The more I learn about Korean entertainment in particular, the more upsetting and frustrating it is. It's almost like a sick symbiotic relationships between fans, agencies, and the entertainers.

How does one maintain their "true" selves when in order to appeal to the masses, you have to be what "they" want. Heaven forbid, you go against the grain or go on untreaded ground. And then people are like "well, they chose to become a celebrity so they are to live under scrutiny and be on a pedestal for the rest of their lives"

The music video 'OMG' by NewJeans is set in a mental institution, the members suffering from various dissociative states. One member (Hanni) thinking she's an iphone because she exists only to please her fans. The MV has literally nothing to do with the accompanying song.

This reminds me of ep 82 of You Quiz on the Block where Gong Yoo shares a poem that resonated with him, called "Not" by Erin Hanson:
You are not your age, nor the size of clothes you wear,
You are not a weight, or the color of your hair.
You are not your name, or the dimples in your cheeks.
You are all the books you read, and all the words you speak.
You are your croaky morning voice, and the smiles you try to hide.
You’re the sweetness in your laughter, and every tear you’ve cried.
You’re the songs you sing so loudly when you know you’re all alone.
You’re the places that you’ve been to, and the one that you call home.
You’re the things that you believe in, and the people whom you love.
You’re the photos in your bedroom, and the future you dream of.
You’re made of so much beauty, but it seems that you forgot
When you decided that you were defined by all the things you’re not.

Sometime ago, I read an article online that listed all the reasons that acting is a super stressful occupation. It really seemed to take a toll on the pysche. For instance, the anxiety as you wait for your next gig - the extremes of feast or famine. And projects falling through, etc. I know that I'm not cut out for what it takes mentally. I am so relieved not to have any interest or talent for acting because God knows I have enough troubles. Thank God I never took a theater class in school. Who knows, I might have been bit by the acting bug and for the rest of my life I would be living in suffering for my passion. If you think about all the negative aspects of being a celebrity, it makes you wonder why anybody would want to be an actor. Isn't it much better to be wealthy and anonymous? I think not being famous is such a blessing and freedom. I would hate not being to walk around, head in the clouds. Not being able to wander freelyhrough a farmers market would be such a painful loss for me lol. Again, the ideal is to be powerful and wealthy and anonymous haha.

Funny you should bring up this topic when this morning I listened to a fascinating radio program about how the way people say they see you affects the way you see yourself. Various people share their personal stories on the subject.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/813/is-that-what-i-look-like

It's older, like me, but "Intuition" by CNBLUE has been in my head for weeks. Kang Min-hyuk's drum line is to die for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfDyOYP3IwM

I tend to love girl group songs when I want something upbeat. Songs like Me Gustas Tu, Dolphin, Ditto, Queencard, Anti-fragile, etc. You could probably look up girl-group-specific playlists on Spotify and chance on some really fun songs!

Nobody is perfect - Mckdaddy from Unlock the boss.
Everytime - Chen & Punch - Descendant of the Sun
Auditory hallucination - Jang Jane & Nashow - Kill me, heal me
Lucid dream - Monogram - While you were sleeping

But nothing beats Z Tao when I need a boost. I know it's Cpop and not Kpop, but how can you not laught at Ice cream or Cross the line? Attack and I am the sovereign are very good when I have to walk in the dark.

How About You by Cheeze

Pandora - Mave
Rayuan perempuan gila (Crazy Woman's Seduction) - Nadin Amizah 🤣 this song is all about my life

I’d recommend LOVE - Are you human too OST.

Two older shows with upbeat, fun OSTs are Weightlifting Fairy and Cinderella and the Four Knights. Some possibilities: From Now On by Vincent Blue, Somehow by Jamie, I’ll Pick You Up by Standing Egg, My Romeo by Jessi, For You by BTOB.

I went to a Twice concert recently and also suggest The Feels, Talk That Talk.

A few other soundtrack faves: Straight by Dindin from Dali, Ready Merry Go! by Romantic Punch from Flower Boy Next Door, Wake Up by Weeekly from Hello Me!, All About by MelodyDay from Master’s Sun

I tend to love ballad/sad love songs more, so I don't have many to rec. Recently, I watched and dropped Business Proposal; I love the ost Love, Maybe by Melomance.
AKMU Fry's Dream is an upbeat song with nice lyrics.

Two oldies used in various dramas:
“Bounce” by Cho Yeong Pil
and
“Fantastic Baby” by Big Bang

Also, there’s “Bomba”(Jessy Matador) which is not K-pop but was used for a video for Love in the Moonlight, with Park Bo Gum in his sageuk robes dancing with his eunuchs - well, you have to see it to believe it.
https://youtu.be/1JDvi8E0EKY?si=F9QUYWsQluWptHUc

Thanks everyone who’s responded so far! I’m actually trying to stay away from drama OSTs since I often listen to them during work, but I’ll definitely check these out! Keep them coming!

Omg sameee, I was inspired to do this because of Park Eun Bin's OST for Castaway Diva!

My picks:
Jisu Park - Smile
Highlight - Give You My All
Woody - Can't Nobody (A Good Day to be a Dog OST)
SPICA - Tonight
Yang Yo Seop - The Divine Move (Hwarang OST)
NU'EST - Storybook
Day6 - Dance Dance
IU - eight feat Suga
BEAST - I Like You The Best
BEAST - Beautiful
Infinite - She's Back
Kang Seung Yoon - Wild and Young

I have mostly older songs. ^^" The first 3 are recent.

I'm gonna give you 3 different vibes because I don't know what you like. But all this songs make me dance.

1.
GD - Crooked
KARA - Step
T-ARA - Sugar Free
After School - Flashback
2NE1 - I am the best
Girl's Day - Female President
SNSD - Catch Me If You Can
KARA - Lupin
2PM - Go Crazy
INFINITE - Synchronise
Girl's Day - 기대해
Block B - 난리나
2PM - Take Off
INFINITE - Man in Love
Rain - It's Raining
Super Junior - Bonamana
After School - Bang
B1A4 - OK
BOYFRIEND - I yah
HOT - Candy
NU'EST - Face
TEEN TOP - Rocking
Rain - La Song
2PM - Without You

2.
DAY6 - Say Wow
INFINITE - Once in a Summer
GOT7 - Nanana
DAY6 - I'm Serious
GOT7 - Thursday
Bambam - Look So Fine
AKMU - How People Move
Seventeen - Aju Nice
Uhm Jung Hwa - Festival

3.
Kim Gun Mo - Wrongful Meeting
So Chan Whee - Tears
Turbo - Black Cat
Koyote - Poison
Clon - Funky Tonight
Celeb Five - I wanna be a celebrity
Roo Ra - 3!4!

Funny how 2 beanies ask the same question on the same day.

My answer is "The Cafe" by 2PM.

Also, sending out a bat signal to @lapislazulii when you get home! It was your song recommendation weeks ago that got me started down this road and I really appreciate it! Certainly no pressure, but if you’ve got more where that came from, I’d love to know.

Thanks to the beanies who made suggestions. I'm taking notes and adding some songs to my lists in Spotify. My only request is "no rap" 😅

Some songs which make me smile:

_ Get a Guitar (RIIZE).
_ Birthday (Ten).
_ Burning Up (Monsta X).
_ Permission to dance (BTS).
_ Running (Gaho).
_ The Melody (Super Junior).
_ As feel (Glabingo).
_ Have we met before? (Sarah Barrios and Eric Nam).
_ Moonlight (Henry).
_ Holiday (Henry).
_ Shooting Star (Shaun).
_ Way back home (Shaun).

Jang Beom-June - “Always”
https://youtu.be/srsoCYGtjyc?feature=shared

I can think of at least a dozen MeloMance songs that make me bust out in smiles from the very first note, but I’ll keep it to one recommendation: “Invitation”
https://youtu.be/LAn4bRtsUto?feature=shared

AKMU - “How People Move” (Will also add a little pep to your step while walking.)
https://youtu.be/55YZzb6E5Ng?feature=shared

Any song by Big Mama makes me deliriously happy, even the sad ones. Best damn singers in the business, hands down. If I had to pick an upbeat one, it would probably be “Nevermind.”
https://youtu.be/2SymmvQREnQ?feature=shared

I only go to Fan walls when I have an excess of free time. Though there are often quite funny and interesting discussions between Beanies, this is not part of my routine.
I came to Dramabeans for the dramas recaps, and stayed for the community posts such as What are we watching / You can only choose one; and fun environmental games Would you rather / Treasure hunts / etc.

If I'm tempted by a Fan Wall post, it's probably something on a drama I'm watching/have watched, or an actor/actress that I like, or something witty. I like to read what other think or like.
I'm in awe of those, like you, who publish a lot. I do not know how to make a gif but that's a rabbit hole mine that I prefer to not explore.

1. I usually go to the fan wall once or twice a day.
2. I often love to read everything but when I don’t have much time, I just skim.
3. I’m interested in almost everything, except posts/comments on little details in shows I haven’t watched, because I’d have no idea what beanies are talking about.

As a poster, I post when I’m in a good mood about a show or an actor and when I can come up with something a little creative. At the moment, I’m watching several shows but not deeply in love with any, so I don’t have any motivation to post.

I post in mine quite a bit and try to read others' posts at least once daily. I've been struggling with balancing fanwall posts and recap comments, though, it's hard to know what to say by the time the recap comes along because I've already said my immediate thoughts on my fanwall.

1) When there is a new recap/news, etc I read it directly in the post. But if there is no new post, I read new comments by Beanie button. So I often go on the fan wall.
2) I read the different post but not all the comments because it's hard to keep up after.
3) The ones that have the same interest than me like the dramas I watch or the music I listen.

I “discovered” the fan wall only a few months ago 😳. All the things I was missing! Now I check it daily because I like seeing what has caught other Beanies’ interest and admiring the clever gifs. I also appreciate the more casual give-and-take of its comment conversations.

1- My DB default bookmarked page is the beanies page, because the homepage is extremely tiring to navigate for me. So I see the fanwall posts every time I visit the site, a few times a day. And I click more posts if I notice the posts have moved along.

2- I do. I only miss a few if I'm having an overly busy day.

3- I love the humour, lots of the fanwall posts are very funny. As I don't live-watch I am always careful to skip spoilers but I don't mind reading and seeing non-spoilery stuff about shows I haven't watched yet, especially when they are meta jokes, puns, easter eggs and the like. I don't mind mild mid-show spoilers like kisses and such either.

I rarely watch ongoing shows, so I usually go to Beanie post or even post the things that I love from a show, actor, singers, or just about anything. Sometimes, I go there just to know what others currently into. It's fascinating reading posts from beanies apart from those related to airing shows. And thanks to beanies who post their thoughts about certain shows, I know which shows to avoid and to never pick up (My Dearest).

DB is open on my iPad all day and I check the fan wall multiple times daily. (Am I adding to slowing the site down?)
I think I read almost everything posted, while trying to avoid spoilers.

I interact with it primarily as a reader or commenter. Not that I never post to mine, but it’s pretty rare. I’ve been thinking about trying to post more, but I don’t want to post things there that already have a place on dramabeans (so that others can find it more easily) and since I’m not a big pic-poster (yet?) I don’t use it often in that way. Plus, it just takes time. Which I don’t always have, sadly.

As a reader I generally read in full the majority of the fanwall posts. I check it regularly and read through nearly everything unless the post is A. Suuuuper long. Then the first few lines really have to draw me in, or B. About a drama that I’m not caught up with/not watching but am planning to watch later and don’t want spoiled, or C. About something random that I’m not interested in. I think that’s about it?

My personal rules are pretty weird, especially given that I often don’t mind some spoilers in my drama-watching experience. So I’m drinking in every Twinkling Watermelon post even though I’m not watching because I’m interested to see people’s raw reactions to it as they go so that I can decide whether to watch it when it finishes. On the other hand, I’m reading most posts about My Dearest because I’m not planning on watching any time soon, but I’m following through weecaps and it’s fun to experience the high highs and low lows vicariously, and to see the whole drama in gifs.

As for what draws me there, it’s one part pretty pictures/gifs, and one part other community things that don’t have a different home on DB, like the bookclub or the daily year-end roundup that’s coming in December.

1. I always go to the fan wall. I scroll down until I find the last post I read the day before or hours before.
2. I read everything except spoilers (something from a drama I plan to watch). Or post of c-dramas, j-dramas, because I don't know the dramas/actors.
3. Drama talk. I love reading beanies' reactions! And I love reading your different perspectives on the same drama/episode/actor. Even if I dropped the show, or I don't agree with something, I think it's important to read everything and keep it in mind. Sometimes it just opens my eyes or it helps me reflect on things.
Other times it's just fun! Even tho I'm not a fan of abs or shower scenes it's fun watching beanies post about a hot guy. Or the memes! Or random facts/thoughts. Beanies are cute and fun.
I also like when beanies post something personal. So we can support or feel happy for each other. Or just laugh together! And sometimes I get to fangirl about a non-kdrama related content/artist. I really love when I get to talk about movies and kpop. Hehe.

I read the Fan Wall several times everyday :)
I enter the site directly through the Beanies link and the first thing I read is the Fan Wall.

- Usually when I was directly sent link to some convo or post there since I'm trying to keep up with all that by myself, but simply can't. Too many interesting stuff at once))) So pls, everyone - if you want me not to miss something, tag me, this REALLY helps!

- Nowhere near close, unfortunately.

- I still prefer recaps/OT/WWWW threads because that's where everyone is and I don't need to monitor countless different pages at once to not miss most of discussions. Everything is fine as long as I'm into the theme - and I often is, my interests are pretty broad... or so I like to think^^ The fact that FW allows pics/gifs that regular comment section doesn't is a nice bonus as well. Forum I've previously used to hang out at allowed to post everything freely which I abused a great lot, retiring from there as top-10 most active poster or something, so it's been pretty hard to get used to strict DB comment policy.

- Sadly, my own fan wall remains boringly empty. Sorry to those few poor souls who followed me in hopes that I'll do something nice with it - I've been thinking about it on a regular basis, but you know me - once I start talking I just cannot shut up, so it's better to not touch this unexplored new area unless I have a clear vision in mind about what and why I want to say there. Pretty sure people already struggle enough with my wordy essays under recaps...

@attiton Pardon my ignorance but how does one even go to this "Fan Wall"? I have seen that if I click on a person each one has a Fan Wall but is there somewhere that collates all the newest Fan Wall posts across all users? If so, where do I find that link. I would find that interesting but I don't want to have to troll people's Fan Wall individually. Thank you in advance for your help.

Politics - popcorn time -

privileged facemasks - children are suffering - 2023 - now mouth shut - Enough of character display. won't say more.

Popcorn time - Biden done for - Obama atleast kept good PR but this guy has flubbed all goodwill - It was ur vOte - u deserve this. Good flavour popcorn.

Popcorn time - You don't go wrong - why because u play the game u have better chance to win. This style of play brings best rewards with less risk - anyone with sense can see it. no need to over analyse or go deep into data.

As said last week AI campaign is blooming - in 2019 it wasn't as much powerful but with changed models and framework it will bring much sweat to print+digital media. Check the companies n keep eyes their stock gonna see big rise.

You can see the atmosphere changing with the way bureaucracy behaves - they are always ahead and as they get the biggest news the fastest so you can make points where the things are going - I've given enough clues for 3 big elections - Those who know, know.

Korean has monthly brand ranking for both advertising and popularity which are heavily weighted by social media engagement (followers, likes, posts, shares, etc.) It also factors in a person's name in the meta-data (articles, stories, news feeds) as positive or negative. It tends to skew toward those active actors or idols with large social media presence. And it is a factor for future projects or CFs.

Second to last love (Kim Hee-ae & Ji Jin-hee) & Our Blues have almost 😅 middle age romance.

There are some of them like Gentleman's Dignity or Should We Kiss First. Week-enders often have different love stories with young couple and older couples.

I've wondered how dramaland will handle so many of the most famous stars approaching their 40's. Will actors like Lee Min Ho (36 years old) no longer be the main character/love interest? Will the aging actors transition to playing fathers, villains and kings? i've wondered if we will start to see richer stories that center on older actors because the most famous are at that transitional age or will dramas continue to focus on the next big young star? I wonder if we will see more stories that center on characters that are divorced and given a second chance? Is anyone seeing more 2nd chance love stories? I've seen a few but not many. One of the issues I think is a concern is if kdramas are comfortable with love stories that include adults with children (divorced/widowed/single). In Liberation Diary, one main characters agreed to wait until her love interest's daughter was grown. If the character had been my friend, I would have told the character to find someone else. But, I suppose it all depends on if the stories/older actors make money.

K-dramas are changing, under pressure of international marketing one supposes. Noona romances (older woman, younger man) used to be a genre but I can't remember the last time I saw one produced.

i agree. people don't stay 20 forever and it's not normal to only have 20 yo leads! HELLO OLDER PEOPLE EXIST *coughs in 44 yo*

True. I usually only find those couples on daily or weekend dramas.
I love the ML's parents in Unpredictable Family (daily drama). And I really liked the main couple (haraboji and halmoni) in Be My Dream Family (daily drama).

I also love stories of married/divorced couples (Love Affairs in the Afternoon, Five Children, Matrimonial Chaos, Flower of Evil, Once Again), and I would like to see more of them.

ALSO: older leads are fine as long as they have a MUCH younger female. you always see a 60-70yo male lead with a 20-30 something golddiger trophy wife. HATE. THIS. SO. MUCH.

When our love blooms is one such story, but to be honest the older couple didn't have any chemistry and it fizzled out very quickly (especially as their yournger versions were dynamite).

That's why I love YOU ARE MY SPRING - both ML and FL are in their mid to late 30s and their romance feels very organic. Both are also complex individuals with their innate kindness shining through. The supporting cast are also around that age group and there's a side Noona romance in the mix that is very sweet.

Too bad they had to chuck in the serial killer thingy in the plot but otherwise that would be one of the series you might want to check out (if you haven't done so already).

Re Bridgerton: They're mine as well! That's a bummer! Here's to hoping it will not be later than 2024.

I have wondered if they will even make Colin and Penelope's story. They did away with Sophie and Benedict's story (Benedict was awfully cast in my opinion so I am kinda happy). The original happens ten years after the Daphne and Simon get married. The second one (my favorite in the book series, not so much in the TV version) happens soon after but poor Penelope has to wait.

I recently found out about Lee Sun-hee and I looove her

In my opinion it's something inevitable; it happens to anyone in any field of work. While I'm pretty sure those singers still have faithful listeners in small scale (the older we get the less we spend time and resources for those kind of things), but the only way they stay relevant in this time is by doing collab with younger singers. Speaking of which, Lee Sun Hee had a collab with Chanyeol EXO once. I'm sure there are many more instances.

K-pop is odd, you can be a veteran 15 years in the business and still just be thirty, because idols get recruited so young. To stay relevant you have to be REALLY REALLY good, untouchable. There does seem to be an upper age limit, though. A good number of idols transition into being actors. Some of the most respected actors have n idol or idol trainee past.

It seems you can age out of k-pop. Many first and second gen singers moved on to musical theater, variety shows or song production perhaps because their agencies were only geared toward promoting new (cheaper) groups.

Kpop singers often switch genres to keep going, especially amongst the trot crowd which apparently is a growing segment in the Korean music industry.

But if you cannot fill concert halls or sell a lot of albums, singers have to grind through the festival circuit (2-5 shows/day during spring through fall) for little money. So many singers tend to burn out.

It is just one that get much international exposure is K pop. I think (I can't say many or not many since I don't follow it closer either) there're older singers that are still relevant for domestic audience. I think last year trot music charted high in SK music chart. And Lee Sung-cheol is still popular, since 20 something years ago, so many OSTs just listen to them like walking down memory lane of K drama addict 😂

I think it’s just a different market; for instance there’s a whole lot of band/rock music from Korea but if you only read the news that gets translated to English on K-pop sites you’d never know. Ballad isn’t the mainstream trend at the moment so it doesn’t get the attention.

I think of the huge pictures as something that was either gifted to them or they chose it from a fashion shoot. If you have access to top photographers, make up artists and top notch clothes why wouldn’t you keep a picture as a record as you know at some point these will become distant memories. They tend to live in big apartments or house so a small picture would look out of place.

A lot of normal people have make over pictures done for special occasions and have those pictures up in their house so why wouldn’t a famous person do the same.

3. I always thought it was about balance.
I haven't pay attention to it as a genre stereotype, tho. I just noticed that the "good student" always tends to have a not-so-warn personality. And the one that smiles and has a lot of friends is more in the relaxed side about studying. If they have good grades and friends, they're probably faking their niceness. They probably hate everyone in secret. Hahahaha.

It's like the show doesn't want anyone to be "perfect", even tho people are more than grades and basic social skills. Being nice or friendly and being good at studying isn't everything.

But if I think of it with the gender stereotypes that you mentioned, it feels like they're trying to make this "dependable man" image for the boys.

I can hardly think of a drama with a main character who's an actor or idol that didn't feature one or more giant portraits of themselves - besides the ones you named they’re in Touch Your Heart, Queen Inhyun's Man, Sh**ting Stars, The Beauty Inside, Fanletter Please, Tomorrow … I’m probably forgetting some. I think it’s meant to reinforce that the character is a Really Big Star, the kind who would have done tons of publicity photos and ads and be recognizable to everyone.

There have been lots of ridiculous underwater rescue scenes in dramas, but the one in Moon in the Daymay be the most ridiculous yet - and that was before the supernatural element. I often find myself rolling my eyes, completely distracted by how unrealistic they are and how similar they are to each other.

Actually, I always wondered how a country surrounded by so much water can have so many people who can't swim.

The Kdrama opts for esthetics and drama instead of realistic drowning scene. I mean they always drown in a pond with max 2m of depth, but they go way deeper.

KDramas are like shojo mangas, the bubbly girl and the cold boy is an usual trope.

As a counterpoint to my point above, the (not-drowning-after-all) underwater scene in Ep. 3 of castaway diva was actually done pretty well. OK, she would have had to jump rather far out to not hit the rocks, and looked awfully high up for an amateur to walk away unscathed, but once underwater the scene was far less unrealistic than most.

Totally with you!

Watching it slowly is a good way to deal with the pain of melodrama.

I don’t excited for the extention because even now I’m afraid it is starting to become too slow for my taste, but I’m still enjoying.