I just got out of school a few days ago and honestly I was so busy that I was only halfway paying attention to what has been going on. First of all ever since that fiasco with bubble, and his phone breaking i honestly thought that something was up with him cause he was just acting weird...sigh I really didn't want to get into this I wanted to just relax and read or catchup on good trouble or something but I guess I'll Ramble instead.
I didn't know per say that he was leaving at first I just noticed he has been much more clingy with his fans than usual. Really pushing the boyfriend idol thing( which is so unhealthy for both him and them but I digress). He the entire rover promotions has just looked so tired and exhuasted to me. For this reason although I bought the album I refused to keep up with the promotions because of how out of it he looked. He lost so much weight( which isn't necessarily a bad thing its how quickly he looses weight and how he binge eats afterwards its just not healthy) he looked so tired and energetically drained. S.m absolutely sucks at promoting him and he takes on the bulk of the creative reins and stress for every album, so I understand his stress but it's how he deals with it. He is very sensitive and emotional but pretends not to be until he just snaps and lets it all out. Honestly as selfish as it is this is why I will check up on him periodically but thats about all I can do when he's like that.. seeing someone run themselves ragged not even caring if one day they won't be able to walk for the sake of their craft is too much.
I know people are angry at people suggesting that he knew he was going to the military and I dont know for sure but I really think he did. He's such an oddball he hints at stuff. And if you don't pay attention to his little hints you'll miss the irony of everything he, had changed his hair color back to black, was wearing a air jordan shirt with wings and said that he'd be right back.( also he never has worn came before and suddenly he's wearing it way more often) I just assumed everyone knew he meant he was going to the army. So when he did another live having to actually say he was going to the army explicitly I think he did it out of wanting to be a good idol. Good celebrities express their emotions to their audience. It was strange to watch cause in a way it was real I do believe he was hurting but how he be acting sometimes its concerning. I really dont think he has another area of his life to express that emotional, goofy, childlike self which is basically the real him. The military regardless of which part you are going to is no place to express that side of yourself. I really dont think it was kai of exo crying cause he can't sing and dance I think it was his inner child crying. He cares about singing and dancing but honestly not as much as he outwardly says he does. I think he would be just as happy acting, it's simply that fans didn't really respond well to his acting. Its not just exo he won't be participating in, it's also modeling, fashion, whatever else he does that people don't know about.. anyway he's been noticably holding onto, clinging too, trying to get back the youth he lost being an aspiring child star/ kpop idol. People forget he has headshots from when he was like 8 or 9 maybe 10. His parents more than simply wanting him to sing and dance wanted him to be famous. Its alot of pressure for a kid and it's also is a tale as old as time his story is different from what you usually hear in kpop, he didn’t just audition and happen to get in he was definitely groomed to be in the industry. He wasn't exactly doing youtube covers but if you weave the story together a lot went into him being Kai it wasn't just oh I wanted an Nintendo but I commend him for saying so dedicated to the little script. He never ever gives anymore information about his family or his career origins than he did at debut (trust me I've checked). But weirdly he offers the story without asking.most idols do not do this they stay as vague as possible. But he always has given info voluntarily that sounds odd and maybe didn't need to be said. Like how he looked so feminine as a child multiple people mistook him as a girl, and how his mother used to curl his hair and when he went shopping for dress clothes with his parents the people would bring out a dress instead.. Perhaps it is something important to him or he is trying to hint at something I'm not sure.
Gender fluidity is a mark of childhood I think he holds onto that part of his life where he didn't have to be what society deems as a man.
Regardless I worry about the kid cause I think he uses his celebrity as a comfort when he feels insecure. Like at least somebody cares about him, the real him. But I really dont think that's healthy.
It also really concerns me how when he's alone and it's quiet( no lights camera action) the first thing that pops into his mind when he's just speaking into the silence is to say he doesn't have any friends. He says he is a friend to other people yet he has no friends. He's so closed off even when he's close to people.
I know nobody wants to be lectured but this is why I'm so cringe and like why? when he sexualizes himself. Cause it's so..outside of his box..he is naturally a sensual person theres no issue with that but he's reserved in public. But he has to use his natural sex appeal to sell sell sell and look I understand, that's the world its disgusting, despicable and a complete product of colonialism (I'll get into that later). When he ripped up that sign of himself shirtless on inkigayo I was not surprised at all.
It's more and more common that sex symbols are coming out and saying how irl they are super shy and reserved. One day my sister was watching the Kardashians and I was like lemme just watch and see what this is about. It actually wasn't bad and I'm now convinved it's actually social commentary in disguise. So this episode Scott asked Kim to accompany him to an acting class and Kim was actually super shy and kinda nervous about having to introduce herself in front of strangers. People fail to realize people even when someone seems out of this world they are still a person. Sometimes dehumanizing someone isn't putting them down but lifting them up too high.
I think the deification of Kai both helped him yet hurt him tremendously. Jongin went from being a bullied kid who did ballet to a handsome upcoming idol to be treated like a demigod. Yet that's just how people looked at him, where was the inner work between that. It most likely didn't happen. Which is why he still has bouts of depression despite having such a successful career.
More than comments and likes and views the kid needs prayers.
The most mid show I've ever loved
S01E01 - Pilot S04E01 - 'A' is for A-l-i-v-e S06E11 - Of Late I Think Of Rosewood
I wish kpop fans would be just as concerned about kpop artists hygeine who still have 10 layers of makeup on when they go to sleep so they can rush to their next schedule first thing in the morning. You know I never thought about it before but people only tease nice people who never do or say anything. I just leave people alone when I don't care about them, but somehow there's this weird obsession to publically humiliate your fave's percieved competition. Sadly hindsight is 20/20 because if some of these hateful people would read books and articles and the actual interviews of kpop idols you'd know quiet a few of them are not the most hygenic either. Yet I never see longposts about all the times kpop idols were on v or ig live after a concert and just put new clothes on with makeup on their faces and go to bed. I don't do that cause I know you never know someones mental state maybe they are really struggling with something personal. I know people just delete and get new socials and pretend they never said such rude and tasteless things but words do hurt. I never understand people wont tell the honest truth about politics' morals or something of common sense to a celeb but they will make fun of them.
Valid critique is fine. Show concern but just being mean for the sake of it is so pointless.
I try to say things that make sense and that I would actually say to a persons face; ask simple questions or make a critique of their work. But bullying someone like we are in middle school or something is so childish.
the way you guys still thirst over harry styles in 2019 and he doesn’t even shower…
mind you at this time Justin Bieber was doing completely fine in asia. The misinformation and lies that Exo had replaced him in Asia was propaganda done by s.m. Around that time I actually found photos of Jb with japanese idols and fans taking photos and doing interviews in japan and press conferences. He even went around south korea and met with producers and artists. S.m does a lot of social media play. There was a twitter thread that exo was having a concert and all of justins fans left to go see exom not even in the building but they went go wait outside while exo was performing. My first introduction to how deceptive s.m entertainment was. Jb was their biggest foreign competition. Sadly as a little kid I literally believed the lie that exo ended Justins popularity in Asia due to s.m entertainments hate campaign against him. He would later start up a successful clothing brand of his own in Japan meanwhile and Exo still promotes other peoples brands that they have no control over and to date has had at least six members sue over human slavery allegations.
idk why you guys are talking about exo ending justing bieber’s career until now??? like Kyungsoo ended his career long ago when he covered “Boyfriend”??
S.m. did not sabotage Exo. They don't sabotage any of their groups. At least not how people think they do. Sure, from the fans and artists perspectives, I definitely think they may feel like that is the case, but we don't read their contracts. Heck, they probably didn't even read their contracts. Somebody can only screw you over if you let them.
It is possible to bargain and refuse to sign a contract if you don't want to. Multiple artists have left S.M. Entertainment and decided not to renew their contracts, but Exo, 8 members of Exo, did. They decided to stay in a contract locked tight with S.M. to stay in the group Exo.
Many say they had to; they had no choice, but they did. They could have all left together. There is no excuse for why they didn't. Because of the redraft of Korean entertainment laws to combat the exact thing that CBX sued for, the Korean government gave groups like Exo an out.
Which is why I knew they could not win their lawsuit, because it is very clear. It does protect the artists but it also protects the company. If you choose to resign odds are you will not win a lawsuit. The new law is a safety vest. If you throw it away you cannot cry foul.
There are many very helpful videos about this law that exist online. Groups can leave together with all their music and their name, but only if they leave together. Most likely what happened was some wanted to leave and some wanted to stay. It is quite clear who was on those two different sides.
The law is very specific that the thing is with this situation ALL the members must leave together if they want their name and music.
That right there would be, or should be, enough to stop this false claiming of S.M. mistreating Exo. Which, honestly, is kind of comical in 2024, the difference of the meaning of that word. Actual groups are abused by their agencies, and people think a company not making a group as famous as they could be is mistreatment.
It's not. And hey, if it was, and I'll give it to you, maybe that is a crappy thing to do, to block offers and say, Nah, we're not going to make you more famous but...
They could have left; they all had the free will to leave.
Though that would mean no more S.M. promotions, no more S.M. paying for everything, and no more benefits. Do I really have to go to the s.m. website and show you all the benefits they give to their employees? I mean, it's pretty nice. Sadly, we live in a world of comparison. People are desperate to find some comparison between the haves and the have-nots. Maybe if these millionaires aren't getting the highest pay in the company, then they deserve people to rally for them.
It's like a huge victim off--who is the least privileged rich person.
it's giving
But it's not even as simple as that. S.m invests a lot of money into each artist. They made them famous, they built them up, they got them sponsorships and acting jobs, and like it or not, they got them a fandom too. From S.M.'s perspective, they made the group. I mean, fans are shallow, and they want content and fan service, which is valid. I mean, if you like a show, sure you want more seasons, but these are real people. It takes millions to get these guys a reality show, wearing fancy clothes, with makeup artists and a camera crew with a rented-out villa. On top of feeding everyone, staff, managers, producers and stylists.
Meanwhile, some groups have personal YouTube channels just hanging out. Like the comparison is not valid. Like yes, they are so oppressed they have to spend tons of money giving their fans a fancy reality show to watch and heavily scripted and edited YouTube sketches.
S.m truly hates their guts so much they let them rag on them in public and on bubble and still buy them birthday cakes lmao.
I mean, think about that: Who needs all that to hang out with their friends? People bend over backwards to make it seem like S.M. is sabotaging them with no content... like it's not hard to hang out and film it. It's not S.M.'s fault they need a script or be at a concert in order to have chemistry. Kai said himself it took him a long time to get a youtube channel because he had to organize and pay for everything. It's expensive to do what they want to do. Look perfect, have great editing and keep their image fancy.
There are tons of issues in Kpop and s.m ent but complaining about the most pointless things takes validity away from the argument.
"But ...they cancelled youtube red reality show/ they said no to cochella" allegedly..
Do ya'll understand that those are avenue's that can't be controlled. Look at what happened to those poor girls who went to that event and got trashed for weeks. Anything can happen and it's not an asian event. Exo has had bad performances in the past, mess ups, bad notes, if that happened in a crowd full of foreigners who may not even be into kpop; they aren't women who can just laugh it off cause they look like instagram models, that would be humiliating. People are way meaner to men on the internet.
Do I need to bring back the last time S.m and fans tried to push exo performing at a western event, a very traditional group of people opposed it heavily citing it was an american event and began picking the group apart. Gender and race are a huge issue companies are hesistant how they bring a group to the west. They purposely promoted super m differently to prevent a bad reaction from certain groups of people. They wore less makeup, did less overt fanservice and made sure they promoted them more masculine. They always referred to one another as brother. They don't want to put their groups in a bad spot and I don't blame them.
Did people ever think that the group may not of been the best group to perform at that type of event. They have a lot of members and cochella isn't known for focusing on dancing. Some members don't even have lines in most songs, they would just be standing there. They aren't blackpink or 2ne1 with only four members who equally share lines.
I don't remember other large groups crying cause they weren't invited to cochella, because every market is different. Rappers, bands and female performers do better at cochella than dudes and there's nothing wrong with that.
How can 9 people sing equally at a musical event?
"Youtube offered them a show why didn't s.m take it"
With Youtube red...can exo be as authentic as the documentary may require? Can they have a scene with serious or contraversial stuff like hybe is doing and their fans be okay with that? Maybe that wasn't a risk they were willing to take. They have a completely different promotion style than other companies. The fans do not know these people. What if the members had to show their real authentic personalities? Would fans even be interested in that? It could destroy the fourth wall s.m built up for them. Fans would rather ignore issues just like the lawsuit, they plug their ears and cover their eyes, even when it was cbx who tried to call attention to it. They were trying to say they had an issue but fans just wanted more fluffy content and were upset the lawsuit messed it up for them. So could the fandom take a documentary where problematic stuff might be filmed? The fans themselves might of boycotted youtube.
They would of been like:
"How dare they put the boys in a bad light. S.m should have protected them"
The members are known for saying stuff that got them in trouble with foreign american fandoms. What if it caused more trouble than it was worth?
That's how companies have to think.
I understand that there are many things which do need to be talked about concerning exo, s.m and kpop but the reality is that be honest most do not want to have those conversations. How many injuries and people passing out had fans rolling their eyes saying "again?"
or "screw s.m"
what does that do?
People don't even know how to boycott because they are so addicted to their faves being top sellers and milking their achievements. How can people say they don't care when they talk about exo's awards like they earned them themselves. The only award a fan should be proud of is a grammy because there's a council of critics who are unbias not a bunch of crazy fans.
When people let go of their ego then change will happen until then the companies will continue to do whatever they want. Having underage children dancing in a basement learning how to attract fans is an issue. Millionaires getting less money than they thought they could get is not.
To all the exo ls that let this fly
like it's so crazy how nobody needs to work hard to expose s.m because they seem to do a great job of it themselves.
Really crazy work how the same manager got moved out the group and sent to china after all the photos and vids of the inappropriate behavior with the members. Like people do know he was like 13 when he joined the company correct, like all the sus moments with the members and the staff that knew them since childhood are crazy. Like insane. This is why I never wanna here any big happy family comments about him cause I just know it isn't true. If any parent had half an inch of care about their child they wouldn't put them in this situation but at the very least they would attempt to get them out. Tao and Kris's mom and dad fought for them to go free. I'm assuming Luhan same thing. Like given how young he was, like nah no way and then he was marketed for noona's as a teen. He was in charge of sexiness at 17.....nope nope nope. They are so slick trying to wait for him to turn 18 to let him outside and begin acting super erotic. Like he wasn't in the practice room for years with staff trying to perfect it. Living in a dorm with 30 other dudes for years as a child. Went through puberty surrounded by a bunch of grown adults without any supervision. I love how everyone loves his sexiness but fail to realize he adopted that persona when he was a child, but people are so concerned about the kids in kpop apparently not. He has no boundaries cause he was never given any. He literally thought this was normal.
And they are still trying to recruit kids and this time they are targeting third world countries, I really hope they know hell and prison are real places. On god if lsm doesn't leave these kids alone I hope
the powers that be give him the kitagawa treatment
No parent should ever have their child at a dorm with a bunch of grown men, EVER I don't care what s.m promised him!
kai grabbing a fistful of the manager noona’s hair…
I'm not gonna lie I think shipping ruined every good show in the world, supernatural, buffy, teen wolf, riverdale, one tree hill, gilmore girls imagine if people cared about character development like they did people smooching. Parks and rec is the only exception,,yes because of them
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
I'm patiently waiting for the day sean lew does his big one and finally choreographs for sm and saves the company from mediocrity cause southern hip hop does not go like how they've been doing it or teaching it.
Back in the day they used to have a good medium of american choreographers to assist the trainee's and idols and clean up their faults now it's like they don't' have that and it's soo evident.
I don't care the minute they got rid of that bald british or american dude they companies dancing went down hill. It became a weird oligarchy. Like I noticed kai's main teacher started recommending people he trained and they eventually ended up replacing most of the western choreographers. They brought in bailey sok
for peaches, the asian american southern swag hip hop extraordinaire that she is and it was way better than Mmmh.
It actually had so many different elements in it, but most don't really focus on the dancing. But for rover they settled on bada lee
who is mainly a krump battle dancer, it lacked authenticity. Not to get all so you think you can dance, but Jongin cannot do that and at sm they make no effort to really teach everyone learns on their own and they aren't really pushed to be at a certain standard.
Kasper and all those other choreographers and that studio they get most of the dancers from have a very specific skill sets.
They've been with sm for quite some time and I get that, loyalty but like the art world don't work like that they're gonna get left behind.
they got clout about 2013 from america's best dance crew made it to the quarter finals cool. We back to Korea with prestige
Did the olympics alongside exo.
I get sm always wants people with lots of prestige and clout but they tend to keep the same people for so long the creative image of sm gets stifled and left behind, now sm is desperately trying all the trends and fads to get their artists relevant to the youth again. Like it's a little late they should have been letting young creative directors in.
I don't care I'm always gonna advocate for new and upcoming artist with lots of passion. They make the world turn, they start the trends, they bring the most energy with their ideas.
Ignoring the performative style an artist specializes in and getting choreographers that make lite hood tik tok mashup dances is ruining the game. But if one must do it I think letting the western choreographers they bring in for ideas have some real creative freedom. It typically never fails I feel like they bring in these choreographers for a blueprint then let a korean choreographer twist it up a little bit so they never have to really give somebody credit. They never say western names hardly if ever only thank you team who contributed to the success but the korean choreographers get to show their face, do interviews, and idols basically have them as a part of the crew.
Like they are NOT slick. At all. I know the western choreographers get inspo from southern hip hop but at least they are transparent. They'll say this is inspired by this dance, two step, crank that, etc but it never is even a topic of discussion. Only full credit going to the k choreographers and yeah yeah some other people helped...like people forget why exo's choreo was so on point when they started
I really don't wanna make it seem like it's just black creators they try to shelve and ignore it's basically anyone non korean.
Tony Testa I remember him from back in the day but when I wanted to search him up to my surprise nobody really talked about him and the only choreographer people talk about training Kai is mainly Mihawk and Kasper...which is somewhat true.
Cause they're choreo is...like it's okay.. but Kai himself went into how Mihawk trained Exo and it was basically sm style, yelling, you're terrible, quit now, emotional abuse... wow you're famous I love you let's take pictures.. I don't care they gaslight them kids idc idc idc. Now that's trauma bonding.
But then there's the actual full truth that they and many other sm performers who have been praised for their dances around that time, were in fact trained by a real deal professional at one point, one of their staple choreographers was Tony Testa and he choreographed for Britney Spears(circus) and Michael Jackson(Testa was hired by director Kenny Ortega as an associate choreographer for Michael Jackson's final tour This Is It which obviously never got to happen but still)
This was dance on sunset? I think?
and suddenly the quality makes all the sense in the world
But again try and find it without knowing about it before hand you'd be like yeah no they never really had any western choreographers. There's no history books in Kpop if you were there you remember but if you weren't woops doesn't exist.
except it does.
Anyway too many people have this weird odd narrative Mihawk did it all and thank God for him like....how? He's just one of the only one's still there. Everybody else left cause Korea is trash to artists and creatives.
Like Kai cannot do that hood stuff, he wasn't trained for that at all. Now if sm invested more in there artists fine blame him but everybody knows these kids would dance in that basement for hours by themselves cause be honest they probably paid the teachers for a certain amount of time and then it's all on the kids. They absorb as much as they can but then it's up to them. He couldn't just learn such an advanced style like krumping from watching, you either grow up in the culture or you learn from someone who grew up in the culture. This is why you can't expect these Korean teachers to teach krumping. They know it but only cause they most likely learned from someone close to the source, it's not just something that can spread so easily.
sm has always like historically done this like it's just something they do they will never stop taking these itsy bitsy pieces of black culture and recycling it they can't help it. They've worked with tons of black artist to make the actual music and tend to get some western or black influenced people to try and create some type of instant quick success. But it's so subtle one could say it's not related at all.
I would say its a coincidence but knowing who trained shotaro like uhm no it's not,
Sm knows exactly what company trained Shotaro and they are known to specialize in krumping and hip hop. The little time he spent at sm most likely taught him barely anything he was already trained when they got him. They fib so much and never let their artists go into detail. He trained for years with a company that trains people in the top boy groups in japan.
EXPG is a studio connected with the iconic Japanese boy group exile tribe where most of their members train.
I just get tired of people saying 'studio from japan or studio in america' like if it was Korean people would give the entire name...like what's wrong with giving people credit who deserve it.
They typically sometimes get sent to new york for 2 years I think? But that was in the old days it may be different now. This is because the japanese always understood if you want your artist to do black music they should not just sing black music but be under the cultural american influence in some sort of way.
I don't know what they aren't getting, Kai isn't perfect at every style. They just don't plan on ever investing any more money into him or really any of their artists.
He was more in his comfort zone at the beginning of exo with a heavy emphasis on jazz and contemporary style dance.
If there isn't jazz or contemporary at least in the basis of the dance that's where Kai starts to falter. Broadway theater style is what he's most comfortable in. But because of appearance they push urban dance on him.
They didn't even try with bomba
Rover was a soul crushing mix between crank that soulja boi and the macarena.
I was watching the video like nooo that's every viral black/ethnic dance in one and I already knew that tagged choreographer was korean. I wanna analyze rover later but I might get upset it's pretty like a big major 106 in park style mv/music video and dance but like that fact just got
Everything he specializes in sm is like nah they also make anyone with sm have this weird loyalty to where the artist never get to express and cultivate themselves as a human. They are stuck in some sort of child/star hybrid.
I don't know why in the world they didn't send exo or at least super m to millenium they literally rented out the studio where so many talented dancers choreograph and just flew out they korean choreographer so ignorant. They were so stubborn with that group.
I feel like if they were trained by young vibrant artist close to their age they could of gotten so much inspiration. Freedom is really a virus and why would a kpop company want them to have freedom
Like hire the boy he just traveling around asia in his spare time making some of the best choreography of his career and they're like lalalala let's hire other people he's worked and trained with but not him. If anyone could actually help fill in the gaps with some of sm's main dancers I think he could.
Anyway I just feel definitely by 2025 either super m is gonna be somewhat active or sm will be out of business but I still think sean and kai should at least meet up once at a dance conference they become friends and post jazzy contemporary dances online with the occasional obligatory bff's cooking in the kitchen youtube channel, like so many of the peebles do now and days. They both do the same artsy triple threat yet auditioning to be a stay at home husband type of thing, cooking, yoga, self care. Like it can be good for the brand I swear. I just have a thing for artsy people with the same vibes clicking up. It's not so far fetched cause he already worked with Jackson. I just want the two balls of sunshine to meet
movements can and will evolve. Lmao the point is to shock people into making change, it's very simple.