It’s time for QRIMOLE, the series where readers ask Kpopalypse questions! Let’s take a look at the mailbag for the last month!
I was rewatching old BTS MVs just to experience their best era. It really is a great thing that their actually decent songs are so relatively unpopular. How badly do you think those poor girls in the MVs would be harassed if these songs were better known?
Yes, that girl in “War Of Hormone” who gets street-harassed by the BTS boys would get cancelled by half the fans for not getting in whatshisname’s car… and cancelled by the other half for even daring to be in the same video as him.
Supposedly the TripleS girls actually make decent money because they get a portion of the NFT earnings and it’s not measured against any company debt (or probably it just extends any debt that albums pay off but they are still getting payments upfront like an advance). Do you know if this is real/there are any other groups making money like that?
Nobody is buying NFTs in 2025, that shit is dead in the water. Most of the tech grifters have moved onto AI scams at this point, that’s the latest “accelerationist” bullshit ideological wasteland. And that’s probably exactly why the labels have said “sure, girls, you can keep any money you make off of the NFTs”… because they won’t fucking make any, because nobody buys them now. If there was real money in it, you’d bet the label would take their cut. But even if the girls were selling NFTs profitably, they’d still have to divide those earnings by however many girls are in the group. It probably wouldn’t even be enough for one Yeojin snack run.
I heard that kpop group members are all required to maintain the same (unhealthily small) clothing size to make it easier for the stylists- do you know if this is true? Does that mean that whenever someone loses weight everyone else has to as well?
I saw that there was some uproar a while ago about Rei being upfront about her diet and the fact that she only eats one meal a day (and honestly she never finishes any meal on camera so I doubt she eats an entire meal) but I guess I just don’t get why people are perpetually “surprised” by unhealthy kpop eating habits? No matter what people pretend you can’t actually get that small by eating healthy and working out?
I think “make it easier for the stylists” is probably a convenient excuse and not a lie but hardly the main reason – the real reason is they just don’t want to girls gaining weight because they don’t think it looks good on camera, or just the usual Korean beauty standards reasons or whatever.
Your Kpop Demon Hunters review got me thinking about male vs female objectification not only in the kpop space, but in media in general (especially media aimed at GenZ). I’m starting to think that kpop/korean dramas have ~~paved the way~~ for more male objectification and creatives in other industries have been running with it.
Because it’s not just kpop anymore, oiled up abs are EVERYWHERE now, from netflix teen shows to terrible tiktok webseries to fantasy books to superhero movies, etc. By contrast, projects that openly objectify women seem more restricted. The last mainstream risqué movie I’ve watched with lots of cleavage and great boob presentation was The Substance (maybe I should sign up for HBO, I dunno). It’s no wonder Americans have been loosing their minds over Sidney Sweeney’s cleavage, no one else is bringing the girls out.
Thinking about why this is happening, I’ve come up with a couple of ideas, but can’t seem to pinpoint the main culprit (or if all of these are happening at once):
A) sexual liberation has meant women are now more open about being horny, and studios have noticed a new market to profit off of;
B) studios are afraid they will get accused of catering to the male gaze/objectifying women on twitter and have decided they should tone down on the boobs so they don’t get cancelled;
C) studios have figured out that if young men want to look at boobs, porn is just a click away, so adding sexy ladies to movies wasn’t doing much money-wise.What do you think? Are there any other factors you can think of? Because it feels undeniable at this point.
I think all your points A B and C are true. I’d also add to that, that there seems to be more body image pressure on men these days than in the past. Part of that might just be society being superficial but I think a lot of it has to do with expectations around things like sport and fitness. I was talking to my brother about the sportball the other week (yes, really) and I mentioned to him that the main difference between Australian Rules football that I’ve noticed from when I was growing up compared to these days, is that when I was a kid, the people who played Australian Rules football looked like bums, whereas these days everyone’s extremely fit and buff and won’t get off my favourite machines at the gym. My brother (who actually knows/cares about sportball things) explained that the tactics of the game have changed; that nowadays football players don’t spread out among the field as much and wait for the ball to be in their area, they tend to all spend the entire game chasing it, so therefore they have to be much fitter as there’s less downtime when the game is on. I guess multiply that by however many leisure pursuits people have these days that benefit from extra fitness. Interestingly though, the opinion of women I know hasn’t changed at all – the pressure isn’t coming from there. Some women like lots of muscles, but most that I know find an ultra-buff male physique to actually be somewhat gross and yucky. I think that’s because it’s associated with vanity and women find vain men to be an extreme turn-off. Sure, women do appreciate a certain level of fitness, but super-buffness is really more of a gay male beauty standard. Read into that what you will for the implications around both k-pop and sport.
Since we’re getting more LGBTQ+ representation in idols (not in actual marketing mind you, they’ll queerbait the fuck out of everything but Koreans are far too conservative to actually accept reality), I recall a certain member of INFINITE being rumored to be gay and supported by his group members but could never come out due to public pressure and personal reasons. For better or worse, the LGBTQ+ idols who came out aren’t big.
When do you think we’ll get a big idol from a major group coming out? Statistically, they almost certainly exist, but I wonder if the cultural landscape makes them feel comfortable enough yet.
I assure you that they exist!
You’ll be waiting a while. I mean I suppose Lara from Katseye doesn’t count because although she’s on HYBE she’s not Korean so the stakes aren’t the same. I think it will happen eventually, but most of them will probably wait until they’ve run the main course of their careers anyway so that way they have less to lose if things go really bad. I think the first Korean idol who is a legitimate big star to come out will be a veteran who did their most well-known work a long time ago.
Are you still bald?
Last time I checked, I’m as bald as Will Smith’s partner, and for the same reason. When he smacked Chris Rock I was like “yes, alopecia sufferers, this is our cultural validation moment”. We all wish we were in a relationship with Will Smith.
when do u have live streams or did u just stop because everybody hates to see you have fun?
If you want to see my sexy bald head (and you definitely do), then you’ll be pleased to know that the livestreams are still running and happen at the same time each week, more information here.
As an aside, it’s weird how sometimes my name pops up and people say stuff like “that site is still going?” People underestimate my T-ara tier determination levels, they should know better.
I don’t really believe in stage presence it feels like something made up that’s based more on looks than their actual expressions or effort put in. There are idols who barely stand out or just smile through the whole performance, but because they’re pretty they get called “natural idols” all the time. But the whole industry is superficial so that wouldn’t even be shocking. What’s your take on that?
I’ve discussed “stage presence” before recently so I won’t run through that again here, but the idea of someone being a “natural idol” I think probably just has to do with some people being more photogenic for the cameras. I think some people just have that very rare quality that they can just always look great in front of a lens, and I think that’s something tha agencies specifically scout for, someone who has a look that works well with the cameras. I’d put most very popular “it girl” idols in this category, and I’ve met a few people like that in real life as well, people who just come up in photos outstandingly, all the time. Interestingly, I find that this quality often doesn’t translate to them looking all that great in actual real life. I’m yet to understand the science of it!
I know IU and Jonghyun weren’t great songwriters in “Modern Times,” but that’s really to be expected. Frankly, given how busy and young most K-Pop idols, I always expect the worst of them for everything out of their specialty (dancing, looking pretty, and being pleasantly blandly likable in marketing). IU and Jonghyun were/are still cool as humans, which is really more than I can say for a lot of people, especially given the environment they grew up in.
Anyway, are there actually any idols who can be called great songwriters? Or, even, have there ever been any good results from idols writing songs?
LE from EXID co-wrote a bunch of stuff with Shinsadong Tiger but I couldn’t tell you to what extent exactly. For more recent idols, I-dle’s Soyeon doesn’t always get it right but when she does, she does:
Hi, I hope you’re doing fine. So… I’m afraid I have sort of a problem with sex.
I’ve always kind of struggled with keeping my reins on masturbation, as I immediately feel like doing it as soon as I sit on the toilet and spend at least 5-10 minutes fondling myself. This happens even when I have to share my living spaces in the long term, and I swear I’m trying to control it for the sake of my roommates, but I don’t always succeed.But lately, I feel like I’ve been even more sexually frustrated than usual. I used to be in a relationship until I got dumped in June, so I decided to get back on Tinder in July; however, while I’ve met quite a few people, only some of them have done things with me. And two episodes in particular made me realise that I’m going too far with my search for lust and I need to find a solution once and for all.
The first one was with a guy who invited me at the club with his friends. When we started drinking, I noticed he was subtly increasing the amount of physical contact and, after a while, he started pulling me closer and making it clear that he wanted to make out. He had drunk quite a bit – not completely smashed but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have done that when sober – so I had the feeling that something was wrong, especially because I had sobered up by then; however, after a few seconds of pondering, I felt like I was overthinking and decided to enjoy the moment and kiss him anyway. After a while, we also caressed and slightly squeezed each others’ butt cheeks. After that night, we stayed in touch and dated again (without sexual contact), and he told me he had no memory of what happened that night from a certain point onwards – actually quite surprising, as he didn’t seem to have drunk that much and even said he disliked his friend’s alcohol because it made him puke once. I should have probably told him the truth, but I didn’t want to scare him. Then, he gradually faded away and stopped replying to my messages. I’m sure his friend told him about what happened (I sent a follow request to one of them and he hasn’t accepted it yet) and he decided to call it quits. I should probably apologise at this point, but I don’t even know if he knows.
After a few weeks, I went out with another guy – we went for a walk in a park and, when we reached a less lit point, he told me I was cute and we started kissing and squeezing each others’ butts again. After a while, we walked to another dark area and started kissing again on a bench but, this time, I slid my hand under his T-shirt and around his underwear. He didn’t seem to mind but, when I touched his butt at one point, he pulled me away (probably because someone was passing by) and politely said I was a bit too aggressive. I apologised both on the spot and the following morning and he said it was okay but, after that, he just wished me good luck with everything, so it seemed clear that he didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I even asked him if he wanted to see me again that night and he said “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to”. Fuck, I can’t believe I unsettled him that much. I didn’t go like a raging bull on him, but I still feel guilty.
Even without considering those specific events, I feel like I’ve always been expecting sex out of a Tinder date lately, even though I know full well it doesn’t have to be like that. And even generally speaking, I think my sex drive is pretty high and I don’t know why – am I just that emotionally traumatised to the point that I desperately crave men’s attention and flesh? I think I’m a pretty settled person apart from that – I have a degree, friends who love me, and a job that grants me just enough independence. I’ve dealt with bullying and backstabbing (especially from girls, which has probably shaped my orientation to some degree), but it wasn’t the worst thing ever. Maybe I just have some pent-up anger from those days and a few other periods and that’s why I just love to kiss and squeeze men? I love biting a bit when kissing (not too hard, of course) so I guess there’s a correlation. I also eat a lot when I’m nervous, so there’s that too.
I know you’re not a therapist, but I really don’t know whom to talk about this with, especially because I’m afraid of judgement from my friends; plus, you have quite a lot of good take about sex and sexuality, so I’d be interested to hear your opinion in general. So what do you think could cause such a craving in me? And do you have any advice on how to mitigate it besides jacking off? Also, do you think I should do something about the two guys?
Don’t worry about the guys. Plenty more fish in the sea. I’m sure they weren’t traumatised by what happened, maybe it just wasn’t clicking, who knows. There’s all sorts of reasons why things don’t work out and you’d be surprised how little of the time it has anything to do with what you did.
Why are you so horny? Fuck, I dunno. Just lucky, I guess. Might as well enjoy it in whatever way you can, it’s fine as long as you don’t hurt others. Is there really a problem here? I think seeing a psychologist can’t hurt you (although it might hurt your wallet) if it’s really bugging you, but ultimately I don’t see why you wouldn’t just enjoy your faps or whatever other action you’re getting and get on about your day.
The second one is the best one, it has early T-ara vibes, the influence of T-ara is pretty obvious here. The first one is the worst, I don’t like the melodic choice at all. Overall she’s okay and I don’t mind even the worst song but she’s not blowing me away with these fairly conservative pop takes and I have enough k-pop to follow without trying to absorb A-to-Z-pop while I’m at it.
Do you know what happened to Asian Junkie? You seem to be friends or at least friendly rivals. They just vanished without a trace over a month ago.
and
Do you know what happened to Asianjunkie? The website hasn’t updated in a month. They’re my favorite source of Kpop news, so it’s unfortunate to lose them if they’re really gone. That community’s one of very few full of the older Kpop fans with the cynicism regarding the industry I resonate with as a much older adult now.
No I don’t know exactly what’s going on with Asian Junkie who hasn’t posted in over a month now, but I have been informed that he’s basically okay and is prioritising some personal business. Let’s be honest, he’s earned a hiatus after dissecting all that NewJeans legal drama… I bet he can’t wait to get back in the saddle and give us an update… hey I notice a certain other website’s female admin is taking a similarly long hiatus with similar timing, perhaps they could be dating…
Fav block b song and fav tvxq song?
TVXQ – Hot Hot Hot
Block B – either Nalina or Nalalaalaiaai Mambo can’t remember which one
Questions like this are kind of redundant because you can just go through my favourites lists/honourable mentions for the answers to stuff like this. I didn’t painstakingly spend so much time of my life documenting my favourite songs just for people to ask me what my favourite songs are. Perseverance reaps its own rewards!
Other than having more personalized marketing and connecting with the fans via YouTube/social media, what ground breaking shit has BTS done? Their music is same generic slop as other boy groups, their choreography is the same caliber as other boy groups like I just don’t get it. They don’t even have as much pop culture impact in terms of ICONIC moments. They just have a huge ass fan following. Am I just too old and dumb at 29?
They’re just popular and that’s basically it. I’m not expert enough on them to tell you why they connected to people so effectively – AustralianSana has some takes on that question though if you go through the podcast posts with her – but if you ask me excellent marketing will compensate for mid songs every single time in the k-pop space.
All of the aespa concept photos for their new album feature them holding instruments and then the song is just boring pop/hip hop slop. why are they so reluctant to go all the way with the rock band concept? I feel like it would be successful and way more interesting than whatever’s going on right now.
The people who decide the image and the people who decide what the track sounds like are often two completely different people, or teams of people, usually outsourced and often even working in different countries. From there it’s subdivided even more – the person who writes the melody and the person who writes the backing track are often two different people, again in different countries, the people who do the wardrobe and the sets are often different, the people who decide what the physical product looks like are different again… and then it’s all creatively directed by some CEO who often has no clue about anything and wouldn’t necessarily even know what a fucking guitar does… don’t be surprised when you see odd mismatches, instead be surpised when everything actually matches properly because that’s far rarer.
What is the noise in the background music at 1:59?
Which one? You might have to be a little more specific. There’s about ten things going on at that exact point.
The agency I work for is in a….lets say “lean” phase. We managed to land a new client, which is some good news in an overall shitstorm. The bad news is, that company is very corporate and the brand team never give off a vibe that they actually want to be there. This team are very very bitchy to us, unprofessional and unpleasant.
They are disrespectful in a passive aggressive sort of way and very sarcastic.
Whenever we make the slightest mistake they blow it up and make it a bit of an attack and when they make a mistake they just deny it ignore it or just act like it’s our mistake.
Every week I get shitty off hand comments and it gets to me. If I was freelance I would get rid of this client. I tell my boss about these things but obv they don’t care as this client brings in the money. But it’s me that gets the shit.
I already have a lot going on in my life to give me bad mental health and self esteem, I don’t need this. And it’s not like I can argue back.
How do I deal with this kind of thing? I’m used to clients being super bitchy but this is all the time and avoiding them it’s not an option, neither is fighting back. I just have to take it. So how do I? Calling them all sorts of sons of bitches in my head isn’t helping
Well you can always call them sons of bitches to their faces – but tactfully. A long time ago I had to deal with some corporate types who were very annoying, basically exactly what you are describing. Once day they said to myself and some people on my side of the fence, that they’d really like it if they could have a certain type of report about our work volumes delivered to them every day, because they wanted to know what we were up to. Basically, I felt like they just didn’t trust us. I said “sure, I can do that”, and I started giving them these daily reports. After a while of sending these reports and getting no feedback at all, I started wondering if they were even reading the reports. I started putting little questions and comments in the reports, things that would make someone diligent sit up and take notice like “I’ve identified critical problem x, what do you suggest we do, I’m thinking y, what say you”, they got no reaction. It was pretty obvious at this point that for whatever reason they weren’t reading them. So then I started putting cooking recipes in each daily report along with the data. Occasionally I’d also submit a report in Windings font or similar. Always with the data they wanted in there too. Still no comment. Then, months later these people came to me and complained about how they don’t really have any visibility of my team and it would be nice if they had some data on what we were up to. I said “oh you mean like the daily reports I’ve been sending you for the last three months now?” “What reports?” “Oh, the ones you asked for, don’t you remember?” They failed the “Brown M&Ms” test.
People who are randomly hostile to you at work are usually that way because they’re hiding something, and that something nine times out of ten is insecurity about their own ability to do or keep up with or understand their own work. If you start in a new role only to get absolutely dogshit training, it’s because the people who are supposed to be experts don’t know their job either and are worried that you’ll figure that out, or even worse, get good enough to replace their incompetent asses. Ever notice that in a game how it’s never the best player on a team who complains about the lack of skills of the other players? People like to deflect, and complaining about others is a great way to take the spotlight away from themselves. Your new client is tardy in some key way. Find out what it is, and you can have a lot of fun setting them little tests that they will fail, and then pointing it out to your boss, do it right and in a way that respects his bottom line and helps him make wise decisions, and you’ll be gaining his respect and high-fiving together soon enough. You’ve already found them making mistakes, so you already have some clues…
Every year a local venue hosts a halloween show where bands/whoever do cover sets of “dead” (actually dead/disbanded/washed up) bands. my friend and I are doing sleigh bells – he’s playing the role of gay dj that doesn’t really have to perform, I will be singing front woman. first, what do you think of this ordering purely from a performance perspective?. also, do you have any advice for this kind of performance? I am not in a band, this was basically entirely my friends idea, and idk what the fuck you’re supposed to do if you don’t have an instrument to keep your hands busy. and in the grand scheme of things i know this isn’t a huge deal, but there are two men with a strong dislike for me that will be there – need to prove to one that I am not a moppy loser, and I just have to come off more confident than the other one, which should be easy enough considering he’s doing this shit, but I would appreciate any advice you have nonetheless. sorry if this looks janky as hell, I am at work and trying to type this on my phone as quickly as possible lol
It’s not enough to review songs, people are sending me whole-ass playlists now? Fuck me dead. Anyway, there’s no reason why the song order won’t work. Tips for not looking awkward on stage when you don’t have an instrument: have shit to do with your hands. Make sure they have a microphone stand or if not then bring your own (and make sure the microphone clip is compatible with their mic, or their clip will screw onto your stand etc etc etc), they can really help as a prop. Also take drinks up there, and anything else you can think of, any other type of prop that would work with what you’re doing (just check the laws in your area, you’d be surpsied what isn’t allowed sometimes). As someone with their hands free you have the advantage of being able to use props. Dressing up is a good idea too. It’s easier to dance like an idiot if you’re also dressed like an idiot. “Stupid” is better than “cool”, because stupid is more entertaining to watch. You’re not there for those two men, you’re there for everyone else who wants to have a good time – and if those two want to get the carrots out of their asses and have a good time too then that’s fine, and if not then that’s also fine, but you’re going to be letting them know (indirectly) that they’re the ones who are missing out on all the fun.
hello oppar, so I’ve recently got into metal and I really enjoy system of a down. one of their songs in particular caught my attention — it’s called revenga, and it features one of the most beautiful guitar riffs I’ve ever heard (around 2:30). do you happen to know any other songs with a similar guitar section/bridge?
Hard to say because I’m not entirely sure what it is about that’s grabbing you but I think a lot of prog metal type stuff sounds like this. Maybe go check out Dream Theater, I think you’d be into that (if you can get past the vocal style, perhaps check out their instrumentals first).
People still complain about Kiss of Life’s “racist” birthday live but are completely quiet about Tarzzan’s way worse appropriation – why? (I’m pretty sure the answer is depressingly that Kiss of Life are pretty girls who fans are jealous of and Tarzzan is a handsome dude fans want to get with… also TBH I think all of the uproar is ridiculous in general, I’m always amused when people complain about hip hop culture being “appropriated.” Surprise, people like to do things they think are cool! You can’t enjoy being a popular art form and complain that people want to be like you.)
I didn’t actually think that people were being all that quiet about Tarzzan, there’s definitely been some disapproving noises about him, maybe not to the same extent but it’s not nothing. I guess the reason why people came down harder on Kiss Of Life is yes, partly because they’re girls and attractive girls at that and k-pop fans do love a little misogyny (or a lot), but also there was more of an expectation that Kiss Of Life would “get it right” even from people who didn’t necessarily have a bone to pick with the group:
- This isn’t Julie’s first cultural appropriation rodeo, she had some kind of slip-up previous to the birthday party and already apologised for it, and did the usual “I’ll do better next time” apology blah blah stuff that I don’t think anyone believed even back then. But it’s tricky to give her a pass for sheer “ignorance” given that she was suppodely “told”.
- Since Julie is American there’s some sort of expectation that she would know why her party would be a problem, so they don’t have the “Korean culture is different so how could they know” excuse either.
- Kiss Of Life apparently planned the birthday party concept themselves, so they also don’t have the “oh it’s the staff’s fault” excuse that fans usually use when a group wears the wrong shirt or things like that.
Kiss Of Life have a pretty R&B-focused concept and therefore the preception is that they sound “more like black music” than most k-pop groups do, so maaaaaaybe, they might know something about the culture and….okay never mind, scratch this one. Let’s not be silly now.
I mean, even I kind of rolled my eyes a bit when I heard about that birthday party, like “geez how could they fuck this up so bad” and I’m someone who agrees with you. Hip-hop culture is huge all around the world and it’s absolutely loved, if I was a hip-hop artist I’d take any “appropriation” by Koreans or anyone else strictly as a compliment. But… it’s also thought of as a total joke by just as many. The elephant in the room is that hip-hop culture does look ridiculous to a lot of people, especially those who are just tired of it not because of any anti-blackness or whatever but just because it’s everywhere globally these days and hard to escape from and just doesn’t appeal to them because they don’t like the music or the style in general. I’m one of the only people I know who actually likes the stuff. I’ve moved in punk and metalhead circles for most of my life and most punks and metalheads don’t think much of rap to say the least, most of them think rap music and hip-hop culture in general is lame, they don’t know or care to understand the context of it, to them it just looks like a bunch of yapping and people posing out, talking about guns a lot and trying to look “cool” and “hardcore”. Mock it… you bet they would. The only thing stopping them from personally visiting Julie’s birthday party themselves if they got an invite is that they probably wouldn’t own the required wardrobe. My point being that Kiss Of Life being card-carrying racists is exceptionally unlikely, but there’s a realistic possibility that they might just think hip-hop and the culture around it in general is a bit of a fucking joke, because…that’s actually a really common perception worldwide. Not my own perception, to be clear.
What do you think about this song by Janet Jackson and also her stage presence?
The song is fucking shit and she can barely even sing it, and she doesn’t have much stage presence either (just a bigger hat than everyone else LOL), but at least her choreo is actually choreographed for the stage, not for TV. So many times have I seen k-pop groups go out on a big sound stage and do a designed-for-music-video choreography in a small imaginary gym-shaped box right in the middle of the huge stage. And people think their idols have “stage presence” when they’re doing this stuff, oh please…
I’ve been making playlists on YouTube for years and every time I go back to them, I get the dreaded ‘This video isn’t available any more’ for one or more songs. There is no place holder where the missing video was, so I don’t even have the artist or title to help me find the missing songs again. I’ve started keeping song lists in a word document which is very time-consuming. Do you have any tips on a better way of doing this?
Not unless you want to keep text copies of song titles or backups of the videos somewhere. I’ve gotten into the habit of uploading certain content to my own channel that’s controversial purely in case the original uploaders cave into pressure and fold their channels.
Do you think Kate’s stage presence is engaging here?
While she has sometimes good music, I actually find Kate Bush extremely irritating to watch. Nothing to do with stage presence or lack thereof (and when the entire stage is dark except you that’s kinda cheating hahaha), in fact I don’t even know what it is exactly. It’s different, but not good different. Anyway enough with the stage presence questions because this could go on forever with literally every single performer who has ever stepped foot on a stage omfg…
What actually is a mixtape? How does it differ from albums and extended plays?
Originally it was just literally a tape of mixed songs – a party mix of songs people would put on a tape and play at parties or wherever. K-pop seems to have adopted the “rap music” definition of mixtape, which is a collection of other people’s beats that you then rap over – usually well-known beats from other people’s albums, but it doesn’t have to be, the definition of “mixtape” has become looser as time has gone on. Unlike albums, EPs and so on there’s no set total length that a mixtape can be, minimum of two tracks, maximum of the sky is the limit.
Fav Björkie Song?
I also liked her stuff on the “Dancer In The Dark” soundtrack, some of her best work. She’s actually ideally suited to musical numbers, pity that working with arch cunt Lars Von Trier was apparently so traumatic that it turned her off filmmaking completely.
Whatchu think abt late bjork?
Fuck it’s Bjorkpopalypse. I never could really get into her later songs.
Why do u like justice and not daft punk
Because Justice don’t suck and Daft Punk do.
Anyone who can actually listen to all of “Around The World” aka “the scientifically most repetitive song ever made” is officially braindead.
Have you heard of Lucy Liyou and her 2024 flick “+82 K-Pop Star”?
Shes a korean transgender woman artist who makes some of the most evocative experimental ambient soundscapes you’ll probably ever hear!
“+82 K-Pop Star” is a concept album that takes place around the experience of a kpop idol, from the first audition to winning a music show.
There is also a slideshow/document/visual art piece of sort accompanying it which i think is totally mandatory to view it while listening to the album.
My personal recommendations from it are: karaoke, boy toy, visual (hey girl), and fighting / warm up
If you dont have the time to listen to it at all then highly recommend to just skim through the documents because they’re very very very entertaining and detailed.
Haven’t heard it and don’t really have time to hear it now (this goddamn QRIMOLE post is already two days overdue) but I’ve left the link in this post so people can check it out!
How much backtrack is in here? What percentage is she singing live?
Somewhere between 90% and 100% backing track. She’s probably signing but with the volume way down, and the backing track doing all of the work, k-pop idol style.
hi oppar, what do you do if you genuinely hate talking to people? i am going off to college in a month and im scared that i wont make any friends because i simply do not enjoy talking to people. i’ve had like 3 friends through high school and my home situation isn’t the most calming for me, so i’ve been a bit isolated and anxious for my whole high school experience. i am so excited to be free and move away but i’m a bit worried that all my Issues will lead me to live a horrible life forever.
Well I’m the same and here’s what happened, I made friends only with the most chatty, talkative people ever. You might think that because you hate talking to people, that you’ll only get along with other people who are like you and who also hate talking, but in fact the reverse is true. If you’re with someone else who also hates taking then you’ll both be there in awkward silence feeling shitty about not being alone and guilty about occupying each other’s time, but if you’re with someone else who habitually talks a lot then you’ll even each other out and be the best of friends – or maybe even more. Talkative people don’t like other talkative people because they get in each other’s way, but the silent type of person will give the talkative one the room they need to express themselves. Of course not all talkative people are good matches as friends or whatever else, sometimes they’re just annoying, there’s other factors involved too like personality but as a general rule, I wouldn’t worry. Just get out there and give things a chance and you’ll actually be amazed how things will sometimes work themselves out. Not all the time, of course, but far from “horrible life forever” stuff.
Do you like this chord progression and do you like the song in general?
The song is okay I guess, I was never really in love with it but it does sound very unique so that’s a plus. I do like the unusual sound of the harmony, which I’m sure Kate just happened upon by throwing the rulebook out the window and dicking around on the piano until she found something she liked the sound of, that’s usually how these things are done, not “gosh I’m going to write a song with chromatic mediants in it”. Music theory rationalisations tend to come after the fact in practice, not before.
This is Sleep Token, they’re one of the biggest “”metal”” bands currently, you will soon understand why I put metal in double quotes.
My questions are…
How similar are they to Dreamcatcher’s popmetal schtick? Are they “heavier” or nah?
And who does the schtick better?
Also…
Babymetal or Dreamcatcher?
I’d personally rather listen to Dreamcatcher than Sleep Token on average because at least Dreamcatcher do have some songs that are pacy all the way through. I’ve got no problem with ‘metal’ songs that only expore metal as one texture out of many rather than as the main event, but it’s the slow dragging pace of the Sleep Token songs that puts me off. I’d prefer that music sound a bit more exciting than this.
I’d also rather listen to Dreamcatcher over Babymetal. I think Babymetal are much (much, much, much) better conceptually and have a better focus on sonics, but I just don’t like the songs themselves as much. Babymetal don’t have a song as good as “Good Night” but Dreamcatcher lack proper metal production style and never went all-in on a concept as effectively as “Headbanger” or “Gimme Chocolate“.
I do know of patented apples. Honeycrisp apples are/were famously patented. But, the biggest patent apple and biggest marketing campaign for apples today is probably the Cosmic Crisp, a derivative of the Honeycrisp. But, in my opinion, all Honeycrisp + popular derivatives are phenomenal apples. What apple varietals do you have around you? Do you have a favorite?
Where I live it’s all about pink lady, granny smith, red/golden delicious, royal gala and fuji apples. I’ve never tried any of the ‘crisp’ variety and if they come with a cripsy price tag to match, I probably won’t be in a rush to.
Your thoughts?
the speaker blasts the gaming industry’s greed, focusing on ex-PlayStation US boss Shawn Layden (now advising Tencent), who claims game prices should rise each generation (e.g., from $60 to $80+) due to escalating dev costs ($200M+ budgets), inflation, and “super tight” margins—despite record revenues. He calls it gaslighting, as hikes exclude casual players, forcing reliance on “whales” through microtransactions, DLC, battle passes, and season passes as a “grift” to extract more cash.
Mocking Layden’s anecdote of fewer luxury cars in Sony lots during PS4 era (implying lower profits), the speaker stresses consumers care about quality, not exec bonuses. He defends Xbox Game Pass against Layden’s criticism (likening it to Spotify devaluing music), arguing it democratizes access without full-price barriers.
Urging smaller, efficient budgets for “B+” games like Expedition 33 (small studio success) over unsustainable AAA flops, he predicts $90-$100 prices soon (e.g., Microsoft testing $80 for Outer Worlds 2). Consumers shouldn’t subsidize bloat; resist normalization.
Key quotes: “Every single time these companies raise the cost of games, it literally pushes out other people from enjoying that exact same hobby” (0:34). “Shawn Layden… is literally just telling you to your face, you’re not enough” (2:08). “They nickel and dime you with the DLC, microtransactions…” (11:02). (742 characters)
People do this shit because you suckers pay for it. Just stop spending money, it’s pretty simple folks. I stopped buying AAA games at full price many years ago, these days I wait at least five years – by that time it’s cheaper, the zero-day bugs are gone, and my computer has probably been upgraded to the point where it’s good enough to run the thing smoothly.
I know you hate rnb but you can’t possibly hate rhythm and blues right? Do think this song sounds like it would play as the end credits of humanity and the end of the world? Do you think that this is one of the greatest songs of all time?
Well R&B literally is “rhythm and blues”. I don’t mind this song and I think it’s definitely the best thing I’ve heard from Nina Simone, not sure about “one of the greatest songs ever” but certainly it’s decades ahead of its time, a harbinger of the goth rock sound of the 80s. It’s solidly good but I have to say that I prefer what Nick Cave did with this type of sound.
Whos the artist you commissioned for the hana book covers?
I put a callout to art Reddits to find the best person for the job, and the winner was Caius Augustus, a young man from Brasilia who is incredibly talented.
Click my books post and scroll to the bottom, you’ll find the links to his socials and more of his art, feel free to commission him. If you do, tell him that I sent you. Yes, he’s amazing!
If early “global kpop” acts like Kaachi, EXP Edition, Chad Future (i.e. ones with non-East Asian members) had either come out from big kpop agencies (“big three”, “big four”, etc) do you think they would’ve been met with the racist backlash which they received at the time? Alternatively how about if they had come out post-BTS mainstream Western market popularity boom?
Well we have dearAlice now who are an SM imprint group, so I guess you can find out the answer to your second question by checking their socials. I’ve found the reaction to them to be fairly muted so far. But if they had debuted earlier? Yeah who knows, hard to say. I find this question similar to “what if Hitler won WWII” type questions. I mean who the fuck even knows the answer, but the fact is that he didn’t, so I guess it really doesn’t matter anyway unless you’re brainstorming for a sci-fi movie about Nazis on the moon…
Hi, wanted to ask about your roundup-style opinions on these two K-pop songs that I like
I don’t want QRIMOLE to become swamped with “what about this song that missed roundup” style questions because literally dozens of songs miss roundup each and every week and that’s deliberate and if I answer questions like this here it will open the floodgates. The songs you picked might get into future roundups maybe, but if not I’ll make a note to add these to “clearing house” at the end of the year.
Two questions:
– I don’t think you’ve ever talked about Mr. Boogie by F(x). Where would you rank it among other f(x) songs?
– Am I crazy for thinking this is the best rap beat ever? I also think this is one of the few cases where adding a skit to the beginning of a rap song makes it better.
I’m sure I’ll eventually cover the f(x) song in an album review post. I’ll save it for then.
I’m a big fan of Wu-Tang and related projects back when they were on-form in the 90s and GZA was the best MC of all of them, and often had the best beat selection for his solo stuff too. If I had to do a best rap beats of all time list I’m not sure where “4th Chamber” would be but it’d be right up there somewhere.
is ncts sticker actually dissonant using music theory or is it some audio illusion
It’s more “texturally dissonant” rather than “harmonically dissonant”. That’s part of what makes it work. It’s actually an extremely harmonious song if you look at it as a page of scored music, but the way the sounds cut around and keep changing in the mix and seem unrelated throws people into thinking it’s random noise. Everything is in tune!
Why is there always someone talking about jpop in the comment sections of artists like Yena or UNIS? their music is just cute and girly, it sounds literally nothing like jpop and people would know this if they actually listened to any jpop beyond anime ost’s and a few akb48 songs
Well you’re probably hit the nail on the head there – nobody even listens to jpop at all beyond anime ost’s and a few akb48 songs because it’s all balls.
Hello, Kpopalypse. I discovered K-Pop through a rhythm video game series titled Pump It Up. It’s basically DDR but with 5 panels instead of 4 panels. You might have heard it with this video that popped up on your YouTube recommendation page with that one song that always played the most (Beethoven Virus)
As I said before, I grew up playing this game until now because it literally brought me into K-Pop. There are a lot of great songs that I like to play whether the artist is famous/well-known or not, such as Orange Caramel, G-Friend, and mostly Dreamcatcher. What are your opinions about people discovering K-Pop through unusual routes?
Second/final question. What are your thoughts on these rock songs that were made the cut into the game? These are one of the few rock songs I found enjoyable.
Vassline are okay. Crash are great, the original Korean thrash metal band!
I discovered k-pop through an odd way also, I think everyone my age has their own strange k-pop discovery story. I think any way that people get exposed to music that they like is good!
How does Infinite’s “The Chaser” hold up to T-Ara’s “Roly-Poly”? I am one of many people that consider the former to be the greatest K-pop song (and one of the greatest pop songs) of all time btw.
Answered here. The Chaser is still seriously good… but it came out at a time when a lot of things were seriously good. It’s certainly top tier for boy groups.
Ever since your 8th guide to boobs in k-pop I have been distracted by Dahyun from Twice and your conclusion that “Dahyun is as busty as Momo”. Whenever I see them perform I can’t help myself turning amateur boob scientist and try to look beyond her adorable weirdness to examine her physique.
I was wondering whether your scientific conclusions have changed over the intervening years, especially after Lollapalooza and her unusually revealing outfit?
I submit new evidence courtesy of Dahyun herself
Expecting the 10th boob guide fondly.
Dahyun just doesn’t flaunt it much. Everyone got their own style and hers is to downplay it a bit, often extending her shoulders which has the effect of making her boobs look relatively smaller, whereas Momo tends to go for enhancing clothes more often. But if you put Dahyun and Momo side by side you can see that the difference is minimal at most.
There’s not enough k-pops that I haven’t already covered to do a tenth post yet. It’ll have to wait at least another year, probably two. By then I should have thought up a new pun for the post title, and k-pop fans will have gotten even more conservative and anti-woman and prudish so it’ll annoy them even more.
Do you think there are any songs that would be made substantially better by replacing one or more instruments with other instruments keeping everything else the same?
Yes just replace every Fender Rhodes with electric guitar, that’d improve a whole lot of songs.
I seem to remember a time when Purple Kiss was referred to as “Dreamcatcher’s little sisters.” Or was that Pink Fantasy? Or was that Pixy? Anyway, look where they are now, all on the ash pile of disbandment, with UAU just barely smoldering. DC fandom was never going to save a group from its inevitable fate, but damn am I sick and tired of stanning nugu groups, because I get too attached. Not in a parasocial kind of way, these people don’t fucking know me and I don’t know them. But I do root for all of these smaller groups (I stanned A Train to Autumn, ffs) and got to “know” them in the limited way that I could. So it really sucks when I see someone like Swan’s talent just be fucking wasted and unappreciated. And I hate it when asshole fandoms get to enjoy longevity. I don’t want the groups to fail, mind you. I guess I’m just annoyed that only certain groups of certain companies ever have a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding. Or is it just luck?
Anyway, I miss ANS. Say My Name was a bop. Also I am masochistically looking forward to your next nugu roundup. Woo. *waves cheap, poorly constructed flag*
Lots of luck is needed in the music business, but that luck is greatly enhanced by a big powerful label that has the marketing power to push you in the right direction. It’s like buying multiple lottery tickets, yes you can win with just one but the person who has the funds to buy a hundred of them is much more likely to. The breakout nugus are very rare and usually can’t sustain themselves for long against a tightly organised machine, Crayon Pop’s rise and fall is a good example of the best-case scenario of a nugu that gets a very lucky break but doesn’t have powerful label help.
How much protein do you eat in order to lift?
I don’t keep track of shit like that, but I go to the gym on an empty stomach always, eating before a workout or drinking anything but water makes me feel like shit. My favourite post-gym meal is thai red or green curry.
Do you like chaeyoungs solo song in my room? I actually find myself enjoying this song despite it only being a minute
I can’t even remember it existing at all, which should tell you something about what I thought.
You put me onto little Simz any more non kpop nugus with hits out there?
Little Simz is hardly nugu, you know she’s won awards and stuff right? Not that awards mean shit quality-wise but they do prove that she wouldn’t qualify for Nugu Alert if I was Rapopalypse.
Have you tapped in to Rina Sawayama, before she started making lousy songs.
What, you mean, before her birth? People who don’t even know me already accuse me of being a pedophile every day without evidence just because I dare to point out how labels give their underage artists the ‘sexy hot’ treatment and fans give it a free pass, heaven forbid what people will say about me if I start stanning embryos…
Are there are reasonable K-pop places on the internet about choreography and dancing? You’re reasonable, but mostly focused on reviewing music and boobs which of course I greatly appreciate. Having terrible music completely ruins a dance for me, but I’ll be honest and admit that the dancing is what got me into K-pop. But most of the dance content I find is either the standard dance covers, obviously completely uninformed and/or just the standard my bias is better than yours nonsense. Am I just looking in the wrong places? The Bias List does discuss choreography once a year and I do enjoy that. One of the things that is really strange to me is so much K-pop dance content, when not about how pretty they look dancing it or “stage presence,” is just about how hard a dance is and not how good it is. Why are fans like that? To me it’s like praising a song just because there’s a really high note sung in it. Impressive but it doesn’t mean I’ll like it.
I don’t know much about dance as you know, which means that I also don’t know enough to really recommend anyone else who does, because how would I even know if they knew what they were talking about. The few people I do see talk about it with any knowledge (or what I assume is knowledge) yes they do tend to focus more on “this is easy, that is hard” rather than what they actually like to look at, or for want of a better word the “artistic” aspect. So yeah I have no idea really. Perhaps someone reading this knows and can throw some recs in the comments below.
What happened to Apink? It felt like they made similar songs for the longest time, had an amazing revitalization and image change, releasing banger after banger, and then just disappeared. I thought they got a lot of new fans and started taking off again. Why’d they disappear?
I think they’re well into the “sitting on chairs singing ballads” stage of their career at this point… but who knows, at least one list I do each year tends to feature them prominently…
What do you think of soul to soul by ses
I don’t think of Soul to Soul by s.e.s
Hello oppar, I am a 15 year old who has 0 music theory knowledge (outside consuming copious amounts of it) and has never played guitar who is in need of a said guitar. I plan on playing heavy stuff like black, death and sludge metal. I keep hearing from you that the Squiers are good and I am considering one too. The guitar must be lightweight and musn’t fall apart after one riff and be comfortable to play both sitting down and standing up. I also look for an amp that is beginner-friendly, and wont fry. (how do you fry an amp?) Now, do you really need a seperate speaker for a guitar rig? I though the amps were a type of speakers. The cheapest ones of each category you can think of that aren’t complete shit, thanks alot.
Also what do you think about this? It’s a short noise piece.
what do you think about these?
Noise piece is… noisy! Does what it says on the box.
Just going on pictures alone I would take the Sonic Strat over the Affinity Strat just because the Sonic strat has a humbucker which is more practical for heavy music than the Affinity strat’s three single coils (plus the Sonic is cheaper). If you’re playing metal you really need a humbucker in the bridge position of your guitar. The Ibanez is a better choice than both of the Squiers for metal though, even though it lacks a floating bridge (whammy bar) I’d pick it because it’s a guitar more designed with a metal player in mind (flatter neck, two humbuckers) and I don’t really do whammy bullshit anyway nor would I recommend a cheap floating trem for a beginner. Having said that the best way to judge is to sit with all three guitars in your lap in playing position because it’s the feel of the guitar in your hands that is a large part of what is really going to make you want to play it, or not… and that’s a very personal thing.
There’s two types of guitar amps – head and cab (the controls and electronics are separated from the speaker cabinet) and combo (controls, electronics and speaker box all in one). If you’re just starting out, a combo will do fine. If you’re playing shows you might want something bigger, but you’re probably not going to be gigging anywhere when you first start, so you can get a cheap combo early on and then upgrade later. However you may not ever need to go all THAT big, because in reality when you play bigger shows what happens is the engineer will put a microphone in front of your amp and pump it through the PA so amp size doesn’t matter all that much. It’s only very small shows with craptastic PAs where you’ll need your amp to do any heavy lifting, but those are getting rarer and rarer anyway just because PA tech has improved a lot over the years to the point where pretty much any rig can cope with your guitar signal. There’s also a third option which is amplifier simulators, where you can plug into one of these and then straight from there directly into a sound system without any need for an amp, but once again that’s only relevant if you’re actively gigging. A small combo will do nicely just for learning. I haven’t been in the market for beginner amps for several decades, but almost all beginner guitar amps are crazily good now compared to the Peavey Rage I had to put up with back in my learning days. Suggest you go to a music store and talk to the sales staff, it doesn’t matter if you can’t play yet, they won’t need too much encouragement to show you themselves what the amps sound like.
I have a dear friend on whom I’ve been emotionally dependent for way too long and way too much. As in, when my emotions get a bit too much I dump my problems on him and cry pathetically. He’s a good, caring person so I’m 100% sure it actually affects him emotionally too. He hears out others’ problems similarly, treats their wellbeing as his own, way too people – oriented. I want to save him from a leech like me.
I don’t wanna burden him anymore. I have burdened people with my problems and my whining all my life – my sister, my cousin (both who were also going through their own problems at the time). Now I’ve stopped bothering my family because I’ve found him. I don’t wanna be an emotional vampire anymore. I know what I have to do. But just in case, any tips you wanna share for this situation ?
Well, does it really bother him? Perhaps your low self esteem is perceiving a problem which may not exist. Yes it is good to be conscious that you may be a burden but I wouldn’t beat yourself up excessively over what might just be a perception, just try to share the good times too, or make it up to him in some way (no, not that way). It’s okay to take as long as you also give. Do some nice shit for him to make him – and you – feel better about him listening to all your problems.
How and why do you think Lars Ulrich of Metallica hasn’t improved at all in like 40 years?
Who knows, I guess once The Black Album made bank he got rich enough to not care. I like his drumming personally, because he’s not that great but he has a unique style that’s immediately recognisable. You always know it’s him on drums, whereas damned if you can tell most other drummers in metal apart, they all have those quantised-to-perfection double-kicks and triggers now. Lars sounds to me like a punk trying to play metal drums – or in other words, about how good I’d be if I ever sat and practised my ass off at it for a few years every day. He gives me hope that one day I could half-ass my way into a metal band as the drummer. There’s lots of good reasons to dislike Lars but personally I don’t find his drumming to be one of them.
Who do you think did the best in this collab
Hyosung if I have the sound down, but if I turn it up there’s not much to pick from between the three of them. All awful songs.
What do you think about Secrets “I’m in love”? I don’t know why, but it reminds me of give it to my by sistar. Also I enjoy mostly of their songs but I feel they excel with certain sounds like Starlight moonlight, shy boy, and I do I do.
Shy Boy was the ultimate Secret track and they should have done a lot more stuff like that and a lot less stuff like everything else they ended up doing, they have few good songs apart from that and I’m pretty sure zero good album tracks (although I may investigate further when I get through enough shit albums to start reviewing their shit albums). In particular Secret along with Ailee seemed to be endlessly trapped into doing weak Beyonce “Crazy In Love” clones over and over, which really fucked their chances of more good songs.
BEST QUESTION
Why do you think kpop fans get twisted in knots worrying about objectification?
Kpop’s M.O. is to find the most attractive people possible, give them a diet & exercise regimen and plastic surgery to make them even more attractive than realistically possible for most humans, put them in tight outfits showing as much skin as allowed, have their hair & makeup done by a-list stylists, have them dance energetically, film it, promote it, and sell it. Folks, don’t beat yourselves up for finding idols sexually attractive. The deck is stacked, and you’re only buying what they’re selling.
Like everything else in life, the key is knowing where the lines are and respecting the boundaries. So, feel free to stare at your favorite idol’s boobs, abs, butt, or legs in a music video, TV show, or at a concert, and think your filthy thoughts. But, do not feel free to stare at your office coworker’s boobs, abs, butt, or legs. If you see an idol in person, like at a fan-signing, or run into them IRL the airport or something, don’t stare, because then you’re creepy. Treat them like a normal human. You can still think your filthy thoughts, but only if you can do so while still being respectful.
Finally, hopefully I can save you 10 or 20 seconds of trouble: If you’re a reader of Kpopalypse and you’re still reading this question, and you still haven’t voted in the Kpopalypse Objectification Survey, click this link and go VOTE NOW
(Don’t worry, that’s not a rickroll or goatse or anything; it’s the real link)
Why? Because they’re stupid, but you know that. Since your question is actually rhetorical, JAV of the Month is MIDA-244.
Seriously though, I think it’s because they secretly know that just by consuming k-pop at all, they’re complicit in an exploitative system, so they have to find ways to deflect.
I appreciate the survey plug however the survey will probably be over by the time caonimas read this. You all had plenty of chances to vote! For those who did vote, thank you for your contribution to objectification science! Results posts will be coming over the next few weeks!
That’s all for this episode of QRIMOLE! This series will return next month!
Oh, and do you have a question that you’d like to see answered in the next episode of QRIMOLE? If so, use the question box below, or if no box appears, click the Qri on the sidebar to open the box as a separate webpage! Kpopalypse will return!
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