K-Drama Confession

 I am humbly writing this as your friendly neighborhood blog owner...I have a pretty big confession about K-Dramas. Hoping some of you can relate, maybe some of you will think I am a disgrace to the K-Drama community. But... 

When watching a K-Drama by yourself... do you ever have a certain scene or character that you either just don't care about or you just really want to get back to the good parts? I'm sure everyone can relate to at least that part, right?

Well how about.... Skipping those parts? *hides under my desk* I know it sounds crazy because 'YOU'LL MISS IMPORTANT PARTS' but in my honest experience, I haven't missed anything really important by doing so. I have severe anxiety and get way too emotionally invested in dramas so much so I might need therapy for them.. So if there's a bad character and they're stressing me out or maybe I'm just overly anxious to figure out what happens with my favorite characters next, I skip in 10 second increments so I can get the gist of the situations but get back to parts I really need to see.

It sounds barbaric because obviously the drama has those scenes for a reason.. But for my own mental health and to keep the ability to watch K-Dramas without pulling out my hair, that's what I do. Now I don't do it for the whole drama. And also some dramas I don't even skip at all because I'm just invested in everyone included or maybe it's just not affecting me mentally. But some dramas I just have to click click click the skip 10 seconds past the scenes because I just can't sit the whole time and watch them lol 

Does anyone else relate to this or is this just me and my craziness? I would think not since the platforms give a 10 second skip option 😅

Afterthoughts - Singles Inferno: Episode 1

 

Jumped on the bandwagon and started watching 'Single's Inferno' today. So spoilers to come, in case you haven't watched it yet. I've seen it's similar to 'Love Island' but of course, I don't watch most reality shows like that so I would have no idea if it's similar to anything lol 

From the beginning it's SO AWKWARD. Not me over here with my pillow over my face as everyone walks in one by one. My blood pressure rose. First and foremost, every single person on this season is so attractive it's ridiculous but there's one that sticks out to me. This man is gorgeous....

Lawd please help. When he walked down those stairs I was like 'meh.. he's okay' But when he took off the glasses? and during the interviews and the rest of the time? Whew that guy blew my socks off. Now of course I am writing these comments AS I watch the show, so I could very well end up liking someone else by the end of the episode but this man and his visuals have killed me.

It's pretty funny because it's a 'dating' show but also has a lot of survival aspects to it such as having to go long distances for water and making their own food. I kind of like it so far. The island itself is beautiful, just breathtaking. The hosts or commentators are amazing and really help breakaway from the anxiousness it normally would cause for me to watch. They're hilarious and all their comments are exactly what we are all thinking. lol 

Se Hoon stepping up for the cooking stole my heart. 💕 There is just something about 1. A man who can cook, 2. A man who takes control in a unknown situation, and 3. A man who is so sweet while doing all of the above. What a gem. 

In my personal opinion, I think that out of the ladies.. Song Ji A will be the most popular. The episode ends on a cliffhanger about who received 3 notes and I believe she was the one to receive all 3. My personal favorites so far at the end of this episode 1? Moon Se Hoon and Kang So Yeon. 

We will see what the future holds as the show progresses. Be back tomorrow!

Single's Inferno: 'Afterthoughts' series starting tomorrow.

 

Single's Inferno is a really popular K-dating variety show that has recently aired. To be perfectly honest here, I don't normally watch dating variety shows that all of America seem to love and adore (such as the Bachelor, Bachelorette, etc). They make me very anxious for some reason and never really interested me. To be fully honest, I don't watch many variety shows to begin with but definitely stay away from the dating ones. (And let's admit I'm also a bit of a rebel and stay away from mainstream or trendy shows)

But with this one being so popular and of course being a South Korean one, I have decided I'm going to commit myself to watching it one episode a day and writing my thoughts about each episode. Why not? So if you haven't watched it yet, the next few blogs about these will most likely contain spoilers. 

The Rose is back!

 Literally cannot contain my excitement as I'm writing this. The Rose is back!!

The Rose is one of my favorite Korean bands of all time. And rightfully so, they are a group of amazing talent and musical abilities. If you don't know who they are, I'd like to refer you to this song as it's their first and most well-known song. 

'sorry' was my anthem when it came out. Fell in love immediately with their music style and voices and personality. 

If you don't know who they are, that's okay. Many people don't. They didn't have a very good time with their company and eventually had to get a lawsuit to get out of the contract. So while going through the lawsuit and hiatus, members went into the military in 2020 and are still there as of now. So as you can imagine, they are not very well known. But they have stated they will remain together and that has stayed true to this day. 

Following the completion of the lawsuit and not being contractually bound in their music, they have finally been able to release a single which is exciting to say the absolute least. 

At the end of December they released 'Beauty and the Beast'

As always, they sound and look amazing. And to think they put this music video and song together completely on their own without a high dollar company is just astounding. Most of us Black Rose have been patiently waiting for their comeback as we knew it would happen, just a matter of when. And finally we are blessed with their music once again. 

I did also want to add that Woosung released a solo song as well back in June 2021 called 'Lazy'.

And also 'Dimples' in September 2021

I strongly encourage everyone to look into their music and give them a chance. As I said, they're not very well known when they honestly should be. Hopefully in the coming months, years, etc. as they return from the military, we will see a surge in popularity with all new music they release. 

My personal favorite? 'She's in the Rain'

A BEAUTIFUL song. Absolutely perfect in every way. I link the lyric video because the actual music video got removed due to one of the polaroid's featured one of SHINee's Jonghyun's pictures from his Instagram. The collective decision was made to take down the mv as the trauma from Jonghyun's passing was so heavy and heartbreaking and also because they didn't have permission to use one of his pictures. If you type it in on Youtube, a fan has reposted the video so you can watch it. A beautiful music video, really. Would just be better if they went in and edited the picture out and reposted on their page.  

And that my friends is 'The Rose'. A musical icon in my eyes and household staple (especially when feeling really emotional). We look forward to the future and what 'The Rose' brings to the table and hopefully them becoming a huge success.

Afterthoughts: Mad for Each Other

 

If you like the HAS facebook page, you'll see all in one night I posted 3 updates about this drama. Long story short, I binged it in one night. 

I enjoyed the drama, but truthfully in the beginning it was a little hard to get into for me. Thankfully the episodes were pretty short so it was easy to keep watching and let it get better. It finally got better around episode 3 and kept my attention the remaining 10 episodes. 

To be fully honest, I don't have many afterthoughts about this drama. I liked it and I enjoyed it, but I just don't have many takeaways. I love Jung Woo and after Reply 1994 I will literally go to the ends of the earth for this man. I could listen to him talk on a loop to sleep at night. 

The biggest takeaway I have is I love the inclusion in this drama of Samantha. 

What a good person they are. I almost enjoyed their scenes sometimes more than the leads. Samantha was beautiful and Sang Yeob was adorable and it was just great. This made me very happy. 

Also seeing Jung Woo dress like a woman was a winner as well. 

Like I said not many thoughts. Just appreciative of the inclusion. I love where he asked Jung Woo "aren't you going to ask if I'm gay, transgender, a crossdresser.." so on and so forth and the only thing he says is "I don't know myself, all I know is I like to dress like a woman sometimes." Good on you, Samantha. Good on you. 

I'd recommend giving it a watch, the episodes are only 30 minutes long and there's only 13 of them. On Netflix if you're interested. 

Shanea

2022 - The Year of Changes

 2022 has just recently kicked off. And as we've seen, it's started with a bang. Outside of the K-world, Betty White was taken from us just before the start which is the most heart-breaking thing since she was such a treasure. But in the K-world there's been some things shaking and we can already see that 2022 is going to be a year of changes. Good or bad? We will have to see but changes nonetheless and we just have to roll with them whether we like them or not. 

First major change and probably my worst nightmare... Jay Park has retired. Stepped down from being CEO to his two labels, quit the music industry, even so much as deleting his Instagram. Poof he was just gone. And unfortunately for my emotions, he knows how to go out in style because he released a whole video.. Which have brought some sobs from the deepest part of my soul forward. 

Anyone who knows anything about the HAS crew knows that Jay Park has and always will be my number one (except maybe to Kim Jong Kook, but you get what I mean). Countless hours of his music on repeat and just taking strength and hope and encouragement from everything he has gone through and come out on the other end victorious, successful, and THRIVING. There is and will never be no one like him and his retirement has hit me really hard, quite honestly. But all the respect to him and his future endeavors. Maybe he'll find a wife and settle down. Maybe he'll have some kids and join Return of Superman (LOL). Or maybe he'll just live a somewhat normal life from now on with his Soju company. I wish all the love and support on his choices and hope he lives a life he thought he'd never have after being in the K-industry so long. 

Second big change is Jae has left DAY6. Also one of my favorites and really hard news to take... But at the same time if you follow Jae at all or know anything about him, it was almost expected. 

And even more unfortunate, he is now wrapped up in a huge scandal with Jamie.

During a live, he said she was trying to be a 'thot'. Now, IDK if he is just a normally crap-show of a person and the only reason he's been so likable up to this point is because he had JYP filter on.. But it's pretty ridiculous and she was VERY hurt.. He has redacted calling her a 'thot' as he says he meant to say she was like a 'baddie'. But that kind of makes no sense since he specifically said 'Now that I’m not in K-pop anymore, I can say this. Why is Jamie trying to be a thot?'.. You wouldn't have to leave K-pop to call her a baddie. So that apology seems a little like covering his a** if you get what I mean. 

Lastly the very sad news of Kim Mi Soo passing. 

At only 29(born in 92), the beautiful actress has passed away. Kim Mi Soo is most known for her appearance in 'Snowdrop'. She will be very missed and it's always sad when such a beautiful soul leaves this earth early. But we will always remember her from her appearances on dramas and she will live on through all the people who met her. 

So as I said, it's not even been 2 weeks into 2022 yet and already some pretty crazy changes have happened. Buckle up, friends. This year is going to be a hell of a ride. 

Insight into the Writer: Artists I kept up with while away

As I mentioned in my post on the 1st, for awhile there I distanced myself or fell away from the Kpop world. And that doesn't mean I was away completely. That just means that I was not nearly as involved as I once was and definitely not in the loop with current groups or trends. Now there are a couple of artists that I managed to listen to the most and keep (somewhat) up to date on their music. 

BTS (of course) 

It's kind of hard to not be up to date with BTS music when they are the biggest superstars in modern day music all over the world. (So proud of our boys). So of course BTS music has been a constant while I was distanced. While I do love their recent music in English, I'm ready for some good Korean songs to come back. Making English music made sense since they are worldwide famous, but their Korean music always hit differently. Patiently waiting for that comeback. 

Chungha

The modern day K-music queen. Sort of like BoA back in 2nd gen. Her music is always good. Have not been disappointed as of yet with any of her comebacks. Was really easy to stay listening to her new songs as they always were just so good. Her voice, the choreography, everything was just perfect. 

ITZY

Surprisingly, I LOVE ITZY. When they released Dalla Dalla, I loved the song, but I kind of thought they were one of those groups that would have one hit and then something would happen and they'd fizzle out. But man their songs are good. Countless hours I have listened to them. Not Shy being my personal favorite. I have not really gotten into Cherry or even In the Morning so far. Maybe listening to them more times they will eventually grow on me. But this group is a powerhouse of talent. 

Blackpink (and all of their solos)

Talk about a powerhouse, whew. This is another group that's hard to NOT keep up with as they're worldwide famous as well. And for very very good reason. Their music is FIRE. Whether its as a group or solo, they kill my playlist every single time they release something. Lisa is currently running my life with 'Money'. But Rose's 'On the Ground' is my second favorite currently. That one took a couple listens (as in like 3) for me to get fully into but now it's one of my favorites. 

Day6

Not so surprising if you've ever read the blog before. Day6 was and is still one of my favorite groups of all time. It still haunts me I had to leave their concert in Minneapolis early due to anxiety. Literally have cried ugly tears at that fact ever since then and I think that was in 2019 LOL. Their music hits my soul on a different level than any other kpop group has managed to do. Belting their songs at the top of my lungs is the therapeutic equivalent to hugging an ultra fluffy dog. Like one of the goodest boys with the most hair that when you hug them, you sink in. That's what Day6 songs are to me. Lately, 'Healer' has been on repeat and I'm not ashamed to say my roommate has literally come out and asked me on multiple occasions "Didn't you just listen to that song like 5 times" Well yes, yes I did. And I will listen to it about 2 more times before going to the next one lol 

I had thought about it a lot if there was anything that was keeping me from or making me stick around Korean music. Really trying to get deep in thought about what caused me to fall out and what are factors that kept me hanging on to that part of my life. Turns out, it's just who I am. There were many people who always claimed it was just a phase and looked down on me for my interest and my field of study. And when I fell out from kpop I often wondered if they were right, but then found myself listening to old Korean songs still or even new ones that interested me. This is just who I am and depression really has a way of making you into someone you're not and makes you rethink everything that ever gave you joy and why it just didn't seem to do the trick anymore. So I thought it would be an interesting insight as to what music I still listened to while I was away. 

Be safe out there, friends. Much love, Shanea. 

Afterthoughts : Hotel Del Luna (Second Lead Syndrome)

 

I am a bit late to the party, admittedly. Hotel Del Luna became a big drama when it was released in 2019 and here I am watching it years later. HAS KDQ, of course, watched the drama long before I did but in typical HAS Shanea fashion, I rebel to watch anything that is recommended to me because of reasons unknown. So here I am years later watching the drama and loving it, obviously. But there's something that bothers me. I have some severe second lead syndrome(*) for Go Chung Myung. 

(*) Reason for putting the star is because I'm unsure whether I can really consider him the second lead or the first lead. If you've ever watched the drama, you'll know that the drama primarily focuses around the fact that Man Wol loved Chung Myung and his betrayal in killing her people caused all of the events leading to her being chained to Hotel Del Luna. So technically he would be considered the first lead and Chan Sung would more likely be the second lead. But for simplification purposes and the fact that Chan Sung IS in fact the lead male in the drama, I'm going to say Second Lead Syndrome counts. 

Throughout the drama we are lead to believe he's a terrible person who turned on the girl who loved him and killed Yeon Woo. But slowly over time through Chan Sung's dreams  we see that he didn't have "much" of a choice in the slaying of her people and made a promise to Yeon Woo that he would save her.. So in the end we are basically just pitying poor Chung Myung for being in a terrible situation while still loving Chan Sung and no other guy can compare. 

While I agree with Chan Sung and Man Wol being together 100%, I can't help but wish things had been different for Chung Myung. I wish he had not stuck around for over 1,000 years waiting to be forgiven by Man Wol (though if he hadn't and had been reincarnated she for sure would have killed him). I personally believe he deserved so much more than he got. Yes, he still did terrible things and he still had many sins to atone for. But he was not this monster that we originally thought he was and I just wish things had gone better for him. 

Or maybe at least had just been able to be reincarnated and we can see him living a happy life. All we got to see was him going to the afterlife and it broke my heart that we didn't get to see any kind of happiness at all from other than just being happy Man Wol forgave him. He had a pretty crap ending to his real life and then had to stick around for over a thousand years watching the woman he loves despise him and being a bad person because of her hatred. I just felt like he deserved more and wish we could have seen him happy like Lee Mi Ra and Park Young Soo. 

Beautiful drama and I'm not saying it should have ended any other way. Just simply wished more for the poor guy and hoped he could be as happy as he deserved. 

Also, RIP Sulli. Literally cried ugly tears because I didn't know she was in this drama. Miss her beautiful presence in this world. 

Turning PSY into PNation

 HEY TO ALL MY HOPPERS OUT THERE!! It's been a very long time since I was last here. Got Married had a baby the full life experience, but ya'll didn't come here to read all about my life. You came here for the Hip Hop. 

I could go back and talk all about what's happening in the Hip hop world today, but honestly I just really want to talk about my favorite things to happen in a while.

That's right PNATION. The one and only PSY's record label! I was so excited when he branched out and started his own label. The only thing that excites me even more is the SIGNEES! I'm going to make this into a series and we will talk about all of them one by one because they are all stars and deserve their own post! First we are going to talk about the man himself Mr. Park Jae-sang. 

When I first started writing for HAS I wasn't going to write about PSY mainly because I thought there was a lot of information already and it was just to easy to find yourself. I don't want this post either to be a facts quote about everything he has done, but I did want to post about what I like most about this artist. 

We all know that PSY is a legend, but I think what I love most about him is he isn't afraid to be him and you see that in the artist he chose to sign. PSY has always been a controversial artist and he's always pushed what people perceived as "normal." So many people, including the Korean government, have told him he can not do certain things, but he does them anyway. And I just have to respect that. He's not afraid to think outside of the box and fight what he thinks is right. He's okay with "pushing the norm," and lest be honest his videos are funny and a little bit on the troll side. 

PSY's "GANGNAM STYLE" pretty much broke the internet when it was released back on July 15, 2012, still today has over 4 BILLION views, and ranks at number 3 of most watched music videos on YouTube of all times. 

That being said I think my favorite song of his is probably New Face or Hangover where he features the goat Snoop Dogg himself.

It's just exciting for me to see him in action. I'm in the middle of watching his LOUD show where JYP and him fight to see who can build the better NEXT rookie boy group. Kind of reminds me of the one JYP did with YG. On his wall in one episode there is a quote that I just love it says "Art cannot be criticized because every mistake is a new creation." He states in this episode that he wants to help them make their creations come to life, not just make his own.  I knew that I liked him as a person before but this show really brings out more of what he hopes to accomplish with his new(ish) label and I just love it. He has even been quoted in saying "I will create a playground for the passionate players who are willing to sweat for their dreams!! ^^". 

With a reputation like PSY's it's only fitting that he have the crew he has. He's opened so may doors for artist like him and I know there is more to come. I'm interested to see who else he signs and honestly I hope he brings some "dead" people back to life. 

IF YOU WATCHED SQUID GAME, READ THIS! (read it even if you haven't 🤣)

If you are a living breathing person with access to the internet, then by now you should have watched AT LEAST one of the Korean movies/dramas that is out right now. 

Train to Busan? Parasite? Squid Game? 

If you are reading this right now and HAVE NOT watched any of these, I demand that you stop right now, go out and find them, watch them all and then come back. We will wait....trust me it's worth it! 

Oh hi, welcome back! Did you watch them? Pretty darn good huh? Now let me tell you something GREAT! There are thousands more awesome and amazing Korean dramas out there!! It doesn't stop with these! You can find these dramas on Netflix. Just search "Korean" and they will come up. Zombies, blood and guts not your thing? That's OK! There are action dramas, thriller dramas, funny dramas, sappy dramas and very very sad dramas. Something for everyone!! Also there is this great app out there called 'Viki" that is great for Korean dramas/movies. 

There is a whole world of greatly written material out there that you are missing out on! So, go on and grab your popcorn, your sweetie or just your remote and get to watching something GREAT! You can come back and thank me later!! 

HAS KDQ

HAS Returns (maybe?)

After coming to the realization that there are still people out there that for some reason like us and want to follow us, we have decided we will TRY to start HAS back up. Being over 2 years since our last post, that might prove to be difficult since it's been awhile and we aren't use to this anymore. 

I have no idea where you all keep coming from, but in recent months we have been getting a couple likes a week on our HAS Facebook page and that's been very odd since again we haven't written in over 2 years and haven't done anything substantial with our Facebook page either. I haven't even done a lyric video in well over a year. We all kind of just... fell off. 

Some of us started families, some of us went to college(and didn't finish and fell into depression), and some just fell out of the Korean entertainment world until we just all kind of stopped writing and gave up. 

As I started this blog in 2012, you can see how Kpop has changed. So many groups have come and gone and our favorites no longer exist but as a memory as some of the artists are solo or just act now or just left the industry completely. Everyone grew up and moved on and we couldn't keep up with the waves of new age groups coming and going. Our favorites such as Big Bang, SNSD, Super Junior, and those age groups have all grown up into successful humans who are starting families or getting married. A bittersweet goodbye to them as we loved them so much and cling to the joy they gave us from their music and personalities (so much so we would make a whole blog dedicated just to writing about them and their impact on our lives), but also, being so happy to see them succeed and grow and be amazing humans who bring so much to the world. 

New Kpop doesn't sound the same and when we fell off the grid from the Korean world, catching up with the new kpop trends seemed impossible and was just not the same. 

Dramas have been something we always enjoy. Not nearly as much as we use to as again we all have our different obstacles in life and life is just.... busy. And hard. Don't forget hard. So we watch one every now and then and it reminds us of how much we love them but also pangs in the heart of days that were so much easier and life wasn't AS hard or busy. 

In 2022, HAS KDQ and I made the decision that we are (and I stress) we are going to TRY to write more and at least give these new groups and their music a chance and go from there. Every now and then some groups or songs catch our eyes and ears. For me personally, girl groups have really flourished and I'm thankful for that. We will see where this goes and if anyone cares to go on this ride with us.

As always, with love, Shanea.