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Once again, a very good month of releases.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH:

Part 1: SHINee, Kang Daniel, Wheein, Nu'est, P1Harmony, Enhypen

Part 2: AB6IX, BIBI, ONF, Hot Issue, Itzy (also features like a 10 minute rant about responses to Itzy's comeback)

Enjoy!

- Kaia

Files

Comments

Anonymous

I have thoughts on the whole mitm thing and it will be long I apologise in advance (also content warning! for mention of terrorism and exploitation.) I'm Italian so I apologise in advance if what I write isn't very clear but English is not my first language. I don't stan itzy, although I really like their music, but they are under jyp and, as an ahgase, now that got7 is free I want to distance myself from the company as much as I can. I don't follow the girls' official acc so I only heard about their comeback through twt mutuals that are midzy. From what I saw on my timeline, the hate was not directed at the girls but at the company that chose a concept such as this one bc apparently they felt that to portray the girl crush vibe, criminality was the answer. I have huge respect for the girls bc they are one of the groups that explore performing in a very interesting way (and the way many people compare them to bgs is honestly annoying, like you said they are just a gg doing their thing and it feels a lot like a backhanded compliment when people put them "on the same level" as bgs -as if ggs are below them just because they have different choreos). As regarding the concept- mafia should not be a taboo. Italy actually has a very popular tv series named Gomorra that talks about this, among with dozens of movies and books and other media. The main difference is that it is never glamourized like in US media. It is shown as it is: the cancer of our country. Mafia is ingrained in our culture and, while it definitely evolved, it still affects people in the same way in some parts of Italy. For example, one of my close friends from middle school had to move from her hometown in Campania all the way up here in the north bc her relatives were being targeted by the mafia. She has not seen her parents since then (it's been almost five years) and her uncle adopted her soon after that so that her name is no longer associated with that part of the family. This kind of fauds are less frequent in recent years but it does not mean the mafia is less powerful, it just changed its means to gain more money and control. Many politicians have been investigated for being directly linked to the mafia thought money laundering and such, which takes away from the financial aids meant for hospitals, hospices and more. With the rise of immigrations from both Africa and East Europe, since the right parties make it harder to finance the regulation and homing of these people (cause fascism is technically banned by our constitution but that doesn't really stop anyone from being an a-hole, unfortunately), it's easy for the mafia to offer work to these immigrants who are tricked into thinking that it's the best they can get. This leads to exploitation, in the forms of prostitution for many young women and exhausting, under-paid work in crops for many others. So, as of now, immigrants, and especially black immigrants that arrive on the southern cost, are the main victims of mafia. In the past (and I'm talking 70s/80s/90s, so not so long ago) the mafia killed hundreds of innocent people in actual terroristic attacks (mainly bombing directed to judges and journalists that were fighting against this organisation). As much as I am against glamorizing and romanticizing any form of criminality, I understand why some people do not have a problem with a certain "criminal culture" being depicted. From a conversation that I had with someone on twt, where they live what is considered "criminality" are actually associations that, although working against the law, help the poorer classes against the injustices of the government. And I perfectly understand why in places such as the US, they feel that seeing a criminal that goes against the police is much better than the other way around. What Italians don't like to see is the use of the term "mafia". In that in the last years there has been the rising phenomenon of the "mafia aesthetic" that depict mafia men as hot powerful people that spoil their girlfriends and, while the term mafia is used internationally, most people always think of Italy when referring to this "aesthetic". Movies like 365 days, that connect this idea to Italy, have only been making the situation worse and for people that have lived through terroristic events or have lost relatives to this organisation, it is definitely triggering to see everyone on twt treating it as a joke and making fun of us when we try to explain what the mafia actually entails. Again, I have not seen one person on my tl going against the girls -only calling out the company. From what I remember, the italian midzy twt acc tried to send emails to the company to try and make them reconsider the title (at the time we did not know how much the "mafia" aspect was in the song and overall concept) but they clearly did not care. I have tried to listen to the song and overall it sounded very interesting but the chorus just makes me extremely uncomfortable so I definitely won't stream it. I hope this clears up some aspects, I am sorry if this does not make sense. (Also we have our version of the korean "mafia game" and we call it either "lupus in fabula" (wolf) or "banditi" (bandits) therefore referring to a more general kind of criminality). Anyway  love your reactions 😊 tl;dr: we don't have anything against the girls but we are uncomfortable with the idea of mafia being glamorised bc the term refers to a very specific and harmful system that still today affects people in Italy. Criminality in general is in some places a way to fight the oppression from a system which is why depiction of criminals isn't inherently wrong, but mafia cannot be considered the case and therefore should not be glamorised.

safe_cave

That makes complete sense! Thank you for sharing all of that with me. I guess what bothered me was that I only started seeing people talking about it once this song released BUT I completely get that just because I didn't see it doesn't mean it wasn't happening and what you're saying is very true

Anonymous

we get into fights with americans pretty often about this but it never got this big bc it was not related to an official cb so kpop twt wasn't involved. I understand why people get defensive when girl groups are in the heat of it bc they are often the punchbags of the situation but it just happened to be them and once again I have only seen people be mad at the company.

Amber Domi

"I really like Jay" same, just same

Chad Williams

yeah the complaints are dumb i just thought it gave me a nct blackpink style in terms of production but i didnt think it was a boy or girl group style it just went hard like blackpink songs tend to do just with high quality jyp choreo and the beat sounded also kinda 'noisy' like a nct beat which i like especially from girl groups because we dont have enough of those types of girl group songs in my opinion even though i love other sounds as well its a personal fav but when this came out i wasnt even thinking of it as a boy group style i was just thinking this goes hard i dont get the people complaining though its doing bigger numbers than any jyp artists ever on spotify even twice which is crazy and its their best in sales streams all the meaningful categories its doing better than any other comeback theyve had so they must be doin something right this i think is their best album as well lia really got to show more of her voice here and yuna is killing this whole comeback to me shes such a strong maknae like they always are seriously what are kpop companies feeding maknaes lol

CyF9

Hot Issue! They did so good! ❤️

Anonymous

So for me.. about Hot Issue, the song is weird for me I don't know ? BUT their stage presence ? Their performance? 🔥🔥 So I will wait for the comeback and see 🙂 I mean for exemple, red velvet, their debut song wasn't it for me at all. Now I'm in love with them! I Always give groups second chances cause usually the debut isn't going to be the same vibe the group will have in the long run! So can't wait for the comeback, Im pretty sure I will stan them eventually 😂