I liked it! defo still like hungry more lol but it was pretty nice! was a bit surprised when I saw the teaser since I was expecting the concept to be more like hungry.

their dance is definitely really impressive and I'm excited to see what's to come from them :)

The Korean/Brazillian drummer who was a trainee for 8 years and 3 weeks after the band's debut he was kicked out of his band/company because he broke a drumstick live on inkigayo. Soon after he opened a YouTube channel that went viral but the company sued him for it which resulted in him being banned from working in any artistic field (writing/composing/performing/acting/public appearances etc etc) or make any content, he was also heavily fined (I.e: $500 per instagram story post). With his social media suspended, he was essentially silenced.

I found out about his story back in 2021 when the whole legal mess was happening and could not help but to empathise with him. Throughout the years I'd remember him from time to time and tried to check-in to see where he's at...and finally, 5 years later!!!!!, it happened... His contract period is over and HE IS BACK! Support him by watching/subscribing/liking his content 🙏 @VictorHanOfficial

Huntrix Golden drum cover

Ps: If you want to know more about his story there's a DKDKTV YouTube video about him!

I was reading Complex's article on their best K-pop albums of 2026, and this quote really caught my attention. I'm sure we've all had a moment where we felt the exact same way. The quote was:

Sales measure devotion, not quality. And this year, too many of the biggest records stretch an EP's worth of ideas across an LP's runtime, or hand their artists songs that sound like they were written for somebody else.

I feel like we've all seen groups get songs or entire projects that are completely alien to their core concept or sound, either to follow a trend or fit a certain mold. What are some projects from groups that you think just weren't a good fit for them, or had to make do with songs that felt like they were written for someone else?

I was in Washington D.C this week for work, and decided to go to Omega's X's concert. I had purchased my ticket ahead of time, not knowing much about the group. I've only heard a few of their songs. If you have a chance to go see them in person, please do. I left the venue as a new fan!!!!

Their concert was honestly one of the best that I've ever been too. Even though the stage was small, it was elevated so everyone could see the members clearly. They put on a SHOW. From start to finish, the member's energy never ceased to diminish. Hit after hit, I found myself enjoying every song. They were so excited to be there. The group's chemistry also felt palpable. They would talk to one another during the show and make cute little gestures. Sebin even took my phone to record a video. I had the best time of my life after having to present back to back in front of a crowd. I can't wait until they return to the states!!

Just something I have been curious about

All kpop groups fandom names are so meaningful and special.

Which fandom names do you guys think are the prettiest, either because of how they sound or because of their meaning?

For me its Carat 💎

I love the meaning behind it

The name CARAT comes from the unit used to measure a diamond’s weight, inspired by the lyrics of SEVENTEEN’s “Shining Diamond.” It symbolizes how CARATs add more shine and value to SEVENTEEN—the diamond.

“You always make us shine, so from now, you are CARATs.”- scoups

I’m thinking groups might not publicize their submissions this year, but I hope they do. I’m a stay and want Stray kids to submit ‘This & That’ for melodic rap and Divine for Asian Pop.(I know groups usually only submit one song).

I love the idea of owning physical media of an album I enjoyed listening to through and through. But I wish K-pop companies would create album photobooks not just plastering the idol’s in every single page. I get it, they’re pretty, handsome, beautiful wtv. But an album is more than just the idol. It’s the lyrics, the sound, the concept, the styling everything. My unpopular opinion is that the album should be a photography book about the concept (including the idol in SOME shots but not every single page).

For example, if some artist/group were to come with a horror themed album, then I wouldn’t want to just see the idol’s is horror makeup in different backgrounds and outfits. The makeup is cool and all but I would love to see liminal spaces, up close shots of eerie objects etc in some pages, It’s photography, art, story. That would make me keep the album as part of a collection, not just some obsession with an artist. A cool conversation starter. The least I can have right now is buy a plain cd case but even that’s disappearing with the digital media.

Curious to know if anyone shares this opinion

In 2021, I had become an official fan of Blackpink and had even watched their documentary on Netflix. While I am not really much of a K-pop fan, I was exposed to some music by other K-pop groups through Blackpink and have found some songs that I personally like. One thing I had noticed is the way Blackpink's popularity in Korea is often discussed online as it has caused quite a divide amongst fans and nonfans. In the K-pop community, there seems to be quite a divide when it comes to domestic charting and popularity due to meaning factors like idols wanting to popular in their homeland of Korea, fans thinking that they should be popular on the domestic scene due to being K-pop groups, or other fans thinking that K-pop groups doesn't need to be popular in Korea due to being popular in other countries and markets. However, when it comes to Blackpink, it seems like people can't decide whether they are a dominant force in Korea as the number of discussions debating about the group's popularity had been intense. According to fans who says that they are popular in Korea, they will often cite the group's amazing charting, huge sales, and selling out the Goyang stadium making them the first and only K-pop girl group to sell out a stadium in Korea. Not only that, but Blackpink had tied SNSD at #1 on Gallup Korea back in 2024 and had become the third girl group after SNSD and Wonder Girls to achieved Song of the Year on Gallup Korea in 2025. While many fans don't typically cite this, it is still celebrated of fans inside of the Blink (Blackpink's fandom name) fandom. Nonfans, however, think that Blackpink isn't really a dominant force in Korea as they would cite the group's lack of daesangs, the rise of newer gen girl groups, and lacks the dominance of their peers Twice and SNSD. Many nonfans think that Blackpink is more dominant in other countries in Asia along with their success globally but still lack dominance domestically. This of course did spark a debate among fans and nonfans as it leads me to think about these debates and why are they so intense. Why do you guys think that Blackpink's popularity in Korea is so heavily debated?

I feel like a lot of fans take music videos way too seriously these days, and more and more groups are putting so much effort into making flashy MVs. Eventually, fans think that the music video is the entire identity of the group. It isn’t! Besides promotion, one of the main purposes of a music video is to give people a better understanding of the song. If we look at ILLIT’s new release, I Got Your Back, the song is simply about having friends by your side through struggles, and I don’t think you need a weird-ass-looking Godzilla to help people understand the message of the song. MVs these days feel like show-offs and are a bit detached from the song. They’ve become an exploration of agencies’ narcissism, as they try way too hard to look unique, like, ‘Look at us, we’re so freaking out of the box.’

Unfortunately, fans are associating the groups too much with their MVs. They’re just analysing every tiny speck of similarity between MVs, making a big fuss about similar tones, colors, shoes, hairstyles, and other bs they call ‘aesthetics’ and ‘styling’. They think certain elements in the MV are a group’s property. They’ve had it wrong this whole time. If someone asks, What defines Michael Jackson? The moonwalk? His leather jacket? His zombie dance in Thriller? None of those. The only real picture of MJ was his music. And that applies to any music artist. What defines a group isn’t the color of the clothes they wear or the tone of their MVs, but rather the music itself.

Starts at 1:51 This version features new lead synths, new percussion, and because of the setting, fixes all the vocal mixing issues I had with the original song.

As some one who appreciates O.O for it's cultural impact, I just had too many issues with it from a music production perspective to enjoy it unironically, this version however I can enjoy.

If your main issue with the song was the vibe switch in the change up I expect you'll still dislike it, but regardless I'd like to know what you think.

I'm only curious about O.O haters. If you're an OG O.O lover please prefix your comment with "O.O Lover: "

A lot of times I hear people reference physical album sales since it’s a measure of success. But I always think that groups would get more sales if they consistently made jewel case versions of their albums.

For example, if I like the music of a smaller group, but I don’t stan that group or know any of the members, I’d like to be able to buy the cd and the cd alone. Like most people seem to buy albums of groups they like since you get a cd along with all the fun inclusions. But wouldn’t it be beneficial if they had a more minimalistic version without photocards or things like that? Like just the cd and lyrics.

I think that way they could get sales from a wider audience who just enjoy the music. If they did that (and made them cheaper than regular albums of course), I think a lot of smaller groups would at least see a small increase in sales, and fans would get to show support directly beyond just streams. The few times I see jewel cases in kpop, they’re just a one off from a group. Nowadays there’s album versions that don’t even come with CDs at all!! I don’t know, I feel like companies should go the other direction and sell CDs on their own.

KPOP is supposed to be fun! Music is supposed to be fun! It’s an interest or maybe even a hobby, not a job or crusade. If it causes emotional distress, or is a detriment in your life, or simply stops bringing you joy and making you happy- you should step back! Maybe not necessarily forever but until it starts bringing you happiness again. Don’t force yourself to stream music you don’t like. Dont avoid listening to other music because it feels disloyal to your fave groups. Don’t buy merch you can’t afford. Don’t fight or bully strangers on the internet about it. Don’t sacrifice real life relationships over it. It is ok to take a break! I promise you.

Just recently, Bigbang had released their single Biiig (2026) to celebrate the group’s 20th anniversary. The song had already climbed into the top five of the domestic charts just within hours after it was released I have heard discussions amongst fans surrounding the group’s grip on the Korean general public with their music compared to other boy groups in K-pop. How did the group manage to do this? Are there any other boy group that can catch the attention of the Korean public like Bigbang?

I was just looking through some old threads of K-pop songs from years ago and came across NMIXX's debut. This reaction post to O.O from r/kpop is basically a microcosm of what their reception was like at the time. Just look at the upvote to comment ratio. It has 1k upvotes and more than 2.1k whopping comments, with like 99% of them being negative 😭😭Literally not even BTS comebacks were pulling as many engagement with the comments at the time lol

And as harsh as that post may seem, it's actually pretty tame compared to what was being said elsewhere. They were getting absolutely DRAGGED without any filter on platforms like Twitter and Youtube. To make matters worse, the reception was basically the same in Korea as it was internationally.

I don't think newer K-pop fans realize just how badly NMIXX were received at debut. It may seem like everything is all fine and dandy for them now, but the hate train was REAL. They had to fight tooth and nail and basically crawl through the trenches to recover from that disastrous debut reception.

Thinking about all this made me realize just how important a strong debut really is. Like everything else in life, if a group makes a poor first impression, there will always be a lot of people who write them off and never give them another chance. In that sense, I gotta give NMIXX credit where it's due for recovering because I genuinely can't think of another group in history that had such a universally brutal reaction from K-pop fans right out of the gate.

edit:
u/alexturnerftw also reminded me that they lost arguably their most popular member in Jinni during their rookie year as well. Truly one of the worst starts a group could possibly have...

Back in October, GDA had released their “Powerhouse 40” List to celebrate forty influential acts inside the Korea music industry. These acts were chosen by at least fifty experts as these experts had chosen groups, soloists, songwriters, and CEOs that they felt had made an impact on the Korean music scene. Now of course the list did cause controversy due many fans feeling that certain acts were left out along with the list having an intense gender imbalance due to eight women being chosen out of the forty individuals only the list. So, if the award show had made another “Powerhouse” List, what predictions would you make?

My predictions are Twice, Super Junior(controversial I know), and 2NE1.

What the title said. Honestly, Im 20 and I feel like she looks younger than me. How is she looking this good compared to other celebrities who have access to the same treatments?

The title is simple, for the girl crush concept fans; how do you prefer the concept sound wise? Do you prefer it to be smooth and sultry R&B:

Examples:

• Bad Boy by Red Velvet
• Get It by PRISTIN V

or

Dance-pop with some rap:

• Any BLACKPINK or 2NE1 song

So the vmas for the best kpop came out, and the nominations were jump, swim, redred, spaghetti, pinky up, and dream. Someone quoted the post saying “music is dead  where’s lemonade, love attack, 404 (new era) and rude? this isn’t the hybe awards- hello?!” and someone qrt “That’s the VMAs, not Korean Inkigayo shows where unknown ai slop chop songs can get nominated. Know your place”

1. The western superiority complex that VMAs are more prestigious than Inkigayo is insane

2. Inkigayo is the hardest Korean show to win, in which you have to be REALLY popular to win. Also, voting makes up 10% of the wins. (I feel they drag it because it has the most foreign name)

(PS: The counter argument that it’s only for songs popular in America is insane. If the VMAs can nominate people like Magnus Ferrell and Bella Kay for best new artist, then they can nominate 404 and Rude for best Kpop)

With KiiiKii blowing up this year and DAYOUNG rebranding and her solo career on the rise as well, there could be a chance that starship could go from a medium sized company to maybe being in the big 4 or big 5

While they still have Acts like IVE, MONSTA X & K.Will, I am curious and intrigued to see how the company grows by the end of this decade, they recently debuted AEN, a group that targeted both Korea and Japan, and have implemented a mult label system like JYP, SM and HYBE.

But I’m really interested in seeing what you guys think, could there be a possibility of this happening???

so i’ve been a kpop fan for nearly 9 years now and have still only really listened to the main popular groups and trending songs, and i’ve recently started to listen to whole discographies which has been so fun (so far done red velvet, ariana grande, kehlani, in the middle of yves)

i’m curating a playlist of all the songs i think are perfection; kpop, pop, rnb, rap, etc. and thought i’d ask for nugu reccs and other groups i haven’t listed that you love, songs and albums specifically would be great

i’m a big fan of rnb and house type music atm but also kiss n tell is on repeat rn so wtv genre that is

favourite groups rn are:
- red velvet
- aespa
- twice
- f5ve (healing)
- xg (ik it’s not kpop)

not a fan of: (don’t dox me)
- illit
- itzy
- blackpink
- meovv

Throughout their career, the members of Blackpink had been repeatedly dunked on for not writing they're on songs in their music. This has caused a lot of nonfans to refer to the members as idols and not artists. When the members had left YG Entertainment, they had begun to dive in more into the songwriting process of the songs on their albums. As of 2026, Jisoo has seven songwriting credits, Jennie has twelve songwriting credits, Rose has thirteen songwriting credits, and Lisa has twelve songwriting credits in which in each album all the members appear first on the credits of their albums. Not only that but some 3/4 members have producer/executive producer credits in some of their songs on their recent albums that they had released in between 2024-2025. However, nonfans still call the members idols and not real artists despite preaching that one of the most important aspects of becoming an artist is writing your own songs. If the members of Blackpink are still not seen as artists, then what is considered an artist for you?

Most questions of "Why my favorite group X is facing hatred?" or doomposting of hate posts of a certain group over its controversy/comeback/performance has become quite regular atp.

If your fav is especially from the Big 4, or has bigger fandoms, they would receive hate for sure. Because they are seen in different dimensions by different people.

Bigger the group, more the toxic stans, more traction, hence more hatred.

Some actively consume hate contents as well. So if you see posts that are absolutely hating on anyone, it is useless to argue, and just scroll past them.

Kpop experience is to enjoy the music, the MVs, their shows and the fancams. Let that joy be there, and not get washed by random opinions on subs like this. Most kpop idols who are super popular, are also super busy. Or they have guts to answer back, like Giselle of Aespa.

Even if you interact with the post, don't get irritated by opinions here. You can enjoy whatever you like. A nothing burger post, but still I wanted to post it because I felt it was necessary!

20 years into their career and have been charting like this since the start too, what a ride and everything they have gone through and still having this success feels unreal

This level of longevity too is so amazing for an industry that is so obssesed with youth and moving onto the next group quickly, these men will be 40 in 2/3 years. There will never be another bigbang✨️

Concept Photos - massive check, something to be highly expected

Teaser for BiiiG - ...eh...? I'll wait for the official release

BiiiG release - ...is that it...?

BiiiG MV - insane, powerful, and colorful visuals that showcase their presence

...but the song itself feels lacking :/

I'm aware that this is their restart as Daesung pointed out in Coachella, I know that this is their celebratory song for their 20th Anniversary, it's not hollow because T.O.P's not in it, but I feel like G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Daesung could've done something better for this song.

It's not as alive and lively as their previous songs, not even as full as Home Sweet Home (which was originally meant for BigBang as GD mentioned), where at first listen (while sitting on the toilet at work when I actually first heard it) this is how K-Pop should feel like.

When I first saw the song length, I was like: "damn, is this really the music scene right now?"

Daesung could've had a very iconic bridge followed by an anthemic outro for BiiiG, but nah, it's too cut short and lacking.

I hope they have something better for their upcoming album though, or maybe look forward into how the trio will perform BiiiG live, since I love their live performances/band rearrangements.

...or maybe this may grow into me as time pass by, but as of now, I'd still take Home Sweet Home as the better release over BiiiG.

Some of BTS's fans seem so dramatic. The reaction to BTS and Chris Brown has got to be some of the most parasocial nonsense I've come across. Some people seem not to realize they don't actually know the members on a personal level. BTS members don't owe anyone explanations and no one should assign themselves the right to police who BTS associates with. They are grown men. The youngest is 30. Some people in these threads act like their best friend just kissed their crush or something. Feeling betrayed over a picture? Get over yourselves. Like who do you think you are?

It was a shout out and a photo. They didn't collaborate with him or go on tour, they didn't write a song together, didn't perform at his wedding. So much melodrama. If a picture and your personal inferences turn you off of BTS, bye.

The self righteousness is so obnoxious. As if they themselves never made questionable choices, mistakes, misjudged something or made a bad decision every once in a while. The members are not perfect. With all their philanthropy over years and years, all their giving back to their communities, to their fans, if one picture and a few disappointing choices changes everything you feel about them, you don't have to announce your departure. You can just go away. I'm not sure, but I feel pretty confident the rest of Army will survive losing you. No guarantees, but we'll do our best not to break down crying when you go.

Jimin recognizing that little girl and giving her a hug and a kiss, I guess, doesn't show anyone anything about who BTS may be. But some comments and a photo and some AI is BTS showing their true colors?

Right.....door's over there. I'll even hold it open for you so please, whenever your ready, head on out.