It’s time for the first QRIMOLE of 2021!  Read on as Kpopalypse tackles questions from readers!

 

Have you ever considered doing a recurring series where you shit on the b-sides everyone sends you? I would love to read you shitting on Twice’s “Love Foolish” or Gfriend’s “Three of Cups“

I understand why people want this, but it is definitely not happening.  Time constraints means I will never, ever cover B-sides in any real way.  There are just too many, everyone would want their B-side covered, the massive never-ending lists of “you forgot track x” would expand about 5-10 times to cover B-sides as well, and it would become the sole #1 thing anybody ever asks me (zzzzzz).  Not happening.  The only way this could ever happen is if I ever made enough money from blogging to quit working, then I would have potentially the time – and even then, it would be pushing it.  Maybe if we can get some people on the “Illuminati tier“…

Just to humour you though I listened to these two songs while I was typing this up and they’re both boring.

“Maybe she’s imagining shoving her fist up Bang Si-hyuk’s ass without lubricant and ‘paving the way’ through his anal canal as payback for him scuttling her k-pop career”
LOL! Please never change oppar!

Thanks for this and glad you enjoyed the Kpopalypse favourites list for 2020!

The iconic video in question is below.

First of all I just wanna say im gigasad about not coming to your livestreams earlier but then again waking up at 5 am is a bit of a pain, but I had so much fun the previous 2 I participated in and wanted to thank you for creating really funny and informative content. My question is have you ever thought about making a discord server where us readers can chat with you occasionally (maybe) sending Stiglitz pics for us to admire?

It’s a good idea but time is a factor.  If I made a Discord the truth is I would never have time to actually be on it.  Ages ago a reader actually set up a Discord for me (I’m not sure what it is, I may have lost access to it since then) but I literally never used it.  I don’t really have time for chats outside of the livestreams, and you can always follow my Instagram for cat photos.  Glad you’re enjoying the livestreams, sorry about the time they go to air but it’s impossible to do a broadcast time that suits everybody, given how spread out the readership is across the globe.

Dear Oppar, I am just dropping a note here in case you haven’t heard this particular non-kpop song. It sounds like a lot of the songs you mentioned liking this year.  Also I should mention that thanks to your weekly reviews I ended up with a great playlist this year, which helped me keep sane. Happy new year & keep safe and sane in 2021 and beyond!

Thanks.  Lukewarm about the song you linked.  Glad the roundups were useful, they will continue!

Did I find a good R&B song?

Definitely not.  This has exactly the same things wrong with it that a lot of Korean R&B has.

By the way, endless variations on the “what do you think of song x” question are literally the most boring question you can ask me for QRIMOLE.  You might as well just use Curious Cat for questions of this nature.

OMG Kpopalypse oppar 😍

After decades of recession in the music industry as a whole, it feels really good to finally have this monumental, record-breaking, totally-never-been-done-before achievement on our belts! It brings me peace of mind to know that all aspiring musicians out there are being fully compensated for their hard work, talent, and dedication.

So my question is:

To celebrate this game-changing moment for music everywhere, what K-pop songs do you think should I play on repeat and jam to, so that I’ll be inspired as well in my pursuit as a scrappy amateur musician?

These ones, obviously.

But maybe also “Be A Rich (Money Rain Shower)” from the worst list too just to keep the theme going.

Hi, Kpopalypse! Happy new year to you and your loved ones!

Just like many of your readers, I need some advice.

In the text I’m about to write I’ll be mentioning some points related to school. Since the education system in my country is quite different from the Australian system, I think I should clarify how it works.
1. Kindergarten
2. Preschool (1 year before 1st grade of primary school, for kids who weren’t in kindergarten)
3. Primary education (8 forms, for children from about 7 to 14)
4. Secondary education (3 or 4 forms usually, 5 forms for healthcare/nurse school, for teens from about 15 to 18)
5. Tertiary education (universities, polytechnic schools)

During the later years of my primary education I had a best friend. Let’s call her A. I was very happy to have her as a friend since we had similar interests and she seemed a lot more mature than her peers. We shared a passion for music and wrote a lot of lyrics together. Also I was a victim of frequent bullying during that time so of course it felt nice not to be treated like shit for once.

There was also my other awesome friend that I’ll call Z.

So when I was in 7th form of primary school, A and Z were in 8th form. Our school planned a 5-day trip for our classes. I thought I’d have a great time together with A and Z. The two of them got closer, some of their female classmates grew fond of me. I thought nothing could possibly go wrong in this scenario. Oh boy, was I naive.

I fell in love with a guy from another school. My brain somehow decided a hormone overload was a convenient idea – I swear that’s the only logical explanation for me falling so hard for a guy I barely knew anything about. Even worse, he seemed to have a relationship with a girl from my school. She was popular, well respected and quite good looking. I was a bullying victim and an introvert with symptoms of depression, not ugly but not really looking my best either, basically unattractive in every way. I knew I stood no chance next to her and that made me so sad. That was the first time I felt jealousy. I cried multiple times because of that.

As if all that wasn’t enough, A, Z and their group of friends started to ignore me the next day. I couldn’t figure out why. What have I done?

I found out when we got back home. A accused me of being a cheap liar. Why? Because I didn’t pay for ice cream they ate. According to A, kids have been treating friends to ice cream during a break in a city, and I’m a cheapskate because I didn’t. Also she accused me of lying about Z. She accused me of something else too, but I can’t remember what.

I tried to explain to A that I simply misheard Z and I’d never lie to her or about her. Also while they were eating ice cream I was taking photos of the city. How the hell should’ve I known there’s an ice cream treating party when I wasn’t even there?

She went as far to defend a guy who’s been talking shit about me the whole trip, saying he’s a fun person to hang out and make jokes with while I’m an asshole who hates everyone. Soon after my mental state getting worse and a few worthless tries of explaining what really happened I gave up on A and Z and cut them out of my life. Ain’t nobody got time for those bitches.

However, even though I unfollowed A on my social media and deleted our conversations, I kept her phone number in my phone contacts. Yes, I’m that pathetic, fucking kill me.

That was in mid-2017. Time skip to late 2020. Moved to the capital city, my depression is worse than ever, I have frequent headaches and problems with maintaining my grades in the secondary school because of those health problems.
My parents don’t understand me and my sister is a major asshole.
I dealt with another shitty fake friend just to currently deal with yet another one, feeling like nobody will ever love me.
Realized I’m a disaster bisexual after almost falling for a girl and questioning my feelings for the asshole girl I’m dealing with currently.

One day I had a phone call with my dad. I don’t know what happened, I probably pressed something wrong, but somehow I pressed A’s number! She picked up too quickly for me to terminate the call, saying ”Hello?”
I panicked and ended the call without saying anything. That’s rude as fuck, but my panic took over my common sense.
”It’s fine”, I thought to myself, ”she’ll think someone dialed the wrong number…she can’t possibly keep or remember my phone number after 4 years of not acknowledging my existence.”

It turns out I’m apparently wrong. A few weeks after that fiasco I make a rare visit to Facebook and notice something even rarer – a friend request notification. Turns out it’s the infamous A!

It’s been 8 weeks since A sent the request, but I don’t know what to do. Should I accept? Should I call her? Send her a Facebook message? Or should I give her the taste of her own medicine? Is it possible that she changed? Is she in situation like mine? Or is she just a shameless cunt?

These questions are killing me. Everyone I’ve asked about this says something like ”you should get in contact with her, maybe she changed for better” but I find it hard to believe.

What do you think?

I’d just accept the message and see what happens.  Don’t initiate any other contact apart from this, just wait for A to say or do something.  Who knows maybe she’s forgotten about it all or just wants to move on.  Or perhaps she just wants to know why you tried to contact.  (If she does I’d just be honest and say sorry it was a misdial, which she won’t want to hear, but who gives a shit really).  Either A wants to smooth things over or she doesn’t.  It doesn’t really matter that much which way it goes.  Try to chill a little.  Not everything is such a big deal.  It’s not necessary to look for love, just try working on your self-doubt.  People who radiate attractiveness aren’t the prettiest, they’re the ones who inhabit themselves the most instead of trying to be something else, or always looking to something outside of their control to fill the void inside.  Control what you can control but let the rest go.  Also, being bisexual is good – more options.  Everybody should be jealous of bisexuals.

Hi Kpopalypse hope you’re doing well

I sometimes show my mum certain Kpop songs to add to a playlist she uses for running and she typically likes the faster beats or stronger ones. So far she has downloaded Abracadabra by Brown Eyed Girls and Can’t Nobody by 2NE1(although I’ve also tried newer stuff and less popular stuff as well). I showed her Kill Bill by Brown Eyed Girls earlier and she liked it I think.

1. I would like recommendations based on songs like these three for her

2. Do you think there’s a reason she likes Brown Eyed Girls so much

The reason why I recommend her songs personally is because she sometimes gets sick of her current playlist and because I only listen to Kpop now, that’s really all I can think of

Here you go:

Why Brown Eyed Girls?  Maybe it’s the whole “strong female” thing, I dunno.  It’s a lie, but it’s a good looking one.  I get the appeal.

I noticed that I have developped a habit of putting one song on repeat for an hour or longer (regardless of what medium I use). I find it fascinating since I’ve discovered people on YT etc. make extended versions but I don’t enjoy listening to these.
What makes -in general – some songs so repeatable/loopable? I think it barely works for KPop songs, but that might just be my opinion.

You’re in a much better position to answer this question than I am!

When I really like a song I actively avoid just repeating it all the time, because I don’t want to burn out my pleasure in listening to it and get sick of it.  The first time I heard Sunmi’s “poopopoppopramrpopipa” (sorry cbf looking up spelling) I actually stopped it halfway through because the song was so great and decided to listen to the rest later when I could enjoy it more.

What’s the difference between punk, post-punk, and new wave?

Well “post-punk” is really anything that came after punk but which isn’t punk, however might be influenced by it.  It’s a super-broad term, and so is “new wave” which means pretty much the same thing.  Generally speaking: if it’s not filed under a label like that in your local record store, it’s not really a genre.  Further reading here.

You constantly emphasize that the fans are only allowed to see the public persona of the idols, that it is not possible to know the real person behind the public image, etc. I understand that you are partly motivated by pedagogical reasons and I appreciate that, nevertheless, I want to ask your true opinion. Do you really believe we, as outsiders, (or you personally) cannot see through idols’ public persona? I mean yes, they are in a very tightly controlled environment, and are heavily trained in PR and whatnot, but at the end of the day, these are young, naive kids, not MI6 agents. Obviously, the difference between persona and personality is a complex issue, one can argue that no-one actually gets to know anyone in this world, but putting this cheap psychology talk aside, idols do not seem less accessible than other kind of public figures that we constantly make assumptions about.

I’ve never argued that idols have some super awesome spy training where they can cloak their real personalities.  It’s more like how you can’t really get to know the person behind the checkout at the supermarket, if you only ever talk to them while they are working.  Yes, you might be able to get some idea on some level, but the entire relationship is totally skewed by the fact that this person is being paid to be nice to you, and that’s their job, and they might just be really fucking good at their job.  For example, you might be a chatty person who likes to talk so you always talk to the checkout person when you get your groceries, and of course they talk back to you and keep the conversation going and are friendly.  Maybe they do really like you, or maybe (and anyone who works in service industries knows that this is about 10 times more likely) they complained to their work colleagues after you left about how they got unlucky because they got stuck with “the chatty one” (you).  If you walk away afterward from that interaction thinking “gosh that person is friendly” all I’m saying is it’s more accurate to say “that person is being friendly”.

best way to take revenge on an upstairs neighbour who can’t shut the fuck up at 1am during exam period? We’re both students, except she’s my senior and is resposible for handling the noise complaints yet ignores mine towards her. Atm im blasting two songs on repeat with speakers aimed at the ceiling. Any better ideas? Murder isn’t legal in my country.

If possible, lots of noisy wall-bumping sex is the best option.

If that’s not an option stick with the speakers but just make sure you’re using the right kind of music.

Small question before bigger vent: Do you know of any place I could purchase a reasonably priced T-ara album? I used to refuse to buy them years ago because I did not want to give money to CCM/MBK but now I’m missing them a lot and am succumbing to my inner fan :p

And that leads me into my rant. I’m a person that tends to stay away from celebrity culture because I really hate how people blindly follow random people they never know. Despite this, I can’t seem to disconnect myself from T-ara. I don’t understand why they are so special to me. Maybe it’s because they remind me of younger teen years? I was actually getting over them finally until their reunion concert two months ago, it sparked those feelings up back in me again. Mostly, I’m sad because I really cherished the 6 of them and Soyeon was my second favourite member. I feel like I wouldn’t have this weird feeling with me when I think about them if Boram and Soyeon were there when they won their award on the show and when they had their concert with the whole stadium chanting Roly Poly and Lovey Dovey. I’m sure they probably don’t care about that as much as I do, but it just stings that the year they finally got justice and us fans got some peace, we couldn’t even enjoy it before MBK pulled some foolery with Boram and Soyeon.

That leads me into asking, do you think Boram and Soyeon leaving the group early would’ve affected the legal processes the 4 of them went through with MBK? It was a bit confusing because Boram and Soyeon kept on telling the fans to hold on and kept on liking those instagram comments and the other 4 too, and then suddenly it’s only the 4 left with only slight mention of the other 2. I get that they could’ve said those things just to keep the fans loyal to them, but since Boram disappeared off the face of the earth for 2 years I don’t seem the point. As for Soyeon, she was 100% depressed those last years in T-ara but even her change of mind was so sudden. It mostly just stings because she was my second favourite member and has one of my favorite voices ever, even though it often gets lost in the mix of T-ara songs haha. All in all, I do think the girls at this point just push the T-ara name and reunion stuff to keep us fans still interested, it is a large part of their brand name. And at least the 4 of them are probably amicable with each other. Yet despite knowing this all I still remain hopeful that one day Soyeon will suddenly show up again in the rare group promotions

Anyway that’s just the musings of a T-ara fan. I don’t know how they managed enchant me like this. I like to think I don’t blindly follow them, because it’s not like I love everything they do. But I really miss them more than I should haha. Thanks for listening and thank you for also being one of the only blogs that spoke about T-ara without spreading stupid gossip (ahem [names of sites under Kpopaypse boycott redacted]).

T-ara albums: I’ve always gone to YesAsia but a lot of the T-ara stuff is out of print now.  Maybe go to T-ara fan forums like Tiara Diadem or wherever those fans hang out now and see if anybody is selling.  Pop groups that are veteran always have lots of fans who are looking to offload stuff.  T-ara moved a LOT of physical product in their heyday so I imagine it wouldn’t be difficult to find fans who are selling up.

Nostalgia is powerful, and T-ara did have a few unique elements besides great songs that did make them very appealing to fans.  They remind me of f(x) a bit in the way that all the members are really very different looking, which was the opposite to the norm at the time, if you think about the big groups of the day – Girls’ Generation, miss A, Nine Muses, groups like that, people are deliberately chosen who had similar attributes.  I think it’s something that works really well, I also think it’s really working for Loona and Gfriend at the moment.  I think it encourages fans to focus in on a particular member.

I think the legal proceedings with MBK would have panned out the same in any case, as it’s T-ara (the entity) vs MBK (the entity).  It doesn’t really change the facts of the case any.

What’s your favourite music ever performed by Michael Jackson?

I don’t really give any fucks about Michael Jackson but his “Thriller” album definitely had the best songs, or certainly at least the best guitar solos, thanks Eddie Van Halen.

So Kpopalypse, what’s the proper punishment for that naughty corona-spreading-fruit-bat Choerry?

No idea what you’re talking about sorry.

Could it be possible that idols’ staff members are nicer and more interesting people than stars thermselves?

Anything is possible, they’re all just people.

Just kinda morbidly curious, but all you’ve said about the Apink members over the years is that all of them met required standards, but some must be higher on the tier than others, no? Or are they really on the exact same MRS spectrum to you?

If I can make a guess of your ranking I’d go: Hayoung > Eunji > Naeun > Namjoo > Chorong > Bomi – did I get anywhere near right?

I used to update that bias compendium post from years ago, but I so stopped giving a fuck.

I think that Apink combine their powers and form like Voltron to deliver faps.  You can’t take apart a car and go “what do you like driving more, the steering wheel or the gearbox”.

I have two questions in relation to the JAV review post: Do you pay to watch all those JAV’s? What kind of drugs are you on (serious question, I’m curious)?

Thanks for answering merry christmas!

Every film for drama review is personally delivered to my doorstep by the companies, who see the important promotional value in Kpopalypse drama reviews.  When the delivery person comes they also have a lady to walk a few metres in front and shower a path of rose petals to my doorstep to bless the payload and make sure it always walks along a “flower path”.  It’s really sweet actually.

I might have taken a few ibuprofen before writing that post.  Nothing more than that.  Don’t do drugs, kids.

Hello Oppa, what do you think about Hong Jin Young and her plagiarism controversy? Will she recover from it and continue her career or will she retired from entertainment industrie?

Hong Jin Young has too many oppa fans to be in any serious danger.  She’ll just go and “reflect” for a while or whatever they do and then come back like nothing happened.  You know, the usual lame bullshit.  Of course what she should be doing instead is saying “I cheated so fucking what, you would too if you could” and telling everyone to go and fuck themselves, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not anybody’s CEO.

Hi Kpopalypse

I kind of want to know modal Kpop songs(I’ve also heard that Phrygian has been used quite a bit) although I really don’t know much about it. Maybe like an example for each mode?(of course if there is one, and I guess it doesn’t have to be the whole song)

Also how do u feel about Modes being used in songs in general?

Eventually the music theory series will cover modes and I’ll look at this then, although finding a song that uses all modes is impossible.

I think modes have their use and it certainly was an eye-opener to find out about them as a guitar student (my classical piano training totally didn’t even go there).  However it’s possible to overthink things through the “modal window” once you know what modes are – not everything really works that well with modal theory, and some of the most cringe music theory-based k-pop posts I’ve read are ones that try to shoehorn modal theory into k-pop.  Modes are good as a creation tool, but as an analysis tool they come with serious limitations.  This is on my list of things to post about in 2021.

Mr. Kpopalypse-oppar-sir;

Before anything else, I sincerely wish you and all the readers of your blog an extremely good 2021, at least if compared to this horseshit year.

I am an really shut-in person, but I think it’s time to reveal aspects of my life to someone, and why not do this with complete strangers that I will probably never met in real life?

Sorry about the length, don’t sentence me to a life listening non-stop It G Ma, please. And also sorry for the eventual poor grammar or orthography error, English isn’t my native language.

I’ve been into some big professional career problems for like, the last 12 years. Since I’m a poor bitch, I’ve been studying in college-level institutions most of these years. That was only possible thanks to my parents financial support (they tried their best to incentive their sons to pursue higher education, something that they didn’t had in their own lives) and my country’s free and public education (if you manage to catch really good scores in the national entrance exam that is, high school grades don’t matter at all!) These public institutions are actually the best of the country (weird, right?). Sadly, my country doesn’t support career choice-making like in the US and other countries. Here, you don’t apply for an institution, you apply for the DEGREE that an institution provides. With that structure, is uncommon to see things like law schools or medical schools around here. A public university here will provide, for example, the Medicine course since the beginning of the college student life.

Why I’m telling you this? Because if you want to change your “major” around here, you basically have to take the exam again (that happens once per year). And since the money is public and the public sector employment is highly stable, public university professors think they are god for some reason, and some of them act like real assholes most of the time with their students. So basically, if you are poor and want a good job, you will have to put up with an bad & cheap private institution (and take it in your ass till you made really good work connections), work while you sleep to enter an subpar & expensive private institution or get really good grades, enter a public institution and suck up professor’s crusty dick (for some people that part can be literal actually, but not in my case, yet) to not fail classes too much and get an expulsion from the institution. Some time ago, when I was highly depressed and also suffering from suicidal ideation, I progressively abandoned all my classes and actually got expelled from my former institution once. Since the process was automatic, I wasn’t even summoned to explain myself, and sincerely nothing really mattered to me at that time anyway. I actually sought help with my family, but didn’t gained support to see an psychiatrist or even an psychologist. Like a lot of traditionalist families, mine was extremely ignorant about anything concerning mental health, even with some really ugly cases around (my grandfather had an psychotic episode and abandoned all his family for decades, my grandmother killed herself and some other even closer cases), that were predictably hidden from me for decades. It was only when I was expelled from the institution that I was “allowed” by my family to see an psychiatrist. Even writing this makes me filled with revolt…

To be honest, after I started to take the medication, all I ever wanted to do all day was to cry. I felt like all that I could ever feel in my life was sadness, an sadness that would never go away. And it was during that time that I didn’t have my best idea and decided myself to stop taking my medication, since all that my psychiatrist did was to experiment the dosage and stare my face while telling me that I was getting better. Communication wasn’t his best point I guess, lol. In my mind at the time, he fucked up big time in my case and didn’t even noticed. Being a man in a really male chauvinist society didn’t helped me to get in touch with my feelings, and with the medication, all of the things that should have made me feel something started to click, all in the same moment. Not being used to it, I thought that all that feelings were actually only worsening me. Impressive what an alienating parenting and education can do to an foolish human being, isn’t it?
During all this process, being the “nice man” that I was raised to be, all I ever did was to suck it up at every single time that I could, never giving in to emotions. I got extremely good in not showing my emotions to people, even to myself. And was during this time that I encountered K-Pop, which has turned into my most prized escapism, since I didn’t never had an affective or sexual relation or interest with anyone, neither used drugs or anything. Seeing all that people from a place so far away somehow made me feel like my problems were smaller. That is, until some singers started to commit suicide themselves. Then it started getting a little to close to home.

But I started this talking about my professional life wasn’t it? Well, it turns out i never managed to get a single internship before, and a hugely part of that was that I wasn’t interested in my area anymore! Once again, denying my own feelings, I used to tell myself that I would hit the next shot, never actually reflecting on what the fuck was wrong with me. I couldn’t see that I was only an unmotivated shell compared to all the excitement that I had when I first entered my university course years before, still a kid in many ways. No wonder nobody picked me, I was an unreliable investment in staff for any money-hungry company.

For some reason, the game started to change after I found your blog. While I naturally don’t agree with everything you write, some of your thoughts actually helped me to analyze the world with more critical sense and less “common sense”. And also helped me to reflect about everything that happened in my life. I actually flinched when I noticed how much similarity my personal life had with an K-pop trainee life (!) and how much toxic my family environment was (and still is) for my mental and physical health.

Contrary to you caonima, I live in a underdeveloped country were even if you managed have an “okay” salary you actually don’t have means to much things besides food (not even that nowadays, China is buying almost all of the food produced here), unless you start putting yourself in credit debt. While my antique “major” should help me to get an nice salary in like 5 years of career or so, my country has companies that has a range of abusive strategies to pay the lowest of the low for any worker if it will benefit their shareholders profit. In the last years, the government has took advantage of the economic-political crisis in the country and benefited this companies practices, making me (and a lot of my past classmates) highly unmotivated to pursue career in the area of our future degree, or completely focused in find work overseas.

So after tolerating so much bullshit for such a long time, in early 2019 I decided that I would completely change my career. Since I am from a family where people get their rug pulled out in critical moments of their lives, I enrolled in classes on my past degree again, while preparing myself to the national university exam that I didn’t participated in like 9 years, and the results would only come in the start of 2020.

I’ve decided previously that I wouldn’t apply to any institution next to my home, since public transport here is a bitch and really expensive, and also because I knew that I needed to get away from my abusive family practices, for my own sake. And also decided to apply only for the profession that I always had a lot of admiration and that also pays well, a physician (doctor of Medicine). I really wanted to become a better doctor than so much others that made such poor judgement of their patients like in so much stories from people that I knew along all these years. But the entrance exams wouldn’t be easy. The questions would inevitably suffer influence from the sudden rise of the far-right to the federal level (the same level the exam occurs), making it even more unpredictable, and I had almost a decade of updates in sciences to acquire, on top of all the content that I should review or re-learn.

Somehow, I managed to “pass” the exam and made it to an institution far from home, and for the Medicine degree!!!

I swear to you Kpopalypse, in the last two decades of my life, this was the happiest moment that I had! After some many years wasting my time in things that I couldn’t ever benefit from, I finally managed to acquire some real victory in my life!!!

After knowing the exam result, I (obviously) suffered internal resistance from my parents to leave home (and their influence). I finally said that I would go with or without their support. They eventually gave in afterwards. Part of me actually believe that they only showed some support because I will probably have an good salary that they can shame-manipulate me to share with them. If that’s the case, oh boy, they about to get a not so good surprise, lol.

If you still hadn’t died of boredom after reading all this Testament you probably perceived that my approval in the exam was in 2020, right? Well, in January nobody in my country expected that the COVID-19 would manage to come here, much less that it would explode in cases like China! My classes began in early March, only to be suspended 2 weeks later!!! But I had the experience of having some classes and also of going to “fraternity” parties and all the shit that Medicine students in my country are known for and it was awesome!! I also found a dude that I think I have a crush on (first time it happens to me, before that I actually believed I was asexual), and maybe is reciprocated? I don’t really know yet, maybe is just wishful thinking of my part, I was always bad to sense people’s interest in me anyways!
Since I didn’t had classes anymore, there wasn’t good motives to keep myself in the university’s city either, so I reluctantly went back home. It was really important for all my family to not spend their money in this time of social isolation. And naturally, my mental health declined with this too… Many persons died from this fucking disease. And as most far-right governments in the world did, my country’s government only took measures that raised the killed count… What a trying time. Some months later, the university decided to provide online classes and that’s where I am now.

Now about the questions:

1. My Medicine classmates and me are suffering a lot of pressure from the professors in the online classes. We almost don’t have free time in our hands with the oversized homework activities and extremely detailed subjects to study for. The exams are also extremely hard because, as the baby boomers with no internet knowledge most of them are, they think that all of us students are government-system hackers that can cheat efficiently in every format they can think of. So, most of us are actually quite tired of all this regime, that also we shouldn’t even being forced to participate to begin with. Kpopalypse, can you share some strategies to actually deal with this situation (good work efficiency in a pandemic) in a healthier, non-litigious manner?

2. Should I try to get closer with the dude I have a crush on (he’s my classmate)? I was surprised with his absence of fragile masculinity, but I also have a little fear of him shunning me afterwards… Also don’t know if he likes men.

3. Do you know some type of job that only happens on Sundays? It would be perfect for me when the pandemic finally gets subdued (crossing fingers to July 2021!). That is, to try to conjugate with the usual presential classes.

Obviously you don’t need permission for this, but I just want to reiterate that you are completely free to judge all that I wrote about my life. I’m not vulnerable to harsh criticism anymore. I could even talk more if you ask some question about it! And thank you for allowing me to express myself.

1. Depending on how much you trust them, it could be worth organising some kind of study group with the other students to tackle your workload effectively as a team.  Be warned, this could backfire, so make sure you trust people’s integrity.  Everyone has stories about that one person who does no work in a study group.  But the idea isn’t so much to share the work, which should be kept as your own, but rather to share your intellect.  People who are good at X and not good at Y can advise those who are good at Y and less good at X etc.  Also the morale boost from organising this type of activity is big, this alone will help more than you think.  Just don’t do anything against the rules that you could be kicked out for.
2. Befriending him wouldn’t hurt, if only just to find out what he’s into so you know if you’re wasting your time or not.  Most guys will eventually let slip something about what they’re into.  If they’re super-cagey about it, there’s probably a reason (i.e you might be in luck and he might even have the same fears as you).  Even if it doesn’t work out an extra friend is a good thing.
3. In my country people who just want part time work often go into retail, it’s rare to find a workplace that will only want you to work on a Sunday though, but it’s not unheard of.

I’m glad that my writing has helped you a bit in realising some of the things happening around you.  Keep pushing forward and use the resources and people around you, when you can!  Eventually you’ll find a way through to the other side.

American pop/rock stage gave us Pink Floyd. They were easy to talk, hum, bad words about music industry (like “Have a Cigar”, whole “The Wall” album).
Is it possible for Korea to deliver something close in terms of quality OR social problem awareness? After all, girls are growing older, some of them suddenly could open their mouths…

Actually in BTS we’ve already had this.  “Fake Love” is totally just BTS saying they are emotional slaves to their idiot fandom for dollars and that they don’t really give a shit.  “Black Swan” is all about getting writer’s block, losing your passion for music and resigning yourself to your fate as a corporate stooge.  Both are dressed up in some pretty language to sneak it past both BigHit and their fandom as something more benign, but that’s very obviously what they are.  Also Zico’s “Balloon” video is very obviously symbolically depicting the often grim and joyless journey that a debuting k-pop artist experiences.

Is there something wrong with the mixing of this ultra nugu song?

It’s fine.  Pretty normal reggae style production, where they cut the bass heavily so it mixes more balanced in the club.  I really like the doo-wop feel of it.  I checked out some of her other songs and thought they were trash, but the one you linked is good.

why does TXT’s Ghosting remind me so much of loona’s loonatic? does it have something to do with the “airy” feel (i can’t explain but like the way the voices and the pace of the song just give that vibe)? or is it the genre? also would this count as dreampop or what?

I’d actually say it’s the drums, both the type of beat, the tempo as well as the sounds used for the bass, snare etc.

“Dreampop” is one of those bullshit made-up genres if you ask me.  Nobody files stuff in a record store under “dreampop”.

I was about to ask a question but now I don’t have it so I’ll test if you can see this two emojis 😨🦽 and not like blank boxes 򪪪򪪪 (some pages/apps don’t allow emojis or just some emojis)

Happy to help.  QRIMOLE isn’t afraid to tackle the big issues.

Will you ever do a favourite non-kpop song list? I’m very curious to know some of your favourite songs.

Thanks, and have a nice day!

No, but someone maintains an unofficial YouTube playlist of non-favourite songs, based on offhanded references to songs that I’ve included in past posts, you might find this useful.  It’s not really “complete” or “the official best ever” but it’s reasonably good representation of some stuff that I like.  I’ll continue to drop references to non-kpop into reviews etc as I typically do, although keep in mind that I don’t always like everything that I refer to.

This is a 24 minute video of just Iz*one sleeping. How are their fans okay with this. You could say “the uncle fans are into watching them sleep” but I’m sure they also have plenty of young female fans, right? Twice always had plenty as well, and they were cute for a long time. I could understand if this was a sleepover setting, so fans could self insert and pretend they’re at a fun sleepover, but they’re just in sleeping bags in an empty studio

…and in full makeup, no less!  Cute sleeping footage is obviously designed to twinge the “most protecc” muscle within fandoms (look at the comments and you can see it working) which is all part of loyalty/brand building.  You can bet they were instructed “no covering your face completely, no feet hanging out” etc.  Fans rarely see the manipulation because nobody wants to admit to themselves that they’re being manipulated.

Hi kpopalypse! I would like to ask you for some help. I’m trying to play Golden’s Child Lucid Dream chorus on the bass (simplified) but I feel that my tabs are wrong.

Yeah that’s hella wrong.  The four notes in the chord loop for the chorus are F, Eb, Bb, Db.  You either need a 5-string bass for this, or you need to tune down your 4-string bass by one fret, or just do the Eb note high (6 on A string or 1 on D string).

My dad (who is only in his early 50s!!!) has recently fallen ill and is likely going to be debilitated ever since. I’ve been hit by the bitter reality that the best-ish healthcare my country can offer is really still quite shite. It’s sad, because my dad grew up dirt poor and worked extremely hard all his life to get to a good position, and still, with all the savings and connections he had, he wasn’t able to have the medical care he needed. As a result, I have increased my determination to eventually move somewhere with great healthcare, in an attempt to stay healthier to enjoy my latter years.

I’m trying to research my options; how has your experience with the Australian healthcare system been? Are workplaces obligated to cover decent health insurance? Are the doctors generally competent & ethical (i.e. not overworked & underpaid, not offering unnecessarily complicated procedures just so they can get more kickback)? Do you get regular & thorough health check-ups without having to break the bank? In the event of an emergency, how confident are you that the nearest hospital ER won’t just casually botch something or treat you too late?

Maybe you know of other countries that provide citizens with good healthcare, I am open to suggestions. I hope you and your loved ones can stay healthy oppar.

I don’t know where you live, but really you can’t go too wrong with healthcare in most developed countries.  The USA is the only one that I can say with experience that you should definitely avoid, their healthcare system is hot garbage, the worst, just because of the ludicrous expense.  Bands who I’ve toured with, if they get sick in the US they actually fly back to Australia and get treated.  I knew a guy who while on tour actually partially broke his leg in the US, and hobbled onto a plane back to Australia with the broken leg and went to a hospital here, then after he was seen to flew right back to the US and continued the tour, this was significantly cheaper than going to a US hospital, even factoring in not just international travel but the lost income from shows, the expense of the rest of his band waiting around in hotel rooms etc.

In Australia you can get health insurance and go to private hospitals, it’s expensive though so only rich people tend to do it.  Poorer people (like me) use the public system here which is actually pretty good.  In the public system, for emergencies, the only thing you have to pay for is the ambulance, which costs a lot ($1200) but if you buy ambulance cover (about $90 per year) ambulance trips are then free.  Last year I was hospitalised for kidney stone, I paid for the ambo but my bill for the hospital stay was $0.  The biggest issue for people in Australia isn’t cost, but demand on hospital services, waiting times to be seen for emergency and waiting times for essential surgery like cancer removal etc (which is why COVID is such a big deal, it pressures an already strained system).  My ambulance took 90 minutes to arrive for instance.  Private hospitals don’t have better doctors, they just have shorter waiting times, prettier facilities and less demand.  Elective surgery (i.e cosmetic) costs money though, no matter what, and dentists here do also cost a fair bit (a lot of Australians pre-COVID would do “dental tours” of SEA and get dental work done in Thailand).  Doctor visits do cost some but many doctors “bulk-bill” which means the government pays some or all of the cost.  While malpractice isn’t unheard of, there’s far less incentive here for doctors and surgeons to do the wrong thing, doctors here are sometimes overworked but they get paid pretty well even if they’re just diagnosing common colds.  Overall it’s pretty good.  The current government dreams of making the Australian system more like the American one because they love corporate interests and are super-corrupt beyond belief, but it’ll probably never happen because overall it works pretty good here most of the time and most people realise it’s in their best interests to keep it that way, even those idiots.  They still won’t fund hospitals enough though, maybe if one good thing comes out of COVID it’ll be that medical health finally gets funded the way it should.

Hi! Hope you’re doing well.
I have a general question about making music with singing. Is there an existing difference between having singing in a song just for the sake of singing, versus using it as a cooperating part of the song (as another instrument, so to speak)? How would you tell if one song was doing a or b? Or is it just a matter of opinion? Or is there any difference at all? And does production/songwriting have anything to do with it?

Most singing of the type that I don’t like is improvised – i.e it wasn’t “in the script”, it was just thrown in on the spot, or the producer said “why not do a little improv here”.  The best way that I can explain this is to actually remove vocals from the equation completely (because people tend to get very emotional about vocals) and look at examples with just instruments.  This guy has very good advice.

His playing at the start is rubbish – on purpose.  He’s playing far more than what the song requires.  Later on he shows you how to do it properly and it looks less impressive but it sure sounds better.

Hi Kpopalypse,

Of course those fanfics are not healthy – that’s exactly why I sent it to you. (I always treated them as the literature equivalent of fast food – you can have some every now and then, but don’t make it your daily meal.) BTW, I think those Loona Reddit mods never downloaded your game and played it, but they just looked at the title and mistakenly thought you’re just one of the many misogynistic cunts who sexualize the girls to the point of you’re no longer recognize them as humans (Poe’s law is real, you know). So please cut them some slack.

This time I have another crazy-as-hell TWICE fanfic for you: Seriously, WTF did I just read?! After I finished this pure insanity, I have 90% confidence that the author has a huge beef with authority figures in general……

The reason why I think you should replace “The most controversial k-pop blogger in the history of k-pop” with “The k-pop equivalent of Christopher Hitchens/Richard Dawkins/Sam Harris” is if you made it clear you’re a satirist, a critic and a polemicist, then *maybe* people are not going to take what you wrote so personally. (I also have no idea where’s that blog about glass.) Speaking of which, I strongly recommend you to write an email to Billboard K-Town and ask them if they need someone that plays the devil’s advocate. Before you said “Oh they won’t need someone like me, they just need someone who writes whatever the fans like and generate clicks”, there’s no harm to give it a try. Either way, I suspect Jeff Benjamin is actually looking for someone like you……

I wouldn’t want to call myself “the k-pop equivalent of person x” because I’m not sure how accurate it is and I’d feel a bit sorry for person X to be honest.  I like where you’re going with this though and I agree that saying I’m “controversial” without specifying why I’m controversial does have flaws as it probably invites people to mischaracterise me as a simple troll or pervert rather than someone with broader critical concerns about the industry, fandom behaviour, the rights of idols and representation etc. that regular readers will know is the true focus of a lot of what I write when I’m not just writing about the music itself.  How to phrase it all succinctly without A. riding off someone else’s coat-tails and/or B. not sounding like yet another humourless boring social network warrior for justice cunt and/or C. not sounding full of shit is difficult.  Maybe “satiricst/critic/polemicist/cunt” works, something like that, I’ll think about this some more, am open to more suggestions.  I agree that Billboard needs some more people who can willingly occupy the devil’s advocate role and are unafraid of the masses, but will they actually pay me to be myself is the question, because I’m not writing corporate kpop-agency-dicksucking articles, I’m sure they have plenty of other people lining up at their door for a gig who can already easily do that.  Perhaps I’ll forward this to Jeff and see what he thinks.

Reddit mods need to moderate properly and on a regular basis in accordance with whatever rules their sub has, and I think part of proper moderation is being able to take context into account.  If you can’t look at things broadly and put them into a proper context before making a judgement, don’t be a moderator of something, simple as that.  I’m sure that most of what they get either falls into A. Loona fans doing normal Loona fan stuff or B. Loona antis trolling the sub/being inappropriate so I guess they might be confused when they run into something like my content which isn’t blind praise but it isn’t just trying to be an asshole for its own sake either but falls into a third category while still being “fan content”.  I get how that could be confusing.  If anything them banning my content was a move in my favour because it shows the weaknesses in their system which I feel should be addressed, and it also allowed me to produce more content (the “hold hands with Yves” Reddit-friendly version).  Whether they actually choose to address those weaknesses, that’s up to them of course.  Possible they already have – I don’t post enough there to really know.  In any event I’m far more impressed with the moderation of r/Loona than certain other Reddit subs where there seems to be a genuine unwillingness to properly moderate anything with my name on it.  I know that these certain subs do have some good-hearted people behind the scenes and I dearly hope that they get their shit together because it would be a real shame for me to extend the boycott list… if I actually find the blog about glass before Reddit reply to my modmails, we’ll know they’ve just given up on me.

Kpopalypse oppar, I’ve purchased bubble (smth that allows me to send messages to my idol when they send us one, and tells us if they’ve seen our messages). What’d be the best use of this service, for the well being of my idol? (and mine I guess?)

Know that everything you send them, their bosses will read, so write with that in mind.  I would send stuff like “I hope they’re letting you eat three meals a day/giving you eight hours sleep/giving you access to your family on a regular basis/respecting your human rights/not forcing you into restrictive diets” etc etc.  See it as your chance to hint to the company as to what they should be doing.

What do you think about this?  I’m really waiting for the day journalists just stop interacting with bts/kpop at all at this point. Them getting fame in america specifically because of their rabid fans and constantly being rewarded for being annoying and awful has created possibly the worst hivemind ive seen in kpop yet. It’s just tiring to see a group of people that are so involved in censoring any sort of opinion that isn’t worded the right away according to them constantly get pandered to.

That pandering is a real double-edged sword though.  BTS ARMYs don’t realise it, but their behaviour has done BTS massive amounts of harm when it comes to western coverage.  BTS would be getting covered a hell of a lot more than they currently are if only ARMYs would just shut the fuck up and let it happen, but journalists these days are almost too afraid to even write an article – even a 100% positive one – because they know what happens if just one little thing gets misinterpreted: doxxing, cyberbullying, threats, and so on.  BTS are almost blacklisted now across several publications thanks to ARMY behaviour, and a lot of the ones that still write about them now remove the author’s name from the articles just to prevent the bullying from escalating. 

Hello, I just discovered this blog recently, and I’ve been enjoying reading your posts.

First of all, you’re a talented writer. It’s impressive that you manage to come up with fresh one-liners every week for an ever-growing list of comebacks. I’m sure you’ve talked about this in the past, but I can’t find any mentions anywhere, so I’ll just ask: how did you learn to write? Did you take any classes, or just pick it up naturally over time? Do you have any advice?

My next question is related to SM’s new girl group Aespa (since for some strange reason it was the hilarious Karina Halloween fanfiction that led me to your blog). Recently, one of the members, Ningning has been getting a lot of backlash for the crimes of 1) being Chinese and 2) being slightly thicker than the other girls. Her Namu Wiki page was even vandalized by netizens making fun of her weight and claiming she was North Korean. You’ve talked a little bit about the second point, female idols being criticized for their bodies, so I was curious if you’d seen any improvement in attitudes over time. Is this just the initial hate that most SM groups receive, or will this continue to be something that gets brought up down the line?

Anyways, while I can’t say I agree with everything you’ve posted about certain topics, I do really enjoy the angle you take on this blog. I think many fans, even the more mature ones, get too worked up about kpop, so it’s refreshing to take a step back and remember it’s just music at the end of the day. I’m sorry you’ve received so much backlash over the years. Thanks for doing what you’re doing.

I didn’t take specific writing classes.  I just used to read – a LOT – when I was a kid.  I was a pretty nerdy skinny weird cunt who nobody liked so I found a lot of solace in books.  Also I was a pretty consistent bully victim in school and I sometimes learned that humour would be able to get me out of a physical fight.  Of course it could also get me into one, I learned that too.  All this added up to me being able to weaponise the English language fairly well.  This is so ingrained now that I don’t really need to sit back and think up comebacks, is just kind of happens.  If you watch my livestreams when a troll comes on you can watch the process happen in real time.

I don’t think that female representation in k-pop is getting any better.  It’s not getting any worse either, but it’s already at such a poor state that there’s not too many worse places it could go.  When you combine Korea’s toxic beauty standards with the toxicity of the k-pop fan world, things like this are bound to happen.  It’s probably not going to get any better in the near future.  I agree with what Kim Nayoon said in my interview with her – k-pop really needs a female figure to break through who defies all the current norms, but who is also just so big anyway that nobody can really ignore her, to really get the tide moving.  Someone like a Madonna figure – she really changed the way a lot of westerners looked at female performers, and really pissed off a lot of people while doing so.  While I’m not a fan of most of Madonna’s music, the power that she held was unequivocally healthy and changed a lot of things.  K-pop needs that kind of moment, but the closest they have to that right now is someone like IU who isn’t radical enough yet to really change the game (although she’d like to).  Maybe she will be, one day – as she gets older and less able to fit into Korea’s generic ageist beauty standards, will she be cast aside or will she be able to unleash her power at a new level, that’s a question.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate people who come here and check out the content even if they don’t always agree.  Agreeing isn’t the point – the point is to give a different point of view, feel a bit uncomfortable maybe and also inspire thought.  I seem to be having that effect at least in some cases, so I guess that it’s working out?  I’ll continue to do my thing and come what may!

Is Chuu cross eyed? What’s goin on with that? There are times where I think she’s got a lazy eye or something. Not complaining, it’s actually easier to fap to, just wondering if anyone else sees it.

The rest of Chuu is so randomly hyperactive that it doesn’t surprise me that her eyes might also be.

I once read here that Blackpink songs are basically heavy metal so I thought I’ll link you this :

Never cared much about the djent subgenre, but I guess all it took to sell me on it were hot girls. Rosé’s part at 2:26 just kills it.

I’d prefer an 80s thrash-metal style treatment but this is also pretty good.  Anyone who likes Blackpink’s newer songs should really get into Slayer, it’s just the same thing without drum machines or attractive people.

Twice’s best song (in your opinion) vs SNSD’s best song ( in your opinion). Who wins?

Twice.

Wth is wrong with taeyeon’s face here. It seems like it could break at any time like it’s made of porcelain. Also her eyes got that look like they’re looking nowhere nowadays. I can’t pinpoint what she has done to her face but it’s a sure thing that the worst thing for a kpop female idol is to be on hiatus or out of the public eye – they comeback with a new face.

I can’t pinpoint it either, and I’m no expert on surgery so I won’t comment about the extent of work that she has done, but I am taken aback by the uncanny straightness of her nose.  I think when she gets a cold she could use it as a spirit level.

dear Kpopalypse. You’ve made a post abt how to support our idols w/o supporting their shitty agencies (which explained that it’s… basically an impossible feat). But I have another question. I’ve just come by evidence that my favourite idol isn’t okay, like, mentally, which I know should be expected from most idols esp with how many don’t even hide it, but. Aside from acting like a crazy “drooling, shambling fuckwit” (to quote one of your posts) on social media, there is rlly no way for fans to lessen the burden on their idols’ shoulders, right… How would a “perfect fan” act like? Does that even exist? (not that I think it’d be strived for) but what’d be basic “good fan” behavior? In one of your posts you said a musician told you the Internet was only going to worsen singers’ situations, to a worrying degree. Is there rlly no hope?

It’s not necessary to be an activist – the average fan can achieve a great deal just by not being a fuckwit.  Don’t underestimate the value of this.  That’s one less person getting in people’s faces and being annoying in the wrong ways.  If you want to help your idol who isn’t mentally okay, then I think it’s the same process as when it’s someone not okay in your actual life – don’t intrude on them or be demanding but just let them know that you’re there for them if needed and that you actually give a fuck.  AustralianSana’s stunt where she wrote “Jennie don’t apologise for your health” on a sign and took it to a Blackpink show was clever, she confirmed that Jennie did read the sign and things like that do have an impact.  Most idols do actually read social media and see comments etc a fair bit, a few of the very brave ones even read my trash believe it or not.  I’ve also written before about “good” fan behaviour here.

Hi oppar! Welcome to 2021!
My question is;
in the middle of January i will have reached a milestone of being with my boyfriend for one year. What kind of things could we do to celebrate? Should I get him a gift? We are both nerds who don’t get out much, especially in this pandemic.

If you can’t really get him stuff and you can’t go out anywhere, a blowjob will do, I don’t know too many guys who would say no to that.  Do it while he’s playing an online computer game, worth it for the laugh factor alone and he’ll thank you for the bragging rights later.

how do you keep track of your most hated songs. like I assume when you decide your favorite songs you look back on playlists and note what you’ve been playing often, but I assume you aren’t putting yourself through the torture of regularly listening to songs you hate. and yeah probably a couple of songs are SO BAD that they remain ingrained in memory come listmaking time, but what about the others? do you have a special “I hated this” playlist that you add to regularly but only listen to once a year?

I have a shortlist of both best and worst songs that I maintain through the year and update weekly while I’m drafting roundups.  That’s the only way I can keep track of the worst list, as you’re right that I’m sure as hell not going to listen to those songs any more than I have to.

Rumour has it Lee SeungGi’s upcoming album will have some featuring artists (you can look them up yourself; I refuse to type their names) Yay?!? Maybe his next album will not be filled with ballads? I’d say that is a good thing but my gut is saying otherwhise.
How do you think it will turn out?

I don’t really listen to albums much so I don’t really know or care but I’m generally pessimistic about them!  He might surprise you, who knows.  I won’t spend time thinking about something I’ll never listen to anyway.

Oppar, how do you stop loving something that doesn’t love you back?

[tons of very scandalous stuff redacted at author request]

What do you think I should do?

The western reseller obviously has a connection to Korea that you don’t have.  There’s nothing you can do about this.  Going behind her back may possibly cause friction – I wouldn’t do it, you’ll probably just end up losing her business if you do and then you’ll be even more screwed, as the community is small and word will get back to her eventually if you keep it up.  Also from what I know about Korean socialisation, Koreans don’t really converse with strangers – they stick to people who they know, this applies ten times more when dealing in a specific subculture where there may be some legal ambiguities at play.  So by trying to go to the primary source you’re not only completely wasting your time but you’re also putting your ability to acquire these goods in jeopardy.  Try the opposite strategy and befriend your western contact instead, not in big clingy ways that might be annoying (and transparent) but just make an effort to be super-open and helpful where the opportunity presents.  The more she likes you, the more inclined she might be to do things that you might also like.

Since you mentioned psycho women I’m kinda curious about this – do hot & crazy women have broken relationship pickers or something?

I’ve seen my bipolar best friend, both hot and crazy, fall in a sadly predictable pattern of messy relationships time and time again. They seem like good guys on paper, are nice to her for the 1st few dates, then do some fucked up shit like spread her nudes or stalk her or threaten suicide if she leaves – nasty shit (and she’s not lying about this, I’ve received my fair share of blackmail & threats from them just for being close to her)

She manages her illness well enough with medication & therapy and has kept most of her friends from school & college so it’s not like she’s off-the-wall unhinged either.

Do hot/crazy ladies attract equally unstable men only, or do they just reject the calmer guys? Because my friend swears she doesn’t like bad boys, and yet she seems to land only those

It’s probably something to do with how she’s approaching – or rather, not approaching – people.  Women who are very attractive don’t usually do any chasing of guys themselves, because they don’t have to – they tend to always have a queue forming at their door.  However the type of man who will approach an attractive woman in certain contexts is usually a certain type.  Not saying this is always the case, and when I was single I’ve been pretty upfront about approaching women when I realised that it was more advantageous to do so and nothing would happen if I didn’t – but where and how is the question.  Where is she finding these men.  She might want to consider changing her strategy up, and either looking in a different place, or changing her approach and taking more initiative.  If you’re not willing to choose from amongst the jerks, then you’re stuck with choosing from amongst the jerks who choose you.

SO I know you heard that Jett is voiced by Shannon Williams, but you may not have heard that in the Akali Genius video Shannon Williams is being held under hostage to do Akali’s lines. What do you think Shannon is thinking about? Does Shannon secretly want to say “Fuck these dumb ass incels who are obsessed with my rap, why can’t I promote Why Why?” When will Shannon leave Riot Games so I can’t hear her say “Spitting hot bars bro!”

Trust me, Shannon doesn’t want to be promoting “Why Why”, she hates that fucking song.  She would definitely rather be doing nerd shit like this, even if it just amounts to reading out someone else’s lines, trust me on that.

hihi love your blog and I’ve been a fan for a while! esp. with qrimole you’ve kinda become the agony aunt of this corner of the internet, and I wanna know:

1. how do you have the patience, you spend so much time giving thoughtful (ish) replies

2. do you feel like you get anything out of it or do you just like giving people another opinion

either way whatever hottakes you have that I may or may not agree with I can see that when you care you *really* care. thanks for giving the rest of us constant nudges in all different directions lolol

Thanks!

1. I don’t know.  QRIMOLE takes two days to write, it’s really time consuming.  But I’d rather do it than not do it.  So far I’ve been able to keep up and answer the majority of what I get sent.  Maybe one day I’ll get so many questions that I’ll have to dump some more off, which will be sad but might be inevitable if the blog gets bigger.
2. I like knowing that I’m helping people.  I wish when I was younger that I had a way I could ask someone stuff via a method like this.  There are some things that people don’t always feel comfortable talking to family about, or they might just want an outsider’s opinion for the objectivity factor.

[link from a site under boycott redacted, but it’s about how Stellar’s Gayoung received constant hate and sexual harassment after Stellar went the “sexy” route, and that it still traumatises her to the point where she still wears long clothes in summer]

Does this sort of thing make you feel guilty for fapping to ‘sexy’ concept videos at all? Or if not in general, at least for Stellar or for Gayoung? Not trying to be antagonistic, just genuinely curious about what you think.

The issues that Gayoung is having aren’t so much to do with the concepts themselves as much as people’s reaction to them.  I don’t have an issue with people fapping to k-pop videos if they really want to (I could think of better sources of fap to be honest, but hey whatever floats their boat).  I also don’t have an issue with sexy concepts, I think they’re fine.  What I do have an issue with, is guys who watch these videos feeling like they somehow have an entitlement to be abusive towards the performers, I think that really sucks.  I also have issues with how performers who do those concepts get branded like it’s a real part of their personalities instead of just them doing a job so they can (finally) get paid, which is why I’m always at pains to point out how constructed k-pop images really are.  To be honest, I think that we need more sexy concepts, not less, as the only way we’re going to break down those preconceived old-world ideas of “she dresses racily therefore she must definitely be a slut therefore it’s okay if I send her my dick pics” is by normalising sexiness in music videos, so it’s seen as a normal part of artistic expression in a music video instead of some huge big deal.  If everyone just stayed in their rooms, fapped, and didn’t try to contact the idols to live out their fantasies, there would be no problem.  You can bet your life that in the west where sexiness in music videos is far more accepted and has been the norm for decades, the performers receive far less harassment – not none, because there’ll always be pieces of shit somewhere, but certainly far less.  Likewise the performers who receive the most harassment are the ones in countries even more conservative than Korea, and probably need to reveal far less of themselves to generate that kind of harassment, too.  Sexual freedom is part of the solution, not part of the problem, but sexual freedom sometimes seems like the problem because it has the effect of highlighting problems which are otherwise pushed under the rug and never seen at all.

hey I know you get like five billion requests for your opinion on x song

yes i do

and i know you find it irritating especially when it’s a b-side

yes

buuuuuut can i put in a request for your opinion on wjsn – pantomime.

groan

i think it’s the kind of song that would never have been approved if it WASN’T a b-side because it’s so not traditional pop and therefore I think it’s at an unfair disadvantage… i genuinely don’t know if you’ll like it or hate it, if I were betting I’d say you’d like it but i honestly have maybe a 2/3 success rate, if that, at predicting your opinion on non-bts songs. but i’d be very surprised if you considered it boring. but i get not being willing to bend your rules bc it just encourages more random anons to ask for your opinions on random shit. in that case could you instead provide your hypothesis on why I Got A Boy has 5x as many streams as Gee on Spotify. nothing has ever confused me so much.

I already covered it here.  Mind you the album version is better.  Absolutely not end of year list material though.

hope you have a nice christmas and new years oppar! and eat some good af food

I did, thank you!

since this will come out in 2021, what did you think of 2020 kpop in general? was it better then 2019/’18/’16 (not including ’17 cus of new/knock knock which i know you rly liked).

does the 80s retro theme hint at a SECOND kpop golden age? (i have heard a lot of people comparing stayc to t-ara, which i am all here for)

Pretty much already answered here.  Too early to call it a second golden age, let’s wait and see.

Happy New Years!

So, I don’t have anything to rant about myself, but my friend has trichotillomania and I feel like I’m handling it in a not-so-good manner. The first time she told a friend and me, we were just silent and I literally said “I don’t know what to say, but just know that we’re here for you” but I’m sure she felt really weirded out by the silence and probably regretted saying it out loud. Fast forward recently, she was just ranting about some issues and then brought it up as if I had forgotten about it (basically re-confessed). She says it’s not a huge issue now, but I know it must be bothering her in some way, and I feel guilty that I haven’t talked to her enough about it. I do have a tendency to be overly emotional, so I’m just letting her talk about it if she wants, but she usually doesn’t mention it at all. I don’t know, I kind of feel like a bad friend – should I try to push the topic and try to get her to be more open? She’s always good at getting me to open up about my issues, so I feel I should return the favor – I just don’t know how to go about it with my socially awkward as 😦

Anyways, so me being the dedicated caonima that I am, I just went through most of your links on this site and added them to a playlist:
However, I’m sure it’s not so accurate to your music taste, and actually it’s moreso helpful towards me and maybe some others looking to find new music that isn’t kpop! Once again, happy New Years, and I’m so so glad that you survived cancer with the help of BTS! Life truly goes on..
The power that us Army’s hold ❤️ Why should Jesus come back when there’s BTS comeback 🙂

The other playlist linked earlier is a much better reflection of my music taste than this one.  Remember, just because I link a song doesn’t mean I like it.  I really don’t like Phil Collins at all, for example.

I didn’t know that there was a fan version video of the BTS song.  My life is enhanced… but only because it’s probably a good lead-in to some fanfic about an axe-murdering Chuu or whatever.

Don’t feel like a bad friend, you did what you should have done which is let them know that you’re there.  If they don’t want to talk about it that’s fine.  People with illnesses honestly don’t want to just talk about that shit all the time.  Just be there in general, hanging out and doing stuff, or just talking about unrelated things, is often enough to make someone feel better.

I don’t so much have a question as a request for the new year. I’ve become a new reader and have enjoyed just how much of an asshole you are, but I also see how you genuinely try to help those who’ve come to the Qrimole box with real, sometimes traumatic issues. You answer long, sometimes painful to read questions while also joking about boobs. Honestly sometimes the questions are too much for me to even read so I end up skipping Qrimole every now and then. So my request for the new year, and not assuming anything about you or how you handle things, is simply to take care of yourself. You don’t have to be an agony oppar if you don’t want to, but I know you’re appreciated by the people whose questions you’ve answered honestly and respectfully. I would just hate it if it were to drag you down in any way. So happy new year, take care of yourself, and keep the tits coming. For science.

Will do, thank you!

I could stop doing this at any time, but given the amount of “fake media” that k-pop fans have to deal with, I think a series of “real talk” has some real value.  I know some of my other posts can be ambiguous at times – and that’s deliberate, to get people thinking, which is far more important than to get them agreeing – so it’s good for me as well to have this as it helps me to clear the air about anything people are curious about.  Don’t be shy or feel bad and remember that the only silly question is the one that you don’t ask!

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That’s all for this month’s QRIMOLE!  This series will return next month!  In the meantime don’t forget to email genshin_cs@mihoyo.com and complain about the lack of mouse Y axis invert in Genshin Impact!  I know I said that last month but they just did a big patch and didn’t include it, so they need more emails!

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!