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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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BLACKPINK is not at fault for what happened to BTS at Inkigayo (mostly a BTS-related article)

Note: I put that on the title so Blinks don’t have to read if they’re not interested in a post that only talks about their favs a bit.

In case you haven’t heard, although the boys have already won two awards at KBS’ Music Bank and MBC’ Music Core on the first week of the release of “Boy with Luv”, the song wasn’t even nominated in Inkigayo this sunday, where BLACKPINK’s Kill this Love took the crown.

Needless to say, it caused the uproar of ARMY, who frustrated with the results, demanded an explanation for BTS not ranking on the show. So, Dispatch came forward and revealed a reason: basically, they said that the period of gathering the data didn’t match with the start of the promotions (the song was released a friday, so there were only three days to get enough points to qualify). You can read English articles here and here.

There are a lot of ARMY trying to formulate the most plausible explanation for this, since the one given by Inkigayo wasn’t found to be enough. Some have said that SBS changed their tracking time to a week prior (April 1st~April 8th) from their common time frame (From the monday two weeks before the show to the monday a week before the show, which would be April 8th~April 15th). There’s even accusations of SBS manipulating the ranking to favour BLACKPINK and allow them to have their first win, they claim it is because BTS has no contender right now in terms of wins during promotion period and them getting nominated would be the last thing “they” want.

I myself, do think that BTS is a beast in terms of wins and in the first weeks of release I truly believe they’ll win almost everywhere they’re nominated at, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say SBS purposely changed the tracking recently (which so far I haven’t confirmed is true) or kick them out the rankings when they deserve to be there, even if SBS has been accused of being “YG’s friend” in the past. That is too much even for them, and would probably bring a bad image to them.

However, I do understand why it seems fishy. “Boy with Luv” has topped charts since the moment it was released, constantly breaking records thanks to BTS’ and ARMY’s effort. ARMY have been streaming everywhere, and the fandom is huge, bigger than any other, so of course, one would have expected BTS to get enough points to at least get in top, 4th place even given the three days they would have been streaming to get in. It is hard for me to believe that they didn’t get enough points to even rank, but I can see the reasoning behind the explanation they gave us. If the tracking period is still the same, ARMY had only a few days while other fandoms have been streaming for longer. It is not about the points not being enough but instead the others having acummulated a lot in over time, it was simply a bit more than we could get before the time was up, or at least it seems like that.

And listen, if you’re an ARMY, don’t even think of blaming BLACKPINK for what happened. BLINKs have been working hard as much as we have ever since the girls came out with “Kill this Love”, which by the way is really good. It is not unreasonable to think that all this time they have been streaming non-stop in hopes of getting their group a very deserved first win. I can see why we think BTS should win, but please see that BLINKs also think that BLACKPINK should win, and we both work hard to make that happen. BLINKs have been holding up to see this happen and now people are talking about the first win for the wrong reasons.

Just imagine if the roles were reversed, if people were undermining BTS’ win that they argue happened because the show didn’t play fair. Imagine the boys reading what’s happening, hearing that their win is not even theirs to take. Sounds familiar? Yeah, it happened to them before. If you are new ARMY, I suggest you look it up.

(My point is, it really isn’t BLACKPINK or BLINKs fault that we’re frustrated and we shouldn’t take them out on them at all. Remember how we though people were so ready to blame BTS for little things? That some ARMY are blaming them like this is no better. If you are ARMY, DON’T SPREAD HATE. People already have a bad image of us as it is, let’s not give a reason for it)

Anyway, now that we’ve got that out, regarding this isue, even if SBS didn’t actually change the tracking terms or manipulate points, I do not agree with them doing the following:

Getting BTS to stand in front (literally separated from other groups) during top 3 and winner announcement, even if they’re not nominated. You can see how the boys were as disappointed/confused as we were.

source: link

Putting BTS on the front of their official website. When you croll down the first thing you see is four links w/pictures of BTS.

source: Inkigayo official website.

(I’d also say, getting BTS to perform without them being nominated since it seems to me as unfair, but I know it is an unreasonable thing, since that is how things have always been and nothing will change that in a long while)

This to me screams that they’re using the boys for views. That is unfortunately normal by now, everyone is doing that these days and we ARMY will never get to stop that from happening. But, if I were a respectable, honest music show, I sure as hell wouldn’t be celebrating an artist that not only didn’t win on my show, but wasn’t even nominated in the first place. What bugs me isn’t the fact that they weren’t nominated, not even that they were treated as view bait, but that they are so obvious in using them like that, shameless. It was as if they were the ones who won or were nominated. Hell, don’t make them believe they’re there to receive a throphy if it is not going to be like that and there’s not even a possibility of it.

Anyway, I was annoyed when I saw this, but as I’m almost done writing this I know I’m already over it. We ARMY have other things to worry about, like helping BTS by voting and streaming in other shows and sites.

I’m among the people that really doesn’t care about the show wins so much as the artists I stand are successful. Just look at my favs, you’ll know I’m like that. My favorite groups didn’t get recognition for a long, long time, even still do. BTS didn’t get recognition for a time, even if they are now kings the media can’t wait to bring them down. It is like that, probably will always be. I’m honestly going to be happy as long as BTS are successful, and they are already recognized worldwide. Inkigayo or any music show couldn’t touch them or bring them down even if they tried their hardest.

A mere “lost” win at Inkigayo won’t damage the boys. They are already a force to behold by themselves and they have gotten where they are without the help of these music shows but because of ARMY. I truly can’t stress this enough, I know this is frustrating, but they are going to be fine and they’ll win next week and the next.

#bts #btsnoship #bangtan boys #sbs inkigayo #inkigayo #blackpink #first win #kill this love #boy with luv #opinion #ARMY GO VOTE FOR BTS FOR BBMAs GODDAMNIT #voting is more important than inkigayo #stream boy with luv #stream map of the soul #blink #army

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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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Extract: Yoongi in Shadow and Hoseok in Ego

NOTE: This is a short part from this post, where I theorized that Yoongi would be in the next trailer for Map of the Soul: Shadow, and that would leave Hoseok to be in Map of the Soul: Ego. If you want to see why I think that I recommend you read the full post.

WHICH ACTUALLY MAKES A LOT OF SENSE TBH. According to Karl Jung’s work, in which Map of the Soul is based, your shadow is the part of unconsciousness you want to hide, things that you’re afraid others will see, like your fears and your weaknesses, in other words you create a persona to hide your shadow. However, your ego is what creates all your personas or masks it is the part of the consciousness that determines who you should be, who you think you are.

Neither of those, shadow or ego, are one’s true self, since one’s true self is both consciousness and unconsciousness together.

But I believe it fits them perfectly, not only in the storyline.

It’s not that hard to grasp Yoongi’s personality, at least the parts he wants us to notice or the parts that slip out sometimes, from watching quite a few shows like Run!BTS and Bon Voyage, but I always thought he never said much of what he really thinks or what he wants to say. After AUGUST D’s first release, we got nothing much. A few lyrics to his name, a few songs. I always thought, just as Namjoon and the other members, Yoongi wants to say a lot, but he doesn’t know how or is afraid of it. I think he’s always held back. Now, if you look at the Yoongi in the storyline, it becomes even more obvious.

One the other hand, I think Hoseok is totally the opposite in that regards. It’s hard to truly know what he thinks, what he’s feeling, just from his expressions, or his words, or his attitude in shows and stuff. I’ve watched a LOT of their shows and I still think Hoseok is a bit of a mystery. It’s like he’s many things and at the same time nothing. Members have been sick before, and it isn’t that hard to notice so, but Hoseok, even if he’s tired to the bones, it’s hard to tell. Think about it hard, other than that MAMA’s speech, where have you seen him break like that? I assure you, I checked, and I can count them with the fingers of a single hand, so far.

Using Jung’s terms, I’d say Hoseok has many personas. The Hoseok on music shows, or the Hoseok that comforts the members, or the Hoseok that guides the members in choreos, or the Hoseok that performs in concerts, etc. His ego is convinced the shadow should never be seen so it created that many. That VCR where we saw several mask on him and only one in other members also makes me more certain.

Unlike Yoongi who keeps silent, Hoseok is under the stage light and he’s talking and all but he’s hiding behind all his personas.

Namjoon who has noticed and come to accept his persona, Hoseok who came to believe his true self is his ego and can’t find it anymore, Yoongi who says nothing.

Such match for every release!

#bts #bangtan boys #bts hoseok #jung hoseok #min yoongi #kim namjoon #bts suga #bts jhope #BTS j-hope #bts namjoon #bts rm #map of the soul #opinion #map of the soul persona #map of the soul shadow #map of the soul ego #btsnoship

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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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About BTS’ 5th Muster teaser

I’m not even mentally ready for the comeback and suddenly this comes to slap me right in the face.

Well, I’m just going to say it: I think I’m going Delulu over just a teaser picture.

(aka. me proposing a theory about subunits and comebacks and Map of the Soul: Shadow and Ego)

Source: @bts_bighit

NOTE: Listen, this is just my opinion and I could be very wrong about it. Also, perhaps other people have also noticed the same thing and I’ll edit this post later so you can listen to an experienced detective ARMY opinion instead of me if I find something.

Okay, aside from the comeback trailer featuring our dear intellectual Kim Namjoon, Map of The Soul: Persona, which a lot of ARMYs have already analyzed (and you can read my opinion on the theories I’ve found here: coming soon!), as of a couple days ago we just got our invitation for BTS’ 5th MUSTER which you can find here, and a cute picture here. You can also find several posts related to it in the official Instagram account here.

I’ll make a few screen shots as I’m explaining what I think to pick your interest tho.

The invitation itself

Source: @bts_bighit

Here we have a sneak-peek of the track list to be performed at the MUSTER, but as you can see, some of them are blurred. But the ones we can see are songs like Love Maze, 134340 (aka. Pluto), Jump, Ma City (and I can’t read Korean, I’m sorry, will update when I manage to read it).

First, my initial reaction was: Yes, please. These are songs I had already given up on, no hope on seeing them performed live at all, and I’m just incredibly glad I was wrong and that this is coming soon. Very, really excited for this.

(also, I have some guesses on what other songs there might perform, but I will compile my guesses and update later)

On Instagram there are other pics you should check out directly referencing the “Magic Shop”.

Source: @bts.bighitofficial

The invitation and these pics are not the cause of my current ‘delulu’ state though.

The cause of my insomnia: The teaser picture

So, as you know, since BigHit loves to make army work hard for things (a damn smart strategy to keep the audience engaged if you ask me), they posted this on instagram:

Source: @bts.bighitofficial

Yep. Not joking at all. It is how they posted it. (And thanks, because joining it makes a higher resolution tbh)

When joined, the pic looks like this:

Source: Reddit

I had a few things in mind when I first saw this picture.

The captions

It seems to be the same theme as the trailer, where we saw the members exchanging the items they got from the girls in the Highlight Reels for different objects, which came right before Fake Love comeback.

Now, we already know what the Magic Shop is for, a place where you can exchange parts of yourself (fears, things you wish to hide) for something else. Not going into this today, but I recommend going on a bit of research because there are really good theories out there about this, specially linked to Map of the Soul.

Here, I’ll focus on pointing out why I think this is hinting at something, specially a comeback and/or subunits.

The less certain theory:AUGUST D Comeback VS the more certain theory: SUGA to be featured on next MAP of the Soul trailer

If you look at him and compare him to the other members, his clothes look different. A shirt with the caption “Power of Evil” with white sleeves under, casual almost, vs. the members who are wearing suspenders, cardigans, sweater vests, etc. If you go into the subreddit link above, you’ll see people thinking the same thing.

There’s also this jacket on the window of the shop which is close to him.

If my abilities to put this on Google translate are not failing me, the window says: Bussiness Suit or menswear. I thought I had seen that jacket before (that was before I read the comments on that Reddit, which I wish I had because it would have taken less time to find it) so I looked into the previous events, and finally found that he wore this jacket it on the 4th MUSTER. Yep, the one with four stripes on the left arm.

Source: BTS official facebook.

Now, I’m not expert, but I do think he looks a bit different and after about two years of being an ARMY I’ve learned that things Big Hit does are unlikely to not be intentional.

Thus, I tried to make sense of what this must mean. If, and this is a big if, the clothes he’s wearing are merely not the stylist’s choice and the shirt on the window is supposed to be the one Yoongi should be wearing, then in my opinion that could mean one of the following:

(a) He took off or gave up his business suit to wear clothes that represent him more.

I’d be lead to believe this since he’s worn it in the past so it should be part of the narrative and all. Maybe he gave it to the magic shop, though it doesn’t match the caption, them not knowing what a magic shop is (unless Yoongi knows but we don’t see what he thinks just with one picture), so if we’re to believe that he really doesn’t know what the magic shop is, then maybe he just gave up his suit elsewhere, if he did at all.

Anyway, I’m more inclined to think, at least assuming the hypothesis is true, that he really doesn’t know about the magic shop. So, one of my guesses would be that he took off his suit and chose to wear these clothes (in the narrative I mean) because that’s who he really is, and he decides to be himself even when the members are not.

(b) He’s about to get this jacket in the magic shop.It would make sense that since he’s just seen this jacket next to the magic shop, he might get it inside. Perhaps he exchanges a part of himself in the magic shop and gets this suit in order to make his persona stronger (you know, following the theme of Map of the Soul).

I actually think this makes more sense that the former, but that wouldn’t explain how he wore it on the 4th muster, unless the 4th muster happens after the 5th, which is… well, yeah, messed up, but I mean, Big Hit likes to play with the timeline in weird ways.

Let’s assume for a moment that “Happy Ever After” happened after “Magic Shop”. That would be were Yoongi gets his suit, and it might be where the other members get theirs as well. Then, since the magic shop gives them something to make their personas, the ones they put on in certain situations in order to hide their true selves behind, “Happy Ever After” could be a lie, which points to Fake Love.

(Yep, I’m pretty deep in delulu land, I’ll better make reservations to stay longer)

I’m making myself more confused just writing this.

Even if you choose to wait and not believe this crazy girl’s delusions (as you should, maybe, idk), everyone seems to think that something is up with Yoongi in this pic and it might just lead to an AUGUST D comeback, which let’s be honest, we’re all hoping for.

Another option, which I think is more likely: maybe he’s gonna get a big part in the upcoming comebacks, like, it might also hint that the next BTS comeback trailer will feature SUGA. If I have to guess which he’s going to be in, following the order as shown in “Map of the Soul: Persona” trailer, I’d say he’s going to be in Map of the Soul: Shadow, and J-hope will be Ego.

Source: “Map of the Soul: Persona” trailer, on the chalkboard. Found HD pics in this article.

(WHICH ACTUALLY MAKES A LOT OF SENSE TBH. According to Karl Jung’s work, in which Map of the Soul is based, your shadow is the part of unconsciousness you want to hide, things that you’re afraid others will see, like your fears and your weaknesses, in other words you create a persona to hide your shadow. However, your ego is what creates all your personas or masks it is the part of the consciousness that determines who you should be, who you think you are.

Neither of those, shadow or ego, are one’s true self, since one’s true self is both consciousness and unconsciousness together.

But I believe it fits them perfectly, not only in the storyline.

Unlike Yoongi who keeps silent, Hoseok is under the stage light and he’s talking and all but he’s hiding behind all his personas.

Namjoon who has noticed and come to accept his persona, Hoseok who came to believe his true self is his ego and can’t find it anymore, Yoongi who says nothing.

Such match for every release!)

The only-a-bit-more-certain-than-last theory: BTS Subunits

If you look closely, you’ll notice that some members are wearing matching clothing; some are wearing suspenders, some sweater vests, some patterned clothing, etc. So, when I noticed, I tried to write down the names and their clothes.

Suspenders: Jungkook, V, Jin.

Vests: RM, Jimin.

Pattern clothes (other than vests): J-Hope, SUGA (V, Jin) → **

Hats: V, J-Hope.→ **

** The pattern clothes make me doubtful since it isn’t that obvious like the other clothes, but I’m let to belive that in this section only J-hope and SUGA should be considered (Also, if Yoongi is about to get the jacket in the window inside the magic shop, then he and Hoseok will have pattern Jackets…). The reason I chose not to include V and Jin, and also the reason why I’m thinking the hats are there in order to throw us off, is because of what I found later.

So, I wrote down the stage names as followed:

Jungkook, V, Jin

RM, Jimin

J-hope, SUGA

I thought, hell, this looks familiar. So I spent a good two hours searching and searching until finally, it came to me: These groups appear in the BTS Fake Love comeback show!

What the hell...

And not only that, I’m plenty sure they must have hinted at it somewhere else, so I looked and looked more and bam: They also came out like this in FESTA 2018: Prom Party. I really suggest you look it up.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they had hinted at it elsewhere.

I truly don’t think this is a coincidence now. With other companies perhaps it would be, Big Hit is known for this kind of stuff. This could mean the members are preparing songs/performances in these groups called subunits, and if that is true, then damn, I’m hella ready for it.

(especially RM-Jimin subunit)

Conclusion

This all has me pretty shook and deep into delulu land.

Prepare mentally for the upcoming attacks, fam.

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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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Happy belated birthday to BTS’ Kim Taehyung!

It’s not even his birthday in Korea anymore, but I wanted to congratulate him anyway!

Hope you had a nice day, boy!

#bts #bts taehyung #kim taehyung #taehyung #happybirthday #btsnoship

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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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New Year’s resolution: beg and beg and keep begging for more J-hope’s fancams

Even though he’s not my “bias” (although I don’t like that word, there it is), and believe me, every day I wonder just WHY he’s not (just as I wonder WHY in the world I am even a little bit biased to any of them in the first place and not biased towards all of them instead), I find myself incredibly frustrated that I cannot find as many fancams of J-hope as of other members. Not joking, I’ve found a few as of now, of their KBS song festival 2018 performances, and that’s after doing a lot of digging. I have 17 between RM and Suga, and let’s stop counting, because damn, the vocal line has quite a lot (Namjoon and Yoongi’s I found on twitter and youtube with just a little click and a few scrolls through pages).

I know what you’re about to say, the performance was not that long ago, there’s still time, better look for the SBS ones-- yeah, it might be the time. But regardless, there’s still not that many... not to mention he’s hard to film, like, really hard to film, because he moves across the stage once and again in barely four beats or less, and it’s hard to follow up, anyways, I’m getting sidetracked--

There’s not that many fancams even with the ever-growing fanbase, and I’m not blaming ARMYs for focusing on that one member they like more, it just baffles me that there’s not many of him in first place. Is it a popularity thing? Because I can’t see how he’s not preferred by the mases. He’s the leader behind the scenes, as many times the boys have said before, he’s mesmerizing, and incredibly entertaining, not to mention he’s the most stable when it comes to rapping and dancing at the same time, he raps and sings, he’s a producer as well, his dancing is WHOA--

I sometimes wonder to what extend this issue has bothered him or if it has, because J-hope is incredibly hard to get a read on. He’s a bit of a mystery, so I can’t possibly guess what’s going through his head, but I think back to that photo of J-hope’s nearly empty fanbox while the others had a bit more stuff in (and if you’ve been a fan for even more than a year, if you were here when it was still allowed to give them stuff, you’ve surely seen the photo), and say to myself “he ought to have considered it at least once, and it must have been hard.”

Anyway, what can I possibly do? What can we possibly do other than support him in whatever we can? This post has no answer to this whatsoever, but I wrote it in hope some readers would keep this in mind and consider it and perhaps have an answer.

#bts #bangtan boys #bts jhope #bts j-hope #jhope #j-hope #Jung HoSeok #fancams #fancam #popularity #popular member #popular #hoseok #btsnoship #big hit

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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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Quick reminder to show your love to GOT7′s Mark

Apparently, Mark injured his leg while martial arts trick rehearsal barely hours before their performances at KBS song festival. As such, GOT7 had to perform without him (link), and that rumored collaboration between Mark, Yugyeom and TWICE’s Momo, didn’t happen (at least not in the way it was planned).

The point of this post, as it says in the title, is just to show your support to him. It is likely that, as many would, he would be blaming himself after what happened, that he disappointed the members and the fans and whatnot, and I think it’s time to try to make him understand that we’re not, that we’re just worried.

So, please, if you stand them, go show him your love. Tag their accounts, send pics, whatever. That’s all.

(also, quick sidenote, the boys did amazing, even with just the six of them. It must’ve been hard, but they did so well, and Youngjae, he took Mark’s lines and all, he was so good. Even as a relatively new stand, very proud of all of them)

#got7 #got7 mark #injury #kbs song festival #kbs song festival 2018 #kbs #got7 youngjae #jyp #jyp family #jyp got7 #opinion

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always-learning-kpop · 5 years

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Let’s talk about Hwasa for a second (and a little bit of Moonbyul)

So, y’all know how Hwasa was critized after MAMA for her outfit (link) to the point RBW, their label, was forced to make a statement (couldn’t find direct link to it though) in which they basically said they didn’t know it would become such a hot topic and that they chose the outfit according to the song.

They didn’t apologize, or at least according to the short translation they didn’t directly (which I’ll look into a bit more), but the bottom line is, they don’t seem to want to back down from this kind of concept, or the kind of outfits she wears, and Hwasa doesn’t seem oposed to it either, and good evidence for that is that she came out in SBS gayo daejun 2018 in another revealing outfit (performance, outfit) and rocked the stage as you would’ve expected.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it sparkled another heated debate which I’m not interested in looking into. I’ve found so much hipocresy and/or intolerance in most of the opinions that I’ve become tired. Many aplaud performances where girls use booty shorts, small dresses that show their legs entirely, clap when they move sensually on stage with badass clothing and whatnot, but beware when it shows their legs at the same time as ther shoulders! Gasp! How dare she!

I’ve found incredible how this community thinks. It’s okay to behave like a little girl, cutesy and all, dress like a high school kid and dance for people to watch you around the world; it’s okay to dance in small shorts and dresses that fit to your frame and reveal your legs, or short dresses with tall stockings; it’s okay to look sexy but not too sexy.

It’s just, I don’t get it? Why can’t she dress like a woman, mature, sexy, why can’t she do it like she wants? That’s the concept they’re going for this time. Their outfits at MAMA were made according to the member’s personality and the concept: Moonbyul’s less revealing outfit, Solar’s dress, Wheein’s a mix between tomboy and girl, and then there’s Hwasa. Were they not celebrating diversity? Should we condemn diverstiy, then?

Perhaps it is the cultural difference that blocks my understanding. Sometimes I try to put myself in the other person’s shoes, but I find it hard to get the intolerance. I guess my “western” mind just wouldn’t get it.

Anyway, I like the fact that the company didn’t change their plans at all in SBS gayo daejun, I like that they didn’t force their artist into something entirely different to appease the masses, as many companies these days do (should we count how many artist/companies have had to apologize due to scandals?), and I specially like how Hwasa went out there and owned the stage with the other girls, as she always does.

(In an unrelated note, I wonder and keep wondering why, and I mean, why they decided to give Moonbyul more revealing clothes. I don’t mean she looked anything less than flawless because damn, they all looked beautiful as always, but it’s a bit strange to me? The other outfits, Wheein, Solar and even Hwasa’s, are similar to the ones at MAMA, so I kind of expected the same for Moonbyul. I honestly think it’s the stylist’s choice, but for what reason remains unknown. My guess would be, either they wanted to appeal to more people, or they didn’t want her to look like the odd one (I’ve seen comments on her outfit before, that she looked a bit strange standing next to the others) since she didn’t show skin at MAMA, or MAMA was an exception. I’ll have to think about it and research some more).

That’s it for this segment. Please remember to support these women and show your love in any way you can.

#hwasa #moonbyul #mamamoo hwasa #mamamoo moonbyul #mamamoo #kpop #sbs gayo daejun #mama 2018 #mama #hwasa's outfit controversy #outfit controversy #controversy #rbw #rbw mamamoo

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