Boo

the difference in interactions when a group is active is like so... Because like on record he was the closest to mark but their personalities don't match. Onscreen he was mark's bugaboo but like as soon as the jig was up it was like they act like 3rd cousin /step siblings. With Lucas he actually wrestled him, which he's never done before with a group member so that's like the most normal male bond he's had. Eggso is like obsessed with the skinship fanservice to the point I don't even know how fans react anymore. They just keep pushing the boundaries. He was trained in that 2nd 3rd gen style of fanservice inspired by Japanese fanservice which is extreme. For me it's like a psychological phenomenon to observe. But it's always the lack of emotion for me. Studying american celebs and how they are in relationship makes it so obvious to see kdolls have BOUNDARIES heavy ones, there's things from debut to retirement they won't do. They might grind and have fun but there's limits. It's different for each person. Sadly people only analyze for what they wanna see. pout pout.

bonus round

taeyong and him were like so adorbs they had such a special bond i cry. like I wanna analyze them but like..i dunno. I just don't like the shipping thing why can't people appreciate a special bond between two people without making it smexual. People are terrible. It was just so funny how in kai's mind him and taemin were gonna be the one's who stuck together in the group and taemin was like nope and started mingling with new people. Then he tried to cling to baekyun and he was busy being the leader. Ten may have intimidated him a bit because he's very out there and free. I caught mark scolding him multiple times and telling him to get off his phone. Hilarity. So then he realized Taeyong was an option and ..wah there's so many things. All fluff aside I think they may have boxed it out a few times and I think sm should release that footage

that one japanese girl who tried to k word her bf for cheating then waited in the lobby chilling til the cops came to pick her up

Twin theory part uno

(Long introduction for context)

This one is so old. I did research on this, like, around the time peaches came out. I have way too many notes; some I deleted, and only God knows where they are now. I’m not spending a whole day looking for them, and I need something to focus my attention on that makes my brain cells work. So I’m going off the dome. It’s actually better when I do that because I do active research instead of looking at old notes, and I can find new info. 

So what is the theory? Well, long story short, I had a theory that Kai of EXO was actually a character, which he is technically; all celebs are. They are named by their company, given a backstory, a personality, and Exo even had ‘powers.’. Like, babe, that’s a character, obvi. In this train of thought, a character has to be played by a real person. We are given that much information by the company. The actor playing the character Kai of Exo is Kim Jongin. Story over... right? Well, maybe so, but that’s not how my brain works.

Backstory to this. I actually wasn’t always an inquisitive person. I years ago was actually pretty dull. I spent most of my time worrying about grades, being a good kid, and, I don't know, iCarly, Victorious, and memes. But then I found K-pop; I was super curious about everything because it was so new to me. I had to learn everything I could. This was easy because I liked world history and learning about different cultures and stuff. I think Growl was the first mv I saw. I wasn’t too familiar with K-pop, but I did know it existed, vaguely. To be honest, it was just something taking up my time. I was just monitoring it and watching, learning names. It was during the One Direction era.

(historical context)

One direction the boys that walked so boybands could rise again. People talk bad about them but forget they single-handedly made boybands cool again. There were others, but the impact wasn’t the same. 1D was the blueprint of the up-and-coming boy bands that would later try and break into the American market. They cracked the code. They were parent-friendly but sensual enough to keep the tweens/teens/young adults crushing on them. Fanfiction culture was also impacted. Many forget it was a Harry Styles fanfic that made fanfic normal and somehow socially acceptable enough to come out of the shadows of fandom and be something talked about in media/out in the open. (moral of the story: don’t do them—slander won’t be tolerated)

Anyway, I was familiar with boy band fandom, the shipping, fan service, the weird pandering, etc. The only differences for me were the dancing, the odd music style, and the language. It took some time getting used to. It was so hard getting used to the cultural differences and the style of talking. The odd monologuing/sarcastic banter that’s borderline rude. It was hard to tell when people were being funny or cruel. I still have trouble with that, but years later I realize it’s cultural, but you can tell where people are coming from by their tone.

I say all this to say it was difficult adjusting. I was interested in the group and wanted to know as much about them as possible, BUT I spent so much time trying to learn everything I could, and by the time I became completely accustomed to the behavior and culture and language, I realized I didn’t even like the group that much. The music was good; at the time, the members were okay; sometimes they were funny—but not all the time. Overall, by the 2nd year of being into K-pop, I was like 

IDK—it’s probably just me, but all the drama, gossip, and people caring that grown adults were dating... Like it was so odd because I grew up on J-14.

Going from everybody being super chill about their fave dating, getting married, or having babies to this

Grown adults getting in trouble with their fans... for what? Like it was just weird, and due to hive mentality, I was like coming into agreement with it and thinking, Oh, that’s just how things are over there... like, no." It’s not right. Just so many things were weird, but I said nothing because I didn’t want to be the odd one out.

Cause don’t get me wrong, everybody watches E! news and celeb gossip, and that’s not our business either, but that’s out in the open; that that’s people telling you this is my person, and I am dating them. Yeah, sure, some of it is fake, but it’s openly fake. This is odd because even though these dispatch couples were revealed, they don’t go places together or do interviews talking about one another. There’s a layer of shame because idols are dolls who are ‘dating’ their fans. 

Now I won’t judge; all I’ll say is I got a lot of evidence suggesting this is gonna lead to an AI pixel perfect. 

turned horror movie;

(mobile boyfriend 2009)

where there are apps where you can see, talk to, and text an AI version of your favorite idol 

where you can have a fake version of your idol in your phone, but plot twist: it's a demon... Anyway, I’m getting off track; that’s another thread. The point is stuff was getting weird; I was slowly backing away and just distancing myself, but a few things were keeping me from dropping K-pop and just focusing on school and other stuff. One, like many women, once you invest emotionally into something, it’s hard to leave; two, I was a tad bit concerned about Kai; he was injured around that time.

 and I felt bad about dropping the group because usually when I drop something, it’s for good. I may check up on it out of curiosity, but I will never care (like really care) ever again. So I was teetering.

Eventually I just gave up and decided my mental health and having my head on straight was better than being in a cult.

Long story short, around 2021ish I was like, What’s been going on?" I just went on a journey and became more aware, so somehow I came back to K-pop. To make a long story short.

So when I saw Kai’s face for the first time in a long time, I didn’t really notice anything too different. Slightly, but I thought maybe it was just aging, plastic surgery, fillers; I really didn’t know, but something was off.

So I started looking at his photos, and at this point he had released a lot of his old childhood photos. And again it wasn’t too drastic, but I’m not normal; I was looking hard. 

Now, a disclaimer: this isn’t proof of anything; it’s just stuff I notice. I talk a lot, but it’s just brain ideas coming out to breathe. It’s more so just to make people see a different perspective. Use your creativity. Life is as interesting as you make it.

So when I started looking at the photos, I first paid attention to the thing that, if different, couldn’t be a coincidence; there’s no way these body parts can just change over time or with p.s. That means the face can be used but only sort of. Plastic surgery can change a lot, but upkeep changes more than the initial surgery. No surgery equals perfection, and after the surgery, minor surgeries afterwards are necessary. So it’s necessary to look at childhood photos to understand the initial facial structure (which can change but only so much); they more so develop or morph, elongate, etc., but only so much. I’d say like 90 percent of the time, most people can recognize someone from child to adult by the small features: the way they smile, or the way their teeth look, or their ears, or their eye shape. Plastic surgery is... it’s a thing, but as long as it’s not total facial reconstruction, it’s a nonfactor. You can usually tell what’s unnatural by looking at childhood photos.

Anyway, I looked and looked and looked, and I don’t know for sure now because it’s been a while since I’ve even considered this, but I trust my notes, and I remember I took a lot of notes, and it is one of the only theories I’ve given my golden stamp of approval. This is why I’m talking so much in the buildup. This isn’t some joke. I’m not saying it’s true, but I did work hard on it. If I could find my old notes, I’d copy and paste it, but it’d take me all day to look for it.

Okay. The theory. Twins.

Ahh, okay, I’m kinda excited it’s been so long. Okay. So I think what I thought was that it was a pair of fraternal twins. The reason why I said fraternal and identical is in theory if this is two people pretending to be one person...they don’t even look that much alike. They feature one another a lot but it’s not mirror twins which is odd because you’d think if an entertainment company was to pull one over and have a pair of twins play a single person they’d go for a parent trap deal

Theoretically, I thought maybe it was more of a Mary-kay and Ashley type of situation

who are not identical; they are fraternal. They just look extremely alike. How do people tell them apart? Well, now they look different because of different external stimuli that have an affect on appearance, but back when they used to look more alike, just watching their movies year after year it’s quite clear do to vocal tone, mannerisms, and behavior that they are two different people. It simply takes observation.

I have to sadly make a list because it’ll be too unorganized otherwise.

First I’ll put physical characteristics that are definite and most consistent. Meaning you can see the physical traits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Uneven ears: 

Baby—toddler

Childhood / adolescence

Adulthood

Now adulthood is very tricky because the adult bone structure set in at around 16-18, and the cheekbone and skull make the ears appear small when really they are probably normal-sized; he just has a big head. So I’m just going to show the ears, both left and right, at an angle because it’s pretty much impossible to see them when he’s staring straight ahead. P.S. I don’t know what’s digitally edited or not, so I prefer candid pics, but it’s not good quality to see the details of the ear, so... it’s so-so. But ear prints, like fingerprints, may be similar for identical twins, but they’re not identical. 

To be continued.

I'm tired of this, a lil whitewashing is still too much hollywood is suddenly caring about talent and ability whenever it comes to accurately casting poc characters. They are allergic to casting fully ethic people. I hate it cause I love the show so much but how is this better than what m night did? I am older and have higher standards than i did as a kid until people stop feeding into pandering and giving in whenever there's a few characters appropriately casted they will keep poc's as the side characters villains and continue to cast lighter skinned people as the heros and darker more ethnic people as the villain. Like netflix always takes a huge L when it comes to that, they only cast correct when they cater to specific audiences and usually there is some objectification they are becoming the new disney for me. Urban on the weekends suburbs monday through through friday. Which is cool but why adapt something based on ancient asia if you don't want to cast as accurate as possible. It's not too hard they just have an agenda to push. I've given up on conglomerate companies ever doing the right thing it will always be a catch. Nothing I can do but I can just start ignoring it cause they aren't trying as hard as they say they are. Flashback to everyone bullying the girl who wanted to be katara, its colorism and its ugly and being that this is the second time this has happened I feel like maybe it was the intentiom all along to create a series built of asian mythology to have a cast full of lighter skinned characters play the heros and the most ethic people in the cast are the villains...like I'm greatful for the message of the show but I'm saddened there was never any intention to bring people who it belongs to into the fold. The intention should be for young children all around the world to look and see that darker skinned heros exist all over the world and don't exist only in one racial group. I'm glad they are confronting the gender imbalance present in the show and taking the focus off romance though. Netflix makes too much money for this though. Hollywood makes too much money for this. It's also about colonialsm but I'm guessing they will try and tone that message down because most of hollywood money is ran off of colonialism.

M night shamalan casting the fire nation colonist as indian when india was colonized by great britan makes it clear whoever is funding these movies don't want kids seeing citizens of countries that actually actively colonized various parts of the world as villains. But they will happily cast imperialist china and japan as the villain something they have always been happy to do to take the heat off of them. Which seems to be why the fire nation actors are clearly ethinically asian while the heros are ambigious looking.

Dune is another movie doing a very similar thing but thats so borijg I don't even care to talk about it.

Its very strategic and personally I love blind casting but its clear its only blind when its convient.

Exactly, why are women caring what any biomale movement is talking about when other movements exist without caring anything about female issues at all? It's very sad and indicative needing some type of male validation to feel a certain way.

Women on TikTok are talking about 4B but refuse to read the SCUM manifesto because it’s “transphobic” and “radical feminism isn’t nothing without our trans sisters!”

Yeah, that 4B isn’t gonna work for you honey. Can’t even read a book. Can’t stop pandering to males because you don’t want to hurt their feelings. Mission already failed..

what's your favorite kpop group?

Mine is tsquad

disney was incredibly brave to put them out when they did.

of course immediately after they disbanded other groups started capitalizing off the huge gap they left in the genre.

but in my opinion with the ethnic diversity, gender equality and the fact that they were the first to do it means that they will always have a place in my heart.

The Exo critique/ comparison continues more of a kpop/ western cultural overview though

for educational purposes only of course. So many links. I never did this if it doesn't work I'll just do something else..

I believe a lot of my issues with exo and struggling to appreciate their discography like I do other groups I listened to was the lack of personal touch as I once said. I don't believe I'm being negative or whatever but at this point you literally can't even give your opinion without being called weird Korean slang terms by ironically non korean people..who don't usually speak korean..super weird. I just am tired of it. I feel like there's worse things in the world than someone giving their honest opinion but understandable some people feel extremely attached to bands and shows. Which I kind of get somewhat. But like I always do I will try to give as much detail as possible it's my thing on here. Weird opinions central. None of my friends ever//ever ever really wanted to discuss kpop on a deeper level. I was going mad not being able to express myself to anyone cause nobody knows it that deeply. That sucks so for a lot of people it's a stress reliver and it's aesthetic. I completely understand. But to me there's a million people that give kpop praise, or even rude unhinged hate. I'm not that type of person. I try and be as honest as possible and then sometimes I make a funny. This is more for people who like history than people who like kpop. But some people who like kpop like history, theories and deep diving. So I just tag relevant things and if you don't like reading that much..you..don't have to..which is kinda obvious. Also if opinions not harming anyone makes you mad, that's fine, but just don't..freak out. Or do. Idk, it's a free world, but the main reason I talk so much is because I care. I want to live in a world where everyone can express themselves respectfully and intently. That will only happen if we start speaking on things nobody wants to speak on. I try and only talk about confirmed stuff that's free real estate on the internet. So it's not a just trust me bro situation. This is stuff anybody can dig into and if it's my opinion I will make that clear.

If I never branched out and read/watched random documentaries etc I wouldn't know any of this stuff either. Many people spend most of their time scrolling may as well teach something while I'm on here.

WARNING I TALK A LOT..so you already know before I keep going

To me I like to stretch back to this infamous quote because it ties in with what I was talking about with the motown inspirations and such

A Motown alum with many

Grammy's and a history with Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson to me was Lee Soo man's main inspirations for what he wants his S.m artists to be. The entire kpop industry is built off of that model. In the U.S the inspiration is great but I believe in Korea it's what the foundation is built off of almost entirely.

The want to create someone beyond a human being, with a devout fanbase and global success. The indie music industry is barely thought of or given much attention, the rap industry takes a backseat and the idol culture reins supreme.

But why?

I believe many misunderstand that although Micheal Jackson is the name used he himself is used as a stand in for the African American race.

The true inspiration is African American culture itself, the jazz, the rhythm and blues, the hip hop, popping and locking, B-boying. But nobody wants to say all that, it isn't Michael Jackson but he is a representative of the African American population so of course they use his name, because that's what everybody says.

Lsm's first artist was in fact a hip hop star, the large majority of 90s idols were reflections of artists like boys II men, who is a big blueprint for the white American boy band and later the K-pop boy band

They were clearly and unapologetically black people. The market allowed for glitz and glam and also for performers who were toned down.

With K-pop the market is extremely geared towards the Michael Jackson type of performance extremely theatrical and to this day that's where most of the focus is the performance and not really the vocals.

Lsm's first artist had a different experience than other k-pop idols later would. In the begining things were a bit more loose, still heavily western inspired but relaxed

To understand the way kpop is now you have to understand it's roots, not the superficial this song sounds like these other song, NO, the actual roots of how this industry even exists.

I could go into what was going on in America at the time while all this was happening but I might do a whole seperate thing on that. The asian american experience during the 80s and 90s had more to do with assimilating into white culture, while trying to distance itself from black culture almost entirely.

Meanwhile in Korea, things where changing in the opposite direction.

Now, stick with me, taking all of this into account looking at Exo's trainee process which for some members was right when the hip hop industry was at it's height/also the white boy singing black music craze was also very popular. From a business standpoint of course they want to promote a group that's hip hop inspired. After the incident with Hyun-jin it's clear they may have wanted to distance themself from the urban scene and cater to different audiences.

When Exo debuted they did have that style people were used to from edm, hard base, edm, electronic, not necessarily urban by any means. But they would have a turn in genre for their first full album which featured their first hip hop single Growl.

I consider it old school hip hop, but this is what Rolling Stone said about it

the original sounds like something that could easily be a Corbin Bleu song or something or a very young Chris Brown. This would be one of S.m's first real step back into the urban market with Exo, but it wouldn't be the last

They went full urban with Call Me Baby

and remade this demo to a more tame tune. I believe this is the first but not last sample of a black girlgroup they would use. This song has a sort of sample/reference with the 'say my name' which I believe is still dantaethekid's vocals. This using of the demo's singers vocals and remixing it was used one other time. But it's a blend. If you aren't aware of blending vocals, it's a smooth trick to use the original artist vocals and the new artists vocals to get something that sound like normal to the listener, but when you hear the singer sing it acapella something is missing.

S.m paid for all of this, so it's not stolen. That's not what this is about, it's more of a artistic overview and a behind of what went into creating Exo's themes, concepts and what made their music 'special'.

I had no idea Marz was the person who leaked a lot of the original versions, I knew about the older ones but hearing the demo's and now knowing a bit about the music industry...like hearing the original versions help so so much. Good on him.

I honestly thought black people were capping when they talked about what was going on in Kpop. Because, isn't black culture just uesd by everybody? Like they listen to music and their brain makes something similar. That's what I thought was happening...only partially. There is a whole world of information I didn't know about and I thought I knew a lot.

Now that the basis is out of the way, back to the creative process. I believe an integral part of music lasting has to be the emotional connection one has with the music. If an artist's music catalogue was taken away could they start over, if they didn't have songs made for them could they craft their own, or at least try? In a group that's easier, because members can rely on each other.

Using modern western examples, Justin Bieber certainly started out like many artists, he was handed exactly what he was going to sing. He had very little if any connection to his music at all.

Scooter Braun a former party organizer and the opposite of Lee soo man had connections that helped his young client get started in the music industry

unlike in Korea where many groups may never collab with another artist in their entire career. The west survives off of collabs and hit singles. It's a different system. Justin was helped by a Ludacris feature that gave his sound some validity. It helped him not seem like just a nerdy little kid singing about love.

He did not start off with hip hop and it took years before he developed into a sound he and his voice was comfortable with

But wait..there's another part we're missing. Justin wasn't a songwriter but he was a musician. Let me explain

He was not a composer yet, but he wasn't dead weight, he could play any instrument in a band and sing acapella at random. He even did so in one of his first youtube video's.

there's a lot and you can only put so many links on here but this is one of his busking performances

A common misconception when lumping all artists togther is saying they are all untalented or the label helped them sound like this or that. Anyone can get singing lessons, but if this kind of talent could just be put into anybody to sing like this acapella every parent in hollywood would be doing it. Every performer, disney kid would sound exactly like this. Justin was helped by the fact that he didn't need tremendous work on his voice. Only to maintain when he began touring and learning proper technique.

Sm vocal trainer Yoo Young Jin's first album Blues In Rhythm Single 1. and the demo's he does for sm clearly show his singing inspiration comes from Slow Jamz from the 1990. He helped out on Tell me what is love where D.O mimics his style. It becomes like a pattern when you see where they are pulling inspiration from. In terms of american style singing he is thought to have the best voice for rnb. That may not be his preferred style but with the vocal coach they gave him that's clearly what they wanted from him.

I never knew there was another person on this track and back in 2014 I didn't know about their individual vocal coaches and just assumed they were all trained equally. But it seems they gave vocalist specific teachers to improve their craft, screw the others I guess

Hearing it in 2024 it's clear the soul and feeling that existed in the 90s in Korea is..like it just doesn't exist anymore. Yoo youngjin is honestly amazing and I am wondering why he isn't like on Rain's level. Like, he's one of the best clearly. He recently left s.m I believe but he should make a fortune as a vocal coach wherever he goes though.

Good training is definitely important, but as a wise woman once said

Honestly there's nothing to explain it there are just some people that are like angels, there voices are out of this world. Yet, sometimes it's not that complex some people just have a knack for music, they create their own special sound and emotion it's incredibly personal they put their soul into what they do.

How s.m teaches...I really think it's similar to what this woman did. Like first time watching it but it's pretty obvious.

I'm not the most articulate person when it comes to singing, but it feels like they try to purposely use this style to create a flavor that may natural come when other artists are singing, but they do it purposely. Everyone in the company is kind of the same, the stop start, belting, quick talk. It leaves a sense of..how am I even sure what happened, no less what the quality of the vocals are. I like to listen to them cover songs in english because I'm able to tell what their natural rhythm is and not 'sm's rhythm for them' this is important because I like to know that outside of their job an artists likes music and sings music. Korean songs are find but I can tell they depend on vocal tricks they learn to get around actually having to master their voice completely like Yoo youngjin did. That takes mastery. Knowing every limit of your voice.

Not every singer can do this but most successful ones definitely can. Even talking should sound like singing. In general sm and extension Exo sing restrained and restricted even when belting so they hardly ever encounter those surprising vocal tone moments when an artist riffs freely.

I try to be fair yet also I want to use a small pool of artists, Exo is male musicians but I'm not talking in terms of vocal range but technique which anyone can learn.

In this one take Haley showcases a bit of her preferred vocal technique. She's able to belt, keep good breath control, project, and keep a consistent yet give emotion and go all the way with her lines without getting outside her vocal range. It takes self knowledge completely.

She actually has a wide range but rarely hits the notes Exo is known for hitting. It's her stability and projection and belting that stands out.

Also a lot of people say kpop is performance is choreography, which is true, but Rockers are known for running around jumping up and down during concerts, similar energy is being exerted. Not exact but very similar.

Early in Justin's career he was going through puberty. A very straining time for a singer because the voice gets deeper and you loose your original tone and possibly range. Many singers work very hard to maintain their voice if you ruin your voice that could be it for life.

In his early 20s honestly he still had a great voice but he also kind of treated his body poorly, more recently he's been trying to improve his health and get used to his older male range. His sound is different but the technique he learned still holds him. The biggest thing I want to show is the importance of being comfortable in your own range it's less about the falsetto's and belting and more a person mastering their own sound and voice.

That's what matters.

I personally in my opinion don't think s.m cares about this and only wants people to adhere to their vocal standard, this is bad for their overall health and will only lead to strained and bruised vocals. Impressing people is not worth declined quality in your natural singing voice.

I think many fans of singers are afraid of them showing their true voice, cracks and bruises and all. Personally for me it's the mark of a weathered person who's lived life. It's genuine, it leaves an impact on people.

apparently this was at drake's hockey party? I don't know a Canada thing, and he performed a private event, there were no official camera's so the person took the audio that was clear from some and tried their best to cut up and splice it like a seamless video. This is the song most people know him for, it's a completely different arrangement and a natural progression. His voice is rough, smooth, his belting is usually projecting a lot. That's the one thing even back in the day nobody could explain his chest voice, it's evident acapella and with the mic. He does lip sync at times but for the most part whenever he sings acapella it sounds the same or better because he has a crisp to his voice that gives it a unique 'texture'. It's like his voice is the instrument. The projection is crazy though particularly when he's outside. I don't want to put a lot of video's but I wish his talent would be studied more than the gossip. He's a very hurt person, but his talent is a wonder. It's unfair people are only appreciated after they are gone. His relationships, gossip and drama many times over shadow his God given abilities.

There's so many good vocal moments..but I have other stuff to talk about, he's just an example here.

I mainly mentioned him because he trained under the same people Exo's songs come from, but he was trained similar to how the oldies where trained..not in a gospel choir like Elvis but very very close

Justin sang worship songs on the street and mimicked mainly that sound as a child and other black artists, he copied them pretty much all day and night. Once you get into it...like it's a rabbit whole you won't believe. I'm just trying to fit a little bit of this circus into an article. Elvis basically was heavily inspired by the black Pentecostal church and in his movie in idk 2022 with Austin Butler you can see just how much black culture had an effect on him. Like people even me didn't understand. He allegedly really had a spiritual experience

there and it changed basically everything about him. Many didn't really like his style and they thought he was too much, too raunchy or whatever. So it took awhile for people to accept what he was doing.

There's a pattern hear somewhere, but it's a lot.

I'm mixing the history with the vocal analysis because it really does overlap, okay back to the black singers from back in the day. So as I was saying, black culture was having a renaissance away from the stereotypical stand up and snap boy groups of the past. Something new was burgeoning, the soulful sensual group that actually danced and walked around. There were so many black boy groups. This could have twelve parts if I go into every way the black entertainment industry has it's grasp on other music industries. And this is just the music, not even talking about the clothes, the hair, the slang, the walk the talk. It's not even making me upset anymore like this is anthropology at this point. So really we should be glad because I've yet to see so much absorption of black culture. Like it was under lockdown and was considered evil and dark for a long time but now it's like people can't get enough. It's honestly interesting.

So one group I always knew about but never went into was Hi-five who have this hit called the kissing game. A super schoolyard song that is like a black community staple. I never thought I'd analyze it or take a deeper look at it because I've been listening to it since childhood.

But looking back at this live performance that they looked like they just walked on stage and are just doing their thing. They seem so casual and calm like singing like that is just normal and anybody could do it. Two members passed away(rest in peace) it's just insane thinking about it. The black community doesn't even think twice about this kind of stuff it's like pretty much everybody has a cousin or two that sings just like this, or an aunt, uncle. It's like nothing. But in other races we praise something we wouldn't praise in our own race cause we'd expect better. Just something to think about.

Like lord, this precious talented child. Like it's funny cause he don't even take it serious and he's playing around. It's nothing to him, the notes he's hitting so many people have to try so hard. The deep bass to the belting, it's like I always wondered why black people belted like they did, I'm not even sure and I haven't found an answer as of yet.

I purposely chose him singing post puberty because him singing at like 11 literally isn't fair he literally sounds like an angel. From what I understand black boys have a long ribcage and large lung capacity, idk there's theories about it.

Also the audience is important ;a lot of acts mainly K-pop will never play anywhere they don't already have fans, the fans are already there. They will even fill the audiences with fans specifically for each filming session for a broadcast, so they can get the chants and avoid a dead crowd.

They were playing at the Apollo, which is a very tough crowd they boo a lot of people. Like black audiences can be notoriously rude so it's always a hit or miss even if people like you. Like idk if anybody ever got jumped but I wouldn't be surprised.

A big part of sm is their extensive trainee process which is supposed to produce global talent. I still wonder what actually is going on, like there are many cases where the people aren't ready or struggle dang near there whole careers to hold a not and dance properly. I really don't understand it. There is also varying things, on one hand some people train for a short time and debut young, so they aren't ready to sing properly and have to learn but then some train for too long of a time and it's treated like that hurt their talent instead of helped it. So there's hardly ever a person that debut's ready to sing, dance and perform with complete comfortability.

Even by the time they have a solo, their is usually little improvement and it may of been better if they debuted as a soloist and been allowed to grow if being in a group would inhibit their growth so much. Yet at the same time their soloist sometimes struggle as well to make a mark and go global.

The main goal of sm is to focus on fandom and pleasing the fans no matter what so they won't have to truly compete on a global level and will be able to fall back on fans support. Which leads to less cultural impact overall. An artist should be apart of everyday life, there music should be known and listened to passingly not because it's all there is. Variety is key, rock, hip hop, rap, pop being staples in American culture gives soul music credence cause people had choices. When the main acceptable thing is one genre and everyone feels inclined to like it to support the culture it leads to less good music. Variety means competition.

also I believe me using the younger but post pubescent versions of these boy groups are fair because I'm trying to get around Exo's vocal range.

It's not a young Justin completely and not an older Justin so I just used two different video's comparing growth.

I used Haley to cover the belting to compare the technique. I struggle putting into words completely so to give a basis I'm using musicians I actually listen to, in order to give a fair explanation on why I feel like for the kings of K pop operating on a global performance level they don't really hit for me. But not just that, also I just like talking about their impact and what made them a group, both good and bad. I really don't like stan culture, like I really don't. I feel like it took defending celebs way too far. I can't even find an honest review anymore. It's turned fans into babies who can't even articulate what they mean anymore. The brains are beyond fried and it's by choice. Simply to fit in and impress the next person.

I always question if I'm on the right path so I listened to Exo in the studio..I-- it's like average modern korean vocals.

Vocal teachers in Korea that actually want the kids to have vocal chords left after 35

Because forcing people to sing out of their range when you can instead let them mature, and marinate is so dumb. All to impress people and to keep up with 15 year old idols it's not smart.

A good example of proper technique is Bang Yedam, his parents are godtier stage parents, with their kid every step of the way. YG didn't make him, he can write good decent music on his own, he knows his worth. He was taught I'm supposing in a similar manner to the western artists. Very smart. He never went out of his range for a group and now he still has his voice and will continue to if he cares for it.

I remember watching this years ago, and I still to this day can't put into words everything I have stated Exo I suppose wasn't taught to do..but that's wrong. What I believe is similar to dance there's a breaking in process. You cannot just wake up one day and sing like Aretha Franklin or Mariah Carrey you must start from childhood and train your vocal chords. Also I'm assuming..it is something people may be born with. Training is apart of it but some have trained for close to almost 20 years and like I'm not finding what I find in the other artists even children/men/women from the Philippines can sing a Beyonce song randomly like I've studied a lot. It may be something unseen. Like who's gonna study this. Nobody really cares.

Anyway concerning Bang Yedam he hasn't sung many western songs post puberty but this cover of thinking bout you where he's barely raising his voice yet implements bass. He switches into chest voice effortlessly. Many mistake head voice for chest, if the neck veins are popping for someone slightly lowering there voice that's head voice. Chest kind of flows out. That's where the belting and heavy flow out of projection comes from. He has definitely at a very young age solidified his own voice

Like if you don't think this is impressive...lord it's like ..this is a talented child for real. Texture is so hard to come by, like he has real texture, he's aware of almost every facet and can bring out emotion like man there's some talented kids in this world. Like, studying the science of it makes it truly more enjoyable for me. The more Iearn it truly helps me understand more about God and how he works, like everybody is truly different and the best part is when a person does what they specifically are made to do. Forcing someone to become someone else, I hate that. Nobody should try to be anyone else but they encourage these kids to do it instead of figuring themselves out

These companies did not make their trainee's. The credit they are given is honestly blasphemous, it irks me. They helped them get famous but I blame any parent who didn't have their child taught outside these companies. They loose confidence, will struggle to become artists and will loose themselves in this industry.

No everyone isn't the same level of talent. With a lot of these people it's not their teaching, it's their knack for it plus genetics and anatomy. This is clear now, because if everyone were capable of singing just like this is kpop they would. His training helped but people have to stop taking away the self appreciation these people have. They are who they are because they were born with a specific set of skills.

I honestly don't think of western artists much when others berate the talent of others and lift some up. I always think about the precious children left behind because their looks aren't as up to par with the beauty standards, or their fanservice isn't as good.

It's sick to be honest. I understand people can like whatever they like but the lies are getting under my skin, false narratives. Certain talent suppressed. Over obsessed fans laughing at those who are actually more talented than their preferred person but they don't have clout or a huge fanbase so what do it matter. Meanwhile the company isn't even concerned with making good music. They just buy whatever sounds decent hire western producers to do most of the work the throw their staff on it to even it out so they seem self sufficient.

I actually feel better doing all this research cause I always go to the ends of the earth to figure out the truth. I wanted to do other things but this was on my heart for awhile.

I have more specific opinions on Exo but.. I don't know if people are ready for that, it's not rude at all but it's..I'm very blunt and do a lot of research so it's so true to me it would be nothing to say but a pain to explain. I will one day but I mainly just wanted to put non exo musicians here because sometimes you need a fresh perspective. Personally I can't imagine listening to kpop as much as most people do, I bet my perception would be messed up as well. I barely knew s.m had a sound or what techniques s.m used and how once you notice it you can hear the shortcomings of all of their singers, how badly they are straining themselves and how unhealthy it is.

I guess that will be another day when I feel like it. I barely do theories anymore like I used to because reality is way stranger than a theory. But this is just something I do for fun so it depends idk I kinda wanna look at some movies or comic books. It depends whatever is least stressful.

End of pt 2.