Why I Love Monsta X

Hey all! I know that it's been a long time since I wrote on here, and I apologize in advance for my absence.

So...a recent moment just happened yesterday that inspired me to post this blog. I will be doing something a little different here and share with you all why I love these 7 amazing memes so much as well as how I got around to stanning them.

I first started stanning Monsta X when I first heard "Shine Forever" around late last year. I thought that they were so fantastic that I wanted to immerse myself in to the Monbebe fandom. But then, as I became multi-fandom, I got into so many groups that they unintentionally slipped in the back of my mind. Fast forward a month or two later when Monsta X released their recent comeback for "Jealousy", I got shook and I fell in love. Right then and there, around the beginning of April, these 7 talented, caring, funny, extra, fantastic memes bumped up to "ultimate group" status alongside EXO.

Now, on to exactly why I love this group so much. They had created such excellent high-energy music for us Monbebes to be motivated and inspired by. Not only that, but they are very in sync with their choreography. There is not a single member that is my least favorite. All of them are amazing in their own unique ways...Shownu being the quiet yet caring "papa bear" leader/main dancer, Wonho being the muscular yet sensitive bunny with a ramen/protein bar obsession, Minhyuk being the "sunshine" beagle of the group, Kihyun being the passionate yet sassy "mom" in the group with a VOICE OF GOLD, Hyungwon being a living meme with long legs who loves sleeping, Jooheon with the duality of tough rapper turned aegyo cute, and lastly I.M Changkyun as the "chill yet extra" maknae who had developed an English fluency due to living in both the U.S. and Israel.

Also...the guys in Monsta X are not ashamed to express how much they love the fans and ALWAYS have gratitude. They'd worked so hard and yet they were the underdogs who once thought they wouldn't be good enough...that is until they gained their VERY first music show win for "Dramarama" in November of 2017. That, in itself, was a bittersweet yet inspiring moment in their career.

This last bit is gonna be a little personal and emotional, but I need to say thank you to Monsta X. Yesterday, I had a difficult situation at work where a student I work with was going through a rough time. That being said, it has happened every end of the school year where he would perseverate over the upcoming school year. I caught the student sneaking in to my boss' office which he had done in the past, and suddenly the student took his anger out on me and cursed me out in front of my boss. I felt very hurt and shaken up by what had occurred. Meanwhile, as a person with high-functioning autism, I had endured a lot of tougher times in my life to get to where I am today. 

I know that in my years of working with the student, I'd gone through almost the same thing with him to the point where this kind of thing is something I'm learning to not put up with anymore. Even the student's constant apology was not meaning anything to me anymore because I believe that sometimes, actions speak louder than words. Therefore, I truly wish to thank Monsta X for not only inspiring me to be the best and fiercest person I could be but for also making such excellent music to help me through the pain. I want to thank them for existing. 

 

I now know how much these guys mean to me, and I'm completely happy that I made the decision to make them one of my ultimate groups.  

My YouTube Channel

Hey everyone!! How are you all? 

As you may or may not know, I happen to have my own K-Pop related YouTube channel that I decided to make a couple months ago. I usually post reaction videos to as much of the latest comebacks that I could possibly react to. I will also react to different challenges like "Try Not to Fangirl..." as well as a couple un-boxings of K-Pop merchandise because #pleasetakemymoney. I'm basically multi-fandom so I'd been reacting to some different K-Pop groups, but it's also mostly EXO so far. 

Anyway, I just posted a reaction video to one of the most iconic K-Pop groups in history, Super Junior. They had been around since 2005, and they're still going strong after everything they'd been through. They're back with a new song called "Lo Siento" off of their 8th re-packaged album "Replay", and it's such a groovy song. Go check it out! 

SUPER JUNIOR "LO SIENTO" MV REACTION

If you wanna check out my other videos, then here's the link to my channel:

K-POP BELLE

Click the subscribe button, and give a thumbs up if you enjoy my content.

Thank you very much for reading this. Hope you have a wonderful K-Poppin' Friday!

My Ultimate Bias and Ultimate Bias Wrecker Anecdote

In my journey of being sucked in the K-Pop world, I did not have an ultimate bias at first. A couple months went by, and I’d spent a lot of time going back and forth between Jungkook of BTS and Baekhyun of EXO. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that Baekhyun would be my ultimate bias.

I’d been an EXO-L for a couple months now, and Baekhyun had always been my bias. The more I watched EXO’s live performances, the more I realized how much of a talented vocalist he is. He’s got a beautiful voice as well as an incredible range. Every time he’d sing a note, I’d be completely excited and die over and over again. Not only that, but he’s got such a cheerful, caring personality that brightens everybody’s moods. No wonder why he’s part of EXO’s beagle line alongside Chen and Chanyeol. Baekhyun had never ceased to brighten my days whenever I’d feel down in the dumps. And I hope he knows how much love and support the EXO-Ls have for him.

Then, as far as ultimate bias wreckers are concerned, I initially did not have one when I first became a K-Pop fan. I suddenly started to ponder about my many bias wreckers in all the groups I stan. I thought I was fine with Kai of EXO being a possibility. But then recently…THIS guy came out of nowhere and attacked me REALLY HARD! I never even thought it would come to this. I’d realized that Yoo Kihyun of Monsta X is the one who made me question my life choices as well as my loyalty to Baekhyun. Therefore, he’s my ultimate bias wrecker.

Why him, you ask? That’s because he’s got a golden voice and an even more golden smile. Watch his performance of “Hyeya” from the survival show No Mercy, and you’ll know why.

Trainee KIHYUN - HYEYA@1st debut mission (메인보컬 기현 - 혜야 @ 1차 데뷔미션) I NO.MERCY 2화

I have no regrets with this epiphany, and so far I’d never prepared myself for how Kihyun will wreck me next time. LOL!!

My Thoughts on the You-Tube K-Pop Channel Controversy

    Hey everyone! How are you all? Hope you are doing well. 

So...recent happenings had come to light in regards to the K-Pop world as well as a lot of K-Pop reaction video creators with their own channels. In case you may or may not had read the news on the Internet, CJ E&M, a giant multimedia company based off of South Korea, has been giving copyright strikes on YouTube channels (i.e. JREKML, BRISXLIFE, etc) that had posted reaction videos on live broadcasts of music shows such as M Countdown, MNet Asian Music Awards, etc. Some of these channels had even gotten deleted, which is making some of us who have our own K-Pop channels re-evaluate the necessary actions we need to take in order to continue sharing our love of this genre with our audience. 

For a more in-depth explanation of this controversy, I will leave you two videos that were made by a YouTube channel named "Form of Therapy."

As far as my thoughts are concerned, I find it very disheartening that a lot of K-Pop YouTubers had their channels taken down. I have enjoyed the creative process of filming/editing my videos for Youtube. I have so much appreciation for all the hard work that they had put into their videos for us to enjoy. I personally did not get a copyright strike for any of my K-Pop reaction videos (at least not to my knowledge), however I unfortunately had to remove a reaction video of a performance from M Countdown for precautionary reasons. The hard part of it was that the aforementioned video that I made had the most views on my channel. I felt so happy that a lot of people enjoyed it. 

Even though this copyright strike controversy is a challenge for a lot of us K-Pop fans who have our own Youtube channels, I will not throw in the towel on the creative process. These recent occurrences are making me step back and re-evaluate what I need to do and how I can prevent myself from losing all my hard work. Therefore, going forward, I will continue to post reaction videos of comeback MVs as well as dance practices because those had been released by Korea's entertainment companies and are in accordance to broadcasting laws. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and I hope you all have a wonderful K-Poppin' day!

Hope World is Here (Hixtape Review)!!!

So last week, after waiting to get out of work and not looking at any spoilers on social media, I finally listened to BTS J-Hope’s long-awaited mix tape entitled, “Hope World”. Oh my god! Let me tell you...Hobi has arrived and killed it like a boss!! The mix tape consists of 7 songs, including “Daydream” which he released to YouTube.

The mix tape starts off with the title song "Hope World", and from the starting lyrics "Yeah it's my life!" J-Hope introduces the listener to his own world. The song gives off an upbeat vibe which sets the mood for the rest of the mix tape. The next track, "P.O.P. (Piece of Peace pt. 1)" incorporates elements of trap beats with a sort of island vibe while fusing a melodic chorus. Hoseok manages to stay in rhythm with his rapping flow that becomes addicting to the listener. "Daydream" then takes the listener to a whole other dream world while sonically giving off a hip-hop/jazz vibe. I will tell you personally that I had a moment of anxiety a few days ago, and once I started playing the song I focused on nothing but J-Hope's enticing voice. So for that, I thank him. He precedently proceeds to get all gritty with "Baseline" which infuses bits of jungle/trap beats. "Hangsang" is reminiscent of the "Mic Drop" remix, and it gives Supreme Boi a chance to show off his rapping skills. The dreamy track, "Airplane" which recently was released to Youtube gives J-Hope a chance to demonstrate his more laid-back, melodic side.

    

Concluding J-Hope's debut mix tape, which had gone on to hit #1 on the iTunes charts in more than 60 countries, is the outro entitled "Blue Side". It leaves the listener feeling hopeful for better days.

Hoseok has proven with his mix tape that he finally took the opportunity to shine after the rest of the BTS rap line, RM and Suga, released their own mix tapes to share with the world. In my honest opinion, I am very proud of Hobi for all the hard work he put into creating this work of art. I'm looking forward to witnessing many endeavors from him as well as many more from the 7-piece group.

Sucked In to the K-Pop World: Introduction

Hello there K-Pop fans!

For my first post, I'd like to share how I became addicted to this wonderful music genre called K-Pop. It all started on Labor Day of last year. I was recuperating at home from a long road trip with my best friends. So I decided to binge-watch some YouTube clips. Suddenly, I stumbled upon a video of teens reacting to K-Pop. And little did I know...this group would come into my life. 

BTS' music video for "Blood Sweat and Tears" happened to be featured in this clip. I was so captivated by the originality of this genre, and I thought to myself, "Oh my god...this looks awesome. Let me check it out." I watched the MV in its entirety...and I fell in love!! I thought that the choreography was so intricate...something that you don't see in today's pop music anymore.  I moved right into the K-Pop world and had that song on repeat everyday. I became a full-fledged ARMY the next day. The next couple months led me to listening to more of BTS' songs, collecting a lot of merch, and most importantly getting to know these seven adorkable young men who interact with their fans on a regular basis. 

Then November came around, which is usually the month of voting season for the MNet Asian Music Awards (MAMA). Around this time, I'd been getting into a couple more K-Pop groups and all of a sudden EXO piqued my curiosity with "Ko Ko Bop". 

At first, I was hesitant about liking another group because there were a lot of fan wars happening, which is just pointless in my humble opinion. After seeking out some advice on this situation, I'd decided not to let the fan war B.S. affect me. I started getting into EXO, and I'm so happy I made that decision. From there, I started stanning a lot more groups and becoming multi-fandom. And right now, I stan about 10 groups (including BTS and EXO). I realized it was okay to listen to/support MORE than one group. It opens your mind to a whole plethora of talent that's out there.

K-Pop, for me, has made my life much more positive. It's given me a reason to wake up every morning because there is so much content that's out there for me to enjoy and go crazy over. A lot of groups that I'm a fan of never cease to wreck me on a regular basis and ruin my life. Not only that, but their music has made me feel very alive and free. 

I now have a YouTube channel dedicated to K-Pop, and I'd been posting reaction videos as well as different challenges like the "Try Not to Laugh Challenge." This channel is something that I enjoy doing, and I'm more than excited to be posting more reaction videos where I'm...basically fangirling most of the time. You can find my channel right here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/seashells05

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and I'm looking forward to sharing some more of my thoughts/reviews/experiences with K-Pop.

Have a wonderful K-Poppin' day!