#verivery boy group kpop

[mo-nroette-blog]

VERIVERY

Crazy Like That (2023)

[foralleternityidiot]

fb pushed a koreaboo article to me with a headline about a kpop idol possibly dating another kpop idol and it had a surprisingly positive angle so because I’m a sucker I clicked the clickbait and yall the article was about two members of the same group!

THE KPOP DATING RUMOR WAS GAY AND SUPPORTIVE!!!!

the earth really is healing after all

[kpoprhia]

❥ Like or reblog if you save ✧ 🥢

[kpop-kitkat]

Innocent | Jo Gyehyeon

pairing | mafia!jo gyehyeon x f!reader

genre/cw | angst, fluff, mafia au, violence, blood, minor death, moderate language, injury, hate

wc | 1.6k

notes | none

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It really wasn’t fair to Y/n. She didn’t deserve to get caught up in all of this. Yet here she was, bloody and bruised as chains bound her to a cold stone wall in the dark basement of a mafia’s mansion. As she struggled to free herself, the chains only rubbed against her already raw skin, causing it to sting and burn. She let out a helpless whimper, as if anyone was here to save here. “Gyehyeon…” she whispered her lover’s name, broken inside. She knew he might as well be dead at this point. Nobody was coming to save her. 

She hung her head in defeat, until she heard whispers and murmurs from the hall that led to the room she was in. She quickly worked against her restraints, not wanting to be interrogated any further. But the iron was too strong for her. She took a deep breath when the door opened. “Look who it is. The bitch still lives!” Lee Minseong, her captor, chuckled darkly. 

“Gyehyeon is coming for me,” she sighed, finding it hard to breath. “You’re already screwed.”

”Do you know nothing darling?” The man asked, hand coming under her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his. “That’s exactly what I want. I want him to come. This was my plan all along. You’re merely the bait.”

She tried to look away, but his strong grip forced her not to. 

“Gyehyeon knew the dangers of having a relationship while being involved in this business. Despite the fact, he fell in love with you. He was so selfish, he decided to have a relationship with you, knowing how risky it was. He put you in harm’s way,” the man explained, causing the girl to tear up.

”Gyehyeon loves me, and I love him! I knew what I was getting myself into!” She writhed in his grip.

”Helplessly in love, how tragic,” the man pouted, removing his hand from her. “I honestly pity you. You’re so dumb to love a mafia.” 

“Save your pity for yourself,” she snapped. 

This pushed him over the edge. Angrily, he gripped her throat, eliciting a pained gasp from her. “Listen to me, princess. Gyehyeon is coming here, only to be mercilessly slaughtered. He’ll wish he never met you in the first place, and you’ll wish you’d never been born. Nobody will save you.”

She attempted to pry his hands away from her throat as tears slipped down her cheeks. “You’re wrong,” she choked out, making him drop her straight to the ground, scraping her knees, opening old wounds as blood poured. 

“We’ll see about that,” he smirked evilly before leaving the room, slamming the iron door behind him.

Y/n breathed out a shaky breath as she trembled. From the cold, from the pain, from the sadness. Everything. “Gyehyeon… please… I love you…”

~~~~~

Gyehyeon made his footsteps as quiet as a mouse as he made his way through the dark mansion. He knew he was as good as dead if he was caught, so he had backup surrounding the vicinity. So at least if he couldn’t make it out alive, Y/n would. And she was all he was living for. 

He listened for anything. A calling of his name, a quiet cry, pained breaths. When he made his way to the basement, through the halls and through some doors, that was exactly what he heard.

”Gyehyeon…” a voice cried, barely above a whisper. 

“Y/n?” He whispered back, opening a certain door, revealing his girlfriend, chained up, bloody, bruised, crying, and weak. It made him especially angered seeing the bruising by her neck. He hated anyone touching his girlfriend that wasn’t him. He quickly ran to her and undid the chains that bound her. Once he did, she fell forward, unable to stand on her own. 

“Gyehyeon, I can’t- I,” she said in a broken voice.

”Shh, don’t talk love,” he embraced her, stroking her hair comfortingly. “We’re getting out of here.” 

“Gye, it hurts, I can’t-“ she struggled with words, and he teared up at the sight.

”I’m so sorry love,” he whispered. “Don’t talk, please. Save your strength. I’ll save you. I promise,” he smiled, caressing her cheek before kissing her lips repeatedly, tasting the metallic blood that coated her lips. He threw her arm around his neck as he picked her up, looking for a safe way out. Then, he got a message through his communication device attached to his ear. 

“Gyehyeon, they know you’re here. Get out of there and get out of there fast,” Minchan informed, sounding a bit worried. “How’s Y/n?”

Gyehyeon looked at his injured girlfriend. He panicked when he noticed her struggling to breath. “She isn’t breathing right, and she’s attained many injuries.” 

“I’ll send for Yeonho,” Minchan replied. Yeonho was the medic of the gang, which was Verivery. One of the most feared gangs in Seoul, but second to the Pythons, led by Lee Minseong.

Gyehyeon quietly slipped out of the dark room and made his way up the stairs, where he came from. When he caught sight of two Pythons about to turn a corner towards them, he pulled into a random room, closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door, his breathing heavy. He thought he was in the clear. 

He thought. 

“Well look what the cat dragged in,” a voice chuckled, belonging to a dark figure in the corner of the room. "Figured you'd stop by."

 Gyehyeon only glared angrily at the man, holding Y/n close to him as he felt her shiver.

 "You've lost, Jo. You've fallen right into my trap. We have your men surrounded, and I have you. There's nowhere to run to now," Minseong clicked his tongue.

Gyehyeon carefully set Y/n down before pulling a gun on Minseong, and Minseong did the same.

 "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Minseong warned. "My men will arrive any second and you'll be dead quicker than you can blink."

 "Worth a shot," Gyehyeon smirked, showing his proud and confident side. 

Minseong was about ready to fire when Gyehyeon ran towards him and fought to take possession of his gun, knowing it very well could be his demise if he wasn't careful.

 "Give it up Jo!" Minseong grunted as Gyehyeon pushed him to the ground, standing over him with his gun in hand. He seethed. "You always were stubborn."

Gyehyeon threw the gun out of a nearby window. "You'll pay dearly for what you've done to Y/n." 

 "Will I now?" Minseong raised a brow.

 Gyehyeon had had enough. Angrily, he dealt a severe blow to Minseong's stomach. Than a punch to his face. And another. And another. He beat him mercilessly, only thinking about how much he hated him for what he did to the person he loved more than anything else in the world.

Blood dripped down Minseong's face. His eyes were wide as his breathing became labored. He was too weak to fight back. "Maybe I underestimated you Jo," he chuckled, coughing up a surplus of blood, signaling he wasn't going to live though this. "I like your fiery spirit. Don't let that bitch of a girl soften you up."

 Those words fueled his fire, causing him to grab his gun and shoot him, at least ten times, until he knew he was dead. And so blinded by his hate, he nearly forgot about the one he loved, nearly dead as she laid against a wall, calling out his own name. "Gyehyeon..."

 " Y/n," he gasped, running to her side. "I'm getting you out of here love. Just hang on."

 he picked her up again and kissed her head before leaving the room. And surprisingly, he managed to slip past many of the Pythons. Until he reached the entrance.

 "Not so fast Jo," one of the guards halted. "What did you do to Minseong?" He wondered, realizing Gyehyeon should've been dead by now.

 "Well you see," Gyehyeon began, but he was interrupted by gunshots ringing out. And it was a wonderful sound. Calvary had arrived. Also known as, an ally gang, Cix. 

 "Gyehyeon! Get out of there!" Yelled Jinyoung as he shot with skillful aim at the enemy.

Gyehyeon rushed through the flying bullets, dodging them all, except one. Because the guard he was just talking to, wouldn't let him escape. At least not unscathed. A bullet lodged itself into Gyehyeon's side, causing him to yell out in pain. He stumbled, but he carried on, for Y/n's sake. And when they were safe in their getaway car with Yongseung, he grasped his side tightly, setting Y/n down beside him in the backseat. 

Then were the last words Gyehyeon and Y/n heard before their vision faded to black. 

"Just hold on you two. Just hold on."

~~~~~

It's been a year since that day. And Gyehyeon and Y/n couldn't be happier. Living in a new country, in a new apartment, beginning a new life. Yes, Gyehyeon gave up the life of a mafia to become a song producer.

Gyehyeon hummed to himself as he made Y/n and himself some dinner. Their favorite meal in fact. Usually Y/n made it, but she was busy all day helping plan their wedding in a few weeks. 

Y/n got up from the sofa and stretched. She went over to her fiancé. "Hey love," she greeted with a back hug.

 "Ahh," Gyehyeon flinched.

 "Oh sorry," she pouted, remembering his painful gun wound that still hurt, even as a scar.

 "It's alright," he smiled, turning around. He smirked when he looked down at her, loving the height difference. She wrapped her arms around his torso in a hug, and he gratefully returned it. 

 "I'm glad you came for me that day," she sighed, breathing in his scent.

 "I am too. And I did it for the same reason I'm marrying you."

[sprinnklesstuff]

⠀﹪⠀💈⠀︰⠀RANDOM BOYS! ⠀♡⠀ like or reblog.⠀﹟

[dakbees]

hey! here are some lgbtq+ k-celebs u can support this pride!! 🏳️‍🌈

sleeq

lesbian

rapper under your summer

dissed local misogynist san.e in her song equalist <3

recent songs: hey and cocktail

instagram | twitter | youtube

holland

gay

solo artist under holland entertainment

also acted in the webdrama 'ocean like me'!

recent songs: number boy and thank you

instagram | twitter | youtube

aquinas

bi

rapper under erta ale

he was a contestant on smtm5 and high school rapper 3

recent songs: it doesn't matter and lovegame

instagram | soundcloud | youtube

jiae

bi

former member of wassup, but is now an independent soloist

she also posts covers on her youtube!

solo debut: love is love

instagram | twitter | tiktok | youtube

somhevin

bi

actress and model

she was on idol school under the name hyein, and used to be a soloist

songs: mini radio and same here

instagram | twitter | youtube

minsung

queer

former member of topp dogg under the name hansol

is now a choreographer under the stage name navinci

originally came out as aroace, but later said he's more comfortable with being called queer

instagram | twitter | youtube

mrshll

gay

independent soloist

performed on smtm6 and cowrote verivery's undercover

latest songs: 4EVeR and show me what U got

instagram | twitter | youtube

choi hanbit

trans woman

model under gaon entertainment

former member of girl group mercury

was on korea's next top model and she got married recently!!

songs under mercury: let's party and don't stop

instagram

harisu

trans woman

soloist, actress, model, and author

she was the 2nd person in sk to ever legally change their gender and she is the 1st korean trans entertainer :)

recent songs: make your life and shopping girl

instagram | youtube

maman

lesbian

former soloist, but now she runs a cat youtube channel!

first kpop idol to come out as a lesbian

recent songs: obvious story and guidebook

youtube | cat youtube

dohwa

gay

trot singer under faith entertainment

recent songs: i'm sorry and bridesmaid

instagram | youtube

sparky

bi

soloist under lala music

was a contestant on smtm10

recent songs: heart in the box and love rose

instagram | soundcloud | youtube

yoojung

wlw

member of weki meki

she's never officially come out, but she has expressed her attraction to women on multiple occasions

solo debut: sunflower

recent weki meki songs: siesta and cool

instagram | tiktok | weki meki youtube

lionesses

independent group comprising of gay men

only damjun has revealed his face

kanghan is also a drag queen :)

recent songs: my pretty and it's okay to be me

youtube | group insta | damjun insta | kanghan insta

lady

group under logi entertainment comprising of trans women

sadly disbanded in 2007 :(

songs: attention and ladies night

qi.x

group under sweet potato productions comprising of nonbinary/genderqueer people

they will be making a comeback this june!!

debut song: lights up

instagram | twitter | tiktok | youtube

[mizugucci]

user tag update

a few things to mention: a couple of weeks ago, i updated my tracking tag to #usermairin in an effort to become more uniform with others’ tags. currently, it is not being used much, so i’d like to advertise that is it open!

please tag me in any visual kpop related content, especially nugus & flops (affectionate). all girl groups will be reblogged on my side, @pixypunch

however, i know some people are always unsure who to tag (me, for example)  so, i would like to provide a definitive list of groups and my specific biases that i would really, really like to be tagged in. 

onf — yuto

rocket punch — yunkyung

lee chan & seungkwan (svt)

takada kenta — jbj & jbj95

dreamnote — miso & boni

dongkiz/dkz — jonghyeong

omega x — sebin & jaehan

pixy — dajeong

golcha — seungmin & jibeom

dkb — d1 & harry june

pentagon — shinwon & yanan

+ boy groups such as blitzers; verivery; cravity; kingdom; wei; treasure; txt, vav, b.i.g

+ girl groups such as class:y, cherry bullet, purple kiss, bugaboo, fromis 9, wjsn, ladies code, nmixx

+ anything related to peak time — masc, vanner, mont, bae173, team 24, and all 24 participating teams

[jaeyuyus]

NAVIGATION

hello! thank you so much for taking interest in my blog. here, I will post my writing for various fics and preferences, while also reblogging other kpop-related content i find interesting :D

personal posts will be tagged under #mimimosa.

requests: open.

i write one-shots and preferences! all requests will be automatically written for afab fem readers unless specified otherwise. i will write any genre as long as the request is reasonable. personally, i prefer to write angst and fluff, but i'm willing to write most things. i will not take 18+ requests from minors. mdni with my 18+ posts; this is your only warning (interaction will result in blocking).

you may request group preferences or a one-shot with an individual! if i deem your request unreasonable, i will not write it.

below are the groups i write for. these ones are most familiar to me, but they're not the only groups i'm into. also listed below are various plots, tropes, and aus i write for! again, just because something isn't listed, doesn't mean i'm not interested. don't be afraid to send in a request :)

boy groups

enhypen, ateez, the boyz, nct, txt, verivery, victon, riize, seventeen, &. stray kids

girl groups

(g)i-dle, itzy, &. le sserafim

genres, tropes, plots, etc.

fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, sickfic, slow burn, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, breakup, getting together, sharing a bed, non-famous au, high school au, college au, superhero au, hanahaki au, vampire au (enha), pirate au (atz), multi-verse au (skz), etc.

(again, not limited to only the ideas mentioned)

MASTER LIST

(to be added!)

[artiebartie]

♡Introduction!♡

♡ Name : Artemis/Artie

♡ Birthday : March 1st

♡ Age : 21+ (not comfortable sharing but yeah, I'm over 21)

♡ Gender : Female

♡ Pronouns : She/Her

♡ MBTI : INFP-T

♡ Things you Like : games, music, kpop (especially the boys 🫠), movies, anime, animals, having a laugh with good people, streaming, yt, singing, drawing, baking, helping others, dimples, freckles, deep voices, sleeping (not that I actually sleep, insomnia wrecking me 🙃)

♡ Things you dislike : toxicity, bullies, drama, not sleeping, dirt, gambit, bugs, I'm ocd af so getting stuff on my hands gives me heebies 🥲

♡ Fave Colour : Purple, Pastels, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Black, Peach, Mint

♡ Hobbies : basically the things in my likes are also my hobbies, simping and chilling

♡ Socials : insta is artieebartiee and tiktok is artemis.was.taken (welcome to follow there 😊). Mainly edits but also some random irl schtuff too

♡ Fave Games : Destiny 2, The First Descendant, Diablo 4, FF14, Wuthering Waves, HSR, Genshin, Sims, Assassins Creed series, Skyrim, Titanfall 2, Gears series, Borderlands series, Pokemon, Palworld, Just Dance, some COD games and CTR

♡ Timezone : UK

♡ Ult Groups: Skz, Enha, TxT, P1, ZB1, Xdinary Heroes, &Team

♡ Other Groups/Soloists I Stan: TBZ, Ateez, BND, Svt, BSS, BTS, Oneus, MonstaX, Cravity, WayV, 82Major, Pentagon, AIMERS, AMPERS, 8Turn, Xikers, NCT Dream, NCT 127, NCT Wish, LAM, VeriVery, Itzy, LeSserafim, RIIZE, NEXZ, WEi, Onewe, N.Flying, n.SSign, Woodz, Dpr Ian, Dpr Live, Key, Bang Yongguk, PLAVE, The New Six, Nowadays, One Pact, Evnne, Trendz, TWS, WHIB, All(H)ours, TAN, Eastshine, Nowadays, Drippin, Katseye, Blitzers, ONF, Wooah, JustB, MCND, SF9, Xodiac, BOY STORY, E'Last, Omega X, ARrC, Catch the Young, Dignity, Park Jihoon, Ghost9, ONE PACT, ONE OR EIGHT, Day6, Lun8, Waker, The Rose, TNX, J01,

♡ Ult Biases: Felix (Skz), Jake and Jungwon (Enha), Beomgyu (TxT), Gaon and Jungsu (Xdh)

♡ Other Biases: Theo (P1), Gyuvin and Ricky (ZB1), Sunwoo (TBZ), Woo and Yunho (Atz), Jae (BND), Mingyu and Shua (17), Ot3 BSS, JK (BTS), Maki and Nico (&T), Xion (Oneus), Changkyun/IM (Monsta), Seongmin (Crav), Xiao and Yang (WayV), Seokjoon Dogyun and Seongbin (82M), Shin and Kino (Pen), Yoel (AIM), Hoyoung (VV), Jiho Kamden and Macki (AMP), Hyunwoo and Hunter (Xik), Jaemin Jisung Haechan and Chenle (Dream), Jungwoo Haechan and Taeyong (127), Ot6 (WISH) K:Day and Gyeom (LAM, only just found them so exploring), Yeji and Ryujin (Itzy), Chaewon and Eunchae (LS), Ot7 RIIZE, Ot7 NEXZ, Junseo (WEi), Yonghoon and Giuk (Onewe), Ot5 PLAVE, Lumin and Dongjae (Eastshine), Minseo and Hyeop (Drippin), Inseong (Sf9), Zeyu Shuyang and Mingrui (BOY STORY), Kunho ON:N Minje Youmin and Hyunbin (All(H)ours), Geonu and DY (JustB), Wonhyuk Wonjun ChoiIn and Baek (E'Last), Xen and Hyuk (Omega X), Minseok and Hyeongjin (Dignity), Rioto and ChoiHan (ARrC), Namhyun and Junyong (Catch The Young), Yedam and Jay (One Pact), Siyun Jinhyuk and Yeonwoo (Nowadays), Reia (One or Eight), Dohoon and Shinyu (Tws), Jinwoo and Prince (Ghost9), Jinbeom (Whib), Young K (Day6), Juhan Wooju and Chris (Blitzers), Ot6 (TNX), Sebum and Kohyeon (Waker), Chael Eunho and Takuma (Lun8), Woosung (The Rose)

[sanstropfremir]

are you ready? it's time for...

best stylings of 2022, first half!!

this covers my favourite stylings from january 1st to june 30th; which i am bolding and italicizing bc some people got on my ass last year about leaving things out when in fact they just did not read the title! so!! this is only half of the year!!

here's a rundown of the categories i'm using:

best overall - self explanatory: this covers cbs that were holistically well designed across the mv, music show stages, and any other promotional material that was released during the cb period

runners' up - this category is for ones that got it about half right; either they had a really good music video but the stages didn't match up, or they had really good stages but the mv was lacking. i also put mvs here that didn't get any other promotional materials

standout element - this is for one off stages or outfits that stuck out to me as being really excellent, but there wasn't the same consistency across the rest of the cb

ok, make sense? let's go!

best overall

i hate you - woodz

i'm not gonna mince words here, you all saw me go insane over this cb so there's no way it wasn't gonna be in first place. frankly i'm surprised i survived the promo period at all. i'm obsessed with the choice for them to shoot the mv in a modern art gallery (i THINK it might be the same one that cl shot her alpha performance video at last year) because i love when there's a meta acknowledgement of idols as artistic products and how they interact with different forms of art etc etc etc anyways here's all the links to stuff i went insane over you're welcome: mv behind, this jacket from its live, and honestly this one is about the backup dancers more than him but it's cute.

stages: mcountdown 220512, music core 220507, music bank 220506, the show 220510, show champion 220511

bsides: hijack the show 220510, show champion 220511

+

gingamingayo - billlie

they deserved to go viral for this, the mv is amazing, the styling is so consistent despite the fact that they did like a full month of promotions, and overall it's just a fun time. they set the precedent for all the ~quirky~ gg cbs that showed up after this. it has so much character and established the weird world that their story exists in, so even though it was very early on in the year, it claims one of my top spots.

stages: contour 220304, music bank 220318, inkigayo 220320, the show 220308

+

dice - onew

this was not a popular cb in my circles but too bad, i thought it was very fun and extremely well designed. great mv with a cute lil narrative and creative choices building on a very clear influence, plus some very fun costume pieces, some incredible stage design, and some gorgeous graphic design. 10/10.

stages: mcountdown 220414, inkigayo 220417, music core 220423

bsides: on the way music bank 220415, inkigayo 220417

+

bad news - tempest

an extremely strong debut that has definitely set a new tone for the incoming next generation of bgs for sure. everything about this styling is chaotic over the top mess reminiscent of early 2010s kpop mixed with a retro 90s feel that is always a joy to watch. we love to see a return to cheesy and bright boy group form and i have my fingers crossed that we're gonna start seeing it catch on beyond the flops in 2023.

stages: mcountdown 220303, music bank 220304, show champion 220309, the show 220308, music core 220305, music core 220312, inkigayo 220313, mcountdown 220317, music bank 220325, music core 2200326

bsides: just a little bit, bad at love

+

undercover - verivery

and i am including the japanese version in this, because it has the best outfit, which is kangmin's pink satin tracksuit that i may or may not think about every day. verivery doesn't usually catch my attention but i loved the prerelease single o from this album so it made me tune into the undercover cb when it dropped. this has been one of the few 'retro' stylings (there's been a myriad of 90s/00s revivals) that actually took some very recognizable silhouettes from the period and combined them with a contemporary flavour successfully and consistently. there's so much good texture and the sheer amount of satin they used is just (chef's kiss).

stages: the show 220503, music core 220514, mcountdown 220505, inkigayo 220501, music core 220521, music bank 220513, music bank 220506, the show 220517, show champion 220504, music core 220507, inkigayo 220508

o: mcountdown 220331, music bank 2200401

+

stupid cool - dawn

dawn once again proving that he and his team understand styling and fashion a lot better than most stylists working in the industy rn. he has such a strong sense of how to use silhouette and texture and i love how every new stage keeps you guess about what insane thing he's gonna wear next. this is also one of the few cbs where i actually think they should have just used the performance video for the final mv, bc its SO good. there's a few small things that i don't love which is why this doesn't rank higher, but there's still a lot that i do, so i kept from the runners' up category.

stages: mcountdown 220707, mcountdown 220630, music bank 220701, inkigayo 220703

+

devil - changmin

it was short but sweet, every look is a banger and i am going to include maniac and fever here as well, because it's also incredible. although all three of these songs have no aesthetic unity across them, this album very much was an exploration of genres that changmin is interested in and creating characters to embody each of those songs; we have the american gothic corrupt preacher with devil, the classic rock besieged horror heroine with maniac, and the capitalist victorian villain from an alw musical. i'd also recommend watching the jacket shooting behind to see more details from the looks in the concept photos, bc those are also excellent.

stages: music core 220115, inkigayo 220116

bsides: fever performance video - dgg

+

bring it on - oneus

bring it on had so much fun character and a great series of prologue films as well, and i feel like it didn't get the love it deserved. there are so many things happening in this mv and it's very busy visually, so for them to be able to keep it coherent despite the sheer number of sets is impressive. rbw has great creative teams and it's no surprise that a oneus mv ended up in my top ten.

stages: music bank 220520, inkigayo 220522, show champion 220525, mcountdown 220602

+

grey suit - suho

i might not have loved the title track as a song, but the mv is fucking gorgeous with some profoundly beautiful shots and like with changmin, the album as a whole is fantastic work and he produced a similar style goofy fun bside mv for hurdle that ended up being his go to concert song this year. both have really consistent design and colour palettes across the two of them, even though they're two totally different styles of song, which is a detail that i really admire. and the concept photos were gorgeous as well.

stages: music bank 220408, inkigayo 220410

bsides: hurdle mcountdown 220407

+

daydream - highlight

fantastic cb from them and excellent album in general, with some unusual silhouette choices. and they fully produced their album medley as well, which i don't think i've seen a group do to this same extent. it's beautiful, i highly recommend watching it. highlight has been quietly flying under the radar since their first post enlistment cb last year, and as the hag fan that i am i'm going to continue to remind everyone that they exist and are doing some of the best quality work in the industry atm.

stages: music core 220326, inkigayo 220327, music bank 220325,

bsides: night fog music bank 220325

+

runners' up

heart burn - sunmi

honestly this should rank higher bc it was such a good cb and everything about it was so well done, but there was just too much that came out this year and i had to bump some things down just because of quantity and the fact that tumblr limits how many links and videos you can put in a post. so please know this was in a top spot in my heart.

+

invu - taeyeon

i wrote a post about invu already so i won't expound on it more, but it got knocked down to runners' up just bc i didn't love all the looks, but i did love a lot of the dedication and thought and engagement they put into the cb as a whole.

+

dududu - tan

also already wrote an entire post about this styling, i love it i'm obsessed one of THE best debuts of all time etc etc etc you've heard me yell about them many times already. although i have to issue one addition: for some reason i didn't include inkigayo 220403 where they gave jiseong a gorgeous blue crushed velvet suit.

+

again - nu'est

this is only here because they never did any performances of it. the only group that's ever done anything good with hybe money and what did they get for it??? the nu'est disbandment is easily one of the most gutwrenching things to happen to me and it's double compounded by their disbandment song being called 'again'. what a fucking cruel joke. anyways this mv is fucking gorgeous even if it makes me feel like i'm eating broken glass.

+

epitaph - tvxq

yes this is a japanese release but they haven't done a korean cb in like four years at this point so i'm taking what i can get. incredible set design, great costuming, who doesn't loves some hot tall vampires?

+

feel my rhythm - red velvet

the mv is 100% the standout element here, it's so unbelievably detailed and full of art references. however i didn't love all of the costuming so the stages didn't really stand out for me. ok that's a lie, i really liked the styling for music core 220326.

+

love - monsta x

could i have told you what the concept of this cb was? no. was it chaotic and very fun to watch anyways? absolutely. i present to you: versace. kihyun's obliques. whatever this lace suit nonsense is. idk what a 'vibe' outfit is but they should have done a stage in them.

+

skinz - onlyoneof

i've talked about the mv for skinz before, but there have been a couple of stages that are just kinda batshit crazy, like whatever the hell is happening here, and this 220114 music bank with the cropped puffer jackets and kb's tshirt bodysuit. i'm not even convinced what kb is wearing here is even considered a shirt. honestly i could have ranked this cb as a whole higher because there were just so many weird suits and i did like the mv, but i did have to limit this list at some point.

+

cupid - dkz

we love a cb of just guys being dudes! i actually do like the mv but it doesn't tie as well into the stages as i would like, so it doesn't get the full honours. but i would like offer you a selection of: pink, jonghyeong's xxxxl shirt, kyungyoon looking like a caricature of a kid in the early 90s, and kyungyoon's sexy lil cropped green bomber jacket

+

11:59 - apr project

these are all former trncg members (a third gen bg that disbanded due to an abuse and mismanagement lawsuit) that are redebuting in a new group and honestly? good for them. this mv was made with about $30 but it's one of my favourites of the year specifically because of the context and the moment at 2:41, which is SUCH a strong image and not one i was expecting. this was one of my soppy emo ballads of choice this year. also wolf baby revival when.

+

standout elements

memem story films - purple kiss // memem is probably the weakest of purple kiss' title tracks in terms of both sound and design, which was bound to happen eventually. however the story films are PHENOMENAL and i absolutely recommend watching them (plus bonus recurring character cya!): #1, #2.

creature - e'last // once again, e'last with an excellent showing of dedication to the man crop top agenda and guys bein' slutty for no real reason. show champion 220511, music bank 220513, show champion 220504, the show 220503

beauty inside - nine.i // i love these denim suits with loopy flowers and shapes that match the flower petal motif in the choreography.

x-ray - ghost9 // these sparkly vampire outfits that never appeared in any of the other styling or design but fuck supremely.

tank - nmixx - costumes that accentuate the choreography? in my jype styling???

---

part two will hopefully be up in few days!

[haechannabelle]

ᓚᘏᗢ about this blog ! ᓚᘏᗢ

♡ (updated november 2023 edition~) ♡

↳ basics: i'm annabelle, she/they, '95 line, USA. fell down the kpop rabbit hole in july 2022 and i cannot escape. this is a multifandom boy group blog ! ↳ other blogs: i follow/like from my personal blog @theloserphenomenon, and my girl group blog is @bibitzy ↳ previous url: skzandnct ↳ i make art !! mostly portraits lately but also some gfx/lockscreens and such. you can see my creations here ! ↳ fave groups: seventeen, nct (especially 127), stray kids, p1harmony, monsta x, enhypen, cravity, ateez, the boyz, txt, ikon (soloists: woodz, baekhyun, kai) ↳ ult boys: hoshi, s.coups, haechan, renjun, lee know, woodz ↳ tagging system: is convoluted LOL and mostly for me so i can find posts, but if you wanna know how i tag something just hmu and i can help ! also feel free to blacklist [#annabelle talks] if you're just here for the boys hehe

♡ my inbox is always open, i'm a slow responder but i love hearing from people so pls feel free to say hi !! ♡

>> find a more extensive list of groups/biases under the cut :) <3

♡ FAVE GROUPS/BIAS LIST ♡

format: group - ult!, bias, (bias wrecker) *for the purpose of this list, ult! means an ult within the group, my overall ults are listed above. okay let's get into it

↳ seventeen - s.coups!, hoshi!, jeonghan!, mingyu, wonwoo, (jun), (vernon) (tbh i bias all of seventeen but this is my list if i'm being picky LOL) ↳ nct - haechan!, doyoung!, ten, kun, renjun, (jaemin) (jisung) (xiaojun) ↳ stray kids - lee know!, changbin, (seungmin), (han) ↳ p1harmony - jiung!, intak, jongseob, (theo) ↳ monsta x - kihyun, jooheon, (shownu), (changkyun) ↳ enhypen - jake, jay, sunoo ↳ cravity - wonjin, (woobin), (seongmin) ↳ ateez - mingi!, yunho, (seonghwa), (yeosang), (san) ↳ the boyz - haknyeon!, juyeon, kevin, (changmin), (younghoon) ↳ txt - soobin, yeonjun ↳ ikon - bobby (he grew up like 20 minutes from me btw he's gotta be a bias), (junhoe)

other groups/soloists i like + post: baekhyun, blitzers, bts (mostly their solos tbh), drippin, exo, got7, kai, onlyoneof, verivery, woodz, xdinary heroes

i'm always listening to new music so this list will probably become outdated very quickly but oh well ! that's jazz kpop !

[sweetmastermind]

Boy Groups ~ Kpop Masterlist

*My reading should be taken with a grain of salt, they are not set in stone, they are for entertainment purposes. They are not to fuel delusions or sent hate to the idols.

*Controversial ask through emoji system: how does it work? You sent your question with an emoji attached and separately send another ask with only the emoji you have chosen. Will respond to the ask with an alone emoji.

RULES + Readings I do

Request list

━━━━━━━━ ღ ━━━━━━━━

✦ &Team

General reading - December 2023

Views on Enhypen

Mini Personality for TAKI

✦ ASTRO

Cha Eunwoo - General reading - Sep 2022

✦ Ateez

Love reading

Comeback "Halazia"

Check-up - January 2023

How the industry views the group

Check-up 09/05

KQ Management x Ateez

✦ BTS

Masterlist

✦ NCT

✦ E'last

General energy - August 2022

Love reading - August 2022

✦ Enhypen

Masterlist

✦ EXO

Baekhyun - Love reading

Baekhyun - On/Off stage personality

Baekhyun check-up

Who is more protective + comfortable with skinship

Who is a heartbreaker

Baekhyun in a relationship

How they view the company

Kai - Love reading

✦ GOT7

The first thing they find attractive

✦ Ikon

General Reading - December 2022

✦ Monsta X

Minhyuk - Love reading

I.M - Love reading

Comeback "Beautiful lie"

First thing they find attractive

✦ NCT

Masterlist

✦ Oneus

General Reading - December 2022

✦ P1harmony

01 line - Love reading

General Reading - October 2022

First thing they find attractive

✦ SF9

General reading - September 2022

✦ Seventeen

DK - Love reading

Love reading

How the industry views Mingyu

Comeback - FML

✦ Stray Kids

Comeback "Maxident"

Love reading

General Reading - November 2022

The first thing they find attractive

Career

First half of 2023

How the industry views BangChan

How the industry views Han Jisung

Probable members into spirituality

Check-up BangChan

Dynamics

Check-up ~ Han

Who is Dating?

Kindest

✦ Trainee A

Check-up

✦ Treasure

Mashiro + Yedam check-up

✦ The Boyz

Sunwoo love reading

Eric love reading

First thing they find attractive

✦ TXT

General reading - September 2022

Taehyun - Bahiyyih dynamics

Soobin - Arin

HueningKai - Love reading

Love Reading

Strengths

Comeback "Sugar rush"

On/off personality - Huening Kai

Taehyun views on fans

✦ Up10tion

Kim Wooseok - Career

Love Reading

✦ VeriVery

Comeback

✦ Wei

Love Reading

✦ WayV

Comeback 2022

Lucas check-up

✦ Xdinary Heroes

Jooyeon Career

━━━━━━━━ ღ ━━━━━━━━

OTHER

Predictions

Girl groups masterlist

Soloist/Actors/Other masterlist

[boysplanetrecaps]

Recap of Boys Planet Episode 1 (Part 1)

It’s time for another giant MNET show! Are you excited, fellow Star Creator? Woo!

This is Boys Planet, also called Boys Planet 999 by random incorrect people, including me. And this thing you’re reading is a “watch along” guide/recap to the show. You can read it as you watch the show to get the behind the scenes dirt, or to keep track of who is who and what is going on, or after you watch, or whenever. I don’t spoil anything with respect to who gets kicked off, but I will help you connect the dots with respect to who is who. I’ll use helpful pictures and stuff, too.

All time stamps will correspond to the version on Viki. When I list ages, I’ll use international ages (Korean ages have historically always been 1 more than the way the rest of the world accounts ages). 

Who am I? 

An internet rando. I live somewhere in the United States and am over 21 years of age. I used to sing acapella and have a strong sense of pitch, but for dancing I just know what I like. I can read/understand a bit of Korean and a bit of Japanese as well, and can tell the difference between spoken Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, so at times I might be able to shed a little light as to what’s going on. When it comes to evaluating performances,  I’m not likely to be mean, and I try to understand what might be going on with people but I will be snarky and honest, especially about the editing. Cool? Cool! 🙂To the recap!

Feel free to skip past the drama-teaser to 1:25 for an earnest promise that the show’s producers have paid other people to watch them so that they can’t possibly cheat, before the show can begin and of course, immediately begin to cheat. Yay!

The show’s host, I’m sorry, “Star Master”, Hwang Minhyun, talks earnestly and dully about how there are stars in the sky and foreign members of kpop groups. Hilariously, he appears to be in a futuristic room looking out into a starry sky, perhaps aboard an orbiting space station with a really good gravity system in place. His desk, a cheap Ikea looking affair, is bedecked with a model of the main seating area for the show -- The Space Council Chambers  --  a name plate that says “Star Creator”, an unusually huge yellow desk lamp, and an old fashioned globe. This is the shit I live for. 

Minhyun is known for his appearance on Produce 101 Season 2 (aka, Broduce 101) as well as for being a popular member of both Wanna One and NU’EST. I’m more of a Baekho girl, but I like Minhyun just fine. There’s something about his face that I never, ever, ever recognize him when I see him, which I find is often the case for Korean “visuals.” He is nice looking, if a bit… personality free? But that could be the directing. 

Anyway, Minhyun gets up and pushes a button that says start…

And then we see a (computer generated) room which has been set aside to house a large…. gumball… machine... thing (that is computer generated). Large plastic balls fall from the two parts of the machine to meet in the center. None of this is necessary, or real, and I find that delightful. 

Minhyun tells us that now, we are all Star Creators and we’re going to make the next Kpop boy group that the world wants. You know, in case you’re not happy with A.C.E, Astro, Ateez, The Boys, BTS, Ciipher, CIX, Day6, DKZ, Drippin, Enhypen, E’last, Exo, FTIsland, GOT7, Golden Child, Highlight, IKON, JustB, Kingdom, Lucy, Monsta X, NCT, Oneus, ONF, OnlyoneOf, Pentagon, The Rose, Seventeen, SF9, SHINee, Stray Kids, TO1, Treasure, Trendz, TXT, TVXQ, Up10tion, Vav, Verivery, Victon, Vixx, WEi, Winner, Xdinary Heroes, Younite, or Z-Stars. But yes, we need more groups. Bring ‘em on. 

Minhyun goes on to talk about how there are two groups of trainees -- K group (Korean) and G group (Global), represented by blue and pink respectively, as well as two heavily mic’d flags. 

“Please vote for the boy shining brightest!” the shiny boys chant in unison.

You can vote for whoever you want, whether K or G, though the editors do strongly suggest you vote K, and the votes will again be weighted the way they were in GP999 -- ie, Korean votes will be weighted as 50% of the votes, and Global votes will be weighted as the other 50%. If you want to skip past the voting instructions, skip to 5:20. 

So, we look down at what looks kind of like one of those rolling-marble puzzles, 

but it turns out to be the hallway through which all the trainees have to walk on their way to the Space Council Chambers.

Lee Da Eul (18) and Lim Jun Seo (17) from 143 Entertainment,  the first to enter, are offered sparkly star stickers, and they decide to give themselves 1 star each, adding that they aren’t totally sure if they even deserve those one stars. Ok, politeness is sweet, but why go on this show if you don’t believe in your abilities? Anyway, these chosen two get to say “woah” and “eego buyo?” as the lights turn on loudly. They explore the Council seating, feel the soft seats for the top 9, then decide to sit in seats 4 and 5. (Later on, they’ll perform “Replay” by SHINee as their audition.) 

Next to enter are the trainees from Wakeone, who, we see in a flashback, had a pre-show meeting with their sunbae, Kim Chae Hyun from Kep1er, who did really well on GP999. Chaehyun encouraged them to be confident on the show, saying, “If someone is very good but has no confidence then there’s no charm to them.” The five Korean trainees from Wakeone gave themselves 7 stars each -- these are Kim Taerae, Park Hanbin, Lee Jung Hyun, Mun Junghyun, and Park Minseok. Their confidence spurs Lim Jun Seo to go move to seat 9. Wakeone’s maknae, Mun Jung Hyun (17), sits in the chair for #1. (Later on, these 5 will perform “The Real” by ATEEZ.)

From here there’s going to be a lot of fighting as to who gets to sit in that chair, and I’ll be honest, I don’t care that much. 

Next to enter is: Canada! One of the Wakeone trainees says “I would’ve never imagined someone from Canada” as the on-screen words say, “What will this Canadian trainee look like?” The combined impression from those two sentences is that people from Canada are unimaginably weird looking. Mun Jung Hyun wonders, “Will people with blonde hair and blue eyes show up?” Which, again, hilarious. Do they not know that Somi (IOI/soloist/future Star Master this season), Wendy from Red Velvet, Mark Lee from NCT, and a bunch of other k-idols are from Canada? Why do I know that, come to think of it? Why do I know that, and not where my keys are? 

Also, whenever Koreans talk about Canada, all I can think about is the k-drama, Goblin, in which they talk about “Canada” as if it is a single city with maybe two restaurants, and where it is always the beginning of autumn, encased in a gentle fluttering of orange maple leaves.

We meet Seok Matthew (20), who is independant, and has given himself three stars. He looks a tiny winy bit like Xiumin from Exo to me. In an interview, we can see that he speaks Korean reasonably well. His sister got him into dancing and now he really likes it, and he came to Korean to reach his dream. 

Then we meet Japanese trainee Takuto, born November of 2007, dressed for… boxing? He has boxing gloves hanging from a string around his neck and has a sweat band around his head. In his intro package, he speaks in sort of halting Korean -- hey, it’s a lot better than my own Korean -- and poses in power poses to show he’s a “manly man” (they translate it as “tough guy” but google translate says “manly man” and I think that’s funnier). 

An up close shot reveals he has actually stenciled “Takuto” in English letters on his cheek with blush. 

As the MNET editors mercilessly play the clip of him saying he’s a manly man ( “상 남… 상 남 자” /“Sang nam… sang namja…”) over and over and over again as if to teach us the proper pronunciation, Takuto looks around at the older bigger guys and makes a big heart over his head with his hands. All the other guys react by laughing and clapping, charmed. 

MNET obviously isn’t showing everyone who comes in, as eagle eyed viewer will spot additional trainees in the Space Council who were not shown entering, but hey, I mean, whatever, it’s MNET. This has been edited so much it’s basically fiction.

In comes Wumuti (23), who has such a unique look to him that I was curious as to his background. My internet roving tells me that he was also on the MNET show Under 19, and that he’s an ethnic Uyghur from China. I was like, ok, what is a Uyghur? Turns out they’re a sort of Turkish ethnic group but mostly they live in Northwest china, and oh…. It’s really sad and awful, guys. The Chinese government is doing things like work camps and forced sterilization and stuff to try to wipe them out. I can’t help but root for anyone who comes from a background like that. Also, his name written in Korean characters looks cute: 우무티. Later on he’ll perform UN Village by Baekhyun.

So, Wumuti comes in and we see he’s given himself 6 stars. He makes a beeline for Chair 1, where he loses Rock Paper Scissors. Come on, can’t the guy catch a break? 

Then we see a montage of trainees fighting for Chair 1, and again, I don’t care. They plank for it, thumb war, etc. Kum Jun Hyeon, 19, who has absolutely covered his nametag in stars to the point you can barely see even his name, is cheered on by his Redstart ENM labelmates as he nabs the chair. They have also gone completely HAM on those stars. (Later on, he’ll do Nunu Nana by Jessi.) I feel worse and worse for our initial two guys, giving themselves just one star. 

Apparently, MNET isn’t interested in spending time watching each trainee come in this time, and that’s possibly for the best, but it does make it a bit sketchy that we see certain trainees. 

For example, we meet the trainees from Taipei, who come in like this: 

Left to right, this is Chen Kuan Jui, Qiu Sheng Yang, Chen Ren You, and Dong Dong. Kuan Jui, holding that bejeweled stick, has given himself 5 stars, while the others have given themselves 2 or 3 each. Mun Jung Hyun and Kim Tae Rae wonder to each other, is that a magic staff? Like the kind that Sun Wukong carries? (Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, is a famous character from Chinese mythology.) (Later on they’ll do Tiger Inside by SuperM.)

Kuan Jui marches up to Chair 1 and does a full standing split that would actually put Le Sserafim’s Kazuha to shame

And thus, he earns the seat. 

I don’t know if the ability to put one’s ankle behind one’s neck is a something I need from a kpop idol. But I mean, good for him? I guess? 

In come the trainees from Jellyfish, and Lee Ye Dam reacts as if someone has splashed him in the face with cold water, which, given that this is MNET, is not impossible. Someone says, “no way!” which is very odd, because Jellyfish always sends trainees to shows like this. I mean, Mina and Sejong came out of PD 101. And it’s not as if Jellyfish is doing all that well. They squandered Sejong, they murdered Gugudan, and their most successful group is Verivery, who are very sweet, talented, and hardworking but not exactly smashing sales records. So yeah, not sure what Yedam is so excited about.

We get a bit of a slow-mo to take in what we might reasonably be excited about: sexy Park Gun Wook (18).

To be clear: I don’t personally find him sexy; he’s way too young to seem sexy to me personally. I’m saying that that is obviously what he’s going for. He gives off big time Kang Daniel vibes to me, not really in looks but in terms of what he’s aspiring to. He and his fellow Jellyfish trainees are tall and manly, and Gun Wook already may have a fan following since he did pretty well on another survival show called Wild Idol.  Gun Wook goes straight for Chair 1, and the other trainees comment on how muscular he is. He challenges the current seat sitter, a Japanese trainee named Riku, to a thigh wrestling game (??).  Poor Riku -- we didn’t see him take the seat, but we sure see him lose the seat.  

Time for an American trainee! I love that the Korean word for USA is “MiGuk” (or Bi-Goo, as it’s usually pronounced). Apparently it translates to Beautiful Country, which is so kind of them to say. I hope that the USA will do more things to earn that name going forward. 

Out come Jay and Na Kamden. Jay, lovey, there are already enough Jays in Kpop --you have to think of a different name. It seems like Jay strongly prefers speaking English, but understands some Korean, while Kamden understands Jay’s English but prefers to speak Korean. Kamden appeared on Wild Idol as well. 

Then we get a montage of tall global trainees, mostly Chinese. For people like me who don’t readily understand heights in cm, it’s good to know that 183 cm is 6 feet. So someone 188 cm is like, 6’2. 

We also meet Cong and Dang Hong Hai from Vietnam, who later on will perform View by SHINee. Hong Hai speaks Korean, even if it’s with a really thick accent. It has to be so hard for the global contestants. 

Then we meet the group from Osaka, Japan, and it turns out one of them is Keita, who the whole Space Council recognizes. He was on YG’s TreasureBox, the show that made the group Treasure, and then later on debuted with Ciipher. It’s not too weird he’d come on this show, as Ciipher is still, alas, in semi-nugu territory. 

Ah, here is Yuehua, who are sending in 4 Korean trainees and 4 Global trainees, each entering via their respective doorway, which is so charmingly unnecessary. The Korean trainees come out in all black, while the “global” team is a bit more colorful in faded denim. If you’re not familiar, Yuehua is a Chinese company with branches in Korea. They co-manage WJSN with Starship, and manage Everglow outright. They also manage new boy band Tempest. 

Anyway, then there’s a montage of the trainees finding each other handsome and saying they look like other famous people, capped off by the entrance of Sung Han Bin to the strains of tender piano music that presumably plays in his wake naturally due to his extreme handsomeness. 

Even I can tell that he is in fact, quite good looking in that classic kpop way. He looks like he should be with SM entertainment, but he’s from STUDIO GL1DE, which doesn’t bode well for his skills. A guy who looks like that who could do a nice step-touch and could at least carry a tune in a bucket would get picked up by a more prestigious agency. But maybe I’ll be proven wrong on that…. Hmmm…. 

Cube’s trainees are announced, and we’re treated to a brief montage of Cube’s top artists, including BtoB, Pentagon and G-Idle. The camera pauses for a moment on Hui from Pentagon as the group performs Shine. The trainees talk about how talented the Cube sunbaes are -- how talented would their hoobaes be? Out comes Bak Do Ha, looking like a figure skater. (Later on he’ll be performing My House by 2PM.) 

There’s still one more empty chair, and the Space Council wonders: what agency could sending the last trainee? It turns out it’s also… Cube?!? Bak Do Ha smiles and laughs to himself as the other trainees are wondering why this last trainee is being announced last and separately. They all immediately recognize him as Hui-sunbaenim from Pentagon, a group that debuted in 2016, has had some serious ups and some serious downs, and won a bunch of music shows as recently as a few months ago. This 29-year-old man who has already done his military service bows to the 15 year olds and introduces himself as Lee Hoe Taek from Cube, politely saying “I look forward to working with you.” 

Guys. GUYS. I have a lot of feelings about Hui from Pentagon being on this show. I could talk endlessly about it, but the upshot is: negative. I have negative feelings about this. When Pentagon went on Kingdom, they actually kind of… fell in my esteem. Hui seemed so sad, like the group was just so sad, and Hui was pushing so hard to make his song remixes cool that he forgot to make them… pleasant to listen to, or fun to see performed. I think Hui is a genuine, top-tier talent when it comes to songwriting, producing, and singing. I love a lot of Pentagon songs, including ones people don’t talk about but should, like Can You Feel It and Sha La La. I am still angry that E-Dawn got kicked out over being a human being with a love life, and angry that it hurt Pentagon a lot, and heartbroken that a lot of that probably landed on Hui’s head.I get it that he’s doing this to get people to notice Pentagon. After all, their contracts are up in 2023, and no doubt they’ll want to leave that awful agency. Maybe they’ll pull a GOT7 and all leave together and stay together. So I get it that he wants to promote. But the thing is, I don’t believe that “all publicity is good publicity.” I think having people feel sorry for you will make them not feel impressed by you, or attracted to you, and I think that will hurt you. I think this was a big mistake and it makes me feel second-hand-humiliation. I hope I’m wrong. Sincerely, I do. 

Anyway, this award winning songwriter and top-tier vocalist has rated himself 3 stars. Thinking about it, that was kind of the only move he could make -- he has to pretend to have a reason to be on the show, and that reason can only be to “work on myself and continue to improve to be the best Lee Hoe Taek I can be”, or something along those lines. To be Hui and give himself 4 (or more) stars would feel like an NBA star who came to dunk on a bunch of high school kids. 

We cut to his first interview with the staff, in which he said that he had only gotten discharged from the military a week ago and feels shy in front of the camera. We get a brief montage of trainees saying they’re not sure why he’s here, some of them seeming a little irritated. Others say that it’s a honor to be on the same show with Hui. 

Hui decides to challenge the current number-1 chair sitter (16 year old Park Ji Hoo, who says “I just got here!”) to a contest to win the chair, and bowing deeply and speaking politely, says he’d like to have a singing contest. Of course. He lets out a delightful musical phrase, and Ji Hoo stands there listening, then scurries away without singing a note. 

There’s something so poignant about Ji Hoo saying, “I just got here” to Hui. He just got here in the show, he just got here in this industry -- he just got here on this PLANET compared to Hui. And here comes Hui to take the chair. I like Hui, I do, I just…. Ugh. 

Ollie, who is representing China but seems quite comfortable speaking English, notices that the two sides of the room are really different, with K-group mostly wearing suits or leather, and G-group more varied and colorful. Yes, that is obvious. Can we have another season of Youth With You that doesn’t end with a milk scandal, please? Anyway… 

Interestingly, Ollie can also speak a decently pronounced, if slightly halting, Korean in his interview. Zhang Hao can also speak a bit of Korean -- it sounds to me like he has a Chinese accent on his Korean, but it’s not like I would really know. But they’re both Yuehua trainees and it wouldn’t surprise me if their agency gave them intensive Korean language training. Love that. It’s really smart of Yuehua, and so truly helpful to their trainees. 

0:23:00  The Judges Come Out

The room darkens and the trainees watch a short video about how they’re on Boys Planet now and are trying to become shining stars or whatever the shit. Turns out this year, there will be multiple hosts, and the viewers will be called Star Creators. The boys are nervous in general and in specific. 

Time to meet the vocal master: Lee Seok Hoon. The trainees recognize him, and while they clearly respect him, they’re scared of him after his time on Produce101. He’s known for turning his head to the side and looking disgusted when someone hits a sour note, or for nodding appreciatively with his eyebrows raised when someone hits a good note.

Solji is the female vocal master and their enthusiasm seems bigger -- it’s Solji from Exid! Who doesn’t love her? Wrong people, that’s who. A trainee says that she’s been teaching at a University, and like, I hope so. I just want Solji’s life to be full of respect and comfort. She just seems like such a class act. I bet she’s an excellent teacher. And then Onestar comes out, who we might recognize from GP999. The trainees cheer for him and he makes them cheer more. 

Then the rap master: pH-1 from H1ghr music, who introduces himself in rapid English. Several of the trainees claim to be big fans. I’ll be honest and say I’ve never heard of him. And I actually do listen to some k-rap. Per Wikipedia, he was born in Korea but moved to New York when he was 12. I guess he chose English as the lingua franca, but in that case, talk more slowly, dude. Anyway. Wikipedia adds,  “As the three keywords he pursues in his music are truth, positivity, and experience, his work contains positive or honest messages, generally excluding references to drugs, money bragging and excessive "flexing", and explicit sexual content.” So, look forward to that. Or not. I don’t know what you’re into. 

Dance Masters: From 1Million, Back Koo Young and Choi Young Joon. Look I don’t know much about much but I *do* know that 1Million is top tier when it comes to dance. So these guys are good. The trainees are psyched to see them. Also, Lip J, who is “the living legend of waacking.” The trainees say their judges/trainers are like the Avengers. 

The judges immediately move into intimidation mode. It’s time to find out how the trainees rated themselves, star wise. The Korean group was more confident, overall. 

What’s sort of interesting about this is that during GP999, the Chinese girls were far more confident than the Korean girls. That’s because Chinese culture isn’t as self-effacing as Korean culture is, in general. Kind of interesting, too, that they had the boys do this, but not the girls. With the girls it would have been such a mine field because it’s “unfeminine” to have faith in yourself. Anyway. 

Japanese trainee Haruto interviews, in Korean, “Only a maximum of four stars were allowed, but almost everyone did whatever they wanted.” Yep.

The judges explain that their first performance will be the “Style Level Test”, during which their self-assessed star levels will be replaced by judge-assessed stars. Also, we learn that K-group and G-group are being pitted against each other; the team that wins more stars overall will get access to the next song that they have to practice a day earlier. Kind of cruel -- my assumption, without having seen the whole episode, is that the K-group will win, and the G-group will be at a further disadvantage, having one day fewer to practice and needing even more time due to language barriers. Why do I watch these shows? Am I mentally well?  

Auditions Begin: 0:32:58

Finally, we get our first audition -- Team Jellyfish, who gave themselves all 4 stars. The trainees are suitably cowed; after all, Kim Dayeon from Kep1er is from Jellyfish. Kim Gyu Vin (who is a serious talent in his own right, and will later on perform Kick It) calls Park Gun Wook “Park Gun-Wook -nim” even though, as he notes, Gyu Vin is actually a bit older than Gun Wook. It’s just that Gun Wook looks so big and mature. Little boxer Takuto met team Jellyfish backstage and backed away from them as if scared, his hands in a fig leaf position, and they encouraged him to come closer and were nice to him and called him cute. Gun Wook is the leader, the all rounder, and is also apparently pretty nice. See? Kang Daniel vibes? 

They’re going to be performing GBTB (Go Beyond the Barrier) by their sunbaes, Verivery.  One of the dance masters actually choreographed this, but the boys seem confident to perform it in front of the choreographer. Fighting!

Left to right: Jang Yeo Jun, Park Hyun Been, Han Yu Seop, Park Gun Woo 

My thoughts:

I’ll be honest, this is my first time hearing this song, and I’m ok not hearing it again after this. Just sort of… like what if you took all the NCT songs and threw them in a blender with an electric guitar? Sorry, VERRER. I still think Verivery are very cute and charming and my bias is Dongheon.

As for the performance: I have not a ton to say, because it was fine. All four of them did fine dance wise. Gun Wook stood out with his charisma and his big nice face. (I know the Korean ideal is small faces, but I like big faces.) I think Jang Yeo Jun danced a little bit better than the others, doing those weird leg kicks a little bit better, and Park Hyun Been rapped really fast and pretty well. Their singing was on key, too. I think Han Yu Seop was the main vocalist, but I actually think his singing was among the weakest -- there were times that I couldn’t even hear him sing. But they were dancing really hard. So for an audition for one of these shows, he was ok. 

They ask GunWook to dance by himself, and he chooses a song by Seventeen. The dance masters warn him that it’s hard, but he’s unbothered. He has good charisma, great facial expressions, and sharp movements. As far as I can tell, he’s good. 

The judges give them all the same score -- 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐ . They took away a star because the boys didn’t sing loud enough. The boys do their best to accept their fate. 

WakeOne doing Glitch Mode. 

The team comes out in a choo choo train formation -- sorry for that extremely technical term --  then introduce themselves (and I’ll tell you a little more): 

Super Charming Anthonny! (He’s almost 19, from Japan, and got all A’s on Produce 101 Japan) 

Refreshing energy Min! (He’s 22, from Thailand, and also went on Under Nineteen)

Powerful Dance Haruto! (He’s 18, from Japan, specializes in dance, and went semi-viral for complaining that his profile picture didn’t look like him, even tho it kinda does….)

After they introduce themselves, Haruto asks if they can have a moment to check their formation -- basically, they want to rehearse on stage during the audition? The judges let them, sighing about kids today, but everyone is mildly impressed that these foreigners are talking to each other in Korean. Min’s profile says he speaks Thai, Korean, Chinese, and English, but not Japanese, so maybe that’s why they’ve settled on Korean to talk to each other -- plus it looks better to the judges that they know enough Korean to communicate. 

My thoughts: 

I have to note that Glitch Mode is the kind of song I’m a bit over. I really like Cherry Bomb and Firetruck and even got on board with Kick It but this sort of shouting-in-unison, wandering base line, jazzy-melodic-SM-bridge when the singers can sing… I just am a bit past it. Sorry, folks. (Update: But I do love Ayo, so who knows anymore?) So I don’t know this song super well. I listened to it twice before watching the performance trying to figure out what the melody is and kind of failed. So. There’s that. 

This was a really cute performance, though. I watched the full version on youtube before I watched the show version. All three of them danced well, with a lot of energy and great facial expressions. 

Haruto obviously stood out for dancing, doing aerials and backflips and splits. He rolled with the fact that his mic pack fell out of his pocket right at the beginning, and didn’t let it show on his face. But his singing was egregious. He’s not a singer, and this song is incredibly difficult to sing even when you’re standing still. Also, his rapping wasn’t too bad. 

Min did some high kicking and acrobatics as well, and his rapping was actually good. I won’t say his singing was good but it was on key as far as I could tell, which is an achievement. 

Anthonny was the vocalist of the team and as such didn’t do any flipping around, but he sang the best. Like I said, overall, pretty charming. I have a soft spot for Anthonny for no darn reason. He’s just a cutie. 

Interestingly, the version that aired on the show had most of the bad singing edited out. I think the show wanted Haruto to look better. The judges ask him about his dancing ability and he says he used to do ballet and proceeds to do a sort of crazy 30 consecutive ballet turns. Haruto is obviously a really good dancer, but so was Min, who also rapped well. And Haruto’s singing was very, very bad -- did I mention that? But they still gave him an All Star rating  ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐ , which strikes me as objectively incorrect. I like him, you guys. I do. He’s charming and cute and a great dancer. He didn't sing well in his audition. That isn’t an opinion; it’s a fact. I think maybe 2 or 3 stars would have been fairer. Or maybe Haruto sang a separate song and did a lot better in it, but we didn't see...?

Min and Anthonny both get 3 stars 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐ , though the show doesn’t care enough to bother to show it. 

Next up, at 49:00, is Team Taipei. I’ll put their photo back up so you don’t have to scroll back and forth.

Again, left to right, that’s Chen Kuan Jui, Qui Sheng Yang, Chen Ren You, and Dong Dong. 

The judges immediately ask about the big stick and he explains he needs it for performance. 

My thoughts:   They perform Tiger Inside by SuperM. As always, I checked out the Youtube version first, before I watched the MNET edited version. I like this song just fine, if you’re wondering. 

The flexible Chen Kuan Jui is 22. His online profile mentions he does ballet and that one of his hobbies is “stretching.” Yeah, that checks out. His dancing is very good -- little details like how he bends his fingers, stuff like that. You just know his toes are pointed inside those boots. That said, his vocal color is unpleasant, and his choice to retrieve and spin that dumb stick was…. You know…. A choice. A wrong choice, but a choice. Sorry if you liked it, but I found it really unimpressive. I’d rather just watch this talented dancer dance.

The blonde Qiu Sheng Yang is 21. He also was on Atom Boyz with Ren You, on the same team but eliminated much sooner than Ren You was. His performance here is not fabulous but not awful. He seemed uncomfortable to me, like he was overdancing a bit. 

The distinctive looking Chen Ren You is 19. His online profile states that he’s a singer; he was on a Taiwanese reality show called Atom Boyz that sounds like a frickin’ hoot, but doesn’t seem available in full with English subtitles, anywhere. Ren You has one of those faces -- like GunWook on this show, or Sehun from EXO, or that one guy from Drippin, Junho. Like a face that’s just like HI, I AM A FACE. I dig it, don’t get me wrong. Anyway, his performance was good. I thought his dancing was purposeful, but sort of calm, and his singing was really good. On key, on rhythm, pleasant, all that good stuff. I’m rooting for him.

The delightfully monikered Dong Dong is 22 and represents Stardust Entertainment. I’m old as shit but I am still apparently 12 years old on the inside because I can’t. He apparently was on a Chinese reality show called The Coming One 2. Anyway, he does fine, I guess. On key, dancing is decent, it’s not awful. Bring it on, bringenon, brigggedon! 

So yeah, I say Chen Kuan Jui was the best dancer in the group, and Renyou is the best singer in the group, but they were all basically ok. Of course, the MNET editing focuses almost entirely on the stupid stick, and Renyou’s excellent singing is edited out. They give Renyou 2 stars ⭐⭐ . Are we watching the same thing? Maybe his dancing was bad and I just can’t tell because I know nothing about dancing.  

The judges focus on flexy Chen Kuan Jui and give him time to dance, and of course, he’s genuinely a very very good ballet dancer. He can get up with his toes and flip around and do all sorts of crazy stuff. But I really dislike his singing voice and I don’t know, I find him off-putting for no good reason. That’s not fair of me, but yeah, it’s where I’m at. Regardless, the judges give him 4 stars.  ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ We don’t see it, but Dong Dong gets 1 star  ⭐ and Sheng Yang gets 2 stars ⭐⭐ . 

Now we have a montage of G group groups: team Vietnam doing View, team Thailand doing Kokobop, and a Chinese group doing God’s Menu.  The editing here is brought to you by MNET’s editing team, shown here at their most recent staff meeting.

We barely see any of these teams, so I watched their full performances on Youtube and will let tell you about it! 

Team Kokobop:

A Thai duo who greet everyone with a sawadee ka. Zhang Hao from Yuehua (good looking guy with auburn hair -- we’ll meet him soon) tells Ricky from Yuehua (distinctive blonde guy, giving us Keifer Sutherland in Lost Boys vibes) that he wants to be friends with the Thai guys because he likes Thai food.

Winnie, from FirstOne Entertainment, claims his specialty is freestyle dance. He’s 24. I’ve seen his name spelled Winne, but more official sources spell it  Winnie. He’s a member of nugu group NINE.i -- two other members of that group are on the show, but they’re Korean, so we’ll meet them later. 

Nice is an individual trainee. He’s 22. He seems scared to look up or into camera lenses. 

My Thoughts:

They perform Kokobop, and I watched the whole performance on Youtube. I’m a huge EXO-L (my bias is ALL OF THEM) and I really love this song, so I know it well. Winnie was actually pretty decent, singing a really difficult song. He was a little sharp here and there but really not that bad. He also looked pretty comfortable and hit the dance moves reasonably well. I never know what the Korean public thinks looks good, but I think his styling isn’t working for him. He’s wearing way too much foundation, that shade of hair color doesn’t suit his skin, and his contact lenses just give him an unearthly, fake look. He looks better in some photos I’ve seen of him online, like this one: 

Winnie, I hope for good things for you going forward. 

Nice was terrible vocally; the dancing was ok but the vocals were unacceptable. He also looked really, really shy -- like he can’t even make eye contact with the camera. I think he is way out of his league, bless him. You’re very cute, Nice. I assume you’re rich or you wouldn’t be here, so I hope your personal wealth cushions the blow when you are rightfully kicked off. (Smash cut to Nice making the final line up because he’s cute….???)

MNET editing was pretty kind, honestly. Nice can only benefit by being edited down. He’s like the shark in Jaws -- looks great as long as you don’t see him for long. The judges give Nice 0 stars, and give Winnie 1 star ⭐ .

Next up is a G-group team: Team God’s Menu

Oh, these poor guys. They look good in their outfits, to be fair, but poor guys. Non-native speakers of Korean, trying to do this song? As someone said online, “Their souls probably left their bodies when they found out they had to do this song.” I’m trying to think of a group who could cover this song and do it justice. Monsta X probably could. And I mean, of course BTS could. Probably Hui or Jeon Soyeon could do a cool remix that would suit their own teams. Regardless, this is not an ideal song for a rookie group of non-native Korean speakers. 

I watched the whole performance on Youtube. I’m not obsessed with Stray Kids but I do like them (my bias is Changbin!), and I love love LOVE this song. Here’s my take: 

Xuan Hao also appeared on Youth With You 3, which I didn’t watch. He ended in 62nd place and apparently also uses the name “Swen.” He says on his initial profile worksheet that God’s Menu is his favorite song, and maybe that’s one of the reasons that he did a great job here. His dancing was sharp when it had to be sharp and fluid when it had to be fluid, and his singing was on key and on the beat. He’s a better singer than I.N. anyway. Yes I said it: I.N. is not a good singer. Come find me and kill me for it, I guess? That’s the kind of thing you should end a human life for, right? Anyway, I like Xuan Hao. 

Lin Shiyuan was apparently once a Cube trainee, but is now independent. He has the job of rapping Changbin’s intro rap. He doesn’t do very well. He very noticeably rushes the beat pretty much every time it’s his turn to vocalize in any way, maybe because he’s nervous, and his pronunciation is not great. He had definitely learned these complicated dance steps, but he wasn’t dancing them, just doing them. I could see the fear in his face, and when he wasn’t singing or rapping, you could almost see him counting the steps. When they were flipping the pancake, he didn’t look up to wait for it to come back down, which is 90% of the fun of that move. I can’t blame him and I’m not blaming him. Poor guy. 

Feng Junlan actually did pretty well. His rapping was on the beat and sounded good, and his dancing was precise. He looked up when they flipped the pancake -- it makes such a difference. If the judges have any sense that have to have noticed how well he did. 

When I tried to watch it to focus on Chen Liang, Feng Junlan kept stealing my attention. Liang did fine dance wise, as far as I could tell (but didn’t look up when they flipped the pancake!), but his vocals were very off key (if at least more or less on the beat). 

The judges are kind in their manner, but not generous with their stars. 

Xuan Hao gets 1 star ⭐ , which seems too low to me. 

Lin Shiyuan gets 1 star ⭐ , which must be for the dancing.

Feng Junlan gets 2 stars ⭐⭐ , which seems low to me, but I’m glad it’s not 1 or 0. 

Chen Liang gets 2 stars ⭐⭐ , which seems high to me. 

Team View - Vietnam

My thoughts:

Obviously, like any sane person, I love this song. 

Basically, none of their performance gets shown, but you guys, they were pretty good! Honestly, they sang on key and tried to keep their energy up and yeah, I don’t speak Korean but I know this song well and it didn’t sound awful. Check it out on Youtube and see for yourself -- compare their singing to that of Haruto’s and you’ll see what I mean. 

The judges give 22-year-old Cong just 1 star ⭐ , which is cruelly low, and give 19 year old Dang Hong Hai 2 stars ⭐⭐ , which is ok, I’m on the fence between 2 and 3 for him. But it’s like the judges are watching these auditions from Minhyun’s space station. And maybe… I don’t know… is there a little racism? Just a little bit? Against these two Vietnamese trainees? 

From what we can tell from the editing, the judges really dinged them for their pronunciation, as if that matters the most? As if the ability to sing on key isn’t, perhaps, more important? 

In an interview, Cong says, in Korean, that he practices Korean every day.  His pronunciation is pretty bad, though. You probably wouldn’t guess from hearing it that that was Korean, but if you listen closely you hear the Korean verb endings. It must be so hard for someone coming from a tonal language, like Vietnamese or Chinese, to learn a non-tonal language like Korean.  I think it’s much easier for Japanese speakers to speak Korean -- they’re totally different languages but have similar sounds in them. (To be technical: Japanese and Korean are not related at all, but they have similar phonemes, which are the basic sounds you make when you speak. Korean has additional vowel sounds that Japanese doesn’t have, and there are other small differences, but if you can pronounce one language it wouldn’t be too hard to learn to pronounce the other.) 

Then we get a mini montage about how much global trainees want to be kpop idols. Thai trainee Winnie says (in what sounds like very good Korean) that he wanted to be an idol since he was a kid. He turned down an opportunity with a very prestigious university, Chulalongkorn University (it’s the highest rated university in Thailand) in order to come to Korea and pursue this dream. -- in the audience,  Kim Ji Woong, a 24-year-old individual trainee we haven’t met yet but who I assume is handsome,* mutters, “Can I go to that school in your place?” which strikes me as… super sad. Like, there’s stuff going on here we don’t know but can kind of guess.

*I have to say things like “I assume this person is handsome” because my standards of handsome/not aren’t always the same as everyone else’s. For example, I think that Chen is the best looking member of Exo. I think all of these boys are nice looking, and some of them are cute or charming, etc, but I can’t always tell who is going to be the “visual King” or whatever for a given season. 

At 55:36, we see Qiu Sheng Yang (who we met earlier, in Tiger Inside), then his teammate, the flexible Chen Kuan Jui, then Osuke, a Japanese trainee we haven’t met (he’s going to do Crown), then Min, the Thai trainee who did Glitch Mode, all talking about how much they admire Korean pop music, all to the tender strains of gentle piano, and Koreans everywhere smile in satisfaction, I guess.  

And that’s enough for one post! Part II will be linked here. 

[kpoprhia]

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[minzbins]

mel · she/they · twenty-eight · sweden [see carrd for more info] this is a sideblog, i follow from @nohshinwoos.

gifmaker. please do not repost or use my gifs! ongoing gifset series: random haechan gifs, random seungkwan gifs, minho moments, binnietonin, fancams

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multi (mostly boy groups). my current ults are stray kids, seventeen, day6 and verivery, but i love and reblog a lot of groups and am always finding new ones i like - sorry if it's a mess sometimes, but that's part of the experience! [full list of groups and biases here]

currently tracking #melontrack for kpop visual content! tag me in your gifs, gfx, art etc. of any of my groups/soloists, or just anyone you think i would be interested in - boy groups/girl groups/any soloists alike. we don't have to be mutuals - i just love to support fellow content creators!

[lunarisntlee]

name as many kpop groups that you can

you have no idea how many i can actually name-

Groups below

Bts, txt, enhypen, itzy, gfriend, shinee, seventeen, twice, day6, xikers, wonder girls, brave girls, snsd, super junior, xdinary heroes, stray kids, dreamcatcher, dreamnote, dcrunch, drippin, dkz, dkb, gidle, nmixx, monsta x, baby monster, le sserafim, class:y, golden child, pink fantasy, purple kiss, purplebeck, cnblue, noir, nflying, majors, 2ne1, madtown, teen top, bap, btob, b1a4, epik high, sechskies, shinhwa, 3ye, mamamoo, sonamoo, red velvet, exo, nct, aespa, acian, april, apink, ab6ix, ace, aoa, ans, up10tion, ukiss, uniq, enoi, wanna one, x1, iz*one, iz, boyfriend, zea, highlight (former beast), mirae, kep1er, tempest, tnx, tfn, everglow, elast, epex, weeekly, billlie, bvndit, nature, pristin, gugudan, sf9, blackpink, treasure, tribe, akmu, kard, kara, fx, after school, tara, 2pm, 2am, 8turn, &team, 1team, 1the9, 9muses, vixx, verivery, vav, victon, lightsum, aimers, loona, stayc, blackswan (former rania), rainbow, pentagon, lovelyz, luminous, laboum, momoland, blank2y, black6ix, cix, clc, cherry bullet, rocket punch, justb, jbj, jyj, tvxq, baby vox, big, bigbang, brown eyed girls, hot, god, ghost9, newjeans, knk, kingdom, xodiac, zerobaseone, the boyz, the rose, greatguys, craxy, csr, ily1, h1key, fifty fifty, fromis9, ftisland, ive, ioi, irris, botopass, ichillin, girls day, boys republic, younite, mblaq, secret, sistar, secret number, weki meki, cross gene, rocking doll, spica, rolling quartz, wjsn, gwsn, wooah, wei, fiestar, stellar, blockb, finkl, jewelry, onf, onlyoneof, oneus, onewe, oh my girl, omega x, ciipher, blitzers, limelight, saturday, favorite, hotshot, berrygood, hellovenus, laysha, miss a, bae173, tan, vanner, varsity, fanatics, mave, ikon, ateez, astro, vromance, alice, to1, gre-yish