3 days ago
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It’s time for QRIMOLE, the series where readers ask Kpopalypse questions! Let’s take a look at the mailbag for the last month!
I might be saying this while keeping in mind of the most popular groups at the moment but do you also think there is a lack of market for “masculine” girl group concepts? I feel like with the 2nd gen ggs, we had more instances of concepts where the girlies wear a proper suit for their comeback stages or there were androgynous-looking members like Amber. Idk, would like to hear your thoughts as a resident K-fashion expert!
I too have noticed the decline! I’ve also noticed an odd correlation – I think that you can trace the decline of “girls wearing suits/being tomboyish” with “the decline of sexy concepts in general” and the downward curves (pun intended) would look almost exactly the same. I think k-pop has become more uncomfortable with catering to direct adult sexuality in general, of any kind… and they’ve replaced it in a lot of cases with a more coy indirect teenager sexuality, because the latter sells better with young fans plus is easier to sneak past conservative audiences using dogwhistle tactics (“it’s a song about cookies” etc). Sad but k-pop agencies are following the trail of money and that’s where it’s taking them. Of course this just creates the perfect conditions for another Amber to come along and shake things up… I’d like to see Cocona be the one but I’m not sure if she’s popoular enough…
why do kpop stans think “stage presence” is like. a pretty girl biting her lip or something
Because most of them have never seen a live show of any worth.
This is what stage presence actually looks like:
This is a pretty long article and you’re under no obligation to read it. It is, however, among other things, about Australian culture. And I would be curious about your thoughts if you have them.
This is amazing writing. The “dreaming” cultural take here is fascinating, I can’t vouch for its accuracy but I’ve never heard it described quite like this. If they had explained it to me this way in school when I was learning about it, I may have actually paid some attention and not fallen asleep myself.
Hello there. I figured that since you are older i might ask you this question. Have you ever thought about death and getting older? im only in my 20s right now and this has never happened to me before but this last year and especially these past few months i have been thinking of this a lot. Is this normal? Should i consult someone? Im a bit confused.
How often do I think about aging? Every fuckin’ day. Probably when it really started hitting me was when I started to develop shoulder issues. My shoulder issues first attracted my attention from feeling a bit of pain from the seemingly minor movement of picking up my fairly heavy (but not that heavy) car steering wheel lock from the floor of the passenger seat of my car and applying it to the steering wheel. Apparently if you do this a thousand times a year for a few years it actually gives you shoulder inflammation after you hit a certain age. Who knew? You will definitely think about getting older a lot in your life, but you’re quite young so I’d suggest enjoy being very physically capable right now while you still can because that won’t last forever, and also just be careful. Age catches up with us all eventually, but you can prolong the process by looking after your body. I thank myself every day for having the foresight to wear earplugs for every rock concert and band practice I attended in my 20s and 30s, due to that I’m now only as deaf as the average person my age, instead of completely fucking deaf like a lot of my friends from back then.
thoughts on marina’s ‘cuntissimo’? i have a feeling you might like it
It’s not a bad song, at least it’s fast. Mainly I just like the attempt to bring rococo fashions back. Perhaps if it were not for this we wouldn’t have gotten Pinkpantheress in “Tonight” rocking the rococo look even harder.
So STAYC’s Bebe came out recently and people noticed that the rap verse sounded very similar to the rap verse in Kiss Of Life’s Get Loud. Apparently it’s a preset sample which confused me because i’m never heard of entire verse pre sets before. Is this common? I dont really get the lineage on how both songs have the exact same verse flow and why that’s allowed. Relevant info starts at 1:28 in this video (vs 2:20 in Kiss Of Life’s song)
I don’t know the origin of the original rap but I’m guessing that it might be from a sample CD in which case yes it would be in the public domain and available to freely use, as long as you bought the sample CD (because after all, that’s the entire point of sample CDs or “sample packs”, I’m probably showing my age by calling them CDs). Kiss Of Life’s rap isn’t a direct sample, they’ve re-performed it with slightly different (but still very similar) lyrics, yes this type of reuse is completely legal (not to mention completely frowned upon in hip-hop circles).
The same feeling the Dreamcatcher mourning caonima felt I felt about A.C.E’s ignoble end. Like maybe if it was 2021 I’d be mourning about what could have been had they not been cut off short but it’s 2025 and their post military comebacks have been nothing but dull disappoints that were created to blend into the background. I can’t even be mad that they were clearly thrown out in favour of their company’s new group NewBeat because at least I’ve liked 3 songs off the debut full length is which is 2 more songs than I’ve liked off A.C.E in years now. The really sad thing is that A.C.E’s original hardstyle techno concept appears to be coming into vogue for boy groups this year at least somewhat and yet i know full well that they wouldn’t have taken advantage of that to smuggle in some bangers even if they did make it that long. Oh well. Stream Cactus.
Yes A.C.E were another group that had wasted potential because whoever was deciding on their creative direction was just too scared to go all-in. You can accuse Min Hee Jin of many things but timidity in following her chosen conceptual path isn’t one of them, the fact that she consistently went “all the way” (or at least as far as she was allowed to go) with group concepts is what sets her apart from every other creative director in k-pop who is always playing it safe.
hiii, i wanted to know your opinions & thoughts on, Jae Stephens’s music! specifically her recent works: “Body Favors”, “SMH”, “Girls Don’t Cheat”, etc. i’ve recently been loving these new releases (except “WET” that one sounded a bit bland? idk 😭). she writes & produce all/most of her music, and she is (or was) a alt R&B artist, but before you shoot me the songs i mentioned already are more pop lol! and side note she does have writing credits on; “Closer” by Jihyo & “Secret Diary” by Loossemble.
anyways keep up the good work!! ❤
(and sorry if my grammar or wording is incorrect its 3am rn lolo)
and then
hiii! i’m the one who asked for your thoughts on Jae Stephens’ music. so (unasked-for) update but i went and listened to “WET” again and i do like it a bit more now! not my fav still, but yea lol sorry if this submission was pointless to you 😭
I’m not into anything she does, sorry. Although I agree with you on one thing which is that “Wet” is her worst song out of the ones I’ve heard.
Hi! I got accepted to be a student DJ over the summer for my uni’s radio station, and I’m going to be doing a k-pop themed show! The only problem is that it’s an independent station, so I have to avoid playing ‘Top 50’ hits or popular music in general so we don’t get sued. The program director suggested focusing on smaller and more niche k-pop artists. I feel like my taste is a little obscure already, but is there a way to find less popular, but still good k-pop songs/artists? Like how do you find songs for Nugu Alert? Thank you!
The “play obscure artists so we don’t get sued” stuff sounds like bunk, independent radio stations almost always have agreements with performing rights bodies in their country to pay royalties, these are agreements that they need to adhere to as part of their broadcasting licence. If they don’t have such agreements, it means that not only any k-pop broadcast but ANY musical broadcast of ANY kind on their station is completely illegal, which is a great way to get kicked off the air in general. That’s a key difference between an official independent radio station, and pirate radio.
I used to go digging through YouTube myself but these days my readers send me all the Nugu Alert submissions that I’d ever need! But there’s a wide distance between “nugu enough for Nugu Alert” and “popular k-pop artist”. So if you want to be naughty, maybe go trawling through some of my favourites lists (or worst lists) for artists as a lot of stuff that gets on those is C/D tier artists who are unlikely to be monitoring western independent pirate radio… but I don’t condone this activity, instead I’d recommend that staff there investigate your station’s licencing requirements and play by the book, that means that those artists you play might actually make a few dollars of royalties. The royalty checks from independent radio play aren’t much (I’ve received a few and they are laughably small) but it’s still way more than what you get from streaming royalties.
I don’t normally use your qrimole box as some sort of agony aunt, but idk, I’m tired. My health has been shit since July 2024, when a surgical wound that I had from a relatively minor surgery reopened and decided to get infected, putting me in the hospital for 9 days. Since then my immune system has been nonexistent. In fact I just got diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. I’m constantly exhausted, constantly sick. I catch every little cold and virus that’s out there. I’ve missed so much work I live in fear of getting fired. Not to mention I work in a toxic environment full of bullies, my financial situation is in the toilet, and I just don’t know which way is up anymore. I just want a chance to breathe, a chance to relax and not be sick, but I’m also getting older and I know it’s all downhill from here. IDK how to face my own mortality, or even just to face the day to day struggles of aging. I just feel kinda helpless and hopeless. Any advice?
Also I’m sad because I didn’t like GFriend’s “comeback.” I wanted so much more. I’m gonna go watch Untie a few more times to make myself feel better.
Planning a career change is something I’d think about if I were you. Most of what you listed sadly isn’t stuff you can control (I too feel the pain of being immunocompromised) but your finances/work environment, now that’s something that with a little effort you can switch up. The shift can be a bit painful but it will be less painful if you make plans now so you can do a smooth transition, rather than having circumstances force you out, or chip away at you until you crumble. Change is always traumatic, but when it’s less traumatic than staying in a toxic place, it’s the easier path.
I know you don’t include b-sides in your roundups, but I was wondering what you thought of Chuu’s “Kiss a Kitty”? I feel like this is not even dogwhistling at this point, like unless you’re literally eight years old you’re going to get the innuendo lol. Do you think Korean culture is loosening its prejudice on same-sex attractions or do u think Chuu/her label just don’t mind stirring up some controversy?
and
judging from the lyrics of kiss a kitty by chuu… has she played try not to have gay sex with yves???
Who knows, but she should! Readers who haven’t can play the six-part series here.
K-pop and indeed pop music in general has always been full of amazingly obvious innuendo, I don’t think this song represesnts some kind of new frontier or anything. This type of thing has been done many times. It probably won’t even be noticed.
How do you get over the fear of applying for a job? I have very little job experience and with the current situation in my country with the student protests i kinda need to do something with my free time yet i feel very self conscious about my capabilities, what im asking i guess is how do i get out of my head and just DO IT?
I think the main thing to realise is that employers are looking for “the right fit” and that doesn’t always mean the person with the most experience, or the best stats on paper, or anything else that people might assume would be important. I did a job for a little while where I was entrusted with hiring decisions, and I hired people with plenty of experience and mad skils in all sorts of things, as well as people with absolutely nothing on their resume whatsoever who came straight from high school, and everything in between. Sometimes you just get a good vibe from a person in an interview. Also values matter, if someone appears honest, has integrity etc, those are also things employers look for (and they matter a LOT especially in jobs where sensitive information is being handled). So the main thing is – don’t assume that you can see things through an employer’s eyes. Just put your best foot forward, and keep doing that, and you will land something eventually. It does take time and multiple attempts though – my most recent job search, I applied for over 100 jobs. Don’t lose hope though, just keep putting yourself out there, again and again. With the right attitude and the mathematics of resume-spamming on your side, you will eventually get there. Also don’t buckle at rejection because that’s totally normal, you will get a lot of that. Just keep going, those who endure win.
More bands like Lovebites? Don’t have to be Japanese. Nothing else scratches the itch, closest thing would be Galneryus but I want female vocalists, but also didn’t like Unlucky Morpheus and Aldious ://
Tough call because Lovebites are definitely the best group with that sound. I do like Unlucky Morpheus although I admit they’re not as good even with the appealing addition of violin, and Aldious are straight-up poo just because they might look great (and wow do they look great) but their songwriting is sadly ass. Hagane are another one you could try, they have the amazing Sakura Yoshida on guitar plus the equally amazing Junna on drums, so they at least tick all the boxes for instrumental skill, but once again their song quality isn’t anywhere near Lovebites’ level. The X Japan cover project from Daisuke Kurosawa is great and you’d like that if you like Galneryus (and it also actually sounds better than the original X Japan studio recordings) but once again, male vocals. I will keep searching.
One of my favorite things you do is point out the models for K-pop songs that are ripping off Western pop songs. Are there any you’ve noticed but haven’t shared? (I recently realized that “You Drive Me Crazy” from the repackage of Absolute First Album is totally a rewrite of “If you seek Amy” by Britney Spears, not sure if that one’s been mentioned on here.)
I always mention them when I notice them, so no, there isn’t any that I’m “holding back” on. Quite a few early T-ara songs are Britney Spears lifts, “Day By Day” is just “Criminal”, “Cry Cry” is… actually I forget which Britney song, but it’s one of them.
Sigur Ros are coming to Adelaide! What songs do you recommend by them?
Everything up to and including the “Taak” album, after that they went a bit too far out of post-rock experimental land and into soft rock Coldplay-ish direction for my taste. Must admit I haven’t heard their most recent stuff though so maybe they got good again I dunno. It’s doubtful that I’ll go and see Sigur Ros though because I just saw the ticket prices and… yeah, I decided that I’m doing my hair that night.
thoughts on myrath’s ‘wheel of time‘? I think it’s so sick so I’m doing my best to spread the word it exists amen
Not into it, something about it doesn’t hit for me. I think it’s the melody writing, and maybe also the rhythmic aspects. That slap-bass combined with those keyboard stabs is just a weird combination that I don’t think gels at all.
Hello old Australian man. Been a longtime reader of your blog, and though we disagree on many things, including that one afrobeat song you didn’t like, I like your content. Anyway, I’m a final year med student going back to school soon and our board exam is in four months. Even writing this fills me with dread. I feel like I don’t know anything, compared to my high-flying peers. I know the solution is to study harder, but the thought of failure is almost paralysing. Failure means resitting the exams in three months, and if I fail the resit I’ll have to repeat the year with my juniors, who will graduate in 2027 or 2026. If it got to that point I would honestly drop out of school, nevermind that I’ve wasted nearly 8 years of my life on a profession I now know gives very little reward for working yourself to the bone marrow. To make it worse, I have no idea what I want to do after school. I would honestly like to work from home and avoid all interaction with other human beings, but seeing as I’ve locked myself into the medical track and I don’t have the money or luxury to switch there’s no other option. To make it worse, if I do become a doctor it’s expected that I emigrate to a Western country where doctors are paid better because my country is a shithole. My peers are already planning their exits but it requires money i don’t have and won’t have unless I save for years. I don’t want to do that. I’m very comfortable in my shithole because it’s my comfort zone; moving to a whole new country sounds like such a pain. Staying here would mean having to deal with people who think I’m stupid for not leaving. This is just a mess of a question but all I’m asking for is advice.
Since you’re unsure if you even want your chosen career path anyway (and yes there aren’t too many options to work from home in the medical profession for obvious reasons) you may as well approach the exam with a “fuck it, let’s just see what happens” attitude. If you smash the exam out, then I guess you were made for med school and why not continue on to eventual riches (although it will take time) – on the other hand if you fuck it up, then you know that path isn’t for you and you can enjoy being where you are and aiming for a more reclusive career. Neither are a loss. Benefit of the reclusive career is in third-world countries Internet money is actually worth more – amounts of cash that don’t go very far in rich western countries can actually stretch a lot further in poorer countries where the cost of living is cheaper. So working out ways to get cash from rich whitey is worthwhile and surprisingly sustainable if you can work a niche. But then so is being a doctor and moving to a flashy country (eventually). Due to declining birthrates doctors will be in huge demand for the forseeable future as the population ages, and this demand is more pronounced in rich countries. All options in front of you have downsides but they all have advantages too, the exam will do you a big favour by letting you know which option is the best one – so expect it fondly.
I know you generally don’t like these types of questions to be on QRIMOLE,
correct, but go on
but for whatever reason I am unable to make a Neospring account.
You don’t need a Neospring account to ask me questions there, but go on
I have a few songs that have nothing to do with each other, and I’m curious how you feel about them. If you’re sick of caonimas asking for your opinion on something that you’re likely to be uninterested in, don’t worry I get sick of reading them too lmao
1 – quirky but dull Autotuned nonsense
2 – yeah, not into this either, really hate the vocal style, backings are generally bland
3 – a bit empty, it lacks some kind of spark to make me give a fuck. Kind of like a weak version of “Korean Girls” that didn’t slap anywhere near as hard. Still the best song of the four here by a wide margin though, at least it grooves and Billie Eilish mrs not gonna lie
4 – yawn
Hi kpopalypse
I started going to a coaching on december. Basically its this center where you learn how to crack entrance exams so that you are able to get into a good rank and as a result good college. Its a very small place with only 15 students.
There is only one teacher who teaches all the 3 subjects (physics, chemistry, mathematics). He is a great teacher. Probably the best I have had. No matter what doubt I have he can answer it. He also had me overturn my whole approach to problem solving by pushing the focus away from doing as many problems as you can and putting the focus on how to gain insights into a concept and be able to solve something while keeping in your mind the answer you want to get.
I am not really a good student. Sometimes I cant answer questions when he asks. (I had missed a class once so I had taken down the notes but I didnt get the time to review properly so I blanked out when he asked a very simple question. I completely blanked out so I had to tell him that I didnt know). He guves these assignments which at the first month I couldnt solve even the first questions. He gave everyone a test to write at home after 2 classes and I asked him if I could attempt it later. He told me to attempt it once. I couldnt solve any of the questions and I basically checked 2 or 3 answers. I know this was completely wrong for me to do and I deserved the criticism. I dont want to justify myelf. For that test I got the lowest like I was 50 marks below the student who was second last. He usually tells the marks in front of everyone while he is giving out the papers. That day he also discussed the answers and I looked visibly upset to which he basically asked sort of mockingly that if I am okay do you want to leave.
The next test was only 2 days away so I studied the best I can and wrote it. This time I scored double the marks I first got but it was still very much low. There was one guy who joined the same time as me (we both joined quite late) and he scored almost double of my score. The one excuse I had in my head that I joined late I still havent learned most of the portion….. I missed one of his classes. I know its a dumb reason. I couldnt finish the assignment he gave. (hes going faster so he gave 2 days for it) In my head I was thinking that I will attempt the questions atleast before going there. I knew if I went there unprepared I preobably wouldnt understand any of the questions he said. I went for the next class and he asked me why I couldnt come. I know its bad that I didnt go for the class and I should have still went for the classes. I couldnt think of any good reason so I told the truth. Btw I am not justifying what I did. He didnt say anything at that point. Later in the class he wanted to show the importance of attaching numbers to some study or theory. For that he used my example. Basically he created this hypothetical case where I am not doing well in classes and that when he tells it to my father I can basically manipulate him by saying he has biased view, he believes this and that. But then when he shows the percentage I cant manipulate my dad and he will scold me. After saying it he asked me if I was upset and basically said that it was just a joke.
I felt this criticism was unfair. I never try to justify it by bringing up his faults or views. My parents havent talked to him after the class started. For one its not my father who wanted me to write these entrance exams nor is it my mother. And most of the time I tell them my marks honestly. They wont really scold me for it but will ask how I plan to do better and give me advices of their own. They also ask me if this is really what I want to do. I have neverAnd I dont know I am shit at it. I enjoy reading about it. I genuinely enjoy sitting in class and learning. I also enjoyed attempting the questions on the assignment. But when it comes to it I am not as good as almost all of the students there. I know a lot of this is my fault. I only really started trying this seriously when I joined this class. And I know I should have started earlier. I feel ashamed talking to anyone there. As it is its extremely difficult to make friends. And when they talk about studies I dont know what to say. I know its irrational.
I dont want to quit this class though. I dont have a good chance of doing well in the exam next year otherwise and at worst I might have to attempt another year. And I guess I want to prove that I am not like what he says
I have never I guess went throught his type of thing. In my class I mostly do well. But here.. I am at the bottom. And I know I can improve.
Should I stay in this class? This probably will continue the remarks and jokes all that. I know I am a bad student definetly. I guess I wouldnt have minded it if he said it straight to my face instead of bringing my parents into it. I feel angry about that. He can say I am a lazy bitch without assuming things about me or my father.
If you don’t want to quit, don’t. Just keep doing your best. When I go to the gym I’m frequently the least-fit person there, because I go at odd hours that only crazy workout fanatics go at. I only measure my performance against myself. I’m not trying to be the strongest person there, I’m just trying to do what I feel I need to. Attack it with that attitude and you’ll find that the comments bother you less. Building up resilience isn’t a bad thing. In life if you follow your own path bravely there will alway7s be people making comments at you. I have people who don’t even know me making shitty comments about me every day. It’ll never stop me from achieving what I want.
have you seen how beautiful jeongyeon looks in this yellow dress?!
No, I did not click on this. I did not notice Jeongyeon in the yellow dress, holding the fruit and being all cute and stuff. I didn’t save this to my hard drive for later use either. Hey if QRIMOLE is a little bit late this month it’s for no particular reason.
have you ever thought of going into music composition yourself? like, being a music producer etc. etc.
Well I did do exactly this a couple decades ago! But I wasn’t working in the commercial pop realm, and honestly working in that style doesn’t interest me a whole lot, it’d feel like too much of a job. Also the thing that sucks about being a music producer is having to deal with musicians… ugh.
Top 3 worst groups in kpop?
Impossible to generalise too much but you can check here.
So today I got pulled aside at work by my 2 supervisors, who said that they had been hearing complaints about me from the client management team, mainly being:
1) I’m rude and dismissive to them, and seem surly when getting feedback from clients.
2) Clients are DMing my department head to that say my work is boring and not up to their standards
3) I’m also taking too much time for simple tasks
For all this, I conceded to #2 and vowed to try harder, because I can control that (but again, most of this feedback is coming from one brand manager who literally has never told this to me or anyone in my team directly). But for #1 and #3 it felt insanely unfair because:
– every morning I get pinged to do tasks, all of which have to be delivered at the exact same time. When I tell them that I will give each task in a certain order (So I’ll do Task A now, then B, then C) managers behind B and C get hissy and demand that I give their tasks priority. I tell them to sort it out among themselves before telling me, which doesn’t happen. Then they go tattling to my manager about how “Anon refuses to do my work” when I’m not even saying no?
– I’m constantly questioned by them, to the point where I HAVE to drag my manager to back me up in many cases (which she does…. it’s never my work she’s had a problem with, it’s my approach to it). They undermine my work constantly and then have the cheek to act surprised when I get a little ticked off at them? Please
The thing is, this is the 2nd time I’ve had a meeting like this. The first one came last year. I really feel like I’m being ganged up on, but I’m also very confused as to why my attempts to assert myself are taken so aggressively. I never raise my voice, I’ve never said anything worse than a “not right now”. What do I even do? I can’t afford to quit with the job market being the way it is.
Sounds like you’re being fucked around to me. You know your work is good, and so do they, probably. Something else is going on. Your strategy should be to befriend the managers and higher-ups. You can do this by not neglecting the social side of work. Make sure you’re there for social occasions – if you’re not in the room you’ll become the person others talk about. I’m a hypocrite because I’m quite bad at this myself, but then I pay the price for it so I know what I’m talking about. If you can get on their good side you’ll find that your work performance will mysteriously become “better” in their eyes even if you’ve changed nothing.
please fix your website i like to read your roundups on my phone at school and lately my phone has not been able to load your roundups because there’s so many fucking youtube videos. i am using safari on an iphone 15 so i dont think its a problem with my phone so please fix it
Let this be a lesson to all of you other people – please stop fucking whining about roundups with “you left out song X doesn’t it qualify” type feedback- it probably DOES qualify, but if it’s on the fringes I might leave it out so people with crappy devices can stand a chance of loading the fucking page. As for those who can’t read the roundups, just change your browser’s settings so it doesn’t pre-load embedded videos (but nobody ever listens when I suggest this).
you’ve probably been asked this before but which boygroup do you think has the best music?
Out of current boygroups The Wind are the most consistent.
Hi kpopalypse oppar,
I remember some time last year, or maybe two years ago, I don’t really care, there was news that JYP Entertainment eliminated all trainee debt for people who debuted. I was wondering if you had any input on this, since agencies keeping their artists in debt is their number one way to maximize profit, and I can’t see the reason being well-meaning on the side of the company. I feel like it might just be a PR grab for netizens to see JYPE as the “most humane” agency and therefore support it more, but you have way more experience in and knowledge about the industry than I do, so what do you think?
Thanks!
The way debt in a company usually works is that you’re always told that you have a lot of it, but it tends to get waived when you leave unless you leave in a way that upsets the agency, then they can hang it over your head because it’s in your contract. This prevents “tell-all” type drama, NDA-breaking etc, it’s one of the main reasons that you don’t get some VERY interesting Kpopalypse Interviews.
hii! ik you mainly review k-pop songs but would like your opinions on bratz’s new single “think about it“. it sorta reminds me of tate mcrae’s “it’s ok i’m ok”. and idk why but i like bratz’s song better than tate’s. maybe it’s because i’m not a fan of her tone.
I find it boring. I honestly feel the same about Tate’s song, similar low quality. This wimpy pop shit is not my style. I didn’t even know Bratz were still making music I thought that was a trend long gone, shows how much I know…
Hi oppa, I have a question that only you can answer! For making you understand i guess I have to narrate you the story from day one, so please bear with me.
So basically back when I was a teenager i collected tons and tons of anime music, for tons here i mean a couple of hundreds, so they are definitely a lot.
Since i was a teenager of course naturally i was also fucking dumb as hell and it didn’t cross my mind to try and see where i could buy the actual music, i just acquired it illegally primarily with emule (man, do you even remember it??? I was lucky i never downloaded porn videos thinking it was music!) and with file converters that transform a youtube video into an mp3 file, back when these things started to appear.
Now reading your blog I apprehended that not only mp3 as a file is of really low quality but videos on youtube are shit in quality too, so I realized that my anime music files must be of really really really garbage fucking ass quality and I started to think that I would like to do something to enhance them. Hence I have a couple of questions:
First (more or less): how bad their quality is? I know the answer is “really fucking bad” but I would like to understand how much a converter degrades the original quality of a file. If the starting quality is already bad since is a youtube video, how much worse the file’s quality becomes once is been converted into an mp3 file? (I have written “quality” a lot, lol sorry.)
Second: is there a way to improve their quality? Does it even exist? If I understand correctly places like itunes have only mp3 files so I shouldn’t bother with them in the first place. I have seen programs that convert mp3 files into wav files and, I mean, do they work? Can a converter software turn an mp3 into a file of CD-like quality? If anything isn’t there the risk that a conversion can lower a file’s quality, so every time you convert a file that file actually degrades? Do you know a program that can improve a music file’s quality that you can recommend?
I have checked only briefly the world of second-hand anime soundtrack’s cds and man, it’s a hell of a dive, some of these things are very rare and difficult to find and obviously, since it’s a collector territory, you have to be prepared to fork out quite a lot of money.
I know what you think about anime and japanese pop/rock in general and I know that you think I should just toss all them in the bin since it’s all garbage anyway, but I am really attached to those files, they are all very very precious to me like the ring is for Gollum.
So do you have any suggestion? Or, if buying cds from second-hand markets is the only option, do you have any tips on how can i become a good drug seller? Since selling drugs is the only way I can afford those cds.
Thank you!
To ascertain quality of an MP3 file, you can right-click the file, select “properties” and then the “details” tab:
What you’re looking for is “bitrate”. 320kbps is about as good as it gets for MP3 files (unless we go to FLAC which is a wank but that’s a different topic), most listeners would struggle to tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and CD quality audio. Anything under 128kbps tends to sound very metallic (in a bad way) and unpleasant, I’d consider 128kbps the minimum quality that sounds tolerable for music. Higher bitrate is better but there is always a tradeoff with larger filesize.
When you convert a digital audio file from one format to another, the quality either stays the same, or degrades. It never improves. Converting your MP3s back to WAV CD format is definitely possible, and people do this sometimes usually because they want to then burn a CD with their favourite MP3s on it but in CD style format so it will work in an old CD player like one in their car for example, but this will not make the audio sound better, the music will still sound like the original MP3s did. Reliability is something that drug dealers tend to struggle with massively. It’s such an issue that a drug dealer that can be counted on by their customers for consistent supply when needed is already in the top 10% regardless of all other factors, so sourcing a realiable supply chain plus responding promptly to customer concerns will go a long way towards building a regular clientele.
Not a question, but a comment.
Asianjunkie: One of the few award shows I do make note of from South Korea is the Korean Music Awards, because instead of being a popularity contest, it at least helps to gauge who Korean critics favor. Agreeing with them is a different thing entirely.
Me: The only Kpop critic that matters is Kpopalypse.
That’s the way – cheers for your support! Although really my opinion doesn’t matter either. JAV of the month for this QRIMOLE is SONE-667.
If someone rubbed your bald head like a crystal ball, what visions would it show? How would they differ from the visions of Cocona’s bald head?
I think rubbing Cocona’s bald head would generate superior visions. Mine would probably just generate visions of dandruff.
So The Guardian ran a piece on how K-Pop isn’t taking over the world anymore and it features a bunch of people in it that think it’s over and done but while some points are true, I can’t help but feel like maybe what they’re really looking for is like… a “central” boyband that dominates K-Pop twitter like BTS, Big Bang, etc used to? Because outside of the melodies being worse than (in my subjective opinion) compared to 10 years back, there’s no big boyband and everybody is just kinda sucky. I don’t think the Korean lyrics bit is so true at all though. English is trendy everywhere and the English in it is better than ever. It’s just that that maximalist pop bit that K-Pop does has died out and people would rather hear their favs mumble over digital mush a la Addison Rae. Meanwhile K-Pop is also running the Pinkpantheress / NewJeans bit to the ground in the worst way.
And then also I find it disingenous to say that K-Pop just kinda died or whatever (and the Twice shoutout at the end is so hilarious lmao, they also have had better days musically) when IVE is super popular domestically and aespa scored a big one with Supernova & Whiplash too. Maybe K-Pop is the new rock, that one is also dying since like 1979. What do you think?
From a western pop fan’s perspective, or from the perspective of a k-pop super-fan keen on k-pop world domination, yes k-pop probably is in a “crisis”, but from anyone else’s perspective not much has really changed, it’s just reset somewhat to how it was in say 2016 before the BTS-spearheaded western penetration. Not that I care – rich people’s problems aren’t my problems.
Isn’t The Chaser widely loved? It got a bunch of acclaim among “critics” (whose opinion is generally pretty shit but hey, it does help with that confirmation bias of Kpop fans) and did well commercially. Why don’t we get more songs like it?
I’m not even sure if The Chaser is widely loved, I think that’s just my community as well as Infinite fans and the other few rare k-pop fans who actually listen to the music. I think like most songs from that era it’s largely been forgotten and newer fans wouldn’t even know it.
Thoughts on High Horse by NMIXX? From my untrained ear it’s a bit of a different sound to much that I’ve heard in k-pop, but you’ve listened to a lot more than me so I value your input on the matter. Song kinda sounds like some early-mid 2000s UK track or something, possibly due to the drum loops? I dunno, I’m clueless. Form my opinion for me.
Ahahaha people were upset that I point blank refuse to review this fucking boring-ass shit in roundup. The reason why I didn’t review it is obvious: the dance video JYP released doesn’t have studio-quality audio, instead it sounds like it was recorded by a mobile phone on the floor of the gym. Yes, I could stitch together the dance video’s visual with the studio quality audio and “make a video” that way (I did it before for Le Sserafim) but why the fuck should I. I don’t want to set a precedent of making all that effort especially for such a bland song that I have nothing to say about. If the song was even slightly interesting maybe I’d bother, but even then I probably wouldn’t.
[A question about a musical group that I do occasional contracted shows and other session work for]
Glad you enjoyed the show, even though I wasn’t there. I wasn’t contracted to be at that specific one. I’m sort of an “honourary member” of that group due to doing lots of repeated work for them for nearly a decade now, I step in when they need an extra person for something specific (just one example: I did a lot of shows with them during COVID years when various band members were getting sick, having me fill in meant that they didn’t have to cancel a bunch of gigs and refund thousands of tickets). Click here for an explanation (about 3/4 of the way down) of why I don’t name names when it comes to my touring and other non k-pop musical and extra-musical activities.
Is there really any way to make Jisoo pleasant to the ears? Will we be able to hear it in our lifetimes?
Which one of the 76 Jisoos in k-pop are we talking about here?
Do you think when we let go of our desires we finally feel free and can appreciate good things more & have you practiced absence before (for example when I expect nothing from a K-pop group I like it a lot better lol)
Yes. It’s exactly why I don’t watch teasers.
100% not a question but since I can’t find your twitch rec box…
Was inspired by your fervent love for Diamanda Galas, I present to you… Kristin Hayter!
Sonically and thematically, the both are very similar however I have not fully engrossed myself in Diamanda’s world yet. Kristin also incorporates tons of folk (more specifically, the distraught Appalachian type) and Christian-style hymn work into her music. The vast majority of which is under her acclaimed “Lingua Ignota” project, after leaving it behind due to it making “her relive her worst experiences over and over again.” (you will understand soon enough). She has now been ordained as a reverend and creates dusty lo-fi hymns under her real name (which I won’t talk about here), but as a whole, to describe everything that she’s made…
“The most extreme metal any non extreme metal artist has ever been.” (But of course she has incorporated metal in the past)
Anyways… Here are some of my favourite songs of hers!
💟 Happy listening! – A.C 💟
Wow, this is really good, thank you! Definitely sounds like an update of Diamanda Galas for the modern age, removing the only real weakness she had which was the somewhat questionable 80s production on some of her records but keeping the general themes and intensity intact. I’m glad this exists. Although not sure if I would listen to it very often, as with Diamanda I have to be in the right mood for it as pretty much any song is a deep emotional dive that I don’t necessarily feel like doing all the time…
I know nothing about playing a guitar beyond a vague understanding that strings are involved, but read that Hizaki from Versailles is a superb guitarist (he’s in the ballgown:)
As someone who knows many things about playing a guitar, do you think he’s actually that good?
He’s fine. I mean he’s in a crowded field of very good guitarists across the board, he certainly stacks up and I like his relatively understated melodic style. Mind you if I were to pick someone from his particular genre as my favourite guitarist just technically speaking, I’d pick Syu from Galneryus. If I love anything about Hizaki specifically it’s the signature guitar that he plays in almost all his videos, just gorgeous and even prettier than the dresses he wears (and that’s saying a lot).
Hi Kpopalypse appa,
I’m a prodigal child who’s returned to your website after a long time. I’ve suscepted myself to the dark side these past 2(?) years of kpop stannage degeneracy. After meeting my ult bias, Handong from Dreamcatcher back in 2023, I was absolutely enraptured by her beauty like a sailor encountering a siren at sea, and drowned in a delusional stupor. Following that encounter, I have met many more idols at concerts and fanmeets which was pretty cool. I’ve even made a lot more friends along the way and I felt pretty happy that I could experience all that with them. Overtime, I kinda grew desensitized to meeting idols, and kpop in general. The only one who still kept me emotionally attached was Handong.
It got worse when I met her again last year in 2024 where I actually got to talk to her for a bit, and take pics together in a 1:1 setting. Before meeting her again, I fully expected a “never meet your idol” moment where she’d give me the bare minimum attention and keep it strictly professional which would hinder me from idealizing her further. But such was not the case, as she seemed to actually like, or at least tolerate my presence?? Maybe it’s because I spoke her language that she felt comfortable to initiate talking with me, even in between hi-touch she just talked to me out of nowhere cuz she remembered me from the last stop 2 days ago. She also called me baby, gave me a side hug and poked my cheek for pics, and said the tattoo I drew on my arm was awesome. So as a fan, that was probably my most peak moment and it probably couldn’t get any better, and it didn’t because some months later, it was announced that she didn’t renew her contract, hah! I bawled when I first saw the news but I got over it quickly, now I’ve just accepted the situation and am waiting to see what she’ll be doing in China. Maybe she’ll get married to a rich CEO or something and I can finally move on kek.
But honestly, this was probably the right timing for me because as she’s pursuing new goals, I can finally pursue mine. The problem is, I’ve grown incredibly lazy and have major difficulty starting anything due to perfectionism and fear of failure. I’m currently employed but I feel like I should go back to school to pursue something more fulfilling and money-making as to not be stuck in the same dead-end job for the rest of my life. I’m American and we’re absolutely cooked with the inflation and new tariffs that I’ve been hearing about, so I need to make as much money as possible to sustain myself if I want to be more independent in the future. I’m even considering moving to China or Taiwan someday because the stuff I see on Rednote makes it seem like a much more livable place. I’ve already considered pursuing acupuncture, since it’s in healthcare which has both the things I’m looking for in a job, and it’s not as competitive compared to most other healthcare jobs. My mom currently works in that field and that’s what inspired me to consider pursuing it.
So oppar, how do I stop living like a spoiled teen and start kicking my own ass to start doing the things I should be doing like applying for university, doing my taxes, and cleaning my room? I don’t think I’m depressed since I’m still capable of happiness, but my lack of motivation makes me think that I probably am. Or perhaps it’s the lack of self-confidence in my own abilities.
Thanks for reading this long tangent of a question and for whatever answer you give!
The grass is not always greener: social media is a “highlight reel”, it’s not how people actually live. I wouldn’t move to China or anywhere else based off of social media content! Now is a good time to be employed so just keep making that money, saving and plan your next move. Only you know what’s right for you, but you’ll want to be in an advantageous position as possible before you make any big leaps.
Came across this parody guy’s song on twitter, Kyle Gordon’s Crawl To Me….. I know nothing about nu-metal (which this is apparently a parody of), but I’m low key unironically digging his song. What are the obvious bands / songs I should check out for this genre?
Normally I would say “None! Stay away from this travesty of a genre!” but since you weirdly like what you heard, the seminal bands of nu-metal (and I hate all of them) are/were Korn, (early) Limp Bizkit and Slipknot, so you could check them out if you felt motivated, other groups that made an impression on me back in the day were Coal Chamber (mid music but bass player mrs) and Biohazard (for a sort of numetal/hardcore punk/thrash fusion that has dated oddly well given the directions hardcore is going in these days). For a Korean version try Seotaiji’s 90’s stuff.
i’m 24 and enrolled in a major (physiotherapy) that… i don’t necessarily hate but i feel doesn’t match with my identity (all of my classmates are so different from me as well), i feel constantly stressed about it, and i think about dropping out almost every day. sometimes when i do well on a subject or something i do feel some enthusiasm but it fades quickly. however i’m only 3 semesters away from finishing it. and finishing it and getting a job means being able to move out of my house, which i desperately want to do bc of my bad relationship with my mother.
but my college years have been miserable years, ngl, almost as bad as middle school minus the bullying. sometimes i get bouts of suicidal ideation, feeling like i’m trapped in a life i don’t want. but at the same time, i don’t actually know what i DO want. i think about getting a music degree, because it feels like something i’d enjoy working with, i like creating and i like music, but what if i end up hating it as well? i already changed my major 3 times. what if my problem is that i don’t like college at all? but i can’t imagine not going to college, i feel like that would be even more fucked. it would be harder to get a job, and i can’t stay idle because my depression gets worse. what if i think about changing majors not because i hate my course, but because i’m a lazy and anxious bum who just hates hard things, and when things get hard i want to give up, and switch what i’m doing to trick myself into thinking that this time things will be easier, but i’ll fall into the same cycle no matter what i choose to do? and i already feel like a failure for not having graduated already, i don’t want to get to my 30s without a degree fuuuuuuck what do i do
Only three semesters away! You’re nearly there! Just keep going! Don’t worry about a job not matching your identity, I’ve done plenty of those types of jobs. Not every job I do is some cool music shit, far from it – I’m not above taking generic office jobs and so on to bring in the cash when I need it (because music money is good when you get it, but it can be very unreliable). Don’t worry about trying to find the “perfect career” because it doesn’t exist, just graduate with something that you can do pretty well and you don’t absolutely hate, and that brings in money (i.e NOT a music degree, for the love of god). Then you can gets lots of money to do the things you actually want to do, the things that really define you, when you’re not at work.
will kpop companies inject idols with ozempic once it gets more affordable or will they just keep starving them
What makes you think they’re not already doing both.
Are you sure you genuinely loved “BEcause” and “Vision”?
Well they were better than Zimzalabim.
You mentioned last QRIMOLE that you don’t listen to kpop albums and aren’t motivated to basically ever. How did you discover aliens by Chuu then, since it’s not a single?
By people who kept sending me the damn thing and telling me I should listen to it. That’s generally how I discover any B-tracks at all these days, I just get harassed repeatedly about them hahaha. I discovered Babymonster’s “Woke Up In Tokyo” via the same method!
hi kpopalypse, how do i deal with the annoying arrogant people on my uni course? i have accidentally befriended a few of them and im in too deep to cut them off…. but they keep bragging about grades and stuff 😦 makes me feel bad about myself even tho im doing well. thank u kpopalypse !!
Get better grades than them… and then don’t talk to them. This worked for me when I went to university!
How we normalised K-pop -medium/small- companies not paying a penny for a “artist” with 18+hour workday? Why don’t they call people that work for them as employees or even independent contractors? artist = free labour, that’s insane
Bonus very impartial question: About i-dle (former (g)i-dle) comeback and Seo Soojin, do they really want to erase Soojin and finally move on, or, “they are friends and next album Soojin is back or some kind of metaphor that implies that they are bff and Soojin still in the group” ?
Free artist labour has been normalised in Korea for a while now. But wsadly, artists working for nothing is normalised nearly everywhere. It’s just an accepted part of any “glamour industry” which always has more people wanting to participate than there are places – someone is always willing to undercut someone else and work for free to get a leg up. It’s an industry-wide problem but particularly extreme in Korea where the culture there and the high competition exacerbate the worst elements.
Bonus question, I have no idea but I suspect fans are just reading too much into stuff. If they’re really going to bring Soojin back (or whatever) they’re not going to weave it into their concept for funsies, they’ll just say they’re bringing her back. If I’m wrong they sure have a sense of humour.
BOOK SPOILER STUFF
Dear Kpopalypse,
Since you posted all the book reviews you got in the survey I figured I’d send in the note I drafted a while ago in case you want it even though I don’t have much to say.
I’ve reread the Shin Hana books a second time now. They make me happy. You wrote about some types of people who don’t normally get that kind of empathy warts and all. I especially like the endings you gave the girls. SPOILER*Hana in a punk band! of course!* They all got happy endings in a way. And I think the fantasticism of people getting into the pool instead of what actually happens irl was a nice way to not gloss over, well, that. Thank you. They’re good books.
Thanks! Yes, the endings of all the main characters are all meant to be “good” in a way. I didn’t want to drag readers through all that just to give them soul-crushing endings. There’ll be a tiny bit of context added to a couple of those endings in the next book when it appears. I’m really interested to see how readers receive it.
this isn’t really a question, but. have an 8k essay due this 29th for uni and it makes up a decent amount of my grade. i bought your book to take a nice short 20 minute break. ive been reading this thing for 3 hours straight. what the fuck. if i fail im blaming you. i only have one critique and it’s that near the beginning of your book, you overuse the word ‘unfortunately’ – hope you dont mind me saying this. but otherwise, it’s phenomenal. im only half way through the first book, but i dont know who to hate more, hana or the other girls….. it was so satisfying to see those cunts from her school get beat up, though. gonna read all your other books and probably buy the paperbacks too, id def reread them. im sure everything in them is made up and fictional, of course? xx
Unfortunately, I do tend to overuse the word “unfortunately”. It’s an unfortunate habit. Glad you’re enjoying the book! I try to make it engaging, personally I find I lose interest in fiction books VERY quickly if they don’t grab me by the throat so I try to make that happen in my own books. Yes my books are very fictional, very fiction, much story.
BEST QUESTIONS
I’ve always wondered about what would your sexual interest be if you were gay/interested in men too. Do you think that would you be interested in plus-sized men with a little sprinkle of abs? Or do you think you’ll just be into muscular men? (from your gay caonima)
Really good question actually, I have no idea. Since I have no sexual interest in men, it’s impossible for me to determine what my taste might be if that was the case. This is a bit like asking a completely deaf person what their favourite music would be if they could hear music, I just have no frame of reference to even give you an answer. The closest I could say is I guess a very feminine guy or trans woman might work… maybe? But that’s just my heterosexuality instinctively choosing the “least male” options out of all the possible male/quasi-male options. Yes I am very boringly straight and I realise it makes this answer uninteresting, I apologise for this.
out of all of the blackpink members who would be the most expensive prostitute
Obviously Jennie. We all know she has the nurse’s uniform, you have to pay extra for cosplay I’m sure.
That’s all for this episode of QRIMOLE! This series will return next month!
Oh, and do you have a question that you’d like to see answered in the next episode of QRIMOLE? If so, use the question box below, or if no box appears, click the Qri on the sidebar to open the box as a separate webpage! Kpopalypse will return!
English (US) · 