#kpop commentary

it is, without a doubt, not fucking hard to not be racist, and it’s even easier to take accountability when you do do something insensitive. i understand that korea is largely homogenized, but it doesn’t have an impermeable barrier around it that keeps knowledge of the existence and sanctity of people’s cultures from its people jesus christ. i know for a fact that SM at least has a stringent process for socially training their idols pre debut, so i would expect most if not all other labels to have something similar.

for those idols who have spent significant time in western countries, i am all too aware of how the sociopolitical systems groom their citizens to be prejudiced, no matter how racially/ethnically diverse their populations are, i live in the freaking united states. because of this, i don’t think location makes it impossible for somebody to behave like an ignorant child, because some people are unfortunately just stupid. but i’ll be damned if that’s even implied to be an excuse.

i am appalled but unfortunately not surprised that in the year of our lord 2025 something that is as blatantly racist and LAYERED TO SUCH A DEGREE as what kiof did in their livestream occurred. i see what distress and pain this has caused for people and it genuinely makes me livid. i am firmly of the belief that we can always learn more and become more educated about social issues, but jesus fucking christ almighty from what i’ve seen over the last week or so i don’t think that any promises from them are going to fix anything.

so please, use common sense. i’m not saying intentionally cleanse your playlists, but when new music is inevitably released because internet discourse shifts focus so frequently, don’t do streaming parties. that’s frankly idiotic, they’ve clearly proven that they don’t deserve that level of dedication.

Any k-pop fan whether they have been with the genre or whether they are new fans, all know the importance of a groups debut song. This song typically sets the tone for a group or artists career and gives fans an insight to the overall concept that the group is going for. Over the years there have been PLENTY of great debut songs but some stand out above the rest. SHINee is definitely one of those groups. SHINee’s debut song “Replay” aka (Noona You’re So Pretty) in infamously known for being THE BEST debut song from a k-pop boy group or k-pop in general.

Replay is a R&B song that highlights the groups vocal skills and dance abilities. Not only did the song rank high on the charts and sell thousands of copies within the first week of debut but many trends dubbed the “SHINee trend” came from this music video. The fashion of the video which features skinny jeans and high top sneakers became a mega trend among student and led to a lot of the styles still used in k-pop today.

The song has a very nostalgic vibe that you just can’t help but smile while listening to. You can’t help but stare in awe at Jonghyun’s many high notes and killing parts and don’t forget Taemin’s infamous dance break! And just the fact that they can consistently perform this song with the same aura that they had when they debuted with no problem speaks for itself. AND THEY REALLY SING! Lip-sync who?

Before you can deny their impact just know that a lot of boy groups cover this song to this day over 10 years later and trainees learn this routine for basic training. If you can’t master SHINee’s Replay, are you cut out to be an idol?

This song not only set the tone for SHINee’s career but for all of the groups that came up after them and debut songs have only gotten better over the years and we owe this growth to the best debut song of all time SHINee’s Replay. Did I mention that Taemin was only 14 at the time? WILD! #SHINee’sBack

If you don’t believe watch it for yourself and tell me what you think!

idk how to say this and i don't think i'm alone in this opinion, but i need to articulate it somehow. there's too many k-pop groups debuting at once nowadays, the industry has become so oversaturated that it's hard for concepts to be distinct. maybe this is because i haven't had the motivation to get into new groups in years, but there's not much variety in group branding anymore and honestly it's incredibly overwhelming waking up every morning to there suddenly being a new group that just pushed out something stupidly uniform. i also think that part of the problem is debuting groups so young. the trainee age being 11 is INSANE OBVIOUSLY and i think that should be raised. also, let people largely be adults before they debut PLEASE i'm kinda sick of all of these youthful concepts let these bitches step on the camera and shake ass again thank you. sorry for the emotional wall text i just feel very strongly about this listening to playlists people have made and realizing that i can't internalize any differences between these people (there's too many tenors in k-pop pass it on).

i'll probably add onto this post as i remember what i originally wanted to say, i took like three breaks from it and lost my collection.

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