An Unhelpful Guide to K-Pop After 3 Months in the Rabbit Hole

April marks around the 3-month mark since I've gotten into K-pop (like, really get into it), and boy has it been a journey. Since this is my first post, you should probably have an understanding of where I'm at as you read future blog posts (and before I update you on what I learned in K-pop after this post). I've listened to so much K-pop at this point that I've managed to learn a lot about different groups, the culture, and the idols that I really love and the ones that I don't. Here is what I know about K-pop in a nutshell.

Groups that I stan:
Stan: Like, really deep into the fandom, knows too many inside jokes, knows random facts about all the members, and would buy their albums if I had the financial means to do so

Seventeen

• Thirteen members (not seventeen)
• Have four international members (two Americans and two Chinese members); one is biracial
• Originally supposed to have seventeen members but PLANS CHANGE OKAY
• Debuted in 2015
• Came from a bankrupt company (Pledis Entertainment) and single-handedly brought the company out of financial ruin
• Known in the K-pop industry as the "self-producing idol group", which means that they do EVERYTHING (write and produce their own music, choreograph songs, and have a lot of creative input in what they produce for their fans)
• Their choreography is really hard and they've rightfully won awards for them; syncing 13 members w/ different styles and body types is extremely difficult and keep in mind that only three members have a background in dance and they self-direct themselves with the choreography
• Their earlier concepts lean more towards "boy" concepts but they've matured with every comeback and I think that's very artistically healthy for a group with members that don't stay young forever
• They really, really love their fans (called Carats) and their fans really love them; in general, I would say they are one of the chillest fandoms (can't say the same for EXO-Ls and ARMYs)
• Three different sub-units (vocal, hip-hop, and performance) that release their own tracks but don't promote outside of the group's activities, instead operating under the Seventeen umbrella
• Very recently, three of the members debuted as a unit called BooSeokSoon (a combination of the members' names) and their song "Just Do It" is a bop
• Their music is some of the most consistent, most high-quality stuff I've listened to in general (which means it's not just limited to K-pop)
• Seventeen never disappoints with their title tracks and their albums are always very good as cohesive units
• They work really hard and it shows in the quality of their content
• They honestly have a really fun time with each other no matter what they're doing and I get really strong family vibes from them
• The members are really weird and just so hilarious the memes sort of generate themselves at this point

BTS

• 7 members
• In Korean they're known as Bangtan Sonyeondan (which literally means bulletproof boyscouts)
• Debuted in 2013
• Came from a really small company called Big Hit Entertainment (Big Hit and BTS basically grew up together)
• Their youngest member (or "maknae"), Jungkook, is known as the "Golden Maknae" in the K-pop industry because he's known for being good at basically everything
• Their concepts are really well-thought out and between different concepts, there are connections, suggesting at a larger story that fans have worked to construct theories for
• Their rap line is truly one of the best rap lines in K-pop
• Their vocalists don't have very strong technique but their voices are quite distinct and very easy to differentiate, which is sometimes hard for K-pop groups to do
• Always have a special place in my heart because they were the first group I stanned
• They all work really hard and write and produce a lot of their music
• They dance really well too considering only three of the members are professionally trained in dance
• Everyone in that group is so weird and nothing like their on-stage personas
• They're also known as one of the few K-pop acts with exclusively Korean-nationality members, meaning all members are ethnically Korean and born and raised in Korea
• If you haven't heard of them by now I don't know where you've been
• Pretty much taking over the world as you're reading this so might as well inform yourselves about them

NCT

• 18 members (and counting)
• Debuted in 2016
• NCT stands for "Neo Culture Technology", which their company CEO has stated to mean that the group plans to localize K-pop in various parts of the globe and try to modernize and expand the limits of what people understand to be K-pop; the group's concept is to have an unlimited amount of members: there is no limit to their expansion as a group
• Honestly most fans don't really know what's going on we're just going with the flow
• Under S.M. Entertainment (THE biggest K-pop company in South Korea)
• They currently have three sub-units that pretty much promote separately (there are a handful of members in more than one sub-unit, with one member, Mark, in all three)
• Their concept as a group isn't too hard to understand (people are just overreacting) I just think remembering all the members is kind of tough and new members coming in makes it a bit harder
• I really didn't think I would get into them because I normally don't like S.M. groups (S.M. isn't known for really emphasizing quality music), but NCT releases have surprised me
• NCT U (a rotational unit) has never failed me with music releases (all of their songs are SO good and are, in my opinion, the most consistent quality-wise)
• While I don't dislike any of NCT U's songs, my favorite releases of theirs are probably "Baby Don't Stop" and "Yestoday", but their debut song "The 7th Sense" is really good; it's probably one of the best debut songs in all of K-pop (along with "Energetic" by Wanna One, but I digress)
• NCT 127 (their fixed unit based in Seoul) is sort of hit or miss for me but they dance extremely well (if you want to be in awe check out the dance for their song "Cherry Bomb")
• Some of NCT 127's lyrics are questionable (just read the lyrics from "Baby Don't Like It" and "Whiplash" and you'll get what I mean)
• NCT Dream (their rotational, graduation-based unit of minors) hasn't really been my style but their songs are not bad (and their new song "Go" is definitely a departure from previous concepts and more up my alley)
• Along with "Go", other good songs are "My First and Last", "We Young", and "My Page", but they are quite standard, bubblegum pop songs
• Every member dances really well (along with BTS, I think this group has the most interesting choreography)
• They have underutilized vocalists that deserve more attention from S.M.
• Their line distribution is awful (Dream's line distribution isn't too bad) and there are some members who just get no appreciation from S.M. whatsoever (Yuta, Johnny, WinWin, Kun) and that is just really frustrating for fans
• For such a new group they already have a lot of crazy fans (known as sasaengs, or privacy-invaders)
• Two members (Taeyong, leader of NCT 127, and Mark, the dude in all three units) contribute lyrics to their songs, which is a rarity for idols under S.M. (and unheard of for new groups like NCT)
• Their rapping is okay (considering S.M. rappers are not good) but I think they focus too much on rapping
• In general, they're known to have very experimental sounds and influences, which is kind of fitting for a group called Neo Culture Technology
• As of now, half of their members are international members (one Thai, one Japanese, one Canadian, one American, five Chinese)
• The concept of NCT as the way they have envisioned it isn't fully realized, but I think there could be great potential in future success if S.M. doesn't screw up (and S.M. is known for screwing up groups in the past, soo....)

Groups I sort of like:

GOT7

• 7 members
• Debuted in 2014
• From JYP Entertainment (one of the "Big 3" K-pop companies in South Korea)
• Title tracks have been hit ("Never Ever", "If You Do", "Look") or miss ("You Are") for me
• Their B-sides are okay and sometimes better than title tracks but they kind of sound the same at times
• I really only like them because I think the members have great personalities and they really enjoy their jobs
• South Korea is sleeping on them but they get a healthy amount of love internationally
• They have three international members (one American, one Chinese, one Thai)
• Probably the fairest line distribution in all of K-pop right now
• They're really friendly people who are very supportive of other idols and just get along with everyone (can't say the same for other groups *cough* S.M. *cough*)

EXO

• 9 members (but one member hasn't promoted with them in almost two years, so it's currently an 8-member group)
• Basically the national boy band of South Korea (they performed at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony in 2018)
• Debuted in 2012 w/ 12 members (of the three members that left, two had on-going lawsuits with S.M. before they were settled)
• Under S.M. Entertainment
• I don't think I like them as much because I think their music just isn't as good as BTS's (again, personal opinion), but I think they dance really well
• They have very good vocalists (in terms of vocal technique, I think they have an upper hand against BTS)
• Their rapping sucks lol no offense to Chanyeol (the main rapper of the group) but they're just not as authentic blame SM though
• They do a lot of solo endeavors like acting
• There's an official unit of EXO called EXO-CBX that consists of three members of EXO (the "CBX" is the compilation of initials from the three members Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin)
• My favorite tracks from them are "Monster" and "What U do?"
• Their fans (EXO-Ls) are essentially engaged in a fandom war with ARMYs (BTS fans) even though the group itself actually gets along very well with BTS
• There have been a lot of really awful incidences of sasaengs doing really creepy stuff that makes me feel bad for them

Random artists that I like at least one of their songs (I'm just not a fan of much else beyond that or haven't taken the time to get into them):

iKON

• 7 members
• Under YG Entertainment (the other "Big Three" company)
• Their song "Rubber Band" is really good
• They dance well I guess

WINNER

• 4 members but debuted with five
• Their song "Really Really" is good

ASTRO

• 6 members
• Under Fantiago Entertainment
• Their song "Crazy Sexy Cool" is very good
• They are really weird and a mess 99% of the time

Red Velvet

• 5 members
• Under S.M. Entertainment
• I like their songs "Russian Roulette", "Red Flavor", and "Peek-a-Boo"
• They dance very well considering they have to dance in stilettos most of the time
• They move seamlessly between cutesy-girl concepts and mature concepts and I think that's really cool
• One international member (Canadian)
• The age range is pretty wide (oldest was born in 1991 and the youngest was born in 1999)
• They are all very weird but that's cool keep it weird

Sunmi

• She was part of the JYP girl group Wonder Girls before they disbanded
• Her song "Gashina" was one of the biggest songs in South Korea in 2017 and it's such a good song
• The dance for "Gashina" is also iconic

Suran

• She collaborated with Suga of BTS for her track "Wine" (he produced it) and it's really good
• Her voice is really good
• I don't think she's characterized as an idol but she's a very good singer

BIGBANG

• 5 members
• Literally one of the biggest K-pop groups of all time; they essentially defined modern K-pop
• Under YG Entertainment
• Their songs "Fantastic Baby" and "Bang Bang Bang" are iconic K-pop songs and are the epitome of K-pop
• Currently on hiatus because all of the members are serving mandatory military service

Wanna One

• 11 members
• Debuted in 2017 and will disband in 2018 (more on that later)
• Their song "Energetic" is probably one of the greatest K-pop songs of all time (again, I know nothing about K-pop but even music critics agree soo...)
• They were formed through a reality competition show called Produce 101 Season 2, which took 101 trainees from various entertainment companies and narrowed it down to 11, which debuted as Wanna One and would promote for 2.5 years before having to disband and go back to their respective companies
• Their age range is pretty wide (10 years, with the oldest born in 1991 and the youngest born in 2001)
• They dance very well as well
• Their company overworks them but they continually have very positive attitudes about their job and are always grateful