greybeard@21

It's hard to add anything, but apart from the general high pressure culture of SK (which takes time to change) the idol system put the artists under such tight compagny control, that managers have extended responsibility for watching over the health of their charges. 

Even though the compagnies cannot change the general culture, they CAN educate managers - and it should be in their interest to do so: loosing idols in this way is not good for business.

The official view of idols is that they should be 'exemplary', so if the agencies want help, it might be a good idea for them to contact  the Departments of Health and of Culture, and offer to spearhead an anti-suicide campaign. (I am sure that the Departments of Commerce and of Foreign Affairs can confirm that widespread international discussion of depressed and suicidal Korean Idols is BAD for Hallyu)

Finally... techs and admins have been working hard behind the scene, and now my favourite forum is up again! 

Thank you very much !!

I have missed you all, and look forward to follow all the great news; K-Pop is on the rise, and with just a little luck the worlds mainstream will find out that asian music & entertainment is for everyone.

10 years with 2NE1

 

The band that opened my eyes to the beauty of K-pop officially debuted in may 2009.

 

As most Blackjacks I still miss them, and wonder where they might have been, if the compagny had been able to take them to a more mature and artistic level, but alas...

 

2NE1 is no more, but we are left with a corpus of work that still satisfies. 

When I listen to the albums, there are no fillers or weak songs - and they always make me want to hear more of their voices:

 

CL - Bom - Dara - Minzy

 

Blackjacks will always follow you!

Springtime is fourever - even when it transforms into summer....

 

A very great thank you to Miss Park Bom  for  continuing to sing for us

- I look forward to her next songs, and have a hard time waiting.  

 

Which leads into the next thank you: Without MomoMoon (and the rest of the tireless OH!'ers) keeping this thread alive, history would be lost to new fans... And we certainly hope that all of our favourite Ladies will continue to gather fans for years to come.

Dear miss Park Bom!

Congratulations on your birthday - I hope good things will come your way!

 

Coming here after 6 months internetbreak, just to post this birthday message, I'm delighted to see that you are singing for us again:

The winter has been long and finally Spring is here, with tidings of joy and hope! 

Thank you so much!

And of course a big thanks goes to miss Sandara Park - Hearing her voice along yours woke my old Blackjack feels, so thank you both for letting us stay as Bomshells and Daralings!

 

 

Lots of love to you from Danmark

(and a tip of the hat to your supporters)

 

/Mike Grey

That pink ocean sent waves of nostalgia over me.

Go Minzy!

When I became a Blackjack I mistakenly believed that Teddy wanted to develop true Girl Power idols...

 

Knowing next to nothing about K-Pop, it was still obvious that Korea could use something like the japanese Alternative Idols, who on the one side delivers the catchy pop-tunes that we want, but on the other wasn't afraid of challenging their audience artistically and politically.

 

I fell for the charm of the 2NE1 members, and enjoyed following what could end up as a combined world-wide breakthrough for K-Pop, and a wellcome change to the too sweet K-Pop tropes.

 

Alas, Teddy had other plans.

As the notorious "2NE1 4 Years Later" video showed, he had a change of heart a few years after YG debuted 2NE1

- they were too fierce for his taste, and for a lot of Korean men they were 'scary unnies' because they did not conform to the childish, oppa-worshipping norm.

 

From a marketing point of view he may have been right in changing his focus to something closer to what the mainstream wanted, but for us it was devastating. Without previous fan experience I was NOT prepared for the feels and the tears...

 

At this point I just want to support the further careers of the Ladies - they still haven't reached their final form and will deliver fine songs for many years to come.

 

As for the Teddy/YG hate: They did what they believed they had to do, to stay relevant in the market (And the succes of their Pink Punk project seems to confirm that, even though Blinks say that the management is just as stumbling as we remember the (mis)handling of our Ladies)

That being said, my Blackjack heart still believe that they did a grave mistake - ROK is changing quickly, and if handled correctly 2NE1 could have been part of the development of modern gender roles, while still making loads of money:

The foreign fans could buy into a legitimately modern vision of asian womanhood, and the legitimacy of foreign fandom could be a selling point back in ROK.

YGE failed our Ladies in not using the foreign fans for internal ROK marketing, and by trying to change them into a cute concept that went against the whole idea of 2NE1 (at least as we Blackjacks saw them)

 

 

 

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is sensational if true - an actual Park Bom tour would be fantastic.

She has said that she wanted to go in the R&B / Soul direction, and personally I'm thrilled: EDM / Up-tempo is fine, but more soulfull material will be lifted by that beautiful golden voice

- and infused with the beautiful soul of Bom....

Lets hope we get to hear both her 'pop' and 'serious' sides.

Lets also hope that her compagny can create a backing / entourage for her live concerts:

I (and a lot of you) would pay good money to watch and hear her sing to a drum-machine, but sharing the stage with real humans will probably be better for both her and us.

A big thumbs up in advance.

Fans are waiting, but we may end up being surprised by the sales

- ms. Park Bom appears to have many fans from outside the traditional segments, and since they do not follow the hype, we will first hear from them after music has reached the market.

Bom may end up with a nice little career singing for fans, but let us not forget the old magic: Spun the right way, she could still end up as a superstar (but I am not convinced that she wants more than normal stardom; being super is stressfull)

Not much life here, but it should be noted that ms Park Bom have posted an Ice Bucket Challenge on her twitter (20180615):

https://twitter.com/haroobomkum/status/1007650096039669760

 

With 149.000 views in 2 days.

The Spring Goddess is Back!

 

2 hours ago there was another tweet from ms. Park Bom:

https://twitter.com/haroobomkum/status/1006558805180669955

 

This time it contains a cute little clip of her in headphones.

 

 

... *Strongly anticipating fine music*...

I just saw the nasty angle on the Bom 'scandal' that KBS used in KBS WORLD e-TODAY [ENG/2018.04.26]

 

I am seriously angry about this! Fortunately 99% of the comments support ms. Park Bom -

Bom hwaiting!

 

(Also, it seems that there is a new interview that I have to find and read...)

... Very good to watch CL again!

Danish Television was respectful, and did not talk over her (and even got her name right!) 

Now I just need a hard copy.

Finally a solo debut from miss Gong Min-ji - I love that voice!

Going back to YT to listen to the songs and read the lyrics.

 

#MinzySuperWoman

Finally a solo debut from miss Gong Min-ji - I love that voice!

Going back to YT to listen to the songs and read the lyrics.

 

#MinzySuperWoman

Finally a solo debut from miss Gong Min-ji - I love that voice!

Going back to YT to listen to the songs and read the lyrics.

 

#MinzySuperWoman

Happy Birthday to

Park Bom

the Goddess of Spring!

Poor Dara, always so timid and worried - and yet I have this feeling that she is the toughest member; always looking out for her friends and family, always ready to give positive encouragement, and always talking to the Blackjacks. I cannot imagine 2NE1 without her!

 

EDIT: 11:20 UTC: Billboard has made an article with short reviews of all 2NE1 singles - written by Jeff Benjamin who is a fan:

 

http://w.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/7662783/2ne1-songs-every-single-ranked

 

(ty to reddit user Sanayeon for the hint)

The girl group sales table has changed in a few hours - looking at the talk and edit tab's it looks like it is plagued by both fan-wars, and discussions on how to integrate streams and physical sales - especially when comparing countries with different ways of counting.

As stated in the wiki-article the numbers are approximations, and can only be used as a rough guide.

 

 

idk if this is true or not though !!!

 

cutie

 

 

 

The source is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_girl_groupsand it seems reliable.... I hadn't looked that up since 2012, and wasn't aware that 2NE1 ranked that high - it looks like quality does matter! (The impressive sales numbers would mean nothing if we did not love their songs!)

(BTW there is a layout error in the wiki article: This table IS worldwide, not for Australia only)

Come on - noone can take that seriously... 6 million views in 2½ days is never bad, and when the yt views and itunes ranking is reached with ONLY promotion from the members and the Blackjacks it's fucking impressive!

Haters feel pressed by 2NE1! So even if Goodbye surpassed Gangnam Style they would call it a flop... Ignore it!

Click here to view the Tweet

 

go listen!

 

Please listen to the spotify stream, and give supportive responses to the tweet - right now most of the replies are "Fuck You YG", and that is not respectful... By all means tell YG what you think, but not in a 2NE1 post; they should be reserved for love and respect!

 

@Sue21 'Controversial' material comes in many flavors; I don't want to se photos of the Ladies scared and crying after the Tokyo earthquake, and I don't like GIF's of ms. Park Bom crying on the grave of her aunt (Yes, she shared the pictures in 2NE1TV because they knew that fans would understand, but something just feels to personal to become reaction gifs/memes - I tend to be a bit conservative about the respect-thing)

I just used your post to speak to fans in general - all multicultural fandoms need to be careful not to misinterpret members from different cultures (Personally I tend to forget that not everyone likes informality and four-letter words, and sometimes think they are trolling when they protest)

They know things they kept for themselves. They knew 2NE1 were going to perform at Mama 2015, some of them were even in the audience. They have pics and videos of 2NE1 they've never shared with us. The girls would post messages for them in their official blackjack zones.. 

 

I don't think they hate us though, at least i hope they don't hate us. We have a korean fan here and she doesn't seem to hate us lol

 

When you live in a culture/speaks the language you will know more about local artists. If you are in a fanclub that circulates material to members, and ask that it be kept exclusive for fans, you will probably feel loyal to that fanclub (Japanese Blackjacks got several exclusive photos, that were kept from public cirkulation for a long time)

Many fans know, or guess, things about their idol, that they cannot discuss in public forums because they have to keep that information from haters.(1)

All this make things difficult for global fan-movements communicating on public forums, and there is no easy way around this. Even from very closed forums, things will leak. So good fans will always be a bit careful about how they speak about their idols. That is not because we want to be secretive, and keep others out, but out of a genuine wish to protect our idols.

As international fans we have to understand that every time information crosses a cultural or linguistic barrier, errors will be introduced.

Even when emotions run high (and they do; I'm an insensitive prick, and yet have cried so much for 2NE1) we should not see this as ill will - we are all fans, no mattter what fandom we belong to.

 

(1) My most controversial idol material stays encrypted and away from any netconnection; having seen korean scandals, I do NOT want to feed the anti's, not even with observations from publicly available material - if it put my idols in a bad light. I may be a bit paranoid but a dedicated anti would probably go to the same lengths as a fan to get material, and, knowing myself, that means storage on net-connected devices is a no-go and strong encryption a must. (PGP don't quite cut it) That is the way of the internet...

Paging MomoMoon115 or anyone with inside knowledge:

 

Today - just after the "Goodbye" streaming marathon - YGLadies.com went down, and now the server say that the name is up for sale!!

There is nothing about this on https://twitter.com/YGLadies.

I have already written to them, but am not sure that the mail will reach them.

I would HATE to see that domain name being bought by a spammer (something that often happens to defunct fansites) - on the nets there is still a lot of links to it, and future fans might click on it.

 

Anyone up for buying it, and make a site for all the Ladies of YGE?

 

Goodbye to 2NE1

 

- and hello to four individuals who will continue to make us happy for years to come!

 

Let's not be sad; it will be interesting to see what they come up with as solo performers, and in four short years we will reach may 2021 - time for the great comeback reunion concert!

 

Believe it strongly enough, and YGE will have to deliver. #NeverSayGoodbye2NE1

#ThankYou2NE1

A simple MV and a personally felt, sad song.... It worked for me ( at least I did not cry too much!).... and Minzy was part of it!

#NeverSayGoodbye2NE1

Miss Park Bom have used very obvious religious symbolism in her 2 solo songs, and especially in the MV's. Nothing has changed, really.

Anti-religious Blackjack here - But I have no problem with religious people.
When I first encountered 2NE1, I was a bit scared when I found out that Minzy was a baptist (because I thought of Westboro Southern Baptists and their ilk)
It took me a day to make sure that Miss Gong was a representative of the good side of religion; a drive to do good things, and to be a productive member of society. For me, Minzy's open christianity is not a problem. (If she should try to convert me, I would not feel threatened - the important thing is that no member of the group have acted as if they look down on those who do not share their beliefs)
Anyone who really believes in peace and good will among men, will NOT be anti-fun or hateful - and in the countless hours spent loking at 2NE1 related material, I have never seen anything indicating "bad" religious influence.
Miss Park Bom is an adult artist, not an ungrounded teenager, so I am completely confident that she can get support and reassurance in religion, and still stay true to herself.
 
And now to another subject: Guess who is back?
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.
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You couldn't? - OK - then try this link: ygladies.com/