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

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

Sunday Evening Angst

I am going back to work tomorrow after a rather long vacation and the feeling is perhaps not the greatest. When you are gloomy as I have been for parts of this evening and the Sunday angst is spreading, it happens week after week for me, you can always have a chat with a friend and listen to your favourite tracks and get some strength back out of it. Thats what I did.

The Future is Idol  – L

 

 

Alexander and a new year.

My 2013 is starting off a little bit shaky. Probably still not gotten everything back to place after the new years celebration or from the last semester as I’m constantly tired and thirsty. But I have a feeling that not only this week but also the up coming months will be a bit shaky, with school, work and my personal life…

Alexander Lee Eusebio created his own YouTube channel! He is just saying hello in his first videomessage and I’m not sure but I think he has also had his part of shaky months in his life… It is hard to tell if the video message is something to be happy or sad over, I’m constantly changing my mind regarding this. He looks small and grown upp at the same time.

What will happen next?

The Future is Idol- L

End of the year, K-pop 2012. My Guilty Pleasure

SS501 was one of the first K-pop groups I got to know about a couple of years ago. Though the styling, plastic surgery (the evolution of their faces is worthy a blog of it’s own) and choice of songs have been highly questionable within this group I still really like them and they released a couple of amazing and funny tracks through their active days. They are almost old school by now and it seems like ages ago they went on to different companies.

Park(Pak) Jung Min is the one member of SS501 I have spent most time thinking about through the years. This is a result of a friend giving me a Taiwanese pop magazine a couple of years ago with a lot of pictures of SS501, the reason it was so intriguing was that Jung Mins pervious and terrible nose job had been slightly corrected and he looked more like a human being then like Michael Jackson. That is, his nose grew a size for their comeback. The entire group had rather bizarre facial plastic through the years but Jung Mins nose was the biggest catastrophy of them all. It’s been fascinating watching Jung Mins nose getting a litel bit bigger for every comeback and that is a relief. Jung Min is really trying it hard for his solo releases and I believe there is something genuinly nice with his efforts. For his first solo release, Not Alone he included both a couple dressed in punk outfits and a a transvestite, maybe it’s all about showmanship, but that is more then most idols would. He also did a photo spread in ANAN magazine in 2011 which is daring for any idol. He tries really hard to stand out from the crowd.

Unfortunately the quality of his solo releases so far has been poor in my eyes. But as he released Beautiful in the fall of 2012 it at least gave the feeling of him being as happy as I have ever seen him. The teaser promised a bit to much I’m afraid since the track is quite silly, but it really looks like he is having a lot of fun. And I can’t stop watching him with a newer and bigger nose that almost looks natural and a track that is almost a success but not quite there yet. Not cool and not good but…

Beautiful by Park(Pak) Jung Min is my obvious guilty pleasure of 2012. Not that good but ever so sweet.

check out previous end of the year posts here

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. 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

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

Time and the Future

I’m currently taking three courses at my university:

One of them is the Japanese language class I’m taking in preparation for going abroad in January. I have spent some time during the last weeks preparing for the kanji test I have tomorrow. Among the kanji ideograms I have to write is the sign 年, toshi or nen, meaning “year”.

One of them is called Future Studies and Forecasts. I have spent most of the weekend trying to analyze future scenarios, the idea of futures, utopias etc. Today I finally got started on the paper we’ll be handing in next week.

One of them is called Theory of Science and Research Methods. I should probably get started on the final examination part of this, but I haven’t yet.

Today two videos that I have looked forward to were released. One is called 1000年、ずっとそばにいて・・・:

One is called Humanoids, but the lyrics are about the future:

What song will I get for when I start writing the final part for the methods course?

(Also, here I am writing on a blog called The Future is Idol!)

Honestly, I’m a little creeped out by these coincidences.

/Mis