perfect? no. (the fight with ming where joe got hurt. or the phone call scene that resulted in joe effectively being cut out of sol's life. again.) but are any of these characters perfect? absolutely not.

sol though is strangely villainized and for what? because he's trying to help and protect his friend (and is maybe being snotty with ming but... deserved tbh lol)? because he might be feeling a little righteous and fafo with the guy who took his friend away from him? because he once had feelings for joe but then redirected them into being a decent human and a good friend?

sponsored by: @zhouxiangs and porsche/lotte interview with iqiyi.

[f1rewalk3r]

I want to listen to some "car seat headrest" to better understand you and henghost. What do you recommend

well first and foremost i would recommend not doing that. if you’re dead set then i must give you the caveat that much of the CSH discography is about 1) going through a homoerotic breakup 2) being a desperate drunk degenerate college student 3) leaving town or 4) all over the above. if none of these apply to you then you may find that CSH doesn’t quite “click.”

Car Seat Headrest is the internet’s indie darling, started in 2010 by Will Toldeo. It was not his first project, but was his most successful. He released 12 projects on bandcamp (including the now delisted “numbered albums” and their outtakes) before being signed to Matador Records in 2015, releasing 4 albums under their label.

Stylistically, CSH can be a bit all over the place. Although they will always fall under the indie umbrella, they’ve gone from experimental lofi “shitgaze” (shitty shoegaze) to experimental electronic tracks, to 90s inspired garage rock to full on electronica pop. They have a little something for everything!

With that said, there are two available routes for you. the first is to start with one of the most popular albums, then work your way backwards in the discography. Alternatively, you can start at the very beginning, experiencing the growth of the lyricism and production quality.

Of the two, I’d recommend the former option, meaning you should start with Teens of Denial (2016), an album about growing up, being a sad addict, and not knowing your place in the world. your other option is to start with the ultra famous Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) (2018). Often considered Will Toledo’s magnum opus, this album is about being gay, falling in love, being a little too fond of drugs, and ultimately ruining things in your relationship due to your inability to see yourself as human/stop idolizing your partner. I am not responsible for any damage listening to this album may do to your relationship. (this warning comes from anecdotal experience)

Whichever album of these two you pick first, your next step on the listening journey should be the other option. My immediate next pick would be to jump all the way back to Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror ) (2011), the original, shittier(?), lofi version of TF. Do not let its production quality deceive you- this album is just as good as its modern remaster.

You could then go to the Living While Starving EP (2013), as MtM has introduced you to the more lofi sound that is iconic to much of the CSH discography. This EP features some classics like “It’s Only Sex” and “Reuse the Cels.”

From there, you should go to the fandom’s favorite album, How to Leave Town (2014). I don’t think words can describe this album properly. It’s like listening to the audio version of a panic attack. It’s indescribably good.

And if you get that far into the discography, well. I’m afraid it’s too late for you then.

I hope this serves as an insightful entry guide into Car Seat Headrest! Show henghost and maybe he can back up my claims/recommendations. Oh, and if you smoke weed at all, I’d highly recommend choosing to smoke while listening to Twin Fantasy. It truly makes the experience, especially if you smoke too much and spiral out of existence during the track “High to Death.”

[moutheyes]

many thoughts about currently airing QL

i meant to get this done earlier but i blinked and it's almost we are wednesday again. however, i still wanna get some thoughts on page for posterity.

only boo (completed!)

while this show had its imperfections, its triumphs largely outweighed its shortcomings. as a vehicle to showcase seakeen's acting abilities, chemistry, and viability as a cp, you really couldn't have asked for much more. moo is a son of all time, and both he and kang were fully realized characters that were a joy to watch and root for each week.

i think the writing sacrificed some of its side plots to the trope gods—the secondary romance between potae and payos deserved more than endless miscommunication, while shone's reintroduction as an eleventh-hour obstacle was clunky at best. there are also valid criticisms to be made about gmmtv's (in)ability to deliver a substantial in-text critique of the idol industry's stance on dating, and if that had been part of the show's thesis, maybe i'd feel more strongly about it, but it wasn't. it was an obstacle for the relationship between kang and moo, and as a gmmtv romcom, it was never positioned to promise anything more than a happy ending.

was the central storyline strong enough to overcome some of the uneven writing towards the end? to me, yes, absolutely it was. kangmoo was the beating heart of the show, and the script did everything right, up until graduation, to make us buy into not only their individual characterizations and motivations but also the strength of their relationship, the mutual support and adoration and understanding that made their love feel so much fuller. i'm going to miss having seakeen on my screen every sunday and i hope they get the superstar projects they deserve moving forward.

wandee goodday (ep 8 of 12)

this show has kind of entered a mushy middle stage for me. fake dating, as a trope, requires healthy suspension of belief, and the fwb setup is working at odds with that. it's become very evident in the last couple of episodes, where the only way dee and yak can individually keep up their own pretenses (more on dee's side, tbf to yak) is through a deliberate failure of communication, which gets exhausting to watch after a while. i'm glad yak finally confessed his feelings at the end of ep 8; hopefully the show can emerge out of this storytelling slump and end on a strong note.

oye and cher's proposal scene made me emotional, though. it was so sweet and so simple, and although we still don't have too much background on their relationship, it felt very organic to what we know of them, with the imaginary ring and the casual spontaneity of it all.

my stand-in (ep 9 of 12)

i was not expecting this to be my front-runner for show of the year, but it's really hitting on all levels for me: acting (up is always special, and poom has been a revelation), production (cinematography and camerawork are magnificent), and storytelling (smart, elegant adaptation and localization choices for the most part). with 3 episodes left and most of the major secrets revealed, there's plenty of time for groveling, retribution, and tying up loose ends, by which i mean fucking in missionary. no major notes; carry on.

we are (ep 12 of 16)

last week's episode was a bit slow even by this show's own standards, but what i liked about it was getting to see more of phum and fang's home life and how that has shaped their approaches to relationships. a lot of it was implied in the earlier episodes, so seeing it depicted a little more clearly—phum's abandonment issues and current friction with his father, fang's self-imposed perfectionism—introduced some much-needed depth to their characters.

also, unlike dee and yak's infuriating situationship in wandee goodday, i don't mind the undefined limbo that phum and peem have been occupying. this show has shown us that peem struggles with articulating his sense of self, most notably through his art, so it makes sense to me that he would be overly cautious in confirming his own feelings on an intellectual level, despite being able to act on his emotional and physical connection to phum.

i'm a little worried the show isn't leaving enough room to properly develop chainpun as the final couple, but what we haven gotten is delightful. in another universe this is the friends-to-lovers slowburn of my dreams.

knock knock boys (ep 5 of 12)

speaking of delights, this show is so fucking underrated. it has given me everything i wanted from its pilot trailer: the housemate shenanigans and comedic beats are chef's kiss, of course, but there's also a real sense of a camaraderie being built up between the four boys. the acting, also, has been remarkably even; i knew seng and best would bring it, but jaonine and nokia have held their own and really inhabited their roles.

i'm actually really pleased that jane is, in fact, peak's fiancee. the vibes that some of us got from that initial glimpse of their relationship wasn't wrong, though—they treat each other the way siblings do, which is probably indicative of an arrangement between their families. jane is on "i got your location from your dad" terms with peak's father, but she's also on "i'll cover for you and pretend you're not here" terms with peak, even as she's fully committed to invading his space and annoying the snot out of him until he gives in and stops running from his problems. extremely sibling behavior!! there is not a single whiff of romance between the two of them, but they are facing a difficult situation that will need to be resolved before either of them can move on and live their lives.

one thing about this show that i keep thinking about is the significance of thanwa's wardrobe. i clocked in ep 1 that he and his (probable) ex dressed very similarly, and the scene with the two of them in ep 5 just drove that detail home. now that we know thanwa a little better, i wonder if he's the type of person to conform to a lover's aesthetic (consciously or subconsciously). he is a caretaker and a little bit of a pushover, and clothing choice is a way that could manifest. it might not be anything, but i also wouldn't be surprised if we see some of peak's style sneak into thanwa's wardrobe as their romance develops.

there's so much more i could say about this show! the characters are all so fascinating to me, both individually and as a group!!! i'm gonna be late for a movie if i keep typing, though, so i will try to organize further thoughts after this week's episode.

love sea (ep 3 of 10)

as far as mame shows go, this has been unexpectedly enjoyable from the jump. fortpeat are delivering a much different dynamic than their whumpfest from LITA, and if you take out all the smoldering sex scenes, there has been plenty of actual character (and relationship) development through dialogue, which i appreciate. i like that the tension isn't confined to simple class difference; the writing situates mut at the intersection of various regional, economic, and environmental concerns, and that makes him so much more compelling as a foil to tongrak's more conventional slate of bl traumas. i do hope the show continues to maintain those core parts of his characterization as the romance progresses.

[ivy-diaries]

‎ ⁎ ‎ ‎ 𓍼 ‎ ‎ ๋ ‎ ◜ &.&. THE IVY INCIDENT ep 1. ◞ ‎ ... ‎ ‎

The intro plays, and Ivy appears on the screen smiling and leaning into the mic to speak. “Hello guys, welcome to my new podcast, 'The Ivy Incident!!’ This has been in the works ever since I stepped into the dive podcast studio when I came here to film the kpop daebak show with Eric so it's soo exciting to finally show you guys this project!” she laughs as the other staff there are heard clapping.

Laughing, she continues "so in this podcast, I invite my friends from the industry and we just you know, talk and share stories! It's a lot similar to Eric's but mine is more personal if you will because all these people are very very close to me and I've known them for a pretty long time! This episode is just gonna be me cuz this is like an introduction for all the first-time listeners who don't know who I am!" “So I heard Diane has some questions prepared for me, so let's get into it!” 

“let's start with the basics, yeah? Who is Ivy Jennifer James?” Diane asks her. 

“Oh we’re going back to the beginning okay! So as you’ve already mentioned, my name is ivy jennifer james. I was born in New Castle, Australia where I lived till I was five and then I moved to the US where again I lived for five years before moving to Korea when I was eleven. And in korea, i signed with bighit entertainment and when i was asked if i was ready to debut when i was 14 i think? I was like imma do it. So i debuted at 14 under both jype and bighit and the rest is history! And i'm here today hehe”

“What motivated you to pursue a career as a solo artist?”

“Hmm i think ever since i got into bighit, i've always wanted to be a soloist? I'm not really sure why but I always saw myself as a soloist for some reason. Even till now, if you ask my dad he’d say that i was born to do this” ivy laughs and continues “i think ever since i was little ive wanted to something in the field of music and performance”

“Was being a kpop idol your first choice?”

“It was actually! I mean keeping in mind that i started this since i was a literal child, it actually was my first choice. The kids at school did tease me for this but look at me now” ivy chuckles

“Who are your music inspirations?”

“That's a great question and I was literally talking to Jun about this this morning! I dont have one specific inspiration but i think i draw inspiration from any and all artists! I've been pretty inspired by the Beatles and Rolling Stone pretty recently and obviously, Taylor Swift is one of my biggest inspirations out there.” 

“Are you a sweet or savory type of person?”

“It honestly depends on my mood if i'm being honest” she laughs hard “now, im craving something savory! I'd kill for some fries right now oh man you’ve perked up my cravings now diane!!”

“What's the last song you listened to?”

Ivy laughs hard and almost tears up laughing “this is actually so funny oh my god the last song i listened to is actually a helium ingested cover of let me love you by justin bieber which yeonjun sung for me yesterday after a party we went to and let me tell you, it was soo funny!!”

“According to you, tell me 3 flaws and 3 qualities about yourself”

“Ooh, three qualities of mine would be, one, I think I'm kind I guess? Second, I'm somewhat responsible, and third and finally, I think I'm a human sized golden retriever because I'm very bubbly and very smiley smiley most of the time! And three flaws of mine are, one, i’m a big overthinker, i just rethink about every single choice or word of mine a little too much. Second, my moods are based on the weather…”

Ivy laughs at the look on Diane's face “yea.. My mood everyday kinda depends on how good the weather is.. That's why I'm not as fond of the rain because it makes me kind of depressed and I just shut myself off most of the time. Third, im a bit of a perfectionist so i expect any and all things to be a little too perfect.. If its not what i expect it to be, i just leave that and will not ever touch on it again and i know i should change these things and i am trying so.. yeah “

“okay, something similar but three things you like and three things you dislike”

 “I don't like these types of questions!!” she laughs “it makes me think too much to give an answer!! But anyways… hmm three things i like are, one, my husband” she giggles as a small blush is seen on her cheek “well it's true!! I wouldn't have married him if I didn't like him would I?” she giggles “second, i really love what i do so, my career and third, my loved ones! I love my friends and family because they've stuck with me through thick and thin and I'm really grateful for that!” she smiles and gives the camera a little hand heart

“three things i hate are.. Hmm lets see… one, people who do not value privacy. I've said this multiple times and i'll say this again but I do love my fans.. I love them a lot and I wouldn't be here without them. But there are some people who claim that they are fans but do unhinged stuff to get close to me. And like that's why I've sued some people for not valuing my privacy. I got hate for it but honestly I don't care when the privacy and the lives of the people i love are at stake."

"Second, coming back to a slightly normal side, I absolutely hate the smell of fish. I don't know if it's cuz im vegetarian but I always throw up whenever I smell it and third, coming back to a more serious side, I hate the fact that most people on the internet feel like it's their right to comment on us as celebrities or idols or as performers. It's so irritating that they don't even feel sorry for what they say. They don't know how much we over think it and it slowly becomes an insecurity that takes years to wear off.”

“Okay this is your second to last question and the question is, For listeners who may not have heard your music before, can you recommend a few songs that best represent your sound and artistic vision?”

“That is a really good question, oh my god! So I think my discography is quite diverse and I have a lot of songs for different kinds of people who like different things. So the top three songs that i’d recommend to people are, one, vengeance as its called. There's no explanation for that song but I loved making it and loved singing it so that's the first song and second, I have a song called lovers in the night  that i co wrote with seori which I absolutely loved and we had a great time writing the song. And third I think is, my whole album called “for us.”  which i wrote with yeonjun and its songs dedicated for each other and hence called for us!”

“Okay… last question, can you give us any hints of the upcoming guests you have here?” Diane asks, smiling knowingly. Ivy giggles and wiggles her fingers across the camera

“Well I guess I can.. But most of my friends have not given me exact dates of their free schedule so even i’m not really sure on whos coming” she laughs at herself “so that's all i can tell you now because that's just all i know so” she just shrugs as she smiles.

“That's it for this episode and I hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm so excited for all the things we have in store for you guys and I hope you look forward to it!! So this has been ivy so far and thank you for listening to the ivy incident! Have a good day or good night bye!!”

⋆ ivy taglist ˒ @stealanity @alixnsuperstxr @riikiblr @skz-libby @escapetheash (lmk if u wanna be added or removed)

⋆ priya says ˒ so this is not proofread so read at ur own risk lol <33 but if you've come this far,, please reblog with the bow emoji (🎀) so I know that readers are interactive and writers get the credit they deserve!! so lmk who you want to see on ivys podcast and any feedback tbh!! Happy reading!!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Sorry if you already said something, but do you have any thoughts on sm losing both baekhyun and now taemin as soloists? Is this snowballing likely to continue, and what do you see sm being in five years?

***

Hi Anon,

I've answered the question of where I see SM in 5 years here <- that's from about a month ago.

My view of Baekhyun and Taemin both jumping ship is that they were overdue. It was always a question of when not if. SM has a long, prolific history of bleeding talent and abusing their idols - that company is quite literally the worst offender among the Big3 just going by the number of lawsuits filed every 3 - 5 years from idols under their management. And this is aside the fact that SM is the only major company that compels their artists to sign 10-year contracts using a legal loophole, where the industry standard is 7 years. The reason SM's known practices aren't talked about more in fact, is because SM also has the largest amount of company stans in the wider k-pop fandom who strongly influence where scrutiny is placed.

And that reason is why even if this snowballs, it won't change anything dramatically for the company, because nobody is more committed to keeping illusion of SM's legacy/prestige alive more than fans of SM groups.

That said, based on debut dates, the group next up for contract negotiations is NCT. Because most of the founding members have promoted outside Korea (the legal loophole SM uses), this means they have 10-year contracts and so they'll only begin negotiations from the latter half of this year through 2026. As some of the members are due to enlist starting this year (Taeil, Jaehyun, Doyoung and Taeyong are the four oldest Korean members), it's assumed they are speedrunning negotiations ahead of that deadline, and it could be why we've seen solo and sub-unit projects for Taeil, Taeyong, Jaehyun and Doyoung in the last year. I'm highlighting those four in contrast to a member like Mark, who is easily NCT's most prominent member (alongside Taeyong) who still doesn't have a solo EP, and it's probably just a coincidence that he's Canadian and not up for military service. And so his negotiations can happen much later. Given the state of SM's dwindling idol portfolio and how they've been handling NCT so far, I expect almost all the members to re-sign (WayV is the wild card here), but I expect more bleeding from EXO and other legacy acts.

Anyway, I'm already rambling.

Baekhyun/Taemin have been associated with SM for a decade and that's not going to change even with them leaving the company, for two reasons:

They are still signed under SM for group activities.

SM stans won't relinquish that connection no matter how hard those idols attempt to rebrand their image. Like I've been saying, most fans of SM groups are actually company stans despite what they'll tell you.

So long as the make-up of k-pop fandoms remain dominated by SM stans, nothing is changing significantly for SM in this space in the next 5 years. Their new girl group will debut to much fan fare, Taemin and Baekhyun will continue being included in conversations about SM talent and influence, and SM company norms will continue as they have like every other time a high-profile talent has left their company - just fine.

The one caveat I didn't include in my prior post (linked above) but feel compelled to include now, is that the non-compete HYBE placed on Lee Sooman in 2023, expires in 2026. Given everything I've mentioned about how SM operates and the cult-like following LSM has both with his staff and k-pop stans generally, if he establishes a competing agency in the next 5 years, that could dramatically impact the life of SM Entertainment beyond any of the expected M&A scenarios I mentioned in point 3 of my linked post.

Overall, expect more of the same but there's a chance we get more fun times ahead. :)

[pocima]

My top 10 favorite music projects of 2023 ૢ✧∘* ✧･ﾟ

Welcome to this list that 2 people were mildly anticipating tops, a list where I ramble about note sequences that give me a sense of enjoyment, which is essentially what this blog of mine is dedicated to. I’ve been on this site for more than a year now, I had the pleasure of interacting and chatting with my lovely mutuals who share my silly little interests, both here and on @akaneverse. At the end of last year, I simply uploaded a topster of my favorite albums and EPs, and this December, I’m taking my time to review said projects, and show them appreciation with words and expressions slightly bigger than “the production is so insane” and “BANGER”. This year has been good to me as a music enjoyer, with new releases from my longer-time faves and incredible new discoveries, some possibly becoming all-time faves, which will be mentioned in the post. Pitchfork, your bankruptcy is nearing. And yes, the GIF is a spoiler.

⑩ Ichijikikoku (EP) - Atarashii Gakko!

I can say I somewhat got into Japanese music this year and this anti-idol group with a school leader concept looking camp right in the eye were some of the first artists that caught my attention. Having accidentally come across them through snooping around a beloved mutual’s Spotify profile, the quality of their songs such as Pineapple Kryptonite, Nainainai and Freaks caught me off guard in a great way. Their discography offers various genres such as robotic chant-filled hyperpop, groovy city pop, alternative rock, hip-hop and their latest EP truly showcases their diversity and range. From Otona Blue, the funky pop song that was the push start for the girls to get their rightful recognition, to a revisit to their older rock sound, to their first club banger and more city pop hits, this EP presents what their music has to offer in a nutshell. 2023 treated the school leaders well as they both got their deserved success and delivered a well-rounded project along with other listen-worthy singles.

Favorite tracks: Otome no Bigaku and Giri Giri.

⑨ 3 of Us (EP) - FLO

After taking the Internet’s ‘00s R&B revivalists and girl group appreciators by storm with their first EP Cardboard Box in 2022, this iconic trio went on an ongoing streak to constantly deliver the best and improve their music and skills. 3 of Us serves as lunchables before the upcoming full-course meal which is their debut album, and not so surprisingly considering the consistent high quality of the group’s releases, the snack surely is fulfilling. Two of the tunes were anticipated then-unreleased songs but the title track and the later added-on Suite Life were loved by us FLOlifers as well. The four songs showcase both the group’s incredible vocals and their empowering no-nonsense attitude. The title track is an anthem that shows the world the girls have each other’s backs, through a smooth execution of a humorous scenario of a guy simultaneously trying to toy with the 3 of them. FLO are real it girls, and this mini alone is definitely convincing of that enough.

Favorite tracks: what if I said all of them?

⑧ MY World (EP) - aespa

aespa have long-ago established their cybergirl fighter Kwangya concept and a solid spot in the K-pop industry as a group with one of the strongest group identities, top-notch discographies and powerful vocals. I slowly fell in love with them in 2021 and they have been one of the very few anchors to my interest in K-pop lately. Through mismanagement and complete bs coming from their crappy record label, standing ten toes down with these girls and experiencing the comeback of the summer was 100% worth it. Though the label needs to pull themselves together a little for the creative direction of all of their groups, MY World offered aespa’s two different takes on the summer which somehow felt fresh and unique, still suiting the group and proving aespacore’s wide range. The music, however, gave the signature aespa sound we had missed because of the music drought. Reol and Slayyyter’s souls truly split into two each, possessing the four members and giving us the gritty, in-your-face EDM banger that is the lead single Spicy. Welcome to MY World, the mini’s pre-release single, on the other hand, is an orchestral, alluring alternative pop track, which is a genre I never knew I needed aespa to dip their toes into. Salty and Sweet is a package delivery for the MYs who are especially seated for aespa’s metallic hyperpop releases, while Thirsty is contemporary R&B with a bubbly aespacore twist to it and I’m Unhappy is a splendid hyperballad. No offense but had they left the basic and frankly flow-disrupting ballad ‘Til We Meet Again in the vault, the ranking of the EP would be higher on here, and this is my only criticism of the project music-wise. As I always say on aespa comeback release days: the girls did it again.

Favorite tracks: answer changes every 5 business days but right now I’m gonna go with Welcome to MY World and Spicy.

⑦ Crying in the Carwash (EP) - Lolo Zouaï

I’ve been keeping up with Lolo Zouaï on the low (pun intended, see Encore) since the release day of her sophomore album PLAYGIRL but I might have to pay closer attention to her because of her elevated excellence showcased on this mini. Besides giving her more freedom over her work and artistic direction, returning to her independent artist days allowed her to wiggle more with her own feelings and experiences directly, as opposed to the personas she conveyed the story of PLAYGIRL through. Before the unveiling of the EP, the roll-out fully hooked me in with both the singles and mesmerizing visuals. Encore was the perfect earworm-y invitation to the era, and Crying in the Carwash showed us the rainy panorama none other than Lolo’s mind with soft, melancholic jungle drums as the track’s stand-out point. The rest of the three songs, sitting prettily in the middle, give us soulful R&B blessed with the artist’s gentle vocal runs and UK garage reminiscent of e-motions by Mura Masa and Erika de Casier. All in all, I can’t be the only one who can’t wait to see what Zouaï will have to offer with her future work.

Favorite track: Crying in the Carwash.

⑥ ESFERA DE AMOR - Simona

Esfera de Amor? In “my top 10 favorite projects of the year”? More like “top 10 most slept on albums of the year”. I’m not saying this just because of my personal opinion or just by looking at the streaming numbers either. This project is worth checking out for everyone looking for ethereal, light, bubbly pop à la 4th gen K-pop girl group music. Simona took recent pop micro-trends such as the incorporation of house, UK garage, hyperpop, neo-reggaeton and baile funk, and shaped them up into her very own world of love. The record, while being a relatively easy listen and having the ability to appeal to a wider audience, keeps you attentive and never bored, with an intro that leaves the sense of time and reality behind to make room for dancing and a classy vintage-style interlude. At one stop you unwind, at the second you dance at midnight in your bedroom, and at another you’re an otherworldly romantic. Feel free to do whatever you please, because after all, you’re in a sphere of love where everything’s fine.

Favorite tracks: Adentro de Mí, Polidrama, Plush, Meloni and Llaga Verdadera.

⑤ BB/ANG3L - Tinashe

Tinashe has been an impactful figure in modern R&B for nearly a decade now, with her resumé ranging from choreography material groovy bops to heartfelt, calmer, vocal-heavy songs. BB/ANG3L, in the musician’s own words, combines her past and her present, her darker debut day sound with her faster-paced, catchier, dreamy tunes. The songwriting keeps it real and personal: we go from a dramatic reflection on a toxic relationship, to wanting to be pampered and treated with respect and class, to more reflections and slowly letting go. In the music video for Talk To Me Nice, Tinashe peels away her former self and gets purified with the dripping water, getting down to her essence. (I will further elaborate on my newly found love for water concepts/metaphors in some next entries.) Thanks to producer Machinedrum, garage and dnb rhythms (can you tell those are my weaknesses yet?) are beautifully incorporated in two of the tracks, and the production is atmospheric and tastefully bleak throughout the entire tracklist. Keeping up with Tinashe’s releases for a good while, a couple of years in my case, remains a pleasure with this project of hers.

Favorite track: answer changes often once again and this time I’m picking Tightrope.

④ Raven - Kelela

If there were courses on how to take breaks of long years after releasing a top-tier album and make an even more world-shaking, majestic comeback, Raven would be the diligently studied textbook. Though I personally can’t relate to the 6-year wait as I discovered Kelela at the beginning of this year, my commentary is unnecessary for one to know she is a legend whose impact on alternative R&B, dance music and neo-soul is not up for any questioning. While Raven has even more of a slower and sultrier side than before, the intimacy and maturity stays consistent whether we’re talking jungle, aurora-like synths or soothing orchestration. It’s a true, well-constructed and developed body of fruitful work, with seamless thought-out sequencing, an art that’s being kept alive by artists that rightfully value it. Motifs reappearing in her previous albums such as “all the way down”, “on the run”, “far away” make their returns, but in no way does anything feel repetitive or any less unique. The album cover art and the music videos for Washed Away and Enough for Love present us more water imagery that couldn’t have been any more suitable for the sultriness and haziness of the record. Raven is the deep melancholic ocean that you trust to wrap your body around, where you witness musical scenery that’s so breath-taking that you can barely tell if it’s real.

Favorite track: On the Run.

Let’s get some honorable mentions out of the way before the top 3: Heaven knows by PinkPantheress (literally 11th place, Feelings was on repeat for like a week straight), My 21st Century Blues by Raye (robbed by the Scammys), Unlock My World by fromis_9 (if I make a best ‘23 K-pop b-side list Prom Night has a high spot secured), seOul collection by OnlyOneOf (I ignore the old tracks included in the album and candy bOmb is the K-pop b-side of the year) and Bébe Yana’s singles this year bc even though they’re not a body of work they’re too good not to get a shout-out. 

③ Code Ge4ss - 4s4ki

As I was getting into Japanese music in March, I suddenly wondered whether there was a full-fledged hyperpop or experimental electronic music scene in Japan. After a quick Google search, an interesting artist popped up, with the metallic cybercore aesthetic I’ve been craving more of on the cover art of her latest album called Killer in Neverland. Interesting album name, intriguing song titles too, and as soon as I heard Log Out she took it in my eyes, there and then. Listening to Killer in Neverland as a whole took my shock to another level. Who was this and why did her music satisfy my cravings to this extent? As I went through her discography in a day or two, I fell deeper and deeper in love with her enchanting production (she’s her very own producer, mind you), crunchy autotuned vocals that somehow sound magical, her risk-taking unique concepts, something in between camp and outright beautiful visuals, precisely crafted songwriting and artistry. She manages to be the perfect amount of fun, the perfect amount of edgy, the perfect amount of bright, the perfect amount of sharp, the perfect amount of real, the perfect amount of satirical, the perfect amount of joyful, the perfect amount of sad on each and every project of hers. What didn’t hit me like a truck at first, however, is her tremendous improvement as a musician in pretty much every aspect: production, songwriting, album cohesion, creative direction, visuals. Not until her latest album Code Ge4ss finally got released in late June.

I was confused at first at the Code Geass anime collab thing, I wasn’t exactly sure of the release date and whether 4s4ki was actually releasing yet another scrumptious FULL album not too long after I got into her. The album dropped, I was tuned in right at midnight and my already high expectations were surpassed. Banging (kicking if you will) Jersey club beats, birds chirping accompanying glitchy trap instrumentals, screams followed by almost Machine Girl-level noisy circuit board sorcery, samples of characters’ speeches over electro guitar riffs, a piano interlude paired with opera runs taken from the show, pacifying ballads which are a mix of acoustic guitar and hard-hitting pots-pans and 8-bit synths, all closed by surreal orchestration with the classic electronica touches of 4s4ki and collaborator producer Kotonohouse. I’m sure I’d appreciate the Code Geass-themed lyricism on an even deeper level if I hadn’t paused watching the anime after 5 episodes like the terrible TV consumer I am. What I can be certain about is that everything about this project feels genuine and from within because it IS genuine and from within. 4s4ki couldn’t have been a more suitable choice for this collaboration, she’s been a fan of the franchise since elementary school and very few emit the weird cyber-glitchcore internet baby aesthetics the way she does. The cover art is stunning and references the series once again, and the Shirley MV leaves us with calming visuals that may remind you of Welcome to MY World by aespa, which spoke to the aespa x 4s4ki truther in me.

As I was saying, this album is what really rubbed her major progress as an artist and musician in my face. We’ve gone such a long way from the calmer EDM-pop antics of Your Dreamland, for example, not even to mention the synth-pop balladry in her debut Gender. Every era of hers sonically gets increasingly complex and intense and ethereal, and in every body of work she leaves in a bigger, more intimate piece of her. There’s just so much personality in everything she puts out and presents. She built her sonic and artistic identity from the bottom to the top and even as a fan for less than a year, continuing to witness this makes me feel pure admiration. Words aren’t enough to properly express how I feel about her art but that won’t stop me from typing up paragraphs to try to get someone to understand me on this. People have various opinions on 4s4ki’s experimentation and self-expression, however what absolutely nobody can ever deny is that she’s a true artist, visionary and one of the most skilled producers of this generation. 2023 brought her both achievements and unfortunately some hardships, and I sincerely hope 2024 is kinder and even more generous to her. (She’s not done with taking over the year yet! Stream her new single Continue and stay tuned for winter again coming Dec 15.)

Favorite track: Eleven.

② Fountain Baby - Amaarae

I touched upon my adoration for water imagery on my entries for BB/ANG3L and Raven but as you can see from the title, Fountain Baby took the theme to an entirely different level. The analogy potential of water is infinite as the fluidity, cadence, calmness, riptides, uncertainty, contradictions of water can very well be converted into the multi-faceted human emotion. The same water that you’re dependent on in order to live can poison you at an overload, the same water that rinses your body and soul can drown and choke you up when contacted with the wrong places. Fountain Baby expresses various moods and states of mind not only through concept visuals, but more importantly by sprinkling water euphemisms throughout the entire record: “fountain baby, wash her, make it wet”, “water on my neck, come make it warm”, “water from wine”, “water, it mix with the substance” being prominent examples. Amaarae chats love, sensuality, materialism and lastly, meeting your maker in a way other than passing away. She defines a “fountain baby” as “a person with endless charisma, someone that is abundant in their blessings and ultimately a blessed child of God.” The universe Fountain Baby resides in is essentially rich, delicate, cloudy and raw.

While water is a consistent element of the album, it was far from being Amaarae’s only source of inspiration. She draws on ‘00s pop staples Timbaland and Britney Spears, The Neptunes, Clipse (sampled in Counterfeit), Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott and diverse genres such as Afro-beats, classic and contemporary hip-hop, Americana punk rock and dance. The melting pot of live orchestra, harps, baile funk, tire whirring, R&B-infused shiny Afro-futurism, Japanese folk song samples, Chinese bow violins, Arabic scales, gunshot and cash register clicking sounds, mid-song switches that make you feel like the main character of a coming of age movie, glitter and sax and guitars creates a record that refuses to be boxed into one genre or label. A “clever alchemist” and “a chemist who fuses world music” are titles that are deservingly given to the artist for these reasons. The record has plenty of variety yet the sequence all comes together akin to a satisfying crossword. It’s lucrative and shimmery but has its child-like, playful side that’s a natural result of Amaarae getting in touch with her inner 8 year-old during the cultivation process. The music videos are all different but inseparable approaches to the Fountain Baby-verse. The MV for the first pre-release Reckless and Sweet is based on editorials and has a silky luxurious look, with direct hints at the album’s concept. Co-Star, the second pre-release, casts zodiac signs as racer-models and fast cars come running around in a competition, keeping the high fashion coded color grading and filming style. The music video for the lead single Wasted Eyes is heavily inspired by the film Rush Hour and pays homage to Japanese culture about as much as the song does (it’s worth to mention the song is co-written by the iconic Crystal Kay whose speech you can hear in it). The intricacy and planning of every aspect of this era is pop music at its peak. With Fountain Baby, Amaarae finds the epitome of pop perfection without special dedication to seeking it.

Favorite track: Wasted Eyes.

① Ambrosia (EP) - Namasenda

Some projects make your jaw drop from the get-go, some others grow on you with some time. Ambrosia crept up on me the longer I kept it on repeat, all the way to being my favorite project of this year. I already enjoyed Namasenda’s previous songs such as Black Ops 2, Demonic and the pre-release single maserati. As I later found more about the background of the project, how its concept came together and read the translation of the lyrics to rosa, my love for the it multiplied. Right now if I were to describe the EP in two simple words, they would be “ethereal”, “gorgeous” and “atmospheric”. These words are used with way more power than you may realize this time.

Sonically, the already unique artist stays true to herself but the execution of her vision is somehow… better than her previous work. north star and deathrow bby are unorthodox but celestial perspectives on baile funk, the former being a siren-like intro-lude that lures you in and the latter having a slightly haunting catchy Europop inspired jingle feel, serving as closer out of the 4 songs. maserati is a fresh take on polished but cutting pop, while rosa is a divine ballad that takes you to a dream realm. “Unconditionally here / I mean what I promise / When the sky is completely pink”, she sings in her home language Swedish, over the Casey MQ co-produced blissful synths. Maybe it’s executive producer Simon on the Moon’s musical genius (he’s also to be thanked for his involvement in Natural Brown Prom Queen by Sudan Archives), maybe it’s Namasenda unveiling a more authentic side of herself and therefore causing the music to be the most authentic version of itself. This authenticity drips through the production, the visuals and the lyrics. The stark contrast between Ambrosia and the jeweled, metallic, extreme meta-pop in her previous work, specifically Unlimited Ammo, opens up a conversation on the future of hyperpop.

Besides the heavy, detail-embroidered production, the focus of hyperpop was pretty much always exaggerating the artificial aspects of pop music, such as vocal manipulation, heavy bass, deafening drums, unforgettable melodies and shallow lyrics. How long could one use these funnily unrealistic musical personas before wanting to face themselves and do a deeper, more pure dive on pop? This I-D article on PC Music (the record label pioneering the hyperpop scene) shutting down concludes with “Perhaps it’s time to get off the computer and rediscover the personal.” Indeed, we can’t exactly reach a verdict on whether “hyperpop” will become just another fad or not, but moving on from simply exaggerating pop to expanding, beautifying and authenticating its sound isn’t an inaccurate prediction. 4s4ki and Namasenda (who, by the way, parted ways with PCMus before Ambrosia) are two of the artists that embody the beautiful, complex hyperpop-transcendent sound and experimental electronic pop music is in good hands thanks to artists like them.

To finish off this entry, Ambrosia manages to pinpoint exactly what I like to hear, both characteristics that I mentioned and things you can’t really put into sentences, only listen to and let them sink in. The production is some of the most stunning I’ve ever heard in my life, the EP is cohesive despite the short 9-minute run time, the visuals are simple but creative and the craft is passionate and genuine. Next time somebody asks me about the music I like, I’m sending them this EP with no further elaboration as it summarizes my tastes like no other body of work ever has.

Favorite track: rosa, it also grew on me the most drastically.

Now to end this post, every year gives me brand new outlooks on how I consume music and the details I notice, the things I pay attention to. 2023 was filled to the brim with musicians offering their own outlooks on how they create. I’m keeping my eye on the masterpieces that will come out of 2024 and I wonder how my interests will transform with me next year.

Hey @nayeonline (special thankies for indirectly fueling my writing process) and @timetravellingkitty, I wiggled my keyboard a bit 😗

[written-in-flowers]

Previously on Idol Companion

[everythingbap]

🎤 iamraeiam: Behind The Music: A Candid Chat With Bang Yongguk On Breaking The Rules With "3"

Dive into the enigmatic world of Bang Yongguk's creative genius as he breaks all his own rules with his latest album, "3".

The release of Yongguk's latest album, "3," on March 31st, is a testament to his growth and evolution as an artist. Building upon the foundation laid by its predecessor, "2," "3" delves even deeper into a rich tapestry of genres, themes, and storytelling techniques. While "2" marked the beginning of Yongguk's journey to break free from expectations, "3" represents a bold leap forward, allowing him to fully embrace his artistic freedom and explore new territories with confidence and finesse. From its poignant lyricism to its visually stunning storytelling, "3" showcases Yongguk's versatility and ability to captivate listeners on multiple levels.

As Yongguk prepares to kick off his latest U.S. tour, aptly titled "3," on April 5th, fans can expect an unforgettable experience that celebrates the depth and breadth of his artistry. With his magnetic stage presence and undeniable talent, Yongguk is set to leave a lasting impression on audiences across the country. In an exclusive interview with Yongguk, he shares insights into the creative process behind "3" and reflects on the significance of his journey, and more offering fans a deeper understanding of the man behind the music.

Welcome back, Bang Yongguk! Congratulations on your new album, '3.' How does it feel to share this project with your fans?

 It’s an honor for me that I can make new songs every time and show them to the world. This kind of excitement is my favorite feeling. I just want my fans to enjoy my new songs. 

How do you hope your fans will connect with the messages and emotions conveyed in '3'?

This EP isn’t complicated or difficult. Rather than a specific topic or frame, I targeted to make music that people can listen to it freer, easier, and more comfortable.  I wish that many people comfortably and happily listen to my music anywhere. 

 

Your comeback notice poster for this album featuring lizards has sparked curiosity among fans. Can you elaborate on the symbolism and how it ties into the concept of your new album?

This album has been described as 'breaking away' from fixed ideas. What motivated you to explore new genres and challenge your own creative boundaries for this album?

I destroy, create, kill, and revive myself repeatedly in music. I love this process. Although it is so harsh for me, I think it is essential for those who make music. I don't know how long I can perform on the stage as a musician. If I can know it, I want to do this again and again for the rest of my life. 

  

Were there any moments during the creative process that were particularly rewarding or challenging?

I held a song camp for the first time while making this album. Rico and Ronnie were in Korea, and I enjoyed the song camp with them, along with Samuel. I experienced many times when I worked on the albums of idol groups. But I held it for my own album for the first time. It was such an enjoyable experience, and it was so awesome to make better tracks. Perhaps, I had obsessed that I should make my album all by myself. That’s why I hesitated about such a process. But I felt it made me learn more and build up myself so that I can make better music. Now, I think I want to hold this kind of song camp frequently from now on.  

In what ways has your creative process evolved since the release of “The Colors of Love?” Are there any lessons or experiences that influenced the making of '3'?

Music videos often provide visual representations of a song's message or theme. Can you give us a sneak peek into the concept behind the music video for this album's title track?

I wanted to throw away the word ‘Music Video’ when naming my video content. Especially the title track and the ‘Music Video’ of it. I wanted to throw away this idea and I feel this is related to the topic of this album. Every single song in this album is the title track for me, and I tried to present a visual theme that fits each song. This is the start of the visualizer of this album. If music and video were mixed up to be one, I thought it would be meaningful. I put my effort for a long time to find the place and idea to realize that. 

    

Are there specific tracks on '3' that hold significant personal meaning to you? If so, could you share some insight into the inspiration behind them?

Your music has never shied away from pushing boundaries. How do you maintain this fearlessness in experimenting with different sounds and concepts, and what drives you to challenge expectations in your artistry continually?

Sometimes, I find it hard to control it. How about making this kind of music? Everything starts from this curiosity. That’s why I can’t release every song I make, even though I make many songs. I have many songs that I don’t want to listen to, although I made it for myself.  But good songs are born from this challenge. You guys are listening to such songs. I’m so sincere in making music. There are many times when artists who work with me have a hard time, but they trust and support me. It is one of my motivations to make music.

Anticipation is building for your upcoming U.S. tour. Could you provide some insights into the tour details and perhaps tease any special surprises or memorable moments that fans can look forward to experiencing?

As I will start the U.S. tour right after the new album is released, it feels like a kind of promotion for the album. I’m preparing it while mixing new songs and previous songs excitingly. I want to say that it will be more exciting than the tour last year. I hope everyone dances together on the stage. See you guys soon! 

Lastly, what message would you like to send to your fans who have been eagerly awaiting your comeback and supporting you throughout your musical journey?

Connect with Bang Yongguk on Instagram, X, and YouTube.

Listen to his discography on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Music.

Catch him on tour in the U.S. starting April 5th.

*Special thanks to Bang Yongguk and YY Entertainment for this exclusive interview.

Image and video credits: YY Entertainment

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up, Ep 4 Recap: Kick It v The Little Prince

Welcome back to the project nobody minds waiting two weeks for -- my MNET Build Up Recaps! In the previous one, we finally finished episode 3, seeing that match up between Jay and Wumuti. In this one, we’ll see WEi’s Seokhwa and AB6IX’s Woong take on two trainees. Will the sunbaes beat the hoobaes? Will the hoobaes rebel? Only one way to find out!

After a super brief recap, the episode dives in to the first match of the episode: idols versus trainees. People comment on the flashy outfits idols Seokhwa and Woong are wearing, and wonder if they’ll dance.

“Idol beauty radiates -- Kang Seokhwa (left) x Jeon Woong team” 

They introduce themselves as “fate,” and I think it’s a pun/meme that would make sense to Korean viewers because it makes everyone else laugh. 

Both Woong and Seokhwa were on team Ditto, and Woong ended up with a low tier ranking even though I think his voice sounded quite nice. 

In comparison to Seokhwa and Woong’s punky idol styling, the trainees Ji Yeonwoo and Jeong Yunseo are dressed simply and cutely. 

Yeonwoo, left, was low tier in Decalcomanie for forgetting the words, poor kid. 

You might remember Yunseo most for his red outfit in the first episode that made him look like he drove racecars for a living. (It was cute, don’t get me wrong.) You might also remember his bold confidence in his team performance of Beautiful, where unlike his fellow trainee Minseo, he seemed to be completely sure that he’d succeed. I really love his attitude! 

The judges start off by asking the trainees if they’re nervous, and Jaehwan reminds Yeonwoo about his mistake. Yeonwoo says that he’s been having nightmares every night reliving that moment and that it was the worst moment of his life. Poor kid, god, can you imagine? I just want to hug him. Anyway, he promises not to make a mistake again. The other judges yell at Jaehwan for bringing it up.

The two teams trash talk a little -- the trainees say that they have nothing to lose, essentially. The idols say that the trainees are cute, and that they think beating the trainees would be a good story for MNET. Eunkwang rightfully points out, however, that a better story for MNET would be if the idols lose!

Time for a flashback. 

It’s the duet-forming portion of the day, and we see Seokhwa go straight for Woong. Since Woong was in the Low Tier and probably was scared no one would pick him, you can tell he’s really glad to see Seokhwa!  

“This is the narrative,” reality-savvy Woong interviews. “If you fall and go back up? That’s the narrative.” Yes, but unfortunately, MNET also likes it if you fall and keep falling. They’re sociopaths that way.

This pair up may not have been the best idea, as we’ll see, but it makes a lot of intuitive sense that these two would want to work together. For one thing, they have had similar careers so far. Both WEi and Ab6ix could be considered post-ProduceX101 groups, and they debuted 15 months apart (first AB6IX, then WEi). They would have friends in common, for starters, and given that both groups put out three singles each in 2021 and 2022, they had to be promoting at the same time at least a few times. Woong is Seokhwa’s sunbae since Woong debuted first, but Seokhwa is older, making their relationship a bit more balanced. Also, they obviously solidified their friendship during their preparations for Ditto. Plus, Seokhwa wanted to work with another idol so they could do an idol-style performance, something more dynamic than Ditto. As I said, it all makes sense, especially if you remember that often times the winning group on Boys Planet would be the group that got along better.

Ok, in this next portion I need to talk about Ji Yeonwoo and Jeong Yunseo. I think that if I were reading these recaps, I’d find those names similar enough that I wouldn’t be able to remember who is who and I might have to scroll up and down a lot. So, I’m going to call Yunseo “driver Yunseo.” This is for two reasons: (1) He looked like a racecar driver on the first day. 

And (2) because he really is a “driver” in this storyline! 

The flashback also shows us poor Yeonwoo, waiting for a duo partner. He voice-overs that after he messed up the lyrics, he felt like he wanted to “hide in a rat hole.” It looks like no one wants to work with him… until driver Yunseo comes over to rescue him, saying, “Let’s go, ‘04s.” Aww, they’re chingoos! (A “chingoo” is someone the same age as you, which makes you feel like you’re friends -- it’s a Korean cultural thing I don’t totally get.) 

Driver Yunseo thought they’d be a good match, and I think it was smart on his part to pick Yeonwoo too. The two maknae on a show will always get a kind reception, even if they don’t always get the highest scores. 

Driver Yunseo either genuinely wants to cheer up his chingoo or he knows that he has to get Yeonwoo’s confidence up if they are going to have any chance of winning, or both, because he puts his arm around his chingoo’s shoulders, he gives him complicated high-5s, and just generally does everything in his power to pump Yeonwoo up. It’s cute. 

Driver Yunseo says: “Ji Yeonwoo, Nekkoya (you’re mine!)”

With Driver Yunseo’s infectious confidence beginning to spread to him, Yeonwoo vows to “rebel” and win this time. Driver Yunseo says, “I promise you, I’ll make you a narrative.” Yunseo GETS IT, you guys. I really like this kid. 

Anyway, so, all the guys are sitting on the floor whispering to each other about which duos they want to challenge. Driver Yunseo says, “the team I think we can beat no matter what is Kang Seokhwa’s team.” I hate to say it, but that was pretty smart.

Ok, hear me out, because I really like all four of these guys and wouldn’t want any of them to be sad or anything, but I have noticed that Seokhwa’s voice is a bit weak. It’s a very pretty, sweet, light voice; he has a lot of potential, and a lot of current charm, seeing as he did get a judge’s vote. But he often strains on higher notes, and his belts sound like he’s tensing up his throat a lot. He’s super stable as a performer in WEi and is really well suited for the idol life. I’m just not sure that his vocals are quite to the level this show expects. Sorry, RUi! 

I also think that as outwardly cheerful as Woong is, I think he’s really feeling low. I actually really like the texture of his singing voice, and think the judges were unnecessarily rough on him. Being put in the low tier when he’s a main vocal was probably pretty distressing for him.  Even though *I* know his voice is really nice, it doesn’t seem like anyone on the show really seems to think so. No one is telling him his voice is nice. Only 14 people voted that they’d want to work with him. So with Woong’s confidence and reputation both kind of in the dumpster, he’s also an easy target. 

The trainees correctly deduce that the idols are going to want to do something bouncy and higher energy, maybe with the some dancing, and think that they themselves can win by using their vocal skills and youth to charm the judges. “It’s not a bad picture for us if we try to beat the seniors. Not a bad picture at all,” Driver Yunseo whispers to his chingoo. I’m telling you, Yunseo GETS IT.

So up until now, I’ve been unclear as to how the whole situation with the Rival Choosing Platform Area (RCPA) worked. This time, we actually hear Solar announcing Seokwa and Woong’s names, so they were somehow selected to go down to the RCPA. You’d think that maybe the show could have told us how this all works at any point, but that would have eaten into their instant replay time, so I guess not. 

Seokhwa and Woong invite a challenger.

And then a few other teams head down to the RCPA, which kind of hurts the idols’ feelings. Do they look like pushovers? They’re challenged by our two trainees, as well as by Team Geonu x Soomin and Team Hong Seongjun x Kim Seohyung. 

Left to right: Woong, Seokhwa; Kim Seohyung, Hong Seongjun, Geonu, Soomin, Driver Yunseo (hidden), Yeonwoo.

Interesting, those two other teams end up each others’ rivals and are up third in this episode! So we’ll see them in the post after the next one. 

The trainees make their case.

“I thought it would be an interesting scene, you know, for the viewers, you know, if the idols and trainees go against each other.”

“Ahh!”

“Especially if we win!”

“What?”

“Nothing!”

Seokhwa chooses the trainees, reasoning that they’d be easy to beat. And only later do we find out that Woong had told Seokhwa that the trainees were the one team he wanted to avoid, because it would be disastrous to lose to them! But more on that shortly. 

The trainees decide that to show off their singing skills and youthful appeal, they’ll sing “The Little Prince,” originally performed by Ryeowook from SuperJunior. The song was released in 2016, when Ryeowook was almost 30, but it’s a sweet and youthful-feeling little song about love and friendship inspired by the classic story The Little Prince. 

Sample lyrics:

Making a heart that is like the wind stay with me Is such a hard thing I know But I won’t say anything, I’m just waiting for you The Little Prince told me That gaining someone’s heart Is the hardest thing to do, come to me The Little Prince said to me It might be sad right now But we’re never gonna be apart That you’re going to want to laugh with me

As they head into the performance, poor Yeonwoo talks more about how miserable he was after he made his mistake. The stakes are high! He vows to do better this time. 

Watching the trainees getting ready, Baekho and Seungkwan -- who are signed to the same agency -- talk about how their monthly evaluations as trainees made them more nervous than performing ever did. Boy, do I get that! I’d rather perform 100 times than audition once. 

Before they perform, the trainees do some squats, for some reason (I guess maybe to shake off the nervous energy?) and then steel themselves. It’s time!

Full version without reactions 

My thoughts:

Yeonwoo, left, in the s w e a t e r over a collared shirt, and Yunseo, right.

Aww, this was cute. 

Have you ever been watching a competition reality show that involve a creative element, like Top Chef or Project Runway or Glow Up or Bake Off, and a contestant says “I’ve never done this before, but you don’t win by playing it safe!” And you, watching at home, are like, “omg, why are you doing that? If you’ve never worked with leather, if you’ve never cooked lamb, if you’ve never used prosthetics, if you’ve never made caramel, or whatever the hell durned foolish thing you’re going to do for the first time on international TV, why are you doing it now?” And most of the time they end up going home, while someone who made sure to safely land the plane is the one who wins. 

These two landed the plane.

This song isn’t necessarily easy to sing; it has a lot of high notes and requires a lot of vocal agility to make it through the melody and the rhythm, both of which get tricky at times. However, the “concept” or idea behind the song is relatively straight forward and easy for these two to deliver -- a sort of youthful view on love as something that you can hope for if you’re patient. Also, though Ryeowook is a main vocal of SuJu and has a great voice, he’s not someone supernatural like Chen that would be a really, really hard act to follow. 

Yeonwoo and Driver Yunseo both have good, young voices with tons of potential. I think they both could use a bit more training and experience, but they really do both deserve to be on this stage. Both sounded more than a bit nervous, which may have contributed to their breath control issues, but both held strong to the end and I didn’t notice any pitchiness or major tempo mistakes, which is big. 

Of the two voices, I think I like Driver Yunseo’s a little more, as a Yeonwoo is still a bit nasal at times. Yeonwoo also went a tiny bit fast at a few points, and his high notes were a little bit strained. Driver Yunseo’s lower register is really gorgeous, while Yeonwoo’s higher notes are a bit stronger. They made a great duo! I don’t think they’re going to win this show, but I’m glad they’re on it. 

The MNET edit is very retrained. Mostly it’s just the two trainees singing, with occasional shots of the guys backstage looking both proud and hopeful, like this:

Hyukjin, left, and Jeong Inseong from KNK, who will be going third in episode 5.

And the judges smiling indulgently and/or uncertainly, like this: 

When they’re done, everyone applauds for the maknae. 

The judges say things like, “aww, they must have practiced a lot!” 

Backstage, the guys joke about how well the trainees’ did -- “are they our sons? Did we raise them?” -- and also joke a bit about how old they feel in comparison to them. 

“If we sang The Little Prince, it wouldn’t come out like that!” Hwanhee from Up10tion says. “Old princes would come out if we sang.” Hwanji is like, “hey man, stop talking like that.” They’re only 24/25 years old, so he has a point.

Seokhwa and Woong, waiting in the wings, say, “They did a great job. Much better than in rehearsal.” You can see the worry on their faces. 

The judges vote, and we get the high and low score -- a high of 92 from Seungkwan from Seventeen and a low of 70 from Jaehwan. That’s the lowest “high score” and the lowest “low score” we’ve seen thus far, but it’s not embarrassing or anything.  They look pretty happy!

Seungkwan is like, wow, Jaehwan, what’s up with the 70? 

And a glowing light comes out of Jaehwan’s eyes and his body begins to slowly levitate as he says, “In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! ALL SHALL LOVE ME, AND DESPAIR!”

I mean, maybe not literally. 

Seungkwan mentions Yunseo’s early lines, which were in fact quite sweet and lovely. “I think it started off well and went along steadily until the end without bumps.” 

Jaehwan says, “Actually I really liked it. Maybe it was the purity that comes form the vocal tone…? I felt like I was listening to angels’ songs.”

Everyone is like, wtf? You cheered for them and loved them and gave these “angels” a 70? Backstage, one of the guys mutters, “He’s going to hell.”

Jaehwan continues: “I still thought about it calmly. When I heard the song, I felt endlless possibilities, but when considering the average level of singing ability, I thought that 70 was the appropriate score. It wasn’t bad, though!” 

Eunkwang says, “it was so good, but….” and he points out that Driver Yunseo sort of bounces in a bowlegged way as he sings. That’s exactly the kind of helpful feedback that a good sunbae should point out, says I, and the other judges agree. 

Backstage, Seokhwa and Woong are really nervous now. I think the trainees had had a really bad rehearsal and so the idols were pretty sure they’d have an easy time of it. But now the idea that a pair of debuted idols would lose to trainees who did a kind of straight-forward performance is just really sinking into their heads. 

Woong is worried that maybe people will lose interest in AB6IX if he doesn’t do well on the show. Oh, I doubt that, Woong-ah. It’s a parasocial thing -- people might even like you better if you lose. 

We see a flashback to the rival choosing moment, and this is when we learn that Woong really didn’t want to go up against the trainees, because the optics of losing to them would be awful and the optics of beating them wouldn’t be much better. He had told Seokhwa as much, which Woong finds perplexing.  

Seokhwa either didn’t hear or didn’t think it really mattered, and chose the trainees because he thought it would make them stand out. I think I’m with Woong on this one! Woong interviews, “I can’t get any lower than I am right now. We better win.” 

The idols have a nice cozy rehearsal studio to work in, but no sweaters. 

Seokhwa reveals that he overheard the trainees talking ant that they’re planning to do a bright, youthful ballad. Seokhwa wants to show that ballad vocals aren’t the only kind of vocals, and maybe doing something more hip, with an R&B vibe, would give them their own lane to drive in. The judges liked their performance skills in Ditto, so they should capitalize on that. That sounds great to me, Seokhwa! 

What about maybe Butter by BTS? That song is catchy af. Or what about Blooming Day or Hey Mama by EXO-CBX? I think both of those songs would sound good as a duet, and both would get the judges on their feet! Ok, sure, with the EXO-CBX songs you’d be following in some amazing vocal footsteps, but I think it would be fine! There’s also a bit of rap to show off here. 

But nope. They want to do “Kick it” by Blackpink. I don’t know why on earth they chose this song!  This is one of those songs where Teddy Park had a lunch date he really wanted to keep, so he just sort of threw some notes in a random order and had Jennie sing with as much swag as humanly possible so that it sounded almost like a melody. 

Also, there's another problem here. See, Woong is a very derivative singer. I really like his voice, as I’ve said before, but if you listen to his vocal check performance and compare it to the original singers’ version, it’s nearly identical, to the smallest detail. I think Woong needs to hear an example of really good singing in order to match it, and he’s not going to get it on this song. Do not get me wrong; the members of Blackpink are all fantastic performers and I always enjoy their vocals. But none of them sings in a way that is likely to draw positive attention on a show like this. Rosé in particular worries me -- she has a gorgeous natural instrument, and the YG singing style is teaching her really bad habits that might hurt her vocal cords long term. In any case, there’s nothing for Woong to appropriately mimic here to pull out an outstanding performance. 

I really get the feeling that they were overwhelmed by the possibility of choosing any song in the whole world. They wanted to do a girls’ song because it would be cool and attention grabbing, and then wanted to do a Blackpink song because Blackpink is so popular, and once they’d made that choice, they sort of randomly chose this song. The choosing was stressful and they wanted to get to the part where they’d already chosen. That happened to me with my fella when we were trying to pick out curtains. Now we have curtains that don’t really match the room. Sigh. 

If they had really wanted to do a girls’ song, I think Impurities by Le Sserafim would have been cool -- it has a beat and you can definitely dance to it, but it’s also kind of smooth and sexy. It has a real tune and real chords and they could have done something cool with it. Or maybe Eleven by IVE. It could have sounded really cool!   (For both of those links, go to speed and set it to 1.25, or if you know how to do custom, 1.15 is perfect. That way it’s at normal speed, just a lower pitch.) 

Anyway, Seokhwa wants to show how cool they can be.

They rehearse at Woong’s agency, Brandnew Music  (I mean, blur it all you want, MNET, the logo is pretty obvious), practicing as hard as they did when they were trainees. 

Before they start, the judges talk about how with the song they’re doing, they’ll have to really light up the stage and have fun. The judges are hoping for a good performance showcasing singing, dancing, and rap. As the lights go down, Wendy says, “This is what they’re best at. They shouldn’t be so nervous.”

Here is the full version without reactions. 

My thoughts:

Overall, it’s just sort of curiously lacking something. I watched this on an airplane on my tablet, and wondered if maybe it just felt “off” because of my environment, but then I remembered that I was really impressed by Jay and Bitsaeon in the same circumstance.  

They both seem so nervous, especially Seokhwa, who runs out of air in the middle of lines, and keeps brushing his hair back anxiously. Woong remembers to smile and connect with the camera, but you can almost see him trying to remember the dance steps. Woong is obviously doing a Jennie impression a lot of time, as I expected him to do, and it just doesn’t  sound as good as it does when he just sings as himself. 

As they sort of settle in, it seems like maybe they can relax and pull it out at the end, but then a Terrible Thing happens: Seokhwa’s voice cracks on a high note. 

Oh no. 

It’s pretty noticeable, and I already know that it will be a lot more noticeable when MNET does a few instant replays. Seokhwa!! Oh no!!! Baby!! 

I really think both of these guys are sweet and lovable, and both have nice singing voices that are well suited to being a main vocalist of an idol group. I think a combination of nerves and bad song choice really brought them down in this case, but they haven’t lost me as a fan. Fighting! 

I almost don’t want to watch the MNET edit. It starts off with lots of appreciative reactions from the judges and other guys, but as the song wears on, we start to see more looks like this from the judges:

Backstage, sympathetic Bitsaeon mutters, “They worked so hard for this,” and you know he’s thinking, “... and it turned out like this.” 

Look how miserable Woong looks even *before* Seokhwa’s crack. 

And then the crack happens. 

We only have to hear it twice, thankfully, and Woong never gives up, to his credit, but there’s no coming back.

When they’re done, the judges applaud politely, if a bit sadly. They’re all vocalists too and they know that cracks can happen, that we’re all just fragile meat bags when you get down to it and are subject to our human failings, but…. Still. This performance wasn’t great, crack or no crack.  

Backstage, the other guys try to be positive, focusing on how much time and effort went into the performance, and how hard they must have practiced. 

Driver Yunseo says, “It was like watching M-Countdown”...

… but his smile tells us that he thinks that maybe, just maybe, his team has just won. 

“You did a good job,” Woong murmurs to Seokhwa, who can’t bear to hear praise right now.

Dahee asks, “Are you happy with your performance?” and of course Seokhwa says no, he made a mistake and is very disappointed with himself. He seems to be barely, barely, barely holding back tears, but he is holding them back. Fighting, Seokhwa, fighting! 

The judges give their scores. Jaehwan seems especially unsure how to vote, but finally he locks it in. 

Wendy has given them a sympathetic 80, but Jaehwan has given a 60. (As a reminder, the trainees’ high and low scores were 92 and 70 respectively.) 

Jaehwan looks genuinely sad about it, but seems to view this judging thing as a responsibility. Backstage, the other trainees say that Jaehwan is so stingy with his points!

Wendy says her favorite part was the rap in verse 2. She asks if they came up with the choreography, and says it’s not easy to do all that, so she gives them credit. Wendy kind of famously has had trouble with dancing in the past, so it makes sense she’d be impressed by dancing. She adds that it would have been better if they had enjoyed it more, which is exactly what I think. She notes that it was probably really tough for them to go up against trainees, and she felt like they deserved the score she gave based on their attempt to show all the elements. 

Jaehwan says he’s “heartbroken” about it because “they’re active singers just like me, and we all perform together on music shows. They’re my colleagues who cheer me up. To be honest it’s very hard for me to rate them. Yet I rated them because I’m sitting here. I expected you to have fun on stage because I know how good you are at performance. I expected you to go crazy on stage, and I just didn’t see that today. So I gave this score because I want to see more confidence from you next time. Fighting!”

VCG chimes in with a good point: because the song was originally intended for women’s voices, changing the pitch made it less exciting. He says, “No matter how excitedly you sing with mens’ voices, it’s never exciting. You need to change your voice or something, but you didn’t. Your tone was the same when you scratched your voice, or for the low tone, or the rap. So it didn’t sound fun.” I think he is right on target with that, and it seems that all the guys listening backstage agree. It didn’t even occur to me before that this could be specifically an issue for when guys sing women’s songs, but it makes so much sense. 

The idols bow 90 degrees and say thank you for the helpful feedback. I wish they could have met with the judges or a mentor in advance of the performance! 

Now it’s time for the winner to be revealed. 

And of course, the trainees took it, 591 to 505. Ouch -- it wasn't even close.

If you subtract out the highest and lowest scores, and take the average of the point value remaining, the average score of the other five judges for the trainees is 85 -- and the average score for the idols is 73. Aww! 

With Woong’s encouragement, Seokhwa holds it together. 

Yeonwoo says, “I wanted to win, but now that I did, I feel bad.” 

I think that makes Seokhwa and Woong feel ever worse, though I think they’re also a bit touched by the trainee’s kindness. 

Woong vows that even though they’re on the elimination list, they’re going to “build up and show their best.” But backstage, Seokhwa feels awful. He says that he thinks that he ruined round one as well and keep dragging Woong down. 

Woong interviews later that he was really upset, but just didn’t want to show it in front of Seokhwa, because he’s Seokhwa’s hyung, and it’s a hyung’s job to be strong. Aww! Woong, fighting!

The judges talk about how difficult competition is. Wendy says that it’s hard to show your skills when you’re nervous, and Jaehwan points out that that’s part of your skills, to stay calm under pressure. 

And on that sad note, this segment draws to a close. 

In the next one, we’ll see Bain and Minseo take on Gwangsuk and Sungjung! Should be a good battle. I’ll see you then!

[dojae-huh]

hi! briize here to answer ur riize qns :D

riize gained attention initially due to 1) sungchan & shotaro & their new grp 2) a bit bc of anton being yoon sang's son and 3) siren mv because of their difficult choreo!

personally, their success in enlargening their fanbase probably came from tiktok as well? i saw them getting viral in tiktok due to the get a guitar challenge, sohee's talk saxy bridge & anton being 'riize's tiktok social manager' since he (and the members) were rly active in liking and commenting briize's tiktoks + creating rly gen z tiktoks w themselves too

their mainstream success probably came from 1) their performances (they debuted nearing towards award season, so they did a lot of performances i.e. rising sun by tvxq which highlighted their proficiency a lot) & 2) the members' visuals going viral (i.e. wonbin & sungchan who are constantly getting mentioned by hong seokcheon)

riize has rly become monster rookies since they debuted, earning rookie of the year titles less than 6 months of their debut. sohee is being lauded by his seniors for his vocals, wonbin is constantly on the spotlight for being a 'once in a generation' visual who's likened to jaejoong (and jaejoong knows this as well).

and although most news do center on seunghan's situation, that still pushes riize's name to the forefront, esp when it comes to briize's relentless support (rii7e forever 🥹)

and yes, there's no leader! they don't exactly have set titles aside from the basic dancer, vocal, rapper (sohee's the only one labeled as 'main' as the main vocal!)

riize's name was formed by sungchan, and riize as a group was set to debut due to a choreo by shotaro & wonbin which the 7 of them did together. they still don't have a full album yet, and is going to comeback in april iirc?

hope i was coherent and it's helpful 😭

Hi, thank you for the detailed overview!

So several factors contributed: virality of challenges and choreo, timing of the debut, members' visuals. It's interesting that Anton supervises tiktok, heh. SM's early attempts at using the platform for promotion were very clumsy, the staff didn't know what to do, while few neos, aside from Tae, are interested in tt. Younger people are needed, who grew up with the platform and know it and its algorythms well.

I'm somewhat baffled about Seunghan's situation. I'd think he is on hiatus to let the group go through the debut stage more smoothly, have time to gain strength and a dedicated core fanbase, however, other members also get accused of things. And the fandom seems to stand with him, asking for OT7. Taeyong was also hated by knets during the debut, SM didn't remove him. Demands to get rid of Irene, Chen also were ignored. Which makes me think that either Seunghan's mental state plummeted and he asked for a leave himself. Or there are more idols and companies involved, I heard a rumour that one of the winners of Girls planet was taken out from the final debutet line-up (Illit) due to her connection to Seunghan's group of friends.

How dooes Riize function without a leader? Fans invented positions in the first place, and, as far as I know, NCT got theirs with a delay. It seems that it's a 5gen trend for groups to not have fixed positions.

A full album is too early. It takes a couple of years for a group to make one. Some groups never release a full album. But, perhaps, you meant an EP? I see only singles in their discography. 4 songs with language versions + 1 special project.

Wish also started with singles. So did aespa, actually. Seems like a new strategy in SM. 127's first EPs are poorely know. People buy/download single songs, and often don't look into the whole discography.

[meu-light]

GMMTV2024: My predictions

I'll try to make it as short as possible but I make no promises!

Considering the line up and the fact it's part 1, I'm gonna say they are gonna announce 20 shows, +/- a few of course, could be 18, could be 22 we'll know soon enough.

I'm gonna do a list, I'm only going to predict the genre/feel of the show, not who's going to star in it~

Two GL(s)

Highschool setting

University setting

They have to go slow, steady and safe.

2. Eight BL(s)

Office setting

Something mature

Something supernatural

A lighthearted one

Highschool setting

University setting

2nd season of something they've already done/Special EPs

Can't really say what P'Aof has in his mind but probably a novel to series adaption, could be anything

Really rooting for the mature and supernatural content!

3. Ten Lakorns

By Lakorn I add anything that does not add up with the BL/GL/Queer genre.

2 or 3 shows will toy with the supernatural stuff (this includes 2nd seasons of their previous shows)

Office setting (I swear it's really popular)

A looking back to our past show, like melodrama

A lakorn af show with lots of family drama and rich people problems

A Snap25 Productions show that's a lakorn but for younger audiences

Age difference lakorn

I wanna say an idol story lakorn but it's a long shot, so maybe a mafia lakorn (?)

Something female based, like a girl trying to find herself etc

I also bet that they'll pull out a Midnight Series/Girl Next Door stunt and some of the shows are gonna be a part of a "bigger project".

4. I also wanna say at least one movie. I don't wanna guess what movie it's gonna be because their have a movie curse and they never end up releasing the movies in the original timeline.

[sansaurora9904]

Kim Heyoon Masterlist

KIM HEYOON (김헤윤) is a FICTIONAL South Korean-Spanish idol, songwriter, composer, actress, singer, model and brand ambassador under KQ Entertainment. She is currently a member of the South Korean co-ed group, ATEEZ and a girl group project Royal Crown with BTS's Boreum, Stray Kids's Jiwoo and EXO's Iseul.

She made her debut on October 24, 2018 with the group's debut mini album TREASURE EP.1: All To Zero.

BASICS!

Profile | Relationships within ATEEZ | Relationships outside ATEEZ | Romantic relationships | Closest friends | A-Z with Heyoon | Facts about Heyoon

SHIPS!

ATEEZ : Matz (aka the '98 liners) | '99 liners | Jongho

Royal Crown : YoonSeul | BoYoon | YoonWoo

MISC!

Heyoon Day : 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Fashion + style

Hair Color Timeline

Incorrect Quotes : 1 | 2

ERAS!

2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

KINGDOM : LEGENDARY WAR!

Episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

NOTES:

ATEEZ didn't have a performance in ep2

ATEEZ didn't have a performance in ep4

ATEEZ didn't have a performance in ep8

SOCIAL MEDIA!

Youtube | Instagram | Twitter | Articles | Endorsements

UPDATES!

First Published: 18/05/2023

Last Updated: 26/10/2023

Main Masterlist

[sanstropfremir]

did you finish the first two eps of peak time? what did u think abt the project group 24:00 idea? i think it's interesting but i'm worried that whatever praise or success they get will be blamed on favoritism 😖....

it was nice to get to watch a jtbc show with subs for once lol their shows are always so positive and encouraging ❤️ and it always seems like everyone has good attitudes and good sportsmanship bc they're all so passionate abt their craft <3 it makes it so enjoyable to watch instead of stressful

yes!!! i don't really....have many thoughts about 24's idea tbh. it's def the best way to encorporate all the soloists although honestly they could have just had jongup be group 24 by himself and it would have been fine lol. i'm also not really sure how they would get favouritism...? i don't really understand, like do you mean from the judges/show bc they put the group together? arguably some of the judges ALREADY showed favouritism towards at least one of the other groups unjustifiably so i don't really see how they could moreso with a group that has three dudes (i forgot who the other two are) who've been idols for 5+ years each and ARE talented. or do you mean that they'll be perceived as getting favouritism by viewers bc of how jongup was framed on the show? which i guess might come up, but he doesn't have the fanbase that the show made it seem like he does; if anything he should not need to be there at all but he's getting paid dust rn. i think i might be trying to apply too much logic here lol esp bc survival show fans are not a particularly logical sort.

but yes it is SO nice to finally be able to watch a jtbc show with subs and the way they structure their shows is so good bc it allows for evenhanded criticism. but my favourite part of jtbc shows is that you can tell they're made by people who have a deep love of the arts. superband is very much about loving music and just from the way the first episodes have gone i can see that peak time is likely to be the same. esp given how everyone reacted to vanner!!! most idol-based survival shows don't really allow or show the fact that a lot of idols do like to perform and make music and are generally supportive of each other, so it's really nice to see :))))))

[bodyfeels]

i have been up since like 5am let me talk about loossemble

Intro - very excellent, very cinematic and orchestral. unlike previous loona intros where the intro only served as an introduction to the title/lead single, it set up themes & feelings to expect to this album. it reminds me a bit of 12:00's intro with a dash of 1/3 strings & overall loona's initial magical girl + idol theme in ++. this is their new beginning after all so i think it's excellent. should have been at least a minute though like only 42 seconds of audio goodness... what the... good way to start off though

Sensitive - a very safe and standard kpop track. has your sing-talking, an ear-worm & catchy phrases, and a simple beat. i can understand why they'd play it safe. there's early-loona elements at around ~1:59, it reminds me of how spacious favOrite is in sections and even in 12:00 with why not which had a spacious moment in its bridge so i appreciated that. these are the members who never really got to shine so i'm glad they get an opportunity here. all 5 of them mesh very well together. the yeojin + hyunjin moment towards the end was really nice. in terms of the song, i wish they got to experiment or have fun a little more, i don't really like how it just goes back into the chorus with little change and they end it off there but i get it. an okay track for me

Real World - early red velvet sound which i kinda like. with the sample they used, i liked it and i wish they could have done something a little more in this song. it's very kpop-like with it's verses and choruses. it definitely reminds me of 2015 kpop but a little more elevated with the production here. it's an easy listen and a good song.

Colouring - i really like the chorus, i don't think i'm a huge fan of the song over all. bridge is good and ending is really really good though. i think my favorite thing here is their voices and hearing all the layers of their voices when they sing together and all their individual lines.

Newtopia - very spacey which i like. it's a fun synthpop song. it feels very dynamic with it's sections. i think this actually might be one of my favorites like? HRJGHJFG like yaaay i love good synthpop and it does feel very idol-like with some of the sing-talking and some of the melodies in general reminds me of 2010's jpop + kpop too. also i'm glad this is a 3:35 song like i cheered...

Strawberry Soda - okay this song also needed to be as long as newtopia like WHAT THE... very sugary very fun, i feel the same as before. another favorite off this EP, it's bouncy, it's pop, it's idol-like. i really like this track. i think if anything i wish it was dynamic like newtopia and was longer too but a good song anyways.

Day by Day - good way to close the EP, has elements of their past while mixing in parts that would appeal to like... a new audience and general public i guess. has some good idol parts to it as well. it's a good closer because it leaves me feeling like okay what's next (especially after that music video with the ending there, like whoa) and i do look forward to what's in store for Loossemble and for everyone in LOONA. they sound so nice and great on this track.

SO.... i feel a lot of intention with this EP, considering the standard for kpop EPs is literally just lead single, bunch of bsides that have nothing to do with the single, cheesy song to close it out, and that's it. and it's usually like a 6 song project LOL.

i really like how they're referencing the past in a smart way. they've elevated their identity and formed something new as a result. i've been talking about how the sound is very spacious and my examples i've mentioned are favOrite (1:15-1:36), Why Not's bridge, and i think you could say the entirety of Playback off of the Flip That album lol. that theme & identity is something i've always associated with loona, after all, they are the Girls of the Moon, so being able to express the concepts of magical girls, idols, the Moon itself, and Space in an auditory form was always a pleasure to experience with LOONA. finding that here with this EP makes me very happy

these girls are idols and i know it's an idol industry, so maybe i should adjust expectations, but i ask that their team gets creative and just with this album, i can see that's what they want, i see & hear the vision with loossemble. i hope they keep it up, i hope the girls, staff, & people they collaborate with are paid and that everyone is in a good working environment.

anyways to summarize my thoughts, a cohesive project, a good & fresh beginning, i hope they get experimental in the future. i wish nothing but the best for everybody in LOONA. thanks if you read this

[qazastra]

also very fun to see their duologies continued with the underground idol project! duologies are a really important aspect of their discography so far. even the lore diagram has 1 ep on either side of that line, making 3 duologies so far. but then there’s dot point jump -> line sun goodness which i might consider their own duology. idk what to do with if surface m because it never came out though. maybe it is/was intended to be the conclusion of the universe because it’s at the end of the diagram and they’re all in order? 

also there’s the song duologies! like picasso/dora maar, savanna/desert. not all of them reflect across the line though, like, while angel and off angel are from different produced by [ ] albums, blossom and bloom are not. plus yours only 2.2 only has the money cover on it so i think the album duology thing has more of an aesthetic value than anything else (until we get to instinct at least). but the way it connects certain songs to other songs is really thematically interesting anyway. (i made a playlist of ooo song duologies a bit ago)

[tharizdun-03]

Love Live School Idol Project Watchthrough

i'm watching love live, and it's still not my kind of show, but it's better than i expected tbh. this moment in ep 3 actually shocked me.

i won't post much about the show, so i'll take the opportunity now to declare that Kotori is a sweetheart and deserve all the hugs in the world

i think the reason love live is kinda working for me so far is because it's not about breaking into the industry, and having managers, and bookings and dealing with fans. it's just about some girls trying to save their school with song and dance.

much more cgdct like in its vibes than a lot of idol shows for me at least.

they're school idols not professional idols. the show just summarized my point for me in one sentence lol. that's why it works better.

8 episodes of build-up, but we got them all.

Love Live! School Idol Project Season 1 ended up being pretty decent actually. Still not a big fan of the idol style, and a lot of its cuteness feels calculated (if you get what i mean) but it was a surprisingly good time with a few effective beats even. I'll watch more.

AAAH SNOW HALATION

i love the trope of the masses returning the favours and helping our heroes in their time of need

THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY

i love how love live sometimes just skips performances that are actually "important in story events", or doesn't show us the opposing teams in love live other than a single rival team, cause it's about the girls, and everything else they leave out as much as possible

THEY DID NOT JUST DO THAT

not quite sure where they got those costumes from but gooo girls!!!

wait i'm fucking stupid, they show it in the interspersed scenes during the performance. too hype to pay attention lmao

way too many songs in this final episode tho

like we did not need another song after the cliffhanger for the movie, good fucking lord sometimes love live has no sense of tone whatsoever

Love Live! School Idol Project Season 2 overall had similar positives and negatives to what season 1 did. The impending graduation did provide added pathos (big K-On vibes yes) which gave us some particular highs, while others were a bit overdone for my tastes. Strong overall!

Love Live School Idol Project went out with a hell of a bang. The movie was mostly just fluff and fan-service, (like sometimes way too much, i did not need multiple songs after each other with one having the entire city dancing together) but fun overall.

Perfectly pleasant series as a whole, and I had my fun, but I don’t think too much of it.