Kaime's Kpop Harem

I CAN'T! The blushing, the pose, THE HEART. Okay, this one is my favourite now.

Awww, my iPod is full of kpop now too. I put a lot of stuff that was recommended earlier in this thread on it recently, so that's good.

What are some of the other groups you both like?

I can contribute nothing to the SHINee discussion because I really don't follow them. All I know is that their teasers are EVERYWHERE.

It's only going to get worse once the MV is released, vid.

Oh, I know. Boy do I know. Everything is going to explode once the MV is released. Meanwhile I'll be over in the corner cooing softly over NU'EST and likely completely miss the whole thing.

Speaking of NU'EST, did you watch their mini-concert that was uploaded onto youtube? They're so precious, especially during the interview after the concert when they were talking about going out to eat with their families who came to visit them. Then, when they were asked what the menu was going to be for the meal, they all starting chanting "Meat, meat, meat!"

Too cute.

Well she's the hugest 2NE1 fan I know. I like a good percentage of their songs but she's the one who actively follows all of the news behind them. She's into a lot more groups than I am, that's for sure. We both like JYJ, Epik High, TVXQ, Big Bang, U-KISS, and MBLAQ. I'm still getting into other groups but she knows pretty much all of them.

Oh, those great groups (who I know very little about). My one friend pretty much worships JYJ, TVXQ and U-KISS. I remember there was some SM drama with JYJ, or something?

There's always SM drama though. I can never keep up.

So much drama that you don't even know. There was a lawsuit involved, which still hasn't been settled, and there were rumors of SM keeping JYJ from performing in certain places if I recall correctly. It was a huge thing back in 2009-2010.

JYJ hasn't released that many albums, but the artists are doing great solo, at least Junsu and Jaejoong are. Junsu's Tarantallegra album is great and Jaejoong recently debuted with his solo mini-album I'd love to see Yoochun release an album.

Holy shit! I never thought SM would go that far. I mean, I always joke about the various boxes they use for their MVs, among other things, but this is just awful. They don't even treat artists like human beings...

I know a little about Jaejoong. I've only listened to 'Mine' but I'll check out his album too, k-rock is great. I need to read up on all of this though, it's just mind-boggling.

I haven't had the time to just sit down and watch it yet, no, which makes me incredibly sad. I'm hoping to do so before I go to work tonight.

Yeah, SM is pretty terrible. I can only see their artists as puppets with the way that they treat them and it makes it really hard for me to support anything they[SM] do. There are some theories suggesting that the only reason Changmin and Yunho stayed was because they were afraid of what SM might do to them. I'm not sure that that's the case, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

If you're going to listen to K-rock, I'll warn you that a lot of it is more melodic and softer than rock in the states.
With that said, I'd recommend Seo-Tae-ji (if you can FIND any of their songs)
Guggenstein is pretty popular, but I find their music way too slow for my tastes.

Hey, Kaimeanogo and Hikikomori , on the subject of JYJ leaving and Yunho and Changmin staying behind...did you hear that Jaejoong left behind letters for all of the members right before he left. (At least, I think that's the case, I may be wrong here, and correct me if you can.)
Those letters were absolutely heartwarming, and it broke my heart T-T.

I actually didn't know about the letters :O The whole matter of JYJ and TVXQ is just really depressing

Here, let me see if I can find some of them translated...or translate some of them myself.

EDIT: Jaejoong wrote these right after the mirotic period...so I think it's right before they broke up?

I can't find the original...but I can find plenty of its translations. Since they are pretty consistent throughout...here you go, have some food for thought:

To: Yoochun
Yoochun, you don’t say much usually but writing this down using these kind of words make me a little embarrassed. I know you have been very tired recently, worried and forcing a smile out – I feel sorry. We are always together and the other members are unable to see your sadness but the hard words have to be said out. If you’re tired, tell me, I will help you. I will also listen to all your troubles because I am always by your side. You can tell me anything and everything – the soul of my life. Yoochun, I love you.

To: JunsuMy cute Junsu. Because of you, we are DBSK; Junsu, the sound of DBSK. Kim Junsu, hyung really thinks you’re important, do you know? I have never forced you to do anything and you have always treated me seriously. Sorry, but I love you, my cute little brother, Junsu. Thank you, and sorry, as comapred to many others, hyung really understand your past, and wants to help you and that is why please continue working hard! I love you, Junsu!

To: ChangminOur small and cute cat, we haven’t been making you do the cooking recently, sorry. Because of you, we have almost become closer, frustrating. However, we totally understand it is due to your fatigue and your lost of energy when you occasionally tease us and command us to do stuff. We are all almost crazy.. haha.. always with a good heart and full of innocence, Changmin. You must continue working hard next time. We are always protecting you, if you’re tired, you must say it and we will help you. Forever the youngest, I love you.

To: YunhoJung Yunho, Yunho, Yunho, our leader, Yunho. Are you tired recently? My, Yun, Ho, the reason he became the leader is because he has to tolerate all the hardships. Whenever I see your fatigue body, I think that way. I want to help shoulder some burden but am always unable to.. I know when we received the award, the other members were crying but you were holding it in and only hid in the toilet and cry when we reached home. Therefore, thank you for your letter but what was the content in the letter? “Sleep earlier, if you don’t sleep I will kill you..” Yunho, there would not be me if not for you. My other half, Yunho, I love you.

Credit: http://minsarang.wordpress.com/2009...letter-to-dbsk-members-during-mirotic-period/

But really, these letter's translations are everywhere. I wish I could've found the original to compare...but from what I can remember of the letters, these translations are accurate.

Oh :(. Those are really sweet. If I remember right, the lawsuit occurred during The Secret Code which was released a little over a year after Mirotic. These letters make me really sad...

These letters really do make me sad.

Apparently Jaejoong meant for these letters to be private (he wrote them on broadcast, however the contents weren't revealed), and somehow these letters got leaked to the public.
I'm not exactly sure how, either.

The Dream Girl album is out! You can hear all of the tracks here!

Personally, I don't like this album as much as Sherlock, but it isn't a bad album. I think that after listening to the songs a few more times I'll like it more. Hitchhiking is my favorite but I feel like besides the chorus, the song falls flat. Dynamite is a close second and is an altogether better rounded out song, I just prefer hitchhiking because I absolute love the chorus. Dream girl wasn't a bad choice for the title song, it's pretty catchy.

What do you guys think about part one of SHINee's comeback album?

For the Shawols: the 'Dream Girl' MVs are out.

These letters are both very sweet and heart-breaking. Yelim, thank you so much for finding the translations for us! It's greatly appreciated. I just feel so angry about what SM did and how they treated everyone. I don't have anything to say that'd be very helpful, except words that'd bring sailors to shame. Wow.

I've been listening to the album currently during my free period at school, and so far ... I really like it! Some songs, like Dynamite, turned out to be slightly different than what they seemed like they were going to be based on the snippets from the Melody, but I don't dislike that. I think, so far, Dream Girl is the song that's caught my attention the most. Like you said, it's really catchy but sometimes I feel as if (especially around the chorus) too much is going on at once, with the background music and the singing as they overlap. It's as if something sort of went wrong when their voices and the music were combined. At least, thats how it sounds to me. The other songs on the album I really like are Runaway, Aside, Hitchhiking and Punch Drunk Love. Spoiler is okay too but Beautiful is the song I dislike the most at the moment. Though, that'll probably change in time.

Thanks for posting the MV(s), vid! I stayed up 'til really late because I thought the MV was going to be released around 10pm Eastern time, but that was only the album. *sigh*
Anyway, the MV was ...... okay? I don't know, to be frank, I'm a bit disappointed. Even the dance is missing that *bam* SHINee factor I expected from them. I felt like they could have utilized the actress more and had a discernible plot to match the lyrics, or even the general 'feel' of the song. I get that the song is called Dream Girl, but all the MV consisted of were of crazy, flashy shots that tumblr will probably eat up. The outfits didn't really surprise me either. Even someone who's not a huge SHINee fan is probably aware of their crazy fashion sense, haha.

Kaimeanogo , what did you think? What did everyone think? For me, I guess this was a bit of a let down.
Also, can I just add that both Minho's and Taemin's voices have leveled up big time. I'm really surprised by how much their singing has improved, good for them! Onew, Jonghyun and Key sounded great as well.

Not even sure if this should go here since they sing in English but they are Korean, so it counts right?! My friend sang their "Go" when we went to karaoke last week. I like this song better though.

For all those Big Bang Fans out there, this is G-dragon and Taeyang back when they were kids in YG family, before Big Bang was even a thought in YG's head.
This is back when Taeyang still went by his name, Youngbae.

It's a concert performance of Unfold at a Higher Place, and yes, Taeyang raps in this.

No, I agree. I feel extremely disappointment at this MV and I'm so glad that I didn't stay up to wait for it. The MV itself was incoherent and nothing really happened. The dance version was lackluster too. I feel like they didn't even try with the choreography. I know SHINee can do a lot better than whatever that was. Everything is half-finished and half-assed for their comeback.

Really, I'm just super pissed off at SM. I can only imagine that they're using all of their resources on EXO's comeback. I feel horrible for SHINee and the other ignored SM artists this year. Excuse me while I fly to Korea and slap everyone at the SM headquarters.

Actually, I may go to Korea over the summer.

Would you like to stowaway in my nice, comfortable luggage?
I could slip you some airplane food that I never eat.

That offer is open to Hikikomori as well.

As long as you promise to translate every single thing, I'm all for it! My broken Korean would only bring shame to myself, and you guys for having to hear it.

Eh, I'll skip the airplane food though.

Yes. we have to put an end to their fuckery. Pictured here: Kaime snapping and kicking everyone in SM's ass.

Like I said before, I think SM's just hit the point of not giving a fuck with their more famous groups because they're so well-established they're going to sell no matter what.

Yep, I completely agree with everything you said, Kaime. You pointed out everything I had a problem with about the MV. I'm still left feeling pretty 'meh' about it after having watched it a few times. SM really blew it this time.

Earlier, I was watching some reactions to the Dream Girl MV on youtube, and the whole time I was just wondering whether or not they were watching the same MV I had seen. I dunno why everyone seems so blown away by it. Are we the only sane ones around here?

Completely true. The fans are going to like what SM puts out whether it's crap or not. That's why they don't give a fuck anymore and just throw half-finished crap at us.

Yup. I won't be surprised when their next MV is just as bland as this one.

That's a wise choice. I'd rather stab myself than eat that...thing...

Alright. We'll just have to pass by their building that's surrounded by a bunch of sasaeng fans that gang up on any newcomers.
Seriously, it's like they camp out there. And it's scary.
Frickin' thirteen year olds want to break our knee caps kind of scary.

Sadly, that seems to be the trend.
I used to be a huge fan of Shinhwa, though. SM wasn't so bad back then.

I'm not afraid of crazed fangirls. Have I mentioned that I have slight yandere tendencies? <3

I found something interesting yesterday and thought I'd post it.

Soompi make a compilation of every rookie group debut in 2012, and split them up between two videos. One for girl groups and one for boy groups.

For some reason, I can't embed the videos *cries* So just click on the links to see them.

From the boys groups, I recognized B.A.P, SPEED, NU'EST, BTOB, EXO, JJ Project, VIXX, A-JAX, C-CLOWN, Tasty, 100%, and MR.MR

From the girl groups, I recognized SPICA, EXID, Hello Venus, GLAM, EvoL, Tiny-G, and FIESTAR

Soompi also made this really cool chart showing the number of group debuts from 1996 to 2012 (258 groups all together)

In total, there were around 87 idol group debuts in 2012 alone. That's the highest number of debuts ever in a single year, and that number doesn't even take into account the various sub-units and duo debuts.

When I was watching the videos, there were so many groups I was drawing blanks on or I didn't even know existed. It's so sad that so many groups debuted and not everyone made a strong enough impact to be noticed. With so many debuts, it adds more pressure onto groups to succeed and really make an impression. All that stress and work must really be tiring, but it makes me appreciate the work idols put in even more. I think that's why some groups, like B.A.P, constantly have comebacks in a such short timespan. With all these debuts, it's very easy to be washed away by the current and be forgotten just like that.

What do you guys think of all of this? Do you think this is a trend that'll continue into 2013? Is it a good thing, having all these groups debuting at once? What were the rookie debuts that caught your eye in 2012?

Quite honestly? I think that the band trend will continue for a long time.

Some groups and some soloists will inevitably be blown away by the weakness of their impact. However, which groups are popular and which groups aren't are reallly indicative of what nationality you are.
Like, for example, some of the groups you named? I have no idea who they are. Netizens in other countries tend to think that some group from some famous company are particularly popular in korea...when they're not. Exo is a great example of this, koreans have no idea what the heck is an exo, or if they do, they can be slightly contemptuous of it.

I mean, most foreign fans don't seem to know who Neil and Boohwal are, and they are the reigning billboard toppers for Korea. (Neil is a soloist, and Boohwal is a band)

Since I haven't been on Naver for a long time, I can't say which groups have ACTUALLY found notice in Korea, rather than other parts of asia. I'll try to go on there sometime and check the news.
In any case, I don't believe debuting too many rookies is a good thing, but hey, it makes money.

Yeah, I know the popularity of some groups varies from Country to Country. I thought EXO would've been more popular in Korea though, that's a shock to me! And I don't know who Neil and Boohwal are, so I guess that shows the contrast in what's popular in Korea vs Other parts of Asia vs Internationally?

It's like what happened with Busker Busker. The majority of people didn't know who they were in other countries, but they were winning all sorts of rookie awards and climbing the charts in Korea.

I agree with you, I think the trend is going to continue for a while now. It's still sad that a lot of groups with great potential will probably be pushed aside for the more mainstream or quick-to-gain popularity groups, but what can you do?

That'd be awesome if you could check Naver out! I'm curious to see which groups are popular in Korea, because the groups I mainly hear about over here are EXO, B.A.P, SPICA and GLAM.

See, the problem is, SM is actually more popular internationally than in Korea itself. For example, Super Junior, for the longest time ever, were called DBSK rejects in Korea. SM was at its height during the Shinhwa, DBSK, and maybe the creation of SHINee era. Other than that, people who listen to SM are mocked.
For Koreans, mostly, Super Junior songs are mostly earworms.
With that said, SNSD has incredible popularity amongst some men, like the men that idolize AKB48 in Japan. They have the "innocent" and "virginal" look that I guess some men enjoy.

Neil and Boohwal are older groups and the artists are in their thirties to forties, I'm not surprised that international kpop fans don't know who they are.

Wait, Let me check Naver now....Since I really only go on Naver for online cafes and Webcomics, this may take a while for me to find something, anything.

This is the Music section for Naver:

http://music.naver.com/

There are advertisements for CD's above before you get down to the TOP 100s. (Since I can't type in Korean on this Computer, please bear with me). There are three tabs there, on top of the Top 100s, The first says resting time (I think) the second says National, the third says International.
Let's take a look at the National lists.

1.) Winter Love - The One
2.) Gone not around Any Longer - Star19
3.) If This isn't Love - Verbal Jint Ft. Ailee
4.) Dream Girl - SHINee
5.) Ramen? - Akdong Musician
6.) Monodrama - Hagak (?) ft. Yoo Seung-oo
7.) Tears - Leesang (Listen to him, guys, He's amazing!)
8.) Don't You Know? - Da Vinci (A Girl's Group)
9.) Rain Shower - Bae Chi-Gi (? If I'm not mistaking this, and this is a group or something...This is a really wierd name) Ft. Ailee
10.) What Can I do - Noel (Another famous soloist. Right alongside Niel on this one)

Now I'm going to list only those you guys might know:

Spot Eleven Goes to Clazziquai for their Love Recipe
Spot Twelve Goes to Rainbow For their Tell Me Tell Me
Spot Fourteen Goes to Ailee for her IceFlower
Spot Fifteen Goes to BoA for her Disturbance
(Spot eighteen goes to Four Men, but you guys don't know them, right?)
Spot Nineteen Goes to CNBlue for their I'm Sorry.
Spot Twenty One goes to Star19 for their A Girl in Love
Spot Twenty Two goes to Seo Inguk for his I Can't Live Because of You
Spot Twenty Three goes to SNSD for their I Got a Boy

Going down the line, today, Ailee and Shinee are particularly Popular. Shinee just sent out a new album, so that's to be expected. There are other bands such as 2YOON and one instance of Four Minute there. Clazziquai has gotten three songs on it. And Star19 seems to be pretty popular.
Girls Day is another band you might now that got their song on the list.
And I only listed the Top 50.

The list changes pretty quickly, so if you want, I can go check this list again after another week or after a favorite group of yours got a new album out or something.

Like hell I don't! My excitement over their new album was pretty much tangible.

NO WAY!
YOU KNOW FOUR MEN???
WE NEED TO FANGIRL TOGETHER SOME DAY!!!!

Wow! Thank you for all your hard work, Yelim. All of this is just really fascinating. Looking at the list you posted, some of the names there I sort of expected like SNSD, CNBlue, and BoA. Sad that rookies like B.A.P aren't really all that popular....

I know of Four Men, too! Well, not enough about them to be able to fangirl with you guys, but I've heard a few of their songs.

Checking the 51-100 list...

Spot 51 goes to BAP for their ONE SHOT
Spot 56 goes to Infinite H for their Special Girl
Spot 57 goes to SHINee for their Spoiler
Spot 59 goes to Sunny Hill for their Goodby to Romance
Spot 60 goes to Yang Yoseob for his Caffeine
Spot 65 goes to SNSD for their Dancing Queen
Spot 66 goes to SHINee for their Dynamite
Spot 70 goes to Teen Top for their I want to Love
Spot 71 goes to Primary for their ?
(Spot 75 goes to MFBTY for their Sweet Dream, do you guys know these people?)
Spot 80 goes to Lee Hi for her 1,2,3,4
Spot 98 goes to VIXX for their I'm Ready to Get Hurt.

EDIT:
Don't be too sad, BAP got spot 51