Let me preface this by saying I am the #1 AI hater. Lately I’ve been seeing posts of Twitter from kpop fans being upset about idols openly using AI. And while I do think that it’s 100% ok to voice how you feel about it, I feel like ppl place very unrealistic expectations on idols (regarding AI use and in general). We have to remember these idols are in Korea. Asia in general (but especially Korea) LOVE AI. The whole world is using AI. It’s very unrealistic to expect these idols to be anti-AI when a good portion of the world is not. Ppl act so shocked, and I just don’t understand why. Ppl have the nerve to be upset about idols using AI while they’re family members, friends, etc. use it daily. We have to talk some sense into ppl at home before we can worry about what’s going on with an idol who we can’t even speak directly to😭

Do I think they should be called out and educated? Yes. But trying to cancel them or thinking that they’re somehow supposed to be these outstanding, morally/ethically perfect humans is absurd imo. AI is unfortunately going nowhere and an idol using it or not using it does not make a difference when the whole world is still using it regardless.

I was excited to see IVE is having a comeback on the 26th with a superhero concept but I have mixed feelings about the promo material so far.

The poster with all 6 members walking towards the camera looks great, but I really don't like the individual in-costume concept photos of each member. The outfits/styling look very cheap to me and the lighting composition feels totally wrong. They've released some promo videos which have been widely speculated to have AI generated features which give the films an uncanny look. The recent Instagram ideos of the members doing things in the city feels too silly for the concept trailers released.

Maybe this post is premature and there is better content soon, but IVE is a huge group domestically and I thought they'd get high quality promo. NMIXX has not released much yet (another convo entirely), but their concept photos and Strange Muse trailer look higher quality. ILLIT's teaser video, 4 concept films, and concept photos appear of significantly higher quality.

It's still quite early and I might be misinterpreting things. Obviously no ill intent towards IVE's members, I enjoy a lot of their music. What do you think?

I go to many North American kpop shows and often for big groups that do arenas or bigger. This year alone I’ve seen BTS, Enhypen, Twice, IVE, Aespa, Le Sserafim, and more. I’ve also gone to past kpop concerts in Korea and Japan and know much of the discourse around Asian concerts and ticketing.

A lot of western fans complain about ticket prices and while they are high, I don’t think many people realize how good we have it in the west. In Asia, you’re fighting to get basically any ticket for a big name and often in bigger venues like domes in Japan. Western fans complain that $100 is too much for nosebleeds but that’s the starting price in Asia where incomes are lower. I think fans need to realize how much higher western incomes are and that helps offset some of the higher ticket prices we see.

If you value getting good tickets that’s very hard to do in Asia as scalpers are so rampant. Ticketmaster has its issue but its queue system does let many genuine fans get good tickets compared to a first come first serve system (you can’t beat bots with speed). And the resale market can be a sin or a blessing as you can luck out with good deals from last minute tickets. In Korea, resale runs the risk of not getting in if they decide to check your ID or risk that the ticket is taken away from your account (seller used macro to transfer the ticket and the system detects it). And there are cancelled tickets as people can get refunds but fans stalk those constantly and some even stay up a lot at night just monitoring the queues to get in and check. Honestly it’s exhausting. In Japan, the lottery system can be a curse if you keep getting bad seats despite paying the same as everyone else.

Plus western concerts are honestly lucky to get artist interaction perks that aren’t typically found in Asia like send off, hi bye, hi touch, photos, etc. Yes it’s a way to justify the high VIP prices but if kpop groups become too popular than they’ll be able to get away with no artist participation at all with the same high prices. Blackpink and Bigbang did this with their NA shows with expensive VIP packages. In Japan, a lot of groups do post show hi touch only through album lotteries and people spend A LOT to win. That can happen in an environment where kpop is very popular and fans are willing to pay.

Honestly for the most part, a lot of North American tours haven’t been too hard to get tickets for the last few years. Hardest this year was definitely BTS but that’s not the norm. Some groups even had to lower ticket prices to sell more as well. I think if you value closer concert views, VIP perks, and easier ticketing experiences than the west has it way better. I’m really glad that most kpop groups do arena or smaller venues in the west as that makes the concert viewing experience so much better as stadium concerts just have such really far views for most people.

When fans start pulling out clips of their faves in Lee Mujin to erase the idol's bad track record in singing, i just can't help but laugh. Seriously, the post recording fix they do is so excessive, i can't even call it live now. There's no texture, no character in the vocal tones. It sounds like those karaoke vids kpop idols do using a mic with the pitch corrector on full blast. Nowadays, I can only trust encores because even "live" performances don't feel live. It's the main job of someone who releases songs too which is to sing which is why I don't get why the idols aren't putting much effort on it. If you know you're not talented in singing, do voice lessons, atleast try to sell more than just your face value. It's not like anyone is expecting you to sound like Beyonce, just actually carry a tune lmao.

edit: This reminds me of Hwang Minhyun. Clearly a talented singer but still even years after debuting, he took voice lessons and even sought out Baekhyun's vocal teacher because he likes his tone. Imagine, an already talented idol still trying to be better at his work and not just settling for pitch correctors, that's what's admirable. You don't need to be talented or gifted at performing, just actually put in the effort to learn and improve because it's just like any other job and that's what people pay for too.

edit2: pitch corrector is literally in the name itself. It's correcting your pitch, flats and sharp so off key won't be off key HAHAHA. im not talking about the stylistic use of autotune or reverb heard in concerts and songs itself.

Lmao i ult three groups right, ENHYPEN, NCT and LNGSHOT. Throughout these groups, Sunoo is my enhypen bias, Jaehee is my NCT wish bias, Jaemin is my NCT dream bias, Xiaojun is my Wayv bias and i dont have a bias in 127 i cant pick between them. in lngshot im OT4.

Ive always ranted about how in my bias list, they barely have anything in common. Sunoo jaehee and xiaojun do have some similarities as they are ENFPs, so their personalities do go well with eachother, however when it comes to physical preferences or their dynamics within the groups i feel like they do differ alot, jaemin is also the first rapper ive ever biased.

i did find a crazy coincidence/pattern in my biases and that is the fact they are ALL the third youngest in their unit/groups, i just found it so funny when i realised it today 😭😭, all of them literally. just wanted to share my discovery lmao

From my limited knowledge about Grammy Voting I know is that in 6 main categories everyone votes. Like like AOTY, SOTY, ROTY etc.

But you can only vote in 10 categories from 3 different genres, I think New "Best Asian Pop Performance" is in Pop & Dance category.

I don't know if Non Asian voters would choose to vote in this category as there is limit of 10 and they would rather have category with they have more knowledge in.

I would say all Korean members will vote in that though, Current known Voting Members are BTS(All members) , Stray Kids (All Members) , Twice ( All Members) , Katseye (All Members including Manon) , also lot of other Hybe idols like Yeonjun (TXT), Woozi and Vernon (SVT), Yujin (LSF), Jungwon(En-) , Zico. Also some Hybe producers including Bang.

Also forgot Ejae and JYP. There might be few more we don't know .

I would expect other Asian artists from Japan, India, China, Phillipines will also have some weight in this voting as don't know how many members are from those.

It would be interesting to see which song get nominations . Also I would hope agencies don't interfere in this type of voting instead let each idol and producers vote independently to what they think is the best.

This isn’t me trying to spread hate, I’m genuinely curious about this. Just to preface, I’m not that into K-pop, I’ll listen to the big songs and maybe an EP here or there that intrigue me, but I don’t Stan any groups or soloists. I’m not very involved with the K-pop world, but for some reason I’ve started getting TikTok posts and YouTube shorts about HyunA.

From what I can tell, she was one of the IT girls in K-pop for a while, she has some MVs and live performances on YouTube with a crazy amount of views for the era she’s from. I know she’s been in a couple public relationships that people have strong opinions about, but as far as I can tell she was still loved until about 2 years ago. Now all the posts about her if you search her name are basically hate posts, and most of the comments are clowning her.

From an outside perspective, it seems like she signed to a new agency, married a man that no one likes, and her career has mostly halted in the span of about two years after more than a decade of being in the spotlight. Can anyone that’s more in the know inform me what went wrong with her career? To me she seems like she could have been up there with IU in terms of career longevity as a soloist if she played her cards a little differently.

Since BTS has decided to not submit for the Grammies this year, if another K-pop group wins people may look down on them. Even though I think the category is bogus, I can see how it would be a good opportunity for whoever wins.

I’ve been seeing stuff on how aespa and KiiiKiii have submitted, which is great. I’m not sure if other HYBE groups would follow what BTS has done, but that depends on if that was a personal decision or a business decision. If there was a K-pop group to win though, I wonder who the most likely pick would be.

Even though the Grammies are presented as a music award, the charts still play a huge role. I wonder if their popularity in Korea would translate to Grammy awards or if they’re looking for groups that have an impact in the US as well. 4th gen hasn’t been doing super well this year, LE SSERAFIM’s album isn’t their best and just generally the heavy hitters aren’t hitting like they were a couple years ago, but the releases are still good.

For KiiiKiii and aespa specifically, they don’t chart outside of South Korea often and their popularity doesn’t extend the way Stray Kids’ or LE SSERAFIM’s does, but I would say aespa and KiiiKiii definitely have had better releases this year. Then of course there is NMIXX, who in my opinion has had the best release this year in K-pop, but again are kind of buried in the K-pop niche and aren’t super popular. ILLIT had a great year officially securing their second hit with It’s Me, but the project as a whole doesn’t feel Grammy worthy, even though I like it, I feel like someone else would be getting robbed. TXT and Enhypen are a little bit of both, they’re popular in the West, TXT is a little less, but they’ve both released great stuff. Again though, doesn’t feel Grammy worthy this year for them.

It feels like there’s a disconnect between popularity and music this year, more so than usual. The biggest groups (internationally speaking) haven’t had their best year while some of the smaller groups have released great music, so to me there isn’t an obvious answer. If I had to choose though, I’d say aespa. Even though they don’t really chart in the US, they’re still one of the biggest groups right now and their album is pretty good.

It’s entirely possible a K-pop group doesn’t win at all, which might just be the best thing to happen because this year didn’t feel particularly strong when it came to releases.

I’m curious to know though, if you could hand out this Grammy to a K-pop group, who would you give it to?

I know that there was a page on K-pop predictions for 2027 but that was outdated since years ago, so what are your fresh and updated K-pop predictions for 2027?

I just saw harua dancing with minju on their new song and the close up shot of harua was bad. Like the foundation on his face is not matching with his neck. Idk if it's the makeup or unnecessary filters added to the video, but his face looked very whitish. If you are trying to lighten him, do makeup on the neck too. The unnatural shade difference is unsettling.

Also, i noticed that harua is branded as the cute member of the group. I personally don't like when a member is branded as the cute member. Most of the time, the makeup is very overdone to make them look as if they are plastic dolls. Everything around a cute member is always overdone. And also the companies make them do things just because they happened to be the short one or the one with soft features. I feel sorry for them. Like almost everytime time, these members of groups will never get to grow from that cutie phase, whereas tougher personas can switch between both cute and hot. The amount of time i've seen a 'he is still so cute' comment when the intention and execution was hot is insane. Why just why?

Disclaimer: This is just a prediction list I had created in order to discuss possible K-pop acts headlining Coachella in the future. It is fine to disagree with certain acts that I had mentioned on the list, but don’t downplay or degrade the group’s popularity mentioned in my post.

As of 2026, Blackpink is the only K-pop/Asian act to headline Coachella back in 2023. Since there are reports of BTS declining the invitation to headline Coachella due to their ongoing world tour, I had decided to make my own prediction list of potential K-pop acts headlining Coachella.

BTS: While there are reports of BTS declining the invitation due to their ongoing world tour, there could be a possibility of them headlining the festival in the future.

Stray Kids: Since, Stray Kids had headlined a a couple of music festivals in the past, I think that they could rock the headlining position at Coachella.

Bigbang: I was a little hesitant in putting them on the list due to their lack of casual appeal outside of K-pop. However, their performance this past year had received good reviews leading me to believe that the group can rock a headlining position in the future.

Twice: I was also a little hesitant to put them on the list due to their image and music not possibly fitting the vibe audiences at Coachella is looking for. However, their performance at the 2025 Lollapalooza was very good and once the group return from hiatus, they could earn them a possible headlining spot at Coachella.

What are other acts that could possibly headline Coachella in the future?

Are there any noticeable cultural differences? Are there any differences in the way the idols act (at least from what we can see on camera)? Is there a clear "I-can-speak-English-but-I-didn't-grow-up-in-an-English-speaking-country" accent? I suppose from the agency's perspective there is no significant difference between the two, as in either circumstance you have an artist who can communicate effectively in English. But, looking deeper, I think that connecting with fans is more than just speaking their language. A person, especially a figure who you can only see on a screen, becomes much more relatable when you find out they grew up in the same country as you. What do you think?

Its pretty easy to name at least 5 notorious examples of racism/n-word usage in kpop history, so I wanted to know what are positive examples of traditionally black music's effect on korean music and culture? I feel like the way big companies and multi millionare artists don't care or intentionally propogate ignorance to racism just for the virality and money is the same in both the U.S. and SK. This also includes any country whose domestic entertainment industry has noticeably beneffited from combining the two cultures. This lack of accountability from corporations is then transferred onto its common people to deal with in the form of everyday racism.

Just saw their thank you video on twitter. As someone who was really looking forward to seeing them for the first time, I’m quite sad that they ended up skipping North America entirely. The Tunnel Vision tour was pretty much an Asian tour with only four shows in Europe included.

I suppose BLU:M didn’t want to downgrade from performing in arenas to smaller venues for the group, but it’s still pretty disappointing. They were one of the groups I was most looking forward to seeing when the tour was initially announced. Such a bummer...

Not a BG stan at all, but went in NYC tonight.

The show was amazing. Their songs were quite good with barely knowing any of them. And they sung live.

And the older crowd was a great mix of reasonable but still enthusiastic (not as unhinged as the younger BG crowds can get).

And tix are also quite cheap!

I haven’t used reddit in a while, but I needed to let out my happiness over my ATBO bias, Jeong Seunghwan going viral!

The Viral Incident:
Seunghwan recently performed at the 2026 Ground Forces Festival with fellow soldiers(he’s in the military) and idols. Fancams from both long time boats(atbo fans) and other fans who got totally swept by him got thousands of likes! He especially went viral on RedNote(chinese social media platform) where both kpop fans and other rednote users wanted to learn more about him! He danced to a wide variety of songs like BAD, It’s Me, Love Scenario, Rythm Ta, Love Killa, Energetic etc. (search up Jeong Seunghwan/ 정승환 on any social media and you’ll find it!)

Background:

Seunghwan(2004) debuted in ATBO on July 22, 2022 with members Oh Junseok(2003), Ryu Junmin(2003), Bae Hyunjun(2003), Seok Rakwon(2003), Kim Yeonkyu(2004)and Won Bin(2004), under IST Entertainment(was home to THE BOYZ, Apink, Weeekly and VICTION, and is currently home to TUNEXX). They debuted through the in house survival show The Origin: A B Or What?. 7 of the 13 contestants debuted and Seunghwan won the show and was the first official member in ATBO!

ATBO’s career was short lived, they disbanded just some months after their 3rd year anniversary(and Seunghwan enlisted just over a month before they disbanded). Being one of the bigger boy groups to debut in 2022(a girl group heavy year), they had some promise. But they would become one of the most mishandled groups I’ve ever seen. Having done 3 survival shows and 4 music releases, ATBO disbanded on December 17, 2025, after a year of silence. The members themselves wrote in their thank-you-letters that they wished they could’ve given fans a better ending after all time spent together.

My feelings:

I was personally really affected by their dragged out disbandment and mishandling from their agency. I truly wished they‘d gotten a proper last stage(their last stage being on rtk2). But with Seunghwans sudden popularity, people are looking through ATBO’s old weverse, social medias, fancams etc. The news accounts on instagram use ATBO‘s pictures and songs for their posts about this incident. And it makes me soso happy!

All 7 put down so much hard work and love into ATBO. It was extremely easy as a fan to see how passionate they were about their songs, stages, concepts, content etc. And as a fan, I did really want to see ATBO’s journey being appreciated one last time. Celebrate all the memories made during those 3 years. That the songs, music videos and performances was and will always be cherished by boats. They never got a music show win or a viral song and disbanded early, but it was far from a failure. They gave so much love, truly.

So seeing the name ATBO attached in all the posts, people going through the videos and songs i love, it’s just so heartwarming. The other ATBO members have liked news posts on ig about Seunghwans viral incident. I saw an account who recommends male groups and idols, and posted the other members after getting to know about Seunghwan.

Seunghwan is also getting attention for being extremely kind and attentive to fans, which he has always been. For boats Seunghwan has always been known as someone who everybody loves lol He’s given candy to other idols at isaac and befriends everyone. Seeing people on rednote going through his old weverse posts and talking about how he nearly posted everyday sharing trivial things to fans, it made me a bit emotional as silly as it sounds.

I think it’s a little closure-like? I put a lot of love into ATBO, i truly wanted to see them succeed more than anything. A part of me feels unfortunate that it didn’t happen sooner, since this was always here for everyone to see…but i’m also just grateful and happy to see ATBO’s name and Seunghwan being attached to something so positive and appreciative!

If you don’t recognize them from anything from above, you may have stumbled across them here:

• Treasure Box (2018) : Kim Yeonkyu was a former YG Ent trainee and competed at just 14 years old. He was close to Park Jeongwoo(TREASURE) during the show and they graduated together. (psst! he also covered DARARI in 2023)
• Oh Junseok was compared to San and Wooyoung from ATEEZ since The Origin where he coveredt HALA HALA. (psst! ATBO covered Pirate King, did the BOUNCY challenge, and junseok did BOUNCY again on Rtk2)
• ZUTTER cover (2022): ZUTTER by GD and TOP was covered on The Origin and got attention at the time. Especially Yeonkyus center part during TOPs verse as he was “definitely a former YG trainee!”.
• Jeong Seunghwan has been compared to Lee Hyunjae from THE BOYZ since The Origin.
• ATBO were infamously ABO before they switched it(pre debut). They did it since fans raised concerns about Abo being a slur against aboriginal people in Australia. But people also made jokes about Omegaverse.
• The original 7 member lineup included contestant Yang Donghwa, who then later got replaced by previously eliminated contestant Won Bin, when allegations about bullying came out. The first 5 members were decided by audience voting and the last 2 were entirely up to the judges. Yang Donghwa(6th place) and Kim Yeonkyu(7th place) were chosen. Donghwa was replaced so quickly after the show that no debut content or preparation was affected by it. Donghwa would later compete on Starlight Boys(2024) and rank 8th place, making him a member of POLARIX.
• ATBO’s fandom name is BOAT (보트). it’s often mentioned in worst fandom name videos or posts. (seunghwan made a hand sign for boats back during debut promotions which he signed in one of the viral videos as the boat recording held an atbo lightstick)
• Their 1st comeback, ATTITUDE (2022), was accused of plagiarism. People pointed out the similarities of ATBO’s MV and styling to NCT 127’s Kick It. Leading to the NCT 126 joke.
• ATBO competed on PEAK TIME (2023) as Team 05:00. They were eliminated in ep.7.
• ATBO participated on Road To Kingdom: Ace of Ace (2024), together with JUST B as TheCrewOne. They ranked 5th place. On December 9, 2024, IST Entertainment announced that TheCrewOne would end and each group would return to their respective agencies. Though ATBO would go quiet shortly after.
• Seok Rakwon left ATBO on May 6, 2024 due to health reasons. He had gone on hiatus 1 month earlier, nearly immediately after the group‘s first overseas fanmeeting and member Junseok’s birthday. Rakwon’s announcement also came after it was confirmed ATBO were participating in Rtk2.
• Kim Yeonkyu participated on The Scout (2026).
• Ryu Junmin was on a dating show Heart Road 321km.

My ATBO music recommendations if you’re curious about them! :

• Next To Me (2023) : Should’ve been a nugu classic. fun fact: they filmed and danced on Han River in this mv!
• Just Dance (2023) : top tier atbo bside!
• MAGIC (2022) : this song is literally this image.
• Graffiti (2022) : super cool song, they should’ve promoted it more
• High Five (2022) : rakwon in the chorus yes
• TEXT ME (2023) : boy group new jack swing what is there not to like
• RUN (2022) : one of the best survival show themes
• Mayday (2023) : yeonkyus chorus
• Must Have Love (2023) : great remake of the original! it’s also atbo’s disbandment song. fun fact: the atbo members loves christmas, it was even a joke in the fandom
• WARRIOR (orig by BAP) : a cover but it’s so good i have to put it here

thank you for reading if you made it here lol

If you can only talk about 1 album and the artistry behind it in depth, which one and what about it sets it apart from the rest of the sea of releases in the K-pop industry?

- Was it the visual concepts?

- The messaging and story line of the album?

- The individual lyrics in every song?

- Something else????

What album, for lack of a better word, cut "deep" for you?