K-pop Queer

Just a reminder of the ambigous queer stuf out there.

More to come

The Future is Idol – L

Dual Life

It’s impossible to miss out on the sex, she stole the beginning of the MV from Madonna, the kitchen dance scene coreography is completely lol and random, and the track is amazing. Out of the blue comes Dual Life with long lost love Kim Sori.

Best release of 2013 so far?

So awesome

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.Top three Search Engine Terms

The Top Three among search engine terms to find our blog has been interesting indeed. Summarizing 2012, and all top three being favourite topics of mine. As follows:

1. Super Junior

2. Seo In Guk plastic surgery

3. SHINee Key gay

We might post the complete search engine term list later on, with comments.

Check out our other End of the year, K-pop 2012 summaries by pressing here: The List, Live Performance and Things that should not be forgotten/Queer of the year.

The Future is Idol – L

End of the year, K-pop 2012. Things that should not be forgotten/ Queer of the year

The writers of this blog are unsure of many things in life, but the term queer is embraced by them. The right to not choose side, when it comes to love, gender or how you want to live your life, of this human right we are very sure.

The subject of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual) in connection to K-pop is not an easy one to write about. Or rather, it is easy if you turn to fanfic and fanservice and that is of course ever so important. But, there are no real life homosexuals in K-pop. That’s just a matter of a fact. None that we really know of that is. But since at least every tenth person on the planet is estimated to be gay and even more to be bisexual WE KNOW THAT THEY ARE OUT THERE. South Korea is not a very allowing society, when it comes to these questions, and have not been for a very long time even if it perhaps is on it’s way of changing. Almost every K-drama have a gay character or at least a really queer twist to the story. Answer me 1997 was the huge hit of the year with one of it’s main characters being a gay man and his lovelife being described in a very interesting and rather respectful way.

When is comes to the idols I still do not understand what would happen if one would be openly gay. It’s impossible for me to understand how South Korea and the idol industry works and how it would be dealt with. A complete disaster or ok?  Probably the first.

So what do you do meanwhile? You just keep looking. Some idols are known for having a very queer persona, breaking the traditional roles of men and women, Amber of f(x)(in the picture above) being one and Key of SHINee another. Jo Kwon the leader of 2AM is also one of these people, famous for his queer persona. He had his solo debut the summer of 2012 with I’m Da One a not so fun track that I cared little about. BUT included in the promotions of I’m Da One he also performed a track named Animal, and this is a completely different story. There is no music video, but most of the live performances from tv shows are of course in HD so the feeling is quite the same. He is an incredible dancer, and the background dancers likewise. He is dressed in an androgynous outfit covered with feathers and he is dancing in killer-heels. Man or woman? No one should or did care the least and this is rather amazing. Very queer indeed. The performance was shown on prime time tv, but I feel that it did not get the recognition or space it deserves.

Jo Kwon and his Animal is a K-pop moment from 2012 that I believe should not be forgotten and is also my awesome queer of the year.

Don’t forget to check out our other and previous End of the year, K-pop 2012 summarizing articles.

The Future is Idol – L

End of the year, K-pop 2012. The List

I have been away. In thought and body caught up with the life outside. The writing and the blog left behind with many other things. Listening and fanboying constantly though. As the year is coming to a close I want to share some thoughts of the crazy K-pop year 2012 and see it as a return to writing about the love of my life. K-pop. I won’t make a list of the best tracks of the year because I don’t work that way. (can’t decide etc.) But as a first post I want to share what was listened to and then for a couple of days I will try to give you some hints of what I really liked in K-pop during 2012.

I spent last weekend and also a few hours almost every day this week working on a list of tracks I like or atleast listened to and were released in 2012. It’s a messy compilation of genres, old groups and new ones, some expected, some not so, not all of them are brilliant but of course worth listening to a second time. NOT EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED. This equals K-pop as the love affair it is.

So, here is K-pop 2012, 80 tracks, not in any other specific order then how I put them in my Itunes library to make a nice mix. At the bottom of the post there’s a link to the list on YouTube.

The tracks from 2012 that you have to hear.

Only One – BoA

Imma New Thang(Intro) – U-Kiss

What Is Love(Korean Version) – Exo-K

Sexy, Free & Single – Super Junior

Catch Me – TVXQ/DBSK

Note – SHINee

Time To Go – U-Kiss

I Don’t Need a Man – Miss A

Machine – Exo-K

Have/Don’t Have – Dal Shabet

Style – Rania

We Are a Bit Different – EvoL

Bubble Bath – Orange Caramel

Nu, Establish, Style, Tempo –  Nu’est

Face – Nu’est

Be Ma Girl – Teen Top

Crayon – G-Dragon

Oh! My God – Girls Day

Know Your Name (feat Dok2) – Jay Park

Sherlock – SHINee

Like This – Wonder Girls

MAMA – Exo-K

Dripping Tears – Son Dam Bi

Anymore – Seo In Young

Clue -SHINee

Time’s Up – Miss A

Shine – Kim Sunggyu

Lipstick – Orange Caramel

Stop Girl – U-Kiss

Animal – Jo Kwon

I love You – 2NE1

Baby Good Night – B1A4

Beautiful – Park Jung Min

History – Exo-K

Electric Shock – f(x)

Emergency Call – Son Dam Bi

One Of a Kind –  G-Dragon

NalinA – Block B

To You – Teen Top

Two Moons – Exo-K

Love Is Energy – Chi Chi

Lol – Block B

Up and Down (feat Dok2) – Jay Park

Hypnotize – Andamiro

걸어 본다 (Tried To Walk) – B1A4

Volume Up – Miss A

Rock Ur Body – VIXX

Let’s Dance – Seo In Young

Get Your Swag On – Tony & Smash

You Know Me –  Tasty

Fantastic Baby – BigBang

Touch – Miss A

SPY – Super Junior

Musiche – Crayzyno

Sexy Love  T-ara

Like Money (feat Akon) -Wonder Girls

Doradora – U-Kiss

Bad Boy – 100%

Bloom – Ga In

Nillili Mambo – Block B

Tarantallegra – Xiah Junsu

Flashback – After School

Bad Boy – Big Bang

The Chaser – Infinite

I Love You (feat Dynamic Duo) – Jay Park

Fire It Up – Dal Shabet

In The Air – B1A4

Te Amo – B1A4

Stranger – SHINee

Clap (feat Tiger JK & Yoon Mi Rae) – Jay Park

Ice Cream – Hyuna Kim

Maxstep – Younique Unit

Humanoids – TVXQ/DBSK

Love Style – Boyfriend

Baby i’m Sorry – B1A4

Wasted (feat Bizzy) – Jay Park

Day By Day – T-ara

The Shadow – BoA

Party(XXO) – GLAM

Get On The Floor – 4minute

That’s it!

If you want to LISTEN to the tracks, press here to get to our YouTube channel.

The Future is Idol – L

What truly matters

Kpop has given me a lot of things. It has helped me through recovery from eating disorders. It has given me new, awesome friends. It has provided me with role-models when I have needed to push myself through heavy workloads in school. It has given me incentives to learn not one, but two new languages. It has given me friends all over the world and made me travel far away on my own in a way that I could never previously have imagined. All in all, it has given me a more beautiful outer world. But that is not why I’m in it.

Let me explain.

A common way of defending young nerds’ interest in low-status hobbies is saying that it will lead to something with higher status. Computer games will improve your English and problem solving skills. Manga will let you know “Asia”, which appearantly is the World of the Future. Vampires will give you a sense of community, although this might also be seen as something destructive. Technology will eventuelly make you rich – just look at Bill Gates!

I guess all of this might seem the only way to defend these things against sceptical parents and teachers and classmates, and to encourage children who are ashamed of liking them and feel that they should spend more time on sports, gossiping, or whatever is considered more appropriate for their gender and age. But even so, it is beside the point.

As for me, the indirect effects of kpop are doubtlessly nice to think about when I spend yet another evening doing seemingly pointless things. Scrolling through Tumblr instead of studying. Reading kceleb gossip instead of going out with friends. Missing Girls or whatever show that apparantly is currently what you’re supposed to watch because I’m busy watching kdrama. Especially as I haven’t had a real relationship in years, as that seems to be the true stamp of approval from Life Agency.

But seriously, that is not what matters.  I have said this before, but I’ll say it again – if not else but because I have to remind myself of this every day. The true value is no language skill, no networking, no cross-cultural know-how or future work prospects. The true value cannot be described with terms as achievements or benefits. The point of it all is how it feels. It is about being instantly cheered up from playing that certain song and imagining the awesome video. It is, also, about losing breath and crumbling to pieces over an animated gif. About the excitement of finding the fancam for a performance you have been jealous of. About giving the pillow a beating to let out your embarressment. About getting all giggly just thinking about a certain idol. About the feeling of intense interest talking about them. About crying. It is about worries and joy and love. The other stuff is just there for us to point out when we are questioned.

/Mis

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

While watching

I just got back to Stockholm after the weekend at my parents up north. I discovered that my improved playlist “the best of Super Junior” lasts more then the train ride (two and a half hours) and that while picking mushrooms out in the wilderness I randomly think a lot about Key and also, surprise surprise about Hoya…

Now I’m back home, Sunday evening, the kitchen table filled with mushrooms (picture) to clean. While doing so I’m going to watch another episode of Reply 1997. ♥

/The Future is Idol

SHINee Key gay

is a high-rated search term at our blog. Maybe he is, maybe he is not. Apparently though, there is an entire world out there lying awake at night thinking about this mans personal preferences. Sometimes it pisses me off that everyone cares so much about this. But I do to and from time to time I desperately want someone to tell me the truth.

And I guess people think he is gay since there are all of these things. Since he was named the diva of the group, since he is into clothes, cares about his appearence and have solo preformances singing Kesha without changing lyrics to address a female counterpart. He also appears to be in love with Lady Gaga. These are also the evidence of my own narrow thoughts.

There are so many ideas about how you should be as a gay person. Key fits into many of those ideas and clichés, but does that make it true facts?

People are in general obsessed with these things and thats why they keep wondering.  It is not this simple in real life though and there really are no exact rules for sexual orientation or ways of being as a person.

Key is hopefully the best bisexual idol there is, or the most gay there is, or even better the most awesome straight idol you could find. I don’t think it ever would matter to me if I really knew (and would be disappointed to hear he is straight) and I love him for all of this.

The subtitles in pink towards the end of the track below are Keys rapping parts. Worth waiting for since he really owns this track with his mindblowingly awesomeness.

bi-dols ftw.

/The Future is Idol