These days, with “monster rookies” making their debut songs top the charts like it was the easiest thing, we look back at a number of groups whose debut songs ushered their “arrival” in the K-pop scene. Take note that these songs were released at a time when groups are not commonly a product of reality shows that package idols to instant popularity even before their debut – so having “monster rookies” wasn’t yet an expected occurrence as they are nowadays. But then, despite the challenges, these debut songs caught the public’s attention and went on to make legends out of the groups that sang them.
1. Girls’ Generation — “Into The New World”
Girls’ Generation’s legendary debut song is still holding strong and is a favorite more than a decade after its release. The song is basically the standard all other debut songs are compared to- for girl and boy groups.
The song itself was quite memorable as it showcased the girls’ impressive vocals and dancing skills in the music video, as girl groups then were not really known to have elaborate dance moves and choreography, unlike their male counterparts. Moreover, during the time of GG aka the second generation, it wasn’t that common for groups during that time to gain a lot of recognition to the point of winning music shows with only their debut song. But Into the New World did exactly just that to SNSD, as the group won their first music show trophy on M Countdown more than two months after debuting.
The song, a testament to sweet and young love, and the accompanying music video, which featured the girls pursuing various interests, were devoured by the Korean public. They instantly fell in love with the nine-girl lineup. Years later, somehow, the song was adapted by protestors rallying for various social causes in Korea, including the eventual impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in 2017.
2. 2NE1 – “Fire“
A couple of years after Girls’ Generation made their impressive debut and encountered credible competition from only Kara and Wonder Girls, YG Entertainment took it upon themselves to join the SM Entertainment-dominated niche by introducing the girl version of their highly successful boy group BIG BANG – 2NE1. While the group was initially introduced to the public via a collaboration single with their brother group entitled Lollipop (which became all the more popular because it was used as a promotional jingle for the LG Cyon phone), it was not until a couple of months later that CL, Bom, Dara, and Minzy officially debuted via Fire.
Fire’s release was highly anticipated – it was filled with fanfare and hype as only YG Entertainment can muster. Two music videos to support the song’s release were premiered on the same day – a “space” and “street” version, which exceeded a million views on YouTube within a day of its release. And then, the girls performed their song for the first time live in Inkigayo. Who can forget that staging with the girls getting introduced one by one as an elevator stops on each floor of a building? Of course, when the lift finally arrived on the 21st floor, all hell broke loose, and the girls performed their debut song like they have been doing it for years. Both the music videos and their debut stage were featured in American blogger Perez Hilton’s blog, which earned the group an instant international following. Finally, Korean pop music had its first group that embodied the “girl crush” concept. And in an industry where girl groups would usually be either cute and innocent or downright provocative and sexy, the fierce image that 2NE1 exuded was still uncommon and fresh. No wonder the girls won their first music show trophy only a month after Fire was released, which slashed SNSD’s previous record by half.
And we haven’t even talked about Dara’s palm tree hair.
3. miss A – “Bad Girl, Good Girl“
After SM and YG’s explosive girl group revelations (with SM doing it the second time in 2009 with the introduction of the highly experimental f(x)), the ball was back to JYP’s court. Although JYP had a fierce rivalry with SM via the Wonder Girls – SNSD match-up, they kinda lost steam with their push for WG to make a splash internationally. And with Girls’ Generation, f(x), Kara, 2NE1, and then-monster rookies Sistar dominating the charts while Wonder Girls were still somehow pushed in the US, JYP had no choice but to debut a new group with miss A. And what a solid move it was!
miss A met immediate success with their debut single Bad Girl, Good Girl, which featured a novel concept for girl groups in K-pop – sexy but not overt as Sistar, fierce but not as in-your-face as 2NE1, which ultimately worked for JYP’s new girl group then. The song was and still is hella catchy. After all, this was produced during the time when JYP still had that magic (come to think of it, he still does, but it comes and goes these days, which may explain how he has been inconsistent with ITZY and NMIXX). Alas, that choreography to match the rather haughty lyrics of the song has been what has made it memorable after all these years. All those pointing and kicking when the girls are down to the ground, lying on their stomachs are still pretty much remembered up to this day when idols dance to the song on variety shows. Along with the choreography of Hush, which has Fei, Jia, Min, and Suzy holding on to a horizontal curtain rod, Bad Girl Good Girl tops miss A’s list of memorable songs mainly because of the iconic choreography. BGGG also broke 2NE1’s record by winning for miss A their first music show trophy 21 days after their debut. Too bad the girls had to succumb to the 7-year K-pop curse.
4 & 5. Blackpink – “Boombayah” and “Whistle“
Remember the move YG made when they debuted 2NE1 with not just one, but two music videos for their first release Fire? YG revived this tactic with their second girl group, Blackpink, when they debuted the group in 2016. Only this time, YGE did not just release one song with two music videos but actually released two different songs – Boombayah and Whistleon the same day, August 8, 2016. By that time, the anticipation for the new YG girl group was at its fever pitch since the company’s banner girl group, 2NE1, was on a hiatus following the involvement of Park Bom in a scandal. Thus, by the time August 8, 2016 came, people were just all too ready to gobble up anything Blackpink released.
Alas, fans were blessed with this selection which was a bit different from one another. For those who prefer a steadier, more mellow beat, Whistle was for them, while for those who wanted a high energy track from the first note up to the last, Boombayah was perfect. Whistle is haunting with its minimal beat which remains steady throughout the song, so there’s really no beat drop or any explosive parts of the song. In contrast, Boombayah has all the ingredients of a “typical” YG song, with earworm portions that will stick in your head for weeks, unique choreography for the live performances, and catchy lyrics that fans will sing in the years to come. While Whistle had the repetitive “Make’ em whistle like a missile bomb, bomb”, Boombayah has the iconic line that has become a trademark of Blackpink up to this day – that line about them being in your area. Boombayah also has that line that has made a legend out of Girls’ Planet 101 participant and later Kep1er member Hikaru – the line that goes “I’m gonna go brrrr… Rambo.”
And of course, that Rosé was sliding on the floor on her back below the three girls while singing is the stuff of legends. While they didn’t do this every time they performed the song live, you can just imagine how difficult it was for our main vocal to shoot that scene on the music video, considering that she has to do it without making it look difficult. Rosé has admitted that it was tough for her to film that section of the music video, since her leather attire also caused friction between her and the floor, so it was not easy for her to “slide through” the girls’ legs at all as her own legs had to do a lot of work so it would look like she is “sliding” across the floor. That has also got to result in a lot of skin chaffing, which she did confirm in interviews. Truly iconic.
Legendary Debut Songs Versus Monster Rookies: A Postscript
A lot of new groups these days may achieve instant (or in some points of view, automatic) fame because of the popularity of some of their members. For example, aespa was already popular when it debuted because of the massive SM campaign machinery behind the group. G-Idle, Everglow, IVE, Kep1er, and Le Sserrafim have instant public recognition because they have members that are reality idol contest alumnae – Soyeon, Yiren, Wonyoung, Yujin, and Sakura, Chaewon, and Yunjin, respectively. Even STAYC, which people argue does not have former idol contestants, has Sieun and Saeun, who had already established acting careers prior to debuting as idols.
But then, we can argue that even if these groups have achieved enormous popularity since debuting, their debut songs may not have really served them well. Next Level was what brought aespa to, (pun intended) the next level and not really Black Mamba, which only peaked at #49 in the national charts. Bon Bon Chocolat did a good job in introducing Everglow to the world, but Adios was the group’s breakthrough hit. Eleven was good, but Love Dive is arguably the iconic IVE song. Thus, with the monster rookies we’ve mentioned, only G-Idle (with Latata), Le Sserafim (with Fearless), and Kep1er (with Wadada) are the ones with debut songs that have so far served them really well. And by the looks of it, it seems that Attention is on its way to making New Jeans not just a monster rookie, but a rookie legend.
Featured Image: Youtube Screenshot from Blackpink’s “Boombayah“
Oh, to be a K-pop idol! You have the adoration of fans all over the world, always primmed with the best fashion, hair, and make-up, and presented with countless opportunities in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, viewers and netizens may have noticed some of these idols are undeserving of the acting opportunities given to them. Some of the reasons for this “hatred” include these idol-actors just not having any acting talent at all. Most of them seem to be only relying on their looks and popularity to prop up the profile of the shows they’re part of. Let’s check out the three idols-turned-actors who have been bitten by the acting bug but have gotten unfavorable reviews for their effort.
ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo
The criticism: He has a weak voice, he is known for being an actor with “ham facial expressions” that produce cringe-worthy reactions with furrowed or raised eyebrows, flared nostrils, and overall exaggerated expressions. It does not help that most of the roles he has had for his dramas restrict him as someone who is blessed with facial beauty. For someone who has acted in shows such as My ID is Gangnam Beauty and True Beauty, it is quite obvious that the ASTRO member long regarded as a Face Genius can be quite limiting, even for the most talented of actors.
#2021KDramaGue True Beauty. On going drama just finished yesterday. I really enjoy it, the cast, storyline and the humors that build around it. Cha Eun Wo, oh my ♥️😍💯
Signs of redemption: A lot of netizens (the same group of people who have criticized the idol-actor in the past) have seen remarkable improvement with Eunwoo’s acting in his latest offering, the 2020-2021 drama True Beauty. They have noted two things: Less hammy facial expressions than what was seen in Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung and more natural acting.
What the idol needs to do: Eunwoo needs to challenge himself if he’s that serious about making acting an alternative career. After all, ASTRO will have to face and hopefully beat the 7-year curse of idol groups next year. So, if things with ASTRO don’t go smoothly as hoped for, he may venture into full-time acting, which means he may be presented with the possibility of doing more challenging and meatier roles. That should be great for Eunwoo, who may want the opportunity to display his acting chops and chuck his current image of being just another pretty face out the window. He has already been exposed to the world of television with supporting and leading roles in four programs already, plus he is set to debut in the movies with the yet-to-be-released Decibel, so a more discriminating taste in selecting his next roles will be important if he wants to be taken seriously as an actor.
Red Velvet’s Joy
The criticism: Joy has been the female lead of two dramas already – 2017’s s The Liar and His Lover and 2018’s Tempted. The acting major from the School of Performing Arts has been criticized for both appearances. Many had expressed skepticism when Joy accepted both lead parts and unfortunately, their disappointment was only encouraged when they watched both series. Comments ranged from Joy simply not being a good actress with her facial expression, gestures, and diction are supposedly unnatural and “painful to watch” to “Wow I can just tell from the photos that she sucks at acting. This needs to be investigated”, and “This is why you need to go to a major agency. They get you in variety shows and drama in any way they can”.
https://youtu.be/U8p_IzC36Ck
Sings of redemption: Joy is set to headline another drama, Only One Person with Prison Playbook’s Kim Kyungnam and Hospital Playtlist’s Ahn Eunjin which is supposed to be released before the year ends. Let us hope for this drama with a sterling cast to usher Joy to levels of better acting.
What the idol needs to do: At this time, Joy can still afford one more bomb performance before being dismissed outright as an acting black hole. This is why Only One Person needs to work. Otherwise, if she is bent on continuing her acting career, acting classes maybe must be in the offing.
The criticism: After bandmate Baekhyun got flack for subpar acting in Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo while main vocal D.O received praises for his appearances in movies and TV series, it has been the group’s leader Suho who has been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism in his acting performances both on TV and the movies. For his latest drama, How Are U Bread, where he played a magical baker the vitriol against the idol was at an all-time high, with comments such as “Why does SM keep sticking idols into acting? I wouldn’t mind if they start from small roles but they’re taking lead roles when they can’t even act” and “If you’re going to claim this is a troll post, he has to be a good actor. It’s a fact that he’s a terrible actor but we can’t criticize his acting?” receiving support and agreement among K-netizens. Suho, like Eunwoo, is cursed with breathtakingly perfect visuals, which may be a handicap for actors who may need to look imperfect to suit their “everyday man” roles.
— Mary🐰👨🏻🎨En attendant SUHO💕ᴱˣᶦˢᵗ✵ (@cottoncandy_jun) July 4, 2020
Signs of redemption: None yet, as Suho is currently finishing his mandatory military service.
What the idol needs to do: Suho needs to shy away from the pretty boy and overly glamorized roles. He can’t help it if he looks the way he does, but It can be jarring to see perfect-looking idols portraying perfect-looking people in TV shows. If D.O can portray a blind athlete, a prince, and a North Korean POW all in the same degree of effectiveness, I am sure Suho can as well. He just has to be on the lookout for better-written characters who don’t rely on their looks to keep the story interesting.
To be honest, it’s not like these idols are going to disappear from k-dramas, especially if they still attract a following that show producers and TV stations would definitely not say no to. So, let’s just hope for these three to get their acting chops sharpened real soon!
Featured Image: Screenshot from The Liar and The Lover trailer.
Credit: Screenshot from Youtube video - Day6 (Even of Day)
K-pop videos are always an amazing visual and aural experience. But are you looking for music videos that are a step beyond the usual? Why not give animated music videos a try? Animation can just be as compelling and powerful storytelling tools, and the resulting music videos can be equally memorable.
Here are 11 fully- and partially-animated K-pop music videos to brighten up your day, suck you into another universe, or let you think about life. Who knows, by watching these animated music videos, you might even discover a new favorite group or soloist to follow!
That’s Okay – D.O (EXO)
In 2019, EXO’s main vocalist D.O gifted fans with his solo single That’s Okay just before enlisting for his mandatory service. The song is released with a heartwarming animated music video.
In the video, a man sees a wilting cactus while moving into his apartment and decides to take care of it. He nurtures the plant until it’s revived. Later on, it’s revealed that the man became a homebody due to grief over losing his dog. Eventually, the cactus sprouted some flowers, which seemed to bring the man out of his depression.
Through the song—and the animated music video—D.O reassured EXO-Ls that no matter what they’re going through, everything will eventually turn out okay.
Watch the music video below:
Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment) – BTS
Shortly after BTS released their official video for Yet to Come from their anthology album Proof, they came out with a special animated music videos for the same single. The animated video evoked the same sentimental feeling as the official music video, but in a more fun and cute way. In the video, the members trek across a desert, just like in the original. They stumble and slide down, and meet a purple humpback whale that takes them to an island paradise.
The video also doubled as a teaser for BTS Island: In the SEOM, a video game and a virtual space for “healing and relaxation.” The game was launched on June 28, 2022.
Rapper/singer Heize released her second full-length album, Undo, on June 30, 2022, and one of her B-sides, Supercar, comes with a colorful, yet melancholy music video. In this track, Heize sings about a magical supercar that runs so fast, so that could take her back to a relationship that has ended. The bittersweet lyrics complement the music video, where a woman in a bright yellow sports car races through her memories—both happy and sad.
Sing along and feel the emotions while watching the music videos below:
Hate You – 2NE1
Hate You showed K-pop fans that 2NE1 is just as badass in cartoon form. In this 2011 music video, the girls are the heroines chasing after a villain who blew up a town. They follow the villain, disguised as a man, into a pub, and engage in a brief fight before he escapes. The chase continues, and when they finally caught up with their enemy, it’s revealed that the being is actually some kind of monster. They successfully fight off the monster and emerge victorious, and they drive away into the pink sunset.
Watch the action-packed video below:
Tomboy – Hyukoh
Korean indie pop-rock band Hyukoh collaborated with illustrator Park Gwang-soo for the music video of their 2017 track Tomboy.
The song, according to lead singer Oh Hyuk, depicts the confusing and depressing side of youth, where everything is unfamiliar and uncertain. The black-and-white animated music video brilliantly translates the lyrics in a video packed with symbolism. The human-like figures are ablaze with the conflicting feelings of passion and bright hopefulness mixed with confusion, insecurity and desperation.
Watch the thought-provoking music video below:
Eight – IU feat. Suga (BTS)
In Eight, IU and Suga expressed the loneliness and fleeting nature of life, and the longing for a place with no sadness and where everyone could live happy and free. It also talks about the yearning to revisit precious memories, and to live life without taking anything or anyone for granted.
The music video flits between live action and animation, beginning when IU goes to a lab to presumably download her forgotten memories. IU then sees flashes of memories, as well as fantastical adventures throughout the song, before she wakes up again as the song draws to a close.
See IU’s ethereal visuals—both live action and animation—in the music video below:
Super Duper – Super Junior
If you’re looking for music that will surely lift your mood, look no further—because Super Junior is coming to your rescue! Their 2018 SM Station single, Super Duper, will get you moving to the funky beat in no time.
The accompanying music video is just as much of a happy pill, as the music videos reflects much of the group’s lively and chaotic personality. Plus, the animation’s bright, solid colors add to the overall cheerful vibe you’ll get from the song.
This is not the only animated music videos that the group has released. They came out with the Latin pop-infused Animals in 2018. The music video featured the animated versions of the members matched with their zodiac signs. In 2020, they released the sweet, Christmas-themed animated music videos for Tell Me Baby, a B-side from the group’s Renaissance album.
Dance to the beat while watching the kooky music video below:
Where the Sea Sleeps – Day6 (Even of Day)
Where the Sea Sleeps is a ballad from Day6’s sub-unit Even of Day, released in 2020.
The track has a comforting vibe; the lyrics sing about promising to stay together even through hardship. It’s also as if the band members are also reassuring their fans that no matter what happens, they will always be by their side.
The song’s music video complements the lyrics surprisingly well. In the music videos, three animal friends build a rocket ship and journey to space. However, they fly into several asteroids, which destroys the rocket ship and eject the friends onto a nearby planet. All three initially lose consciousness, and for a while, everything seems lost. But, the animal friends wake up, and using a compass they were able to swim to shore and safety—showing that they will always stick together.
Watch the music video below:
Savage – aespa
K-pop crosses over to the metaverse with aespa’s Savage. This music video from the fourth-gen super rookies blends live action, computer graphics, and animation. In the music videos, the girls continue their quest to reunite with their avatars in the SM Culture Universe (SMCU). The lyrics might not be everyone’s cup of tea, especially as it contains plenty of references to elements in the group’s SMCU storyline that some might find a little jarring to listen to. But the vibrant, sassy energy of the song pairs well with the aggressive, yet sophisticated vibe of the music videos.
Step into the metaverse with aespa today:
Dream – Eric Nam ft. Park Jimin
This video is quite different from the other music videoss on this list, because the “animation” is actually sand art! Eric Nam, together with Park Jimin, sing about longing for a lost love in Dream. The song and the music video tells the story of a couple who have gone their separate ways, but still look back on their relationship with nostalgia and a bit of yearning.
The sand art transitions throughout the music videos makes watching it feel like being in an actual dream sequence. Check out the music video below:
Hold My Hand – Lee Hi
Singer and songwriter Lee Hi’s refreshing vocals and adorable visuals take center stage in her music video for Hold My Hand. But despite the song’s cheery tone and the music videos’ cute 8-bit graphics, the lyrics tell the story of a heartbroken individual longing for their ex-lover to come back and love them again.
Jump into this cute video game simulation-like video below:
While music videos featuring drama plotlines and slick choreography will always be fascinating both to fans and non-fans, animated music videos offer a different, yet refreshing charm that only adds to the rich K-pop scene. Which one in our list is your favorite?
It is with a sense of sadness coupled with a huge wave of nostalgia that this has to be said: The second generation of idol groups are setting their careers off into the sunset. Save for a few active ones (considering those groups haven’t been as active as they once were) a lot of groups belonging to the second generation have done their “last” efforts over the past years. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see if you can still remember these events:
What was the last title track that featured Hoya in the group before he decided to leave both the agency, Woolim, and the group?
Tell Me
Top Seed
The Eye
Trick Question: Hoya is still with the group.
The Nation’s Girl Group: SNSD
In 2018, Girl’s Generation aired their final reality series on VLive before three of its members decided to not renew their contracts with SM, although they are still part of the group that is currently on hiatus. What is the name of their last reality show?
Girl’s for Rest
Factory Girl
Girls’ Generation and the Dangerous Boys
Does Girl’s Generation do variety shows?
BEAST is the B2ST: HIGHLIGHT
The group released a full-length album titled Highlight before all remaining members at that time left CUBE Entertainment to establish their own agency, Around Us Entertainment. Why did they change their group’s name to the last album they did with their former agency?
They wanted a new feel and image for their new group.
They felt that the name B2st is too attached to their old agency, so they wanted a change.
CUBE Entertainment claimed they will be re-launching B2st with new members.
CUBE Entertainment has trademarked the name BEAST /B2ST.
The Pioneers of Korean Girl Crush: 2NE1
📊 | 2NE1 reaches a new peak of 1.8 MILLION monthly listeners on Spotify
With member Park Bom’s scandal in 2014, the group was not given a comeback since. However, they performed in a show, unbeknownst to us all that it would be the final performance of the group as four. Minzy departed from YG in 2016 and the group subsequently disbanded. In which event was this performance?
2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong
Power (YG Family) World Tour in Taiwan
All or Nothing World Tour in Macau
2015 Golden Disk Awards in Seoul
The Eternal Rookies: TEEN TOP
Teen Top is the first K-pop boy group to have celebrated their 10th year in the Korean music industry without losing members to conscription. What was the first online concert of the group? (It was also their last concert as a full group in a while as Chunji enlisted in the military on August 10, 2020)
Teen on Top
Teen Top 10 Live
Party To.N9ne
10th Anniversary Concert
K-Pop’s Top Performers: AFTER SCHOOL
After School is a group best known for incorporating unique elements in their performances, whether it is on their music videos or their live performances. What unique element did they inject into their last title track, First Love?
Tap dancing
Pole dancing
Drum playing
Dressing up like sushi
Hallyu Kings: SUPER JUNIOR
Picture credit: Paula Abiog
One of the most challenging things about having a group that has 13 members is having them all present in a project. This is especially true with Super Junior, a group that cannot seem to catch a break because of differences in schedules, scandals, injuries, and members leaving, getting dismissed, or having to fulfill their mandatory military service. What was the last Super Junior music video with all 13 members – Leeteuk, Siwon, Donghae, Eunhyuk, Shindong, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, Yesung, Heechul, Sungmin, Kibum, Kangin, and Hangeng – together?
Neorago (It’s You)
No Other
Mamacita (Ayaya)
Mr. Simple
Korean Power Celebrities: GIRL’S DAY
Although all four members haven’t renewed their contracts with their original agency, they claim that Girl’s Day has not disbanded. What was the group’s only single to have charted #1 in the national Gaon charts?
Something
I’ll Be Yours
Ring My Bell
Darling
The Kings of K-Pop: BIGBANG
What was the last music video released by BIGBANG?
Last Dance
Flower Road
Fxxk It
Girlfriend
The Eternal Fairies of K-Pop: APINK
Image credit: Official Apink Twitter
The group that banked on a sweet, innocent image throughout their careers has also had a strong Japanese career with all their Japanese singles charting at the country’s Oricon singles chart. What was the group’s last single released specifically to the Japanese market?
More! Go! Go!
Dumhdurum (Japanese version)
Thank You (Japanese version)
Orion
Answer key:
Woolim’s Pride: INFINITE The Eye was Hoya’s last title track with the group.
The Nation’s Girl Group: SNSD Girl’s for Rest was GG’s last reality show, which aired on VLive.
BEAST is the B2ST: HIGHLIGHT CUBE Entertainment has trademarked the name BEAST /B2ST.
The Pioneers of Korean Girl Crush: 2NE1 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong
The Eternal Rookies: TEEN TOP They aired Teen Top 10 Live during the pandemic, before Chungji entered the military.
K-Pop’s Top Performers: AFTER SCHOOL The members pole danced on both the music video and their live performances.
Hallyu Kings: SUPER JUNIOR Neorago (It’s You). After Neorago, Kibim started to be an inactive member, Hangeng left the group, the rest got conscripted, Sungmin started to be an inactive member in 2016, and Kangin left the group in 2019.
Korean Power Celebrities: GIRL’S DAY Darling is the only Girl’s Day single that went to the top of the Gaon charts.
The Kings of K-Pop: BIGBANG Last Dance. Flower Road only had a lyric video, Fxxk It came before Last Dance, and Girlfriend didn’t have a music video.
The Eternal Fairies of K-Pop: APINK Orion. More! Go! Go! was released before Orion and Dumhdurum and Thank You did not have Japanese versions.
So, how did you fare? If you scored at least a 7, consider yourself a true blue Second Gen K-pop fan! Nothing to be ashamed of as the Second Gen groups were really something!
Looking for some refreshing K-pop tunes from sub-units that you might have missed? Here are four of them.
Hi Suhyun and Bom&Hi
It must be because Lee Hi debuted in YG Entertainment at a time where the trend was (still is) is for idols to be in groups all the time that the company paired him with Suhyun of the sibling duo Akdong Musician and Park Bom of the phenomenal girl group 2NE1. Bom, Suhyun, and Hi were at the top of their game during the times they collaborated, so it goes without saying that the project “sub-unit” collabs were all hits. First was the cover by Lee Hi and Bom of Mariah Carey’s Christmas staple, All I Want for Christmas is You, released on December 20, 2013, which peaked at #17 in the charts. It was accompanied by a very moody music video with a sort of Scandinavian aesthetic.
Eleven months later, in November 2014, Lee and AKMU‘s Suhyun formed the sub-unit Hi Suhyun and released the digital single I’m Different featuring iKON‘s Bobby in both the song and the music video. The duo’s first stage was at SBS’ Inkigayo on November 16, following their first win the following week. Such an iconic song and music video, where we see the two having a “friendly competition” over Bobby’s affections, for them only to realize that our boy already has a girlfriend, none other the beautiful still-had-to-debut Jisoo before Blackpink exploded. One fun and cute music video where everyone just looked their most attractive.
Playlist musts: Both I’m Differentand the All I Want for Christmas cover are musts!
Girls’ Generation – TTS
The first official sub-unit of Girls’ Generation was composed of the groups’ three main vocalists, Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. Now, you may be asking, why weren’t the other two main vocalists, Jessica and Sunny, not included? No official statement regarding this, but some speculate that they were the three members who were the most available and did not have other projects. Others suggest that the sub-unit was actually Tiffany’s idea, that she originally wanted only Taeyeon and the rest of the slots were available for everyone and Sica and Sunny weren’t available. Finally, there’s the theory that the three voices were the most matched with other: Taeyeon has complete control, Tiffany supplies the emotions, and Seohyun has the technical merit, making a perfect and complete combination that doesn’t really require Sica’s nasality and Sunny’s overly high pitch.
TaTiSeo‘s debut EP, Twinkle, was released in April 2012 and secured its place in K-pop history as the first album by a Korean artist to rank number 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart. At the time, it was also the highest charting K-pop album on the Billboard 200, reaching number 126. TTS became the first subgroup to achieve a “triple crown” on South Korean music shows, reigning in the number 1 spot for three weeks in a row. Suffice to say Twinkle was the undisputed top song during its release.
It took more than two years for the group to release their follow-up effort to Twinkle. Holler was released in September 2014. The album continued the sub-unit’s success as it debuted at number 1 on South Korea’s Gaon Album Chart and the Billboard World Albums chart. With this achievement, TTS become the third Korean artist, and the first female artist, to have more than one number 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart. During promotions, the three singers were featured in the reality show The TaeTiSeo. In December 2015, TTS released their third EP, a Christmas special album titled Dear Santa. The album debuted at number 2 on South Korea’s Gaon Albums Chart and has sold at least 60,456 copies to date. Like the Twinkle EP, Seohyun contributed to the composition of a couple of songs.
As the group is very Tiffany-heavy, GG-TTS was sparkling all the time. From the very bright sound of all their songs to the glittery outfits on their stages and music videos. It’s a bit sad that there isn’t much of a hope for a reunion since Ti and Seo aren’t with SM Entertainment anymore. But since the entire GG group is reuniting, we can still hope, yeah?
Playlist musts: Dear Santa, if you’re on a holiday mood, but otherwise, Holler and Twinkle will definitely give you instant sparkles if you happen to have a blah day.
JJ Project
The first and perhaps only sub-unit of the hapless GOT7, the JJ Project started out even before the debut of their group. They started off adapting the stage names of JB and Jr. as there were already established singers who share their names, including Park Jinyoung, their boss in JYP Entertainment. On May 8, 2013, JYP Entertainment announced the new duo JJ Project, which debuted with the single album Bounce on May 20. The single album also features another song Hookedand a collaboration with Miss A‘s Suzy titled Before This Song Ends.
In April 2013, the duo appeared once again as actors for the MBC’s drama When a Man Falls in Love. While they were preparing for the second album, they were reintegrated into JYPE’s new boy band project group, and on January 16, 2014, they debuted as members of GOT7.
On July 31, 2017, they released Verse 2, an EP of self-composed, self-written songs about the anxieties of youth. At the end of the year, Verse 2 was chosen as the fifth best K-pop album of 2017 by Billboard and was nominated in the album division at the Golden Disc Awards. JJ Project also got a nomination for the popularity award. Further activities of the duo have been muddled by Got7‘s internal troubles (aka lack of effort on JYPE’s part to promote the group). Finally, on January 19, 2021, following the expiration of their contract, they left JYP Entertainment. Since then, Got7 has reunited for an album outside the tutelage of JYPE, but there hasn’t been any news on JJ Project activities.
Playlist musts: If you’re into the mindless anything goes fun songs JYPE produces (e.g., 2PM’s Go Crazy), then Bounceis for you. Otherwise, make sure to check out Tomorrow, Today with its breathtaking picturesque roadtrip music video.
ToHeart
ToHeart is a bit of an anomaly in K-pop because this unit is composed of two members who not only come from different groups, but different entertainment companies. Well, it can be said that Woolim Entertainment is already connected with SM Entertainment via its merger with SM Contents & Culture, but it is still an independent company, so the establishment of SHINee’s Key and Infinite’s Woohyun as ToHeart is quite a refreshing development, up to this day.
On February 20, 2014 SM Entertainment released a teaser announcing ToHeart, which debuted three weeks later with the mini album Delicious and the music video for the title track was released on March 10. On the same day, the duo held their first showcase in the Coex Artium, hosted by bandmates Minho and Sunggyu. Both Woohyun and Key stated that it was their idea to create this unit, since both are friends and had an interest in working with each other. They didn’t expect to do a singing collaboration project, instead thinking of photoshoots and something similar. Close to two months after the release of Delicious, the duo followed up their promotions with Tell Me Why featuring Infinite Sungyeol’s little brother, Lee Daeyeol (who later joined Golden Child) as well as actress Mun Kayoung. The song was requested most by fans and is produced by Sweetune. It tells the story of a man’s unwillingness to let a lover go.
The sub-unit’s career was short and sweet, having produced only those two singles and that one mini album. During the year they were active, the two were also flooded with controversy, primary among them were rumors claiming that the two were more than just friends and co-workers. Fashion magazine photoshoots of the two that could be best described as bordering on homoerotic only added fuel to the fire. However, rumors of a lover’s spat exploded when the two just ceased activities as ToHeart and also unfollowed each other on social media. The rumors were later quashed as the two followed each other again on Instagram and Key actually asking Woohyun to go with him to fulfill his mandatory military duty in 2019. But then, many pointed out that the two haven’t been as close as they used to be, and there hasn’t been any news of the duo reuniting to work together again or release new music. But then, if the degree of the duo’s closeness is best defined by those hot magazine photoshoots, those levels may never return. However, based on recent activity, it would be safe to guess that the two are still very close even outside of showbusiness.
Playlist musts:Delicious and Tell Me Why are second generation K-pop gems that nobody can deny.
Make sure to check their songs out so you won’t wonder how you been living on this earth without knowing them!
Featured Image: Youtube Screengrab from ToHeart’s music video “Delicious”
If you think the seven-year curse has affected each and every Kpop artist, here are four Kpop groups that broke the dreaded 7-year curse:
Girls’ Generation (2007 – Present)
TWICE may have arguably taken the title “Nation’s Girl Group,” but we cannot deny that the OGs still have it. And there were a lot of girl groups before Girls’ Generation, groups like Fin. K.L, SeeYa, and SM Entertainment labelmate SES dominated public consciousness for a time, but nothing has come close to how SNSD has endeared themselves to the Korean public and how they have stayed relevant all these 15 years. Yes, the group debuted in 2007 and there hasn’t been any major hiccup in their career, save for that one person everybody regards like Bruno in Enchanted: Ms. Jessica Jung. Alas, right on the dot of the group’s 7th anniversary in 2014, Jessica just wasn’t a member of Girls’ Generation anymore. Was she removed? If yes, by who? Did the company give her the boot? Did her groupmates vote her out, Survivor-style? Did she resign from the group to focus on her other career ventures (aka her fashion line and her boyfriend Tyler Kwon)?
Despite that, they still continued with some chart-toppers like Lionheart and Party, then commemorated their 10th year as a group with the double release of All Night and Holiday before Sooyoung, Tiffany, and Seohyun left SM Entertainment (but not the group!) the next year. The remaining members with SME continued to make up the subunit Oh!GG and still topped the charts. And now, all eight members are reuniting with a 15th anniversary release. That this might coincide with Blackpink’s August comeback is giving me an anxiety attack.
BIGBANG (2006- Present)
BIGBANG has been around for more than 16 years. Debuting in 2006, the group quickly became a success and single-handedly built YG Entertainment’s reputation, raising the company’s status among Korea’s top 3 entertainment companies. As with most groups, BIGBANG had its share of controversies, and how! These were some of the biggest scandals in the Korean entertainment industry has been involved in.
Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to remember them. Let’s see, there was GD’s marijuana use, Daesung’s manslaughter, TOP’s drug case, TOP’s attempt at taking his own life, Seungri’s involvement in the Burning Sun scandal part 1 (the being a front of illegal gambling and drug trade activity), Seungri’s involvement in the Burning Sun scandal part 2 (illegal sexual harassment video trafficking), Seungri’s resignation from the group and the Korean entertainment industry, Seungri’s jail sentence, Seungri’s removal from conscription and transfer to a civilian prison.
when there's people doubting or diminishing bigbang's impact, success and influence just ask them how many kpop groups out there can release a song at midnight after 5 years of hiatus with no promotion and still break records, make colossal numbers and shake the whole industry
If we are to look at the entire history of Korean pop music, only BTS has surpassed the level of BIGBANG’s domestic and international success. Before BTS, BIGBANG was THE representative K-pop group. And based on their latest comeback that only featured the four remaining members, Still Life was an instant hit both at home and abroad. This begs the question, how can a group that has been at the center of so much controversy and involved in so many scandals continue to be loved even by Korean fans, known to be quite a conservative bunch? I guess it’s a mix of really good music and the individual personalities of the members. BIGBANG just never disappoints with their releases. There was never a BIGBANG song that was released with the public going, “Maybe I’ll like it with a few more listens.” Every BIGBANG song simply appealed to listeners. But more than producing earworms and radio-friendly hits, BIGBANG songs are also very artistic. This bleeds to their personalities that just scream artist, not just singers or musicians. They’re eccentric and aspirational but also very relatable at the same time. They keep their distance from the public but have never been reported to be rude, cold, or curt towards fans and “ordinary” folk.
But then, if the group’s latest comeback Still Life is any indication, we may have to wait for years until the next BIGBANG comeback. With TOP leaving YG Entertainment, Taeyang focusing on his family, and GD and Daesung reportedly pursuing solo projects, combined with Still Life’s bittersweet message, it seems that the group will be taking a long but well-deserved breather. Fans may have to deal with the fact that BIGBANG has taken that dreaded word – hiatus, but we’ll take that as there still hasn’t been an official announcement of that more dreaded word, the one that starts with “dis” and ends with “band”.
Shinhwa (1998 – Current)
Hear ye, the gold standard of K-pop groups. Ask any debuting K-pop group about their longevity goals, and the chances are high that they will answer “We want to stay active as long as Shinhwasunbaenim has.” After all, Shinhwa has not only lasted for a decade, but two decades already, and still running. Yes, the granddaddy of still active first-generation K-pop groups will be marking their silver anniversary, aka 25th, in 2023!
Shinhwa debuted under SM Entertainment in 1998 and has stayed as a complete group, with no member changes. Yep, that’s close to 25 years of no members getting removed or resigning, not even “leaving the company but staying in the group”. After all, the group is self-managed, meaning the group established their own company to manage their careers. This is also basically the reason that the group left SM Entertainment, as the latter offered all members except Dongwan a new contract after their old one was set to expire. The group’s latest release was in 2018, Heart, which commemorated the group’s 20th anniversary with the single Kiss Me Like That, where the group again sported a very sexy but elegant image. We are highly anticipating new releases next year for the group’s 25th year in the entertainment industry!
Super Junior (2005 – Present)
Speaking of long-lasting groups, let us not forget hallyu pioneers Super Junior, a group that made its debut in 2005. Being a group from SM Entertainment, it has been a foregone conclusion that SJ will stay in the business for a very long time. After all, SM Entertainment does not disband groups under them. It usually takes a contract dispute (e.g., H.O.T and Shinhwa) or all members deciding not to continue with their contracts with the company (e.g., f(x)) for the group to “disband”, although you will never see the company issuing any statement that their groups have disbanded. SM issues official statements about their talents being bullied, in a romantic relationship, or even leaving the group (as in the case of Jessica and SNSD), but never about their groups getting disbanded.
SUPER JUNIOR The 11th Album Vol.1 [The Road : Keep on Going]
This has been the case with SJ as well. Super Junior was initially envisioned as Super Junior ‘5, a group with a mix of members who may not sing, rap or dance, but be active in the entertainment business just the same in other capacities (as hosts, actors, etc.) after being in the group for a period, after which they “graduate” after achieving their (or the company’s) desired degree of popularity, much like the original idea for the Pledis girl group After School. So, there was supposed to be a Super Junior 06, Super Junior 07, and so on and so forth with different line-ups depending on which members graduated and which new members get introduced into the group. As such, at the start, you may notice that Shindong did not have lines in the group’s early releases. That’s because Shindong, after debuting with the 05 batch, was supposed to be a comedian. But then the concept of making SJ an annual generation thing fell through, and with the inclusion of Kyuhyun in 2006, Super Junior became a permanent group.
While SJ’s original concept was to have regular lineup changes based on “generation”, the group still had members removed despite the original concept getting a no-go. In the group’s awe-inspiring 17 years, three have left the group, two of which were not the most favorable of circumstances, and one is currently on a very long and extended hiatus, much like the other one who disappeared into the abyss.
First was Chinese member Hangeng, who actually joined the group in the weirdest way. Being Chinese, he was limited to performing on three Korean TV stations. Thus, in some performances, he had to wear as a mask and had to be blended with the backup dancers so as not to attract unnecessary attention. But then, in 2009, after a series of incidents where he felt discriminated against because he is not Korean (e.g., his family getting relegated to cheap seats in a Super Junior concert in Shanghai, being forced to attend and perform on events even though he was sick or injured while Korean members recuperated in the hospital), he just packed his bags, left the group’s dormitory, and went home. As expected, lawsuits got served and in 2011, Hangeng, Yuehua Entertainment (his agency then), and SME finally came to an agreement.
Meanwhile, the case for member Kangin was quite the opposite. It was almost as if Kangin was overly favored by SM Entertainment even when he got involved in very un-idol-like behavior. In 2007, Kangin hosted three(!) variety programs on MBC, but was caught in the middle as a timeslot dispute transpired between the TV station and SM. After SM pulled out Kangin in one program (his hosting sting in Show! Music Core), MBC unofficially banned Super Junior from appearing on their programs. Subsequently, Kangin had to leave the two other programs, both of which got canceled after ratings plummeted after his departure. MBC unilaterally ended the dispute by stating that the ban on SJ was never official and inviting them to host a new program.
As seen in this incident, the reason Kangin got heavily favored by SM, suffice to say was that he was a pretty popular member. He had numerous hosting jobs under his belt, and for some reason, the Korean TV viewing public liked his acerbic hosting style, as he often said a number of off-color comments which can be viewed as bigoted, sexist, racist, and downright offensive. Apart from his activities in SJ, he had a thriving TV career, and was on-demand as a runway model, having walked for renowned designer Andre Kim. First DUI case? SM sent him to finish his military duty as he “reflected on his actions”. Assault case? SM strongly defended him, saying he actually was the one who stopped the fight. Second DUI case? SM managed to settle it. Second assault case? SM managed to sweep matters under the rug, again. But while SM has managed to keep things hush-hush for Kangin, ELFs were not particularly impressed with him anymore and threatened to boycott any SJ comebacks that featured him. Finally, in 2019, after 14 years with the group and two years after this latest brush with the kaw (the second harassment case featuring a woman who was allegedly his girlfriend), he officially left the group.
The third member, Kibum, was another victim of the group’s concept change. As he was under the impression that the group would have the generation/graduation thing going, he figured he would start as a rapper, then later move on to other facets in the entertainment industry, such as acting. But with SM deciding that SJ would be a permanent group, Kibum did not have the flexibility to change his career’s direction as Shindong had. While also realizing he didn’t want to continue as an idol he honestly told SM that he doesn’t want to be involved in any Super Junior work and just ride out the rest of his contract. So he took acting jobs here and there but refused to promote with his group until 2015, when his contract with SM Entertainment finally ended.
Then, finally we have Sungmin, the member eternally on hiatus since getting married. Prior to December 2014 (when he married his then-girlfriend), Sungmin was one of the busiest SJ members. He was present in all SJ comebacks and wrapped up all his commitments on musicals before finally starting his enlistment in March 2015. But yes, before starting his mandatory military duty, he forgot to tell the public that he has gotten married and did it in private. This clandestine action earned the irk of Korean ELFs who started petitions for Sungmin’s removal from SJ and their boycott of any comeback that would include him and Kangin. SM has indirectly acquiesced to these calls, as Sungmin has not joined any SJ comeback since Mamacita, which was in 2014. He has released solo projects though, also under Label SJ.
Meanwhile, SJ has released new material nonstop for 17 years, the latest with nine active members being The Road: Keep on Going, with lead single Mango, to be released on July 12. And we haven’t even talked about the “removed” Super Junior-M members!
Here’s to more years and banging releases from these four evergreen groups.
Sharp choreography, stunning outfits, and unreal visuals certainly help in making K-pop music videos rack up the views. But there are music videos that go the next level by adding a compelling story. Here, we list down several K-pop music videos with storylines that could be the next cinematic blockbuster.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, check out these 10 music videos that have elaborate, dramatic storylines that could possibly give Netflix productions a run for their money:
Thank U – TVXQ Yunho
U-Know Yunho, one half of the legendary duo TVXQ!, serves up an almost eight-minute cinematic masterpiece in his music video for Thank U. The song is off his second mini-album Noir, and the music video, as the album title suggests, is heavily influenced by noir films. It’s much more graphic and violent than your average K-pop music video; it’s actually tagged as age-restricted on YouTube.
The music video tells the story of a gang leader—Yunho—who was betrayed by the mob boss and was attacked and left for dead by the boss’ henchmen. Only, he survived, and has now planned on taking down the mob. He recovers, trains, and faces off with his nemeses. In his final face-off with the mob boss, Yunho engages in a game of Russian roulette and comes out victorious.
This music video really felt like a movie rather than a music video. The opening seconds already gave off a sense of foreboding. Then Yunho was repeatedly stabbed—which was a great shock, since no effort was made to blur out or tone down the color of blood. Plus, the use of enclosed spaces for several of the scenes helps the viewer zoom in on the action. There are dance breaks in between scenes, but instead of those scenes being a distraction, the choreography served as transitions that helped the story move along.
It’s eight minutes of action, suspense, and revenge.
One More Day – Sistar
Topics such as homosexuality and domestic violence are considered taboo in most countries, including South Korea. Not a lot of K-pop artists take on such issues in such a straightforward manner for fear of getting criticized by the general public. So when a K-pop music video that boldly tackles these topics is released, it is bound to draw attention.
Sistar’s 2016 single, One More Day, went against the grain and released a video that features these taboo topics. This dark, yet compelling story opens with two women dragging a huge suitcase through a dark alley. The video then flashes back to times when the two women’s friendship grows into something more. However, one of the women is also in what seemed to be an abusive relationship with a boyfriend. When the two women run into the boyfriend after a night out together, the boyfriend gets angry and all three get into a scuffle. The boyfriend drags his girlfriend back home, where things escalate further and the women end up killing the boyfriend.
The next scene then goes back to the two women dragging the suitcase—presumably containing the dead boyfriend—loading it in a car, and then setting the car on fire as they walk away.
Lies and Haru Haru – Bigbang
Bigbang’s breakthrough hit Lies, released in 2007, took the dramatic love story to the next level. The drama-inspired music video was popular around that time, and this music video straight-up served all the emotions in four minutes.
In the opening scene, G-Dragon is seen running away from his pursuers, trying to call a woman using a pay phone, and eventually getting caught by police. As the music video progresses, the woman goes about her routine, but she clearly looks distressed. Meanwhile, the Bigbang members sing, skate, and walk around her as if invisible. It looks a bit strange, having five guys on roller blades skate around a woman walking to her car, but perhaps the members represent her troubled thoughts?
Later on, it turns out that she accidentally killed her abusive boyfriend and GD (a former lover? A friend who carries a torch for her?) took the fall for her.
Bigbang once again turned up the dramatics in 2008 with their music video for Haru Haru. This time, the music video featured a love triangle involving GD and T.O.P.
In the opening scene, GD sees T.O.P seemingly trying to get with his girlfriend, and they get into an argument—and a fistfight. In the next scene, T.O.P flaunts the relationship, and GD, clearly heartbroken, goes into depression.
Then—plot twist—the girlfriend turns out to have a terminal illness. She breaks up with GD, and only pretends to be with T.O.P to spare the former’s feelings. In the end, though, Taeyang calls GD to come to the hospital to see the girlfriend, but by the time GD gets there, it was already too late.
The acting in the music video was a bit cheesy and over-the-top, but it further amplified all the feels that helped the song become one of the biggest songs of the year in South Korea. It also cemented Bigbang’s status as a top idol group.
I Need U – BTS
Since BTS debuted in 2013, the boys have never shied away from tackling social issues in their music. From directly addressing mental illness to expressing their thoughts on the overwhelming pressures and expectations on the youth, the group has always shared powerful messages in their songs.
This extends to their music video concepts. In 2015’s I Need U, the group portrayed the realities that trouble today’s youth, such as depression, abuse, loneliness, and suicide. There isn’t a single storyline in the video; rather, each of the members tell a specific story through their characters.
In the video, the members were trying to hold on to the happiness of their lost youth, as they each face a major tragedy in their lives. Lyrically, though, the song is about a breakup; the members sing about trying to hold on to a relationship that has ended. Either way, one can’t help but feel heartbroken to see and hear the boys go through so much hardship in the music video.
Watch the video below:
Error – VIXX
VIXX’s music video for Error tells of a tragic love story between two human-turned-cyborgs. The main character is the group’s visual, Hongbin, a scientist distraught by the death of his girlfriend, portrayed by Youngji of KARA. To forget about his heartbreak, he turns himself into a cyborg, though it seemed that the painful memories still couldn’t be erased.
Hongbin then works to turn Youngji into a cyborg as well. In his lab, surrounded by the rest of the half-completed VIXX robots, he brings his girlfriend back to life by turning her into a cyborg, and transfers his memories to her. They start to live happily once more, until uniformed men track them down and deem the girlfriend as an illegal humanoid. Rather than lose his love again, Hongbin fights off the men and decides to deconstruct both himself and Youngji.
VIXX has always impressed audiences with their creative, well-planned concepts. This music video is another example of the boys breaking out of the “idol” mold to fully immerse themselves in their characters.
Watch the doomed android love story below:
Mamacita – Super Junior
Super Junior turned to western inspiration in the music video for 2014’s Mamacita. In the music video, Siwon stars as the town sheriff whose reputation is on the line because the thief, Leeteuk, escaped from prison. The thief then sees a bejeweled crown, and then proceeds to steal it from under Sungmin’s nose.
What follows next is a series of crazy antics from the rest of the members. While escaping with the loot, the thief bumps into and destroys Kangin, the fruit seller’s precious watermelon. Clueless bounty hunter Donghae asks Eunhyuk and—incredibly—Leeteuk if they’ve seen the thief.
Leeteuk and blacksmith Shindong, together with gambler Kyuhyun, admire the stolen crown. As they make their way back into town, they come across the bounty hunter, and a fight ensues, and barber Ryeowook almost gets caught in the crossfire. The sheriff continues his search, and eventually, he and the thief cross paths. The thief shoots the sheriff, and the sheriff falls—but is literally saved by his badge from the bullet. Meanwhile, the thief sells the crown to Heechul, the bartender.
The plan was a success—turns out that Leeteuk was in cahoots with Shindong and Heechul. But their scheme was foiled in the end by Kyuhyun, who was actually a double agent. The perps are jailed, the sheriff keeps his reputation intact, the crown is returned to its rightful owner, and the town is peaceful once more.
Super Junior has got the funny, meme-able music video down to an exact science. Watch the fun and chaotic “drama” version of the music video below:
One Shot – B.A.P.
The music video begins with all seven members partying it up on a yacht. Then it is revealed that the B.A.P members are part of a gang, who were suddenly attacked at their hangout spot. One of the thugs threw a USB stick, which contained a ransom video. The thugs have Youngjae, and they demand $10million in exchange for his safe return.
In between some really cool choreography clips, we see the remaining six members plan to get the money by robbing an armored truck so they can rescue their kidnapped bro. Then the boys head to a subway station to meet the kidnappers and hand them the money; however, the thugs kill Youngjae anyway. The B.A.P gang is broken, and in their grief and rage, they start shooting the enemy gang. The gunfight escalates, and everyone dies.
But! The video suddenly rewinds and instead of a shootout, a SWAT team comes in and surrounds both gangs. It turns out that Youngjae was actually an undercover officer, and betrayed the B.A.P gang. The SWAT team subdues the gangs, and Youngjae walks away.
At almost seven minutes long, it’s one of the more hardcore story-based K-pop music videos in this list. Watch the music video below:
Come Back Home – 2NE1
The legendary second-gen girl group 2NE1 tread the line between fantasy and reality in their music video for Come Back Home. The video is set in a dystopian society in the far future, where humans have the option to live in a virtual utopia.
In the music video, Dara is miserable in her relationship, as the man she loves is completely enamored with the virtual paradise, preferring to live in fantasy rather than stay trapped in a lifeless and colorless world.
Dara, along with CL, Bom, and Minzy, then infiltrate the virtual paradise to wreak havoc in it. The music video ends with the ladies leading a group of warriors, who destroy the machine-powered fantasy world.
Check out the music video below:
Love Story – Kyuhyun
Super Junior’s Kyuhyun is no stranger to emotive ballad tracks, and in Love Story, he amps up the sentimentality. The single is the final track of the singer’s Project: Season series, and marks the end of a string of song releases that focused on each of the four seasons.
The music video tells the story of two people who were once in love and have now drifted apart. In the opening seconds of the video, a woman is in the middle of packing her things. Then, it cuts to a montage of memories—from when the woman and the man first met, to their happy memories together, and their eventual breakup.
Near the end of the video, the woman is sifting through photos of happier moments with her ex-lover. It is a poignant depiction of the pain and feeling of nostalgia that comes at the end of a relationship.
Get bombarded with the feels by watching the music video below:
One of the most tragic events in the recent history of K-pop is the disbandment of the otherwise promising group, X1. Following the career trajectories of the project groups that resulted from the first three seasons of the Produce series – I.O.I, WANNA ONE and Iz*one, success for X1 was almost inevitable. And actually, if you consider the five months that the group was active, you could say that they did experience success albeit their limited lifespan. 657,000+ copies of their debut album sold, 11 music show wins for a single song (their only release, Flash), 100 million views on YouTube for their debut music video, numerous rookie of the year wins, all despite the persistent issue of vote manipulation that hounded them throughout their short-lived stint. And to think they were supposed to be promote as a group for five years, huh?
Let’s take a look back on what happened to X1 as they trekked their way to the top and start their careers individually as the rug was unceremoniously pulled from under them.
The initial phenomenon and the sudden pause
After Produce X 101’s run, the winning eleven contestants formed X1 and debuted under Stone Music’s Swing Entertainment, the same label that produced the music of Wanna One, the winners of Produce 101 Season 2. Amidst the brewing anticipation for the group’s debut, issues arose as a civil lawsuit was filed against Mnet as soon as allegations arose regarding producers of the show manipulating the votes and thus, the final lineup of the group. As early as that time, several brands have already pulled out of their endorsement deals with X1. Moreover, the agencies of some of the members refused to sign their talents to the X1 commitment until all allegations are cleared. Despite the delays and the unresolved issues, the group’s debut proceeded as planned.
On August 1, it was revealed that the group’s debut album would have the title Emergency: Quantum Leap and would have Flash as its title track, a song composed by Megatone, Score, and Onestar (producers of Taemin’s Criminal and Golden Child’s Burn It, among others) To further ingratiate the group to the public, their reality show, X1 Flash, premiered on August 21 on Mnet. Six days after the premiere of their reality show, the group’s debut showcase was held at Gocheok Sky Done.
The group’s first ever music show win happened during the second week of their promotions, on September 1 in SBS MTV’s The Show. This proved to be a record breaking moment for X1 as it made them the group to win in a music show the fastest – August 27 to September 1, which is a measly five days! Not even WANNA ONE, who had to wait for nine days to win. Thus, they broke the record previously held by WINNER who only had to wait for six days from debut to win for Empty. The song won ten more times, their 11th and final win happening on M Countdown on Spetember 19.
The EP and song also broke records as Emergency: Quantum Leap debuted into the Billboard World Albums Chart at number 15 and number 9 at the World Digital Songs Chart. So, not only was the group experiencing local success, but was also making a name in the international market. Also, by this time, aside from the vote manipulation accusations, the only controversy the group was involved in was connected to their debut song, Flash. Several sources then voiced out that K-Pop group’s song has very notable similarities to Tiesto’s remix of Chris Lake’s ‘Helium’. However, expert music producers also opined that the two songs have an intro in the same key while having very similar rhythmical and sound elements. Thus, the observations may not be conclusive enough to consider it as 100% plagiarism, although the song’s producers can be accused of being unoriginal.
As for the voting manipulation scandal, the civil case filed was due to allegations that label and entertainment company executives would supposedly wine and dine the producers of the show Produce 101 to make their trainee contestants rank higher and eventually become part of the final lineup for the group the show produced. So, it may appear that if these allegations were true, the results of the show were already determined by the producers even before the first episode aired, and the votes of the “public producers” will all be just for show and profits.
After their promotions for Emergency: Quantum Leap, the group had a lull in activities as the calls to investigate what really happened in the show intensified instead of dying out as expected, despite the group’s soaring popularity. For once, it seemed Mnet’s usual tactic of sweeping everything under the rug didn’t yield the expected results.
Alas, things went awry as Ahn Joonyoung, the producer of the show where X1 came from, was arrested on November 5. During the investigation, he admitted to manipulating the rankings of the contestants to favor those who he wants to join the final lineup for X1. With that, Mnet decided to cancel all of the group’s appearances and put on hold all promotional activities. The year ended with CJ ENM announcing that Stone Music, the members, and their respective agencies were in discussion as to the group’s future.
As for the investigations, it was found that there was fraud in the first, third, and final rounds of voting for the show. As early as the first round, Timothee Anzardi was eliminated when he should have not. On the third round of voting, eliminated contestants were Kim Kookheon (of Music Works, formerly of the duo B.O.Y with fellow Produce X 101 contestant Song Yuvin) and Lee Jinwoo (of Maroo Entertainment, most known to have developed a close friendship with Up10TiON’s Jinhyuk during the show, now with GHOST9). With the final episode, three contestants were excluded from the final lineup of X1: Koo Jungmo (of Starship Entertainment, now with CRAVITY with Minhee and Hyeongjun), Lee Jinhyuk (of TOP Media with Wooseok,as in the “dad of Lee Jinwoo, still with UP10TION and has also debuted as a solo artist and actor), and Keum Donghyun (of C9 Entertainment, now known as Keum of the group Epex).
The bitter end of X1
The start of the year was tragic to say the least for X1 and their fans. Even before the world would be hit by the pandemic, the group was already in a crisis situation as representatives of the agencies and Swing Music stakeholders met on January 6 to decide the group’s future once and for all. After an hour of deliberations, a secret ballot was held by the nine agencies of the the eleven members (Hyeongjun, Minhee, Dohyun and Hangyul were under one agency). Prior to the vote, all agencies agreed that the group will continue only if the decision for them to stay as a group is unanimous, meaning if even just one agency objects to the group’s continuation, then the group would have to be disbanded.
Only four agencies voted for the continuation of X1, with four voting to disband and one agency casting an unclear vote. It should be noted that the members were not invited to the meeting, despite them wanting to attend. After the decision of the group’s disbandment, CJ ENM representatives suggested for the release of a winter song the group has already recorded to serve as their goodbye song. One agency representative also suggested to have the members record a final video. Both ideas were not agreed upon unanimously, with one of two agencies objecting to the suggestions. So, both did not push through.
A PR agency representing the group released a statement on the same day the meeting was adjourned, announcing the disbandment of X1. The fanbase of the group, One It, felt the action was unfair to the group and their members. They staged protests on the CJ ENM complex, demanding for the group to be relaunched. One It groups sent trucks with LED screens flashing their demands to the demonstration area to clarify their demands and close to 1,000 fans attended the three-hour long protest. All stakeholders stuck to their (dis)agreement and thus, X1 met its untimely end.
Where’s X1 now?
Yohan: The top-ranked trainee contestant joining the ranks of Somi, Daniel, and Winyoungm was packaged as a taekwondo expert who abandoned his career in athletics to start a new one as an idol trainee. Thus, when X1 was disbanded in the most anti-climatic of fashions, the first activity Yohan was rumored to participate in was a lead role in the School series as a taekwondo student athlete who had to undergo a life overhaul because of an injury. While his participation in the drama was confirmed as early as February 2020 for the series to be aired starting August, the pandemic and a casting controversy over the female lead forced KBS to cancel the series. But things have turned for the better since, with recastings and final agreements made. So, School 2020 became School 2021 and the drama finally saw the light of day in November 2021.
While the future of School 2021 was a bit unsure in 2020, Yohan was given another opportunity to flex his acting muscles with the web drama A Love So Beautiful, which is a Korean remake of a Chinese program of the same title. The drama ran on the Kakao TV platform from the end of 2020 to early 2021, and Yohan was also given the chance to showcase his singing talents by contributing to the show’s OST with the song Recently, released on January 11.
Apart from his acting debut, Yohan has also been a common fixture in variety shows, thanks to his relatable personality. Among his variety show appearances are Chick High Kick along with HaHa and Na Taejoo and The Greater Ocean Territory of Korea with Jung Sunghwa. He has also dabbled into hosting, starting with being the MC for the first day of the 26th Dream Concert “CONNECT:D“. Currently, he is one of the main hosts for SBS MTV’s music program The Show alongside Ateez’s Yeosang and Weeekly’s Jihan.
As for his idol career, on June 17, 2020, Oui Entertainment announced that they will be debuting a new boy group where he was expected to be part of with his labelmates Kim Donghan and Jang Daehyeon (of Produce 101 Season 2 and RAINZ fame), and Kang Seokhwa (who was with Yohan in Produce X 101 and finished 35th). A month later, the company launched social media accounts for their new boy group called “WEi” which Yohan has been confirmed to be a member of. He released a digital single with the title No More on August 25, 2020, ahead of his future debut with WEi. Finally, on October 5, 2020, he debuted with WEi with the mini album IDENTITY: First Sight, with title track “Twilight“. The group has so far released 3 EPs and a single Starry Night in October 2021.
Wooseok: Not to be confused with Pentagon’s Jung Wooseok, UP10TION’s Kim Wooseok finished second in Produce 101. As with Yohan, his first reported activity outside X1 was also a web drama, Twenty-Twenty, which premiered in August 15. However, his solo debut single came before, on May 25, to be exact. His debut extended play 1st Desire (Greed) along with the lead single Red Moon was released to favorable reception, as his EP peaked at #3 in the Gaon Albums Chart, selling more than 117,000 copies, which is quite a feat for a debuting idol coming from a group that was disgraced very recently. With this release, he was awarded New K-Wave Voice Award at the 4th Soribada Best K-Music Awards in 2020.
Close to nine months after, Wooseok made a comeback with 2nd Desire (Tasty), which peaked on top of the Gaon charts. The lead single Sugar gave Wooseok further recognition as he won his first music show trophy with the song on M Countdown and the song actually charted and peaked at #16 in the Gaon Digital Chart.
On the acting front, Wooseok has also made some strides with the drama Bulgasal, where he played Nam Doyoon, a high school student who becomes a sort of disciple of the show’s main character Dan Hwal (played by Lee Jinwook). The show is set to premiere in December on tvN and will also be available for streaming on Netflix.
Sengwoo: Third-ranked in Produce X 101 and eventual leader of X1, Seungwoo was one of the two members of Play M Entertainment boy group VICTON to join the Produce X 101, the other being Byungchan. It was actually Byungchan who started off the show in high ranking, but towards the end of the show, fans were treated to Seungwoo’s display of talent and leadership skills. Moreover, Byungchan pulled out of the show in the finale due an injury, which left Seungwoo the be the sole recipient of Alice’s (the name of VICTON’s fanbase) love and support.
But when X1 was dissolved after only six months since their debut, Han held a solo fan meeting and returned to VICTON, where he participated in the group’s EP Continuous, which was released in March. Seungwoo and Byungchan’s exposure in Produce X 101 proved to be beneficial for the group, as it was at that time the highest charting VICTON album, peaking at #2 and selling over 95,000 copies.
From April 14, 2020, he started a new career venture as a DJ with his groupmate Seungsik as they co-hosted the radio show Blanket Kick, which airs on Naver’s streaming app Naver NOW. Four months later, Seungwoo finally made his solo debut with the EP Fame and the single Sacrifice, which he wrote the lyrics for. 30,000 copies of the EP were sold on the first say and peaked at number 2 in the Gaon Album Chart. The EP would go on to sell more than 80,000 copies to date. Seungwoo’s acting debut also came via the web drama Love #Hashtag, which premiered in April 2021 and co-starred AOA’s Hyejung. In June, he released his second EP Fade, with the single See You Again. See You Again is his first song that charted in Gaon’s Digital Chart. Then, he announced his enlistment for mandatory military service to start in July. So, his groupmate Heochan took over his DJ duties in Blanket Kick and he is the first member of both Victon and X1 to enter the military. He is set to be discharged in late January 2023.
Hyeongjun and Minhee: Ranking 4th and 10th respectively, Starship Entertainment’s Hyeongjun and Minhee were announced to debut in a new boy group with their two labelmates who also participated in PDX101, Jungmo and Wonjin. Cravity, which debuted in April (three months after X1’s official disbandment), had the reputation of being 2020’s “Monster Rookies” as they were the first group to debut PDX101 members (VICTON is not considered since they already debuted before Byungchan and Seungwoo joined the show). They became the first rookie artists of the pandemic year to debut on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 while also earned numerous awards including “New Artist of the Year” at the 12th Melon Music Awards, “Best of Next” at the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards and “Rookie Award” in the 4th Soribada Awards.
People did cast doubts on Minhee who was nowhere at the top 12 of PDX101 before the final episode, but once he was grouped together with Hyengjun and the other members to form Cravity (an amalgamation of the words “creativity” and “gravity”), it seems all those doubts have been set aside. The group has proven to be very successful, in line with other Starship groups such as SISTAR,Monsta X, and WJSN. All their albums, which include three EPs and one full album, have sold more than 110,000 copies. Their latest release, The Awakening: Written in the Stars, is their the full-length album released in August and peaked at #3 in Gaon’s Album Chart and has sold more than 164,000 copies.
Seungyoun aka Woodz: Prior to joining PDX101, Cho Seungyoun already started building his music career, having joined the group UNIQ in 2014 before joining the fifth season of the rap competition show Show Me the Money. While his groupmates in UNIQ opted to diversify their careers by taking on acting jobs, Seungyoun remained steadfast in developing his career in music. After successfully claiming a spot in X1, he actually thought his career as a “mainstream pop” idol would finally take off, but alas, fate had other plans.
After X1’s disbandment, Seungyoun took six months to finally launch his solo career as a solo artist. Taking Woodz as his artistic nom de guerre, his released Equal, his first EP on June 29, 2020, with the lead single Love Me Harder. His first official comeback as Woodz was done close to five months after Equal with Woops! being released on November 17, with the title track Bump Bump. His second comeback was launched on March 15, with the single album Set and the title track Feel Like. Finally, his third EP Only Lovers Left was released on October 5 and featured the double title tracks Kiss of Fire and Waiting. He co-produced and co-wrote three songs in English for the international fans as well as to leap himself globally and with this album, he achieved his first win as a soloist on The Show.
Dongpyo: The center of the PDX101’s Pick Me stage, Dongpyo has gone back to DSP Media, his agency. For the rest of 2020, it seemed that DSP was cooking something in the form of a group and alas, on February 5, 2021, Dongpyo was revealed as the fourth member of a new group, MIRAE. MIRAE debuted on March 17 with their first mini album Killa. The group’s name is also the Korean word for future, as DSP believes that they will be the leaders of K-pop in the future.
Dongpyo’s group has shown promise so far, with their first two comebacks, Killa and Splash, selling 30,000+ and close to 50,000 units, respectively.
Hangyul and Dohyun: The two trainees from MBK who debuted in X1 also started their career outside it together as they formed the duo H&D in April of 2020. The duo released one more special album in September before getting integrated into the Pocketdol Studio’s (an MBK subsidiary) newest boy group, BAE173, which debuted in November the same years with a mini-album Intersection : Spark. The group’s follow-up EP was released on April 8, 2021, entitled Intersection: Trace and its lead single Loved You. The EPs sold close to 19,000 and more than 21,000 copies, respectively.
Junho: Following the success of Eunbi and Chaewon as Woollim representatives in Produce 48, the company succeeded again in PDX101, when Junho, who many regarded as Infinite (which also happens to be a Woollim group) L’s lookalike, also took a spot in X1. It would be ten months after X1’s dissolution when Junho re-debuted, this time as a member of the company’s newest group DRIPPIN. Six of the seven DRIPPIN members joined PDX101 and the company added another trainee, Alex to the group when they debuted with the EP Boyager.
Five months after their debut, the group released their second EP, A Better Tomorrow. Their three release have so far met considerable success, selling 52,000+, 47,000+, and 37,000+ copies, respectively.
I just realized that memories were released in their birth month too, Kim Wooseok and Lee Eunsang
Eunsang: The X of X1, Eunsang chose to debut as a solo artist in August 2020 with the single album Beautiful Scar, the title track of which was a collaboration with Brand New Music labelmate and former WANNA ONE and current AB6IX member Park Woojin. In October 2020, Eunsang collaborated with former X1 groupmate Wooseok for the single Memories. Finally, he released his second single album on September 1, 2021, with its lead single Lemonade.
Aside from singing, Eunsang has also embarked on an acting career, starring in the web drama Part-Time Melo with SF9’s Dawon and the drama Idol: The Coup, where he shares the screen with idols Hani (as in EXID Hani), Solbin (Laboum), Exy (WJSN), and Green (Redsquare).
Looks like everyone from X1 has recovered beautifully since that mess of a scandal. Here’s hoping we can still see then reunite on stage in the future.
Featured Image: Still from X1’s music video “Flash” on Youtube.
Are you looking for dramas to follow that happen to feature your favorite idols-turned-actors? Here are five of them, all of which generated quite a buzz last year for their stories and high-profile casts, including some very familiar personalities you may have seen on stage, singing and dancing before.
Yumi’s Cells
Yumi (played by Goblin and The King: Eternal Monarch’sKim Goeun) is an ordinary office worker whose inner mind workings are displayed using animation of the “cells” that represent her drives, thoughts, and emotions, as what you may have seen in the movie Inside Out. However, the cells that represent love in her mind are in a state of coma, as she has yet to recover from her last relationship which failed. This is where other of the drama’s characters, game developer Ku Woong (Ahn Bohyun), and her officemates Ruby (Lee Yubi) and Seo Saei (Park Jihyun), come in to help in reviving Yumi’s love cells.
Idol appearance: SHINee’s Flaming Charisma Minho appears as one of Yumi’s colleagues, which she has feelings for, only to find out he has a girlfriend.
Lost
As its title suggests, Lost is a drama about people who feel adrift. There’s a 40-year-old woman Bujong (played by actress Jeon Doyeon, known for being the first Korean to win Best Actress at Cannes in 2007) who works as a ghostwriter. Bujong feels she hasn’t achieved anything in her life and she doesn’t know if she is living an existence with any direction. On the other hand, there’s a 27-year-old man named Kangjae (played by Ryoo Joonyeolof Reply 1988 fame) who lives in constant fear that he might end up as a nobody.
Idol appearance: Apink’s visual Naeun plays one of Kanjae’s friends who also has to deal with her quarter-life crisis issues. Lost is Naeun’s first major project since leaving Apink’s agency Play M to sign with YG Entertainment.
One the Woman
https://youtu.be/Nct4RyMfWl8
Jo Yeonjoo (played by Miss Universe 2007 3rd runner-up-turned-actress Honey Lee) is a prosecutor who engages in questionable practices. A case she handled made her lose her memory, which somehow led her to live as Kang Mina, a daughter-in-law of a chaebol family, who also happens to look just like Yeonjoo. Meanwhile, there’s Han Seungwook (Lee Sangyoon) who is the son of the chaebol family and hasn’t gotten over his first love. But is sort of forced to be involved with his wife Mina, who he doesn’t know is already Yeongjoo.
Idol appearance: EXID’s Jeonghwa who plays Han Seongwook’s girlfriend and old lover who he abandoned for Kang Mina. She keeps her career as the representative announcer of the broadcasting company, conducting the 9 o’clock news despite being left for another woman. You can also see Weki Meki ‘s Doyeon playing the young Mina in flashback scenes.
High Class
In the grand tradition of dramas such as The Penthouse: War in Life and Sky Castle, the show is about the hypocrisies hidden behind the perfect lives of the women who are part of the top 0.1 percent bracket of society. Song Yeoul (Cho Yeojeong, who gets to play an elite housewife again after her award-winning turn in Parasite) is framed for murdering her husband. Her supposed friends in her exclusive circle include Nam Jiseon (Kim Jisoo), who is the star among the mothers at the international school where the children of the elite go, Hwang Nayoon (Park Sejin), a single mother who is the only one friendly to Yeoul and Cha Doyeong (Gong Hyunjoo), an actress who is past her prime and is a disciple of Jiseon because she wants to be in the limelight.
Idol appearance: Former After School member Lee Gaeun (aka the Produce 48 contestant who was wrongly eliminated by the show producer’s manipulation) plays a teacher in the international school where the children of Yeoul’s children go.
Dali and Cocky Prince
School dropout but keen moneymaker Jin Moohak (Kim Minjae) is part of a family that runs the global restaurant franchise firm Dondon F&B, a company that started out as a gamjatang (pork bone stew) restaurant. Kim Dal-Ri (Park Gyu-Young) is a visiting researcher at an art gallery and being the only child of a prestigious family is quite spoiled, so she is lacking in household chores. The two meet without knowing about each other’s backgrounds, with one being the son of an uneducated family with thriving wealth and the other being the daughter of a prestigious family whose fortunes are declining because the art gallery is going bankrupt.
Idol appearance: Momoland’s Yeonwoo, a gallerist and the daughter of a National Assembly member.
While waiting for your favorite actors to stage their comebacks on the small screen or streaming services, why don’t you try these five shows, that is if you weren’t able to catch them last year. All five have gotten a lot of thumbs-ups from viewers. So they won’t disappoint! Besides, since they’re already done, you don’t have to wait for weeks for binge-watching them. So, what are you waiting for? Get ready for k-drama marathons with these shows.
Historical Kdrama featuring BLACKPINK Jisoo in Snowdrop
After all the starts and stops, the JTBC drama Snowdrop was highly anticipated among BLINKs who couldn’t wait to see the real acting debut of BLACKPINK Jisoo, sharing the small screen with one of K-drama world’s hottest leading men, Jung Haein. But then, thousands have also protested the show, accusing it of historical revisionism, with Jung Haein’s character coming under fire as it has been reported that the actor will play a North Korean spy disguising as a student protestor in the 1987 university protests.
If you binged Snowdrop already, here are four dramas based on modern Korean history. Trust us, these shows are good!
The Hymn of Death
Initial TV run: November 27 to December 4, 2018, for 6 episodes on SBS, currently available on Netflix
Cast: Shin Hye‑sun as Yun Simdeok, Lee Jongsuk as Kim Woojin, Park Seonim (as Woojin’s wife), Ko Bo‑Gyeol (as Simdeok’s younger sister)
What’s it about: When Korea was under Japanese occupation, a love story blossomed – drama writer Kim Woojin (played excellently by Lee Jongsuk of W and While You Were Sleeping fame) falls in love with Yun Simdeok (played by Shin Hyesun of Mr. Queen fame) when they met in Waseda University in Japan as participants of a play. They start off as two people who don’t really get each other’s vibes, but as with any other K-drama couple, they started getting to know each other more and eventually liking each other, and then fall in love.
Sounds like your typical k-drama, right? But wait; there’s a catch: Simdeok discovers that Kim Woojin is already married. So, Simdeok decides to avoid Woojin and nip their relationship in the bud.
To add to the love story’s complications, Woojin’s wife is not your typical female antagonist everyone loves to hate. So, instead of people fully rooting for the Woojin-Sindeok couple, the audience may also feel slightly guilty.
Fast forward to a few years, the two led sort of compromised lives, with Woojin foregoing writing to attend to the family business and Simdeok shifting from classical to pop music to cater to the masses. They meet again and rekindle their romance, as Simdeok cannot help but fall for Woojin’s advances while Woojin thinks Simdeok’s rags to riches story of perseverance makes her the ideal woman for him. But with still quite conservative 1920’s Korean and Japanese societies they had to contend with, their story had an inevitably tragic ending.
Trigger warning: Viewers triggered by the topic of suicide are advised to skip this drama.
done watching hymn of death! it was only short but i definitely enjoyed it. arts, hope, and love can serve as our light through the darkest times
How is it related to real-life events: The characters and the circumstances of the drama are all based on real-life characters and events. In 1920’s Japanese-invaded Korea, esteemed playwright Kim Woojin and soprano Yun Simdeok actually lived! The song Simdeok recorded that was inspired by their doomed romance, Praise of Death(of the Hymn of Death, to which the show got its title from) is considered the first Korean pop song in 1926.
Reply 1988
Initial TV run: 20 episodes running from November 2015 to January 2016 on tvN
Cast: Hyeri as Sung Dukseon/Sung Sooyeon, Ryu Junyeol as Kim Junghwan, Go Kyungpyo as Sung Sunwoo, Park Bogum as Choi Taek, and Lee Donghwi as Ryu Dongryong
What’s it about: From a very heavy melodramatic show, let’s move to one that just spells feel-good all around. I’m sure all of us K-pop and K-drama fans may have heard of, if not binge-watched the entire Reply series, particularly Reply 1988. This family show tells the story of five families living in the same neighborhood. The kids practically all grew up together and are in the same school.
There’s a bit of a conflict with the kids as they grew up when naturally, they started to experience adulthood, particularly falling in love. This starts off with Deoksun (played by Girl’s Day Hyeri) expressing her attraction to Sunwoo (played by Go Kyungpyo of Strongest Deliveryman and SNL Korea fame), who as it turns out, is actually attracted to her older sister Bora (played by Law School’s Ryu Hyeyoung). After we see Deoksun getting rejected and Sunwoo trying his best to muster the courage to tell the rather stern character Bora how he feels, we discover that it is Junghwan (played by Lost’s Ryu Junyeol, who has been Hyeri’s boyfriend IRL since 2017) who likes Deoksun.
BUT WAIT! Deoksun develops feelings for quiet and dedicated Taek (played to perfection by Park Bogum), who hasn’t regularly hung out with them since he is a professional Baduk player and doesn’t even go to school because he goes on these international tournaments.
Warning: The scene where Junghwan sees Deoksun and Taek outside a concert venue while he was stuck inside his car with the red traffic light is the biggest mood in the world. He goes, “But fate and timing aren’t just coincidences that find you. They are miraculous moments made from numerous choices arising out of earnestness. Surrender and decision, without hesitation, that is what makes timing. He (Taek) was more ardent. And I should have been more courageous. It was not the traffic light’s fault. It was not timing. It was my many hesitations.”
(Well, we did say that Reply 1988 is more of a feel-good show than The Hymn of Death. It is a tearjerker, all right, but not a tragedy like the first show we mentioned.)
How is it related to real-life events: The families in the series weren’t really real people who lived in Ssangmu-dong. But there are two things in the series that were based and inspired by real life. One, there’s is really a Ssangmu-dong neighborhood located in the southwestern part of Seoul. Two, the character of Taek is based on Lee Chang Ho, a professional Baduk player known in South Korea for starting a professional career in the sport at the young age of 16. So, there, Choi Taek is based on a real-life Baduk prodigy.
Crash Landing on You
Initial TV run: 16 episodes from December 2019 to February 2020
Cast: Son Yejin as Yoon Seri, Hyun Bin as Ri Jeonghyeok, Seo Jihye as Seo Dan, and Kim Junghyun as Gu Seungjun / Alberto Gu
What’s it about: Yoon Seri (played by Son Yejin) is a South Korean chaebol heiress who is hated by her family, namely her half elder brothers and her stepmother. So, instead of being involved in the family business, she creates her own fashion and beauty company. Before the launch of her brand’s latest line of extreme sportswear, she tests it herself by going paragliding and unfortunately gets caught in a sudden tornado, which blows her over the Korean Demilitarized Zone and into North Korea, where she encounters the impossibly handsome Captain Ri Jeonghyeok (played by Hyun Bin).
So throughout the drama, we see Seri trying her darned best to go back to South Korea, Captain Ri and his four patrol officers trying to help her, and Seri’s evil stepbrothers scheming to replace her while she is still nowhere to be found. On their first attempt, they failed as they were spotted by the coast guard, only to escape by pretending to make out. On their second try, Seri joins a North Korean sports team that was going to Europe for a tournament. In between these efforts, she makes friends with the people in Captain Ri’s village who thought she was his new fiancee from Pyongyang. She also starts to be more appreciative of the simple way people in Captain Ri’s village lives, which was a far cry from the overly sophisticated hustle and bustle of her lifestyle as a CEO in Seoul.
But then, the second plan also gets foiled, so Capt. Ri’s dad helps him (also to appease the family of Capt. Ri’s real fiancee) by staging a fake border patrol search for a deserter, which actually served as a cover for Seri to cross the DMZ.
But even if Seri has already successfully left North Korea, the show doesn’t end there as Cho Cheolgang, an intelligence officer who has always been at odds with Capt. Ri discovered the entire operation, so he managed to sneak into Seoul to find Seri, knowing that he may extort money from her. Upon knowing this, Capt. Ri and his four loyal officers went to Seoul to find Seri and protect him from Cheolgang. Everyone eventually finds everybody and Cheolgang’s plan to kill Seri and her stepbothers’ schemes to take control of her company by merging it with the family’s conglomerate were all foiled.
How is it related to real-life events: No, there’s really no Captain Ri or Seri in real life. Even North Korean defectors who were interviewed later by South Korean media to vouch for the show’s veracity were the first to admit that unfortunately, you would be hard-pressed to find a military man in Pyongyang as handsome as Hyun Bin. Moreover, a lot of them commented on how Hyun Bin’s accent was not North Korean at all, but that’s not the issue here.
Park Jieun, the writer for Crash Landing on You, did reveal that she actually drew inspiration for the show, particularly on Seri’s quirky North Korean adventure, from a real-life event involving the South Korean actress Jung Yang.
Jung Yang made the news in 2008 when she and her friends rode a leisure ferry boat and sail across the shores of Incheon and were led astray by inclement weather to crossing the Northern Limit Line that separates South Korea and North Korea.
However, unlike the events in the series where Seri actually landed in North Korean territory, Jung Yang and her friends turned their boat around upon hearing North Korean fishermen speaking in a North Korean accent. Panicking, she sent an emergency message to the South Korean coast guard who went on to rescue her boat. She got away with paying a fine of 400,000 won for sailing beyond five miles without a report, though the actress’ party denied deliberately trying to cross over while asserting that they actually got lost in the fog that enveloped their boat.
Youth of May
Initial TV run: 12 episodes from May to June 2021 on KBS
Cast: Lee Dohyun as Hwang Heetae, Go Minsi as Kim Myeong-hee, Keum Saerok as Lee Sooryeon, and Lee Sanyi as Lee Soochan
https://youtu.be/afW9W0FI5vc
What’s it about:Youth of May is a romantic drama about a fateful meeting between medical student Hwang Heetae (played by 18 Again’s Lee Dohyun) and nurse Kim Myunghee (Go Minsi of Love Alarm fame), who fall in love during the political upheavals of May 1980, a historically significant time period in South Korea. Though those protests became rampant throughout the entire country, the one that became the biggest and most prominent was the Gwangju Uprising, when initially, there were student protests that later morphed into a violent armed uprising that involved other sectors of society that clashed with the military that was on the side of the government. Amidst this rather tumultuous setting, the show’s characters get entangled in a complicated relationship.
Our female lead, Kim Myeonghee is a nurse who was bound for Germany to complete further education. However, she lacked the money to purchase her plane ticket to go abroad. Enter Lee Sooryeon (Keum Saerok, best known for her performance in The Fiery Priest), her best friend who comes to the rescue by lending her some money in exchange for Myeonghee’s agreement that she replaces Sooryeon on a blind date.
Myeonghee does stand in for her friend on the date and meets Hwang Heetae, a medical student. What started off as a blind date ended up with the two falling in love with each other. However, their budding romance will be challenged by the brewing destabilization of Korean society as students started expressing their dissatisfaction at the military-backed political regime.
Myeonghee started having second thoughts about pursuing her studies abroad because she wants to spend more time with Taehee and the unstable peace and order situation in Gwangju, and as their city is being taken over by the military, she may regret her decision of staying as she died from a gunshot wound from a martial law soldier.
Or did she? The drama then shifts to fast forwards to present-day Gwangju and flashbacks as Heetae, now forty years older in present-day Gwangju, continues to look for Myunghee, who he still believes survived the encounter.
How is it related to real-life events: The characters may not be based on real-life personalities, but the entire drama was based on one of the most historical events in contemporary Korea – the Gwangju Uprising, which as mentioned earlier, happened in the city of Gwangju. It actually only happened in nine days, but the effects were shattering and have up to this day, continued to affect the fiber of Korean culture. It may be because ordinary citizens, who were initially university students opposing the martial law government were pitted against soldiers and police of the Korean Government.
When the dust settled, the government downplayed the casualties to around 170, although other reports range between 600 to 2,300 deaths. During the presidency of Chun Doohwan, which the protestors were demonstrating against, the incident was described as a rebellion that was initiated by Communist sympathizers who may even have been linked to the North Korean government. However, investigations conducted decades later proved that it may have not exactly mattered if those who protested were communist sympathizers or may have gotten support from the North Korean government, as it was proven that the South Korean military and police really committed major atrocities and used excessive force to control the uprising.
Move to Heaven
Initial TV run: 10 episodes released on May 14 this year on Netflix
Cast: Lee Jehoon as Cho Sanggu, Tang Joonsang as Han Geuru, Ji Jinhee as Han Jeongwoo, and Kim Juyeon as Min Jiwon
What’s it about:This show is about Han Gaeru (who was in Crash landing on You, playing one of the Capt. Ri’s allies in Company Five) whose father suddenly died and was left under the care of his estranged uncle Sanggu (played by Taxi Driver’s Lee Jehoon) to be part of this company called Move to Heaven. Their job was to clean up houses of those who died only recently and in the process they discover how they lived and they further understood their stories.
The duo started out as a very odd couple, as Gaeru has difficulty understanding the world around him, having been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. On the other hand, Sanggu, who has had brushes with the law as an ex-convict and also living as an underground MMA fighter, isn’t really comfortable with the responsibility of restoring order and cleanliness in people’s lives and prefers chaos and lack of order.
The drama packs a lot of heart-wrenching scenes guaranteed to make even the hardened fan get teary-eyed in almost every episode. Although the first few episodes can be a bit dry as they lay the entire storyline and the characters, the audience gets the opportunity to know the nature of their work better before getting further attached to them as their shadowed pasts get revealed slowly.
How is it related to real-life events: The show Move To Heaven is actually based on a nonfiction essay Kim Sae Byul, a real-life trauma cleaner entitled Things Left Behind. Thus, most, if not all stories in the episodes are based on the real lives of the people who have passed away and the living spaces Kim has cleaned. Viewers will relate to a llot of the scenarios, like one story where a janitor and his wife died without anybody attending the funeral since they don’t have any living family left, so the Move to Heaven guys figured a way to give the couple a proper, not too depressing sendoff.
Another episode showed Geuru’s dad being present in Sampoong Department Store when it collapsed, which actually happened, causing hundreds to lose their lives and be injured. This incident was also shown in an episode of Reply 1994.
Did these dramas whet your appetite after Snowdrop binge? We have more suggestions for historical dramas of a different period here
Featured image: Historical Kdrama featuring BLACKPINK Jisoo in Snowdrop. Photo: JTBC Drama/YouTube
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