Day 4: Arirang recording!
I woke up this particular morning with some pretty terrible stomach cramps, as mentioned at the end of the previous post, and that killed my morning because all I wanted was to sleep more after I’d taken meds to try and quell how awful I felt.
Basically I only had to meet Taheera at 2pm so I used the rest of the day try and rest until I finally hopped on the train to go and meet her. We caught the bus to Arirang TV and took timestamped photos in front of the building to prove when we were there; show recordings work on a first-come-first-served basis, the earlier you get there the earlier your place in line.
With heaps of time to spare we walked down the street to an Italian place for lunch because we were both hungry and it was going to be a long afternoon/evening. When we were done there, we moved down to the café inside Arirang TV which was full of fans all loitering around waiting for the time when we’d have to actually start lining up outside for the actual recordings. I had a blueberry latte, which was absolutely delicious, and Taheera and I sat aside on the floor cuz there were no actual seats left.
Those girls were really lovely and had a spare ticket for me if I wasn’t able to get in with the Dalmates (because we had come pretty specifically to see DMTN), but Taheera and I were numbers 10 and 11 in the Dalmates line so honestly, we were pretty okay.
Taheera decided at the last second she wanted to give the boys a letter/gift because it had been exactly two years since we’d seen them that first Inkigayo, so after we ensured our places were secure we headed off to find a convenience store. She was just going to get them lollipops but we saw this;
And that ended up being her gift, haha.
The waiting is always the most tedious part of these things, and it was bitterly cold to top it all off. I had been alright in my flats while walking around, but the longer we waited, the less I could feel of my toes ;A; it was getting pretty painful.
At one point a staff member was going around to the foreigners, and when she stopped by us she asked if I wanted to sit next to Hanbyul (a member of LED Apple and the show’s MC). She explained he would ask me questions and I would end up on TV if I did. I’m pretty sure my reaction was ‘…okay?’
Taheera and I laughed about it because only just before that happened we’d been talking about how she always got singled out to sit next to Hanbyul when she went to these things. I was pretty excited but also nervous because I had no idea what I was in for.
While we waited, Moon HeeJun’s fans lined up beside us as well, there were a LOT of them. I mean I knew he had done pretty well keeping fans and gaining new ones, but even so I was pretty startled. They all sort of seemed to appear at once. Eventually staff took pity on us dying quietly out in the cold, so they let us wait indoors by the stairs that led up towards the studio, that was nice of them.
More waiting, until finally, FINALLY (you’ll be let in in three minutes, security had said, an hour prior) we were let into the studio and ushered onto the seats. Tee and I were moved to where Hanbyul would be sitting and after that it all sort of… started!
We got to see MYNAME (who were truly excellent and have some of the most tiring choreo I‘ve seen in a long time, poor boys), Two X, Tiny G, EXID’s subunit DASONI, DMTN, Moon HeeJun, Eric Nam, Airplane and a ballad singer whose name I don’t know but he was phenomenal.
It was really, REALLY nice to see DMTN again, of course I still knew them as Dalmatian and am still adjusting to the name DMTN, haha. They recorded Safety Zone twice; once in really gorgeous black and red military outfits, and once in black and white suits that had been covered in so many rhinestones they glittered from all angles. I really wish I had photos for you guys but that’s a no-no in recordings, and I didn’t exactly want to get kicked out.
About halfway through recording they ushered me over a bit to make room and Hanbyul came and sat next to me. What a cutie he is. He studied in Brisbane for years so when he speaks English he has an Australian accent and it still throws me right off. We bantered a little but he was also constantly getting distracted by the fans around him so I never held his attention for very long. He was super sweet though and funny, and he pestered the Junists by imitating HeeJun’s dance and song and pulling strange faces at them.
Speaking of Junist, they are LOUD. I was as happy as any of them to see HeeJun in the flesh but oh my god. Compared to the other fans, they were absolutely deafening to the point where we couldn’t hear the song at points. And fan chant? They basically shouted the lyrics to the entire song instead of sticking to fan chants, haha. His performance was stellar and I’m so, so happy that I got to see him, honestly.
Anyway, when they recorded the closing to the show Hanbyul asked me three questions which I’d been given on a piece of paper at the start of the show to prepare. They were ‘whose performance did you like best today?’, ‘Who would you like to see more of on Simply Kpop?’ and ‘Please give that group a video message’.
Naturally, being there to support DMTN, they were all my answers. We had to run through it twice because Hanbyul and I both stumbled over some words the first time, but the second time was perfect. Hanbyul wouldn’t move onto the question after ‘who do you want to see more of’ until I added his name after DMTN, what a little troll. He was charming as hell though and made the whole experience really fun. I do not, however, wish to see this anytime soon because lmao what is my face.
We got out of filming just before 11pm and Tee and I taxi’d it back to Hongdae where we consumed an obscenely large amount of fried chicken.
I’d had a really good day and I’m really glad I got to experience all of that. Hanbyul was a cutie, my DMTN boys are flawless and amazing, seeing HeeJun was pretty much a bucket-list thing for me so omfg yes thank you.
Watch as I make gifs of my face when the show airs though.
Basically I only had to meet Taheera at 2pm so I used the rest of the day try and rest until I finally hopped on the train to go and meet her. We caught the bus to Arirang TV and took timestamped photos in front of the building to prove when we were there; show recordings work on a first-come-first-served basis, the earlier you get there the earlier your place in line.
With heaps of time to spare we walked down the street to an Italian place for lunch because we were both hungry and it was going to be a long afternoon/evening. When we were done there, we moved down to the café inside Arirang TV which was full of fans all loitering around waiting for the time when we’d have to actually start lining up outside for the actual recordings. I had a blueberry latte, which was absolutely delicious, and Taheera and I sat aside on the floor cuz there were no actual seats left.
Those girls were really lovely and had a spare ticket for me if I wasn’t able to get in with the Dalmates (because we had come pretty specifically to see DMTN), but Taheera and I were numbers 10 and 11 in the Dalmates line so honestly, we were pretty okay.
Taheera decided at the last second she wanted to give the boys a letter/gift because it had been exactly two years since we’d seen them that first Inkigayo, so after we ensured our places were secure we headed off to find a convenience store. She was just going to get them lollipops but we saw this;
And that ended up being her gift, haha.
The waiting is always the most tedious part of these things, and it was bitterly cold to top it all off. I had been alright in my flats while walking around, but the longer we waited, the less I could feel of my toes ;A; it was getting pretty painful.
At one point a staff member was going around to the foreigners, and when she stopped by us she asked if I wanted to sit next to Hanbyul (a member of LED Apple and the show’s MC). She explained he would ask me questions and I would end up on TV if I did. I’m pretty sure my reaction was ‘…okay?’
Taheera and I laughed about it because only just before that happened we’d been talking about how she always got singled out to sit next to Hanbyul when she went to these things. I was pretty excited but also nervous because I had no idea what I was in for.
While we waited, Moon HeeJun’s fans lined up beside us as well, there were a LOT of them. I mean I knew he had done pretty well keeping fans and gaining new ones, but even so I was pretty startled. They all sort of seemed to appear at once. Eventually staff took pity on us dying quietly out in the cold, so they let us wait indoors by the stairs that led up towards the studio, that was nice of them.
More waiting, until finally, FINALLY (you’ll be let in in three minutes, security had said, an hour prior) we were let into the studio and ushered onto the seats. Tee and I were moved to where Hanbyul would be sitting and after that it all sort of… started!
We got to see MYNAME (who were truly excellent and have some of the most tiring choreo I‘ve seen in a long time, poor boys), Two X, Tiny G, EXID’s subunit DASONI, DMTN, Moon HeeJun, Eric Nam, Airplane and a ballad singer whose name I don’t know but he was phenomenal.
It was really, REALLY nice to see DMTN again, of course I still knew them as Dalmatian and am still adjusting to the name DMTN, haha. They recorded Safety Zone twice; once in really gorgeous black and red military outfits, and once in black and white suits that had been covered in so many rhinestones they glittered from all angles. I really wish I had photos for you guys but that’s a no-no in recordings, and I didn’t exactly want to get kicked out.
About halfway through recording they ushered me over a bit to make room and Hanbyul came and sat next to me. What a cutie he is. He studied in Brisbane for years so when he speaks English he has an Australian accent and it still throws me right off. We bantered a little but he was also constantly getting distracted by the fans around him so I never held his attention for very long. He was super sweet though and funny, and he pestered the Junists by imitating HeeJun’s dance and song and pulling strange faces at them.
Speaking of Junist, they are LOUD. I was as happy as any of them to see HeeJun in the flesh but oh my god. Compared to the other fans, they were absolutely deafening to the point where we couldn’t hear the song at points. And fan chant? They basically shouted the lyrics to the entire song instead of sticking to fan chants, haha. His performance was stellar and I’m so, so happy that I got to see him, honestly.
Anyway, when they recorded the closing to the show Hanbyul asked me three questions which I’d been given on a piece of paper at the start of the show to prepare. They were ‘whose performance did you like best today?’, ‘Who would you like to see more of on Simply Kpop?’ and ‘Please give that group a video message’.
Naturally, being there to support DMTN, they were all my answers. We had to run through it twice because Hanbyul and I both stumbled over some words the first time, but the second time was perfect. Hanbyul wouldn’t move onto the question after ‘who do you want to see more of’ until I added his name after DMTN, what a little troll. He was charming as hell though and made the whole experience really fun. I do not, however, wish to see this anytime soon because lmao what is my face.
We got out of filming just before 11pm and Tee and I taxi’d it back to Hongdae where we consumed an obscenely large amount of fried chicken.
I’d had a really good day and I’m really glad I got to experience all of that. Hanbyul was a cutie, my DMTN boys are flawless and amazing, seeing HeeJun was pretty much a bucket-list thing for me so omfg yes thank you.
Watch as I make gifs of my face when the show airs though.