Divisive songs? ✅
Wack lyrics? ✅
Disruptive advertising? ✅
Flakey member? ✅
Yes. Katseye added sex, explicit language and turned the dial up on everything else, but we cannot forget the prototype
For those of you fortunate enough to be unaware NMIXX has become the go-to group for Kpop fans to attack anyone they deem undeserving of their success, "Your faves have no artistic integrity like NMIXX", "Your faves can't sing like NMIXX", "Your faves aren't culturally sensitive like NMIXX". You would probably have an easier time counting the number of groups that haven't been compared NMIXX.
While ego stans are inevitable in any fandom most fans are mature and intelligent enough to understand that using your faves to bash and shame other groups is counter intuitive to getting people to actually like your faves, and most NMIXX fans understand and discourage this behavior. The issue is most people who propagate these attacks aren't even fans of NMIXX. They're casual enjoyers AT BEST who've never contributed more than the three cents their total streams amount to, and would rather use NMIXX as a dagger for a quick dopamine hit while they shit on the group they dislike.
How do I know most of these people have never bought an album? Because these shade posts get 2 - 3 times as many likes and upvotes as any posts made by the official NMIXX account. You can also tell because a lot of these people straight up sound like they're shading both groups - "Gwuyz 😂 why are NMIXX swuper irrelevant and not more popular than untalented [insert group name]? 🤭"
I would never condone hate and I would destroy your ego if I see you hating on my faves, however I can completely understand if fans of any other groups have negative feelings towards NMIXX because I might feel the same way if they were the salt in my emotional wounds.
Yes I know about groups with names like C.LiTZ and the recent UNCHILD, but the thing is those names are so ridiculously horrible that they end up become iconic. Decades from now people will still be bringing up C.LiTZ on a weekly basis. It's short, snappy, hilarious, and you can't ever forget it, but OUR BIRTHDAY? That's a whole phrase!!! A mundane, normal ass phrase! If I see it in a sentence I have no idea anyone's talking about a kpop group.
It's so loooong, and also isn't it a little too hard for non native english speakers to pronounce? Korean announcers still to this day can't say Stray Kids!
A few days ago I saw someone on twitter point out that both StrayKids and GIRLSET had uploaded videos titled “test”, or to be precise it was “TEST” and “test”.
This on it’s own wouldn’t be strong evidence of anything, however both groups are also having overlapping promotional periods, and some were saying this was strong evidence of an upcoming collaboration. I personally didn’t think much of it, not until just now.
Do ya’ll remember the super random “pick a side… but curiosity will kill the kitty” short with the creepy ambiance and cat meowing? Well I just watched this StrayKids comeback teaser thing all the way to 1:05(they're in a haunted house and hear a cat meowing) and now I'm 100% certain that if there isn't a collaboration set up then there is at LEAST a very intentional association trying to be created.
JYP's been putting out some really unconventional and bizarre teasers lately. I don't know how long it's been going on, I've only just noticed it with the Stray Kids and GIRLSET's promotional material.
StrayKids put out this teaser where Yoo Byungjae is reacting to found footage filmed by the members in a haunted house, then they released a super uncanny deep faked video of the members.
GIRLSET uploaded what I assume is meant to be a precorded candid stream where they just say: "Hello chat can you hear us?" over and over again and pretend to struggle with their streaming set up, but then they also put out this totally unrelated moving poster thing of a box with warning labels on it and what sounds like a meowing kitten stuck inside.
I looked around to see if either fans knew what what was going on, but even they're confused.
Is this a new engagement strategy or have they or other labels been doing this for a while now? I kept up with NMIXX's latest comeback rollout and saw they we're applying some unusually creative ideas with the music sheet spoiler and what not, so I'm wondering if maybe they hired a marketing guy.
Edit: Never mind. I watched the SKZ found footage video all the way through and I think I understand what's going on https://www.reddit.com/r/GIRLSET_JYP/comments/1uxpdyf/i_noticed_a_thing/
Title is generalizing, what I really mean is I think many, maybe even most companies don't teach trainees how to sing*.* I promise this isn't a hate thread, I just wanted to share an epiphany I had.
I was doing a shallow deep dive on the Girlset members to get to know them a little before their thing happens. I learned they're pretty solid singers, better than most groups, I though to myself JYP must have just had a good stock of talent to choose from and I moved on — I moved on to their audition clips... My people, I know this is harsh, but I struggle to find words to adequately express what terrible singers they were. I admit Camila was pretty decent, but Savanna and Kendal in particular???
Savanna sounded like she hasn't sung a day in her life, and I am not exaggerating it sounds like the first time in her life ever opening her mouth to sing is at this damn audition. Kendall? Hopeless. I would have told you this kid has no future, she's clearly tone deaf!
So I sit there asking my self how the girls in these auditions are who they are today. How do you go from horrible to good, and from hopeless to solid in two years? Wtf is anyone else doing? That's when I realized that most just aren't trying, and after some more thinking I realized that trying is actually stupid because why would you spend tens of thousands of dollars on singing lessons for trainees that you don't even know will be successful when a one time couple of hundred dollar software purchase will make your idols sound flawless to 90% of your target audience? As a CEO why wouldn't you just tell yourself you'll get them lessons after they make it big?
I stumbled upon the glorious SPINNI'N ON IT Dolby Atmos mix two months ago and since then one of favorite things to do has been to look for all the differences between the spatial audio and regular mixes of all my favorite songs. I listened to all of the Dolby Atmos mixes for the songs on this album, but I'll only be sharing my thoughts on two.
"Heavy Serenade" - This one caught me the most off guard. There's this EDM synth in the first two choruses that I completely failed to notice in the original mix, but is very audible here. It gives the song an edge that I really like, and although it doesn't sound too much like it reminded me of "Spitfire" by The Prodigy. There's also what sounds like a metallic detuned slap bass sprinkled through out the song that added some nice brightness.
"LOUD" - Bae is turned WAAY up in the choruses and her voice rises above all the others. I hope anyone who biases her gets to hear it because she sounds magnificent.
There's so much vocal layering in the album, I hope someone uploads the stems on youtube. I would upload them myself, but I haven't figured out how extract them with out noticeable loss in quality.
If you're going to rely on Youtube ads as your primary promotion method you need the song to be PEAK in the first 7 seconds. If the start is slow and doesn't get phenomenal until a minute in then you're setting your promo budget on fire.
If you are releasing emotional, maximalist music that Kpop fans aren't used to listening to you need to make the song LONG to give the audience time to acclimate to a new sound. Few people are going to be looping an emotionally complex "in my feels" type of song. I know you know this because you don't typically prioritize releasing them on streaming platforms. So why are you making it 2:40 long? What do you possibly have to gain?
