Kiss of Life. They're everything I want in a group. Just wish they had the company/finances to back it up so they get the attention they deserve.

Quote from ava-beatrix

However, neither groups have as much control over their music as SKZ so I don't know how independent from their labels they could be.

Why do you think this is the case with Idle? They make their own music (4/5 members are involved in song writing/composing their songs), EVERY song on their albums were written by a member, they decide on the concept themselves, decide on line distribution, decide the title track, etc. I'd say they have absolute control over their music, perhaps even more than a Big 4 group.

Quote from selfmate

I think they'll do a BP and go separate ways for their individual activities and maybe still be under Cube for Gidle activities...

but all of the members have lots of solo activities so them doing their own things wouldn't be a surprise...

As I was saying in another thread - the only member I'm curious about is Yuqi and whether she will continue to promote and undertake activities in SK since history and precedent tells us that all (I think it's all) chinese idols return to China and never return back to SK lol - Yuqi being the only one who has made previous comments about remaining/liking SK enough to continue to undertake activities here

Yeah, Yuqi mentioned before that she will always put the group activity before her individual activity.

Personally, I doubt Gidle will stay with Cube because they always talk about how long they've got left on their contracts. I'd love it it they joined up with a popular, self-producing boy group (a la Stray Kidz) to set up their own company and share resources for both BB & GG divisions. That combined power will be amazing, and the members are already friends anyway (for example, Bang Chan is really close to Minnie)!

Quote from WhyKnock

Minnie's first language is also Chinese since although she is a Thai citizen they only speak Chinese among their own circle.

Quote from WhyKnock

She does say that to not to alienate the Thai fans, but her family is ethnic chinese and upper class ethnic Chinese in SE Asia tend not to speak the local language among their own circle

lol you literally just be saying anything now. Probably less than 20 percent of Thai-Chinese speak Teochew (maybe less than 10% for people younger than 30), and probably less than 5 percent speak Mandarin, even amongst ourselves.

And speaking from personal experience, 90% of us would identify ourselves as solely Thai. We say we're "Thai-Chinese" the same way Americans say "I'm Irish!". Thai-Chinese are not them same as other Chinese in Southeast Asia. Me (as well as many other Thai-Chinese) find it quite offensive actually when we meet foreigners/Chinese people who say "Oh! So you're actually Chinese!". No, we're Thai.

Quote from merv1782

Maybe, it is a big possibility but i would like to see them in one company tho

As a Neverland, I DO NOT want to see the girls split up. Blackpink is really the exception to the rule and most K-Pop idols won't be more successful solo than as a group (heck, even Blackpink is probably stronger as a group despite how well they're doing solo at the moment).

(G)I-DLE is a pretty clear case of this. Despite all the girls have strong unique personas (that's their whole concept), they're really stronger than the sum of their parts. We've seen glimpses of their solo careers in their predebut/hiatus era and it was NOT good. Even the strongest member - someone insanely talented with a distinct image like Soyeon was flopping solo until she managed to gather Idle together. I can't imagine Shuhua fighting out a solo career as a singer in Korea, despite not being able to imagine Gidle without her in the group.

Quote from gerrard174

While the intetion of this thread is good, highlighting how people undestimated GIDLE...

they DIDNT rise from bottom. They literally grab a music show win 20days into their debut ... they already made some impact in the industry on debut era. They were drown out during Senorita & Uh Oh era but they kinda grab back attention with Dumdi dumdi + the whole Queendom session

They were undestimated because they are not from big 3 BUT CUBE is not a small company also. I believe people underestimated CUBE more than they underestimated GIDLE. CUBE was the home to 4minutes, BTOB, B2ST and used to have Apink. While Cube didnt supply them songs, cube provided all the fundings for MVs, promotions etc.. song issue is always a problem for CUBE GGs cause most of them dont write unlike B2ST and BTOB which mostly written by members themselves.

Is 260 albums on Hanteo for first day sales not starting from the bottom?

CLC never made a profit, similarly Lightsum. Their new BG also didn't make a splash. If Cube was such a big company that guarantees all the funding and success, why don't they have any successful act since 2nd Gen other than Idle?

Does it matter that Cube is 'not a small company' when the market valuation gap between them and JYP is like 10X? Yeah, they used to have moderately successful groups in the past - companies fortunes can go up and down. DSP used to be part of the big three - they had Finkl, SS501, Kara, etc. If DSP debuted a group that became one of the top groups of their generation, are people going to use the same argument "DSP isn't a small company! They were right behind the big 3, they had blah blah blah legendary acts a decade ago" like????

They have all the makings of a Top 4th gen group. They have an outstanding leader who writes, produce, creative directs all their title tracks (Soyeon). They have vocalists with some of the most unique & distinct voices in the industry (Minnie/ Yuqi). Great visuals that are no less beautiful than any other top groups' visuals (Miyeon/Shuhua). They even had a stan-attracting, viral, X-Factor main dancer (Soojin). So they have all the required ingredients of a top group.

The reality is NewJeans, Ive, Lesserafim, Aespa, Itzy (maybe less the case for Itzy now) outperforms them on some metrics (while Idle outperforms them on others), so there's no clear winner. But those groups all came from the Big 4 or with members from a hit Produce show (the center and 1st ranking IT girl no less). They all had huge predebut fandoms ready to support them even before they released any music. Yet Idle can compete with these group despite coming from a much smaller company.

Before people say "But Cube is a big company" - um, yeah, maybe in comparison to all other companies in the industry but that doesn't mean much when the valuation in the stock market between Cube and say JYP (the smallest Big 4) is like 10X. Their building don't even have airconditioning in the practice room, all the furniture are broken, the fridge doesn't work & they even have to recycle trash sofa thrown out by Minnie. Almost any money they have now is earned by Idle - every cent spent on them they've earned for themselves.

I love that Gidle was a serious contender for Top 3 in late 3rd Gen and still clawing their way to become one of the top groups in 4th Gen despite being a girl group/ from a small-ish company/ being self-produced.

A win for the hags.

Quote from Daisy_Queen

The police dismissed all the charges against her accusers

That just means there isn't enough evidence to prove that they were defaming her. The accusers also didn't have any evidence that she was a bully. In fact, Soojin has been the most transparent about this case - willing to take things public and prove her innocence.

On one hand we have:

Soojin - Provided lengthy explanation from her side with documented evidence from her school records

On the other hand we have her accusers:

Vitamin Sisters - changed their stories multiple times, provided zero evidence

Online accusers - multiple purported bullied classmates all proven to have been made by one account

SSA - refused to clarify WHATSOEVER apart from posting cryptic IG stories to stir up public speculations

Any 5 year old could see who acted more suspiciously in this case.

Most of the fandom are women though

Thai school uniform boom in China fuels hope for tourism recovery

Social media post by Chinese actress starts cosplay trend among visitors

asia.nikkei.com

Thai school uniform boom in China fuels hope for tourism recovery

Social media post by Chinese actress starts cosplay trend among visitors

Chinese customers pose in Thai student uniforms at the Sriphan store. (Photo from Sriphan's Facebook page)KOSUKE INOUE, Nikkei staff writerMarch 19, 2023 14:03 JST

BANGKOK -- Sparked by a single social media post, Thailand's school uniforms have become a major draw for Chinese tourists, prompting hopes of a possible boost to the southeast Asian country's tourism industry.

"This is the first time in the 60 years since our founding that we have received so much attention," said Yenjit Atsawaprichawong, owner of Sriphan, a school uniform store in Bangkok. Since March, Chinese customers, mainly women in their 20s, have been visiting the shop almost every day, purchasing uniforms to wear while taking pictures in various places.

The boom can be traced to a recent social media post by Ju Jingyi, a popular Chinese actress and singer. In February, Ju posted photos on Instagram of herself wearing a Thai school uniform, apparently dressed as a character from the Thai comedy movie "A Little Thing Called Love."

Uniforms are required at many junior high schools and high schools in Thailand. A girl's uniform typically consists of a dress shirt with a ribbon tied at the collar and a knee-length navy blue skirt. The basic uniform for boys is a white dress shirt and shorts. Girl's uniforms at Sriphan sell for 600 baht ($17) for a full set.

The emergence of school uniforms as a potential tourist attraction for Thailand would follow in the footsteps of Japan. Known around the world, the country's high school girl's uniforms have been a boon to the Japanese tourism industry, with visitors dressing up in the outfits and buying them as souvenirs.

In 2022, the Thai government launched a committee under the guidance of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to oversee the promotion of Thai culture as part of a wider push to boost the country's soft power. The committee has since rolled out several initiatives, including a tour launched on a trial basis last summer of filming locations for Thailand's popular "boys' love" TV dramas.

China accounted for nearly 30% of all foreign tourists entering Thailand before the pandemic, the most of any country. The recovery of the tourism industry -- the backbone of the Thai economy -- is expected to depend on inbound Chinese tourist numbers, underscoring the potential value of the new school uniform trend.

i don't get it...are good Jennie performances so rare that it warrants a news article when it happens?

Gonna be hard. Half the group are foreigners.

It's a cute 48 tradition.

Here's from the Thai 48 groups (BNK48 & CGM48)

Her visuals are just...radiant.

I've never seen such an all-out fan war before. Usually they're a bit more subtle taking snide shots at each other, but this time all the claws are out in full force. Each fandom is trying to outdo each other and the one that stands to benefit the most is Celine.

This event probably garnered more hype than any in the past because now each fandom has a direct champion to fight for and a clear opponent - in a very publicized singular event.

Usually it's just this fandom hyping that achievement over a period of time but none where the 2 are put together do directly head to head in one event.

I wonder if this is all planned, or if it just kinda happened organically.

wow that lapillus song was...

i mean we hate MLD but damn poor girls

Poor girls, debuting under MLD to this mess...

Reports like make me wish SEA would just abandon K-Pop.

SEA is a HUGE reason why K-Pop is where it is today, and now they've grown on the back of SEA fans, they bite the hand that fed them.

Let's see K-Pop try to survive without SEA and they'll realize.

Don't know why people keep invalidating (G)I-DLE despite their success speaking for itself.

Latata a hit - "yeah but they're one-hit wonders"

Hann charting better than Latata - "Yeah but less impact"

Had the most impact on Queendom - "Yeah but they didn't win"

Lion most successful song from Queendom - "Doesn't count as a comeback"

Dumdi Dumdi genuinely popular - "Depends on what they do next"

Hwaa winning 10 music shows - "Yeah but it dropped after Soojin's scandal"

Came back with Tomboy with 130+ PAK - "Depends on what they do next"

Like LITERALLY any other group with this trajectory would be a Top 5 group by now but people keep diminishing (G)I-DLE's achievements. If they were from a Big 3, you'd be saying they're EASILY one of the Top 3 groups. Self-producing, self-composing, self-choreographing GIRL GROUP with a self-written NATIONAL HIT. People keep saying they've been lucky since they've debuted and that they're gonna disappoint next comeback, yet each time they come back they prove their doubters wrong and that the NEVER DIE.

BIGGER THAN KPOP