https://youtube.com/shorts/5\_hx963C5jw?si=TFC3\_XciLG34p6hK
They are clearly very well known. You can barely hear them singing. And I see many people say that it’s because their music sounds “old” (I don’t think so) but when other groups release “new” sounding music they hate them.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate idols who communicate a lot with fans, it is lovely and it is part of their job and I get it. But sometimes I wonder if the constant pressure to always be present online must be exhausting. Honestly, I think I’ve outgrown the need for constant idol content.
These days I’d rather see my faves post occasionally and know they’re taking care of themselves, focusing on their work, or simply enjoying life away from cameras. And maybe this sounds strange, but when idols share things less often, those moments sometimes feel more genuine and meaningful to me.
Do you prefer frequent interaction and updates, or do you enjoy a bit more distance and mystery?
Disclaimer: Everything I’ve learned about Katseye has been against my will.
Just from the information I’ve seen it seems Geffen is the spearhead behind what’s happening to Manon. Which leads me to wonder: when her departure is finally announced, do you think Hybe will try to put her in a new group project—not an existing one? If so, do you think it would work? I don’t see why she couldn’t be in a new group. She wasn’t in Katseye for a long time, and a new group could be a fresh start. She would go into this project with more wisdom, and will hopefully not get screwed over again. I personally think she would do better in a group than as a solo artist. But if it’s just modeling, being an influencer, and maybe an actress she wants to do, then that’s completely fine as well. She’s got the fan base and support to do just that.
I am attending the I.O.I Loop tour in Bangkok and I was wondering if it is not good to wear those Produce 101 evaluation shirts (the pink shirts with velcro nametags on the belly area of the shirt) with a nametag of a contestant who was not in the final lineup of IOI?
I was either planning to go with Han Hyeri and Pledis' Minkyeung (Pristin's Roa), as they were my picks during that time.
Any input is appreciated.
Besides kpop parties, are kpop songs ever played at clubs in non-Asian countries?
When I lived in the US years ago there was just a few Psy songs, and recently Apt.
Sometimes a creative fan compilation or edit highlights parts I hadn’t noticed, and suddenly I’m obsessed.
Does fan content ever change how you feel about a song?
Because the truth of the matter is, even members in any given group can dislike a song chosen as their title track. Plenty of idols have said in the past that they didn’t or don’t like certain songs of theirs. Even Ryujin from ITZY said before their comeback that Motto is "completely not her style". I see too many people say things like “no skip discography” or “they never miss,” and I just find that very disingenuous. There’s no way a group with a sizable discography fully align with your taste every single release.
I feel like within any fandom, whenever there’s a comeback, most reactions tend to be positive, which is totally fine. But I often see the minority who don’t enjoy the song express their disappointment, only to be met with fans dismissing their opinion outright or calling it “wrong.” I think that’s where it gets uncomfortable.
I read this article about a lawsuit against Yuehua entertainment and while I understand the gist of it I’m not the most knowledgeable about law so I feel like there is a lot I missed.
To summarize it sounds like ZB1 had a scheduled event in 2025 “All Loud KT Pop 2025” and it was conveyed to the organizer of the event that all of the members would attend. It seems like Yuehua decided unilaterally to pull Zhang Hao and Ricky from the lineup at the last minute and put out a false statement stating it was for health reasons when in actuality they were instructed not to attend.
After that is where I’m getting confused. It seems like the point of the lawsuit is that the organizing company is suing Yuehua for breach of contract but Yuehua is trying to avoid the lawsuit by saying they didn’t get paid for the event since the members didn’t attend and they suffered losses such as having to hand out refunds, fan complaints and “commercial credit damage” (but wasn’t Wakeone the company that took the hit? Fans were complaining about them so I don’t think Yuehua actually suffered any consequences?). Also I saw something mentioned that the reason the members were pulled was due to geopolitical reasons since this event was in Taiwan.
Is anyone able to explain the situation a little better?
STARSTRUCK - 2:58
Like a Bubble - 3:09
Took It Too Far - 3:18
PERFECT - 2:58
Genie Magic - 3:07
Carry On - 2:55
Very refreshing to see when music trends shorter and shorter these days. Groups under HYBE being the biggest offenders lately.
It's nice to see longer songs still have a place and are appreciated in 2026.
During fromis_9's mandatory yearly university festival tour, they've been performing their usual hits in Korea (DM, Supersonic, We Go, Like You Better). Except this time, they've replaced their third summer song (Stay This Way) with their Christmas remake of a 1st gen song (White Memories) that was actually very big in Korea. It went to the top ten of every charts.
It's funny to see them performing a song about being lonely in the winter season during the month where literally everyone is burning hot from the summer heat. Granted, they're probably obligated to perform it as it's now their second biggest song in Korea. I don't think even they expected White Memories to be that much of a hit since they were mostly known for their summer songs.
But you know what, get that bag, fromis. They allegedly earned 18k$ per university appearance according to a rumor early 2024. It's probably a lot higher by now.
His voice is really great and steady during the performance, and he makes you feel comfortable listening to him.
For example, During his performance of When We Were Young - by Adele was soo good !
Or in Masked Singer he did a very good jop .
Im literally so sad that there missing out on views, i'm a bit worried that they will disband. Theyre music is so good, i love the style it would be a shame if they disbanded because lack of streaming and views. Theyre one of the reasons i even got seriously into kpop.
Whats's your favorite billlie track in general or on their new album?
My fav on the album is either $ECRET no more, off-air or b'yond me!
I am not an expert in differentiating between AR, MR, and live vocals, but their music show performances sound completely raw to me. If it is a mix of something, please enlighten me in the comments.
That said, I was surprised when I first noticed (from the very first show) their raw vocals
The most recent example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCQibd9tr6Q . If you are not comfortable with clicking the random links in the internet (rightfully), the name: "NMIXX - Heavy Serenade | Show! MusicCore | aired on MBC260516 #NMIXX "
I love how Sullyoon is so happy every time she nails that "Run" sequence.
And Lily sounds exactly like in the recordings, while Haewon shows off her unique sound texture.
Jiwoo's voice texture scratches my brain crisp, and Kyujin's sounds so soft in the prechorus. Bae is projecting her velvet voice so well in that "Run" sequence too, and overall I loved the performance a lot.
To sum up, this type of pure performance is super rare in kpop and I appreaciate them venturing into this
I’m 32 and tracked my fiber for a week mostly out of curiosity.
I was getting like 12g a day.
The recommendation is 25–35g, which honestly explained a lot. I always had mid-afternoon crashes, bloating, and just random stomach stuff I never really thought about.
The tracking apps I tried didn’t really help either. MyFitnessPal tracks fiber, but it’s buried behind calories and macros. Cronometer felt way too detailed for what I wanted.
I basically just wanted an app that told me one thing:
Did I hit my fiber today or not?
So I built one.
It has a daily ring for your fiber goal, barcode scanner, 200+ USDA foods, and a plant diversity score. That last part was kind of surprising to me. A lot of gut health research points to variety per week, not just total grams.
A few honest surprises after using it for ~6 months:
Free, iOS only, on device, no account.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6760719879
Would genuinely love feedback on the food database or anything that feels off.
Personally I didn't follow them when they were active 10 years ago. I just love Chung Ha. But I've watched a few variety shows where they appeared on as guests because they're doing a press run rn in Korea, and they're just hilarious together. It got me wondering what their real fans think of their new single "Suddenly." I think it sounds nice and was def inspired by Hwasa's "Good Goodbye," but I would have liked to see them do a more upbeat song.
This video randomly popped up on my feed and it ended up being a pretty interesting watch. The panel consists of music show producers, radio producers, and radio hosts reviewing the recent “girl group showdown” happening in K-pop right now.
The video does have English subtitles, but they seem to be auto-translated, so there are quite a few inaccuracies. I figured I’d give a more concise and accurately translated breakdown of most of the comments they made about each release. I've excluded the parts where they talk about the b-sides.
ILLIT - IT'S ME
aespa - WDA (feat. G-Dragon)
BABYMONSTER - CHOOM
NMIXX - Heavy Serenade
I think I have a pretty solid perspective on this because I’ve stanned groups ranging from complete nugus, to groups from smaller labels, all the way to groups under the Big 4 companies. Outside of the usual petty fanwars online, stanning a Big 4 group honestly isn’t that stressful. Though ngl, the constant ITZY doomposting over the past 3 years has definitely been annoying and gotten to me at times. But aside from that, it’s been a pretty comfortable experience overall.
What really sucks about stanning smaller groups is that every comeback feels like survival mode. Realistically, you know they’re probably not going to top charts or anything, but you still desperately want them to achieve some level of success because you never know when, or if, the next comeback will happen if the results aren't as encouraging.
With bigger groups, there’s at least a sense of stability. You’re pretty much guaranteed regular music releases, decent-to-good promotions, and opportunities to see them tour globally. Even if a few comebacks underperform, you know the company has enough resources to continue pushing the group.
For smaller groups, one underperforming comeback can genuinely change the trajectory of their entire career. Budget cuts become noticeable, promotions become shorter, content output slows down, and eventually you start seeing long hiatuses that make fans anxious. Sometimes the members themselves start looking visibly discouraged because they’re putting in the exact same amount of effort without getting much in return.
That's why every moment feels so special. Getting a music show win on The Show (which sadly stopped running atm), or even something as small as getting a viral moment online feels incredibly rewarding as a fan. Idk, the journey just feels a lot more personal and emotionally invested as a fan.
Have you guys ever felt the same way stanning smaller groups? What has your experience been like?
My friend and i were talking about this on disc:
“ngl it’s sooo hard to be a soloist. even bts w the hybe money only jungkook was able to have a real hit. for the dudes it’s harder tbh to capture the general public… most of them just run w fandom support. If u compare this to the girls, u got the bp girls that all got a hit, sunmi, chungha, yena, iu, taeyeon, somi etc… like sure some had a previous group fandom but these ppl actual had viral hits and were able to build beyond that fandom. Ik so many new kpop stans that like sunmi & taeyeon and only know them as soloists lol.”
But it made me think um like even the girlies like hm they not doing as well as I remember. I think yenas catch catch smashed both internationally and domestically cuz the trend was everywhere but here are some stats for some girlies in 2021 vs 2025:
Chungha: she released a ton of singles for her album Querencia and all had over 50 mil streams vs stress 8 mil
Somi: dumb dumb (179 mil), xoxo (132 mil) vs extra (9 mil), closer (15 mil)
Sunmi: tail (57 mil) vs cynical (1.7 mil)
It’s not the girls let’s look at the dudes too:
Baekhyun: bambi (97 mil) vs elevator (16 mil)
Kai: rover (206 mil) vs wait on me (27 mil)
A part of me is like did new soloists come in and replace these ppl but even that im not sure… ik some acts did go solo but idk if they got a hit w the public ig. Last one i can kinda remember is nayeon w pop also jisoo flower i believe. Wait dayoung too w body. Mb there was more after im not sure.
Just made me realize how it’s so hard to go solo since u don’t got ships/content to keep fans still invested. Kinda thought ex riize dude would smash cuz we all did support him but not many tuned in… im guessing it’s cuz he doesn’t have that much of a fanbase. ATP i think u gotta strike when the irons hot or else it’s hard. Makes me understand more why groups are staying together longer than ppl go their individual ways.
I saw a thread comparing BTS rapline to Western rappers and I felt like some people in the comments were unintentionally downplaying how broad and sophisticated Black American rap already is.
This was basically my response:
I think technically and artistically BTS rapline is genuinely strong, especially RM and Suga. They clearly study hip hop seriously, understand rap structure/songwriting, and engage with the genre beyond just “idol rap.”
But I also understand the hip hop purist perspective that rap isn’t only about flow or technical skill. Hip hop comes from a very specific Black American cultural and historical context, and that matters to a lot of people too. And I think sometimes K-pop fans accidentally downplay how artistically broad and sophisticated Western/Black hip hop already is when comparing BTS to it.
Like Western hip hop already contains:
So when people say BTS rapline feels unique, I personally think it’s less that they invented a completely different kind of rap and more that they blend Korean lyrical sensibilities/emotionality with styles already existing within hip hop traditions.
RM especially reminds me of poetic/conscious rappers and I think that influence really shows considering RM himself has mentioned Nas multiple times as one of his inspirations. Suga leans into emotional confession and aggression in a way that overlaps with both underground and mainstream rap traditions, and J-Hope’s rhythmic/playful style reminds me of more performance-oriented rappers.
So I don’t really approach BTS rapline as “better or worse than Western rappers” in a direct competitive sense, because a lot of Western rap is tied to lived experiences and regional histories BTS obviously don’t share.
What makes BTS rapline stand out to me compared to most idol rappers is that they usually rap from their actual experiences and seem genuinely artistically invested in hip hop as an art form rather than just performing the aesthetics of it.
What do you guys think?
Lemme give some examples… all these groups were successful but kinda went on hiatus/disbandment after 5-7 years:
- miss a: 2010-2015 (ik they disbanded in 2017 but only you was their last single and that was 2015)
- 2ne1: 2009-2016
- sistar: 2010-2017
compare this to groups nowadays that still are thriving and some are even reaching new peaks now:
- twice still going strong after 10 years and still get consistent cbs
- seventeen i always see a lotta releases from them
- stray kids reaching 8 years and still going strong 💪 same w idle txt itzy all around the same time debut
- even some mid tier groups reaching 7 year ish mark and still together like cravity onf etc