To the Top of The World With a Song

noah - 24 - they/them tvx-q.carrd.co

[thatssummer]

TVXQ! Appreciation Week 2025 favorite song—Wrong Number 081130

[koreantunes]

Visit Original Link

크나큰 (KNK) - Sunset

[easterlystars]

yunho on changmin: "changmin has always been working next to me. he's never complained and has always worked hard in a quiet manner. when i see him i can feel his strong sense of responsibility. besides, we trust each other so much that i really have nothing more to say about what changmin does." — Numéro TOKYO (Jan/Feb 2025 special)

[easterlystars]

yunho on changmin: "changmin has always been working next to me. he's never complained and has always worked hard in a quiet manner. when i see him i can feel his strong sense of responsibility. besides, we trust each other so much that i really have nothing more to say about what changmin does." — Numéro TOKYO (Jan/Feb 2025 special)

[forepop]

lee joon acknowledging mblaq in the year of our lord 2024 <3

[disvelocity]

i bought tickets to see changkyun in ny because it was a saturday and they changed the concert to a monday because it sold out in like 5 minutes im going to die im so mad because i cant go now

[suuho]

i don’t care what the most streamed song ever is i don’t care who sold the most albums i don’t care what the most viewed mv of all time is i don’t care about these inflated achievements i don’t care about the sales or the streams or the views all i care about is if i like it or not hope this helps

[qazastra]

anybody else pressing numbers or is it just me and this guy taemin

[uknow]

TVXQ! - Wrong Number [2008]

[theboytatu]

you guys this car just ran over my grandpa

[disvelocity]

Why'd they do that to shinee

[kingofthebitches]

convinced kpop fans don’t know what live vocals sound like. they haven’t “eaten the cd” girl that IS the cd

[kingofthebitches]

well no one said all that

[kingofthebitches]

i (because this is my post) am not expecting perfection from vocalists who are overworked. i’m also not expecting them to sing live every time. but i AM expecting labels to be more honest about what IS live and for kpop fans to have a bit more discernment regarding live performances.

idols are never going to sing live again if they

are expected to wear those stupid ass goofy mics and sing despite doing difficult choreo,

know they can depend on their label to be a safety net for their bad vocal performances by scrubbing all evidence from the live clips by processing them, and

are not given a choice as to when they ARE expected to be singing live, without backing tracks, and without expectation of processing

kpop fans are never going to learn what live singing sounds like if all of these performances are marketed as live when

the idols are relying on backing tracks, but the parts they ARE singing live are processed anyway before they’re posted online, or

they’re not even producing noise and they’re lip syncing

[kingofthebitches]

THIS IS NOT SHADE but i realize now that this post has left containment that many people don't know how to discern live singing from lip syncing or processed singing. and this is not unique to kpop!!! but if you want to learn i found two videos that might help

there's this one about lip syncing and it's all western artists (cw for chris brown sorry)

and there's this one about kpop specifically (cw for blackpink and (g)i-dle. lmao)...the fact nmixx had to perform tank live while doing that choreography is literally insane.

but tl;dr (and i know this post is already long as hell)

live vocals require effort and you can usually tell (they're out of breath because they're doing All That Shit onstage) (like wendell has frighteningly good vocal stability but everyone is not her)

live vocals sound like they're coming through a microphone and you can usually tell (the ps sound loud as hell)

the backing track and live singing sound different and you can usually tell when they switch between the two

another issue in kpop is that they often have artists pre-record their vocals outside of a studio or in one take and then use them for "live" performances but since it would be insane for an artist to remember exactly how they sang it you can often tell when music is pre-recorded but not the studio version either. which is why some of the examples in the second video are suspect.

there's not really anything to gain or lose from training your ear but it certainly helps you to avoid getting clowned by people when you say something is live singing and it is not.

i really liked the closing of the second video where they said "i really care about live vocals but i understand lip syncing in the context of performance." like i get it we want to hear live singing i LOVE live singing but sometimes it's not feasible. which is why it's so wild when kpop labels still try to market it as live like now you're just playing in my face

[sasukelandia]

[forepop]

(Astro knocking the easy-breazy disco trend out of the park with “After Midnight”!)

came across this small opinion piece and they just said what i've been thinking so well:

In the episode of the podcast I just posted, one of my guests says that, traditionally, one of the important elements of Kpop was the intertextual relationships. We see group members on variety and dramas and commercials and get to know them through these lenses, adding another dimension to our enjoyment of their songs and performances. These media appearances also bring in new fans to the group. [...] This is a very traditional way for idol groups to become popular.

So, let’s circle back to Cha Eun Woo. He’s not a dance, rap, or vocal ace but he has something equally valuable to Astro--numerous and popular drama roles and brand endorsements. Cha Eun Woo is known the way idols used to be known. His extremely handsome face isn’t just some random idol on a birthday advertisement in the subway, it’s recognizable by normal people. Cha Eun Woo is a huge asset to a group like Astro. His popularity not only brings new fans to Astro but also helps open doors for other members. “Oh, he’s in Cha Eun Woo’s group” is a much more compelling hook for the average viewer than “Oh, he’s in one of the dozens of idol groups I’ve never heard of and have no connection to and whose name goes in one ear and out the other like a puff of smoke.”

I’ve written about this before but views, streams, physical album sales, etc. are transitory measurements. These numerics that the young generation of fans have been trained to see as the ultimate prize are just numbers. It’s understandable that fans are being encouraged to value numerics by the big Kpop companies because it keeps fans engaged on the fandom treadmill, buying and streaming and spending hours voting on music show apps like their lives depended on it. But it’s not all that valuable to the idols themselves--certainly not as valuable as having a member who is known by the general public for his drama roles and handsome face. I don’t know where the idea that every group needs to have attention evenly divided or that one member can’t have solo work if others don’t have solo work entered into fandom but I have my suspicions. While there’s nothing wrong with fans advocating for their favorite member to have more solo work, I do think there’s something wrong with fans advocating to hold a member back as I’ve sensed has been the case from certain corners with Cha Eun Woo. The long term health and success of a male idol group in the mold of SMAP--which is what very much Astro is--depends on the members having strong individual images and brands outside of the group. The idea that the members have to do everything together at all times is unworkable in the long run just as the idea that a group can rely completely on the obsessive streaming and viewing and buying of a core group of fans is unworkable in the long run. This new generation of foreign fans has lost those intertextual connections. “KPop” has increasingly become isolated not just from old subculture spaces where fans mixed with anime and Jpop fans but even from mainstream dramas and variety shows and Korean show business, generally. It’s led to this odd bubble where the most popular groups among stans barely even have name recognition in Korea outside of Kpop fandom. It wasn’t always like this.

[omgthatdress]

Jennie Kim *wears the most basic-ass boring shit imaginable* K-pop stans: OMG GODDESS MOTHEEEER SLAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY I WOULD SACRIFICE MY FIRST BORN CHILD TO YOU SO BEAUTIFUL PRAYING EVERY DAY FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL SOUL I LOVE HER SO MUCH

[disvelocity]

not to be rude on my 200 follower decade old blog but i like actually want to get into kpop again but do any of these 4th gen boy groups sing or do anything jesus christ

[comintoyoulive]

Imagine you join jype on the heels on a very big lawsuit. It’s unrelated but we’ll get back to that. You debut in a duo making ur fandom inevitably ship you with ur other group mate. We don’t hear from you for two years and then your company adds five other dudes to ur lineup and changes your group name. You peak two years later and gather an international fan base. Tour a few times. Write your groups songs. Year 7 hits and ceo tells you drop a few members or disband and y’all collectively leave to pursue your own projects. You get signed to the label whose ceo sued your previous one back when you joined see I told you that would be relevant

[comintoyoulive]