Wanna Get To Know Me

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Hugs, kisses, K-pop and queer.

The Future is Idol – L

BOOM BOOM BOOM like it like it – a 4MINUTE fanbash in Stockholm

Stockholm, Sunday 25th of May 2014, election day for the European parliament amongst other.

Steaming summer outside and steaming anticipation inside the concert venue (and an increasingly hot humidity due to broken A/C). We, a group of ten friends that met up at my place a couple of hours earlier to have some drinks, listen to music and watch MVs to get in the right mode (4MINUTE-mode), were finally there.

It was a rather surreal feeling riding the Stockholm Metro, to get off and walk down the sloping street towards the concert venue in a city so familiar, towards something not so familiar in Stockholm at all. To stand in line for K-pop in Seoul or Paris I have done. But this is Stockholm, not such a usual thing…

We were kind of late but so was the show as well. The line moved quickly and suddenly we were inside. I have been to this place many times before, for clubs and concerts. To be here now with the agenda to see one of my favourite K-pop acts felt kinda strange. As me and my friends made way through the packed, hot concert hall to find the best spot in front of the stage I could still not actually understand what we were about to experience. Not until the lights were turned off and the music, a remix version of Whats Your Name, blasted through us all I started realizing that 4MINUTE was actually about to perform in Stockholm that evening. This is the remix versions they performed:

I didn’t want to have any expectations at all for this event. Also, I have not been that in to K-pop at all lately. My interest have been fading as I have gotten other things to think about and the K-pop scene of lately has felt a little bit… blank. The outlook of getting really disappointed by this historical event hung over me as a dark cloud many weeks in advance.

There was absolutely no reason for worry though.

They gave it all.

After a similar showcase in Barelona a couple of nights earlier, the five members of 4MINUTE entered the stage looking super-relaxed and like they really enjoyed it.  It was an instant atmosphere of party that lasted through out the evening. There is of course a reason for this being one of my favourite groups. They are super cool and could pass for hard as stone. Cute is not what primarily sells them and sometimes they almost have an angry feel to their music. But with no language in common with the audience, the group made their best efforts communicating anyways and they felt really warm. Som lines and words in English, an interpreter on stage during the breaks and a few words in Swedish (Sohyun made the crowd go crazy as she shouted TJENA! (hi!) over and over again). It felt like these five women were quite moved with the responses they got from Stockholm. The constant sing alongs, roars and atmosphere that came from of a crowd consisting of women and men in different ages from not only Sweden but actually from all over Europe could not be mistaken for anything else but love. As the members asked if there were people from other countries than Sweden present they got Norway, Finland, Denmark, Poland and Germany and more as reply. It then felt like they might have been able to fill one or two shows more in Europe somewhere, not just Barcelona and Stockholm.

As earlier said, all five of the members put on an excellent show but actually Hyuna stood out a bit with her super-energy and focus, together with Sohyun who was extremly happy and shouted words in English and Swedish over and over again as she constantly interacted with the audience. Performing hits like Muzik, Mirror Mirror, Change, Huh and Hot Issue it sometimes felt like the floor would collapse due to the jumping crowd. Next to me during the concert stood a guy in my age (3o-ish) and looked absolutley mesmerized most of the time. Like it was the best day of his life. And I was there with him. Not strange at all those feelings and reactions, but quite logic. The group handed out water bottles, flirted, threw glow in the dark braclets far out in the audience and answered questions. The temperature was constantly rising (didn’t care at all about this though and I don’t think anyone else did either) at the venue and after repeatingly explaining how hot it was the members eventually started pouring water on each other and on the crowd. It felt like there were no boundaries for what would be allowed, and that is quite a refreshing feeling comming from a South Korean girl group, as you always expect everything around to be very restrained.

4MINUTE performed most of their hits and single releases. Here’s the set-list from the showcase (updated version AND please comment if more corrections should be done)

Whats Your Name (DJ remix ver.)

Watcha Doin Today

Muzik

Mirror Mirror

Wanna Get To Know Me

Change

24/7

Huh

Pretend

I’m OK

Come In

I’ll Teach You

Wait a Minute

Is It Poppin’ (remix)

I Love It + DJ remix

Heart To Heart

Hot Issue

What’s Your Name

As you see, there was no Volume Up nor any I My Me Mine in the set-list and that was of course a bit disappointing, but on the other hand I wanted them to go on for another hour… Although they sang a piece of it acapella during their chat with the audience.

I was anticipating the worst for this evening, just in case. But ended up happier then I thought possible. Clearly, this group is no joke. Talented, charismatic, sweet and extremely cool.

So was it all perfect? Well nothing is and there could have been better light on stage, the stage could have been bigger and sometimes the group and stage gave a messy feeling and the coreography did not present itslef perfectly during parts of the concert. But added up these are just small things in comparison.

And yes of course I bought a lightstick. Expensive but what the hell, fuckin 4MINUTE doesn’t come to Sweden every day. People might have stared at the sweaty me during the Metro-ride home and I wanted to tell them all about the brilliant evening I just had. No one asked though, so I sat there. Silent but happy.

Such awesome, and as I have written before, epic on the scale like seeing Patti Smith or Morrissey for the first time.

 

The Future is Idol – L

 

Huge thanks to Julyssa at Kpop Nonstop for the arranged concert and sending me the set-list.

4MINUTE in Stockholm

I guess they are already here by now. On of the coolest K-pop groups, here in my city. 4MINUTE In Stockholm.

They were never my favourite group, but from the beginning of my K-pop fandom, I kind of trusted them to deliver something good, briliant and hilarious with every relase. Quality-cool K-pop-not ever to be ashamed of. The latest release was absolutely briliant, toilet-queer-sassy-Mv and all:

And their 2013 release, ‘이름이 뭐예요? is one of my most played K-pop tracks ever.

The 4MINUTE showcase will take place tomorrow Sunday 25 of May at Debaser Medis concert venue at Medborgarplatsen, Södermalm Stockholm. and is arranged by Kpop Nonstop.

This is seriously one of the coolest things happening in years to tell you the truth. And yes I compare this with epic concert moments like seeing Patti Smith and Morrissey for the first time. Who would have guessed back in 2009 that this would happen?

Me and my friends will meet up at my place(after voting in the European Parliament elections to make the world better and shutting racists out of the parliament),listen to music , watch MVs and have a drink to get in the right mode early Sunday afternoon. And I made a YouTube playlist with 4MINUTE as a preparation for TOMORROW.

So happy, so cool.

The Future is Idol – Lars

 

Happy Birthday to a friend on the other side of the world

It’s the birthday of one of my best friends. She was one of the first to introduce me to K-pop and for that I’m forever grateful. One day, now quite a few years ago, she posted a recently released MV on my Facebook wall, and I fell madly and deeply in love with it, the group in it and a lot of other things within the K-pop scene/world. This is the epic MV:

Since then we have experienced so much together, connected both to K-pop and to life in general. She is one of the smartest and coolest people I know. She is at the moment a resident in Seoul so I can’t be with her for this day of celebration. Elin, here’s another epic oldie for you:

Happy birthday and I love you! This changed everything.

The Future is Idol – Lars

ALIVE

Yes we are.

And we love you all (and K-pop)

The Future is Idol

End of the year, K-pop 2012. Key of The Year

There is no idol that catches my attention like this man does, Key. Even when there is not room in my head for updates about him I still think about him, appriciative and concerned. I do not love everything he does and most of the time I’m actually a bit scared for what might come next. It’s like a love with little trust. I know he is a great singer and dancer but those are just the basics. But, many of the things that he does are awesome and I probably like him because he is so far from perfect in many situations. He is awkward and sometimes not so nice in a way that reminds me a bit of myself. On the other hand he is the most beautiful human being on the planet and his sense of fashion is always interesting and most of the time amazing.

I have some favourite moments from 2012 with Key, the picture above for instance from his and Minhos Cosmopolitan photo shoot in April 2012. In general, 2012 was a great year when it comes to photos of Key. His solo photo shoot for Dazed & Confused is  my third place of the top three Key moments from 2012:

Exo, another SME-idol group made their debut in 2012 and Key was, as done before, used as a rapper on the track Two Moons. Key is not the most brilliant rapper in the world, but he is certainly not the worst either. He knows enough english and have a really good voice. I wonder who wrote his rap part though, the lyrics are a big LOL. This is my second favourite of Key moments from 2012, Keys part starts at 2:08:

The Key moment of the year placing first is the epic solo performance by Key at the Japanese concert tour from 2012. He has been performing a lot of great and funny tracks before as his solos, like Tik Tok by Kesha and Take a Bow by Rihanna. This time he took two tracks from the pop star he probably adore and love more then anyone else, Lady Gaga:

This performance is such a milestone. It created a happy roar through out the world of fangirls and fanboys. Like if all the pieces were finally put together correctly. Lady Gagas constant talk about everyones right to be allowed to be who ever they choose and the lyrics talk about freedom and rather queer attitude brings Key out to his very best as a peformer, idol and concept. I would prefer his versions to the original any time.

But what is he singing: wear an ear condom next time, or: wear your condom next time?

The Future is Idol -L

End of the year, K-pop 2012. Live Performance.

The meaning of the term Live Performance should be understood for what it is. A live performance of course does not have to be something you have experienced live, but rather a recording of a live performance seen on YouTube. For most of the international K-pop fanbase it has up until quite recently been impossible (or almost, depending on if you have the guts or/and the money to travel to South Korea) to see your idols live. But as YouTube and internet have been exploding over the last few years, the South Korean music industry is not that far away, even if you live in the other side of the globe. Where I want to get with this is that this moment, live performance of 2012 just as well could have been something seen on YouTube, not experienced by me irl. It could have been something like this, Key of SHINee doing Lady Gaga songs Hair and Judas as his solo performances in Japan. One of the most epic live performances in every category 2012.

On the other hand, these last few years, perhaps the last two years, K-pop and Hallyu have spread enormously and now it’s not completely unusual for K-pop groups to actually hold concerts in Europe. And if they do come to Europe, Paris seems to be a popular goal, and so, that is were Super Junior held their European Super Show 4 concert.

I went to Paris with my friend Johanna, Paris is less then a two hour flight away from Stockholm so the journey itself is not that big a deal. We lived at a hostel very close to the concert arena and the weekend was a complete success with Super Show as the highlight of course. I remember how we were walking in the park area surrounding the arena the hours before the concert started and watching other fans as they were watching us while gathering to enter the arena. That evening, to see almost all of them so very close performing all of my favourite songs and running around the arena like the crazy people they are, I will never forget that evening.

Super Junior was the reason I got in to K-pop from the beginning and since then, the thought of once seeing them perform live have been present in my mind. While writing this evening I had to search the blog a bit and I ended up reading the posts I wrote about Paris and is still watching clips from Super Show and suddenly a few tears started dripping. So many emotions conserved from back then and from this years, for ever greatful for Johanna for going there with me that time. Thank you Johanna.

This was truly an epic moment in my fandom, more important then the music shows I saw while visiting Elin and Johanna in Seoul in the summer of 2011, even if that also was a dream coming true.

Live Performance of 2012 is Super Junior, Super Show 4 in Paris.

Check out the previous End of the year, K-pop 2012, The List. 80 tracks from 2012 that you have to have heard. All K-pop of course.

The Future is Idol – L

Herrejävlar DBSK

THEY ARE BACK!!! Such an awesomely great song and MV!!!

My heart melts for DBSK for the first time in years.

The Future is Idol

Listen to our friends on the radio!

Tonight there was a K-pop special at Swedish national radio. Our friends at Dancing On Our Own were the experts. They really did a great job and I’m so happy and proud to hear them and many of my favourite K-pop tracks on Swedish radio.

Press here to listen.

LOVE from

/The Future is Idol

Key, Dazzling Girl

This awesome man. ♥ SHINee Japanese comeback Dazzling Girl on October 10th.

/The Future is Idol