I thought if I started this blog, I could share my love of kpop and what it means to me with those that matter to me. But as time went by, I realized no one I truly wanted to read this actually was. I had decided to not write any further due to motivation and feeling as though no one was actually listening.

It has been a hot minute since I have been on here. I have been keeping very busy with work and other things. I will try and keep up going forward. The next group that I was introduced to was GOT7. This is a seven member group under the JYP label. The members of this group are Mark, JB, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, Bam Bam, and Yugyeom.

This is another diverse group as there are three members that are not Korean. Mark was born in California, Jackson in China, and Bam Bam in Thailand. There are two smaller units made of members in GOT7, they are called JJ Project and JUS2.
For this group, my bias and the one I am similar to like in personality is Mark. He is also the oldest of the group. The next one is JB. He is the leader of the group and has debuted the most of all of the members (participating in both of the smaller units). He has five cats Nora, Kunta, Odd, Beire, and Cake. The third member (in birth order) is Jackson. Jackson is from China and used to fence when he was younger. He has appeared on many variety shows and is friends with many other idols. Jackson has also created an agency called “Team Wang” and releases solo music.
Jinyoung is the next in birth order and was in the smaller unit JJ Project with JB. He is known as the face of the group. He has also become an actor in many Kdramas and Korean movies. The next one in age order is Youngjae. He was the last member to be added to the group. He adopted a dog with the oldest member, Mark. The dog’s name is Coco, here are some photos of Coco with Youngjae and Mark.

The second youngest member is Bam Bam. He was born in Thailand and is considered one of the top dancers in Thailand. He is known for being highly fashionable, speaking a few languages, and bothering his elder members. The maknae of the group is Yugyeom and the members like to comment about that he was conceived in Saudi Arabia. He is the tallest member in the group and is one of the better dancers in kpop. He participated on episode 9 and 10 of a show called “Hit the Stage” where idols compete on their dancing ability. In the 9th episode, he ranked 2nd and in the 10th episode he ranked 1st. He was in the smaller unit JUS2 with JB.

GOT7 debuted on January 16th 2014. Here is a list of music videos/songs that I really enjoy of GOT7.
https://youtu.be/eISomx-VMow
https://youtu.be/vrdk3IGcau8
https://youtu.be/ktc8XDBq93k
https://youtu.be/RtRtLf84I2M
https://youtu.be/6tl-MG38-0E
https://youtu.be/xQI9oZEY-B0
Here is a JJ Project video: https://youtu.be/ktdqlQ1zhg4
Here is a JUS2 video: https://youtu.be/uf27Hxrglrk
Jackson Wang video: https://youtu.be/NZbsCXrBcyA & https://youtu.be/Jdudq9gHJzY

Next: Seventeen

*disclaimer: there are many links to videos included in the text, but my recommendations will be said at the end.

The second group that I was introduced to was NCT (Neo Culture Technology). This is a group under the SM label that has a unique concept. This is a group that can add new members at any point and can form smaller units. There are currently 21 debuted members of this group with there being four units. I want to list all of the members now in birth order: Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Kun, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jungwoo, Lucas, Mark, Xiaojun, Hendery, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Yangyang, Chenle, and Jisung. The four units are NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WAYV. I have to explain a bit about each unit for this to make a little sense.

The first unit to debut was NCT U on April 9, 2016 with “The 7th Sense.” NCT U members are specifically chosen for each comeback. With the song “The 7th Sense” (depicted from left to right in labeled photo) the members for this comeback were Ten, Jaehyun, Doyoung, Taeyong, and Mark. On January 12, 2018 the song “Timeless” was released featuring three vocalists (from left to right) Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Taeil. February 18, 2018 was when the song “Boss” was released featuring the members (from left to right) Jaehyun, Lucas, Winwin, Taeyong, Mark, Doyoung, and Jungwoo. February 26, 2018 was the day “Baby Don’t Stop” was released featuring only (from left to right) Taeyong and Ten. There have been more NCT U songs, but there are the four that are my favorites.

The next unit to be debuted is NCT 127 on July 7, 2016. This unit’s debut song was “Firetruck” and it had 7 members. The members were Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan. When the group was getting to have their first comeback, there were two more members added to NCT 127, Doyoung and Johnny. The album titled “Limitless” was released on January 6, 2017 followed by the album “Cherry Bomb” on June 14, 2017. In the picture (front to back) is Winwin, Haechan, Taeil, Mark, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Johnny. Jungwoo was added to NCT 127 in September of 2018. After that the group promoted as 10 for a bit before Winwin went to prepare for WAYV, but he is still a member of NCT 127. Their most recent comeback title track was “Superhuman” and was released on May 24, 2019. In the bottom left photo, (from left to right) front row is Mark, Yuta, and Taeil. Second row (from left to right) is Johnny, Haechan, Jaehyun, Taeyong, Doyoung, and Jungwoo. My favorite song by NCT 127 is “Touch” and was released March 14, 2018. A photo from this era is the bottom right photo.

The third unit is NCT Dream and they debuted on August 24, 2016 with the song “Chewing Gum.” This group is for members of NCT that are under the age of 19. When it debuted, it started as a seven member group: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. Jaemin was absent for their first and second comebacks (with “My First and Last” and “We Young” as title tracks). In the photo labeled “We Young” the members are (from left to right) Renjun, Chenle, Jisung, Mark, Jeno, and Haechan. On March 4, 2018 Jaemin returned with NCT Dream’s first single “Go.” On September 3, 2018 they had their last comeback with Mark as a member titled “We Go Up.” In the picture labeled “We Go Up” the members are (from left to right) Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung, Chenle, and Haechan. At the end of 2018 Mark graduated from NCT Dream and the other six continued on. While Haechan was on tour with NCT 127, the other 5 members did a collaboration with Harvey titled “Don’t Need Your Love.” After NCT 127 tour, Haechan returned to join the “Boom” comeback. In this photo (from left to right) is Chenle, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung, Haechan, and Renjun.

The last unit within NCT is the newest and is not even a year old. On January 17, 2019 WAYV debuted with an EP titled “The Vision.” This unit was made of four existing members of NCT (Winwin, Kun, Lucas, and Ten) but also announced the debut of three new members of NCT (Xiaojun, Hendery, and Yangyang). The specific thing about this group is that all of the members speak Chinese and sing/rap mostly in Chinese. This first EP had two songs previously released by NCT 127 but also included a third song that was new. In the photo labeled “Regular” the members (from left to right) are Xiaojun, Yangyang, Ten, Lucas, Winwin, Kun, and Hendery. After they debuted as a group, they started a YouTube video series called “RainbowV” to show the members collaborating in smaller groups to show off their talents to the fans. Ten and Winwin created a dance, Kun and Xiaojun wrote a song, and Lucas, Hendery, and Yangyang danced to a song. On May 9, 2019 WAYV released a music video along with a mini album. The title track is “Take Off” which shows fans their idols’ best sides. On October 29, 2019 the second mini album was released having the title track “Moonwalk” In this photo those in the front row (from left to right) are Ten and Yangyang. In that same photo, those in the second row are (from left to right) Winwin, Xiaojun, Kun, Hendery,and Lucas.

The reason that I enjoy NCT and its units so much is because there is a wide array of personalities and talent. Some of the things they say to each other are hilarious and you can see how much they care for each other and their fans. They are a highly diverse group with members from Japan, China, Thailand, Canada, South Korea, and one that was born in Taiwan but has their nationality is Chinese-German. Due to the flexibility of moving members around, certain roles aren’t always determined (like NCT Dream doesn’t have a leader). Those that want to care for the others, just naturally do. Doyoung and Taeyong are known for taking care of NCT 127 while Kun is known for taking care of WAYV.

Their music is unlike most other groups and a distinct sound. For recommendations for NCT, I would recommend NCT U- Boss, NCT 127- Cherry Bomb and Touch, NCT Dream- Boom, and WAYV- Take Off and Moonwalk.

Next: GOT7

The first two groups that I was shown were Blackpink and BTS. BTS ended up being the group that would draw me in to the kpop fandom. Within the first few videos I was shown, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the effects of the videos. As I went through college, I worked with the technical theater staff and I learned a lot about video and light production. As I watched the videos, I was amazed by the editing and technical aspects of the videos. But when I took a minute, I realized the song itself sounded wonderful.

For me, I have to get to know the individual members for me to become a big fan of a group, so I watched quite a few “guides” that showed me information about each of the members. I have discovered that some fans know a lot about their favorite idols, but I don’t have a need to know their blood type…

When I started watching guides to BTS, I couldn’t tell them apart but knew that I enjoyed watching them dance and sing. They all had wonderful personalities and cared for each other. They care a lot about their fans as well. That is one thing that I like a lot about kpop; the fact that performers take the time to interact with their fans and make them feel appreciated/loved. Almost all (if not all) kpop groups host vlives (live broadcast with video of idol and chat log from fans) where they can personally interact with their fans.

BTS was the first group that I was a big fan of, and even though I am still a fan, I don’t interact much with others in that particular fandom (called ARMY). I will take a second and introduce the members of BTS (by their stage names) now so everyone can catch a glimpse of what each one looks like. The first member (in order by age) is Jin, who is the picture on the top left. He is the oldest member and does many vlives involving food. The second member (top row, middle) is Suga. He is one of the three rappers in the group and writes many songs for the group. The next (top right) is J-Hope. He is the second rapper in the group and wishes to be a source of joy and happiness to the fans. He is also known for learning choreography quickly and teaching it to the other members. Next is RM (bottom left), the last rapper of BTS and the leader. He speaks English and learned by watching Friends and has used that as an advantage, including speaking at United Nations youth event. The next member to the right of RM, is Jimin. Jimin studied dance before he became a trainee and is sometimes known as someone who loves to receive affection from their fellow members. The next member is V (the member with the blue hair). V likes to joke with the others and stands out in various way (whether it is fashion, laugh, blank stare, etc). The maknae (youngest) of the group is Jungkook. He is called the “golden maknae” because he is good at almost everything he tries. He is very talented when it comes to dancing, singing, and photography.

My bias (favorite member of the group) in BTS is Suga. Personality wise, I have always been given V, except once I was resembled to J-Hope.

The last thing that I need to mention about what solidified my admiration for kpop, is the meaning they depict in each song. Most of the songs you see in American media include women that are half naked and sometimes involve demeaning lyrics. With the songs that I like within the genre of kpop, this is far from the truth. Songs from BTS and other groups promote loving yourself, supporting others, and sometimes expressing how one feels when in love.
I don’t need to understand all of the lyrics when I hear them, I have already read them and understood what meaning they hold. The music itself is a work of art and is fantastic to listen to.

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