So, I’m trying to get one quick takes written Fresh ™ every week, and then publish ideally twice a week in addition to that. But we’ll see. I’ve got two concert posts scheduled already! And I have two more posts in the works – sort of…..
This weeks Quick Takes title song!
Key (Kim Ki Bum) is a member of the now 4 member, always 5 member group SHINee. They debuted in 2008 and in my humble opinion are the overall best k-pop group, at least of their and the current generation. Musically, they switch between different genres of pop with ease, and tend to be more widely experimental than other groups; they each have their role in the group and always give a solid performance. There may be a song you don’t prefer, but I’m hard pressed to pick a bad SHINee song.
Just shy of their tenth anniversary, in December 2017 they lost main vocal Jonghyun, who committed suicide. (Requiescat in pace.) He excelled in all areas common to k-pop performing (except rapping as far as I know) – he was an extremely, extremely talented singer and songwriter who released two of his own albums while part of SHINee. He is sorely missed.
오빠~ 수고했다
But back to Key and happier thoughts. Key, known more as…well, I don’t know what he fits most in the group. He and Minho are the designated rappers because every k-pop group has at least one, but…..let’s just say Minho is no rapper (though he does his best), and Key is better but he’s no great shakes either. I think he’s more a jack of all trades. He pretty much does well everything he does. He raps well enough, is a great dancer, and has a unique vocal tone.
And he just released a solo album and its repackage! (In k-pop, to make more money, they’ll “repackage” an album, which is just a special edition of the same album featuring one or two more songs and a different photoshoot for the physical version.)
Not just because he’s my bias, I really like the album. But he probably released it now intentionally, because he just entered the army.
For those who don’t know about Korean law, I can hear your quizzical looks. Did he quit the entertainment industry??? You might wonder.
Not at all! But all able-bodied Korean males are required to serve in the military, usually between 1.5 to 2 years depending on the branch, between reaching the age of majority (19 in Korea) and their 28th birthday. It used to be their 30th birthday but a law was passed in the past year lowering the age to 28 – so we’ve got a mass exodus of k-pop idols and other entertainers finishing up projects and enlisting. So many of my faves! *sniffle*
A lot of regular citizens will enlist right out of high school or after college, and then rejoin civilian life. Entertainers operate a little differently, since their career is dependent on building up a fanbase – they use time first to use their youth to gain a fanbase and gain experience in different projects. Once their popularity has solidified, they enlist, so hopefully they’ll have a career to come back to.
I FINALLY sold my extra NCT127 tickets! For much less than face value…but at least I’m only losing out on like $200 and not $400. *phew*
I’ve been thinking about getting into copyediting, even just as a side-hustle. I love words, I love nitpicking details, I love reading – sounds like a match made in heaven. But I want to study up first – there’s a lot of grammar rules I don’t know, because i don’t know what today’s accepted usages are in publishing.
I know what I’d like them to be but that’s a different story. I’ve read enough I think I could do it well, but I need to be able to see where I’m wrong, where an author might be wrong, and be able to properly tell the difference between an error and stylistic differences.
But it’s a thought. So say a prayer for me as I look into it more!
I’m trying to do less k-pop – honest I am! But I have got to get these concert memoirs out of my system first and so that’s why –
*looks at phone to think of what to say next for #6 but gets distracted* What the frack? BTS x Ed Sheeran collab??? Who’ll be next?
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
The Drama Llama 