Posts by dizzcity

It's not just the idols alone though. It's the entire Korean entertainment / media / fashion / beauty industry. Idols and musicians are just one facet of the Hallyu cultural media complex, which is just as powerful in Korea as the military-industrial complex is in the U.S. (good luck trying to change American laws on guns in the face of all those political lobbies and pressure groups with vested interests...). Especially since there so much money to be made in the export of Korean beauty/fashion products and services, and entertainment products (drama / music / film / variety), many of whom do not want to face commercial and financial risks in going against what is perceived to be the market-approved standard for beauty.

There's also a related question of Kpop companies having the luxury / power / financial resources to uphold obligations to be responsible for societal influence. Capitalism, classism, and extreme competition are hallmarks of South Korean business culture. For many small and mid-tier Kpop companies, do they have the financial resources to survive if they try to promote idols who have healthy bodies? Can they guarantee their idols would succeed and gain enough influence to set the standard, if they do not match what the market desires? MAMAMOO can barely do it with their outstanding talent. Their predecessors in the 2nd-gen, the Brown-Eyed Girls, adopted plastic surgery in order to gain influence, despite being equally-talented vocally.

Of the Big 3 (or 4 if you include HYBE), JYPE is the one that focuses the most on promoting physical health in their corporate social responsibility projects. SM Ent does more education and community social services, YG Ent focuses more on charity donation and now apparently environmental sustainability. I believe HYBE is also moving towards more environmental sustainability initiatives in their CSR focus (and previously mental health). I don't know what Kakao Ent or the CJ group are doing. But in any case, that means that almost none of the major players in the Kpop industry are vested in promoting a healthy body image or lifestyle, except maybe one. And even then, they are less focused on the psychological elements of a healthy body and more on the nutritional and medical elements.

Just for fun, as a company stan, I'm going to point out the fact that Junho is an idol-turned-actor whose solo career has been solely managed by JYP Entertainment. You know, the company that some claim don't know how to manage their idols' solo careers. Junho has renewed his contract twice with JYP Entertainment since his debut in 2009, he is still both an active idol as a member of 2PM and a rising star in the acting circle.

He also has over 100 song composition credits to his name registered with the KOMCA, as expected of an artist under JYP Entertainment (which strongly encourages songwriting by their idols, especially the male ones). And as a solo music artist under JYP Entertainment he has released two Korean studio albums, two Japanese albums, one Korean EP and seven Japanese EPs, in addition to winning numerous Best Actor awards for his dramas, that culminated in this Baeksang Arts Award.

Lee Hyori. Literally the founder of "girl crush" kpop idols. And just look at the prevalence of that concept today. I don't think there's another female kpop idol who has been as influential as she is. (Though IU and the SNSD members come close).

TWICE are busy with their Tokyo Dome concerts, and ITZY just wrapped up their Japanese debut promotions and are getting ready for the next set of activities, so the fans are in a bit of a holding pattern right now. I always assume that whenever ONCEs or MIDZYs aren't talking on forums about music comebacks, they're busy consuming fan content online. Since it's off-peak, there's only an average of about 2 hours' worth of video content every week produced by JYPE for ONCEs and MIDZYs to consume, in-between comebacks.

In the last two weeks, ONCEs have:

• TW-Log World Tour III: Nayeon's episode (22 mins)
• Time to TWICE reality show: Soulmate episode 2 (25 mins)
• Behind the Scenes of Dahyun's solo photobook (13 mins)
• TW-Log World Tour III: Sana's episode (23 mins)
• 2WICE date with Sana and Chaeyoung (25 mins)
• Time to TWICE reality show: Soulmate episode 3 (25 mins)
• Chaeyoung's Birthday celebration (16 mins)
• And the Japanese channel just announced the new Japanese album in July

That's for the official channels, at least. There's also a ton of fancams around of people recording the concert performances, and plenty of photos on TWICE's Instagram and Twitter channels.

In the last two weeks, MIDZYs have:

• Online variety show episode with Park Myung Soo (15 mins)
• ITZY?ITZY! vlog episode 91 (15 mins)
• ITZY's first fan meeting Behind the Scenes (19 mins)
• Music video for fanmeeting song Twenty (3 mins)
• Ryujin's birthday Instagram live (49 mins)
• ITZY's V2LOG: Yeji & Chaeryeong (15 mins)
• Lia's Cookbang: Kimchi Fried Rice (1 hr 19 mins)
• ITZY?ITZY vlog episode 92 (9 mins)
• ITZY's V2LOG: Lia & Ryujin (16 mins)
• Yuna's Cookbang: Stir-fried Octopus and Pork Belly (1 hr)
• Not to mention the tail-end of their Japanese promotions for Voltage

And the usual photos and social media posts on Instagram, Twitter, Bubble and Tiktok. But as far as I know, ITZY should now be busy preparing for their K-pop charity concert on Apr 30, and their new Mnet variety show ITZY Cozy House coming up in May.

Quote from momomia

I mean they did do 16personalities which is said to not be accurate

tbh most tests aren't accurate

Well, to be fair... it's not that 16personalities is inaccurate. It could very well be accurate, it's simply not MBTI. 16personalities basically took Five Factor Theory and disguised it as MBTI, using the same letters. That's why people who actually understand MBTI (and the cognitive functions) are so upset with the 16personalities website marketing itself as MBTI and so many celebrities thinking what 16personalities says is their MBTI type. Which is why when people conclude that the 16personalities test is inaccurate, it splashes back on the reputation of MBTI as being inaccurate because of false marketing.

It's also the reason why 16personalities types has five letters (e.g. "INFJ-T") instead of the correct four-letter signifiers of MBTI types ("INFJ" only, no "-T" or "-A"). Because Five Factor Theory has five factors, so needs five letters to represent the dichotomies, while MBTI itself only has four major cognitive functions, and uses the first and last letters ("E" or "I", "J" or "P") not as a dichotomy / sliding scale but rather to indicate the difference between "outward-facing" and "inward-facing", as well as "dominant" and "subordinate" (in simple terms).

For example, according to both 16personalities and the MBTI websites, Sana is ENFP (which is very obvious, honestly). For 16personalities / Five Factor theory, that "E" in her personality type means she leans towards the Extroverted side of the Extroversion/Introversion scale, and so she gains energy from being around people.

According to classical MBTI cognitive functions, however, what the "E" represents is that her dominant cognitive function is her iNtuition function that is pointed outwards - she developed from a very young age the ability to bounce from one idea to another very quickly, and notice the hidden patterns that connect different ideas or events in the world very easily, jumping to the correct conclusion without always having to go through the working step-by-step. That's why she can crack witty jokes on variety very well - she can connect the current situation with something else that happened recently, and use it for humorous response. And also probably why she came up with that offbeat (but absolutely spot-on) idea on Sixteen to do a mukbang - she understood the hidden meaning behind the assignment - that it wasn't about your skills, but about your charm.

Quote from idontsleep

I wonder do you work in JYPE or are thay paying you for defending the company? Cuz every time someone says something bad about them you are here with some bs...

Most albums are out of stock for over a year.

Now how will you defend albums going out of stock during pre-order period when the pre-orders are for gauging interest. Are people in the company so incompetent that they can't do simple tasks?

No, not really. I don't work for JYPE at all. I'm just not anti-establishment / anti-corporation as many of the people on these forums appear to be, and I don't view the interests of the artist and management as opposed to each other. And, having worked in both a large corporation and partially in the creative media industry before, I'm perhaps a bit more sympathetic to the background staff who do the day-to-day operations. I'm aware that corporations aren't faceless entities, but comprised of people who work with the artists very closely every day. So when I see topics that say something like "fuck JYPE" or "fire the stylist" or "terrible management", I'm aware that these people are criticising the people who their favourite artists are probably very close with. Have you ever watched your close friend at work or in school being scolded in public? How does that make you feel, as a bystander? Do you feel happy that the person you work with and do projects with every day is being scolded for their supposed incompetence, especially if you've witnessed how much they've worked and done for you?

The second issue is whether the person who is accused of incompetence is being fairly accused or not. That's why my first comment in this thread was about clarifying who exactly is responsible, and the chain of information / decision-making. I'm open to correction, as I said, and I believe stan12345 clarified that 3rd-party distributors still would need to check with the original company for signoff before printing more albums. But that's already a more nuanced recognition that the process of restocking albums isn't as simple as one company being responsible for making all the decisions that are causing you, the consumer, to have problems. It's a supply-chain issue that has at least three parties involved (publisher, distributors for various regions, retailers), and the decisions of what to restock, how much to stock / restock, and when to restock has multiple points at which errors can be introduced.

Not to mention balance-of-power negotiations between publisher and distributor. Like, I could very well posit an alternative theory that JYPE is pushing as hard as they can for TWICE, but Republic Records is dismissive / underestimating the demand for TWICE albums, being less in-touch with the Kpop scene. And only after the success of "The Feels" does RR start to take TWICE and JYPE seriously, when they can witness their popularity first-hand. Which makes the problem nothing to do with incompetence, but one of trying to overcome institutional barriers. But without more insider knowledge of the actual deals struck or the process involved in distribution, my theory and your theory of "JYPE is doing everything in their power to sabotage TWICE" are equally speculative and without hard proof. It all depends on our initial assumptions about whether management works with or against the artist, which colours our perspective on the interpretation of events.

To use a different analogy to put it into perspective: if the movie "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" isn't playing in a cinema in China, do you blame Marvel Studios for being incompetent and sabotaging "Shang Chi"?

For the victims of the earthquake that hit Sichuan, China in 2008:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the usual process of restocking dependent on the retailer's request for more albums? Like, kTown4U and all the rest have to predict what the demand is going to be (which they did for TWICE's concert), then put in a request to The Orchard (the distributors of JYPE albums) for a restock. Only then does The Orchard print out more albums to be sent to the retailers.

I'm just curious what role JYPE actually plays in the album restocking process. Pretty sure they outsourced the entire thing. And yet they're getting the blame for what their partners are (not) doing, as usual.

Super high energy. I mean SUPER high energy. I haven't seen a girl group this loud and unrestrained on variety since SNSD. That's what you get when you have six extroverts in the group, I suppose. But they're reacting like veterans already, instead of being a rookie group in their first variety show. Good luck to Haewon in trying to control this bunch. They did a great job in introducing themselves to the world, though.

There could possibly be a mistranslation in the Twitter description. I don't see Mathematics anywhere in the original article, just senior professor in the Department of Computer Science.

Which makes sense, since LSM's Bachelors' and Masters' degrees were in Computer Engineering. Usually for a professorship title you need a doctorate, but his years of working experience in the field (especially since SM Ent has always been pushing tech in Kpop) probably already qualified him for an honorary doctorate (similar to what Bill Gates got).

Finally, an ITZY title track that's rock-based. Looking forward to it!

Rock ITZY is best ITZY.

*Cough* Just speaking up for the Wonder Girls here:

- Ye Eun is now part of an government advisory board that is advising the Korean government on sexual harrassment issues, fighting for the rights of females all over the country.

- Sunye is happily-married and a mother of 3 beautiful daughters, and as shown by MAMA the Idol, can easily regain her popularity in the industry should she ever decide to come back full-time.

- Yubin founded her own agency and is currently acting as a CEO.

- Sunmi is a successful solo artist.

- Hyuna is a successful solo artist and now happily engaged to the love of her life.

- Sohee is doing well in her acting career.

- Lim already has several notable instances of putting her foreign language translation degree to good use (she worked on the Korean translation for the Diary of Anne Frank), and is making progress as an artist alongside her husband, while also welcoming their first child.

If you broaden the definition of "success" to encompass more than a career in performance, they're all doing well.

Quote from yoyo281

Off topic, but I’m curious why Lily debuted with nmixx and not ITZY? I’ve read rumors that Yuna replaced Somi when she left JYP but I’m curious to why the didn’t debut Lily ? I’m not sure how old lily and the rest of nmixx is though so that might have something to do with it.

Lily, the oldest member of NMIXX, was born in 2002, one year younger than Ryujin / Chaeryeong (2001), and one year older than Yuna (2003). For most of her trainee period, I think Lily was planned to be debuted as a solo artist, which is probably why she didn't get put into ITZY or any of the other project girl groups. (See Stray Kids' Survival Show episode 1, when Stray Kids were being confirmed for debut back in 2017. Lily was touted as a solo artist trainee during the annual JYPE trainee showcase.) Probably only recently after ITZY's debut did the company decide that it was better for her to debut as part of a group rather than as a solo artist.

Back on topic: I'm looking forward to the Studio Choom version of the song and seeing the full choreography.

I agree with you. The bright pop rock segment was my favourite part of the song. I think, given the members' personalities as well, they are most suited to bright and happy songs.

If we take O.O as the equivalent of a highlight medley or sampler platter showing the styles / genres that NMIXX can do, in order for their management to gauge public interest, then I think the vast majority of the consumers would go for the middle section. Hope the new management of SQU4D (Division 4) would take that into account when planning their next title track.

Minho was always my favourite member of Shinee because of how competitive he was. Especially on sports / athletics-related variety shows.

I still remember how he was chasing and ripping off all of the SNSD members' nametags on Running Man.

On the plus side, that means that when NMIXX do build a fandom, at least it won't be composed of success stans (who are the ones primarily interested using charts for fanwars). But rather people who genuinely appreciate and see something in their music. Kind of like what Stray Kids did. Chart success can come later... let them build a core stable fanbase first who genuinely appreciate them for who they are and what they bring to the table. The company has enough resources to support them through multiple comebacks, so it's not as urgent for them to make-it-or-break-it on the charts as it would be for a group from a smaller company.

The same reason why I was worried for ITZY's fandom when so many success stans drawn in initially to Kpop by Blackpink and their model of success migrated over to become MIDZYs is the same reason why I'm actually kind of relieved that NMIXX didn't have a chart-smashing success from the very start. Let them grow slowly and weather through difficulties at the start together. It produces a more cohesive group at the end. And it also helps them connect better to other rookie groups who are going through the same thing, rather than being set on a pedestal and separated from most of their peers by being instant successes.

I mean, the major implication of everyone singing live is that a lot more time would be spent in-between acts tuning the audio balance for each group. Which in turn means lesser groups can perform in the same day and/or longer working hours. It was still okay in the 2nd gen because there were lesser groups overall. But now in a crowded industry, if your bias isn't from a large or mid-tier company, it's going to be even more difficult for them to secure a slot to perform. (Demand and supply essentially raising the prices, since time is now more scarce).

So, tradeoffs. The rich get richer with more exposure, the poor get poorer.

Quote from ketchUp

I think they are going for the female stray kids concept.

Kyujin, Jiwoo, Jinni = 3Racha

and their choreo seems intense

Okay, so it's not just me who thinks that! The moment I heard the music and learned about the shared universe, I was reminded of Stray Kids' sound monster storyline. And the comments they got at debut too, about noise music.

Quote from stan12345

Your mistake is thinking JYPE were innovative past a certain point in the first place.

They have been one of the least innovative companies relative to their competition for a while. If anything, they feast on playing it safe. One look at their divestments in recent years and the specialisation they've undertaken would show that.

I agree on JYPE playing it safe. To me, they're kind of like the Microsoft / IKEA of Kpop. Not known for their innovation or stylish-ness (unlike, say, Apple). But they compete on out-producing the competition, with a much smoother and more efficient production process, and being in everyone's home / office. Accessible, rather than avant-garde.

Quote from StrawberryChaeng

but irony and loa are good songs to listen to with a good concept that just didnt click with the public. Nmixx's is so bad

Well first, music is subjective, so who's to say what's "good" or "bad"? All we can really say is whether a song suits our particular taste or not (I still don't like "Dalla Dalla", and prefer ITZY's rock song B-sides over their title tracks). What we can say is whether a song seems to be following what seems to be the popular trend in music at this time. All the JYPE girl group debut song concepts have followed the major music / concept trend at first. Irony and Like Ooh Ahh were concepts that were supposed to click with what the public wanted at the time, and actually did, to a degree (LOA, for instance, is one of the longest TWICE songs to stay on GAON Digital chart). They just weren't outstanding, chart-busting successes like the songs that came after them.

What sets JYPE girl groups apart eventually and makes them iconic is whether they diversify their discography after establishing a core concept that suits the group (Wonder Girls / TWICE), or double-down on their strength in performance (miss A / ITZY). JYPE girl groups mainly go for popularity first, then originality / diversity later. If you want originality first, I suggest having a look at / listen to the JYPE boy groups instead.