Me being old-school ๐ Happy Birthday to Shinhwa‘s handsome and stern leader Eric. It’s been so long and he never failed as a leader, hyung or role model. He has always led his group to success and down the right path. He is the silent tower of strength of Shinhwa in the background, but somehow is still a child within. Thanks, Eric!
[Note: the video is in German, but I’m kind of used to write everything in English… . Don’t ask why, I just feel more comfortable. I’ll see if I’ll add subtitles :)]
I’m sorry for being such a K-pop and BTS spammer at the moment. It’s just, as an old-school k-popper I never had the chance to actually hype through a comeback or watch videos in real time!! I sound so old and like a digital Neanderthal right now, but Super Junior, MBLAQ, Shinhwa or SHINee never had the possibilities or chances of SNS and live stream as it becomes more and more normal or standard at the moment. Throughout the live V Naver broadcast of BTS’ Spring Day comeback it was like a new world opened up, haha ๐ (felt like Columbus). I’m also used to watch subtitled videos months or years after broadcast and only since a few months Germans have free access to most YouTube videos. Most were blocked (including almost all original K-pop videos) due to licence and copyright issues. I solemnly swear to take up more general Korea content soon.
P.S. Although I was familiar with BTS since their debut, I only worked up the energy to get into them because of my friend who you can see in the video. Thanks for being stubborn! I just had other priorities at that time (like writing a master thesis on K-pop ๐ ).
Nowadays we have to stand together more to overcome differences and build bridges for better understanding and community. To my surprise, K-pop fandoms are showing this side at BTS’ latest comeback. At midnight BTS dropped their new single #SpringDay and it immediately hit the charts and swept to success. Spring Day managed an all-kill on Korean charts (at the top of all Korean music charts), crushed Melon, swept straight into worldwide iTunes and the Top 10 US iTunes (as the first K-pop band) and successfully made the MV count on YouTube stuck several times within one day (Read more on Korean Herald andย Soompi). ARMY is trying hard now to gain their boys 10 million clicks in 24 hours. The count has gone up by 2 Million in the last hours. Just a couple of minutes left and we see the results.
Several other K-pop fandoms are helping BTS‘ fandom ARMY out to achieve this success, such as Seventeen‘s Carat, EXO‘s EXO-L or Black Pink‘s (unofficial) BLINK. The rooting for the K-pop under-dog BTS is going on until one day, BTS will not be considered part of this category anymore. Continue reading
It’s so fascinating to see a band’s maknae (youngest member) grow right in front of your eyes. #Seventeen’s little giant #Dino (real name: Chan) has turned 18 now (or 19 in Korean age) and he becomes more and more manlier and charismatic every moment. But we all remember him at his debut with sweet 16.
Already 10 years have passed since Super Junior’s evil maknae Kyuhyun joined the group. Time flies and he’s more than all grown up now. You’ll always be my first, haha. Come back safe from the army and Happy Birthday! ๐
So, today is a big holiday in Korea and in many other Asian countries: it’s Seollal or Lunar Year – internationally better know as Chinese New Year. The use of the lunar calendar – which is based on the cycle of the moon phases instead of the solar based Gregorian calendar – is widely used throughout Asia (south, west and east!) and plays a large role for festivals and holidays. Korea doesn’t sport many public holidays, but Seollal is definitely in the top 2 with three whole days off work to visit family and celebrate. A well-known feature of the lunar calendar are the 12 recurring animals of the Chinese zodiac. This years’ new zodiac is the roosterย (๋ญ๋ ) and I found Continue reading
To be more precisely, it’s the year of the fire rooster. People born this year are said to be trustworthy, with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility at work. In all the rooster-born are said to have great characteristics such as being observant, communicative, frank, quick minded and multi-talented which leaves them with a certain confidence in themselves. On that point, however, they might tend to an eccentric and boastful life-style, being moody and impatient or impassive as the quickly lose interest after being overenthusiastic about something.
I just enjoy Google Asia’s New Years banner every time :3
A voice like a choir boy vs a voice like a rock star,
The smile of an angel vs the grin of a Cheshire Cat,
LA boy’s slaying English skills vs Daegu guy’s English awkwardness,
Boyish charms vs mainly cheekiness,
Yet, they don’t only share the same birthday, but are equally lovable and handsome.
#HappyBirthday to the vocalists of #Seventeen: #Joshua (or #Jinsu) and of #BTS: #V (or #Taehyung)!
Merry Christmas to y’all! I hope you have wonderful holidays and a good time with whom ever you’re spending the days with. Thank you for sticking to this year’s Calendar – I really appreciate it. For all who want to listen to the tracks peacefully, find the playlist here and also last year’s songs on my YT channel. I’ll link all detailed post of this year’s 24 Kpop songs below (if you want to short-link). Continue reading
Christmas Eve is here and Santa is coming to town tonight in Germany! It’s the last day on the K-pop Christmas Calendar in 2016 and thank you all for staying tuned till the end. Tonight is going to be a festive eve and I hope you all celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tomorrow in the happy way you do in your country. The Christmas Calendar says goodbye swinging with a really jolly and bouncy version of the carol classic Jingle Bells. However, this is not any version of Jingle Bells, it’s the three charming ladies of the time slip group The Barberettes who reproduce the sounds of the 50s and 60s in their music. Continue reading
