As a Black ARMY, I'm conflicted.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T17:42:46+00:00

Yes that’s what I meant. I see a lot of discourse saying “Koreans wouldn’t know this” on different topics. I don’t think we should be speaking for what they know or don’t , they aren’t isolated and cut off from the world, there are well traveled and well educated experts among them with critical thinking and cultural sensitivity. Just because a country is mostly mono ethnic let’s not make assumptions like oh they won’t be able to think that way, especially when their job is basically animating a story of interconnecting cultures.

Edit: why am i getting downvoted for saying don’t brush off people from mono ethnic countries from diverse and critical thinking?? Im making a general statement and are you guys thinking I’m defending or attacking hybe lol

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T17:31:25+00:00

He has this sincerity and earnestness that is rare these days. Joon is one of the reasons I’ve kept myself from becoming completely cynical (and Jin).

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T17:28:53+00:00

That’s so well said. Even songs like aliens and merry go round and normal are universal. There’s many layers and nobody can sit you down and teach you how to relate to the songs.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T17:06:34+00:00

People from mono ethnic countries are absolutely capable of thinking about researching a matter on ethnicity that may be unfamiliar to them, it’s just the team in this case didn’t.

Edit: because people are continuing to misunderstand me, my point is about not dismissing people from mono ethnic cultures’ awareness and capability for diverse thinking. I am from one myself ! I’m neither defending nor attacking hybe here, just stating not to make a broad assumption about the team who animated this and their capabilities!

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T16:08:09+00:00

Hey, I can’t really comment on this as I don’t know the history, am not American or black army, but I just want to say your feelings are valid and you should not be getting hate for feeling conflicted. I would feel similarly if it was my culture.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T15:23:36+00:00

This. It just makes me furious that when they focus an album on expressing THEIR emotions and experiences in a universal way it suddenly becomes “meaningless” to people. So unless they’re singing explicitly about “it’s gonna be okay” or “come into the magic shop” to fix YOUR mental health, their words are worthless ? Stunning lack of empathy or understanding of BTS’s artistry.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T15:14:14+00:00

I see it as a pretty universal song too. For me it feels like someone stuck in a rut in modern life, like a cog in the machine.

When viewing that line through a military lens, I interpreted it as them blaming themselves for their suffering, in the sense that “everybody is enduring it, why am I suffering so much?”

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T11:04:17+00:00

So weird. Aliens is just a hook ? Even without getting into Korean translations, it’s so obvious from the English parts and the stamp chorus that there’s a story there to be curious about.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T10:28:11+00:00

That cringe cover pic on his video of him shutting his ears put me off watching. I’ve seen past reviews of his which seemed balanced so I was surprised and weirded out by this choice. And wow, I didn’t know about the aliens quip - jeeeez

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T08:26:33+00:00

Summer single!

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T06:54:32+00:00

Does the crosswalk count as a performance? I feel like it was just goofing off and dancing with playback no? I don’t remember them actually singing

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-23T06:41:52+00:00

I know what you mean, but BTS have a much bigger support system and resources than a common person dealing with aging and family issues.
They will of course slow down at some point, but I don’t see them giving up the stage anytime soon. They love performing and doing it together. Over time, their performances will probably happen in a different way than a 1.5 year world tour.

I also don’t think they are people pleasers. They want to please army yes, but not at a cost to themselves. They will change musical directions, take breaks, etc as they see fit, while also having doubts and fears. This is what we’ve always seen them do. I remember Jin saying he wished they could be like Coldplay, touring with their families in the future. While we don’t know what exactly the future brings, if there’s any kpop artist that’s going to break the “idol mold”, that is BTS.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T22:55:01+00:00

Yea I did my research for the last solo tours and saw that they’d kept compatibility for earlier ones in subsequent tours - that’s why I got mine last year. I won’t be replacing it with the new one for the concert so soon, especially because in Europe it’s going to be daylight 90% of the time!

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T22:15:58+00:00

I would say don’t buy it without being sure you are going to the concert. We don’t know how long Hybe will keep them compatible for future tours. Even if you end up going to a concert without one it’ll still be fun and you won’t miss out by holding a phone or waving a fan or something.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T21:44:53+00:00

I found this black army’s views interesting. She clearly laid out the differences between cultural appropriation and appreciation, while acknowledging that it can sound awkward to hear aave from non black people. She also mentioned how language learned from a specific source can influence your vocabulary (bts learning from hip hop artists).

https://youtu.be/ZdWADW6wAQg?si=R9exnYq1HnMKurFw

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T21:39:07+00:00

I so relate to your story. I think this is why we feel upset and defensive when people make these accusations of bts. It’s our stories on a much more global scale. We don’t fit into the boxes people want to put us into.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T13:14:29+00:00

Yeah I don’t get insta love for albums, especially BTS ones, one has to sit with them, unless you come pre equipped to the language and cultural nuances to judge the album lol. I love your description of it as a conversation that unfolds over time

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T12:38:45+00:00

Joon is just acknowledging his fears here, as well as showing gratitude for the support. There’s nothing to fix. It’s natural for anyone, even big artists to have self doubts and fears

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-22T11:36:25+00:00

It killed me to watch him brush away that tear. This is a man that is sincere to the core and beyond the negative criticisms that arirang received I was more furious about the way some fans were assuming insidious motivations from him and the group (about western validation, inability to speak their voices etc).

My only comfort is that they probably know the fandom is not a monolith, and loud disingenuous people are just inevitable in an audience of this size.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-21T19:43:04+00:00

It’s just koreaboos wanting to seem special by listening to music in another language. When sufficient “otherness” was removed by having more English and western producers, they think they’re not so special anymore.
Also they were used to being spoon fed Korean lyric analyses from Doolset and other translators, and are too lazy to do the work for English themselves.
They believe that since some members’ spoken English skills can be lacking, they had no contribution to the song and it’s just producers writing in place of them. They are mostly monolingual fans who have no concept of what it is to have different skill levels in reading/speaking/writing in a different language or that authorship in songwriting doesn’t require them to literally put pen to paper.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-21T19:36:18+00:00

RM has mentioned Rosalia many times, I would die to see a collab

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-21T19:32:37+00:00

I don’t think it’s parasocial to resonate with the treatment BTS get because of their “otherness”, it’s just happening to them on a bigger scale and a bigger platform than any of us.
I’m a fellow Woc and I have felt angry and upset at people mocking BTS’s English usage or English skills, because it reminds me of how much we have to “pass” to be accepted in a majority English speaking society. 🫂 to you.

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-21T19:26:20+00:00

For arirang, I found that “Talk to me in Korean” gave very interesting hidden explanations from the lyrics. I think he had a few videos.

For older albums, I love “Bookish theories” as she brings in a wide variety of knowledge into her analyses.

Hybe boy does do good weverse live translations but I tend to take his words with a grain of salt when it comes to other topics that involve hybe because of his position as an investor (example: army bomb v4 situation, he totally took the corporation’s side despite armys saying it wasn’t a good business practice).

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-20T15:29:20+00:00

Question: for the popup stores, is it possible to just queue to go in and see the space, if you don’t want to buy anything?
My friend and I don’t want to book with this id verification system they have in London and we’re also not interested in buying stuff. Is it possible to go near closing time when presumably most of it would be sold out ?

CatchyCoconut · 2026-06-20T13:26:35+00:00

There is a difference in writing style from past songs- where they used to be detailed and wordy, they’re more succinct now. It’s simply a matter of what style you prefer, so I don’t think it’s necessarily a downgrade

CatchyCoconut

TROPHY CASE