#okay translation is bad but its because is really metaphorical and whatnot

[azems-familiar]

I am This Close to watching the untamed

So if you want to perhaps yell about it or something (since you’ve gotten me into stuff that way before) that could be cool idk

OH MY GOD PLEASE WATCH IT

okay to start with. the live action show is very good and a great place to start but it has some important differences from the novel and the donghua (animated show). i personally prefer a combination of cql (the untamed/the live action, that's the acronym i'll be using for it from now on) and the donghua; the novel suffers a lot of lost in translation effect and whatnot and i personally dislike the way the relationship is built in several places in it as opposed to how the adaptations do it, but it's definitely still worth reading. (dm me on discord if you want a copy of a pretty good fan translation of the novel and also like, a link to a place you can watch the donghua, btw.) other problems with cql: censorship hits the live action the hardest and their budget was i'm pretty sure basically nonexistent (they very clearly spent most of it on the costumes and the props, which you know what, the costumes are fucking stunning so great choice). so they changed the worldbuilding some and like.... the fight scenes? are really not good. they're really not good. also the special effects are universally pretty bad. it can make watching some parts of it difficult to get through, and there are some plot elements that are changed as well that i dislike, and a lot of the moral greyness of the original story had to get removed because again, censorship issues (if you want the most accurate, non-morally-whitewashed take first, you'll want to start with the novel, which is also what has the explicitly gay stuff). it's also not explicitly gay - but the actors played it as gay and there are multiple marriage metaphors and holy fuck like. honestly. there doesn't need to be a kiss or a confession or anything it's REALLY FUCKING GAY.

what cql excels in is its character interactions. the acting is absolutely stunning, the soundtrack is beautiful, and every single scene is just done with so much heart and emotion in it. so definitely keep that in mind going into it. i've watched it all the way through i think 3 or 4 times and i still keep seeing new fun details in the background that i hadn't noticed before.

the donghua, on the other hand, has an absolutely stunning art style, very very good voice acting, the worldbuilding and plot are more accurate to the book, and the magic and combat scenes are much more realistic for a fantasy and the powers they have. however, it, especially specifically the third and final season, is very rushed (and it has its own plot changes to fit how much they had to condense things, mostly just in the second half of season 3) and excludes some details, so it can be confusing if you don't know what you're seeing first. i recommend either watching cql or reading the novel first, then watching the donghua!

in terms of like, actual fandom stuff! so the main character of mdzs is, obviously, Wei Wuxian. i'm not sure how much you know but he's like. an incredibly ADHD man with horrible self-worth issues (despite being arrogant as hell) and a very strong sense of justice who is extremely brilliant and goes through a shitton of tragedy. he is known for inventing a viable form of necromancy, which is considered incredibly heretical and, among other things, gets him killed, and then gets him resurrected, so you know. pros and cons. he does magic by playing the flute. he is a disaster bisexual and also a bit of an alcoholic (okay a lot of an alcoholic) and i love him. his love interest is stoic and serious and incredibly autistic-coded and has been in love with him since they were teenagers and literally wrote him a love song. the two of them get trapped in a cave together and have to kill an ancient corrupted divine monster without weapons. it's very romantic. wei wuxian as a younger teenager is basically the epitome of a child pulling a girl's pigtails because he has a crush and is desperate for attention.

anyway, i'm not sure how much you know about the plot, but there's two timelines going on - the present and the past. the present is after wei wuxian is resurrected, and he and lan wangji (the love interest, in case you haven't picked up on the names yet - everyone has like two or three names and it can be hard to tell them apart at first) are basically going on a fun little murder mystery quest while also babysitting a bunch of teenagers which then abruptly devolves into politics, murder, more politics, and more murder. the past on the other hand goes from a high school definitely-not-a-romance to a goddamn war drama to politics and back to. hm. not exactly a war drama anymore but i'm really not sure how to describe everything that happens after a certain event. it's all very much a tragedy and the real "villain" of the story (which is less obvious in cql, again because of moral whitewashing due to censorship, though honestly i feel like they did a pretty good job of staying as true to the source material as they could all things considered, a whole lot of the scenes were word for word from the novel just slightly edited to fit the adjusted worldbuilding or plot changes) is the mob mentality, rumors and gossip and hearsay, and society itself!

lastly, because i am trying not to overwhelm you here, i am going to link you a couple great amvs i've found on youtube that will probably not make a lot of sense without context but will at least hopefully intrigue you?

and

and

the other one i really want to link i cannot because it definitely will make absolutely no sense without having watched the show and so you have to come talk to me when you've finished it so i can give it to you. also hey please feel free to come dm me on discord i Will ramble at length about this. especially about wwx he is my BLORBO and currently taking up residence in my brain. and also i need your live reactions if/when you start watching things oh my god

be glad it's almost 2 am and i'm still recovering from my covid booster or this would be even longer

[sapybara]

"Obsesionario en La Mayor" is so c!dnf

[After the rain, the perfume of anguish/ and the sound of the silence you left when you leave;/ after not surviving the mornings of that april/ as cloudy as broken// I travel deep inside the city of Disagreement,/ capitol of the new centre of existential emptiness.// Oh you really let me down, when you feint and pretend to try/ but you won't finish stuff.// Freedom!/ My house is a disaster/ my life a little more./ Oh, sweetheart/ how expensive is to love.// I didn't see you downtown today/ and (it was) a horror sequence./ And I dreamt crazy passions with you/ and it's just that/ I want to see you/ and it's just that/ I want to see you/ I want to see you]

[serialreblogger]

You want to talk more about the bigotry in Harry Potter? Go ahead! I've actually heard stuff like that before, but have yet to do much research on it personally and it's been a while since I read it, so I'm interested.

WELL

Before we begin I should start with a disclaimer: this analysis will be dedicated to examining as many bigoted aspects of Harry Potter’s writing as I can think of, so--while I personally am more or less comfortable balancing critical evaluation with enjoyment of a piece, and strongly advocate developing your own abilities to do the same--I know not everyone is comfortable reading/enjoying a story once they realize its flaws, and again, while I think it’s very important to acknowledge the flaws in culturally impactful stories like Harry Potter, I also know for some people the series is really really important for personal reasons and whatnot. 

So! If you’re one of those people, and you have trouble balancing critical engagement with enjoyment, please feel free to skip this analysis (at least for the time being). Self-care is important, and it’s okay to find your own balance between educating yourself and protecting yourself.

On another note, this is gonna be limited strictly to morally squicky things to do with Rowling’s writing and the narrative itself. Bad stuff characters do won’t be talked about unless it’s affirmed by the narrative (held up as morally justified), and plot holes, unrealistic social structures, etc. will not be addressed (it is, after all, a kid’s series, especially in the first few books. Quidditch doesn’t have to make sense). This is strictly about how Rowling’s personal biases and bigotry impacted the story and writing of Harry Potter.

Sketch Thing #1: Quirrell! I don’t see a lot of people talking about Quirrell and racism, but I feel like it’s a definite thing? Quirinus Quirrell is a white man who wears a turban, gifted to him by an “African prince” (what country? where? I couldn’t find a plausible specific when I was researching it for a fic. If there’s a country which has current/recent royalty that might benevolently interact with someone, and also a current/recent culture where turbans of the appropriate style are common, I couldn’t find it). Of course, it wasn’t actually given to him by an African prince in canon, but it’s still an unfortunate explanation.

More importantly, ALL the latent Islamophobia/xenophobia in the significance of the turban. Like, look at it.

“Man wears turban, smells like weird spices, turns out to be concealing an evil second face under the turban” really sounds like something A Bit Not Good, you know? If you wanted to stoke the flames of fear about foreignness, it would be hard to do it better than to tell children about a strange man who’s hiding something horrible underneath a turban.

Also, Quirrell’s stutter being faked to make you think he was trustworthy is a very ableist trope, and an unfortunately common one. “Disability isn’t actually real, just a trick to make you accommodate and trust them” is not a great message, and it’s delivered way too often by mass media. (Check out season 1 of the Flash for another popular example.)

Sketch Thing #2: The goblins. Much more commonly talked about, in my experience, which is good! The more awareness we have about the messages we’re getting from our popular media, the better, in my view. 

For those who haven’t encountered this bit of analysis before: the goblins in Harry Potter reek of antisemitic stereotypes. Large ears, small eyes, crooked noses, green/gray skin, lust for money, control of the banks, and a resentful desire to overthrow the Good British Government? Very reminiscent of wwii propaganda posters, and in general the hateful rhetoric directed towards Jewish people by other European groups from time immemorial. 

I’m also extremely uncomfortable with how goblin culture is handled by Rowling in general. Like, the goblins were a people that were capable of using magic, but prohibited by the British government from owning wands. That was never addressed. They also had a different culture around ownership, which is why Griphook claimed that the sword of Gryffindor belonged rightfully to the goblins--a gift isn’t passed down to descendants upon death, but instead reverts to the maker. This cultural miscommunication is glossed over, despite the fact that it sounds like Griphook’s voicing a very real, legitimate grievance.

To be honest, apart from the antisemitism, the way Goblin culture is treated by the narrative in Harry Potter is very uncomfortably reminiscent to me of how First Nations were treated by English settlers in North America, before the genocide really got started. The Goblins even have a history of “rebellions,” which both raises the question of why another species is ruling them to begin with, and more significantly, is eerily reminiscent of the Red River Rebellion in Canada (which, for the record, wasn’t actually a rebellion--it was Metis people fighting against the Canadian government when it tried to claim the land that legally, rightfully belonged to the Metis. But that’s another story)

In sum: I Don’t Like the implications of how Rowling treats the goblins.

Sketch Thing #3: Muggles. Ok because we’re all “muggles” (presumably) and because I’m white, talking about this might rapidly degenerate into thinly-veiled “reverse racism” discourse, so please y’all correct me if I stray into that kind of colossal stupidity. However, I am not comfortable with the way non-magical humans are treated by Rowling’s narrative.

The whole premise of Harry Potter is that Evil Wizards Want To Hurt The Muggles, right? Except that it’s not. Voldemort’s goal is to subjugate the inferior humans, rule over non-magical people as the rightful overlords, but that’s hardly mentioned by the narrative. Instead, it focuses on the (also egregious and uncomfortably metaphorical) “blood purism” of wizarding culture, and how wizards would be persecuted for their heritage.

But muggles, actual muggles, are arguably the ones who stand to lose the most to Voldemort, and they’re never notified of their danger. We, the muggles reading it, don’t even really register that we’re the collateral damage in this narrative. Because throughout the series, muggles are set up as laughingstocks. Even the kindest, most muggle-friendly wizards are more obsessed with non-magical people as a curiosity than actually able to relate to them as people. 

I dunno, friends, I’m just uncomfortable with the level of dehumanization that’s assigned to non-magical humans. (Like, there’s not even a non-offensive term for them in canon. There’s “muggle,” which is humorously indulgent at best and actively insulting at worst, and there’s “squib,” which is literally the word for a firework that fails to spark.) It’s not like “muggles” are actually a real people group that can be oppressed, and like I said this kind of analysis sounds a bit like the whining of “reverse racism” advocates where the powerful majority complains about being insulted, but... it kind of also reeks of ableism. People that are not able to do a certain cool, useful thing (use magic) are inherently inferior, funny at best and disposable at worst. They suffer and die every day from things that can easily be cured with magic, but magic-users don’t bother to help them, and even when they’re actively attacked the tragedy of hundreds dying is barely mourned by the narrative. 

It gives me bad vibes. I don’t Love It. It sounds uncomfortably like Rowling’s saying “people that are unable to access this common skill are inherently inferior,” and that really does sound like ableism to me. 

Either way, there’s something icky about consigning an entire group of people to the role of “funny clumsy stupid,” regardless of any real-world connections there may or may not be to that people group. Don’t teach children that a single genetic characteristic can impact someone’s personhood, or make them inherently less worthy of being taken seriously. Just, like... don’t do that.

Sketch Thing #4: The house elves. Everyone knows about the house elves, I think. The implications of “they’re slaves but they like it” and the only person who sees it as an issue having her campaign turned into a joke by the narrative (“S.P.E.W.”? Really? It might as well stand for “Stupidly Pleading for Expendable Workers”) are pretty clear.

Sketch Thing #5: Azkaban. Are we gonna talk about how wizarding prison involves literal psychological torture, to the point where prisoners (who are at least sometimes there wrongly, hence the plot of book 3) almost universally go “insane”? This is sort of touched on by the narrative--“dementors are bad and we shouldn’t be using them” was a strongly delivered message, but it was less “because torturing people, even bad people, is not a great policy” and more “because dementors are by their natures monstrous and impossible to fully control.” 

“This humanoid species is monstrous and impossible to control” is, once again, a very concerning message to deliver, and it doesn’t actually address the real issue of “prison torture is bad, actually.” Please, let’s not normalize the idea that prison is inherently horrific. Of course, prison as it exists in North America and Britain is, indeed, inherently horrific and often involves torture (solitary confinement, anyone?), but like--that’s a bad thing, y’all, it’s deeply dysfunctional and fundamentally unjust. Don’t normalize it.

Sketch Thing #6: Werewolves. Because Rowling explicitly stated that lycanthropy in her series is a metaphor for “blood-borne diseases like HIV/AIDS”. The linked article says it better than I could:

Rowling lumps HIV and AIDS in with other blood-borne illnesses, which ignores their uniquely devastating history. And Lupin’s story is by no stretch a thorough or helpful examination of the illness. Nor is its translation as an allegory easily understood, beyond the serious stigma that Rowling mentioned.

That Lupin is a danger to others could not more clearly support an attitude of justifiable fear toward him, one that is an abject disservice to those actually struggling with a disease that does not make them feral with rage.

This definitely ties into homophobia, given how deeply the queer community has been affected by HIV/AIDS. Saying a character with a condition that makes him an active threat to those around him is “a metaphor for AIDS” is deeply, deeply distressing, both for its implications about queer people and their safety for the general population, and for the way it specifically perpetuates the false belief that having HIV/AIDS makes a person dangerous.

Sketch Thing #7: Blood Ties. This isn’t, like, inherently sketch, but (especially for those of us with complicated relationships to our birth families) it can rub a lot of people the wrong way. Rowling talks a big talk about the folly of “blood purism,” but she also upholds the idea that blood and blood relations are magically significant. 

Personally, I’m very uncomfortable with the fact that Harry was left with an abusive family for his entire childhood, and it was justified because they were his “blood relatives.” I’ve had this argument with ultra-conservative family friends who genuinely believe it’s a parent’s right to abuse their child, and while I don’t think that’s what Rowling is saying, I do feel uncomfortable with the degree of importance she places on blood family. I’m uncomfortable with the narrative’s confirmation that it is acceptable (even necessary) to compromise on boundaries and allow the continuation of abuse because “it’s better for a child to be raised by their Real Family” than it is to risk them to the care of an unrelated parent.

Genetic relations aren’t half as important as Rowling tells us. For people with a bad birth family, this can be a damaging message to internalize, so I’ll reiterate: it’s a pretty thought, the love in blood, but it’s ultimately false. The family you build is more real, more powerful and more valid than any family you were assigned to by an accident of genes.

I can think of one or two more things, but they’re all a lot more debatable than what I have here--as it is, you might not agree with everything I’ve said. That’s cool! I’m certainly not trying to start a fight. We all have the right to read and interpret things for ourselves, and to disagree with each other. And again, I’m not trying to ruin Harry Potter. It’s honestly, as a series, not worse in terms of latent bigotry than most other books of its time, and better than many. It’s just more popular, with a much bigger impact and many more people analyzing it. I do think it’s important to critically evaluate the media that shapes one’s culture, and to acknowledge its shortcomings (and the ways it can be genuinely harmful to people, especially when it’s as culturally powerful as Harry Potter). But that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t enjoy it for what it was meant to be: a fun, creative, engaging story, with amazing characters, complex plots, heroism and inspiration for more than one generation of people. 

Enjoy Harry Potter. It is, in my opinion, a good series, worth reading and re-reading for enjoyment, even for nourishment. It’s also flawed. These things can both be true.

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 7x20 Touched

aka i don’t wanna be the one

We did it, guys! We made it to the last season! Also, hello if you’re new, and stumbled upon this without context. As usual, these impromptu text posts are the product of my fevered mind as I rant about the episode I just watched for an hour (okay, sometimes perhaps two). Anything goes!

And today’s episode is one of those calm before the apocalypse ones. And the last one of the show at that.

Other than that, I don’t actually have much to say about Touched? Well, there are a couple things I want to touch on, but no big thematic through line to connect them.

First, let’s go through the Scoobies’ plotline. Everything’s a bit of a mess following Buffy’s departure. They argue about arguing, Kennedy really wants to be in charge, and Faith’s response is literally to tell them to just… chill. But also, to listen to her and follow her and the plan she’s gonna come up on the fly now.

So they do that. Because I guess they didn’t have a real problem with the system they had, just the person in charge. These kids are not ready for a revolution.

It’s not a super interesting subplot tbh, they kidnap a Bringer, get him to talk through Andrew, and his clues lead them to a trap with a bomb. Oh, and Giles casually cuts the Bringer’s throat, because I guess in Buffy’s absence Ripper comes out to play more than usual.

Giles also comments to Faith that she’s doing fine, as she’s visibly struggling to act all authoritative and whatnot. Which is a pretty nice moment for Faith, who’s always been desperate for love and validation.

But let’s quote the First as the Mayor on that:

THE FIRST:  “You keep looking for love and acceptance from these people, these friends of yours, but you're never gonna find it. The truth is, nobody will ever love you. Not the way I love you.”

Fuck you, Dick. I love Faith, okay?

Let’s back up a little though.

FAITH:  “Buffy got them this far.” THE FIRST:  “Why are you protecting her? You think she cares about you? She nearly killed you, Faith.” FAITH:  “It's different now.”

Oh. Wait.

THE FIRST:  “Deep down, you always wanted Buffy to accept you. To love you even.”

That’s… that’s in the text. It’s in the text, and they’re trying to trick us by following that up immediately by the sex scene between Faith and Robin, but you can’t fool me. I see through your nonsense, show.

Subtext… subtext my ass.

They’re also trying to make it look like Faith actually takes the First’s warning about Buffy being dangerous seriously, but they’re doing that by having her send Buffy’s friends to check on her? Good job, First. You made Faith worry about Buffy’s well-being. Again.

But this also reminds me of the message the First left with Dawn, and I don’t think we ever get a pay-off on that either? The characters seem to take it for granted that the First tells the truth, but when it comes to Buffy, it seems to just be making shit up. (Or the pay-off to those is so obscure that I’ve yet to connect it to anything the First said.)

Also, it’s not just Faith and Robin who are getting it on. There’s a triple sex scene happening to music because early 00s.

Well… actually, this was a bit of a historic television moment, believe it or not, as one of those three sex scenes is between Willow and Kennedy. Which was still a bit of a taboo in 2003 on network television, and may actually have been the first of its kind.

So, yay for that.

I guess the show also decided to remember that Willow’s been having a storyline about control and repression, so that comes up. Did you know that lesbian sex and magic are related on the show? You might have missed it, it’s a very subtle metaphor.

On a completely unrelated note, I just remembered this:

DAWN:  “Hey, I've been reading this old Turkish spell book. There's an old conjuration that the ancient Turks used to communicate with the dying.” WILLOW:  “Oh, yeah. I think I've read a translation of it.” DAWN:  “There's a translation of it???”

Dawn is really the best of you lot. At the very least, she knows that the whole sending away Buffy thing was bad, and that Giles is full of bullshit.

GILES:  “She’s going to be fine. Really, it’s for the best.” DAWN:  “Yeah? Then why do I feel like this?”

Because you know that it’s bullshit, Dawn. You know.

Meanwhile Buffy is snarking and snatching the shotgun out of some poor guy’s hands who stayed behind in his house, and it’s delightful.

MAN:  “You can't just kick me out of my own house.” BUFFY:  “Why not? It's what all the cool kids are doing nowadays.”

And then Spike returns to town. He goes off a bit at the Scoobies for kicking out Buffy, and then goes to her.

Sigh. Okay. So… he’s not wrong, but I kinda hate it regardless.

Buffy has so many interesting, deep relationships, but we’re gonna ignore all of them. Nope. This is the only one of her connections that matters. The only one we’ve been building on this season anyway, ever since the first few episodes.

Thanks, I hate it.

I know. I know! I’m biased. At this point, I’m just super biased against Spike. This can’t be argued. I don’t connect to him as a character, and I dislike the way he’s been singled out in this season in particular, and I hate that he’s the only character who gets to stand up for Buffy.

But also… It does make sense? Spike got to be there and connect to Buffy in some of her most vulnerable moments. That’s what makes his speech to Buffy so brilliant, and why I feel each and every word of it through Buffy.

SPIKE:  “I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the one, Buffy.” BUFFY:  “I don't wanna be the one.”

God, when she says that? With a small, quiet voice that breaks over even those few words? My heart breaks for her with the pain of 7 seasons.

There is something wonderful about feeling seen. About being understood and still loved, good and bad. There’s power to that, much like there’s power to the kind unconditional love Xander demonstrates to Willow at the end of S6.

So, yeah. I don’t like this storyline. I don’t like that Buffy’s been isolated throughout the season from her friends, to bring her closer to Spike. When season 6 did that, we at least acknowledged that it was unhealthy.

But it’s still a great scene. It’s a great speech. And I just want my girl to be loved and appreciated, goddamit. Even if it’s with Spike.

...And then she went to the vineyard alone, and danced around Caleb like someone who watched the Matrix one too many times.

That’s my girl.

[dprdabin]

DPR: ‘We Did this Ourselves From the Ground Up’

From a hit debut album to an upcoming world tour, producer DPR REM and artist DPR LIVE talk about their hip-hop crew’s ambitions and expansion plans

Talking to the members of DPR is almost always like a productive frisson that leaves you breathless and excited for the things to come. On the day we chat, the voices of producer Scott Kim—better known as DPR REM—and Hong Dabin, aka DPR LIVE, crackle through the phone on a fine Seoul evening, merging together in waves of introspection and quiet, focused ambition. They’re gearing up for their first world tour, but also trying to wrap their heads around the fact that it’s finally happening.

“Everything is just still so surreal for us. It’s not like we’ve done this in a past life or we had experiences in other entertainment companies. This is all ‘Do It Yourself’, like DIY,” says DPR REM. “Every day is a new experience and a new journey, and I think this world tour is one of the biggest steps we’ve taken in that direction.”

On the off chance that you’re a stranger to DPR, short for Dream Perfect Regime, it’s worth noting that ‘Do It Yourself’ is the cornerstone of the septet’s philosophy. The crew, which has morphed into one of the most prominent and creative voices to emerge from the Korean hip-hop scene, is a completely organic and independent effort–a rare feat in South Korea’s label-saturated music industry. They first gained prominence through their captivating and cinematic visual output which included music videos for K-pop acts such as Big Bang and MOBB, courtesy of in-house director and free-spirit extraordinaire, Christian Yu (known as IAN within the collective.)

Rapper DPR LIVE, essentially the face of the collective, is both a founding member and their first formal artist. LIVE started out by uploading his music on YouTube and eventually commanded people’s attention through his tightly packed, spitfire rap on the viral collaborative 2016 hit “Eung Freestyle.” Then in 2017 came Coming To You Live, his debut EP featuring an impressive roster of collaborations and an even bolder declaration—DPR had arrived in full swing. This, however, was followed by the comparatively mellowed out HER the same year. While Coming To You Live was a grand display of confidence, HER was more focused and convergent in its themes, essentially a one-man act that took DPR LIVE to No. 8 on the Billboard World Albums Chart. “I think going off of CTYL, it was hard to just really stick with one theme because there was just so many people involved. We wanted to keep it open-ended for the artists to translate and interpret the way they wanted to,” says DPR REM, who’s produced both albums. “On the cover album for CTYL, we have a change of seasons going on in the background.” DPR used that as a metaphor of how they wanted to offer different varieties of songs and themes, so it not only introduces DPR LIVE as a rookie artist but also incorporates a lot of the other artists that featured on this project to display their thematic lyricism.

However, REM goes on to explain that when it comes to HER, it became a very solo project for LIVE. “It was solo for being not only for his own experimental purposes, but also in that he really wanted to zone in on his artistry and portray his story, and really give the fans like, ‘Okay, this is me, really like raw, without anybody around. This is the music I want to do right now, the vibes I want to put out.’ I think that’s the distinction.”

At just 26, LIVE is succinct but assertive, prefers to channel his words through music and is always aware of his values and goals thanks to his time in the army, which he says brought focus to his music. “I went to school in Guam. I knew how to speak Korean, because that was the only language my mom and my dad can speak, but I definitely wasn’t good at it.” When his family came to Korea, he had to enlist in the army within a year of arriving. “You have to stay in this military camp for two years, being told what to do, when to eat, when to sleep, and stuff like that. I actually really just honed in on myself, my goals, what I wanted in life, my values, and I learned patience and focus there. I think it was a very good thing to do though, because I don’t think I would have learned another way,” he says.

With millions of online views on their videos and the label of an underground collective left in the past, the members of DPR are gearing up to perform at sold out shows in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Here are excerpts from our conversation with REM and LIVE, where they discuss their success, music, and plans for expanding in the future.

On their collaborations with other artists and Coming To You Live:

LIVE: I think for collaborations, it’s always important to meet the person you’re working with, to get a vibe of their energy, their lifestyle, their beliefs. Just getting to know someone as a human is so helpful in understanding them as an artist. Through various talks and meet-ups, I think that’s where the music just naturally comes about. At least in my experience, that’s how you can be versatile. Meeting with various individuals and just communicating – it really opens you up to new thoughts and experiences.

REM: We were actually very lucky with that, because it just all timed perfectly. Usually, you hear a lot of stories where schedules don’t match up or you’re waiting for some other person and they get back to you, which is very often in the entertainment industry, but just—I don’t know what it is. I like to think it’s a lot of luck, to be honest, there’s a lot of great timing and luck that happened.

On music videos and DPR’s visual output:

LIVE: Not just my input, but everyone’s input goes into our visuals. It’s a collective effort, and that’s exactly the reason as to why I think we are able to deliver top notch quality works. We each present a different piece to the puzzle.

REM: I dedicate a lot of that to Christian. He’s a genius when it comes to that. I really think he’s just a crazy gifted kid that you just can’t put into words at times. It just happens for him.

“I don’t want our tour to just be your typical ‘show’ or ‘performance.’ I want fans to gear up for an actual party–a family reunion,” says DPR LIVE. Photo: Courtesy of Dream Perfect Regime

On being independent artists in South Korea:

LIVE: We really did this ourselves from the ground up. Countless mistakes were made, but through just pure diligence, we were able to get to a point where now we can constantly create and make what we want to. That freedom is priceless.

On their Billboard charting and online success:

LIVE: Although I’m super grateful and humbled, I try my best not to focus on stuff like that. The more you start thinking about certain stats and whatnot, I just believe it tends to really limit and almost negatively impact your career. Constantly being burdened and stressed with thoughts like that seem to do way more bad than good. I think these days I’ve just been working on trying to create constantly and explore myself as an artist more and more.

REM: We’re still young kids if you really think about it. Beyond the fame, beyond the success, it’s the fact that we have influence, and that’s what drives us, right? I think we’ve gone various letters in the email and handwritten letters from our fans all across the world, saying ‘Your music has shifted me in this direction and it’s for the better’ and ‘Your music has really inspired to go and pursue my dream, my passions.’ When we get things like this, it’s a very surreal experience. I’m sure a lot of artists feel the same way, but for us, really coming from the ground up, really not knowing anything that we were doing, going through countless mistakes, countless failures, it’s a really rewarding experience, more than anything.

On getting more people to hop on board:

REM: The short answer is: of course, we’d love to build this movement. I think the betterment of the team is just getting more people on board. The bigger your movement becomes, the bigger impact you get. The long answer to that, now, is that because we’re so family oriented, it does get a bit tricky. You have seven kids that grew up together making this DPR dream a reality. At this point, and we’ve said it before, we know each other so well. If we had disagreements and communication problems, it’s exactly how a family would handle it. This is not a company vibe at all, and I feel like, going off of that, we want to conserve that culture as much as can. That’s where it gets difficult, because you have somebody from the outside coming in, and it’s just like… can they really adapt to this environment? Can they adapt to this culture that we’ve set up before it already? I think that’s the hard question for us.

On the upcoming tour and possible new locations:

LIVE: Besides the fact that I’ll be able to finally see my fans face to face, I’m most looking forward to just being in a space filled with people who really support our movement and resonate with us. I don’t want our tour to just be your typical ‘show’ or ‘performance.’ I want fans to gear up for an actual party–a family reunion. Anybody that supports DPR knows up front that our culture goes hand in hand with family. So for us, this tour is similar to like seeing your long lost relatives, or getting together with family members you haven’t seen in years. That’s the level of excitement the team and I have.

REM: We really tried to include as many cities as we could in this tour. It is a world tour and we wanted to hit as many cities as we could, even despite our physical health or whatever. We really wanted to make the time and effort to get to any place that really knows of us or wants us. Even other Spanish-speaking countries or places like India or South Africa… we have tons of fans hitting us up saying we have fans here and there, and we want to cater to those markets much as we can, but at the same time just thinking about the whole bigger picture of the scheduling and the logistics it just couldn’t work out.

That’s what we told our fans, that ‘Hey, just because we’re doing this first world tour doesn’t mean it’s the last world tour. We’re just getting started here, right?’ This is just the beginning, so it builds momentum for the next few cities that we have yet to hit. We’re like, ‘Hey, we see you guys. We know you’re there. Just wait for us.’

© Lavanya Singh @ Rolling Stone India