It's really interesting how Kingdom and E'Last have like... The same loved spot in my heart as favourite groups. Like, sure I have multiple favourite groups but around those my brain is always revolving around the most when it comes to the concepts and theories and the designs and everything.
They're just really special to me and have concepts like, imo, no other group. Obviously, a lot of groups have darker/mysterious concepts but especially Kingdom just really GOT ME with the lore. The theories. The characters. The settings. The outfits.
And then E'Last, especially Tears of Chaos, Dark Dream and Creature had such a great mysterious vibe and the outfits are just top tier.
Also, both bands I discovered randomly on YouTube, which the further I got into kpop, got less and less frequent because I end up hearing about a group a couple of times before checking them out. For Kingdom, when Excalibur came out and for E'Last, Tears of Chaos. It just peaked my interest immediately, the title, the thumbnail and when watching them I was immediately sold and got sucked into the fandom. :'D
And whenever one of the bands has a comeback I come back to obsessing over everything around it as in talking a lot about them to friends, looking for new content, listening to the music all day, making theories (more just for Kingdom but hsjshd)... It's like when a show you love airs a new episode in a way. But also, when one band has a comeback I will eventually also go back to focusing on the respective other one all over again and then it will jump around in my head between them.
Doesn't help that currently I am absolutely obsessed with Tokusatsu which won't stop anytime soon, and still are so much into Yakuza so all of those 4 things are rotating in my brain 24/7 help .
At the same time I'm also sad both Kingdom and E'Last don't get NEARLY the fame and hype they deserve. But it seems that they're happy (which I hope is also that way) and that's what matters.
OH, two other groups I'd place very high around a similar area are definitely A.C.E, P1Harmony and Golden Child. They're all also so dear to me with both their content outside of music videos and the music itself while being way too underrated for how insanely good they are!
I'm almost scared to say this but this isn't Twitter where stans see everything as it being personal- but P1Harmony have been so far pretty much the only band where I love every song in albums. I'm sure this isn't an unpopular opinion because obviously you can't love every song but still. But I just can't stand songs that are cheesy and/or fan-servicey (which I think. Is probably bc I'm aroace and it just makes me uncomfortable and cringe- but still,) they're just the worst. BUT if the song is catchy enough I will still love it, just ignoring the lyrics is something I need to get better at :'D Kingdom's Warning is a good example of a song having lyrics that make me physically cringe but I jam out to this song because it's such a bop. So yeah.
I mean, Monsta X is one of my all time favs and they're so full of cheesy songs and fanservice, so I think somewhere along the road my resistance went up. :'D
Even after some years, kpop fans are still wild to me. Like, the amount of delusions and elitism going on seem to be more than for any other fandom, but that's not really a fun topic to talk about. But man, watching live performances can be painful with how loud everyone's screaming their lungs out which alone is enough for me to never go on a kpop concert, even though I'd love to. But the only non-metal concert I ever went to was already hell when it came to the fans just screeching and making it completely unable to understand what the singer is even singing. So yeah, I uh, I'll stick to metal concerts,,,
But!! Even though I am not the biggest fan normally of watching live performances, I still really love watching them for specific groups, coming back to Kingdom and E'Last because those were kinda the main focus before I got sidetracked (and I would just add more and more I feel like fhkgfg), I love their lives and choreographies in general so so so much. They are very, dare I say it, aesthetic and just fascinating to look at. Plus, both bands are so full of visuals it's insane.
I also noticed both Kingdom and E'Last often have some kind of ropes and cloth in the performances, which is a thing I really love because it's just really pleasing to look at, especially if they dance with it in such a smooth way. (Gah, like that one amazing Stray Kids Side Effects performance)
Both also have those beautiful and mysterious settings, I especially love the misty forests.
And also, AMAZING instrumentals/intros! 🙏
I'm just gonna. Go ahead and post some examples of parallels I love and think it's so beautiful that both of these bands I have so much brainrot about share so many similarities dfjghjfdg But I am just SO NORMAL!!! ABOUT IT!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Whether it's just same vibe or similar posing it's just a lot of fun.
E'Last on the left and Kingdom on the right :)
It was a lot of fun just finding so many parallels now when skimming over the E'Last performances with that in mind, because for Kingdom I feel like I've got every frame engraved in my brain because I'm working on a big archive + lore essay about them so like...Yeah my mind at this point is a Kingdom archive help,, Next on the list for that will be E'Last tho soooo...
Also, for the end, a fancy group pose for E'Last and Kingdom :)
