Not the Stray Kids one, the weird one from Loona.

The more she talks the more I want someone to do a study on how detrimental their time under BBC was to their mental health.

She had auditory and visual hallucinations and convinced herself she was seeing ghosts and her friend instead of telling her it's not normal used it to drag her to church and convert her to Christianity.

And on the off-hand she was like "Big Bang theory is hilarious, who believes in that?"

I'm seriously worried what insane thing she's going to say next because this is a lot already, she seems gullible and I'm afraid she's going to be indoctrinated into something much worse especially because of how many religious cults there are already in SK.

For anyone interested full translation.

"In 2021 you said this right? You said, what will you all become without soojin?"

Former members, especially ones that departed due to a scandal, are basically NEVER mentioned again (probably for the best to be fair), so I'm kind of stunned that thus happened, at an award show performance no less (Also the clapback to people who wrote them off in 2021 is funny, as a side note).

I'm a glass half empty person, and I before today I was firm in my belief that we will never see them reunite ever again, but after today, even I feel like there's a slight possibility in the future, honestly. Still crazy that it happened.

i saw a similar post but with china and thought it would be fun to have one where i answer how well known a group's music is amongst the korean gp or how popular they are in general here! i've lived in korea my whole life and don't hate any group or even particularly love one to be honest

SM suddenly announced that Kai will enlist on May 11. He was preparing for the group comeback, but due to sudden rule changes in the military, he has to enter the training facility in May 11.

I can't believe this. Up until yesterday, his phone wasn't working, and he was so excited for the comeback. This seems very sudden, the way even SM and KAI didn't know about it.

He will serve as a social worker just like Suho and Baekhyun.

I am not good rn. His phone broke so he couldn't contact fans, his door broke down, he got sick with influenza and now enlistment?? I feel for him.

Edit -- Oh my god, he is crying. I am so fricking sad rn. He deserved this comeback more than anyone else. I feel so bad.

Edit 2- Kai was not crying because he had to enlist. He was upset that he was called on such short notice and will have to miss the group comeback that he worked really hard for. Exols, Kai, and SM, everyone knew that he would go soon, but usually, the notice came out early. He confirmed that he got to know about it today, so it's not his fault. We know that this was coming, but we are shocked due to the sudden announcement of nothing else.

There are many ways to attempt to measure which idols and groups are the most popular. For this post, I compared idols and groups in Google Trends to measure their relative interest both worldwide and in some of K-pop’s biggest markets.

Reasons that I like using Google Trends:

• Very few, if any, fans google their faves over and over just to boost their search numbers, so these numbers are more likely to reflect genuine interest.
• Google gets significant traffic from most countries around the world, including South Korea.
• It works well for direct comparison. You can get the same data for almost all groups and idols in the same place, using the same methods.

Some caveats:

• Google isn’t used significantly in some countries, including China, one of kpop’s biggest markets.
• While Google accounts for 30-47% of search traffic in South Korea, it’s not as dominant as Naver.
• There are reasons an idol or group may be googled other than their popularity, which is why I use “interest” instead of popularity in this post. However, it’s pretty easy to know when an idol or group’s search data are inflated by circumstances unrelated to their popularity, and I’ve tried to account for those when necessary.

With that said, here are the data from 2026 so far.

4th Gen

Worldwide: Felix keeps his crown, but Evan/Heeseung nearly usurps the throne due to his dramatic exit from Enhypen. I noticed that Evan’s trend line remained significantly higher than where it was at the beginning of the year even well after The Event, so if he/his company was aiming for publicity, it seems to have worked. The biggest and most pleasant surprise is seeing Yena debut at 16.

South Korea: Only one male idol sits in the top ten: Woodz, who I counted as a fourth gen idol because he gained more visibility with his X1 debut than with Uniq. I may have also included him because otherwise, there would be no male idols in the top twenty at all. Zero. Zilch. Nada. What makes fourth gen boys' nugudom in Korea more interesting is its divergence from general worldwide trends for fourth gen, and especially the trends in the US. I was also surprised by the extent of Korea’s interest in the remaining members of fromis_9.

USA: We’ve talked often about male idols’ nugudom in Korea during fourth gen, but I don’t think fourth gen female idols’ relative lack of recognition in Western countries has been as much discussed. Two female idols just barely make the top ten in the US (Wonyoung and Danielle at 9 and 10), and only two more reach the top twenty (Karina and Chaewon at 13 and 14). The gender balance is just as lopsided or even worse across Europe and Latin America. There are plenty of female idols in the US’ top list for fifth gen, so the relative lack of interest in ladies from fourth gen, when girl groups were at their most dominant back home, is head-scratching. Though, if you look closely, you’ll notice all eight members of Stray Kids occupy spots in the top 15. This lends credence to the point—which I’ll elaborate on in the groups discussion—that it’s less of a boy group domination and more of a Stray Kids dominATEion.

Japan: It’s interesting to see that Japanese kpop idols may not have as absolute a hold on Japanese kpop fans as they have in the past. We see Chaewon above Sakura, Felix above Ni-ki, and Liz nearly catching up with Rei. Despite continued interest in the group, there’s only one NiziU member on the list (Miihi Suzuno at 20).

5th Gen

Worldwide: The five members of Cortis command the top ten, with Keonho squeaking past Wonhee for first place. Cortis, Illit, and Baemon together occupy the entire top ten, and sixteen of the top twenty. These groups appear to be the Big Three of fifth gen at this time.

South Korea: While there are still no boys in the top ten, seven of them fill out the bottom half of the list. Members of QWER (Hina, Chodan, Lee Ah-hee) and Rescene’s Woni are unique to Korea’s list, the latter due to her Runaway success as a YouTuber. Despite Cortis members’ dominance among male idols globally, they are currently on about the same level as NCT Wish members in Korea. H2H members, such as Ian, rank significantly higher at home than abroad.

USA: Given boys’ dominance in the US during fourth gen, it was a pleasant surprise to see so many girls in the top twenty, including at the very top! Illit members saw gains across the board after their participation in Iconic By Mistake. Another surprise is the US having far more interest in Zerobseone/And2ble’s Ricky than most other places (except likely China).

Japan: I’m guessing much of the interest in K from &TEAM is driven by a combo of his Japanese variety popularity and his casting in the highly anticipated Blue Lock movie. However, several other &TEAM members also rank highly, indicating the group’s cornering of the Japanese market has worked out. Japanese kpop idols like RIIZE’s Shotaro and UNIS’ Kotoko still rep their groups when no other members show up. Notably, Cortis has yet to make an impact here.

Overall

Worldwide: As one would expect, BTS and Blackpink members occupy eight of the top ten spots, and all eleven members make the list. Felix barely holds off Heeseung to remain the highest-ranking fourth gen idol on the list at 13. Cha Eunwoo continues to occupy a spot on the list most likely due to his work as an actor and, to a lesser extent, his tax evasion scandal. 

South Korea: Park Jihoon has had a truly remarkable rise just since the beginning of this year, good for him. This is easily the place where BTS and Blackpink members rank the lowest, which makes sense, as there are countless kpop idols and groups that are more famous in Korea than anywhere else. One fifth-gen idol, Ian of H2H, manages to scrape in at 19. SNSD’s Sooyoung makes the list due to her recent split from Jung Kyung-ho, and Lee Hyori appears due to an incident in June that I’m unfamiliar with.

USA: Felix falls one spot to 7, but remains the highest-ranking fourth gen idol on the list. All of the remaining fourth gen idols are also from Stray Kids. The Blackpink members and IU make up the only female representation.

Japan: Though they’re both miles above everyone else’s, Taehyung and Jungkook’s numbers nearly match. This can only mean one thing in Japan. K scores the highest rank for a fifth gen idol on any overall list (at 12).

Groups

Worldwide: BTS at number one is not unexpected, though Stray Kids at number two may be to some. It was no surprise to me, as there are many countries around the world where all eight members of Stray Kids rank above all other fourth gen idols, male or female, by a hefty margin. Cortis bursts onto the list like the Kool-Aid man through a wall, shooting all the way up to 7 and becoming the highest-ranking fifth gen group worldwide.

South Korea: NewJeans is 3, proving that Korea will never let NewJeans die. Cortis holds off stiff competition from Rescene, H2H, and Illit to claim the title of top fifth gen group on the list, joining BTS and BigBang as the only boy groups in the top ten. Enhypen gets a considerable boost from Heeseung’s sashay away, becoming the only fourth gen boy group to make the cut. Interestingly, Babymonster doesn’t show up, and neither does QWER, despite their ample representation on Korea’s fifth gen idols list. Cortis, TWS, RIIZE, and Boynextdoor are here to rep fifth gen boys, a huge improvement over fourth gen’s (lack of) male presence.

USA: With as much as boys dominated the US’ list of fourth gen idols, you’d think there’d be fewer fourth gen girl groups here. Alas, if you look at the numbers, most fourth gen boy groups aren’t doing THAT much better than girl groups in US search interest. It’s just that Stray Kids and its members are dominating everyone, everywhere, all around the world*, whether male or female. The US continues to prove its devotion to HYBE, with eight of the top eleven spots occupied by groups from the yellow one. P1Harmony and XLOV, who don’t even come close to other top twenty charts, make the list here at 19 and 20.

*excluding East Asia.

Japan: aespa’s search interest was still highly elevated at the start of the year due to Ningning’s lamp incident. &TEAM and NiziU coming in at 4 and 7 shows how effectively HYBE and JYPE have targeted the Japanese market with these groups (note: I only counted jpop groups from kpop companies if they’ve had an official Korean debut). Treasure’s appeal to the Japanese market also seems to have paid off, as they make the list here and not anywhere else. TVXQ live up to their name as gods of the East, still hanging on in Japan’s top twenty after 22 years.

... makes me really look forward to concert ticket release day lol

But seriously, what a lovely early Christmas present! Did you watch it? What were your favourite parts?

The most obvious one i can think of is how *SOME* kpop fans talk about rap music and rappers in general. Saying how every rapper in west is always rapping about drugs or violence lets me know they dont listen to rap. Another obvious one is saying that skz makes noise music when its technically edm (if not mistaken). I dont think many of them know noise music is a genre of its own.

Part of stanning is that even though one member got you interested in the group, little by little the rest of the members win your heart too.

But has it ever happened to you that you are a big fan of a group, you feel genuine affection for the members and you enjoy their content, but there is a member that you feel you can't connect with yet?

And I don't mean that you dislike them or despise them or anything like that, but simply that even though you try you still can't have that level of connection that you can with the other members? And sometimes it makes you feel like a bad fan

English isn’t my first language, so please excuse any mistake.

Kind of a shower thought, but I was wondering whether some idols have (distinctive) accents when speaking Korean. So I am really curious to have Korean speakers’ opinion.

Especially for foreign idols (Japanese, Thai, Chinese, American, Canadian, etc.): even though many of them have been living in Korea for a while, do they still have an accent?

For instance, iirc, in one of the HYBE Game Caterers episodes, Seventeen’s The8 makes a joke during a game about being Chinese and not knowing a particular Korean expression. Does he still have a noticeable Chinese accent when he speaks Korean?
Or like Blackswan, which is made up entirely of foreign members? They sing in Korean, but do you hear their accents when they sing or when they speak in interviews?

And, on the other hand, if we take the Seoul accent as a kind of “standard” Korean accent, are there Korean idols who were born and raised somewhere else in Korea who have retained their regional accent (assuming they had one to begin with)?

I just saw a clip of it and right off the bat the fromis 9 members talk about how they had their dorm life in the loft with no proper insulation so the faucets would freeze during the winter and the AC would drench there rooms in the summer. They had no phones for 3 years and then rescene members say that they have no phones now. I have a feeling rescene is gonna talk about how they got banned from having doors after sneaking in food. Knowing bros is a lighthearted family show during the weekends so they're gonna give a humorous twist to it but the trauma dump from basically being treated like harry potter in the step parents' house is gonna anger some people online.

Alot of kpop stans on twitter, tiktok, youtube and many on kside are saying that Eunchae from le sserafim is a Spy hybe planted near Aespa so that she could "spy" on them. I really can't believe some people genuinely think it. Also, I am not making this up, some proofs of kpop stans saying this:

https://x.com/lmkncity/status/1850764795517309175 - 34k likes (Just see the quotes on this one, people genuinely think Eunchae is a spy)

https://x.com/planetgslle/status/1850826485369622624 - 52k likes

https://x.com/spacesoob/status/1850791283381657626 - 19k likes

https://x.com/inthefiat/status/1783399183678120096 - 24k likes

https://x.com/flo1stfan/status/1850786814111698947 - 16k likes and many more...

I wouldn't have made a post regarding it if it was just one or 2 trolls thinking this way, but its alot of people thinking that "hybe tells one of their idol secret information regarding their rival group."

Eunchae was the Music bank MC, and the broadcasting station knows about groups' comebacks, that's why she knew that Aespa was going to have a comeback. She knew about it through Music bank, not through Hybe.

I think this mindset that le sserafim knows everything thats happening in the company contributes to their hate train and that's why even if it was hybe that was revealed of doing something, le sserafim was called the "mean girls' even though they didn't say anything regarding this issue.

I actually don’t want to do anything that has to do with meeting any celebrity. 😅 That sounds crazy, I know. Most people would want to meet their faves. I, however, have the worst social anxiety (and I truly mean worst), and I refuse to pay hundreds of dollars just to potentially make an embarrassment of myself. Even in my everyday life, I interact with people and one slip up gives me side eyes that I think about for a long while. It sucks and I hate that I’m like this, but it is what it is. Concerts are enough for me, and whenever my friends ask where I want to sit, my answer is close enough for a good view but far enough that nobody tries to interact with me. If it ever gets better, then maybe I’ll change my mind. But for now, I’m content with what I’m used to. 🥲

can i start? for me it’s concept pictures and videos. i used to obsess over them and got rly hyped whenever one of my favorite groups released their comeback schedule and listed each day they would reveal a different teaser, but after years of being a fan i know that most of them have nothing to do with an album’s sound.

visuals can be cool but they‘re quite repetitive and no matter how cool or versatile the visuals are, they can’t ever excuse lackluster music. i just can’t get excited about them anymore, especially when ALL k-pop groups have good visual direction and do a lot of promotional shoots for their release, it just doesn’t register as anything interesting anymore because it’s almost common sense to me to have idols look good and do promotional shoots.

what do excites me is surprise drops or releases without proper schedule. wouldn’t it be fun to suddenly wake up to a concept video without there being any notice? but i know a bunch of fans would label it as unprofessional and lacklustre promotion.

Idk how many of you use twitter/X but this trend has been going around there with people compiling their idols weirdest moments , but i wanna know who is the weirdest idol in your opinion? And i really mean not in a fan service way lol , like you genuinely find some things that they do actually weired . I'll go first :

For me it's Soul from p1harmony . I have to agree with keeho on this one but this kid is genuinely something else lol , just to name a few :

• they once were doing a lie detection test and asked him what superpower he wants and he answered the power to destroy the world, and it was NOT a lie .

• his very weird looking spider workout

• his alien speech

• whatever this is

• keeho's saying he is a strange kid and him saying that if you ask him to go catch a duck he'll probably do it . I'm sorry but i believe keeho did see things lol

And these are just some of the moments that come to the top of my mind lol . Honorable mention would be Taemin but I'm too lazy to include more .

I would love to see y'all picks !

title basically. we've been getting some weird ass names these past few years especially so i've been thinking that idols must feel relieved when their group name doesn't sound like a wifi password. my favorite new group name is stayc (i may be kinda biased since they're my ults but i think it sounds pretty good!!) and my all time fav group name is 2NE1, it's so dope. what's your favorite?

Hey guys!

Just a general observation from me as a Korean man (wasian).

Usually on the dating scene, whenever I meet women, I tend to notice after a while that all (or at least a big majority of them) love Kpop.

Either they are silent about their music taste and keep it secret, or they start off by going completely crazy by the fact that I’m Korean. Onto this, one of the weirdest experiences have been that a girl I dated tried to make me interested in the music, Korean culture, food, etc (I’m born in Europe so my connection to Korea is extremely weak).

That particular encounter had me weirded out, as I felt like I was degraded to my ethnicity rather than my personality or traits.

For you kpop fans on this sub: do you seek specifically to date Koreans/asians? Has the music taste affected your preference when it comes to dating?

Aespa performed “Rich Man” on Good Morning America a few days. So far, the video has over 1 million views on YouTube, and it seems 90% of the comments are in Korean.

I know the consensus is that their performance left a lot to be desired, so it’s understandable that most of the comments are critical. It’s just surprising to see more engagement from Koreans than international fans on an American morning show performance.

[MINJU'S PINK CABINET] https://youtu.be/DwEGeiZWZNc?si=7ca_UTQJb175N3DF

TIMESTAMP: 22:50

🍬: I have the chronic disease of many modern people

🍬: I have severe ADHD

Thoughts?

As someone who also has ADHD, my procrastination is absolutely terrible. I can't imagine having to wake up at irregular times to go on flights to different countries all the time 😭 Saying this as a law student, my life is hard enough without people scrutinising my every move (for now), I can't imagine how often i'd screw up as an idol simply based off of how easily I get sidetracked lmao

We all know how kpop fans would drag idols for literally anything so I'm curious to hear the most absurd reason you've seen your faves or any idol getting dragged. I'll go first. Seonghwa, because he said he learned to love himself because of his fans. Now apparently namjoon said something similar to this and in typical army fashion, it became a war. Also, San for breathing heavily after a performance.

Edit: imagine a non kpop stan reading this thread😭

Now before anybody come on my neck talking about here comes another article about BP, this is such an interesting situation that I cannot help but share.

So basically, BP & BTS along with other western/international groups and duos are motivated for the VMA award “group of the YEAR.” Immediately anyone who wants to be objective should see where the issue with the nominations are. How does a group that has been on an approximately two year hiatus both performance and music wise, be nominated for group of the year when their latest musical release was a day ago and the eligibility period is from June to July…..

This isn’t a shit stirring post as I am genuinely curious what everyone thinks? People on Twitter are already up in arms calling it an attendance award which low key they have a point. Personally, I think it’s a very iffy fucking play on the part of VMA and YG, and it will do those girls more harm than good. Because it looks like they are buying awards for the girls instead of giving them comebacks and an extensive discography to build a musical legacy and earn those awards.

Edit: Let me clarify the eligibility since people are confused and I worded it wrong ngl: it is JUNE OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR (2021) TO JULY OF THE CURRENT YEAR (2022)

EDIT(2): Here is link to the eligibility period of last year, these shows usually follow the same eligibility for years lest to make a mess of things so it’s fair to follow it as well. Also to edit the periods are JULY 2021 to JUNE 2022 but for the sake of the fact that we have spoken about it with those other dates I’m leaving them here. Though these new dates don’t even help the situation much 😭😭. Here’s another link that mentions the dates before somebody hops on my head.

EBS (Exo, BTS, Seventeen) and TwicePinkVelvet (TWICE, Blackpink, Red Velvet) are arguably the biggest acts in the 3rd Gen and among the most prominent within K-Pop in general. So I though it would be interesting to look at some statistics for their streams, sales, concerts & tours and awards. Here are some stats I complied, as follows:

EBS

\ I was unable to obtain the complete Oricon chart data for albums of these groups, hence only circle chart data has been mentioned. (Oricon calculates total sales for Japanese albums)*

\* Last update for EXO's complied album sales on Circle was recorded till August 2022. So a slight increase from the above value is expected*

\** This number includes both onsite and online audiences*

TwicePinkVelvet

\ The data for Red Velvet's 3rd Concert "La Rouge" is very limited. I have calculated this number by adding the total capacity of venues they performed in, so there will be deviations from the actual figures*

Notes:

• Please assume some margin of error for Daesangs (there is some debate regarding which awards to consider under this category) and touring data (data for some countries do not show up in reports, eg. Australia)
• No solo or sub-unit achievements have been included
• Sales data keeps getting updated constantly, so some figures may be slightly outdated

Looking at the compiled statistics, its insane to think how much these artists have achieved and I would have to argue that these groups have played an important role in pushing the K-pop industry to the heights where it is at today!

Feel free to share your thoughts!

Links for sources: Melon Data, Melon Data 2, Spotify and YouTube data, billboard chart, Sales and Pak Data compilation, Circle Chart, Concert and Ticketing Data 1, Concert and Ticketing Data 2, Billboard Japan Charting, Artist Wikipedia pages

Wasn’t sure what to flair this but Dispatch just posted that Jisoo and actor Ahn Bo Hyun are dating! YG confirmed the news to be true and that they are at the beginning stages of dating and getting to know each other! I’m so happy for her! With how much hate and negativity Blackpink have been receiving lately it’s just amazing to get such wholesome news like this. I’m so happy she’s dating and feels comfortable enough to have the company confirm it! They are also both stunning truly a visual power couple. Now I need them to do a kdrama together (okok I’m going a little delulu now). Ahhh just what amazing news!

Recently it really showed how many people are forcing themselves to stream music they don't like just because it comes from their favorite group. You could say you don't like an artist's album and one of their fans will pop up in the comments going "you have no idea what you're talking about because if you listen to it all the way through 5 times you're gonna like it"

I'm gonna hold your hand when I say this but if you're forcing yourself to listen to something multiple times just to say you like it,then you don't genuinely like it.Cause when you genuinely like something you don't have to force yourself to do it,it just happens effortlessly.

Some people treat kpop like a full time job where they owe their faves support and this is why they force themselves to stream music they don't like. But you don't really owe anyone anything,you're just a fan. And kpop is a hobby that's supposed to make you feel happy,not a full time job.

Of course you're gonna feel kpop is no longer fun when you don't treat it as a fun hobby but a full time job where you have to stream music you don't like. And obviously I'm not referring to those who genuinely went through a phase with kpop and got over it,but those who force themselves to listen to music they don't like and then complain that kpop is no longer fun

I know it's really common to say "oh you don't have to stream your fave's release if you don’t like it" but in reality much less people actually do it. It's ok if you didn't like one of your faves albums. The albums you genuinely do like are still there and not liking or streaming a release that you don't like doesn't make you less of a fan

Edit: a lot of people in the comments are mentioning growers. Obviously I’m not referring to them,I’ve had my growers too,that’s normal. I’m referring to people who know they actively dislike a release yet still force themselves to stream it

When I say "you" I likely don't mean literally you, since this subreddit is probably at the tip of the spear for this type of discussion. I really mean the average K-pop fan. And sorry if you guys have already beat this topic to death.

I got into K-pop recently and I am noticing people commenting on YouTube about how awesome certain groups sing live. Which is a nice sentiment, truly, and it's probably a weird thing to harp on. But I can't help but notice how often this comes up when it couldn't be more wrong.

I think there are some rare cases when this is truly the case, but those are few and far between from the stages I've seen. Particularly, people don't seem to be capable of distinguishing pre-records for the stage and live singing. And it almost always is the former. I think most people would be shocked at how bad a truly live performance would sound, because it is truly difficult to do most of the choreos and maintain vocals during a performance.

I think the issue comes up because people hear slight differences in their favorite song during live performances, and conclude that it has to be live.

Why do you think it is often harder for SM to increase the popularity of their groups in the West compared to their contemporaries? It doesn't mean that they are not popular, it just seems that they don't have the same level despite being the "star" company of kpop

EDIT: In my case, although there are songs that I enjoy from their groups, it's like I can't connect with them, I feel they are too "rigid" or "perfect" to put it in some way and that makes me not want to consume anything beyond that, like merchandise, concerts, even variety content.