It’s been a huge and overwhelming month for the K-Pop industry. Let’s deliberate..
Military Enlistments
As we all know, there’s a lot happening regarding idols enlistments and returns from military duty. For all male South Korean citizens reaching the age of 18, it is required by the government to serve at least 18 months of mandatory military service. However, for
idols, actors, entertainers, and other important figures in the public eye, the government has allowed an extended time frame of when those people can fulfill their service, depending on their schedules. These schedules involve movie/television or music contracts, concerts and tours, album releases…all along the lines of what has been scheduled by an entertainers label.
The most controversial military enlistments are those involving BTS. Since the the 7-member male group has decided to withdraw their request to the government of exemption from military service, all of ARMY (BTS’ fandom name) have been waiting in anticipation of the order of enlistment. Although it has not been confirmed by HYBE (BTS’ record label) Chairman, Bang PD, that the group will complete military requirements by 2025, the fandom has developed a “what-if report” timeline that anticipates the group’s enlistment duties should be completed by then. The eldest member of BTS, Kim Seokjin (Jin), was the first to announce his departure for the military in November 2022. While he is nearly one-third complete with his service, BTS’ lead dancer, Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), was the next to announce his departure and is
now beginning his service fulfillment. While ARMY is extremely sad about their favorite group departing for service, they are anticipating who will be the next. It is speculated that BTS leader Kim Namjoon (RM) or vocalist/dancer Park Jimin (Jimin) will be the next to enlist after J-Hope.
The 6-member group, MONSTA X, has also recently announced their plans for military enlistment. Vocalist and visual of the group, Lee Min Hyuk (Minhyuk), announced a several weeks ago that he will be depart for military service on April 4th. However, a few days ago, leader of the group, Sohn Hyun Woo (Shownu), returned from his completed military service (yay!). While the group has been releasing new music amidst their members fulfilling service, we are definitely looking forward to see what is in store for MONSTA X after all the members have completed military duties.
D-DAY
If military service and the recent release of Jimin’s solo album “FACE” wasn’t already enough for ARMY’s sanity, producer and rapper of BTS, Min Yoongi (SUGA) just released his third solo album “D-DAY.” There’s a lot to unpack with this one. SUGA is just one alias on Min Yoongi. All of his solo work is part of his second alias, Agust D, personified to be the
representation of his inner anger that is portrayed throughout his music and lyricism. The highlight and most notable from his solo discography on his “D-2” album is his song “Daechwita.” The meaning of daechwita derives from the Joseon Dynasty as a traditional Korean music genre adapted for the royal courts. However Agust D, a.k.a SUGA, developed a storyline beginning from his first solo self-titled mixtape “Agust D” perpetuating that this second persona of himself has risen to royalty becoming a king. This is cross-reference to his rise to stardom with BTS. The second part of this storyline is where “Daechwita” comes into play, as Agust D is personified as the king from historical times, in addition to his inner angry self from modern times with a mission to take down this “royalty”. It is essentially a big middle-finger the “royal kingdom” that is the music industry (rightfully so). Agust D’s title track “Haegeum” from his new album “D-DAY” dives even further into his storyline, as his third persona is prepared to end his second persona of Agust D, in order to relinquish his anger and finally free himself.
Not only does D-DAY follow this story of SUGA’s inner struggles, songs he wrote and produced in the album are also extremely deep recollections and personal stories of his family history. SUGA also collaborated with several major artists on this album, such as IU, Woosung, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and of course his members from BTS, J-Hope and RM. This is by far SUGA’s greatest work as he displays immaculate production skills, insane raps, and his unreal vocals (which we have never heard before!)
Yesterday, SUGA officially began his D-DAY tour in New York. And man oh man…if were lucky enough to get tickets, I am jealous. SUGA will be performing all of ARMY’s favorites including Agust D, Daechwita, Haegeum, UGH, HUH, People, Cypher 3 & 4, and to my surprise DDaeng. Y’all, when I tell you I threw my phone into the street when I saw the clip of SUGA performing DDaeng, I am not even joking. So if you haven’t already, go stream D-Day.
FML
And if D-DAY wasn’t enough to handle, SEVENTEEN just dropped their tenth mini album, entitled “FML.”
SEVENTEEN is a 13 member male K-pop group formed back in 2015 under Pledis Entertainment, now owned by HYBE, the label for BTS and TXT. After patiently waiting nearly a year for their next release, CARATS (SEVENTEEN’s fandom) are going wild over this album, as it is nothing like their previous work. Just before the release of this album, leader of the group, S.Coups, even sent a blast out on Weverse saying, “If I may say so, I think it’s the best album, SEVENTEEN did everything we could.” And records show…he was certainly not wrong! This album’s title track “Super” is unlike any song the group has ever released. Written by part of the group’s rap line, S.Coups, Woozi, and Vernon, the made an
absolute masterpiece of hip hop and EDM beats paying homage to their supporters and fandom saying they wouldn’t be where they are today without them (Not me crying in the club rn..). “I Don’t Understand But I Love You” is another unique masterpiece written by Dino, Hoshi, and Woozi. Shamelessly, I have had this song on r-e-p-e-a-t for the past two days. Allegedly, Hoshi was given the idea for this song by a comment from a CARAT during a livestream that literally read “I don’t understand, but I love you,” essentially saying that due to the language barrier, she didn’t know what the group was discussing, but still loves and supports them regardless. That CARAT is living every fans dreams and we thank her for giving SEVENTEEN the inspiration for this song that is a beautiful work art. And if you haven’t already, go stream FML.
Only a few days now since the release and “FML” has officially become the best selling album in Hanteo history with over 4.3 million album copies sold in just four days. That is a huge milestone for SEVENTEEN and now sets a precedent for future K-pop artists.
Hopefully, we can soon expect a world tour. If one is announced, I will be parked in front of my laptop during the fan presale.
