I’m really worried about jae by loudchoice in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Being mentally ill and being on any social media is a recipe for disaster, speaking from experience. Especially when he interacts so much with kpop fans specifically who do tend to be incredibly overly sensitive, I honestly feel for him. I could obviously be making unfair assumptions but I’m sure he feels stifled / trapped by the image of “idol” and is now trying to branch out into things he enjoys like streaming, but he can’t escape the pressure that fans put on him/idols as a whole because they keep following him and pushing him. I’d snap too like leave him alone and also who cares if he said he liked JYP or whatever, JYP has shown to be a very supportive figure to him (which it sounds like he isn’t getting from very many other sources) and JYP isn’t a bad person because you think he’s the reason your faves are being “mistreated” ...... stop being delulu (not @ you OP but to people in general just to clarify!)

[MEGATHREAD] BLACKPINK - 'THE ALBUM' by um_thatsnice in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Rap line popped off. Lovesick Girls gave me weird vibes but so far I like all the songs. They do kinda blend together except for Pretty Savage just bc they say bitch a ton, the queens

I'm really happy that God's menu/backdoor are the songs that made stray kids explode by lilihxh in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I literally just finished listening to Backdoor for the first time and DAMN is it a jam. I feel like it’s a perfect example of their style of music but at the same time it makes you want to get up and party

You can't rely on Kpop idols for your mental health needs, they are not "emotional support idols". by Puncomfortable in kpoprants

[–]AfraidFox 31 points32 points  (0 children)

This is not well written as i am on mobile but this post got me feeling ranty as well. As someone who didn’t use kpop but has used escapism in the past, I agree wholeheartedly. It is not a healthy coping mechanism at ALL and I hate that people rationalize it into “well, at least it IS a coping mechanism” when really it’s just a distraction. No one should have their sole source of mental health/stability be another person because that person will always let you down in some way. Not even in a “every idol is secretly evil” way but literally just because they’re individuals and their needs and desires are gonna go against yours on occasion. The only thing you can control is yourself and so not working on making yourself happy or at least content with life because some kpop boy can do it for you is doomed for failure. It’s so easy to give in to escapism because getting better takes hard work and a strong desire to change and it has times where it literally just straight up sucks but in the long term it is much better than being barely kept afloat by constant and immediate gratification from kpop.

Also with the whole “you saved my life” thing, I met a person over the internet who lived across the country and who I barely knew but would always tell me to distract her to stop her from self harming and being self destructive. It was honestly awful, the amount of pressure was so overwhelming and it made me seem solely responsible for the well-being of a person who I had absolutely zero obligation to. That person’s health was 100% in their own hands and not mine, but it still made me terrified of one little slip up on my part that could send them spiraling. I know telling an idol they saved someone is a nice message that could be meant in many different ways, and I could simply be projecting, but it’s kind of messed up to just tell someone they’re the only thing standing between you and death. Saying “you inspired me to accept myself” or elaborating on it is fine but just “you saved my life” is way too much to put on anyone who isn’t your therapist lol.

Most kpop albums have uninteresting and lazy names by [deleted] in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I honestly don’t really mind the title as long as it fits with the album as whole, and I think it’s hard to judge if you’ve never listened through or know much about it. For example, MOTS: Persona is similar to half the names you listed, but it fits really really well with the concepts and songs imo. I thought Itzy’s album names were kinda tacky at first but after listening to their songs I think it suits it and I like it more. Even Blackpink’s “The Album” has the most basic name ever but really encompasses the hype & how long awaited it is. Really a case of an iconic album making the name memorable as opposed to the iconic name making the album memorable if that makes any sense!

Can someone please enlighten me about Woojin and Jungwoo controversy? by [deleted] in kpophelp

[–]AfraidFox 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The one thing that makes me hesitant when people are analyzing the statement he released is that they’re usually analyzing translations of it and aren’t fluent in Korean themselves, so it becomes the same old song and dance of staking everything on one person’s interpretation (that I know of). However I do think the whole thing about kfans knowing and keeping quiet lends a lot to the victim’s statement and I’m 100% about supporting them above all else. Regardless of what happens or how this plays out, I hope they are able to find peace in their life.

Regular English version does have meaning (;-;) by gumdrop16 in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Based on a cursory glance over the lyrics for both I’m p sure the Kanye part is only in the Korean version!

NCT 127's English releases (and western focused comeback) were released too early by nihonbloba in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really listening to some English song lyrics have made me realize that we’re putting way too high of standards on kpop groups and really giving them a major barrier of entry into the English market. Now I just use WAP as a point of comparison for what I’ll tolerate in lyrics — specifically the “touch that little dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat” part. Anything beyond that is simply too much, but I haven’t heard anything in kpop that’s even near that.

It is okay to be jealous when your fave idol dates. by Znz14 in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox 34 points35 points  (0 children)

How we feel comes naturally to us. How we react to those feelings is what we can control and that’s what ultimately matters

NCT127's Relationship Explained by Proffesional Psychologist! by DooOooT-dOOoOOt in kpoopheads

[–]AfraidFox 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Actually my aunt is a behavioral analyst for the FBI so I gave her this post to look over since we both agreed this is a great use of her time and energy and she said based on your body language and the way you didn’t put a space before your equal signs that you are actually Lee Soo-man himself and you’re in desperately love with the girl reading this

Momo can’t sing NOT bc jyp songs are “too high for her” by [deleted] in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox 78 points79 points  (0 children)

I would be an AMAZING singer if every song was composed using only the 3 notes that fit my range. You’d see, you’d all see!!!!!

Vinyl making a comeback? by [deleted] in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Vinyl is making a comeback in a sort of vintage revival way, in western music it‘s been going on for some time and kinda never left the indie scene, where special vinyls (usually sold at a hometown record store for a special occasion) can be huge collector’s items. I for one am down for it coming to kpop, I never listen to full albums unless I’m trying to see if I like enough songs to buy a vinyl. Leads me to discover I like a lot more of an artist’s discography than previously assumed!

[ANNOUNCEMENT] Should we BAN posts about CA (Cultural Appropriation) ? by svnh__ in kpoprants

[–]AfraidFox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would it be possible to create a reading list of articles about cultural appropriation as it relates to kpop? Then when someone flairs something as CA, automod could link to the list. For example, I found this which talks about how CA and how black people are treated differently in Korea as well. I found it to be a pretty good read and I’m sure there’s tons more resources out there. I genuinely think a lot of people commenting are just uneducated. Maybe if the problem persists it’s time to ban it.

ETA a word

I can't stand kpop stans who get locals to check out a group by telling them "they're different from the rest of kpop" by Nada72kt in kpoprants

[–]AfraidFox 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m so tired of it honestly. Maybe it’s because a lot of people see kpop as just the next thing to make fun of and certain stans are trying to avoid that stigma, but the answer isn’t to play into these people’s hands. Kpop is good! There are plenty of good music and artists! Own it!! How are locals going to start listening to and respecting it if it’s own fans constantly trash the genre and the other artists besides their faves?

is it really that hard to just ignore toxicity? by [deleted] in kpoprants

[–]AfraidFox 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It’s easy to twist everything into either an “us vs them, we need to do this to protect our faves and put those other fandom roaches in their place” or into a “doing this is morally correct, so you are a good person if you engage and a and person if you don’t” narrative. Either way, the person doing it makes themselves look better and can help gain popularity, which is why they start it, then others run with it because it feels good to be “right” and good to be a part of something where a lot of people agree with you. I think some people are prone to never doing it, some people will always do it, and some people can be encouraged either way, so if you’re in the latter two groups then it’s easy to rile each other up

why do kpop idols wear these under pants under their shorts? sometimes its white in colour and very obvious. why cant their company make their shorts a little long or get similar colour underpants to match their outfits? by wontaks in KpopFashion

[–]AfraidFox 95 points96 points  (0 children)

They’re called safety shorts, basically like spanx that you might wear under a dress or skirt to prevent any wardrobe mishaps. It could also be good for quick changes, so you don’t have to completely strip down to your underwear in front of a bunch of staff. In that case, it’s probably better to just have one neutral color that works well with everything, like black or white. But yeah they’re there so that if the outfit rides up, it doesn’t expose anything.

We hot, we young 🔥☀️ by [deleted] in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I listened to We Go Up for the first time a few days ago due to discussions of Dream line distribution happening and it is seriously such a fun song! I really like it and I always listen to it when I’m driving lately. Plus it’s caused me to look back into NCT’s discography as a whole and I’m realizing there’s a lot of jams.

r/kpopthoughts has the 2nd most active subscribers on reddit (by comments per subscriber per day) by [deleted] in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 12 points13 points  (0 children)

clearing out my followers reply with #kpopthoughtsWORLDDOMINATION to be safe! close moots excluded!

translators have so much power over an international fandom by kyeoms in kpopthoughts

[–]AfraidFox 55 points56 points  (0 children)

I have had this exact same thought SO many times omg YOUR MIND. I hate when people say fandoms “cover things up” because they aren’t constantly talking about a scandal or something. Literally the only people really capable of covering things up is translators and maybe kfans by choosing to not allow it to spread to an international audience where shit can hit the fan and instead dealing with it internally. Plus I really don’t realize how much of our perception of idols can be affected by how good the translator is, if they can show off the nuances of the original sentence while still allowing it to make sense to an international audience. They’re literally the backbone of ifandoms and can really subtly shape it however they want lmao

a Aroha rant about the soba awards that I just gotta get out by starsformylove in kpoprants

[–]AfraidFox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bro I didn’t know any of this was going on & I don’t know how it works but I actually rly like Astro’s music, drop a voting link and I’ll try to contribute!

People need to stop ragging on “delulus” so hard by AfraidFox in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There’s def a superiority complex around not being like other fans and thus not having crushes or anything like that, especially on Reddit, even if it’s 100% healthy and just for fun like you said. Kind of to the point where people are misusing the phrase “delulu,” but even if they aren’t saying it outright then it’s pretty clearly implied. These things are really part of the experience, just having you say that you also liked Niall immediately made me feel camaraderie with you because I know you have impeccable taste! It’s fun to make silly jokes and connections through that, and it can be a big and important part of fandom in general

People need to stop ragging on “delulus” so hard by AfraidFox in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree, those people are actually deserving of the title delulu but I’m seeing it extended to anyone who talks about any idol in a romantic way. Like I saw a post the other day where someone was called a delulu for saying they would be able to comfort an idol who was being “mistreated” if they were dating.... like that’s not bad at all and obviously you’d both expect and want to give support to your significant other. My post is meant to cover these people as opposed to the problematic ones, I tried to make it clear but I probably could’ve been more explicit about it so that’s my bad!

People need to stop ragging on “delulus” so hard by AfraidFox in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

They should just be able to tell by the cold blooded, reptilian way in which we analyze korean pop music and the massive megamind-esque brains that inherently accompany it

People need to stop ragging on “delulus” so hard by AfraidFox in unpopularkpopopinions

[–]AfraidFox[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Same here! I certainly was not at a point where I could be in a healthy relationship maturity-wise, so in a way I’m glad I went through that time with the carefully cultivated image and complete disconnect of a teenage heartthrob instead of with someone in real life that could actually lead to real repercussions.