Exols - Blog Posts
NEW VIDEO ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!
GREECE VS K-POP! (#EUTIXEITE, #KATKEN & #MAIRIBOO) (https://youtu.be/EYhAyty_-XQ) DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE + LIKE + SHARE PLEASE!
xiumin gon be throwing hands soon š¤
lol sike iām just playin but if yāall werenāt ready for baekhyun and taeyeon, kai and krystal or kai and jennie then HOH HUNNAYYYZ yāall better be prepared, we getting a Chen Jr!
now letās give this man a round of applause for finding love and becoming a father and devoted husband.
but letās drop an āfā for xiumin āš¼š
xiumin:
i ship xiumin and chen as BEST BROS ion know iām here for that bromance. i also got that meme idea from someone on twitter, ion know their handle but creds to that comedic genius.
For Our Sulli.
it goes without saying that kpop fans around the world have a heavy heart today. if youāre unaware, Choi JinRi or more commonly known as Sulli, one of five talented members from the former group f(x) has passed away, the cause of death was self inflicted.
due to the overwhelming amount of hate sheād get from time to time or the hurtful things theyād say to her, it really played with her mental health. from what has been plastered around on media from the amount of negativity by the people of the internet this had pushed the singer to end her life. of course we canāt just believe that, but this is a serious matter that must be addressed.
history has once again repeated itself, with the same situation that happened almost 2 years ago with the late-idol singer, Kim Jonghyun of SHINEE. the amount of pressure and negativity that idols endure from debut to now or even after they leave the industry is absolutely shocking, the amount of pressure on their shoulders is hefty, but we donāt understand that type of situation.
itās honestly a real shame that some companies donāt take care of their idols mental health, mental well-being is one of the most important things in the world. this is like i said before, a sign of history repeating itself.
to all the fandoms around the world, please understand that pain, hurt and sadness arenāt experienced by a selected amount of people. it impacts everyone, famous or not. understand that words can hurt, words are also weapons and they can kill. slowly and silently.
iām not saying any idols will see this, but hopefully they know that itās okay to talk about things that are on their minds, that itās okay to not feel okay, itās okay to feel things. youāre not a robot, youāre not modified to feel okay all the time. please seek help, please donāt be afraid to reach out. thereās no us without you, look after yourself weāll be okay.
idols are humans. yes they have the ability to sing and dance extremely well, but they also have emotions, they have boundaries, they have insecurities, they have fears and most importantly they are HUMAN. i cannot stress that enough.
to all of Sulliās family, friends and fans and most importantly her former members. i on behalf of many other kpop fans around the world wish nothing but love, support and strength for you all. all fandoms, please put down your weapons and put a stop to your fanwars and just empathise with one another and look after each other, support each other and be kind. understand that some of your favourite idols are still here receiving your love and support.
For Sulli,
you were talented, you were valued and you were treasured. iām sorry you didnāt feel that way. please feel at peace now, lay your head down one last time. rest.
you did well.
wait this is what happened? this is so funny
why can't ppl laugh? man live a little they act like korea's war zone anything that happens must be taken so seriously. Like grow up how are ppl gonna react when they start letting these people actually be free and they are seen with models. Will people actually faint?
longpost---- open to find out the truth about asian idols in america
Is it because this ruins the illusion that some tense dating situation was going on. All these people knew and grew up together, behind the scenes they all talk and behave normally kpop idols only act antisocial for the cameras and the fans. The only awkwardness that exists is the kind they make up while they are company slaves. The minute they are free they are like regular people. This is why I always push the Kji is secretly dating an ig model or something because like in people's mind it's impossible but realistically he's gone to so many events and has met so many celebs that people forget he knows.
Sadly the realistic side of the korean entertainment host club industry is ain't nobody wants to see it, even if it's like common sense that's what most dudes are into, doesn't matter.
This is why its so annoying when people keep on with those same company made ships for so long. Like they clearly know other people even though they refuse to say it, they do. Like social media is where celebs play in public, they rarely address anyone if they don't know them in some type of way.
After going to the same events people in the same circle have followed him on instagram. Like it's so funny how people can't put two and two together but can tell you a bunch of scripted company nonsense some poor intern got paid 25 cents an hour to write.
Most personalities, friendships and personal info told by the company about an idol is FAKE. They sign contracts to play characters for the company, many even change their legal names. What they like, their taste, their innocence level it's all scripted. They are real people who have emotions and make emotional connections just like anybody else. Language is a small barrier for humans and it always has been. Just because their english isn't at a native level that does not mean they can't have english speaking friends.
Kji and so many others are apart of so many other circles other than kpop and their groups.
Like celebs have very small private circles once one person is invited in then they get to know everybody else. Fenty offered him a contract forever ago, contacts like that don't just go away. Do people think just cause you don't see him publicly @'ing people that he doesn't use his instagram for other reasons, like be serious people have no idea who he talks to, they just assume he lives in an isolated shy baby doll world and he doesn't.
Kai literally refused for years to start an instagram and staff forced him to do one for promotion and he immediately deleted it. Asap rocky asked him for his insta once, one time! and he was right on it.
Public account. He'd been had a private one tho. And then he talked about it publicly which he did not have to do, but he wanted to.
Jennie alone is bff's with like 5 people that are always with the kardashians and several rappers. They all get invited to events with celebs if they have brand deals s.m just rarely posts it, so it's like it doesn't happen. People also assume they can't speak english and just stand in the corner which in most cases is not true, every korean person learns english in school. If they went to school and graduated they understand at least basic level english.
She is also close friends with Dua Lipa and has been for years. And Dua had Kai rep her collab in 2022
It was an extremely private party and there's only a few photos, of course he didn't post any. That's just how s.m is they will fly someone to an event and there's no evidence of them being their unless the media and fans decide to promote it. They do the bare minimum which is usually nothing.
Back to Jennithea who is usually very busy with her socializing has so many Kdash connections it's insane. Along with various music connections, I would have to make a seperate post.
On top of going to their halloween party a few years ago, like they all know one another outside of just one and done events. Hollywood is very small. What people think super m was doing in hollywood for a week, staring at the wall? Kai was in LA even before that for personal reasons.
Arden Cho even went to one of Exo's last concerts in 2023, but did s.m put that in any social media posts or post a video publicly so it could get attention?
She's apparently a supporter, would probably love to do something to bridge the Korean and American Gap, but no they only wait until a big American label tells them to do something, they don't want to make proper connections or show off any ties to anything western if they can avoid it
Arden is an amazing actress, I can imagine what they could do if they showed more love and support to their Korean American Hollywood community publicly, all the fun things they could accomplish. It could really ease the gap between just feeling like they need to speak english and completely conform to America's standards. Imagine a reality show where they go visit Korea town and meet with community leaders. It's just sad, they are so focused with their fake artificial image they can't grow.
The literal only difference is some tell the truth and others hide is due to marketing, YG leverages appearances with celebs but S.M hides it because it does not fit their persona. When people leave S.m magically they stop caring about the stupid politics which doesn't help them anyway.
They all know other celebs, they talk, they go to parties, they hookup, they breakup etc etc etc. People are so ridiculous thinking the infantile baby thing is real, it's a complete act for most of them. Also most of the kdash clique know justin who's friendly with everybody.
Literally everybody
And Justin's bff knows kpop idols at least one,
and she knows Momo who knows
and wasn't Conan in Korea and literally went to the s.m building and got shown around by Key
Aw, look at Key trying to get Conan into an innocent halfu Japanese boy into a slave contract how sweet!!!
90 percent sure they just took his dna to make more nct clones....
anyway
Like these people be clicked up. It isn't like after the cameras are done rolling they all never see one another again. The padding squad is such a joke, people actually believe those are his only friends it's so sad. That's a company marketing tool to get people to watch their god awful variety and reality shows they made for all of them. Why else where they always on kbs saying omg we don't know anyone else, we only are friends with our group members, company staff and a few tiny bit of people and then we go back in our company boxes until it's time to film the next comeback, like get real.
I make stuff like this cause at first I thought nobody knew, but in reality nobody really wants to talk about it which leads to others who don't research on their own completely lost cause how can they piece old info with new info, plus all the fake stuff that's online.
In conclusion stop being closed minded and stop infantilizing asian people. Good day. In the future if I reference a kpop person and connect them to an american celeb it's much more possible than you think. That's why I was so confused why people talked about Jb like kji would hate him or something.
Like really, "listens to explicit young thug and bryson tiller songs on full blast in public Kim Jongin" would hate bizzle team lightskin for the win Justin Bieber? Are you sure?
They couldn't possibly know one another.....are you sure? Kji and Hailey have been at the same events countless times and had the same sponsorships. The worlds that could never connect before because oh no, kpop idols are too lowly, the worlds are connected. They are compete for and get the same opportunities now.
Hollywood is extremely small as I just showed, and it's not hard to get in touch with instagram. Plus half these people go to the same parties, so I'm really not getting how it's so impossible? Like I'm sorry if a grown man says a year before that he wants to get a meaningful tattoo but is too scared of the pain, then a year later gets temporary tattoo's and puts the same exact tattoo and similar tattoos as another dude he used to look up to, and it's in the same place and he shows it off with pride both onstage and shoves it in the camera after the concert on ig live.
This was after he did a super long live talking about his childhood, and how much he wanted to learn english and visit america.
The sad part is how this is available for people to find, yet instead people would rather pretend you're crazy for mentioning things people would rather not talk about.
Then a couple years later does the same title track on his album as the other dude on the same year months apart. And yes on knowing bro's he said he was very much aware of Justin's song. He even said what month it came out. Like if he is so whatever about him why keep up with the exact month? Then in the behind the scenes for the peaches music video they were playing Stay by Kid Laori and JB. Which was a collab they did later in that 2021.
There's so much there but people so small minded and ignorant. Like the bullying random celebs cause it's fun atm and everyone is dogpiling on them is so lame. Especially if its getting in the way of you making clear as day connections. People so blinded by hate they can't see anything else.
The reason it makes me so mad, isn't cause people don't just buy into some random idea that I had, I didn't want this to be true, it's just I happened to be curious and dig and find that they most likely are friends or in the same circle. Sad how bp fans are supportive of their favorite artists having friends in other non kpop circles but some just bully and laugh at the idea. It's very racist and isolationist and very sad. Imagine how they would feel separating themselves from everyone to keep fans happy. Sadly even more people keep feeding into this idea making it more popular. They are grown people, keeping them from enjoying life and meeting people is only going to make them resent and HATE their jobs, fans and company.
Jb actually is surprisingly very nice, and has lots of friends in and out of america, the only reason I can think why cl or others would be comfortable posting or talking about him but a male idol wouldn't is because of those stupid clauses where they have to always be perfect and around other perfect people. They turn down many collabs for that reason. Exo didn't go to Coachella literally for that reason. If they were caught looking at a model or another artist with heart eyes, their fans would go insane, but not really they would just catch temper tantrums online cause they aren't behaving like a doll.
Anyway I look forward for more of the veil dropping, this separation stuff is so dumb, no grown adults should have to hide knowing one another for fear of scolding. A major wakeup call is needed. They aren't cartoon characters they are flesh and blood. A fan or an artist is not God. They are people. They are equal. They can't tell you what to do and you can't tell them what to do either.
Like if they don't know one another then that's just plain weird I'm sorry.
Why S.M. didn't sabotage EXO... at least not how you think
S.m. did not sabotage Exo. They don't sabotage any of their groups. At least not how people think they do. Sure, from the fans and artists perspectives, I definitely think they may feel like that is the case, but we don't read their contracts. Heck, they probably didn't even read their contracts. Somebody can only screw you over if you let them.
It is possible to bargain and refuse to sign a contract if you don't want to. Multiple artists have left S.M. Entertainment and decided not to renew their contracts, but Exo, 8 members of Exo, did. They decided to stay in a contract locked tight with S.M. to stay in the group Exo.
Many say they had to; they had no choice, but they did. They could have all left together. There is no excuse for why they didn't. Because of the redraft of Korean entertainment laws to combat the exact thing that CBX sued for, the Korean government gave groups like Exo an out.
Which is why I knew they could not win their lawsuit, because it is very clear. It does protect the artists but it also protects the company. If you choose to resign odds are you will not win a lawsuit. The new law is a safety vest. If you throw it away you cannot cry foul.
There are many very helpful videos about this law that exist online. Groups can leave together with all their music and their name, but only if they leave together. Most likely what happened was some wanted to leave and some wanted to stay. It is quite clear who was on those two different sides.
The law is very specific that the thing is with this situation ALL the members must leave together if they want their name and music.
That right there would be, or should be, enough to stop this false claiming of S.M. mistreating Exo. Which, honestly, is kind of comical in 2024, the difference of the meaning of that word. Actual groups are abused by their agencies, and people think a company not making a group as famous as they could be is mistreatment.
It's not. And hey, if it was, and I'll give it to you, maybe that is a crappy thing to do, to block offers and say, Nah, we're not going to make you more famous but...
They could have left; they all had the free will to leave.
Though that would mean no more S.M. promotions, no more S.M. paying for everything, and no more benefits. Do I really have to go to the s.m. website and show you all the benefits they give to their employees? I mean, it's pretty nice. Sadly, we live in a world of comparison. People are desperate to find some comparison between the haves and the have-nots. Maybe if these millionaires aren't getting the highest pay in the company, then they deserve people to rally for them.
It's like a huge victim off--who is the least privileged rich person.
it's giving
But it's not even as simple as that. S.m invests a lot of money into each artist. They made them famous, they built them up, they got them sponsorships and acting jobs, and like it or not, they got them a fandom too. From S.M.'s perspective, they made the group. I mean, fans are shallow, and they want content and fan service, which is valid. I mean, if you like a show, sure you want more seasons, but these are real people. It takes millions to get these guys a reality show, wearing fancy clothes, with makeup artists and a camera crew with a rented-out villa. On top of feeding everyone, staff, managers, producers and stylists.
Meanwhile, some groups have personal YouTube channels just hanging out. Like the comparison is not valid. Like yes, they are so oppressed they have to spend tons of money giving their fans a fancy reality show to watch and heavily scripted and edited YouTube sketches.
S.m truly hates their guts so much they let them rag on them in public and on bubble and still buy them birthday cakes lmao.
I mean, think about that: Who needs all that to hang out with their friends? People bend over backwards to make it seem like S.M. is sabotaging them with no content... like it's not hard to hang out and film it. It's not S.M.'s fault they need a script or be at a concert in order to have chemistry. Kai said himself it took him a long time to get a youtube channel because he had to organize and pay for everything. It's expensive to do what they want to do. Look perfect, have great editing and keep their image fancy.
There are tons of issues in Kpop and s.m ent but complaining about the most pointless things takes validity away from the argument.
"But ...they cancelled youtube red reality show/ they said no to cochella" allegedly..
Do ya'll understand that those are avenue's that can't be controlled. Look at what happened to those poor girls who went to that event and got trashed for weeks. Anything can happen and it's not an asian event. Exo has had bad performances in the past, mess ups, bad notes, if that happened in a crowd full of foreigners who may not even be into kpop; they aren't women who can just laugh it off cause they look like instagram models, that would be humiliating. People are way meaner to men on the internet.
Do I need to bring back the last time S.m and fans tried to push exo performing at a western event, a very traditional group of people opposed it heavily citing it was an american event and began picking the group apart. Gender and race are a huge issue companies are hesistant how they bring a group to the west. They purposely promoted super m differently to prevent a bad reaction from certain groups of people. They wore less makeup, did less overt fanservice and made sure they promoted them more masculine. They always referred to one another as brother. They don't want to put their groups in a bad spot and I don't blame them.
Did people ever think that the group may not of been the best group to perform at that type of event. They have a lot of members and cochella isn't known for focusing on dancing. Some members don't even have lines in most songs, they would just be standing there. They aren't blackpink or 2ne1 with only four members who equally share lines.
I don't remember other large groups crying cause they weren't invited to cochella, because every market is different. Rappers, bands and female performers do better at cochella than dudes and there's nothing wrong with that.
How can 9 people sing equally at a musical event?
"Youtube offered them a show why didn't s.m take it"
With Youtube red...can exo be as authentic as the documentary may require? Can they have a scene with serious or contraversial stuff like hybe is doing and their fans be okay with that? Maybe that wasn't a risk they were willing to take. They have a completely different promotion style than other companies. The fans do not know these people. What if the members had to show their real authentic personalities? Would fans even be interested in that? It could destroy the fourth wall s.m built up for them. Fans would rather ignore issues just like the lawsuit, they plug their ears and cover their eyes, even when it was cbx who tried to call attention to it. They were trying to say they had an issue but fans just wanted more fluffy content and were upset the lawsuit messed it up for them. So could the fandom take a documentary where problematic stuff might be filmed? The fans themselves might of boycotted youtube.
They would of been like:
"How dare they put the boys in a bad light. S.m should have protected them"
The members are known for saying stuff that got them in trouble with foreign american fandoms. What if it caused more trouble than it was worth?
That's how companies have to think.
I understand that there are many things which do need to be talked about concerning exo, s.m and kpop but the reality is that be honest most do not want to have those conversations. How many injuries and people passing out had fans rolling their eyes saying "again?"
or "screw s.m"
what does that do?
People don't even know how to boycott because they are so addicted to their faves being top sellers and milking their achievements. How can people say they don't care when they talk about exo's awards like they earned them themselves. The only award a fan should be proud of is a grammy because there's a council of critics who are unbias not a bunch of crazy fans.
When people let go of their ego then change will happen until then the companies will continue to do whatever they want. Having underage children dancing in a basement learning how to attract fans is an issue. Millionaires getting less money than they thought they could get is not.
I feel like a big huge GIGANTIC maybe even GINORMOUS reason for the eventual and inevitable decline of the average kpop fandom, i.e the exo fandom is the absolute refusal and denial to have serious conversations. When I look at other fandoms some way older, others not even half as profitable as your average boy brand, the only difference that I see with the exo brand vs say a nsync or micheal jackson fandom or maybe even a gravity falls fandom, is conversation. See, whenever you silence the majority of people who actually have something interesting to say, don't be surprised when those that are simply following the wave, just move on to whatever is new and shiny. Supernatural is an old as hell fandom and they still have kept up a large support system, and it's not because they come out with new music every five minutes. It's because the writers, creators and actors listen. The fans communicate, they talk about serious things. Whether it's about the story, plot, an actor just having a baby and them sending well wishes. The average failed fandom is hostile, both inside and out. S.m is hostile towards the artist, the artist are distant towards the fans and the fans are hostile towards one another. You cannot have a different opinion than what the company is directing you to have, you can't disagree with the majority opinion. There's no talking anything out, there's no theorizing, there's no creativity, there's no point to anything. So how can you be surprised kpop fandoms die so completely after about 5-7 years, maybe a few after that. Even me saying will insult people and cause them to be negative. When this is just constructive criticism. Yet, nobody wants any of that in the kpop fandom. This is why once the companies stops promoting or giving major bucks to a group the fandoms die completely. It's not self sustaining. A lot of these fans have a lack of actual passion towards the group. Because what passion can you have for a manufactured product? Fans even insult a hypothetical groups of fans. Getting angry and cursing and throwing out toxicity more than they will say commentary on an album, or give an opinion on a video.
Even when it's something meant to garner talk fans ignore it and would rather get angry at something hypothetic, 'like yeah if anyone says anything negative about this I'll do xyz, screw them, or comment about allegedly seeing something negative written somewhere'
It's exhausting and immature. Nobody wants to be apart of something so negative. I get people want attention and comments, but honestly I don't blame fans for rescinding. Many fans must go to secretive forums to have conversations that would get them mass reported. And guess what? Some fans are still trying to get those forums shut down. You can't give an opinion, you can't talk about the obvious, you can't be happy if someone wants to leave a group and live their own life. You have to stay in this middle school mindset forever or you will get attacked. But then people wonder why people just lurk and don't say anything, or support the group. Nobody wants to support a bunch of lunatics.
People like to talk freely, laugh, make funny videos, people do not want to deal with being judged or mocked for making a joke. So many creators have been bullied into deleting all their work and now the same people who helped get rid of those people are wondering why their work isn't popular like theirs. I remember days when genuinely talented people would make content and it was great, but if they said something TRUE they were bullied.
It's honestly really sad, but I don't really feel bad. This has happened to loads of fandoms. Stop bullying people off the internet for speaking freely.
I'll leave this here as a food for thought.
There's only two exo creators I can name that made a real positive cultural impact with spreading the group to a global audience. Exosexo and madeline. Both were bullied out the kpop fandom spere. Nobody feels any shame for doing so. Despite the fact that many people constantly cry about idol's mental health, but had no cares for if these girls would of hurt themselves due to all the bullying.
I wasn't in the fandom when the two of them were bullied but I'm sure I would of thought the people doing so were pathetic just like I do now.
Once I found out the reason for them bullying exosexo and knowing that now she is doing a great job promoting her new fandom anime, and is really successful at it, it's clear kpop fans lost out.
Her grave sin was saying that all of exo had plastic surgery, to which millions of people called her racist and a liar....
I could insult but what would be the point of that. Stupid wouldn't even be the word. Most have said outwardly or implied that they've gotten it; or maybe the fact that you can see some of their surgery scars might be enough, but when you worship another human as a grown adult of course your brain has to be for decoration.
Even if she was dead wrong, how is that racist? It's not people just use whatever they can to make others shut up. Even trying to get journalists fired if they don't butter up whatever kpop idol they are talking about. As long as you act like a petulant child of course your average listener is going to dip and ignore and block any kpop content they see. In the end that poor behavior will only hurt the industry you are trying to support.
How long have you been on Tumblr? Any fandom not just Exo. About seven year-ish on and off
What is your take on fan created works on Tumblr and interacting with them? To be honest a lot of it is lacking or very agenda based. I don't critique because people on tumblr are over-emotional about their art. You can say you like it but if you don't 'love it' they say why even comment, so I don't.
Do you have a process for what goes on your blog? How do you find most of the posts you reblog? Through the dash? Through the tags? I don't have a process I just like stuff, art and words that is positive uplifting and not inappropriate. I don't ship so that leaves a lot of fandom stuff off limits. I don't like sexualizing people on my blog or in general, whether they are celebs or not. People on here and social media lowkey do too much with that. So I just don't reblog, or support most of it. Over time it's also hard to get people to understand the difference between fandom stories and believing 'ships' are real.
Do you spend time on other platforms? Have you in the past?Twitter and other forums, vine back in the day. Youtube was a big one but now there are too many people just saying what they think fans want to hear. Not much authenticity.
How do you interact with fan creations on these other platforms? Do you like comment or share? Do you re-tweet? Etc. I may comment if the people don't seem hostile. K fandoms act like they have no sense. If you don't love something or if you God forbid try to critique or discuss something, you may accidentally start a war. So I might like something, but I try not to engage too much.
When was the last fic of any length (drabble and blurbs and headcanons/reactions included) you read? Last time you saw fanart (including edits and moodboards and graphics) you enjoyed? The last fic I read was a hyperionova one called fatal miscalculations. It's pretty old and one of the rare ones I may reread from time to time. I almost never see fanart or fan creations I like, but to be fair I don't look for them. Maybe the cute little cartoons on twitter that spread around.
Did you reblog it? No. I do not want much fandom stuff on any of my profiles. Years ago I wouldn't mind it, but now I like a balance, with kpop being barely on my page. Because then people expect you to have certain opinions or lack therefore of. I don't like that. People might see certain fandom material on your blog and talk to you a certain way, kpop fans are extremely disrespectful in general. And it's a hive mind mentality. I don't want to attract that.
If you didn't leave commentary was there a reason? Do you feel like you start to repeat yourself when commenting? Do you think there's nothing to say? Were you following the adage if you cant say something nice dont say anything at all? Other reasons? I don't comment because it's like you can only give a specific rehearsed answer therefore I don't see a point. In the past it was possible to interact online with others and have fun individual conversations. Now people are hostile. If you don't say exactly what they want to hear, they will be mean or insult you, or say why even comment. So I avoid this by not commenting at all.
If no you did not reblog why? Is there a specific reason? Did you not like it and not want to say? Does it not fit your blog? Was it not a length or level of skill you felt warranted a reblog? Have your friends already seen it? Do you only post your own creations? Other reasons? I don't reblog, firstly because a lot of the art that I see isn't my style. I appreciate it and I like it, but it's not something I'd commission for. I do reblog things that fit my style, but most fandom stuff does not.
I Have a (few) question(s) for Exol.
I'm genuinely curious as to the answers, so if you see this could you please do me the favour of signal boosting this so it reaches more people?
I see posts circulating now and again about lack of interaction on fandom creation posts. No one reblogs. No one comments. But I never see anyone asking why. Is it simply a matter of being in the middle of an etiquette shift? Is it crossplanted members of social media communities having different social norms? Has the way people use Tumblr shifted? Speculation only goes so far so to better understand what I'd like to know is the following:
How long have you been on Tumblr? Any fandom not just Exo.
What is your take on fan created works on Tumblr and interacting with them?
Do you have a process for what goes on your blog? How do you find most of the posts you reblog? Through the dash? Through the tags?
Do you spend time on other platforms? Have you in the past?
How do you interact with fan creations on these other platforms? Do you like comment or share? Do you re-tweet? Etc.
When was the last fic of any length (drabble and blurbs and headcanons/reactions included) you read? Last time you saw fanart (including edits and moodboards and graphics) you enjoyed?
Did you reblog it?
If yes you did reblog did you say anything about it? Simple or otherwise? Leave a gif underneath that expressed how you felt? Put a comment in the tags? Left an emoji? Etc.
If you didn't leave commentary was there a reason? Do you feel like you start to repeat yourself when commenting? Do you think there's nothing to say? Were you following the adage if you cant say something nice dont say anything at all? Other reasons?
If no you did not reblog why? Is there a specific reason? Did you not like it and not want to say? Does it not fit your blog? Was it not a length or level of skill you felt warranted a reblog? Have your friends already seen it? Do you only post your own creations? Other reasons?
For our fan creators I have an extra question. Do you reply to your comments? Even if they're in the tags?
If no is there a reason?
Please take a moment and share your answers cause I'm trying to understand where things shifted from what they were before to now.
my personal experience on this.
I genuinely wanted to hear exols out cause whenever I said that "exo wasn't known for their singing", which they aren't, somebody said that they were and basically like I was trippin. So cause I'm fair and it's been forever since I listened to kpop for real. I listened to a compilation of literally every best Exo vocalist in their prime, listened to the opinion of professionals and got a good unbiased view then to compare. Then, I looked up the vocals of your average run of the mill pop star in america to get a view of our standards-- then I watched a Exo's main vocalists best moments video at random, like I just picked something fans gave a lot of views and the comments were good...
I burst out laughing so bad, I had to take a break. I could literally tell that they were stretching their voices way beyond capacity, in their average range of course they are decent but not in any way known for their voices, I even checked periodically to see if a video of great merit was out there. It's about just as good as anyone who calls themself a singer should be. So moral of the story just trust your first mind. American singers who are lazy, have better vocal technique in their sleep, but I suppose compared to those who literally can't sing at all they are god tier in korea, but definitely not all of asia though, and most definitely not enough to be compared with other artists who are known worldwide for their singing that still sticks with me.
I even heard they make the poor trainee's hold their breath and all sorts of weird stuff to make them talented. Apparently they all do it and it's an sm thing. To me it doesn't really help much, they also train them in a sort of opera style to help project their voices but that doesn't mean you can go higher, you have to start extremely young and train in a very specific way to properly pull that true opera voice off. They need to leave that to the italians because it's not clicking like that for them. It's extremely nasal and clogged, and I can never hear any true bass in the voices. They leave that to the rappers who can't really go too much higher. Anyway definition of overexposed, fandoms are just cults that demand devout loyalty people truly can't decipher true from fake.
"I stan real singers" *checks video* are you fucking with me
kpop doesn't deserve him. The lack of promotion is scandalous seriously. He got a genuine hit with basically no budget, and it kept growing after the promotion cycle. Personally I think the audience is partially to blame. Companies think the worst of attention spans because it's been proven people are fighting with goldfish to see who's memory lasts longer. People are barely winning. Personally rover wasn't my cup of tea, but aside from that I see no reason why it wasn't taken further. The obsession fans have with a full group comeback is nonsense. If he would of been given more time to work on his own album and not have to do a total rush job in order to make time for an album that quite frankly couldn't make numbers or bring in any new fans is ridiculous. The artistic direction Jongin goes in works for the times we are in. In an era where even the president of big hit admits kpop is declining fans still are stubborn and swear it's not true. J's a model, an influencer and could potentially be an international socialite. As laughable as that sounds to most fans who pay no attention to the outside world and only care for korean standards, it's true. He has an will always have great potential. Whether people want to accept that or not, he does. But squandering it for meager things like exo fancams going viral and having your faves together to me is a mistake. I believe he made it clear a while back he wants to do his own thing. I believe s.m will let exo go over their dead bodies. They will never give the group name and music away. Especially after so many artists are trying to leave. There is so much more to the story than people know.
KAI : Bomba Dance Practice
I saw this coming ten billion miles away without glasses on
people always act like analytical people be doing to much...when the reality is this world is not peaches and cream. When money is involved people get evil. I said something fishy was going on first sm trying to sell to the highest bidder before the new years even roll in. They barely promoted any of their artists latest projects, no decent interviews nothing, they are mainly focused on touring nct, pushing this huge exo comeback that they clearly didnāt even think about cause if they were smart they would have done it last year not in the middle of the year when two members could have been called to the military at any time. This company weird and I hope all the papa lee clowns understand these kpop companies/ent companies/companies period donāt care about nobody a whole baby products company was selling stuff they knew had asbestos in it to new parents for decades.
Ā S.m ent in paticular has always given me slimy gross creepy vibes simply because of how they treated certain people, no way you could treat people like garbage ignore mental health, physical health and allow kids to sign their lives away knowing you not even going to recommend them to a doctor after youāre threw with them thatās evil. Itās sad fans only see it when itās right in front of their eyes or their idols themselves are explaining openly that they fell victim to a companyās evil. Itās not just the company itās the fans as well they have made a bad situation even worse with their dehumanizing kpop idols treating them like parasocial barbie dolls, this aināt life sized
but itās slowly becoming that I swear if yall could by a synthetic robot clone of these idols for the right price yall probably would.
Like something should ping when itās socially acceptable for someone to have to apologize for having a baby and a wife. Iām sorry I donāt even have time to go into it but the yaoi boyband fanservice industry
(SMAP 1980s actual babies when they came up in the industry)
Ā pioneered by creepozoid 9000 Johnny Kitagawa
Should have never prospered the way it did. For some reason Japan kind of kept it going but there was a gradual cultural acceptance of hey maybe if these boys who never got to have a childhood want to one day get married and have a family or a lover..who cares(for the most part they arenāt perfect but they are wayyy better than they used to be).Ā The idea is basically āAs long as they keep performing and giving the fans what they love we will accept itā
Because I think in kpop the first thing you see is this the ready to be consumed and sexualized by the public product
For many groups despite childhood photos and a few pictures showing that these idols that to the young fans at the time are soo mature...actually arenāt.
Ā Even early 20s 19/18 although legal in most places is scary young to be accessible to the public as a hot or sexy idol. Iāll never forget that interview where kai and baekyun were like legal but still very young and an interviewer asked them if they watched p*rn they were shocked but played along. Now and days when kids first get off of disney people usually take it easy on them and ask light questions the fact that it was considered socially acceptable for the public to have access to such private and personal information of two young men by a grown ass adult can only be understood that they werenāt just young guys they were idols, it was just the begining of what would eventually become necessary. They may not have been forced to talk about personal details but they would later be expected to be sex objects.
Of course grown artists can be mature and make mature content but I think the problem comes in with the fact that the members, although fans knew them as traineeās, they knew them and their idol personaās as traineeās. Very few fans probably saw them as what they were just young kids, well trained young kids but at the end of the day even in my early 20s, kids fresh out of highschool to me may as well be middle schoolers but they were seen as more than that. Immediately every member of exo became free fandom real estate. Millions of tweets, fanfics, tumblr post, youtube reactions etc they had no control over.
Iām not blaming the fans many were super young themselves probably younger than the members in the group Iām just saying when you look back this situation was not a good one. They never had a chance.
I think not being able to date openly, or have kids or express themselves like normal people their age definitely took a toll. The company is at fault but the fans are basically their captors, the company is selling but the fans are buying. They had to be the perfect products.
Honestly the ideal of a boyband is really a boybrand.Ā
The goal for any dude in a boyband is to get out of it...obviously.
Ā But in kpop itās like the fans never ever want that to happen(unless they have a dating scandal) even if they werenāt being treated right// in reality they want to go home to their families//which is normal. People act like the fact that idols are so busy they barely see their families is no big deal//its a very big deal. They are missing out on milestones, birthdays, family reunions, they loose family members. Like thatās crazy that doesnāt really register to fans.Ā
At the end of the day fans are like the actual bosses of celebs everybody is fake nice to their boss. Thatās why itās so important to above all care about the art first, like the persona and respect the person underneath or else you will get your feelings hurt. Itās a sticky situation, yes they want their job but they also want..more than privacy..itās not just about oh yes Iām a good fan I respect their privacy. Who wants to hide a relationship or their child or their spouse for goodness sakes itās sick. Itās reminding me of the capital..seriously all kpop fans should watch the hunger games catching fire. The tributes constantly performing for the crowd the audience who want to see them with specific people
cheering for the secret lovers not understanding they were in reality fighting for their lives. Sadly trauma bonding made some of them actually seek companionship with one another cause what other choice do they have/ but they literally had to fake a relationship or have pretend none at all if they were heavily desired. Cause the viewers want specific tributes to be together even though literally they were all suffering despite looking amazing.
Ā Seriously itās so similar to ent industry stuff going on all over the world itās crazy.
I just feel like people only get woken up out of the illusion that any of this glitter is in fact not gold when its their group that is having issues.Ā