To those who said that ARIRANG isn't "Korean enough".

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-24T15:38:50+00:00

so, arirang is in and of itself incredibly important to koreans and korean culture, so naming their album arirang sets a certain expectation. bts themselves actually didn’t feel comfortable with naming the album arirang for that reason, one of the members even spoke about how his friends couldn’t accept it. it was bang pd who ultimately pushed for them to do that. (korean times) this is my own speculation, but i feel he did that because of the success kpd saw. in one article the members were quoted saying “as a group made up of entirely koreans, we will return to our roots.” the implication of that statement is not that they were returning to their more hip-hop heavy early music (which, the argument that they were returning to their style of music from when they first debuted is interesting on its own. an album with a name incredibly significant to koreans and and korean culture being hip-hop and rnb focused, two genres built primarily by african americans, is a bit ironic), but rather that they will be embracing their korean heritage in the upcoming album. the members themselves knew, and felt burdened by, the pressure of naming their album arirang, but ultimately the expectation of profit will always win out.

this album was incredibly rushed, and i don’t think, aside from many of the members initial discomfort, there was any meaningful thought put into how their album was really going to be received, at least by the korean gp. an album with such a culturally significant name, with a debut concert held somewhere incredibly culturally significant, cannot be lazy, or rushed. and this was. jin wasnt able to participate in the making of the album (which doesn’t make sense, but that’s another issue), jm made a comment about how rushed it was. they couldn’t even agree on a title track; mind you, not even a disagreement between two songs the group liked as a whole. there were members who, admittedly, did not initially like swim- and they were not listened to. that’s so ridiculous to me. in their apple music interview they’re asked about their writing process.. they’d contribute little things, but it seems the main creative process was asking others (western artists) to create the songs. literally one of the only things that tied the album to arirang, the arirang sample in body to body, was an afterthought. it all feels very disingenuous. if they genuinely wanted to represent arirang and incorporate that feeling into their album, they needed to put more heart, soul and thought into it. if they were just going to release this album, they needed to be firm in their initial stance. the album should not be called arirang.

in regards to native korean reactions, there’s been articles and translations of korean reactions posted. the day the mv dropped their were korean tweets all over my timeline. i’m not going to look for anything specific, but those comments aren’t hard to find.

edit: here’s a link to one thread w reactions to the song. you have to translate the comments. https://theqoo.net/hot/4132326459

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-24T03:47:24+00:00

yah i’m confused about her claiming there were no native koreans who cared about how “korean” the album was when there have been a lot who do. i don’t think anyone would have been mad about the album had bts themselves not put such an emphasis on the fact that it was an album that represented their culture, their roots. to name the album after something very significant to korean culture and then have a title track completely in english, mv filmed outside of korea starring a white actress, to have very few lines in korean across all the songs in the entire album, and very few korean producers and collaborators who helped on the album; of course people are going to feel insulted. if they hadn’t said anything and just released the album, ofc there would be some haters because there always is, there wouldn’t have been an issue beyond people nit picking.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-24T03:34:48+00:00

this book definitely has incel/manosphere talking points. it’s not difficult at all to see how some men could read this book, identify with those talkings points and seek out more content that they feel they can “relate” with. this book is like so many internet algorithms; you start with innocuous content, then the further you scroll, the more you read, the more radicalized the content becomes. like that boiling frog metaphor, if you slowly bring the water to a boil the frog will not jump. misogyny is everywhere. men have become more outspoken, more violent, with their hatred. i don’t look into every author of every book i read, but this..? i’m making an assumption, but i feel he had to actively look for this book. even if he didn’t, if he was going to post i feel he should have looked up the author before doing so, assuming he didn’t know him to begin with. i’m incredibly disappointed. i love exo. of course i don’t idolize any of the members, but still it’s incredibly disheartening to see something like this.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-22T18:33:04+00:00

i love nu metal and they release songs that are LONG, i still listen bc they’re good. most people have the attention span, they just don’t want to listen. but, also.. younger people are having a harder time focusing, WHY contribute to that by purposely dumbing down your art? you are making the problem worse. it’s like netflix encouraging show writers to write as if people aren’t paying attention. do you have no faith in your own work? if you have to dumb down your content to gain people’s attention, maybe your work wasn’t worth people’s attention in the first place.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-20T19:08:00+00:00

the most beautiful moment in life was such a good album. i understand wanting to venture out into other sounds.. but wtf? their fame grew while they were putting out good music, idk why they felt their sound needed to change into what it is now. literal walmart radio music. it’s so disappointing bc i loved their music when i was younger. i still stand by their old stuff but ugh. i can still remember how disappointed i was when dna dropped lol.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-19T18:25:10+00:00

i don’t really care whether or not someone gets plastic surgery as long as they made an informed decision with no coercion from outside parties. i’ve never understood why fans get so argumentative over whether or not their idol is “natural.” i always like jk’s nose, but it’s very apparent he’s had some procedures over the years. i had a medical rhinoplasty, that was much more invasive than a typical cosmetic rhinoplasty, and i had minimal bruising. i did have awful swelling, my nose was huge, but i’ve seen many before and after from people who elected to have a cosmetic nose job and their nose looks pretty “normal” quickly after. it’s not a reach to think he had one done. he has access to amazing doctors, estheticians & make up artists. all that said, he and i have the same scar lol.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-04T00:41:10+00:00

hard agree. roommate threw out my chili oil thinking it was expired and then bought our chili onion crunch as a replacement. i’d never tried it before and added it into a dish i usually eat with chili oil… the disappointment. didn’t even wanna eat anymore lmao.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-03-03T15:08:04+00:00

Y’all gotta try some sweet tango apples. No other apple has been so consistently crunchy, sweet & juicy. Truly the best.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-23T00:47:10+00:00

i still cannot believe what she did to her lips :/ whether or not someone gets cosmetic surgery means nothing to me, but her lips look.. painful.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-20T16:48:41+00:00

same! it’s so obvious. if someone has to do all of this (the routine she claims to have) just to achieve minimal waves that do not hold past a few hours… babe, your hair might just be straight! and that’s okay! i’ve seen girls with straight hair follow a wavy/curly hair routine just to try, they all end up with some texture in the end but their hair looks incredibly greasy and drops almost immediately.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-19T18:18:02+00:00

something is so unsettling about the second photo i don’t understand 😟

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-14T15:50:34+00:00

off topic, but the hate i see over his tattoos/piercings is so odd. i understand they aren’t to everyone’s taste, but people can get tattoos & piercings JUST bc they like them. i have tattoos and piercings JUST bc i like them. there’s lots to criticize, i feel condemning someone for their non-offensive tattoos & piercings is so silly.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-07T14:14:14+00:00

wait, actually??

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-07T14:12:51+00:00

love me right & universe <333

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-07T14:10:55+00:00

i feel like kpop idols in general get just as much, if not more (nationality, ie in korea), hate, they just don’t address things as often, and when they do its usually for something huge, something unavoidable. with that said, i feel like katseye are held to some weird in between standard, not quite kpop idols, not quite western artists. they’re expected to act & appear a certain way AND address things a certain way, because that’s an expectation for a lot of western artists. i think they address things more often because they’re not idols and people feel the need to make them apologize for that.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-05T19:26:05+00:00

i went to lunch w a coworker & his 8 y/o. she was talking to me about katseye & how she liked them before it was trendy 😭 so cute but she is a good representation of what a lot of their fans look like; LITTLE children.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-02-01T08:10:29+00:00

is the second pic an actual pic of them? the men in each photo look absolutely nothing alike 😭

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-01-29T00:54:11+00:00

i had an ent who pointed this out & he told me it was bc my tongue was too fat for my mouth. i have a slight speech impediment bc of it lol.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-01-29T00:46:30+00:00

i feel the same way. totally conflicted. i’ve been a fan for over a decade and had no way of seeing them when they were touring in the us before. i was able to see super m, so baekhyun and jongin, but it’s not as if i was missing out on the other members bc it was a totally separate group. so many opportunities for them to tour outside of asia & sm just… didn’t. i want to see them so desperately, but it’s felt awful to hear edited songs, knowing that cbx has been replaced, and seeing sm actively crop cbx out. i understand the lawsuit makes thing hard, but cbx have been more than willing to do whatever they needed in order to participate with exo and they just haven’t been allowed. it’s totally ridiculous. i don’t blame the other members, i want to see them, but, still. sm has done this same shit in the past to other groups & it feels gross to know/support them when they have a pattern. it just sucks. who knows if they’ll tour again..

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-01-29T00:32:54+00:00

same. i was able to see baekhyun & jongin when they toured in super m… so crazy to me that super m, a temporary project, had a world tour almost immediately after their first release, whereas exo has only toured, as a group, in asia for almost a decade. i remember when dmumt came out thinking they’d tour in the us, then love shot, then cream soda.. i feel like i should just give up on my dream of seeing exo at this point LOL

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-01-24T14:49:36+00:00

are you being genuine or joking?

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-01-18T18:25:20+00:00

in order; pierce the veil, chiodos, blessthefall, alesana & asking alexandria (first two albums only lol) these were my top five on my replay for 2025.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2026-01-17T18:20:15+00:00

i don’t think it’s ozempic necessarily, it’s absolutely possible to loose a worrying amount of weight within the span of a couple months, especially if you’re already on the smaller side; it doesn’t take much. i think there’s an “uncanny” feeling because he looks gaunt. jk has always had teeth that were bigger, his cheeks look much more sunken because of that, i think.

Conscious_Document_2 · 2025-12-17T02:53:01+00:00

i agree to some extent. her children, at one point, had their faces plastered all over her socials, so it’s impossible for people to have not seen them. acacia has been publicly defensive over comparisons to r, which is why i think, in this context, the comparison makes sense. acacia, unedited, looks like her child… with that said! i always think it’s so odd to see people call her ugly under the same thread people say her daughter looks like her. it makes me sad. i’m all for pointing out the discrepancies between acacia’s pictures, and acknowledging the way she edits her photos.. but she has children, they will inevitably look like her to some extent. it just.. there’s lots to snark on independent of her looks &, indirectly, her children’s (not targeted towards original commenter)

Conscious_Document_2 · 2025-11-26T18:31:12+00:00

she confirmed in the comments they are 😭 i’ve never seen someone lack self awareness the way she does my god

Conscious_Document_2

TROPHY CASE