More K-pop stuff
Tomorrow is Suga of BTS's enlistment date for his mandatory service. Rumor has it he's going to be doing social work instead of going into the army, due to an old shoulder injury -- he was hit by a car while working as a bike delivery driver during his trainee days. He didn't tell his company about the accident because he was afraid they might let him go, and performed for years with the damaged shoulder until it got so bad he couldn't work any longer and finally had surgery to repair it in 2019. I hope he does alternate service -- not that he couldn't cut it in the army, he's a tough guy and I'm sure he'd do fine -- but some part of me thinks he shouldn't have to train in violence, he's been through so much and come so far, his heart deserves to be soothed by helping people instead.
A couple of days ago, he did a Weverse live, the last one before going into the service. Here's a portion of it, linked to start near the end, where he tells everyone not to cry, because they promised they'd see each other in two years. "Goodbye, see you in 2025."
So of course we all cried.
Fortunately, BTS members have all been making plans for their service, recording lots of content for release while they're away, not to mention that there are ten years of previous music shows, MVs, talk shows and other videos available for newer fans like me who haven't been around for their entire history. And today it was announced that the members had all renewed their contracts with their agency, confirming that they will be back together as a band in 2025 when they've all concluded their service. So, it's sad, but not the end of things, just a break while they serve their country.
Meanwhile, the news is more mixed with my first K-pop love, DKZ. I think I wrote here before about DKZ's Kyoungyoon being involved in controversy due to his family's membership in the JMS cult. He got a lot of hate for it, and the stress caused him to take a hiatus from the band's activities to receive treatment for panic disorder and social anxiety. I had a bad feeling about it then -- how do you come back after something like that? And he didn't. Several months later, he quit the band, and just recently it was announced that he'd joined the army. I hope that after a couple of years in the service, he will come back strong and healthy and be able to put all the nastiness behind him. It really breaks my heart what happened to him, none of it was his fault.
While he was on hiatus, DKZ didn't do any group activities, but the other members had individual projects to keep things going. Giseok and Sehyeon did a bunch of silly TikToks, and then Jonghyeong and Mingyu formed a sub-unit called 9to6 and put out an album of three songs. I thought they were all really good. The most popular song was "Don't Call Me," an office worker's anthem protesting against being expected to work overtime:
My personal favorite is "Nod", a song about putting on a different face for work:
Currently, the attention is on Jaechan, who recently released a solo album. Now, I love Jaechan -- he's the reason I got into DKZ in the first place, after seeing him act in SEMANTIC ERROR. And he is definitely a very talented and beautiful boy. But. His personal musical taste runs a lot softer than I go for. Here is the title song of his album, "Hello", which is pleasant enough, and very pretty to look at:
DKZ has announced that they will continue as a five-member band, which is what they were when they started out as Dongkiz. Now only two of the original five members are left. It will be interesting to see what they do when they start performing as a band again. I wonder how they will re-work any of their older songs if they perform them -- Kyoungyoon has a really powerful voice, and did some vocal work that will be hard for the other members to replicate. Mingyu can hit the high notes, but his voice doesn't have the same force. Ah well, time will tell. Maybe they'll do all-new stuff and leave the past behind. I will continue to support them, but I'm pretty sad about Kyoungyoon's departure.
A couple of days ago, he did a Weverse live, the last one before going into the service. Here's a portion of it, linked to start near the end, where he tells everyone not to cry, because they promised they'd see each other in two years. "Goodbye, see you in 2025."
Click to viewSo of course we all cried.
Fortunately, BTS members have all been making plans for their service, recording lots of content for release while they're away, not to mention that there are ten years of previous music shows, MVs, talk shows and other videos available for newer fans like me who haven't been around for their entire history. And today it was announced that the members had all renewed their contracts with their agency, confirming that they will be back together as a band in 2025 when they've all concluded their service. So, it's sad, but not the end of things, just a break while they serve their country.
Meanwhile, the news is more mixed with my first K-pop love, DKZ. I think I wrote here before about DKZ's Kyoungyoon being involved in controversy due to his family's membership in the JMS cult. He got a lot of hate for it, and the stress caused him to take a hiatus from the band's activities to receive treatment for panic disorder and social anxiety. I had a bad feeling about it then -- how do you come back after something like that? And he didn't. Several months later, he quit the band, and just recently it was announced that he'd joined the army. I hope that after a couple of years in the service, he will come back strong and healthy and be able to put all the nastiness behind him. It really breaks my heart what happened to him, none of it was his fault.
While he was on hiatus, DKZ didn't do any group activities, but the other members had individual projects to keep things going. Giseok and Sehyeon did a bunch of silly TikToks, and then Jonghyeong and Mingyu formed a sub-unit called 9to6 and put out an album of three songs. I thought they were all really good. The most popular song was "Don't Call Me," an office worker's anthem protesting against being expected to work overtime:
My personal favorite is "Nod", a song about putting on a different face for work:
Currently, the attention is on Jaechan, who recently released a solo album. Now, I love Jaechan -- he's the reason I got into DKZ in the first place, after seeing him act in SEMANTIC ERROR. And he is definitely a very talented and beautiful boy. But. His personal musical taste runs a lot softer than I go for. Here is the title song of his album, "Hello", which is pleasant enough, and very pretty to look at:
DKZ has announced that they will continue as a five-member band, which is what they were when they started out as Dongkiz. Now only two of the original five members are left. It will be interesting to see what they do when they start performing as a band again. I wonder how they will re-work any of their older songs if they perform them -- Kyoungyoon has a really powerful voice, and did some vocal work that will be hard for the other members to replicate. Mingyu can hit the high notes, but his voice doesn't have the same force. Ah well, time will tell. Maybe they'll do all-new stuff and leave the past behind. I will continue to support them, but I'm pretty sad about Kyoungyoon's departure.