BEST ROOKIES KPOP GIRL GROUP OF 2018 IS GIDLE

The most promising rookie girl group outside the big 3 agencies and not coming from a survival show of Produce 101 series, it's no other than [G]IDLE. The youngest participant from Mnet new survival program, Queendom. (G)I-dle (Korean: (여자)아이들; RR: Yeoja Aideul; lit. Young Girls / Individual Girls; short for Girl-Idol), stylized as (G)I-DLE, is a South Korean multinational girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2018. The group consists of six members: Miyeon, Minnie, Soojin, Soyeon, Yuqi, and Shuhua

1. Soyeon is the leader of the group and has been on rap survival show Unpretty Rapstar 3 where she ended up placing third. (She was also a participant on Produce 101: Season One placing 20th on the final episode.) Her hobby is watching anime (she especially likes “One Piece”). Trained for 1 year and 6 months before joining PD101, she like tangerines. Soyeon used to do ballet. First debuted as a solo-artist on November 5, 2017 with her digital single “JELLY” which was written, composed and arranged by herself.

 2. Miyeon was formerly a YG Entertainment trainee who was set to debut with BLACKPINK. She trained for five years but her debut was unfortunately cancelled so she moved to onto CUBE. Miyeon is an only child. Miyeon’s father made her enjoy music. She also attended media class because she was very interested in writing lyrics and composing. She supposedly dated former Mix&Match Contestant Jinhyeong.

3. Minnie is from Thailand and is able to speak English, Korean and Thai. Her teacher told her to try out for CUBE when they had auditions in Thailand and to her own surprise she passed.  Minnie has older twin brothers, named Mic and Mac. Minnie loves green tea, she appeared on PENTAGON MAKER. When Minnie was still in school, she was in a photography club. Minie and Sorn of CLC went to the same singing school in Thailand called G-Vocal. She is in a Thai group chat with Bambam (GOT7), Nichkhun (2PM), Sorn (CLC), Lisa (Blackpink) and Ten (NCT).

4. Soojin has appeared in Soyeon’s solo music videos for “Jelly” and “Idle Song”. She appears in both as the fox girl. She Learned Jazz Dance ever since she was little because her mom told her so– Education: Korea Arts High School. Soojin was the fox girl that appeared in Soyeon’s ‘Jelly’ MV and ‘Idle Song’ MV. She was about to debut with the girl group VIVIDIVA (debuted 2015, disbanded 2016). She even performed once with them. Her stage name was N.NA. Introduced herself as the “Pretty Spring girl”. On August 2nd 2018, Cube has confirmed that Soojin and Hui from Pentagon used to date but they’ve broken up.

5. Yuqi comes from China and hopes to become as well-known as Victoria from f(x) who is her role model.

6. Shuhua is the youngest member being born in 2000. She’s of Taiwanese decent and her main hobby is acting.

7. When Soyeon was young she dreamt of becoming a ninja after watching anime Naruto. She even used to carry toy shrunken whenever she left the house. (Hopefully she never had to use them!)

8. Miyeon started playing the piano and violin knowing that she wanted to become singer since she was young.

9. Minnie is friends with Sorn (CLC) and Lisa (BLACKPINK) who are also from Thailand.

10. Soojin’s father was against her becoming an idol. She had to wait two years to finally get his approval.

11. Yuqi used to be the president of the Street Dance Club at her high school. Her hobbies include dancing and rapping.

12. When Shuhua was in high school she found out about K-pop. Ever since then she has been obsessed with learning all the dances and the songs with HyunA being her idol. (Sounds like she’s living the dream!)

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KPOP in all over the world

Kpop is no longer just for Korea. In fact, the Hallyu Wave is spreading fast around the world. Asia in particular has been hit HARD by Kpop fever. Here are some KPOP dynamic in every country, even outside South Korea:

1. Singapore

This little country has been visited by a lot of KPOP idols/acts, including all the top one in the industry, eg: BTS, Girls generation, TWICE, Big Bang, EXO, and many more. 

2. Japan 

Without a doubt Japan is the biggest hub for Kpop activity outside of Korea. You know it’s a big deal when artists will release their own albums and singles entirely in Japanese. Yes, sometimes this happens with albums in English, but keep in mind that English is used internationally while Japanese is really only used in Japan.  The activities of 2pm, Big Bang, and Girls’ Generation are all shinning examples of how important the Japanese market is for Kpop.

3. Hong Kong

It isn't a surprise that KPOP is big in HONG kong, just look at all the airport fancam in HK airport, and you can see how many fans were willing to wait in the airport just to see a glimpse of their favorite idols. It is so popular that even inkigayo,  music bank or MAMA has been held there.

4. Taiwan

5. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand

Most of the youtube views, twitter comment and buzz about KPOP comes from this countries. Since the late 1990s, an increasing amount of Korean popular cultural content including television dramas, movies, pop songs and their associated celebrities have gained immense popularity across East and Southeast Asian countries. News media and trade magazines have recognized the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia by dubbing it the ‘Korean wave’ (Hallyu in Korean). The Associated Press reported in March 2002: ‘Call it “kim chic”. All things Korean–from food and music to eyebrow-shaping and shoe styles–are the rage across Asia, where pop culture has long been dominated by Tokyo and Hollywood’ (Visser, 2002). According to Hollywood Reporter, ‘Korea has transformed itself from an embattled cinematic backwater into the hottest film market in Asia’ The growing popularity of Korean pop culture has more implications than simply earning foreign currency, especially considering that the country has had some diplomatic friction with its neighbours in the past decades. 

BoA, who made the cover of the French Le Monde in July 2002 as an icon of cultural exchange between Korea and Japan, was invited to the two countries’ summit conference in June 2003 in Tokyo (Macintyre, 2002). In all, Koreans have heartily welcomed the fruits of the Korean wave in the midst of economic recovery from the 1997 economic crisis, and the subsequent International Monetary Fund (IMF)-directed economic restructuring, which they often refer to as ‘national humiliation’.

6. Europe

Hallyu may have been building for over two decades, but it’s only been five to ten years since k-pop entered the global scene and won hearts with its production values, addictive tunes, and slick choreography. It’s no surprise why white girls in AMWF relationships are often big fans of K-pop. There’s even large communities who support AMWF porn these days. During the early years in June 2011, Paris saw two sell-out concerts featuring flagship groups of SM like Girl’s Generation, Super Junior and SHINee. The concert drew over 14,000 fans, screaming and singing along with the Korean lyrics. This was the first large-scale K-pop concert in Europe, and it gave them the confidence to take the much-anticipated plunge in the European market according to SM Entertainment CEO, Kim Young-Min. SM Entertainment is just one of the many agencies that handle everything from recruitment of the stars to music production. K-pop success in Europe is no accident. The South Korean government invested millions of dollars into the ministry of culture, especially K-pop following the Asian financial crisis in 1998. This is popularly referred to as the South Korean government’s Soft Power push. A study released by the University of London said that South Korea has seen an estimated return of $5 for every $1 they spend on K-pop.

7. America

K-pop has had a tentative foothold in the States for a while now—six years ago, the Korean rapper Psy had an oddball hit with “Gangnam Style,” a blaring rap song about rich girls, and a magnificent excuse to do the horse-riding dance—but the genre’s hyper-stylized aesthetic can make even its most earnest bands feel like novelty acts. (The American pop market tends to appreciate a certain rawness eking out from beneath the glam—a glimpse of persevering humanity.) K-pop stars are selected, frequently as children, for their good looks, and then aggressively minded and groomed for success by teams of producers and managers. Suggestions of licentiousness or lust are handily eradicated from their songs (and usually their live performances, too), while mistakes or ad-libs are unthinkable. The choreography alone is a thing to behold. These groups are large—sometimes up to twelve members—and they move with the kind of precision otherwise witnessed only at high-level cheerleading competitions. I found it briefly disconcerting to see studied determination applied to something like club dancing—a practice that is, at least in theory, rooted in spontaneous expression, a kind of carnality—but then I set aside my scruples and immediately started trying to learn the moves so that I, too, could look awesome.

8 South Korea

Though government censorship of South Korean music has relaxed over time, it still exists, as does industry self-censorship in response to a range of controversial topics. South Korean social mores stigmatize everything from sexual references and innuendo to references to drugs and alcohol — as well as actual illicit behavior by idols — and addressing any of these subjects can cause a song to be arbitrarily banned from radio play and broadcast. Songs dealing with serious themes or thorny issues are largely off limits, queer identity is generally only addressed as subtext, and lyrics are usually scrubbed down to fluffy platitudes. Thematically, it’s often charming and innocent, bordering on adolescent.

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Kpop song to listen when you feel depressed

It isn't a secret anymore that South Korea is among other country which high suicide ranking in the world, looking at how competitive their society are and the pressured about maintaining good image and beautiful/handsome looks took a toll of a person. As a musician and singer, some of them address this mental health issues to a song, other create a song from their own experience.

Compare to song list from Shinee member, Jonghyun, The Collection: Story Op.2, consisting popular track like "Lonely" feat Taeyeon and "let me out", this song will give you a slight of hope. What makes it different? Because the lyrics/message is reflected an experience of having a depression phase, yet the struggle to break all that harsh moment for an uncertainty of tomorrow. While Jonghyun's song "let me out" seems like a lost of the fight, a surrender of our misery. I don't want you to feel like that.

In this opportunity I would like to suggest you a wonderful soothing Kpop song to listen when you feel depressed. Hopefully this will make you feel a bit better. Check it out Bol4: To My Youth below:

To My Youth (English Translation)

Lyrics

At some point in my life

I used to wish that I could disappear from this world

The whole world seemed so dark I cried every night

I was so afraid

Will my mind feel at ease If I just disappeared Of everyone’s eyes on me

I hated myself for not being able to receive love

During those beautifully beautiful days I was in pain My mum and dad They’re only looking at me This is not how I really feel

Was really true for me

But I keep getting further away What do I do What do I do What do I do What do I do The saying that time is medicine As the days went by

Those beautifully beautiful memories

I really did get better But sometimes when I’m too happy I’m afraid I’ll be in pain again I’m afraid that someone Will take away my happiness Were so painful

But I keep getting further away

I hurt to the point where I could hurt no more But the pain wouldn’t go away My friends all these people They’re only looking at me This is not how I really am But still maybe I could be

Because if I keep trying to stand up like this

A bright light in this world Maybe after all of that pain I could shine a light Even if it’s short So I couldn’t give up The me that couldn’t fall asleep peacefully for a single night I might be able to find myself

How much, how much, how much did I hope for it

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah How painful must it have been

How painful must it have been

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