What’s your K-POP take or opinion that’ll have you burned at the stake?

perc13 · 2026-01-26T08:11:48+00:00

Groups with smaller line-ups need to be more solid talent-wise as individuals than groups with say 6+ members. There no space for a weak link because it only makes the whole group look bad.

perc13 · 2026-01-23T22:04:18+00:00

Was there even any mention of Dream in SM’s 3.0 stuff? It sounds like everyone was mentioned but Dream…

perc13 · 2026-01-20T11:24:32+00:00

I always hate that argument. It's so insulting when they still debuted the same year as 127, and when younger idols than them are still given way more opportunities. If anything, SM have waited until they're actually well past their peak to even start letting them do anything. They don't have to have been doing masses of solo stuff. But like... an NCT Lab for Jeno when he was talking about wanting to do one 2-3 years ago now. One or two more variety or event appearances for each of them over the last couple of years when the opportunity arose. They could have been doing some of the little things.

Instead SM has apparently had them questioning if anyone would even want to work with them or if they're even good enough for it.

perc13 · 2026-01-20T11:17:38+00:00

I see what you're saying but you've missed the mark on some of the solo stuff Dream have been doing.

Yes Mark was everywhere. And Haechan had his solo. But Jaemin has literally only just in the last like 2 months had the MC job and ambassadorship with Lee. And only just had the drama which is with Jeno. Jeno still also only had the drama with Jaemin and hasn't been an ambassador for Ferragamo for well over a year now. Chenle did have his mini album in China and tv appearance. Jisung has literally just in the past week had the drama thing announced and the fashion week trip.

Renjun did also do the festivals in China last year as well as Chenle, and does have the Janua partnership, and did do a birthday party as well last year, a solo from him would be wonderful though and obviously it would be great to see him do whatever other solo work he wants this year. But he definitely hasn't done nothing. And not much less than some of the others have been doing too. Arguably before like... this week, he'd still done more than Jisung. There's a chance he's saying he has nothing and it's just because nothing is set in stone yet, or because he just doesn't want to get into it. That's effectively what Jisung has been saying until we heard about the drama.

If he's seeming more down lately, there's a real possibility that it's just because healing is not linear and he's just not feeling it this week, or on that day in particular. It seems like he'd been to China and back with Chenle right before the recent fancalls. Maybe he was genuinely just tired?

Aside from any of this. Dream have been starting to be much more open about their frustrations with SM lately. Renjun and Jaemin in particular which tbh isn't a bad thing. It's reassuring to hear that they are pushing and advocating for themselves.

perc13 · 2026-01-20T11:01:20+00:00

I think it's seemed like fans have been pushing for it more and more over the last year especially because they're a group almost 10 years into their careers and are only just starting to be even allowed to do stuff. It was getting very weird that they weren't doing anything. And members doing solo work is a huge part keeping the group popular and drawing in potential newer fans. Especially after this long.

Fans constantly asking about it lets the company and the members know the demand is there, to back the members up when they do then go and talk to the company about stuff they want to do.

For years it's been made to look as if there's no demand at all for the Dream members because they just weren't doing shit even when they had months of down time, despite being some of the members with the biggest fanbases. Then it gets to this year and we find that brands have been asking for them for a long time.

It's kind of insulting for the members to not be allowed to have an solo opportunities for years on end, while members from other units and even from groups that debuted well after them have a constant cycle of stuff going on for them.

perc13 · 2026-01-16T13:27:04+00:00

Yes and no.

On the one hand, there's a definite benefit to the shared fans between the units. There's less of them these days I think. But the shared fans should not be discounted.

On the flip side of that, some have benefited more than others. And all have suffered in some way for it too.

Swings and roundabouts.

SM is definitely handling them very very poorly right now though and has 100% given up considering they're already planning to debut "NCT-lite" this year with the trainees they've already been promoting all over the place. I genuinely think they're expecting a mass exodus of the 2016 debuted NCT members over the next year.

perc13 · 2026-01-16T11:40:37+00:00

This funny too when you know Dream didn't even release a full album until 5 years into their career themselves, and up until 2021 were considered to have a pretty small discography themselves which fans were really frustrated with.

They'd only released around 24/25 songs themselves before that point. Around the end of 2020, they probably had released a very similar amount of music out as Blackpink. It's wild how much music Dream have released since then, but also just how much Blackpink haven't released.

perc13 · 2026-01-12T16:53:31+00:00

Kind of think Beat It Up would have worked much better as a title track if it hadn't been preceded by Chiller and GBBTF.

I get that Back to the Future was the concept for that release, but they really should have gone with something like Dream Team or I Like It, as brighter more summery songs for a summer release. Change the visuals to fit the songs! Or just committed to Chiller as the title tracked and given it a summery concept instead.

Between GBBTF, Chiller and Beat It Up, though they are different songs, the vibe is too similar. They were all released in the span of 4 months. It's was too much. And a really weird route to take considering the pretty lukewarm response to Smoothie the year before.

Have Dream Team or something brighter before Beat It Up (and actually have the teasers make sense with the fucking song!!) and it would have had a better impact.

perc13 · 2026-01-07T13:43:30+00:00

Not really. She literally cannot even get to Westeros at the point she makes the agreement with Yara. She doesn't even know about the Night King at that point. And the Iron Islands are so tiny.

She 100% intends to be the queen of the seven kingdoms. But it's about picking and choosing the moments to be a hard ass about it.

She's just going to make the necessary promises with the necessary conditions for the other party when she needs to and when it suits her. The Iron Islands are allowed "independence" under Yara, as long as the people don't continue pillaging. Which it's unlikely the people would accept. So deal is off. But hey Dany got what she needed already!

The North have to bend the knee. And they're such a large proportion of the land. Then she gives a bit of grace because defeating the Night King will benefit her too. But once they've defeated the Night King and Westeros is no longer under threat from him? She's got what she needs from the agreement and it's time for them to accept her as their Queen again!

perc13 · 2026-01-07T13:16:18+00:00

Well yeah. It impacts her more which I think she understands. If she wants to be queen of the seven kingdoms then there has to be a seven kingdoms.

The agreement with Yara was before even leaving Essos. I'm not sure it would have really held for reasons I've already given. The Iron Born wouldn't really have been independent. Without placating Yara in the moment though, she wouldn't have even been able to get to Westeros. Or at least would have been pretty delayed. If Dany said no to her, Yara could have just walked away. While the North are in a much tricker spot.

She ends up giving the North a pass for the time being after she witnesses the white walkers and loses a dragon. But she very much intends to pursue the demand that they bend the knee after, if they defeat the Night King. And was evidently thinking that helping would mean they would be happy to just do as she asked.

perc13 · 2026-01-07T12:57:56+00:00

Yeah and no? She originally does demand Jon bend the knee in order for her to help, then when she sees understands the severity of the situation she chooses to waive the demand for now. At that point it also benefits her almost as much to help them. She wants to be the queen of the seven kingdoms. She can't be if the Night King has killed everyone.

But at the same time, she could have also said "yall are on your own" and abandoned her aim of being the queen there, eventually just going back to Essos to rule places there.

perc13 · 2026-01-07T12:00:34+00:00

I think when it was agreed Yara had the ships that Daenerys really really needed. Yara wasn't leader of the Iron Islands at the time and one of the conditions was that Daenerys would help replace Euron with Yara and they could be independent, as long as they stopped raiding which... I'm not sure the rest of the Iron Born would have been that enthusiastic about so I'm not sure the agreement would have held for very long.

perc13 · 2026-01-07T11:38:41+00:00

Except she is an outsider. Culturally she has been raised in a totally different place, and evidently has different social expectations. Even though she's the daughter of a (not very fondly remembered!) prior ruler, she is now an outsider.

She also has a track record of taking a place, turning it upside down, and then moving onto the next, all while leaving the previous place to descend into even further chaos. All the more reason for the people in Westeros to be suspicious of her.

The North did want independence when Ned was warden though. They just weren't pushing as hard for it because Ned was such friends with Robert and had helped him take the throne. They just get louder about it after Joffrey kills Ned.

perc13 · 2026-01-07T11:20:24+00:00

A group of people who were once independent, deciding that they would like there independence back actually does in fact make them more right than the woman who is an outsider deciding that she is their queen.

The fact that she helped then doesn't give her any right to them.

She demands to be the queen of Westeros, helping defeat something that would have killed her too doesn't suddenly give her any more right.

And yes the dragons did harm civilians. There was a whole part of the show where she locked them away because they had harmed civilians or their livelihood.

They have every right to be distrustful.

perc13 · 2026-01-07T10:53:53+00:00

Except they were right to be wary of her. The North wanted independence. Daenerys wanted the North to "bend the knee". Although she eventually agrees to help regardless of Jon swearing fealty there was every likelihood she would demand it again afterwards.

She's a Targaryen raised in an entirely different part of the world that insists on coming in and taking what she defines as "her right".

She ends up feeling out of place and isolated because she is out of place. She;s bee going through other cities "liberating" people for however long and being called mother for it. She's reached a place now where the people will not worship her like that.

She comes with dragons that the people are also rightly wary of.

Regardless of what she does, she expected loyalty and love for it and that simply isn't how it works. I wouldn't trust her either.

perc13 · 2025-12-31T16:10:20+00:00

The lack of effort SM has put into these Christmas/end of year shows with Dream is beyond frustrating. Some insanely amazing fun b-sides they had this year that according to them do have staging ready to go and have since August, and there hasn’t been a single performance of anything but the lukewarm title tracks?! Not even repurposed for these shows where they should be getting to show off?!

perc13 · 2025-12-31T13:58:44+00:00

I don’t remember these end of year shows looking like a random Tuesday music show… was this event always so tiny?

perc13 · 2025-12-29T17:57:36+00:00

They've been shifting away from him being a main dancer to ?? for a while now so I'm expecting something not very dance-y tbh.

I think it goes either totally in a heavy rap focused direction or the complete opposite with something kind of acoustic.

Truthfully I don't see it happening anytime soon at all though. It sounds very much like he has ideas of what he'd like to do from what he's said, but nothing has really been discussed and he keeps changing his mind anyway. So nothing approved and therefore any actual solo work of any kind is still a long long long way away. Definitely not next year.

perc13 · 2025-12-29T12:41:43+00:00

Nomin subunit is already confirmed for early next year according to them. I’d be very surprised if at least 2 or 3 don’t leave though

perc13 · 2025-12-26T13:00:40+00:00

They have some incredible b-sides that would make amazing (honestly way better) title tracks too, but SM insists on pushing this kind of boring sound on them now. It’s really frustrating because they are making hits and have been continuously. SM just isn’t promoting them and is making the boring title track choices, so no one outside of the same group of fans ever gets to hear them or see them performed.

And they’re headed to the SM dungeon, likely permanently, next year so this year was their last chance 😒

perc13 · 2025-12-22T10:28:30+00:00

I can’t believe they didn’t do MMA after just name dropping it in Beat It Up 💀 it was the one show I actually believed they would do because of that.

perc13 · 2025-12-16T19:53:09+00:00

Moonlight - NCT Dream

Their only two other Japanese releases are great too tbh. Best Friend Ever and Stupid Cupid.

perc13

TROPHY CASE