#promoting will just show jype that people like it

[bandzboy]

Unfortunately that statement from the skz chart data account means nothing because they're still going to promote and stream this song. The only thing they'll do is send emails to jype which we know does absolutely nothing

no honestly yeah that's what i thought tbh which is a bit upsetting! when txt had that zionist producer in the song no moa big accs talked about it so that's why it got me shocked that they even addressed it lol

[other-shades-of-sapphire]

Adopted habits – Seungmin

Seungmin x girlfriend Weeekly's Soojin, circa March 2022

They said the longer you spend time with someone, the more likely you were to pick up their habits. And Seungmin had to admit that it was indeed true.

Soojin had a well-known, chronic habit of playing with the hem of whatever top she was wearing. Seungmin had noticed it from their encounters when she was still a trainee at JYPE, and his first thought about the habit was that it was cute – though he might be biased because he found her entire being cute. 

However, the habit didn't sit well with everyone; even though the fans found it endearing, her company often told her to cut it off because it might give her off as nervous and jittery – which was not the best look for an idol, let alone the group leader. It made her feel a little bad about the habit and tried to grow out of it, and Seungmin was more than happy to help her. He made it his habit to reach for her hands and pull them away once Soojin started reaching for her hem, under the pretense of wanting to hold hands. But of course Soojin realized his real reason soon enough, and started reaching for his hand first before he could just to beat him – which, honestly, Seungmin had seen coming because he knew she's just weird like that, just like himself. 

What he didn't see coming, though, was how he unconsciously picked up the very same habit he's trying to help Soojin with. 

He didn't realize it at first, until Hyunjin pointed it out one time right before he departed to shoot his Lee Mujin Service episode. "Hey, Kim Seungmin, stop fiddling with your shirt. You'll be fine." 

Seungmin's hands, which indeed were on the hem of his shirt, stilled immediately. Since when had he started doing that? 

And that was far from the last time. Since then, the rest of his members took turns calling him out on his newly adopted habit every once in a while, mostly whenever he was feeling nervous. This went on for a while until finally Soojin noticed it for the first time. 

It was during the promotion of Weeekly's Ven Para, which overlapped with Stray Kids' Maniac promotion. On one of their music show performances Seungmin decided to pay her waiting room a visit, but didn't tell her in advance because he wanted to surprise her. And surprised was she indeed; jaw nearly dropping when she saw him approaching l on the conveniently deserted hallway. She ushered her members to go in first, told them she'd catch up in a moment. 

"What are you doing here?" she hissed once Seungmin was within earshot. 

Seungmin revealed the box of pizza – her favorite kind – he had ordered, enough for her entire group. "Congratulatory treat." 

He could clearly see the different emotions shifting on her face, alternating shock and joy on top of the others. "I – you – " she stammered, and it took Seungmin every bit of his self-control not to bend to kiss her right then and there. It was such a rare and pleasant occasion to catch her off guard since she was so cheerfully well-composed most of the time, especially in public. "Thanks," she finally said, sounding a little breathless. 

He smiled at her. Took a glance around and still saw no one, then took the risk to ruffle her hair. "You did great. I'll see you later." 

Just when he was about to turn around to go back to his own waiting room, Soojin caught his wrist. "Jagi-ya, wait." 

Seungmin raised an eyebrow at her. "Jagi-ya in public?" 

"There's no one around. But," she smiled – the slow, mischievous one that always made Seungmin feel somewhat cautious because he knew it was a sign of her weird side thinking. "Why don't you come inside to meet the girls?" 

He blinked, gears processing what she was asking. Her members were the very first people Soojin had told about her relationship with Seungmin because she just loved and trusted them that much, but up until now they still hadn't officially met Seungmin yet and truth be told, Seungmin was more than a little nervous. He knew just how much her members meant to Soojin, and it made meeting them a big deal for him because what if they didn't like him? 

"Jagi-ya," Soojin's voice brought him out of his reverie, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "It'll be fine. They've heard plenty about you." 

Was it supposed to make him feel more confident? Because no, it didn't; it only added even more pressure for him. "You're sure about this?" 

"Of course. We've been trying to find the time for you to properly meet them for so long, and now you're already here, so we might as well." 

"And how much of this is driven by your competitive spirit to surprise me more than I surprised you just now?" 

She laughed at that. "Maybe just a little." 

Seungmin pursed his lips. "I knew it." 

"Of course you did," she mused. "But I really, genuinely want you to meet the girls too, you know." 

Seungmin knew that too. He knew this was as big of a deal for her as it was for him, knew how excited she was to formally introduce her "Stray Kids sunbaenim boyfriend" to her members. So he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Let's go, then." 

Soojin beamed, even went as far as tiptoeing to give him a quick peck on his cheek. Then she opened the door, took one of his hand, and pulled him in. 

Apart from her members, there were also three staffs inside the waiting room. All of them turned to the door when Soojin came in, and all of them fell silent instantly when they saw who was with her. As he put on what he hoped as one of his best smiles, Seungmin thought he hadn't felt this nervous in a long while. 

"Hi," Soojin broke the silence, not sounding nervous at all. "So this is Seungmin. He brought some pizza for us." 

The silence went on for a few more seconds, which felt more like a few more business days for Seungmin. Then the Weeekly members started exclaiming their warm welcome all at once, and Seungmin felt his knees buckle a little in relief. 

"Oh, finally! We've heard great things!" 

"Unnie, do we get to call him oppa or we still have to stick with sunbaenim?" 

"You look really good together!" 

"Oh dear, he even has the same habit as Soojin unnie – " 

The last bit caught Soojin's attention. "What do you mean?" She turned to Seungmin, eyebrows furrowed in confusion despite still smiling bright. He followed her gaze and found his free hand on the hem of his shirt, twisting and fidgeting. 

Soojin gasped in disbelief at the sight. "Yah, you helped me grow out of that habit, why are you picking it up now?" 

But Seungmin thought he would gladly pick up as many habit of hers as he could because it's one of the very few testament of their relationship, of how much time they were spending together, that he could afford to share with the rest of the world. 

coming up next

Find more whispers around Seungmin & Soojin and the rest of Stray Kids here!

[starjxsung]

I’m so tired of everything that’s going on. And I’m not tired in the way of ‘oh can we stop talking about this already’, no. Because talking about this is important and it’s so important that we get JYPE attention on this matter and show them that if they Collab with z1onists we will no longer be supporting them.

I’m just tired of losing SKZ moots, finding out that people I used to like are bad people, and I’m just tired of stayville tearing each other apart. We let a disgusting filthy white man tear us apart, and it’s horrible. I also feel like a lot of people are straying away from the original reason of why we’re boycotting. Like yes, Stray kids made a collab with two z1onists, but don’t also forget to donate and spread the word about whats going on. A lot of people are just shaming others but they’re not participating in donations. It’s better to boycott and donate and spread the word at the same time, that’s how I see it.

I’m also not trying to say that it’s bad to speak up about this, but saying what is the point of shaming others when you’re also not doing anything to help either? I can’t explain it, and I hope that message comes off in a sensible way 😭.

I just miss stayville sm, and though some of us are fighting for a good cause, a lot of us are divided and it’s just so horrible. I don’t want to leave the fandom, (and this is not me putting kpop over morals guys.) but Stray kids is honestly my last shot at Kpop. Like, every other group just isn’t as appealing to me, and that isn’t a shot at other groups because there are some great groups out there, but I just can’t get into any of them. Stray Kids are my home, my family, and if this continues to happen — I will have no choice to leave the fandom and just kpop all together. All of my other groups have honestly gone downhill, the TXT situation with Soobin (immediately left after that), BTS in the military (which they cant control but even before then I was still kinda falling away from them) and Ateez just doesn’t feel the same anymore.

I just wish that JYP would say something (but knowing how money hungry they are, they probably won’t.) or that Chan would send us a message on bbl saying that he hears us without directly saying it. We haven’t gotten a single live from Felix ever since he’s apologized for the Coca-Cola incident, and so I can’t help but feel like JYP is suppressing their voices, like they want to say something but are being forced into promotions and stuff. And Honestly fuck JYP for making his Groups do things that are beyond their morals. But idk. Stray Kids are good people, that’s how I feel, and they’ve shown to us that they are better than this , and I’m just hoping they show it to us again.

I hope all of that made sense? I tend to talk with a goal in mind but with no way of getting to the actual point lol.

the point is I’m disappointed and just really sad.

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

I LOVE the way you phrased all of this. Completely agree with you. I’m losing mutuals, followers, friends, you name it. And at the same time, I appreciate the cleanse because I don’t want that type of following to begin with.

Skz is also really my last shot at kpop. They’ve been a part of most of my best memories, I literally see them again in August and I don’t want to unstan. Guys my second biggest tattoo was done for skz! The love I have for them will ALWAYS be there. But I can be simultaneously disappointed with them. And with the current events. It feels so futile to even be worrying about this as it pertains to kpop when the main issue here is what’s happening in Palestine. And I do see so many people participating in celebrity block lists or posting infographics and it’s this very difficult area of appreciating them for taking a stance but wanting them to do more? And then questioning how much people can do, especially in the social class divide? Like I can’t do what an influencer can do, but I’m trying and I still feel like I’m not doing enough. I just wish we held those platforms and could help with the money and power people like skz hold.

I’m also sad. And I’m having trouble going about so many different parts of my day knowing what’s going on and avoiding the one thing that brings me joy. I’m right there with you, this hits really hard hit I will continue to stand with the people of Gaza no matter what

[turtledovenycx]

This post is in no way created to target or promote hatred towards Stray Kids, Other K-pop groups, or their agencies. It is to raise awareness and share my opinion.

Let's talk about the "K-wave" Coca-Cola x K-pop campaign. The fact that Stray Kids is one of the faces of it bothers me a lot. I haven't been online much so I didn't know about this till a few hours ago.

It's been four months since I have been boycotting (as much as I can) major food, fashion, and skincare companies that fund and aid the Genocide of the Palestinian people and will be continuing to do so.

I've been supporting Stray Kids for almost three years now and though I love them. I will not stand by this decision to advertise this campaign.

I am against them or any other idol endorsing the Coca-Cola brand.

The increase in Brands on Boycott reaching forward to Idols trying to get them to advertise, use, or be photographed with their products should be concerning. Big agencies like JYPE should have a political stand and try to at least do/show what's right. Unfortunately, this is not a utopian world and at the end of the day, they have to do what major investors and bosses want.

Saying that however we also have to understand that they lack the freedom of choice. Let me be clear I do not hate Stray Kids. I will also not stand by the statement that they support genocide and I'll explain why. Throughout the years the members have secretly and non-secretly shown us how each of them is involved in charitable and humanitarian organizations that help humans and animals, and I applaud that. They are good people with enough knowledge and a conscious. There is no room for doubt there. Idols are trained to not be involved in controversies. They are not allowed to show support for either side and sometimes this backfires. Like how they have to do ads for companies that may be directly or indirectly in said controversies.

Now, the reason: Stray Kids and all other idols work on contracts and once signed they are indebted to their agencies or labels to get the work done. Now, of course, they can say no. But with the system by refusing they are liable to huge financial losses which could land them in debt or worse Hiatus/Termination of their contracts.

I am a Stay, I will always be a Stay. I have so much to be thankful for to Stray Kids but just because they are my favorite idols does not mean I will support all of their content blindly. And neither should you. They might not be able to express their choice but we can.

So for now I've decided I will not be viewing or engaging in any content released by them as a part of this campaign (like the JYPE family M/V) or any advertisements that involve big fashion/ non-fashion brands on the boycott list. I encourage you not to spend money on merchandise and albums that put money directly in the pockets of record labels and Agencies.

I like to believe that they are not completely oblivious to what is happening in the world no matter how much the mainstream media try to cover it up. I sincerely hope whatever money they get from this campaign is used well for humanity.

Boycott Coca-Cola. Boycott brands that support the Genocide.

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸

(if my post has any mistakes or any incorrect information I'm open to constructive criticism as I am still trying to educate myself more on current affairs right now. I hope my point was clear. I love Stray Kids and Their music and I will continue to love them. I do not support this particular campaign. That's it)

Please take everything I said in a positive light. I do not want a wave of hate from strangers for me.

We are all Humans trying to do what's right.

[five-star-stay]

Hi!! As a hanji stan I fully agree with you and I bring you at least one more thing to fairly complain about!! Screen time. It happens very very often that when they are performing and it’s HIS PART, the cameras just. Don’t film him. They zoom out, they show the audience, sometimes they even focus on a different member (hyunjin or felix usually). I used to gif him a lot and this got me so angry so many times!!! What else does he have to do to get a tiny bit of attention??? He has shown multiple times (all the time tbh) just how insanely talented and charismatic he is! There’s literally not one single thing he can’t do. All rounder is not just a silly cutesy nickname thing here. He’s the real deal… literally one of my reasons for biasing him is just how amazing his overall performance as an idol is. He can sing, he can rap, he can dance, he sounds even better live, he has stage presence, he’s funny, he’s sweet, he’s cute, he’s good looking, and so much more that I’m forgetting right now…

As far as I know the only thing he deliberately actually stood away from was getting his solo Instagram account when the rest of the members got theirs…

It’s been very frustrating to watch as the other members get amazing solo opportunities and he gets literally nothing…

Hi anon, I completely agree with what you said and yes I completely sympathise with your frustrations. Even in music videos, he's never been made a thumbnail and that makes me so sad like not even on HIS songs. He's not getting the chance to be the face of it. And a lot of times in mvs too like social path, his screen time is literally just what they showed in the teaser even though he has the most beautiful bridge in it the focus isn't on him in mv during that part at all.

I understand that felix and hyunjin are pushed more as the faces of the group and the most popular members, and I have no ill will towards them. But why does pushing them come at the cost of han never even getting the bare minimum?

They also plastered an ot7 Tommy Hilfiger campaign all across their stores and it felt maddening that people were calling han stans rude or childish for asking why han didn't get accommodated and wasn't given a separate solo shoot on a later date so he could've been part of the campaign in at least solo shots. And the way they could've done a billion things to include him but all they did was qrt a skz post and said "❤️❤️ HAN" and getting thanked for it by "stays" while they hid replies about being called out for zionism and not tagging han on insta and tiktok as if he isn't part of the group is SEARED in my brain. And they couldn't even spell skz right... i hate that brand's social media team but also you need two hands to clap, div1 is just as at fault.

Another instance was not promoting lee know and han's instagram on their group instagram stories, they had 29 million followers then and 30 million now. When other 6 made their ig it was big news and shared on the stories so everyone knew. But minsung made it on skz anniversary day which was a day filled with a lot of posts spammed on the group account, making it so nobody knew about the group account tagging them in the caption because it was after the "read more" and most people don't click that button especially on days with so many posts to catch up on. Results: the other 6 hit 3 million in 24 hours and minsung took a couple months and han has just now reached 4 million. It's frustrating because at every step, the company has let Han down and it's always coupled with excuses from so called stays that just don't care about Han individually. I'm honestly so concerned about how jype will handle their solo careers if they don't even realise or care enough to make sure minsung don't get left behind in terms of followers on private instagram (which will affect their engagement and brand deals) just because they took their time and waited for when they felt ready. They're literally being punished for doing what's right for them.

I hate it all!!!

I wish han can negotiate a better deal for himself in a new contract and if he decides to stay on for the group but join some other agency for solo promotion, I would not blame him because jype just tries to bury his individuality and doesn't let him create a brand for himself. Literally the only thing he has is his hanpop and even then it's months of him sometimes asking on live for stays to tell skziji that they want certain songs released. Please God, give Han a management that appreciates him.

Proof:

[cookiesis00]

I have a rant about Twice's fanbase in general, but mostly their Korean fanbase.

Like is it just me or do they actually suck at being fans?

They don't do well with streaming or getting twice to the korean charts and then they complain and wonder why twice were doing more promotions in America during With You-th. Like I understand if you don't like listening to a song over and over, I don't either but I at least stream the songs and participate in voting when I can, even if my streaming is just me listening to the song because I enjoy it.

For Example:

- Twice haven't been chatting well on Korean charts like Melon but yet in America, they got their first #1 on BB 200 and Nayeon became the only Korean female soloist to have 2 albums top 10 on BB 200.

It's things like these that make twice put their focus on America because they see that they're doing well there, but they can't just ignore Korea. So despite the lack of streams and charting on charts, they still do things there and give you guys stuff. I mean, Nayeon placed top 10 in BB 200 in America, and yet Korea is the one getting the pop-up store despite their lack of streaming😒. I acknowledge that their American fans also suck at streaming not only the songs but also the MV, but from the looks of it they're better at buying albums, which is something more than what their Korean fans are doing.

All I'm saying is that we as ONCES have to do better in showing support to the girls and defending them from hate because that's another thing. When other fanbases are attacking them, we shouldn't allow this hate to continue. Any other fanbase would've had that account or post deleted and yet we just let it continue. We can't stream well so the least we should do is defend the girls from hate and instead of focusing on helping Twice get new achievements, we instead spend our time in pointless fan wars and forget to vote in music bank or other stuff. That doesn't mean you should let them hate on the girls and ignore it, it means that you report those hate posts, defend the girls, and focus on making their comeback successful.

I hope we do better, especially with their new album coming out soon. I'm very excited for that ☺️. So for the next album and any album or comeback after that, listen, stream, and help vote to get them the charting and awards they deserve.

A lot of this is also JYPE's fault because they can't promote their groups to save their life, so it's left up to the fans to promote them. This is a stupid and idiotic business move, how do you expect your groups to do well and gain newer fans if you're not willing to do your job as a company? And before they try to be like "Oh we post about their comebacks," having your promotions just be on the group's social media pages isn't promotion because the only people you're reaching are the fans, not newer people, and some fans might not even follow or know about the social media pages so instead they're left in the dark. It's whatever though because that just means we, as fans, have to work harder to promote twice and ensure they have successful comebacks. I personally think this obsession with streaming is insane and takes away from actually enjoying the music if you're too obsessed with how many streams your idol is getting. Sadly, this is the reality for K-pop, and music in general, where streams are important and give the artist their money. This means that despite this sad reality, we still have to stream and participate in the success of our favorite artist's album.

Anyways, here are come upcoming or recrnt comebacks from Twice.

DIVE, coming July 17th, 2024

ABCD and NA by Nayeon

Listen and stream these albums and previous comebacks. Enjoy 🙂

[linolinoing]

i'd like to give my two cents about this whole messed situation so please forgive me for my longass rant - i'm the first person that's disappointed with this single - bc of who it involves, but also because it's not an artistic direction that i'm liking (mediocre pop music, remixes, radioplay just for money and western validation)

i'm very aware skz are grownass adults who at least have an idea of what's going on in palestine, but despite that, and assuming the fact that they are not zionists and actually care about palestine at least a bit, tbh i don't think that even if they wanted to they could say something - i mean jype literally have forbidden chan to go live for a year bc of some twitter drama, and now felix hasn't done a live in over month since he apologized for showing coca cola and in the end they're kinda forced to tell stays to listen to the song cause that's literally part of their job

and sure they are probably genuinely happy with the collab, but that doesn't mean they agree with personal/political ideas of the artists they like or collaborating with, or that they do not care about palestine, or that they don't want to say something - there's still a legal contract and as much as skz are not slaves, they are definitely not free to say or do whatever they want and if chan can't get a tattoo why could he speak out about politics? (yes, genocide and settler colonialism shouldn't be politics but in our world they sadly are or they wouldn't exist in the first place)

i mean i've seen people saying that on instagram skz are free to post what they want but i honestly think that's not completely true bc no celebrity in the world is free to post or say whatever they want, celebrities literally have professionals to help them with their image (and even the ones who speak about political things they still have professionals behind them monitoring the situation) and with how they appear to the general public, so while for most stuff yes it's probably is a genuine act from skz, social medias and what the kids say can be forced and used as "distraction" or to "downplay" (we've seen multiple times the kids going live in the exact moment the fans were trending on twitter bc were disappointed and angry at the company's action)

we've seen how jype do not care about the kids health and reputation (they overwork skz, they did nothing when "fans" were threatening to show up at fansigns to literally harm the members or when trucks with insults were placed in front of the company) and especially how they only care about the money so i seriously think that since that company is seeing how most fans are streaming the song and how this song was literally only made for the usa and at the same time jype is seeing how a lot of fans are definitely not happy with this shit they're trying to to make seem skz are on the board with the song (whether they actually are or not), from posting selfies to saying positive stuff about the collab - that's literally marketing and for the company in this situation it's the best solution to keep earning the cash while trying to change fans' opinions who do not agree with this

i'm not trying to make any excuses for anyone here bc skz are not some children or hermits who do not have internet access to at least stays telling them to do better (and even in the impossibile case they do not, jype definitely knows) - but at the same time i think we forget how well crafted celebrities' actions and words especially during controversies can be. i mean i've only spoken from a greedy-company-who-only-want-money point of view to try to get a sense of what the fuck is happening - which is something that i obviously hate. so yeah sure seeing how fans (who atp don't care about people lives, even skz reputation or music and it's quality), jype and therefore skz are reacting and handling the situation (promoting the song than any comeback they made) is disappointing to say the least ffs

I'll add a cut to shorten it a bit for everyone's tl ⛷️

Don't apologize, I don't mind it all, you're welcome to rant anytime!

I think I've said this today already but I agree that this is a jype/rr doing and skz didn't pick these producers themselves, they're either work for rr or work with charlie, and I don't think skz knew how problematic puth is. I understand they can't openly say what they think and I don't expect them to, but I highly doubt anyone is forcing them to post selfies with puth or talk about him on bbl. I'm sure there are things they can't post but in this case it doesn't seem like anyone is making them post all that. As a fan it's just disheartening to see this situation unfold. I don't think they are bad people or that this collab says anything about their own values, but I don't want to completely absolve them of any responsibility yk

As for their artistic directon, I just hope it's a one off thing for this collab and for the actual upcoming album everything will go back to normal, I know now everyone releases millions of remixes to chart and its kind of rules of the game, but there are artists who do it creatively, like realising extending versions or skz with la4 rock version. Basically those types of remixes don't feel forced and insincere. Also this song sounds just like a puth song and nothing else, hopefully we won't see more of this on their actual album 🥱

[inkkayyy]

ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀɴ ᴏᴜᴛꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴘᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ   >ʙᴀɴɢ ᴄʜᴀɴ [ ᴏɴᴇ ]

Bang Chan is nineteen when he realises he’s never been in love.

But Bang Chan is still nineteen three weeks later when he realises how wrong he’d been.

[ from an outside perspective ]     [ sunhee’s masterlist ]

(wk: 1.1k)  (format: english in italics)

170712

Bang Chan is nineteen when he realises he’s never been in love. 

It was one of those stupid conversation with Jisung about how the girl who served them at Macdonalds was his soulmate and that he’d ask her out if he had the time. That It was love.

“Yeah sure,” Chan had said, rolling his eyes with a fond smile.

“What would you know hyung- you aren’t in love, not like I am.” And it’s true. Well, not the part about Jisung being in love, but rather Chan’s inexperience when it came to the subject. He’s dated people, ones who batted their eyes across the playground and even in Korea, his tenth grade girlfriend that had confessed to him after he tutored her for English, the pretty trainee who'd dumped him once she was eliminated from Sixteen. But he’d never loved any of them, not really- he was never given enough time to experience the mushyness he was supposed to, the stuttering of a heart or reddening ears.

And Jisung sits and spins in the roller chair of the studio Chan had booked, whining about how she’d smiled right at him (“no one smiles anymore hyung, do you know what this means!”) with that stupid dopy grin, Chan isn’t sure if he should be thankful or not that he’s never ended up like Jisung, whining about some fast food employee and wasting valuable studio time.

But Bang Chan is still nineteen three weeks later when he realises how wrong he’d been.

Because the three of them, 3RACHA, had managed to score themselves a spot in a little ‘rookie’ rap showcase at a performance lounge called ‘The Ugly Junction’ and standing proud in the front row was her.

It’s almost a testament to his performance skills how long it had taken him to notice her stunning smiling as she nodded along to every beat, but then- amidst the adapted version of ‘IDEA’ (all the JYPE promotion and blabber removed because no one needed to know they were trainees) Changbin pointed her out, “Hyung, what about her?”

And it was something they’d rehearsed, that he'd pick out a girl in the crowd and Chan would make some tiny comment, like ‘she’s cool’ or ‘outta my league’. But his eyes met where Changbin pointed and it almost made him pause.

They hadn’t told any of the other trainees they had this performance, keep it lowkey, to gain popularity themselves like how they’d been posting to sound cloud without plastering their affiliation with JYPE all over like others might have. Maybe Changbin had gotten nervous, balabed about it, or simply just asked her to attend. Because standing in the front row was Kang Sunhee, in all her glory.

The stage lights were crap, but they highlighted the angles of her face just right and the mask on her face did nothing to hide the cheek splitting grin underneath- at least to those who knew the tell-tale signs of her cheeks scrunching up against her eyes.

Chan muttered into his mic, “Oh, she’s pretty.”

Then Sunhee winked at him, and screamed at the top of her lungs. It felt rehearsed, because Changbin’s laughing and it took a beat but the few other girls in the crowd joined her scream a moment later. But it wasn’t the one she made in surprise or how she squealed in excitement over that one Monsta X music video. It was different, filled with delight and pitched higher than her usual. 

Sunhee had come to support them, she was there to bob her head along and scream at just the right moment to make the crowd scream with her. He decided he was going to give her a hug after the show- one of those bone crushing ones she pretened to be annoyed by.

And when they finished ‘IDEA’, chugging down water and prepping for their second song,  Runner’s high, she leant right across the stage, and called out to him. It wasn’t the way she did in practice rooms when she corrected his dance form, or when she snuck into the boys dorm to chase down the comfort of his voice. This time, she called out to him like a fangirl. “CB97!”

It made Jisung snort a laugh, and Chan bit back a smile of his own, taking a seat on the stage edge so she could lean forwards and talk to him. The people shuffled to the side for her, and the girl beside her giggled. “What can I do for you?”

Sunhee leant in close, next to his ear, a hand on his knee and another on the stage edge so she wouldn’t topple forwards off her tiptoes accounting for the height imbalance. “You know people have asked me your name- they think I must be a serious fangirl for me to scream that loud.”

Chan couldn’t help the smirk that grew on his lips. “Oh yeah, and what did you tell them?”

“Well I said the kid in camo is J-One and he’s really good at freestyle. And that SpearB is crazy fast with his verses.” She passed and Chan could practically feel the smile on her face, the cheeky one that appeared when she made jokes or teased. “Oh, and that the really hot one who called me pretty is CB97 and his rap flow is like nothing I’d ever heard before.”

It shouldn’t make his ears red, it really shouldn’t. They are comments he’s hear leave her lips a thousand times, when she listens to their new track and repeats his verse one more time than she does the others, when she poked fun at the pictures they’d had done for the Trainee showcase teasers released, and when they’d started practise for their descendants of warriors performance (“look at you guys, so cool and hot. The girls will be screaming”). 

But here, in some rookie rap showcases they weren't at a practice room, slaving away at a dance, they weren't in the confined space of a dorm building. Sunhee was here because she wanted to be, and she was there to support them. And Chan knew that because of the way her scream sounded different, the way her smile sounded in her voice and how the warmth of her palm against his knee felt honest.

And Chan is still nineteen when he realised he’s been in love with Kang Sunhee longer than he’d care to admit.

[ from an outside perspective ]      [ ɴᴇxᴛ >>> (coming soon) ]

[chqnified]

I genuinely hate how much jype is running all of the skz members into the ground. We've seen the same notoriously with twice too. This shouldn't be normalised???

Chan literally has said numerous times, he's scared he's going to go to sleep and never wake up again. He can't breathe. He had to have an operation on one of his breaks. Are they literally not giving him time to take off for his own health? He also has a new condition??? Which is affecting him a lot. I know for a fact he is underplaying the amount of pain he's in. For him to even talk about it the slightest, tells us how much he's struggling. I hate reading his bubble messages where he talks about struggling on until he collapses. That he will continue to put himself through this until he can no longer stand. How are you all so blind to this??? He can't even laugh without being in pain ffs. He's loosing his hair too... But what do you all do? Make memes out of his hair loss??? Wtf.

Jeongin collapsed on stage. Yet the majority of the fandom took to turning it on "Bang cgan best leader caught Jeongin as he collapsed". Yes Bang Chan best leader, but can we not divert the attention from the fact he collapsed?? "It was a 10min performance though", i still feel like that shouldn't be a normalised thing.... Just because it was a long performance. It never used to happen...

Hyunjin did those weeks / months of promotions with his broken hand. The choreography was not adapted and he was forced to put pressure on his hand, repeatedly. And then we wondered why he had a cast for so long. He literally wasn't given any time to recover. To add on top of that, when his grandfather passed away, i swear they gave him less than a week's break.

Minho has an injured shoulder. Felix's back still hasn't fully recovered. The list goes on.

They need a break. We've had 2 comebacks this year, with long promotions. They've been touring all year. Doing variety shows, interviews and more. No breaks. Even on their breaks, they vlogged for us. I just want them to properly go rest. Even if Chan tells us they don't need it, he's putting a brave face on everything. What's he supposed to say?

I love them with my whole heart, the last thing we want is them running themselves into an early grave. The only people who benefit are JYPE, it's in their interest to grab as much money as they can...

[youngshiney]

sm has to be the stupidest fucking company i have EVER SEEEEEEN (including jype and their bullshit). like way to go! youre officially the worst managment company ever

i expected things to be poorly handled since sm cant seem to properly manage, promote, and schedule things for their groups (especially older groups) but i mean come on this is ridiculous. why are you debuting two members into a group, who then become beloved and continuously talked about AND are in the perfect situation to make up your final unit, only to give them to a new boy group?? not only is the new boy group unnecessary since theres currently SEVEN active groups (including multiple nct units) but also why would you promote the rookies as nct members alongside SungTaro if youre just gonna go back on it??

at this point, i just have to consider that no one knows what theyre doing there and/or theyre trying to sabotage the groups/company for whatever reason. like from a business stand point alone, none of this makes any sense. they attached SungTaro to the nct brand for multiple years, put them in songs and merch, and marketed them as nct's ___ in what world does it make sense to suddenly change branding like that?? besides a rebrand after a scandal or suddent departures but those didnt happen. not to mention, people who watched nct content/listened to the music for those two will now exit the fandom and definitely wont be tuning into nct tokyo, who have essentially "replaced" their faves. while there probably arent a majority of fans like that, theres probably a good chunk that will feel that way. personally my enthusiasm for tokyo unit has gone all the way down and i almost definitely wont buy anything from them like i was planning on for SungTaro and Shohei

ALSO how stupid is it to debut a new nct group AND a whole ass other bg at the same time while also trying to debut TWO new girl groups??? like this is really the worst case scenario considering how many older groups are still active. BoA, TVXQ!, Shinee, Exo, and Red Velvet are all still actively promoting and doing schedules, and theres about 16 soloists among those groups (not including BoA as shes already a solosit). when is anyone going to have time to promote and have a cb unless they just stop doing shows and only drop albums.

what a nightmare. i really didnt think any company could be as stupid as jyp and yet here we are

[kpop-with-mars]

|everything you are is beautiful|Hyunjin x trans reader|

{hwang hyunjin was your best friend from kindergarten to middle school going separate ways after high school and growing apart overtime, years later you would have a talent for playing an array of instruments and become a small artist under jype, but then when you see stray kids you recognize hyunjin but the thing is he doesn't realize who you are, reason being you had been transitioning after graduating}

paring{hwang hyunjin x trans(ftm)reader}

tags{angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, pining, best friends, mlm, found family, coming out, comedy, crying, depression, dysphoria, happy ending}

☣WARNINGS☣{im a trans boy but im sorry if i miss some things or misrepresent some trans people, swearing, angst, big sad argument near the end, depression, body dysphoria, coming out, mentioned someone outting you}

word count{2,3k+}

A/N{reader is same age as hyunjin but a bit younger by a few months, this fic will be available on ao3 as well}

{d/n = deadname}

enjoy!

He's beautiful

beautiful is the only way to describe hwang hyunjin, beautiful in the sense that he could make the ugliest outfit In the world make him look like a god, beautiful in a way that makes you wonder for a second if he really is this kind just for the camera but then you meet him and his personality is like moonlight reflecting on a pond in a quiet forest, so calm and peaceful to anyone and everyone but most of all beautiful, his voice, talents, hobbies just make him so beautiful he left people wanting to be as talented as him or look like him or be as rich him, but he always left you thinking

'why can't my body look like that? why couldn't I be born the same way he was?'

You've always been dealing with dysphoria even after top surgery and starting testosterone you can't help but want to scream when you get called a 'lady' or 'ma'am', its so hard because in your head you think that if only you had been born like hyunjin you wouldn't be dealing with some the problems you've gone through, like the slurs, the bullying, your parents disowning you, all of the things you experienced just because you want to be boy,

You're regularly around stray kids for most of your job, you are an idol too after all, and over all of the time you've had to reconnect with hyunjin you and him became friends like you were back in middle school always joking around poking fun at some of the members but never crossing the line with any of them and enjoying eachother's company and even growing some secret feelings for him, but you felt like he couldn't love you, he didn't even recognize you from when you two were younger and he would sometimes slip into conversations about how he misses his best friend d/n, he just couldn't love you because to you its clear he loved better as a girl,

You feel as though now that you're away from all of the people including your family that don't support you, everyone has to hate you, but not hyunjin and the rest of stray kids they've always felt like a safe space for you and there always gonna be with you, every time you think they're going to hate you for being trans they always show so much love even though they don't know yet,

"hey y/n-ah were gonna have a little sleepover party at the dorm you wanna come along" seungmin asked "of course ill be there" you responed excited to go spend some time the group after weeks of promotions and interviews.

you arrive to stray kids dorm wearing some comfy and casual clothes that Felix got you on a little date shopping with him and hyunjin, you come into the dorm and make your self comfortable on one of the recliners sitting next to han and hyunjin playing smash Bros on there big ass tv, "y/nnie you wanna play with us?" hyunjin asks you handing out a little switch controller for you to take "oh sure!" You say a bit startled by hyunjin talking to you while your head was in the clouds, but before you guys can start another round jeongin comes running into the living room dragging minho behind him "let's play truth or dare!" everyone immediately stopped with what they were doing and formed a circle on the floor, "alright first, han, truth or dare" minho said as he looked at the quokka "dare" "alright then I dare you to make out me" "challenge accepted!" the two of them disappeared into the other room to get some privacy, "so, that happened" bang chan said quickly brushing it off, some awkward silence between every one for a few minutes "should we wait for them-" Felix was cut off by han and minho exiting the room both of there faces redder then strawberrys "how the fuck did you two manage to give eachother hickeys, you were gone for less then 5 minutes" seungmin remarked minho glared at him "well you see seungminnie when a man and another man love eachother very much-" "nope, stop don't say anything else I don't need to have the talk again thank you"

Everyone laughed as han and minho sat back down, "okayy now, y/n" you perked your head up when you heard your name "truth or dare!" jeongin demanded in a sort of wizard voice "um, im just gonna go with truth" you responed

"y/n, what is something about you that you wouldn't want most people to know?"

Your heart sank at the question and all you could feel was panic, you knew that were supportive of the lgbtq+ community but you wondered if this was the best place to tell them, you couldn't lie and say something else because they basically know everything about you, expect one thing,

"you okay?" Han questioned you becoming more worried along with the other members, "yeah im fine, im still thinking" hyunjin took this as a sign that you might not be okay, he holds your hand to let you know that he's listening and he'll be there for you, you take a second to look at hyunjin and his lips curve into a small smile, and you smile back, becoming less stressed as you take a deep breath,

"Im sorry I didn't tell any of you years ago, but now I think im ready..." you look up to the rest of them their eyes filled with love and understanding,

"im transgender"

You couldn't help but laugh because of how nervous you were, but you were feeling so happy that you didn't have to worry about their thoughts about trans people because you knew that they would always support you and not Pressure you into coming out to them,

"we still love you y/nnie, its okay!" Felix hugged you tightly you hugging back equally tight "im glad you told us y/n, thank you for trusting us" bang chan got up to rub your back being the father of the group, a wave of euphoria rushes over you feeling like you could do anything and everything now that that weight has been lifted from your chest (literally), "that doesn't make you any less of a man to me, you're still the best workout partner I have" chanbin stated sounding like he'll punch anyone that says otherwise,

"maybe we should do something else now, any ideas?" jeongin asked looking at the others "how about some popcorn and movies" everyone agreed in unison to seungmin's request "alright then me and jeongin will get started on the popcorn and you guys can queue the movie" bang chan and jeongin got up and headed to the kitchen while every one else was getting comfortable on the sofa's,

hyunjin sat next to you as the movie played, then he got close up to your ear "im glad you told us y/n, we're proud of you" he whispered pressing a light kiss under your eye turning back to watch the movie while you felt your face heat up.

the next couple of months would by just as normal with the promotions, comebacks, etc, expect your feelings for hyunjin would grow more and more intense just by looking at him no matter what he was doing, he always seemed to capture your heart with ease just by laughing or looking into his eyes, he was just so captivating by everything he did he could just be breathing and you would still think he's beautiful,

'he couldn't love me back' you'd think 'i don't even know if he likes guys' your intrusive thought would sting at your heartstrings, but it was true you didn't know what his preferences were and even if you did would he love you back?.

during your break in between promotions you hung out with han, jeongin and hyunjin relaxing on the sofa and chatting with the three of them, when the conversation suddenly went to dating "y/n hyung are you interested in anyone?" jeongin wondered "no, not really" "hmm what about hyunjin hyung?" you all looked at hyunjin who was busy looking on his phone "I mean...yes?" han and the maknae both gasped in unison but your anxiety was slowly kicking in as you realized what's about to unfold, "spill the tea" han egged hyunjin on as his took a drink of his water like it was wine, "well I haven't seen her since high school but I just can't stop thinking about her" every fear in your body grow more with every word hyunjin said, "well what's her name???" jeongin questioned focusing his whole being on hyunjin,

"d/n"

your ears started to ring when you heard that name, you wanted everything to stop and just go dark, anything to rid you of this feeling that felt like your heart was gonna stop, "tell us more about her" "well she was really talented with instruments and could easily just pick something up and start playing, boy she was amazing" hyunjin said in a dreamy voice holding his face in his hands "wow she sure sounds great, what do you think y/n?" jeongin cocked his head in your direction his eyes filled with excitement, "she kinda sounds like a bitch" you muttered feeling anger begin to take over you, you just couldn't stand it when people praised you before you transitioned saying that you were 'such a talented young girl' and that you 'looked so much better back then',

"why are you saying that y/n!?" han's expression changing to shock at your words "yeah don't be so salty" jeongin said teasingly trying to lighten up the conversation "just because she's talented doesn't mean she's not a whore" you responed not even caring at this point, hyunjin's eyes turned dark not understanding why you're acting this way "why are you saying all of this y/n?, you don't even know her" hyunjin yelled standing up from his seat "oh no hyunjin i know her, 'good grades, loved by her friends and family, such a talented and sweet young girl with a bright future ahead of her'" you yelled back getting up from the sofa "what's your point!?" hyunjin scoffed getting increasingly more angry "but then one day someone found out one little thing about her that she couldn't change, then told everyone that she knew and then she lost everyone, her friends and her own family, all b-because..." you looked down as you felt giant tears begin to form in your eyes that threaten to fall as you were overwhelmed with sadness and self hatred, "because what?" hyunjin questioned still angry but becoming more worried by the sound of his voice, you try to wipe your tears away before looking back up at hyunjin,

"all because she didn't want to be a girl"

you fell back onto the sofa crying as jeongin patting your back trying his best to comfort you "i always looked at you and thought 'one day im gonna be like hyunjin and finally be seen as a boy', you've made me feel better about myself at times when I thought about hurting myself, I look up to you because to me I think everything about you is beautiful and I want to follow in your footsteps" hyunjin sits next to you crying as he puts his hands on your face "i-im so sorry y/n, im such an asshole" he sobbed looking down away from your eyes, the other two members silently leave to give you two some space and work things out, "your not an asshole, im sorry I didn't tell you I was so afraid of what you might say that I just stuffed down all my feelings for you" you responed lifting hyunjin's head up as you wipe away all the tears on his face "how do you feel about me?" hyunjin looked into your eyes as you pause for a second to think about your words "I love you hyunjin, more then you could ever imagine" you hug hyunjin so tight that you could feel his heartbeat against your chest as you buried your face in his shoulder, hyunjin picks your face up from his shoulder in order to face you, both of your lips almost connecting with eachother's

"I love you too y/n" he whispers pushing his lips up to yours

as you two pull away from his lips you embrace him again as he wraps his arms around your waist.

that night you decided to spend the night with hyunjin, you and him were in his room talking with one another while cuddling in his bed "i never knew how much you looked up to me" he said sounding like he was getting pretty tired "well you're a beautiful person so how could I not" you yawned "you keep saying im beautiful, what's up with that?" hyunjin questioned while looking up at you "well like I said before everything about you is beautiful, meaning not just your looks but also you as person" you responed planting a smell peck on his forehead "ahh now I get it" he shyed feeling kinda dumb for not getting it before "we should get some sleep now im tired" you yawned all of your energy drained from your little heart to heart argument with hyunjin "alright goodnight baby I love you" "i love you too" you gave him a small kiss on his lips before he buried his face in your chest the two of you slowly falling asleep in the comfort of eachother's arms.

im sorry if this isn't good I tried to make it longer than my last fic but I hope you enjoyed it!

[staywrites]

tw // woojin , sexual assault , anxiety. please read with caution.

around 1 pm gmt+8, i noticed tweets from a cryptic account about a certain person from one of the big 3 companies saying that they had been sexually assaulted in a bar a few months ago. the account stated that the person was a former member of a group, and that they repeatedly used the group to assert power and authority to the victim.

people speculated it to be kim woojin from the victim's clues. people said that the victim confirmed it to be him, but i wasn't able to see a tweet about it.

after their story, their account was either taken down or deactivated, i'm not sure which. and since then, a few accounts had spoken up about their encounters with unnamed male kpop idols and what they had done. even more accounts were made to add confusion to the whole situation and drag other kpop idols in it.

a few hours later, woojin himself tweeted a statementㅡa short statement. he denied the victim's accusations by saying he didn't know the victim nor has he ever been to [the] bar, which the victim did not disclose. he continues by mentioning his upcoming debut as a soloist.

now, there were a lot of disappointed fans about this, but this only fluctuated more when he posted that statement, which for everyone, confirmed that it was him. apart from shamelessly promoting his career, he downright confirmed it was him by disclosing locations the victim did not mention. this started the circus of tweets clowning him, and concerned stays waiting for some response from the boys.

i watched a clip from chan's live implying about woojin's departure from the team, and he said that [he] was selfish and betrayed everyone, especially chan.

chan, who always took the hit for the boys, who posted a long paragraph about woojin's departure when the latter didn't even say a thing, who had to constantly look over the boys when they had to redo everything during cle:levanter era, who watched hyunjin break down infront of so many stays and witness jisung's mental health (and everyone else) deteriorate so much that he had to get professional help, handpicked woojin to be in his little team because he put trust in him to help the group grow and create fond memories with.

and when woojin left, all chan could say as per his idol duties was that he was betrayed. and because of this big information, all of us now know it's more than betrayal.

no sane agency would ever pull a departure announcement days before their comeback. but JYPE did that, swallowing the probable millions worth of budget for their comeback and redoing everything just to remove woojin from all of the upcoming content. they even went as to re-record some of their tracks, which was weird to me way before all of this happened. now we know why.

JYPE and stray kids want nothing to do with him, so everyone should stop putting the phrase 'former stray kids member' next to his name when he already left the company almost a year ago. this was a mistake on media journalists, because as they fish for readers with the phrase, they also come with the uncertainty of whether people will correlate this with the ot8 or not. with their steady rise of popularity and upcoming comeback, i hope everyone outside the stay community considers the fact that woojin isn't a part of the team anymore. this new content is something all eight of stray kids worked hard on to show everyone who they really are, without any trace of woojin whatsoever.

i've only been in this fandom for eighty days (i've been keeping count), so i wasn't really into woojin. but like everyone else, i was disgusted and ashamed. how could someone like him be with the most loving boys we've come to known and be comfortable with? to anyone who is overwhelmed, feeling betrayed, and hurt about this situation, please know that you never knew about this until today and it's okay to say you used to be a fan of him. the main point is that you realized he isn't what you think he is, and it's okay if you'll take your time before accepting it. take things at your own pace. you can always log out and reflect on this situation offline, and we'll always be here to welcome you back. it's okay if you decide to leave the fandom, we respect your decisions.

and to the victim, i hope they sleep better knowing they've told their story and i hope they know there's an entire (logical) community of kpop fans supporting them and wanting justice. that it doesn't matter who they are and what they do; sexual assault should not and should never be taken lightly especially with well-known people in the entertainment industry.

i love you all, and stay safe. support stray kids's comeback on september 14!

[i-luvsang]

IMPORTANT — ADDRESSING ISSUES OF PLAGIARISM

hey guys! i don’t usually talk about drama and stuff within kpop, but this is more than just drama so i want to take a moment to address JYPE’s blatant plagiarism against several different groups as they promote their new girl group, NMIXX. MBC’s survival show My Teenage Girl has also recently taken part in clear plagiarism.

DISCLAIMER !! this is nothing against the members on NMIXX themselves, solely the entertainment company. i am allocating no blame to the girls, as i’m aware they do not have a say in what the company does in terms of music production, concept planning, music video editing, and choreography. i’m sure they are lovely girls and i know that they truly deserve better than this with their hard work and dedication to their career and fans. this is in no way telling you or anyone that you can’t be a fan of or support the NMIXX members, just a plea for awareness. this applies to all My Teenage Girl contestants!!

the largest, most blatant plagiarism has been agains KQ Entertainment’s group ATEEZ. everything ranging from ATEEZ’s concept, images/imagery from music videos, and choreography JYP in NMIXX’s debut music video O.O. Additionally, the imagery and concept of their debut teasers were plagiarized from the group ENHYPEN. I know there is even more plagiarism from other groups, but i have less information about that.

here is a side to side comparison of just four of the many plagiarized music video scenes from ATEEZ. ATEEZ are on the left, NMIXX on the right.

the plagiarized choreo and a description of NMIXX’s concept which is undeniably similar to ATEEZ’s:

ADDITIONALLY!! MBC’s survival show My Teenage Girl’s finale group team Challenger, performed the song Sun on February 27th. The songs melody was blatantly plagiarizing ATEEZ’s song Wave. the link below shows a comparison and it is undeniably the same. and this section of the song is not a sample, Wave is produced by KQ’s own team of producers, while Sun’s song credits are allocated to completely different people.

https://twitter.com/bya_nina/status/1497930028239179777?s=10

i will continue to make posts about this to provide more information and resources on this issue. this is serious, JYP and MBC are taking the hard earned, original intellectual property of, at this point, a huge amount of people and claiming it as original content with zero credit to the rightful owners. this issue goes beyond the members of ATEEZ and the other groups, but extends to the concept planners, producers, music video designers and editors, those in charge of camera work, choreographers, graphic designers and most likely many others who are behind the incredibly hard work it takes to create this original content. i know none of us can really do much about this, but it is a genuine problem that people need to be aware of. plagiarism is a serious issue. plagiarism is illegal. it is immoral and disgusting and cannot be tolerated. and because JYP is a rich and influential company, they are getting away with it. please, let’s not let that happen, let’s not support a company blindly.

[defdaily]

JAY B Interview [HYPEBEAST]

From GOT7 to H1GHR MUSIC’s JAY B

On the 11th of May, it was announced that GOT7’s leader JAY B had joined H1GHR MUSIC. Ever since his time in JYPE, Jay B has been taking on the responsibility of writing lyrics and composing songs for albums, even participating as a producer. On Soundcloud, he has released 5 mixtapes under the name Def., showing his ambition as a solo musician in various instances. That’s why the fact that he did not join a KPOP entertainment company but instead joined H1GHR MUSIC is not a particularly surprising thing. However, it’s no lie that this will bring a huge change to his career as an artist. <HYPEBEAST> met with JAY B and had a talk about the reason he decided to move (to H1GHR MUSIC), his new single ‘Switch It Up’, his future activities as well as his ambition.

HYPEBEAST: You’re known for being on “team mint chocolate”. You even left comments about it on <HYPEBEAST>’s instagram page.

JAY B: I like the way the flavour is pungent yet wrapped up in chocolate. I don’t really like plain chocolate. I like it when something is added to it, such as chocolate milk or white chocolate, but when I had mint chocolate for the first time, it was really revolutionary. After that, I’ve been enjoying eating it.

HB: It’s still something that sparks a lot of debate. There are also a lot of products released aimed to spark controversy.

JAY B: There’s something I always say. If I am eating it well and I like it, I just hope that you won’t say things like “why would you eat that?” to me. If you’re enjoying your food and then someone next to you says that sort of thing, you’d lose your appetite, right? Just don’t say that kind of thing to someone who’s eating. Let’s love one another!

HB: Your group, GOT7, left JYP Entertainment after 7 years. How did you feel promoting without a company for the past few months?

JAY B: I feel the same now. It’s more fun. Personally, one of the reasons why I decided to leave JYP was because I wanted to take on more challenges. Maybe it’s because of that but the time I spent as a kind of freelancer felt really new. Even though I won’t be able to know everything about what kind of system I’ll be working in, I got to learn about it roughly and gained a more serious attitude regarding work. I also felt a sense of pride and that it was precious.

HB: Out of the ‘challenges’ you mentioned, your photo exhibition was one of them, right? We heard that you like taking pictures.

JAY B: Even this morning, I saw a pigeon spread only one side of its wings. I’ve never seen that before, so I wanted to take a picture of it, but in a short moment it sensed that I was there and flew away. I’m the kind of person who takes a lot of pictures of those little moments. In that way, I got to hold a photo exhibition too. Honestly, I was embarrassed to do the exhibition. I was just going to try to do it personally as a small thing with the pictures I took myself, but JYPE said “let’s do it even better”, and as we exchanged ideas, the scale got a bit larger.

HB: Is there a particular theme that you like when taking pictures?

JAY B: I’m the kind of person who comes up with (themes) as I take the pictures. As I am taking pictures of something, thoughts like “ah, it would be fun to hold exhibitions with this kind of pictures” come to mind. For my first exhibition, I took pictures revolving around the theme of ‘loneliness’, ‘living alone’, and ‘even if you are living alone, you need someone by your side’. It was mainly involving people/figures, but I actually prefer taking pictures of landscapes or larger compositions.

HB: In the past, you’ve said “I think my next album will be a product that includes the loneliness felt in life”. Is it related to your first photo exhibition <ALONE>?

JAY B: There’s no relation between the two. I wanted to work out all the feelings I had after being under a lot of pressure as I lived my life. Putting aside whether the album is good or not, I think it will be an album where I honestly share what I felt when I felt pressured. I don’t know whether or not it will be released, and if it does, I don’t know in what form it will be released in, but for now I’ve just made the album with this theme. It might sound boring, but it contains a lot of my honest thoughts.

HB: We don’t know when or how, but it will probably be released through H1GHR MUSIC now right? After your contract ended with JYP, you probably received offers from various places, why did you choose H1GHR MUSIC?

JAY B: I’m well aware of the fact that I was protected by the fence called JYP. But as I mentioned previously, I left JYP because I wanted to try and experience something on my own. I also had doubts regarding whether I was an artist who could bring in as much profit as the company wanted. I think that changing my image in order to earn a profit is something that I’ve done a lot in the past. After leaving the company, I received offers from multiple places, and some were really good companies too. However, the most important thing was that it had to be a company that I could exchange opinions and create with. I think H1GHR MUSIC matched up with that the best.

HB: As the field of your promotions change, it will probably come with some concerns as well.

JAY B: I’m the kind of person who worries a lot and is cautious. My own concerns aside, I was really worried about whether H1GHR MUSIC’s image would be damaged because I joined. I thought people might say that an idol joining would muddy the waters* (*ruin the label’s image). No matter if there’s a good or bad reaction, H1GHR MUSIC has already accomplished things, and I would be a new addition. On top of that, I’m not someone who is just starting to make music. I’m making a new image based on the one I already had. Even so, just this once, I wanted to make a decision that was for myself. That’s why I was even more cautious with each and every step.

HB: Is the title of your new single ’Switch It Up’ referring to the changes you are going through?

JAY B: When I came up with the title, I did think that it was possible to give it that sort of meaning. I wanted to express a basic love story while also including the meaning of switching up my life. However, Jay Park hyung gave me some advice, saying that rather than doing that, it might be better for me to naturally blend in what I’ve already been doing. Following that advice, even though the title itself carries the meaning of change, the lyrics are just about love.

HB: How was your first production at H1GHR MUSIC?

JAY B: I had a lot of concerns and was worried. After I made the decision to join H1GHR MUSIC, I told Jay hyung that I wanted to release a song or an album quickly. It just so happened Cha Cha Malone was back in Korea, so we aligned our schedules and produced songs together. Everything happened naturally. Jay hyung said that I shouldn’t go all out from the beginning, and that it’s more important to keep going steadily. I agree with that. I’m satisfied with the result too. I worry a lot so I’m the type to ask around for opinions, but everyone said it was good. But honestly, I’m not sure how the public will react to it. (laughs)

HB: Sokodomo’s feature was really impressive, how did he end up participating in the song?

JAY B: The funny thing is, it really came about naturally too. When I went to the studio, sokodomo was there and he asked if he could stay while we were working on our songs, so we said it was okay. As we worked on songs like that, after I finished up my recording, sokodomo suddenly went into the recording studio. I was wondering “what’s going on?”, but what sokodomo showed us was really good. Turns out, while I was recording, he came up with some ideas and asked if it was okay if he tried it out which I didn’t hear. But what sokodomo came up with was a style that I couldn’t express well. And so right there and then, I cautiously asked if he would be willing to feature in the song, and he agreed without hesitation. That part was so good that I even thought “I can’t be eaten by (overshadowed) sokodomo”. Haha.

HB: In the past, you were a B-boy, and even in GOT7 you received a lot of attention for your dancing. So we were wondering if we would get to see you dance to ’Switch It Up’.

JAY B: You’ll be able to see it through the live clip that will be released at the same time as the single. There are various elements in the live clip. First of all, I tried really hard to make it look cool. I sang live with sokodomo too. I think there’s a lot to see. The dance comes on at the very end. I thought that since I’m a performer, I should dance too. Honestly, at first when I listened to ‘Switch It Up’, I thought it would be kind of hard to dance to it. But even so, I have to dance. Other artists are cool too, but I think Chris Brown is really cool. He dances and sings at the same time really well. Because dance was my beginning, and I gained interest in singing later on and ended up working hard at it, I can’t let go of dance.

HB: Do you have any plans or ideas for the next album you’ll release through H1GHR MUSIC?

JAY B: I think that I have to move quickly. I’ll have to wait and see what I’ll end up with, but for now, I think it’s closer to a chill vibe. ‘Switch It Up’ was chill, but it still had a kind of energy to it. Rather than that, I think it will probably be the kind of music that is suitable to listen to while going for a drive. I want to show music that’s groovier and more sensual as much as possible. But I still don’t know. It’s possible that the company might say “let’s go for pop.” I want to create things together with the company, so I’m open to accommodating their opinions for a couple songs.

HB: You’re also promoting with the name Def. and not Jay B. Why did you come up with the name Def.?

JAY B: Actually, even in the early days of GOT7, I didn’t feel any attachment to the name JB. I felt really strongly that it was a name that someone else came up with. I’m more comfortable with people calling me by my birth name, Jaebeom, too. Of course, I like it now. I wanted to separate Jay B and Def., that’s why they are separated. When I was in JYP, I got permission to release my music on Soundcloud, but I couldn’t release albums separately. So I released all the music that I couldn’t release as JB through Def. For now, I decided I would make music that people could approach more comfortably under the name Jay B, and I would release things that are more to what I want to do through Def. I’m not sure how it will end up in the future though.

HB: Listening to the music under these two names, there is quite a difference. The music you release under the name Def. has more characteristics of the neo soul genre.

JAY B: When I made <1/? Vol. 1>, I liked trap soul, so it contains a lot of that kind of music. After that as well, it mostly is filled with songs that were the style that I liked at the time. If you listen to my mixtape, excluding the intro and outro, there are about 5 songs. While I prepared those songs, I also worked on 15 songs that would be for GOT7 albums at the same time, making about 20 songs at a time. I’d work on GOT7 songs from morning till late night and if I had time, I would then work on my mixtape. That’s why they are songs that I really cherish. People might wonder why I would work so hard, but I thought that as an idol, I have to do my job well so that I can gain autonomy within the company. That’s why I worked hard and pushed myself to my limits.

HB: When will we be able to hear your music as Def.?

JAY B: Firstly, I want to get my name as Jay B out there, and later on I want to use the name Def. again when I can do what I want. Things that are more unusual, alternative, and experimental.

HB: Hearing you talk, we can really feel the love you have for music. You also seem like a realistic person.

JAY B: It’s because I feel that if I stubbornly insist on doing what I want to do and it doesn’t turn out well, I’d get a rough reality check. I’m a cautious person, so if I persist only on what I want and then fail, I’d end up thinking that I just have no aptitude for music, and I thought that is more dangerous. If that happens, I’d feel sorry for the music that I like and I might even think that there was something wrong with the music or genres that I like. People might say that that’s “not real”, but it’s “real” to me. It’s just my way of living.

HB: You’re currently also in the crew ‘ØFFSHORE.’ What kind of crew is it?

JAY B: It’s a place where people who sell songs commercially and people who make their own music gather. It started with the purpose of people with the same interests making fun music together and releasing it. Offshore has the meaning of “shore/coast”. On the shore, there are lots of living things. There are times when the waves crash but also times when it’s calm. Just like my Def. character, I think it’s a place where I can freely include things I’ve never done before. It will carry on in the future too, but we won’t have any eye-catching activities. We’ll just go on calmly.

HB: As you share your stories, we’re getting curious about Jay B as a producer too. Will we be able to hear songs that you produce for other artists someday?

JAY B: When I was in JYP, I’ve sent out songs that the publisher said would not work for GOT7. There were also songs that were selected by other people but could not be used because of my name. Now, I don’t think there will be those sorts of limitations, so I want to try producing for other people too. I don’t have confidence in being responsible for someone or nurturing trainees, though. I’m still busy trying to feed myself. But even so, I’d like to try to produce just one song for someone else. I would have a sort of image about someone, right? An image that they themselves wouldn’t even know. I think the process of trying to bring that out would be fun. Of course, I’m focused on my music now, but it would be nice if I got the chance someday.

HB: Another GOT7 member, Yugyeom, joined AOMG. Fans can’t help but look forward to the reunion of your unit ‘Jus2’.

JAY B: Since Yugyeom is in AOMG, I think that if we talk to Jay hyung, it’s possible that we will release something as Jus2. Jus2 and JJ Project both include Jay B, but they are also units that are part of GOT7. I think that if we work hard at promoting them too, fans would feel a sense of security. I think that from now on is the time when both I, as well as GOT7, have to really do well.

HB: You mentioned that you wanted to release 1 GOT7 album a year.

JAY B: I don’t know whether it will work out, but we have to try and plan for it. I’ve mentioned multiple times that GOT7 has not disbanded. I believe that I should keep my word. Right now, everyone is actually busy working on their own things. Even so, we want to try and make one song for GOT7 a month, so that we can promote about once a year.

HB: You have a strong image as a great leader and hyung in GOT7. What would you like to show as JAY B in H1GHR MUSIC?

JAY B: I would like to hear people say “ah, I guess they did a good job bringing him in”. I hope that when people listen to ’Switch It Up’, they won’t think that “Jay Park made the wrong choice this time”. I think it would be nice if people thought that I was worth anticipating. Not that they brought in some strange kid. I don’t want to get cursed at. Haha.

HB: Do you have a final goal you want to achieve as an artist?

JAY B: I don’t. I just want to keep on steadily and quietly making music. To me, saying that you want to receive some sort of reward or that you want to become something is quite vague. I just hope that I can gain the drive to keep going on steadily and continue that cycle of creation. That’s all.

Translation by @mindellay x @defdaily

May contain slight inaccuracies.

[sailorhyunjinz]

sorry for making this a place for discussion but you seem to be the only blog I follow who's speaking abt it

im so fucking pissed at ppl who are like "he apologized and?" like tf else you want? I saw someone on twt (aka garbage bin) say shit like "I want a video so I can see remorse on their faces yada yada" ????? apart from it being literally weird it's not gonna happen, as well as the addressing the things they've done. why? stray kids is a business project. breaking, it's not just "we're besties and we make music hehe" there are dozens of ppl behind the band and even more out of it.

they're not gonna address the specific things they've done fucking years ago (and apologised) bc it will bring more attention than a thread on twitter made by some teen. if they do official statement it's gonna be in news, and it's bad.

it's no secret that there's a rating in k pop and it's not just "woo who's better :D" based on that businessmen invest into groups, they get promotions, get invited to the shows, invited to the shoots at magazines etc. and the lower the rate the lower the amount of those offers. like imagine the title like "XYZ GETS BACKLASH FOR RACIST BEHAVIOUR" in some paper/issue. and if the group doesn't get those things - may just say farewell bc they're gone. no, fans won't make up for it, it's again not some indie band, that can tour in a van, it's a part of the industry

also why tf they should raise this topic again right before the comeback. any better timing? moreover, about the old shit they've already apologized for (i.e. han's rap from 2013? like this shit was up in February? idk I wasn't in the fandom)

I lost hope for twittizens long time ago but every time something happens I get a headache

(all of this in no way addressed to you, consider this as a screaming into the woods lol)

AH dont be sorry, its fun to discuss things especially stuff like this because pushing it under the rug means i automatically agree with the people that do wrong and thats simply not something that i want to associate myself with so IMMA DISCUSS IT

i agree with everything you say anon, fans often forget that this is an industry which means that they arent a band that is built on their own standards. they are built by a company and unfortunatly there are many parts of their lifes that they dont get to decide,,, AND WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SKZ HERE,,, one of the very few groups that get the opportunity to create themselves.

and also this always happens around comeback time because duh other fandoms love to sabotage when its going good for a group but its not based around that. the whole hyunjin thing didnt damage the group one bit. why? cause majority of the group success is based on jype economical stance. if they were simply a band with 8 dudes that like making music they wouldnt exist rn

the kpop industry is a whole different world from the usual music industry we are used to.

[newcaptainofsquad9]

I Can’t Handle You Being Back~Chou Tzuyu x black! fem! reader {1}

Pairing: Tzuyu x reader

Parts: 1 2 3 4 5 

Summary: Five years after your elimination from Sixteen, you remained in the United States, working on music, writing songs, dancing here, and there. All of the memories and incidents from the reality show still burns in your memory, you all but let them go until you get a familiar call from the man who sought out your talents in the first place, Jinyoung Park. The man had an offer you should have refused, but you longed to see your friends again.

  Genre: Angst, Idol-Verse, Romance, Slow Burn (not too slow), Hurt and Comfort, Best Friends to Lovers

Warnings: The reader is a Black woman and there will be parts when she has to deal with racist and close minded people(aka fans, netizens and others). If ya’ll read my Yoongi story, or unfinished Suho story, it’ll be a little bit like that.

  Word Count: 1, 831

Writer’s Note: More Twice fics are coming! Along with a masterlist of all my K-pop fanfictions! It’ll take a minute but it will be here and pinned on my blog so you guys can access it. Also! I want to point out that this is fictional and fictional depictions of idols and figures, just wanted to put that disclaimer. Here is another fic that will take me forever to finish like my others but regardless of that, I hope ya’ll enjoy!

I never thought I’d set foot in South Korea again, let alone JYPE’s building. The long, stress-inducing ride up the elevator didn’t ease me as I inhaled and exhaled through it. 

“You didn’t have to take this meeting,” Brittany, my assistant said. “We can just site see here in Korea, you need the break anyway.” 

I caught Brittany’s smile as she moved to put a hand on my shoulder. 

“I know being back here, it’s got to be tough,” she said. 

I nodded, yet she doesn’t know the half of it. Being a military kid had some perks: at childhood I couldn’t stop dancing, and at seventeen, people other than my parents began to notice. Those people being K-Pop scouts. They didn’t only come from JYPE, but other companies as well, although the smaller ones didn’t grant the biggest opportunity. 

JYPE was fond of my dance moves, and the man himself, Jinyoung Park promised a shimmering future. Most of the promises fell short: I didn’t get to train for very long (only a few months) before I was thrust upon the spotlight and cameras in the survival show, Sixteen. I wanted to be a star; JYP wanted a laughing stock, a black woman for views and to show his trainees how to accomplish, “ethnic hip.” I tried my best to be as creative as possible, to last with the competition, but it didn’t please JYP. Nothing I did could please him, I wasn’t the standard. I didn’t even come close. So I left, I played a game that many foreigners couldn’t win, let alone a Black woman. 

The elevator dinged as it opened, breaking me out of my mind. 

“We can turn around right now,” Brittany said. “Your call.”

I shook my head. 

“No, let’s just here what he has to say,” I said. “He did pay for our flight and all.” 

“Yeah, but that will never take back what he and that staff put you through,” she said. 

I smile as Brittany put a hand on my shoulder. Her worrying along with me solidifies this; my nerves are warranted. 

“I know, but maybe it’s just the old spirit from back then,” I said. “As if I have a chance to prove myself again.”

I don’t have to though. I told myself over and over again that I don’t. Yet, why am I here? What’s so important that couldn’t be discussed further over phone or video call?

“Ms. Y/L/N?”

My head jerked up once we stepped out of the elevator. A woman with a Bob and suit gave us both a grin.

“Mr. Park’s office is this way,” she said, leading us down the hall. 

As we pass, people murmured and stared. My name was even mentioned underneath breaths and gasps; I nod at them and only bow halfway as we pass. 

We stop at a door, the woman opened it for us and stepped aside. 

“Thank you,” I said.

Once inside JYP’s office, the dread returned. Just seeing Jinyoung Park slumped against his chair brought back more of the horrid memories. Brittany took my hand, forcing me to take a breath as Jinyoung rose. 

“Y/N! I’m so glad you could make it!” he said.

He threw his signature grin on, as he held out his hand. I took it. We shook hands before bowing respectfully.  

“You look well,” he said. “I’m glad to finally see you again.”

“Thank you Mr. Park.”

Jinyoung chuckled and gestured to the seat adjacent to his armchair. 

“Please, sit,” he suggested, he turned to Brittany. “You could take my chair if you’d like.”

I successfully didn’t shiver at how nice he was being, yet Brittany couldn’t: she twitched a bit, but hid it well with a quick grin. 

“Thank you,” she said as she plopped down. 

I leaned back, crossed my legs and got down to business. 

“Why’d you fly me out here, Mr. Park?”

Jinyoung chuckled. 

“Well, I’ve been keeping up with your progress as an artist and well, I’m extremely proud of the growth,” he said. 

Brittany and I traded looks of confusion. 

“Thank you,” I said. “You could have led with that over the phone.”

Jinyoung shifted on each leg before hopping up on the edge of his desk to sit. 

“Y/N, I might have made a mistake about you,” he admitted. “You’ve gained quite the following, and shaped into a fine dancer and vocalist.”

“Thank you,” I said. “What is it that you need from me? Did I not show that potential five years ago?”

Jinyoung frowned. 

“Well, yes, but the world wasn’t ready,” he said. “My colleagues weren’t ready, I wasn’t ready.” 

“What are you suggesting?” I said. 

Jinyoung bared his teeth in a mega-watt smile. 

“I’m suggesting a place for you as Twice’s tenth member.”

My heart quickened at his words; Brittany gasped. Did I hear him right? One of the biggest girl groups in Korea--the world bringing on a tenth member? Another member is already controversial enough in the industry(with the likes of Red Velvet getting hate for adding another a year after debut), but an American? A Black woman? The netizens tore me to shreds once, I couldn’t handle that again. 

“What’s the catch?” Brittany asked. “Out of all the contestants eliminated from Sixteen, why Y/N? This is looking rather performative Mr. Park, welcoming back your only black trainee who dealt with so much racism.”

Jinyoung’s eyes softened a bit. 

“I’m still learning from my mistakes,” he said. “You have every right to decline Y/N, but I need someone to ease Twice in towards the west.”

“Why not Somi!” I said. “There’s your westerner, half white! Very digestible to the western world.” 

Jinyoung nodded.

“True, but K-Pop is changing drastically,” he explained. “And I know Twice can hit the west hard, they can adapt to America with someone who knows it. You played against the American entertainment industry and I know you can with the girls.”

“How are you so sure?” I said. 

“You catch onto choreography quick,” he said. “You’ve done almost every Twice cover online, you’ve been Grammy nominated for songs you’ve written it’s a perfect match.” 

“What about stylists?” Brittany asked. “Have you even notified Twice about this offer?”

“I discussed it with their leader, Jihyo and she’s open to it,” he said. “I’m sure she can ease the others into it, I’ve already explained it to them that we’re working towards the west and they understand that.”

My mind spiraled at the thought of Jihyo; she’s come so far, they’ve all worked so hard. Me joining would just throw a wrench in all they’ve accomplished. 

“All of this sounds great in theory,” Brittany said. “But I change like this could make you lose popularity here in Korea, with the Korean public. You’ll lose fans, they’ll drop like flies.”

Jingyoung shrugged. 

“A risk we’ll take,” he said. “Y/N?”

Brittany gave me a sympathetic stare. 

“If I do this, will I get legal protection against hate comments,” I said. “I would be one of your artists officially, you should treat me like one.”

“Of course,” he said. “Will you take these terms, Y/N?”

Brittany shook her head as she gave me a hard look. 

I shouldn’t accept the terms. It’s just like five years ago all over again; I was tricked into becoming a prop of the industry, but somethings different. Jinyoung could go about various ways of doing this, I know I’ll have more benefits this time. 

“I will, if I have a stylist of my choosing,” I said. “And an American manager.” 

“Done,” Jinyoung said. “We can discuss this further, but I want you to meet up with the girls as soon as possible.”

My body shook at the mention of meeting up with Twice. They were my competition at one point, hell many of them I thought hated me. All except one,  Chou Tzuyu. She and some of the maknaes and I were close due to age, but Tzuyu opened up to me the most. She’s been through so much, they all have. 

“Is there any way I can practice and get to know them again,” I said. “Before we start promoting?”

“That was the plan,” Jinyoung said. “You’d be new to the public and fans, but not to Twice. Like working with an old friend.”

Yeah, an old friend who’s forgotten about you and moved on with their life. This would benefit Twice and I, but is it worth the risk to see them again. To see Tzuyu again.

 *     *      *  

“You’re sure this is the right move?” Brittany asked while our black car rolled down the street. 

Right after the meeting with JYP, he insisted I settle into the dorms and meet up with Twice before training. Brittany and I are now in the back of a car with my new manager, Miyoung

“I’m sure.”

Brittany nudged me. 

“You don’t owe him anything. Why are you doing this?” 

I leaned against my side of the car, letting the rapid speed of each car flash and rip by while my eyes slip close. The memories from five years ago swarmed me: Tzuyu and I practicing from night to morning with sweat clinging to us like newborns; the constant words we’d trade about debuting together and visiting each others countries. Tzuyu’s distraught during my elimination, begging me to stay in Korea for her. Maybe I’m doing this to help her and be there for her, if she accepts me. I can’t admit that to Brittany though, relationships that form during adolescent years don’t really last anyway. At least from what I’ve seen. 

The car came to a halt; we’ve arrived at the dorms. 

I sat up, but sunk back down in my seat as I spot all of Twice standing outside, waiting with their managers. 

“We’re ready when you are Y/N,” Miyoung said. 

She and the driver already stepped out the car with expectant looks at me. 

Brittany took my hand and rubbed my knuckle as I composed myself with a few deep breaths. The moment I stepped out, all of Twice cheered and hurried toward me. Sana was first of course, embracing me so tight that I couldn’t breathe.

“Y/N!” she squealed. 

Nayeon hugged me next, then Jihyo, Chaeyoung, Momo, and Dahyun.

“Finally my fellow ‘98 liner is back,” Dahyun teased, making me chuckle as she lightened my mood.

Joengyeon embraced me a bit too tight as well, pulling back with a tiny grin. 

“You look healthy, that’s great,” she said. 

I nodded and glanced over at Tzuyu, who kept her distance. Our eyes met, yet she didn’t smile or come over for a hug like her fellow members. She only perked her lips and waved. I wanted to scream; I felt like crying but I managed to hold the tears back again. 

Mina must have noticed as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder. 

“Are you OK?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” I lied. “It’s great to see you guys again.”