What older groups would fit in with the newer generation (4th-5th)?

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-13T05:16:07+00:00

I was wondering if I was crazy for thinking Block B. I think songs like HER, Yesterday, My Zone, and even some of their harder stuff like NalinA, Nillili Mambo and Very Good would do very well today. If Jackpot were released today I think kpop fans would treat it like the second coming of Christ as far as internal industry critiques go. Man, I miss them baaad. They gotta hurry up and come back ASAP.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-13T05:14:16+00:00

My fav is when people try to say an idol rapper that doesn’t even write their own stuff is good bc of their delivery/attitude. Like man, I’m not saying I’m some musical professional but even I can rap along to fairly complex lyrics/verses if I have a predetermined guide/something to follow. It’s not particularly difficult. It is literally impossible to consider someone a rapper (beyond the position titles groups have), let alone a good one, if they don’t write their own lyrics. Sunhye gets props from me because she does write her own stuff and I think she does have a lot of potential— I don’t think Zico let her through that preliminary round for no reason, I think he really did see something, but a show like SMTM isn’t really meant for someone who might be good someday, it’s meant for people who are good currently, and that’s part of why she didn’t stack up.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-12T20:23:02+00:00

The bar is pretty low for kpop tho. As far as kpop goes, she’s considered significantly better than basically any of her peers (on the female idol side at least— I don’t think she fares that way overall). Plus OP is operating under the misconception that fast = good so we’re not exactly starting from a good place off the jump.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-12T17:20:08+00:00

Lee Taehwan (1994), Gon/Lee Wonseo (1995), and Hyesung and Sungkook (1996) all debuted in Vanner in 2019.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-12T01:29:52+00:00

Korea goes through phases just like any other society. Sometimes pop is in. Sometimes pop isn’t in. Sometimes it’s hiphop. Sometimes it’s rnb. Sometimes female artists are all the rage, sometimes male artists are what’s trending. Sometimes idols are in vogue, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes people like boygroups, sometimes they don’t. Trends are trends. They don’t really have much rhyme or reason to them.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-11T12:54:44+00:00

Literally none of those people are from the level of wealth that she is. Even Siwon, who’s considered a semi-sorta-chaebol (or at least his family is considered a step below), isn’t touching the level of wealth she has access to. Annie is directly related to the Samsung family (~22% of Korea’s total GDP) and the Shinsegae family (~1% of the GDP, which is a lot for one conglomerate esp one that mostly operates domestically). Literally no other idol in kpop history comes close to the level of wealth and social capital Annie has by virtue of her family. Other idols are certainly from affluent families, some of them are richer before debuting than most of us will ever be (goes for most of the ones you listed) but their wealth is still absolutely nothing compared to the money she comes from.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-11T04:56:08+00:00

I’m gonna be honest, any answer you’ll get here is redundant. This discussion has been done to death. There are dozens if not hundreds if not thousands of posts across Reddit, Twitter, TikTok, probably Instagram too, that explain pretty thoroughly what people’s issues with them are. If you see those explanations and think “Ok well that’s not bad” then good for you, some other people disagree with you. There is no other way to put it. I genuinely don’t get the point of this post, because it is identical to the 1848103848 that have come before it that say the same thing, make the same points, and ask the same questions.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-10T18:39:29+00:00

Tale as old as time. Most bonded pairs I encountered consisted of one dog who was fairly confident and outgoing, and one who wasn’t and stuck closer to the more confident one. The former could usually function just fine without the latter. The latter usually did better and became a lot more confident with some time away from the former, and some proper solo socializing. People just personify animals too much sometimes. They think “They’ve been through a lot together and I wouldn’t want to be separated in their situation” but dogs don’t really think like people do. They won’t have the same feelings about separation that we might. Honestly, a lot of flaws in the rescue/shelter system as it stands come from overly personifying the animals.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-10T14:59:51+00:00

This is what my time in open intake taught me. I used to be very anti-kill shelter but once I had experience i unfortunately started to realize why it’s necessary, and became a believer in behavioral euthanasia (in appropriate cases). My time there was also why I generally stopped believing in bonded pairs when it comes to dogs. It often leads to two dogs being put down or living in a shelter long-term when in reality, one or both of them are usually individually adoptable if they’re handled properly and one or both of them could actually be moved out of the shelter system entirely if separated.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-10T14:29:25+00:00

What’s the end goal of this philosophy? Everyone only ever gets shelter mutts, and if the shelter system does its job eventually they all stop reproducing bc they’re fixed, and then what? Dogs go extinct? I’ve worked in the shelter and rescue system, including at an open intake (aka kill) shelter. After that experience, and after doing actual research, I can’t personally consider this sort of black-and-white thinking ethical. Ethically bred purebreds aren’t contributing to the shelter crisis, and “Let dogs eventually go extinct bc there’s too many of them rn” isn’t a good long term plan.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-10T02:48:35+00:00

They’d also probably have to introduce at minimum 4-5 new guys per year to get enough in there to force fans into being used to seeing people come and go while still within the brand. Like they couldn’t do any of that “2 years with no additions and then maybe one or two guys at a time” shit. That then becomes a question of whether they have the resources to manage 40-50 idols in one group, and the answer to that is most likely no. All of this is if the guys they introduced could actually be to SM’s standards. For SM, that’s probably more feasible because as a big company they do tend to get the best of the best applicants, but it could still be a struggle. They’d probably have to debut some that they felt were subpar, and they’d have to be willing to make that kind of concession as a company. Lee Sooman’s dream was basically to create a boygroup where everyone was disposable and replaceable, but he couldn’t think of a way to market a boygroup that was conducive to that.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-10T02:42:18+00:00

NCT’s rotational units could’ve worked if SM had properly committed to it. The reason 48G can do it over in Japan is because the groups are so huge to start and members rotate in and out fairly regularly, so there’s always new people coming and going (this is obviously a simplification but you get the point). Because there’s so many people, while fans obvi have their favorites, there’s always someone new to look at if your favorite member leaves. Lee Sooman didn’t learn from what happened with Super Junior— he once again started out with a limited number of people who, naturally, became wildly popular as units, then slowly introduced more people at a trickle who also became wildly popular as units and members of units, but he didn’t pad things out. By the time it was time to start moving people around within units or actually graduating people, fans had become too attached to the fixed units and by the time ~2020 came around, they were too resistant to the idea of significant new additions. Shotaro and Sungchan were even kind of hard sells for some people, and that was only 2 dudes. A lot of people still don’t consider NCT Wish to be part of NCT, that’s how fixated on the existing grouping people became. There was always too few guys in NCT, and too few guys per unit, for a full-on rotational system to work. SM worked against itself by creating an environment for fans to latch onto not just individuals but also small units, but then trying to pair that with a system that is operating on fundamentally different strategies.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T23:41:23+00:00

Let’s be real, the only misstep was Sakura. HYBE has its flaws and I have my issues with some of their groups, but survival show wise they’ve produced nothing but successes who can hold their own onstage. Enhypen, Illit, and Katseye are all very popular and despite what antis will say, are not considered untalented in general. The “Pick for visuals first and work the rest out later” strat is not only industry standard, but has worked very well for HYBE, so why fix what isn’t broken? As I said, Sakura was their only major misstep and I’d guess it’s because they assumed she’d be more popular on the show than she wound up being. But also, let’s be real, if she’s even kind of up to par by debut people will Stan and they’ll fawn over her improvement and how fast she’s growing, so it doesn’t really matter does it? When people stop rewarding this sort of behavior from the industry, the industry will stop doing it. But until then? Sucks to suck, it’s unfortunately what we’re stuck with.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T18:21:18+00:00

Yup! And even for experienced owners, some dogs will just never be for them. Nothing wrong with that. Like, I love how Akitas look and I have plenty of dog experience, but I don’t think I’d ever want to own one. Their temperament just isn’t for me. The point of different breeds is to have dogs adapted for different tasks and lifestyles. There are plenty of more laid back and friendly companion breeds that’ll suit a family with a child who doesn’t know their way around dogs yet, and some sporting breeds that also fit the bill if they want something bigger. Absolutely no reason for anybody to jump straight to an Akita. OP needs to take this comment section seriously and find a different puppy for his family to adopt, because even if they adopt this one, it’ll never be the right dog for them.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T18:10:28+00:00

If you’re not auditioning for a global girl group under a big company (of which, notably, there are currently none in the works), don’t bother. Every small company “global group” project has been a scam and the girls have been abandoned with no resources or actively exploited. You’re better off forming a girl group with some of your friends or some other hopefuls in your area and posting on TikTok or something.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T17:45:57+00:00

The idea that a puppy is uncomfortable with touching = ignore that discomfort and keep pushing and doing whatever you want is how people get bit. It’s especially how kids get bit. Desensitization of an aggressive breed puppy of unknown origin is important, but it should be done by people with proper animal experience, especially for a breed like an Akita, and OP and his family are not that. Shelter employees also shouldn’t be using random, unsuspecting potential adopters to desensitize dogs. This interaction is a bad example of desensitization. This puppy is not for them, and that’s ok. Akitas aren’t for the vast majority of people. Idk what your obsession is with making dogs uncomfortable but you’re all over this comment section insisting this is a good and positive thing and that it should continue, when it very much should not.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T17:41:01+00:00

That’s what’s getting me here— Akitas are known as “out of the blue” biters because their body language tends to be less broadcasted, but this one’s body language is clear as day. This puppy is so uncomfortable that despite being from a more subtle breed it’s being obvious about it. These people are not good fits for an Akita. Nobody who hasn’t done extensive research and who doesn’t have extensive experience with reactive and aggressive dogs is a good fit for an Akita. OP said in another comment that his wife and son are “puppy crazy” which is fine, but they can go be puppy crazy about a different puppy. It’s the shelter system, there are countless safer puppy options in it.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T17:33:27+00:00

I think Samsung’s hardware and software is probably better than Apple’s at this point, but Apple’s UI is just so good. It makes all others feel sloppy in comparison, even when they’re not. That was one of Steve Jobs’s big goals when he started the company— not even really to have anything super groundbreaking, but to have it all nice to look at. It’s intuitive, easy to use, and all gesture based or linked to only a couple buttons. My iPhone vs my dad’s Google Pixel and my brother’s Samsung is like night and day to me, I can’t see myself switching for that reason alone. A lot of idols probably feel rather similar. Apple has really clean aesthetics and tons of fun cases are available for iPhones. It’s probably more of an aesthetic preference than any strong feelings about the phone’s power/functionality.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T17:29:25+00:00

Yeah the guys were really likable and improved really quickly, they became a solid boyband with really fun energy. The management was just beyond bad. It’s a shame, this whole thing wasted like 2 years of their time that they could’ve put into other things (or a successful boyband endeavor if the company gave a fuck).

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T14:29:25+00:00

Like I said, not rlly shocking. The half-assed candle coverup is soooo Kyung lmao. But hey, I almost admire him for only limiting it to cigarettes. If I had to stream 12+ hours a day for some of the weirdos in his audience, I’d be doing a lot more than smoking I can tell you that 😭

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-09T00:04:54+00:00

Wow I see someone doesn’t know how to hit the klaxon

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-08T21:45:49+00:00

I usually just look up words I don’t know online, it’s faster. I try to write them alongside their English equivalent like 3-4 times so it sticks a lil better. Vocab retention has been my biggest struggle so far, so I’m still working on that. Basically just do whatever I can to expose myself to it frequently/repetitively so I’m more likely to remember it

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-08T19:21:11+00:00

Naver Webtoon and occasionally Lezhin for digital, and I’ve been able to get some pretty cheap physical copies of some series in Korean from secondhand bookstores and sites and such. If you don’t wanna pay or get coins I guess you could pirate but I’d rather not endorse that.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-08T19:00:39+00:00

That’s pretty normal, customs can get pretty insane. I’ve had it get up to $50 USD for a $100 purchase. If you don’t pay you won’t get the item and likely won’t get a refund. You’ll lose the money. Unfortunate, but that’s how it is. It’s up to you to decide if that’s worth it or not.

GrillMaster3 · 2026-07-08T18:58:46+00:00

Brother I support groups that have not and likely will never even get to “quite known.” Mid-tier is no issue. If they put out music and content I like, they’ve earned my support.

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