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These longpost are special to me but i'm very opinionated but polite..will put little bits of info for clarification ==Mini Exo fandom analysis pt 1

lmao at people who actually thought the exo vocalists were at Zayn's caliber. Even Zayn "Bradford" Malik

Tiktok

#zayn #zmalik #zquadofficial #onedirection #zaynmalik #zquad #zquadrecords #zaynmalikvids #zaynmalikvids #malikzayn #zayn_dio_lover

has to work hard to maintain his level of talent, touring is no joke and wears your vocals out that being said you should be able to get a clear grasp on somebody's best and their average

Tiktok

#malikzayn #zaynmalikvids #zaynmalik #zquadrecords #zquad #zaynmalik__313 #zayn #onedirection #zmalik #zquadofficial #zmalik

I used zayn cause honestly I am trying to be fair and use a modern example and not people way back in the day. Also I remember this

jk jk. Girl I've never fan voted in my entire life, but I remember this happening though.

But using 1d and using the same standards some Exo supporters use when talking to fans of other kpop group

: do you really think people who aren't true artists of the craft can actually outdo people who can sing a soulful rnb song in their sleep? No, way too much association game being played. Just because s.m entertainment got a leg up from Quincy Jones

and got a bunch of his songwriters and associates and producers

(no this literally isn't even half of it lmao)

to help exo make 'black music'. "Popular music' "We can rock with this music'

Don't mean they are on that level like that. Please note the people that own this music and who own a lot of the music s.m used they all in some way go back to uptown

or motown

In some way, shape or form, because the black music industry was kept separate from the white for a long time, there's a very small crew and circle of people involved in the black music scene. A lot of it has merged into sub labels of larger companies like Universal or Sony. A lot of these songwriters of pretty much indentured and must continue to churn out these 'hits' and it doesn't necessarily matter where in the world it goes so long as it's sold.

They are classically trained singers and can do just as much as a classically trained singer around the world can. But they aren't blowing anyone outside of the average chaebol kid who don't even really care about performing out of the water. S.m taught them well but not nearly well enough for the ego their fans have developed.

Smtown entertainment was built off the foundation of motown, to be the korean version of motown. It's talent is mediocre compared to the original talent the company was based off of, but I suppose compared to the copy of a copy of a copy that exists in Kpop now it's something.

Personally they struggle to outdo Japanese acts artistically as well. In their heyday they created their own genres so unique japanese energy in and of itself was a movement, so I don't understand the superiority.

To be fair Japanese entertainment was on one back in the day from the 80s to early 2000s they ruled even American pop culture

Japan had a longer history with allowing it's citizens and artists freedom of expression, they were able to show out for a good while and gain respect slowly but surely in the international arts realm.

Korea tried to make up for decades of artistic freedom in like a single decade. They are still very rigid with their approach and of course adhere to the strict controlling method of the idol culture model, set by Japan who honestly was way loser even back in the day and even more now.

They critiqued obsessed idol fans back in the day with movies like perfect blue. Of course it still happened but trust when the modern culture shames something and the rest of the world is watching it does effect how people act. Imagine if their was an Hbo show that was about the kpop industry and obsessed kpop fans it definitely would make people tone down. People act differently when people really know what's going on in a situation.

Perfect blue is a mirror to fan culture at it's roots. It's fanatical, a bit unhinged but it's socially acceptable all the same.

A film I believe is necessary for anyone stuck in the idol worship process. It's 'these people don't know you' but artsy.

Even Lee Soo man sent Boa to japan to solidify her career back in the day.

They've had their gender wars, yaoi shotacon era, weird asf eras, religious guilt era, smooth jazz, blues, rap, kawaii, wannabe hood, what's our place in the universe era etc etc as a culture as a society. So their idol industry had a chance to grow slowly, rise up and simmer down naturally. Whereas Kpop just kind of had 20 or so years to boom and the artists have little more growth and development as a disney channel show after 3 seasons.

Boa of course went with the techno chic style that ruled Japan in the early 90s and she did very well.

America however is an entirely different beast, the talent in america is on a different level. Hybrid vigour going 1...2

but that's just a theory. Point is America's a different playground

(I was seven when I first watched her mv on mtv)

this is why most kpop gets their sound from abroad

(Boa's debut single eat you up was made by european producers I guess they were going for a more fusion Backstreet boys style american debut but there is a remix with Flo Rida)

(I may do a breakdown on this later, but it's just the way sm approached the whole thing. They wanted to create an urbanized Boa. That's such a dumb way to go about it. No concern for what actually fit her. That's sm's biggest mistake not letting their artists make their own decisions and be their own people. I watched an interview of her in La back in 2008/9 and she seemed like she was being shuffled around. This producer to that producer, now having to just become a whole new person. It didn't fit. Particularly because she wasn't american, it's not second nature or something she was at all used to.)

For s.m the superiority must be because the korean government is backing them up so they know they cannot fail. Now they feel superior to all of other asian talent and many go to korea to have a chance at becoming globally famous. That's fine.

Even fans of vocal deities don't go around disrespecting everyone like their fans do. Just because they made a point to imitate black singers and use their demos early in their career don't mean they are more elite than anybody else. I never see adele fans do this, it's giving insecurity. You don't have to keep repeating something everybody knows. I feel like as more time goes on the lack of originality is making their remakes more forgettable.

To use a comparison again, in one direction it was almost annoying how obsessed they were about songwriting, they were always in the studio trying to out do one another with the songs they made. Back in the day I thought it was pointless and I felt like Exo was more fun because they focused more on their bond and spending time together.

Now that I'm older it's woven all throughout the music that they had personal deep connections to what they were writing. This is why there are performances where the lyrics actually emotionally effect them, life, death, relationships, breakups, things the fans knew about things we didn't. That's what makes an artist.

Apparently a few members had writing credits on Kokobop and I read about what they said concerning it,

I will say that the group has added to a lot of their songs but I don't believe the craft for songwriting and composing becomes them. In Kpop I noticed many songs created lack a certain spark of life and personal touch

The fine details are also important, this isn't an exposing of the group simply clarification on things that aren't delved into. Many of the songs are remade and have a previous demo.

Knowing the background of the songwriting trio the stereotypes creating hits like Justin Bieber's somebody to love, Tomboy by Destiny Rodgers, Rocketeer by Far East Movement, they have quite a track record and their work is well known. I believe the average fan would give all the credit to Chanyeol because he 'worked on it'.

A very easy thing to find out but when people see an Exo members name on it many ignore anything else about it.

Especially with how they've regarded the black community in general. You truly wouldn't know the impact the black music industry had on kpop or sm unless you were american and it was just obvious to you already, or you researched and figured it out.

I bring this up to say the main compliment I see regarding exo's superior vocals is when members sing high notes and whatnot, which is fine. I love all types of vocals some of my favorite bands of all time is the fray and onerepublic, I purposely mention them because they are grown people music and not for immature 'stans' I hate whenever I bring up an artist that stan culture doesn't like and people bring up streams or who they dated as a drag. It's so immature and petty. So I use them because their music and vocals are not pass out but they are people who have mastered their own voice. It's unique, soulful and not trying to be anybody else. Personally to me this is when I know someone is a true master of their craft whenever they put their soul into their music when they sing.

In my personal opinion I always felt like I couldn't talk years ago, there was no room for oh yeah this artist kind of sings a bit better--if they didn't have stats, weren't popular it didn't matter. Yet, when people in the kpop fandom talked about their favorite artist they were top tier best in the industry and they had the numbers to prove it.

Now years later because the numbers aren't as good as people in the fandom may want it to be; they put other groups or artists down because they aren't real 'singers'. Then show clips of what is love/what if or some other obvious 90s rnb demo or a 90s japanese style pompeii style epic .

I just rarely see commentary about the obvious influences that were used to create the group that Exo's mythos/style/clothing and setup were based off of.

Which they can do because their leader/owner made friends with the right people and opened up a world of connections for them. Because many other groups have been cancelled for jacking theme's and concepts but that never happens with exo because sm owns/CALLS IN FAVORS/ with the media.

So those convo's are never had, so besides the average fanwar, most people can freely live in the world that exo is original and super duper talented above all others. Whenever someone wants to have a convo about this and actually know info about exo and can't just be deemed stupid and uneducated then 'it's not that important'

I tend not to bother or even talk about things that don't really irk me, but I can't lie sometimes I'm a bit irked. The false narratives truly do get to me, I remember a lot of stuff that many fans just weren't there for. I pass in on certain artists every now and then with Exo and Shinee being the only kpop boy groups I really listened to album after album, I keep wondering why I don't randomly get the urge to listen to them.

It could be a lot of reasons, bad memories, or I just am not into them as people. But celeb gossip to me means nothing. I don't care about rumors or someone's bad reputation if their music is good. It's not even the fandom cause some fandoms make me question humanity but when the beat drop I honestly don't really care

With Exo, honestly the music is something I have a hard time returning to. I once agreed with people that it was indeed better than other K-pop but now I'm starting to think that's a poor comparison. We are all equal, maybe not in ability but we all have the ability to put our heart and soul in what we do and if the music is good it should come off as right. There's little excuse when there are kids with youtube channels around the world who sound literally amazing, and they are no different than anybody, just singing to their heart's content. Passion, soul, drive. I believe that will always come off to others. It's what helped the civil rights cause for blacks back in the day, how they sang and danced. People just couldn't believe it.

Now we have an open market for talent so the competition is fierce but there is still people who blow listeners away. Every now and then I'll find a song that's good regardless of the singing style, they could be whispering or just humming and it sounds perfect, because they are doing what's for them.

Kpop is extremely manufactured to the point where this authenticity is very rare, few people truly sing with their heart and soul, it's mainly singing to impress and following a stiff formula. The problem with Exo mainly is the excellent catalogue they had access to, that lee soo man had access to. To me that was their ticket to stardom and a big reason not only for their success but the success of S.m entertainment as a whole. Many fans are less concerned with the details of how their artists and their work came to be and mainly are into the parasocial nature and competitive attitude of fandom for which the overall music and art suffers in my opinion.

The group finds little reason to give content and work very hard on their artistic ventures because honestly, who really cares. It's quite sad and the complete opposite of the music industry decades ago.

So most of the focus is just giving the group a concept, album or good song and the special touch the members give is next to none. The songs and albums could of been for anybody and deep down they know that which may lead to them being disconnected with their music.

Regardless as someone who watched many Untold stories about the black music industry, black artists were done bad, very badly, treated like dirt.

To see their music get new life is bittersweet because of the context in which it's happening, it seems ironic that people who care nothing for the cultural, political or even spiritual reasons for this music existing get to profit off of it. But that's just life. To get back into the talent aspect the singing in general all these years later I can hear now what my young ears couldn't. The vocal technique is mediocre and there is no attempt to fix it

Not only that fans who don't really care about vocal technique are going out of their way to claim not only is Exo superior to Kpop vocals which sure why not, but it's like a disrespectful attitude towards the black musicians and their 'versions'. As in the black musicians talent is ok but it couldn't compare to their Oppa's.

Many in kpop are guilty of this, but heavy is the head that wears the crown even after it's taken off. They are the kings of Kpop, no? Then they are responsible for inspiring the current generation more than anybody. If they are on the wrong path they are only following the example Exo set for them. They have called a lot of attention to their talent but I've yet to see them truly shine brighter than other's on their level. I believe there's a reason they stayed out of America. There is no such thing as constant popularity in the west. They don't just demand showing up and looking good and performing on a basic level. They want everything. Singing, dancing, choreography, artistry, political opinions etc etc.

Artists like Taylor Swift have written a majority of their music whether partially or fully. Hits and misses. It's a learning curve, but improvement is expected in the west. The more personal the better. Haley Williams also writes a majority of her music with her bandmates as well

Haley often talks first hand about her source of inspiration and always goes very deep when creating her music with her team.

constant artistic evolution is never easy there are blips and missteps but the point is an artist is responsible for putting their soul and passion into their work without concern of judgement.

Their hit Ain't it fun was unlike anything they'd done before fit with a gospel choir and all, it wasn't a sure hit but they went for it. A group can be an old group yet still keep it kicking artistically

weird and wacky can definitely work.

To keep going with the boyband contrasts Louis, and the other members, didn't just write one off songs he helped create songs that really had an impact on the group as well. This also helps with creativity because it must be discouraging to an artist to be an artist and have everything handed to them. How can they truly speak.

I put this in here because those boys really did work hard, they had a good run and they truly contributed to the music world despite having the most cookie cutter starting point.

End of Pt one

my personal experience on this.

I genuinely wanted to hear exols out cause whenever I said that "exo wasn't known for their singing", which they aren't, somebody said that they were and basically like I was trippin. So cause I'm fair and it's been forever since I listened to kpop for real. I listened to a compilation of literally every best Exo vocalist in their prime, listened to the opinion of professionals and got a good unbiased view then to compare. Then, I looked up the vocals of your average run of the mill pop star in america to get a view of our standards-- then I watched a Exo's main vocalists best moments video at random, like I just picked something fans gave a lot of views and the comments were good...

I burst out laughing so bad, I had to take a break. I could literally tell that they were stretching their voices way beyond capacity, in their average range of course they are decent but not in any way known for their voices, I even checked periodically to see if a video of great merit was out there. It's about just as good as anyone who calls themself a singer should be. So moral of the story just trust your first mind. American singers who are lazy, have better vocal technique in their sleep, but I suppose compared to those who literally can't sing at all they are god tier in korea, but definitely not all of asia though, and most definitely not enough to be compared with other artists who are known worldwide for their singing that still sticks with me.

I even heard they make the poor trainee's hold their breath and all sorts of weird stuff to make them talented. Apparently they all do it and it's an sm thing. To me it doesn't really help much, they also train them in a sort of opera style to help project their voices but that doesn't mean you can go higher, you have to start extremely young and train in a very specific way to properly pull that true opera voice off. They need to leave that to the italians because it's not clicking like that for them. It's extremely nasal and clogged, and I can never hear any true bass in the voices. They leave that to the rappers who can't really go too much higher. Anyway definition of overexposed, fandoms are just cults that demand devout loyalty people truly can't decipher true from fake.

"I stan real singers" *checks video* are you fucking with me

Like, yes, but how old do you think the members of popular groups were when they joined the company, though?

13/14/15 year olds debuting in kpop IS a problem and i wish kpop stans would stop pretending it’s not thank u

me when I'm on someone's account for fandom news and they won't specify who or what they're talking about cause they too scared to say something controversial and loose their fake friends/moots/followers

Movie review/recap 1.0

MIDNIGHT

The 2021 sleeper hit psychological thriller horror of my dreams.

it reminds me of that old movie with the Korean psychopath and the innocent young woman trying to avenge her sister monster.

but it feels like both an evolution and a rehash of the old Japanese dramas that purposely put disabled characters in shows to show more diversity. It works in midnight in a way I don't think many modern-day movies do.

Firstly we have a sympathetic character targeted by a ruthless predator.

in recent years, protagonists in horror films known as the final girls have purposely become the opposite of the old tropes. They are loud, bossy, annoying, and extremely modern. Which, to be honest, makes the audience less sympathetic when a terrifying sociopath is after them. In recent years, people not only don't care if characters get whacked in horror movies; they wait for it and enjoy it. Characters usually purposely embody one of the seven deadly sins in order for the audience, usually endowed with subtle Christian Judea values, to deep down believe the characters deserve to be punished. This is very apparent in modern horror films. In Midnight it takes you back to when horror movies had innocent characters you didn't want anything bad to happen to, like in the 1980s.

When villains punish evil people, the villains become more like anti-heroes. This bad becomes good trope has been popularized through movies like suicide squad

and Deadpool.

Where bad guys are not only cooler but more relatable than the goody two-shoes heroes. Yet in a world like the Avengers and Batman v Superman. The heroes aren't just saviors; they are people who cause millions of dollars of damages, cause people to be injured in the crosshairs and become a nuisance to the general public.

So a movie like this is refreshing because the bad guy is actually bad. End of story. No tragic backstory, no he-had-to-do-it, no revenge plotline. There is no reason for him to go after innocent women; he just does.

Not only does he go after innocent women, he goes after the most innocent woman he possibly can. A disabled woman who cannot hear and relies mainly on reading lips and sign language. Many people would definitely draw the line when it comes to robbing or victimizing someone who cannot properly defend himself but in this movie it becomes an afterthought to the villain, who goes after anyone who catches his eye. The easier the prey, the better.

Kyeong-mi is a nice change from the sassy, independent heroine people are used to, not because her personality is not tenacious but because she is pure, a quality the movie hammers down quite nicely.

It's an incredibly energetic movie. The chase just hits differently when a character has not got to live life yet. Kyeong-mi was not a party girl, nor did she have tons of friends or even family. She lived a nice, quiet life with her mother and she couldn't hear. It is the equivalent of a lion hunting a lamb.

This is in juxtaposition to the other women kidnapped in the movie by the stalker, who were either on their way to a date or were living their busy metropolitan life.

Thematically, it is just a more impactful story when a character who has done nothing to deserve it gets hunted. People feel bad when a gazelle is hunted but even worse when it's a baby animal. It's just necessary to pull on people's heartstrings; even animals hesitate to hunt young defenseless animals.

In this movie, Kyeong-mi is very resourceful, quick-witted and strangely athletic

though that could of been because she was running for her life

the most interesting part of the movie is when the story and the villain weaponize the fact that overemotional women are unlikely to be believed when compared to a smooth-talking, good-looking male.

Multiple times the villain simply pretended to be a regular guy trying to help the same women he was preying on. I believe it was a smart move to switch up the casting for a villain. I believe whenever movies portray all male predators as ugly, scary, or creepy, it paints a picture that men who are attractive can do no wrong and they should be who women seek out. But in reality, most predators are the nice, charming person that everyone likes. They are incredibly social, talkative, and have a great smile.

That's the most annoying part about when people have discussions about male predators: women always make sure to leave out their favorite sweet, charming, handsome guy, which is a very off thing to do. Always making sure to talk about how unattractive guys who caught abusing are and how they have to go after women because they are unattractive. This is not only completely ignorant but also incredibly wrong. The most successful predators are usually attractive, charming people because most of them are able to gaslight their victims. Most only slip up when they get sloppy due to their high ego. There are many real-life examples of very attractive men being predators; for some sad reason, women delude themselves into thinking it's only guys they do not find good looking but that couldn't be further from the truth. What women call predator behavior, any anthropologist would call natural male behavior. Males with higher testosterone, better looks, and greater pheromones get away with things lesser males cannot due to social hierarchy.

I think nature shows us the best that the more visually striking a male animal, the more testosterone they have and the more dangerous they are, but oddly enough in the media it is usually completely the opposite.

In the movies it's the dorky beta males that seek to prey on women while the alpha males are almost always portrayed as the hero.

though I guess to some degree that is displayed in this movie as well. It's definitely a hybrid of typical tropes, which I think keeps the movie interesting.

The best part of the film was definitely how the women stuck together to take down a man even though they just ran and saved only themselves.

I also appreciate the happy ending. Too many horror films feel the need to end with trauma or anguish. This ending showed strength and resilience, and I loved it.

I think it's a nice continuation of the disadvantaged woman vs. the handsome psychopath. Sadly, these are the only Korean movies I can really sit through now. I cannot stand Korean movies when they make commentary on classism when the movie is funded by a chaebol group. The cops being useless to the point of literally letting the killer walk out freely seems unrealistic unless you look up actual cases in Korea of the cops being very useless to the public and victims. So actually it is very accurate. But to be fair, they don't have that much funding, proper tools, or training, so it's a bit complex, but that's the only real issue I have with the film.

8/10

It's a nice watch alone or with a group. I somehow got my family to watch it years ago and it's fun. It has a high rewatch value as well.

meal inspo

When i see this my microbiome screams. In reality this is super overpriced but it makes me see veggies positively and helps me stick to the journey

I really wish i could be as chill and fun when discussing jongin but the reality is the origins of my kpop journey never called for that. I only liked eggsos music for a very short period of my life and once I heard the demo tracks that ended. For some reason knowing they didnt make their hits or even contribute past one line or two just makes me feel icky. I never liked the others past the bullying years of 2012 to 2016. I also cut off kji when I felt like he was also very inauthentic. I returned out of curiosity for my research of the entertainment industry. Most artists in korea act like they are in some hybrid between the military and a gang. I just cant take it seriously. Its a hybrid between american hollywood and a dictatorship. The industry still rubs me the wrong way as apparently child protection laws and human rights in south korea are a suggestion.

In the end I comment on jongin 1 because i still do see some ...potential is the wrong word ...life maybe. He seems to have more of a soul than most in the industry. So I still check for him. Yet I wont lie or be fake. His recent projects have been god awful. Sm has ran him into the ground and dont seem like they will be stopping anytime soon. He is the most obvious case of "industry mistreatment programming" that I have ever seen. I still cringe at times seeing the toll the industry has taken on him.

I do however understand many fans are either very quiet because they just want to enjoy and relax. And others want community and friendship.

I get it. That was never my intention. I have a lot of perspectives on jongin and his career and I feel like sometimes I should keep them to myself..but then other times I feel like thats very unfair.

Online their are people that write very objectifying, dirty vile things about him but that is okay cause they are being quirky...

But if you talk about sprituality, souls, diets, genetics, chi magic, face yoga, spritual contracts ect or connecting things to the occult thats too far.

No its not. The lies are too far.

I just don't vibe with the lies anymore. And what is going on all over the internet about him the group, kpop and the entire entertainment industry is a lie.

So in my opinion as long as I have evidence for what Im saying anybody can choose whether or not they want to read or believe what Im saying. But the dumb fake arguements about literally nothing. Its a distraction. They plan things out for people to argue over so nobody every holds the company or artists or infrastructure accounatble. I cant just waste time like that anymore. I will write and make content from my perspective. Because there is nothing wrong with the truth. 99 percent of whats on the net about exo and jongin is a lie. I just cant anymore. They really take advantage of the language gap. So many people literally lying about things. Almost nothing they say is true.

I think its only fair to be transparent. I thought about creating another blog to post that stuff on but again that would just be more secrecy. There is no point. But I understand most people dont like that so at this point its just best I be honest. I like being chill but with kpop my conspiracy and investigative journalism side cant rest. I will post things of that nature from now on.

Its not all completely serious some things are simply opinions and research but those things help understand the larger picture.