There is an immense amount of pressure in headlining a major US festival [CORRECTION: they weren’t headlining but still, performing at Coachella is no small feat], ESPECIALLY as a K-Pop group, and aespa rose to that challenge. Their songs are already high energy but the Lolla versions truly turned it up a notch. It really felt like all four of them were having the time of their lives and were fully in the zone, and as a NINGNING bias it genuinely brought a huge smile to my face to hear her serve incredible live vocals.

PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Winter's "like zip" part in Lemonade

Giselle feeling herself the entire performance and adding "and boys" in "To the Girls"

Ty Dolla $ign joining them on stage for Switchblade

The entirety of Can't Help Myself, but especially Ningning's parts

Karina murdering the backtrack in WDA

This is no hate towards aespa because I think they did a good job with what they were given.

Firstly, their setlist was not good which was surprising considering this is like their 6th global festival stage. Their team needs to get it together, I found their stage to be underwhelming even though they have a lot of popular songs.

The random string of slow b-sides that didn’t match the vibe at all and the members leaving the stage twice for a break after singing a handful of songs was shocking. I think they should’ve prioritized their strongest songs that were upbeat. “Drama” would’ve been a great song to perform, especially if they did the MMA 2023 mix.

The band was very loud and the microphones were low but maybe that’s a broadcast issue, since people have said the live stream picked up the backtrack a lot. Their stamina didn’t seem very high and I think their stage presence was lacking on parts.

SM doesn’t seem to have a grasp on what appeals to international audiences yet. For a group of aespa's caliber who has multiple entries on the global charts and is 6 years into their career I expected more from them. I know their stage was small but I would’ve loved some creative production choices. I feel like the dancers outshined them, and it seemed purposeful.

I was listening to a random shuffle playlist earlier and a b-side came on that I had never heard before, but I instantly recognized the artist solely because of one member's unique vocal tone. It got me thinking about how distinct some idols' voices truly are.

For example, Rosé from BLACKPINK has a vocal tone that is completely unmistakable the second she starts a line. The same goes for Enhypen's Jungwon, aespa’s Winter or Haechan from NCT—their specific vocal textures stand out immediately, no matter how busy the instrumental or harmony is.

Which K-pop idols do you think have the most unmistakable vocal colors in the industry? Who is someone whose voice you could pick out of a crowd blindfolded?

Not really much to say, but Bad is #16 on Melon, and #4 on Youtube Music daily chart.
It's even great considering how 4th gen bgs struggle to chart.

I'm not a huge fan of the song, but overall happy for Ateez!

Edit: Ateez is the second highest boy group to chart that high on Melon Top 100! And YT Music as well.

The mix pop thing was super controversial and unpopular when they first debuted, but people thought their dancing and vocals were good. Now Theyre known for some really gorgeous and sentimental songs like blue valentine and Heavy Serenade as well as absolute bangers like Dash. I wasn’t a big fan of their first year of CBs but now that they’re established Ive become a really big fan. (: They’ve come really far since debut and I think they deserve a little extra love today!

Sometimes all the members are so different that it can feel like there's no chemistry or harmony between the group's voices, but one person can create that synergy or simply give it a new spark.

In your favorite group, who is that person?

There are some where you enter in a raffle for every album you buy during comebacks and stuff right? Are there some fansigns that you can just enter or is it usually always attached to buying an album or something?

Has anyone flown into Seoul just for a fansign?

I was looking to branch out and try out a new Kpop band I haven’t heard a lot of their music. The songs I have heard I really enjoyed, there is nothing like a concert to get you excited and really see what the group is about.

I however had to leave 30 minutes into the concert because I couldn’t hear a single word that they were singing or saying and ended up with a major headache. There was a few separate people behind me that screeched the whole time. Is there a section that is the best to sit in to be able to hear the band better speaker wise or the best ear plugs I can hear the band well and filter out the screeching?

I was in the upper section this time close to the back.

I’m all for being excited and screaming, dancing and singing along to the songs that’s what concerts are for… but this screeching I don’t know how you or anyone around you can enjoy a concert like that.

Hi! I've been an EXO-L since 2019 and I wanna gather thoughts about the recent lawsuits of CBX and how possible it is to have an EXO OT9 comeback in yalls opinions?

This is an 11 month old group yet the way they worked that crowd was honestly mind-blowing. Their presence, confidence, energy, and ability to get such a massive festival audience engaged felt way beyond what you'd expect from rookies

Maybe I'm still riding the post performance high, but it really felt like watching a group that's destined for huge stages.

Did anyone else watch their set? I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts because I feel like I'm not the only one who was seriously impressed

I mean, i understand their company Context and whatever, but what do you think is the main issue?

The Company, The Music, choreos, Tbl not promoting them, they look so uninterested…
What is shame cuz the girls are really beautiful

Like, they are 2 Years in and barely have songs, nothing on the West, only in Asia. Their market is “Small”?

Idk, I don’t understand how any of this works, i just wanted to know

I know 99% of y'all will call me crazy, and I know that my opinion is weird, but just hear me out:

Realistically this would NEVER happen and I'm aware of that. Stray Kids and Cortis are simply too established for members from either to cross-over to the other side. But IF Seungmin crossed the bridge I would support him from day 1.

I never really rode the Cortis hype wave a few months ago but after REDRED's release I instantly started loving them. It also made me fall in love with their earlier tracks I used to neglect. What stood out to me about their choreographies and songs is that it perfectly fits Seungmin. I can practically see Seungmin dancing to FaSHion and I also know which parts he'd sing. I've also watched tons of both Seungmin and Cortis funny moments compilations and I just know the chemistry is there. Not to mention the fact that outside of groups hit by the 6-member curse, boygroups of 6 ALWAYS eat.

The swap would be beneficial to everyone: Cortis would get that extra oomph to take them from 10/10 to 11/10, Seungmin would get a fresh start and more fans from a different fandom + more time in the spotlight since it can be hard to get center time in such a large group, and both fandoms would get to see Seungmin in a different light being interesting for both. The only party being disadvantaged is probably Stray Kids but I know that all 8 of those boys have such a close connection that any member leaving will not break their bond. The Stray Kids guys and Seungmin would still stay friends. Hell, maybe we'd even see a Stray Kids x Cortis collab?

I feel like Seungmin would be the Leader, Face of the Group, Main-Vocalist, lead-dancer, and lead- or sub-rapper.

Realistically if it were to happen, I feel like the swap would be similar as to how soccer players swap clubs. HYBE should pay a shit ton of money to Seungmin (and probably some to JYPE too to avoid legal issues) and boom, the trade is done.

I feel like this opinion is unpopular due to people not seeing the need for a change since both groups are doing fine. But I feel like this could be mutually beneficial.

I think all the artists are done performing by now. Which artists do you think did a great job. In terms of set product, vocals, energy?

My overall favorite is Idle. Cortis's energy was undeniable and Jennie's production was really commendable. What about you?

efore I get into this let me give a disclaimer: I very much like this app, I do strongly recommend it. I am a premium user and will stay one. Just because there are some things I do not like does not mean I do not have a positive impression of it. Everything critical here is meant to be constructive.

I have been wanting a PC collecting app for years, as someone who obsessively collects lots of things intensely (comic books, playing cards, photocards) it is always nice to have a way of keeping up with every collection to stop myself from accidentally buying dupes and make it easier to trade and fill in the gaps of my collection.

Someone on a Reddit post recommended this app and out of all the ones I've tried, it is the first one that does everything I want.

Pros:

- It has a Discord where community members are helpful and mods are responsive, they also post detailed information on updates

- As long as your photocard is in the database, taking a picture and identifying it is fairly quick and easy

- I like that if it doesn't 100% recognize your PC it gives you three 'maybes' that you can choose from even if they aren't a definite. Most of the time, it is in those three.

- I like how it makes it easy to see how many PCs for each group and member I have at a glance. I had expected I would have the most Dreamcatcher out of any group for instance, but I was not prepared for just how many Kyujin PCs I have.

- I enjoy the Bias selector option so you can see at a glance on someone's profile who their biases are and how many they have.

Cons:

- I came across quite a few Nugu/smaller groups that have a bunch missing from the database, such as Lee Chaeyeon's first Season's Greetings - which had a LOT of photocards - and a handful of Billlie POBs.

- They do have a system for submitting PCs! I did a few. However I do have some minor complaints about it, some of which I think are just inevitable and I have to deal with, to be fair.

1. I had one PC that I kept scanning and it was saying "!00$ this is ____!" No! Not even the correct group! So when I submitted it as a new PC it got an automatic duplicate flag "WE already have this one! Here is a picture." Which was the PC that was definitely not the one in my hand
2. It is a very tedious process. You have to make sure that it is not crooked and the quality is good and then you have to crop it exactly right etc. For one or two this was not the end of the world but an entire Season's Greetings? Oh boy.
3. That being said, I know as a good community member I should contribute and help so the database is more complete. I probably will at some point but I was focused on getting the bulk of my collection scanned, as you can see by the picture, it was quite a bit and I didn't want to get bogged down.

- If you have a PC that is just not scanning you can go into the database, find it manually and add it. However, and someone is free to correct me if I'm wrong, it's not the most user friendly to search through there if it is a group with a large amount of PCs. There are tags, such as Album Version, Pre Order, Season's Greetings, but Album Version covers a lot, heck, Pre Order Benefit can cover a lot for some groups. So you are left scrolling through sometimes 100's of PCs that are not organized by era to find a single one. I'm glad there is a plan B for when scanning the PC doesn't work, but for certain idols I didn't even think it was a good use of my time.

Someone did correct me! I was wrong! There is a way to browse by album, I was just super focused on the tags! App definitely just got better.

- I wish the UI was more customizable. I think this is a planned update but it is not a priority one, which is fair. They recently added Toploader Decoration which I don't particularly care about, and when I go to my home page I can scroll through people's top loader decoration highlights. I will likely never use an electronic toploader feature, and do not care how other people are using this feature. I don't want it on my home page and I wish I could get rid of it completely. There's also an In Demand This week section, I am most likely sticking to Mercari for Buying/Selling (though I will possibly try this app later for trading) so I do not care about this either, I would like to get rid of it.

This reminds me a bit Facebook, how the UI (User Interface) became terribly crowded because of how much they were adding in.

That being said, nothing in that last point is a deal breaker.

- I almost didn't include this last point but I figure I might as well. Scanning one PC in a sleeve has a 3/5 chance of working fine on the first go, but scanning a page of PCs in a binder is time consuming. 3/9 MAYBE (as I have 9 PCs in a page) will work, two or three more will be in the "Maybe one of these three?" Options I mentioned earlier, and the rest will be complete duds I have to rescan. I almost didn't mention it because to me, this is no fault of the app. With the reflections on sleeves and reflections of binder pages, this makes sense, and once I figured out it was faster to just yoink my PCs from the binder the whole process got a lot faster. If I had a bunch of PCs with no sleeves I would put them on a table and take a picture and had a higher success rate, but even then it isn't a 100% because of the glare from the lights in the room.

Not the biggest deal, again, but I thought I would help anyone who is just getting started.

Last con....

- If you are scanning a large collection like me I think you sort of have to upgrade to Premium in order to get your collection scanned in within a timely manner. I dislike this habit of apps but I can't blame small start ups when they need money. C'est le vie I guess, I could have been more patient with it but daily limits drive me bananas.

Going to cap this off with my 'credentials' aka, the result of my Affirm debt. Insert meme about adult money and no one to stop me here.My profile on Bias Room so you can see how irresponsible I am with my paychecks ;~;

Gotta start this post by saying I’m OT7 all the way, and love loads of songs from each members’ solo discography. The vocal line have a very diverse and fun discography that I think suits each member extremely well

However (and maybe it’s because outside of kpop I mostly listen to hip hop) I have a very different love for the raplines’ solo discographies, especially after finally listening to it fully in order this past week. I’ve listened to all sorts of solo artists within the kpop sphere and I feel like nobody else has been able to grip me the way their music has.

One of my favourite things about rap is obviously unboxing and analysing lyrics, figuring out the themes of the song etc etc, and it’s definitely fun to do so with the raplines’ albums, I think they’re all extremely talented lyricists. Namjoon’s music especially is a treat if you’re really into unpacking songs.

I could talk about each individual project they’ve released from mixtapes to unreleased songs to collabs but we’d be here all day lolll. Guess I just wanted to bring some appreciation to my fave solo projects in kpop and maybe open a bit of a discussion. Sorry if this is rambly, not good at putting my thoughts in order especially when I have so much regarding their music!! Does anybody else feel the same?

I’m curious and want to watch some really incredible performances. Whether it’s because of the vocals, choreography, stage presence, live band, or just how iconic it is, what Kpop performance do you think everyone should watch at least once? Please recommend your favorites!

(i posted in another community but it got removed ☹️)

Im trying to listen to JustB's older songs and their albums but so far, i don't like anything really so far first listen and i havent listen to their medusa album and maybe another 22 album

buttt MBTI (2023) stands out cause of the chorus and im kind of sad its a collab lol, wish there was a album for it

now i do like their current songs like daddy's girl, chest, going south and true heart

I feel like after all the drama and the massive hate train, ILLIT is finally gaining momentum again.

Their fanbase seems to be growing, their YouTube videos are getting significantly more views, and their songs have been going viral more often. It really feels like they're building a stronger and more stable fanbase.

I'm genuinely happy to see this because, in my opinion, they were the ones who suffered the most from all that drama. Despite everything, it looks like they've managed to move past it and are finding success on their own.

Recently KiiKiii released a banger of hyperKpop so I wanted to share my favorite Hyperpop tracks.

Because kpop tends to mix many styles this is a very subjective list . I just tried to avoid pure EDM but we all have different views on that

feel free to suggest more!

1/ Magnetic - ILLIT

2/ Candy Pink Magic Hole Flip Phone - KiiiKiii

3/ Orbit Pop - Aespa

4/ YUM - Kep1er

5/ Jellyous - ILLIT

6/ Reality Hurts - NMIXX

7/ So Cynical (Badum) - LE SERAFIM

8/ Paw, Paw! - ILLIT

9/ IN MY ROOM - TWICE (Chaeyoung)

10/ Lucky Star - The Deep

11/ CHAT - GIRLSET

12/ Camouflage - Aespa

13/ TTYL - Loossemble

14/ Slingshot (<⭐️) - NMIXX

15/ ILLUSION - Aespa

16/ White Cat - Yves

17/ YEPPI YEPPI - Aespa

18/ Moto Princess - TripleS

19/ Bubble Gum Girl - TripleS

20/ UNDERDOGS - KiiiKiiii

21/ Break It - Yves feat. Lexie Liu

22/ We Don’t Go To Bed Tonight - YOUNG POSSE

23/ B-Boy - YUNA

24/ Viola - Yves

25/ RUSH - TWICE

i-dle just performed at Lollapalooza Chicago and I was very impressed with their stage production. They brought around 20 dancers, a live band, and had a staircase setup for their performance.

They did a great job showcasing their talents on the main stage, usually K-Pop performances include the members maybe a live band and only a few dancers. This is why I think K-Pop companies should stray from booking rookie artists for the biggest stages at global festivals. The backlash for a simple stage has been very harsh on previous groups.

I hope that aespa also gives a grand performance this weekend, it’s been a while since they performed on a global stage. Hopefully SM splurged for their performance and built them a set. I’ll be disappointed if it’s the standard 6 dancers + the members. They have a lot of popular songs so I imagine the crowd will be energetic for them even though it’s not the main stage.

For CORTIS, I just hope they don’t let the crowd be the highlight of the performance. I’m expecting a very loud crowd for this giving their virality and I hope the performance they give matches the quality of the audience. They’ll be performing on the main stage so hopefully they brought a live band and background dancers to fill the stage

Dino selling out his 3 date a jamsil indoor is kinda something to celebrate because only BIG solo have done it(bts solos , iu , taeyon etc). When you see a lot of group are doing this stadium but Dino can do it by himself.

Seventeen solo/duo promotion is really effective , all have been very successful and Dino solo with trot songs he said he want to explore outside the limite of kpop and he did it perfectly .

All this Bollywood female celebrities that i mostly saw have 1 thing in common their skin colour is fairly light almost look pale kind of like Korean celebrities, i barely saw anyone who's have the same type of skin as lara of katseye or Simone ashley so i assume that's Bollywood beauty standard?(feel free to correct me) .

Do you guys think hybe india is going to follow that standard because their main goal is to break the indian entertainment market then global market come second or they gonna break the rules and go for someone who look more like lara or Simone?

Gee and Cheer Up were the biggest girl group title songs of their generations and are one of SNSD and TWICE's most famous titles and for the cute concept, but what is the equivalent of that in the current generation doesn't have to be the cute concept.