Two mothers by Vladimir Makovsky, 1906
In an aristocratic/well to do Russian family mansion, a woman, whose attire tells all we have to know about her, crashes in , showing a piece of paper which probably tells that the child the aristocratic lady is holding on is hers and she is going to take him to her shack/slum/tenement or whatever, and her face shows absolutely zero concern about the child's future.
The painter said this incident happened to a friend of his (no mention about how it was resolved in the end), and given he stayed in the Soviet Union after the Revolution and was praised by the Communist Party as a Pioneer for Socialist Realism, it is clear where his sympathies lay.
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the summer of 2021 was an exuberant time for KPop, which finally conquered the world as BTS' Butter won 10 weeks in Billboard Hot 100, followed by Permission to Dance and then My Universe with Coldplay, the old act now playing second fiddle to BTS,
and other Hybe acts (at that time) Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber also scoring.
However, inside of Korea, some people were getting jaded by the Hybe success, and SM made its move with aespa's Next Level, arguably 2021's greatest Korean hit.
aespa followed its success with Savage.
Savage was considered to be a bit weaker than Next Level, but it still continued its dominace.
However, an ominous cloud began to descend in KPop, as the Owner of Edam Entertainment (at that time), with zero restraints whatsoever, suddenly announced she would make a comeback, despite of having made two comebacks in early 2021.
Hardly anyone living outside of Korea expected or welcomed a song from her, since it was an affront against KPop domination of the world, but the Owner of Edam Entertainment did not care.
Strawberry moons usually occur in June, but given BTS had conquered the world, she saw she stood no chance against Butter in Jun and waited until Oct to make an attack over KPop after Butter, etc had passed their peaks.
With the euphoria of the KPop conquest of the world, no one outside of Korea thought this foray by the 1,348 years old Senior Singer would go anywhere.
It became a disaster for aespa.
Strawberry Moon thoroughly routed Savage, ending the chance of 4th gen to overcome the 3rd gen basically forever.
It was aespa's most regrettable moment - on the brink of climbing the throne in Korea, it became an also ran.
Victory turned into defeat, happiness turned into despair, and suddenly the entire Korean Pop scene now had to deal with the sphectre of ghosts past.
At this crucial moment, Lee Sooman (he was running SM back then) made the probably fatal decision to send aespa to the Thanksgiving Parade in New York, where hardly anyone knew them
They do look lost.
It was very fateful, since because they went to a foreign country, they had to quarantine for 14 days, and Melon decided to hold its award ceremony on Dec 3, when BTS was in Los Angeles doing a concert and aespa was quarantining.
So there was nobody to win the Grand prizes at the melon awards since only BTS and aespa were prominent among the KPop acts.
So, the organizers of melon Awards called up the Owner of Edam Entertainment, who promptly showed up. (The next year Melon did the same thing with Lim Youngwoong, although IVE did show up in that yeas as well)
and claimed the Artist of the Year Award.
3rd Gen succeeded by 2nd Gen is an unsightly scene, and this assault against KPop was conducted in front of the entire world when everyone thought BTS had conquered the world.
It would not have been possible without Strawberry Moon thoroghly defeating Savage.
The Owner of Edam Entertainment, not BTS or aespa, became the singer whose video was watched by the most people in Korea in 2022.
If aespa had defeated the Owner of Edam Entertainment, it would be ruling Kpop in 2022-25. Like the old acts of SM.
This defeat eventually led to the 4th gen never overcoming the 3rd gen, and subsequent generations withering away.
As long as Melon dominated Korean Pop the power for the Owner of Edam Entertainment to harm KPop at her will remained - it is only after spotify and youtube music became dominant that people did not have to fear her anymore.
