#also like i understand on a marketing level that these brands get idols and other celebrities to be ambassadors

[bangtae-sohotddaeng]

we’ll be counting stars | k.th. | 4

(^ gif cred: ON THE VOYAGE | pinterest)

pairing: idol!Taehyung x publisher!Reader

rating: nc-17 (for language and themes)

summary: You’d sworn off love and relationships forever. You were here to do your job - work with the biggest boyband of the world. Not forge friendships and...and whatever it was that you and Taehyung were building up with these sneaky glances. It was, to be very fair, your Chief Editor’s fault that you’d landed in this mess. Maybe you should quit your job? Maybe you should quit life -

Oh, he was staring again, and did he freaking lick his lips?

warnings: swearing (reader’s got a potty mouth) + this is set like 5 years in the future + reader has emotional issues, she's a relationship phobe + mentions of weed

genre: so much ANGST ugh + fluff + comedy + some crack

words: 4.6 k

note: hey, y'all. i know i've been awol and i'm really sorry about it, but, well - first i went back to uni for a while and got busy with my classes and my boyfriend. but this lasted for, like, barely three weeks, and then i came back home and got covid. yep, i finally got unlucky. my parents got it, too, after me, and the three of us had been home quarantined and getting treated for the past month or so. we're in better health now, though, so i'm getting back into writing. here's hoping i pick up speed super quick! 💜

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gimme feedback, much much appreciated!

Your first week of heading this project with all its roadblocks and exhaustion, as it turned out, had merely been a taste of what was to come.

Your Wednesday at work began on a positive note, though. 

Towards the middle of the day, your phone rang, making both you and Jungkook jump. 

Cursing, you pursed your lips at Jungkook apologetically, and fished the device out. He nodded at you with a chuckle. 

Looking at your phone screen, you realised this was a call you'd been waiting for.

“Hello?” you answered.

“Hello, ma’am. I’m calling to inform you that we’re done.”

Your eyebrows immediately hiked up your forehead. “Wow, really? That’s great news!”

“Yeah, the cleaners will be in tomorrow morning. You can move in by tomorrow evening.”

You actually grinned. “That’s such fantastic news! Thank you so much, Mister Lin. I’ll initiate your payment later, today.”

“Anytime, ma’am. Thank you.”

You disconnected the call with a happy sigh. Jungkook squinted at you. “That sounded like a fun conversation.”

You nodded, smiling. “Our team is moving into an apartment, tomorrow.”

“Wow! You’ve been in the hotel for what, ten days now? Must feel nice!” Jungkook’s eyes sparkled.

You nodded with a sigh, shutting your eyes in relief. “Oh, yes. We’d made reservations at the hotel for fifteen days. We had to move into the apartments within this week. This feels so amazing. I’ll finally be able to prepare my own food.”

Jungkook giggled at that, scrunching his nose up. “Where’s the apartment? Hope it isn't too far.”

“Oh, no, it’s a few blocks away from here. Which is why we had to book a hotel in the first place. We needed two four-bedroom apartments on the same floor, in this specific radius, in three days.” You paused to laugh when Jungkook’s jaw dropped with a gasp. “It was a very hard find. But our agent was sharp, he did a great job.” You clapped your hands together. “I cannot wait to check out of the damn hotel.” 

Jungkook nodded in understanding. “Hotels are hard. It could be a seven star luxurious penthouse, but you’d still wanna run away from it after a while.” 

He seemed to be speaking from his personal experience, but running away from a seven star luxurious penthouse? You couldn’t relate. You hated your hotel because the curtains weren’t dark enough and the mattress was stiff and you couldn’t afford getting any of them changed. You also hated having to order Chinese every single day, but you also knew you’d be emptying your bank account if you got anything else.

None of this would trouble someone living in a seven star’s penthouse. But you didn’t want to make Jungkook uncomfortable by stating any of this when he was just trying to be a bit compassionate and empathetic.

“Food doesn’t bother me that much, though,” Jungkook continued after a thoughtful pause. “We’re usually either on diets or order takeout. I personally hate the mattresses.”

“Oh yes,” you sighed deeply, the kink in your upper back in absolute agreement. “I’m not really a fan of sleeping anywhere other than my mattress back at home, but hotel beds are the worst of it.”

Jungkook chuckled, nodding. “I completely understand. You remember that story I told you about lugging my beddings over to our dorm when we first moved into one?”

You nodded with a laugh. “Oh, yes. The rest of the boys were getting new mattresses, and you were busy dragging your mattress from your parents’ house. It may sound hilarious, but it’s actually very relatable.”

Jungkook looked a bit bashful as he nodded. “You know, when we first started preparing for our first tour, I had a half a mind to take it with me.”

You barked out a loud laugh at that, the mental image of Jungkook dragging a seven by four piece of bedding around and stuffing it into trailers. He laughed, too.

“Yeah, it was funny and really stupid. Half the time we didn’t even get to sleep in the bed we had taken with us, but whenever we did, I was nodding off the second my head hit the pillow.” Jungkook’s eyes sparkled as he went down the memory lane. “That one was nothing in comparison to the tours we go on now, but it was our first ever experience so it was still pretty difficult adjusting, Tour schedule is a different level of hectic, you know? You don’t have time to eat, you don’t have time to sleep. Just rehearsals and fittings and sound checks. I would fall asleep in makeup chairs,” he confessed with a chuckle, shaking his head fondly, “and when noona would wake me up, I would recall how I wanted to bring my mattress here. Such naivete.”

You smiled, nodding along. You hadn’t yet gotten to the tour discussion yet, as it was planned out for the third month of your blueprint, so all of this was brand new to you. But, at this moment you didn’t want to bring up plans and blueprints. Jungkook was compassionately being candid with you. You were becoming friends, beyond your professional boundaries.

Sighing, you decided to impart something personal, too. “When I moved to the States and got into this company, I rented the apartment with an old friend who was already living there. And it wasn’t my first time living in a house away from my parents. I’d been a university student, lived in dorms then rented apartments, both solo and shared.” Jungkook looked at you pensively, nodding with a little furrow in his eyebrows. “But when I got to this apartment, got all this brilliant furniture set up, all new and fresh, I couldn’t sleep. I missed my home.” Jungkook’s eyes softened, lips pressing down into an understanding smile. “Not the dorm, not the studio I’d been renting—I missed my childhood bed.” You exhaled, recalling all your sleepless nights. “There's this connection you build with the place you call home. I’m sure you must have started to feel this way about your dorms as time went on.”

Jungkook softly smiled, nodding as he looked into space. “Very correct. Tour life made me realise this exact fact.”

You both sat in a few minutes’ quiet, basking in the nostalgic atmosphere you’d built around you.

Then Jungkook grinned at you. “Now you’ll get to experience real Seoul life.”

You laughed. “Oh, yes. And I honestly can’t wait for it. The local markets, the grocery stores, everything. Everything here is very unlike home.”

“I’m sure you’ll love it!” Jungkook exclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows smugly.

You went back to work soon after, with Jungkook tossing in questions about your move and suggestions about what all you should do in the city, every now and then.

It was a good, productive, joyous day. You were hardly even tired when you got back to your hotel to spend your last night on that stiff ass mattress.

Thursday had started off pretty much the same, except for you guys taking a slightly early departure to spare some extra time to set your new place up after your belongings were moved.

By late night, you were all settled in two, pleasant, well-furnished, well ventilated four-bedroom apartments, next to each other. Your housemates consisted of Sana and Simon. Needless to say, you weren’t a fan. But you needed a room to build the office in and you preferred it to be under the same roof as your bedroom because you tended to work odd hours when you couldn’t sleep. Simon and Sana volunteered to share the apartment with the office and you, so you didn't exactly have room for complaint.

From getting the apartment cleaned one last time to accept you all, to ensuring none of you had left anything significant behind in your hotel rooms—you didn’t trust the hotel staff enough to not misuse it if they found anything related to BTS in one of your rooms—you had been the one that took care of it all. It was kinda on you, because you didn’t trust anyone from your team to do the latter responsibly. So, quite naturally, you were dead on your feet by the time you got into your soft as a cloud beddings at nearly 3 o’clock in the morning. Sleep pulled you in the seconds you rugged your covers up.

You were very dead on your feet when you got to the BTS dorm, five hours after you’d gotten into bed. You hadn’t had a drop of alcohol in your system for more than a few weeks, now, but man did you have a hangover.

So it goes without saying that when you bumped into someone on your way to Jungkook’s studio, your eyes were half shut. You wouldn’t have thought much of it and might have slinked away with a mumbled apology, if not for the familiar voice than greeted you.

“Good morning. Looks like you had a rough night?”

You blinked, miles away from sleep within a second when your eyes met a familiar pair of brown ones. Taehyung was dressed in the routine BTS loungewear that consisted of a pastel t-shirt that was one too many sizes bigger on him and dark sweatpants that covered his feet. His hair was the usual black and curly, mostly pulled away from his forehead with a few tendrils dangling over his brows.

Your interaction with him had been meagre throughout this week, only consisting of respectful nods of greetings and waves of goodbyes. You’d meant to ask him how Simon was doing and how he felt about his ideas being taken now, after you’d had a talk with Simon about it. But you didn’t know what you would do if he said he was hating how things were and wanted you to do something about it. So you had kept your mouth shut and watched from the sidelines as you tried to gauge Taehyung’s inner feelings by his facial expressions. 

He was an extremely closed off guy, never really letting his face show what he was truly feeling. But sometimes you would catch him looking into space as if he was zoning out of his conversation with Simon. Now, he could very well be thinking deeply about something Simon said—you really couldn’t be sure with the guy. But it had you worried, nevertheless.

God. Why did Simon have to pick out Taehyung’s name?

By the time you realised you’d been staring at him for too long, he had realized it too. “Anything wrong with my… hair?” he innocently questioned, threading his fingers through the front of it.

“No!” you yelped, making him flinch. “I mean, no, it’s not that. I, um. We were moving into our apartments last night and it got kinda late. My brain’s processing things a bit slow, today.”

Taehyung chuckled at that, nodding with his teeth on display. “It’s okay. Congratulations on the move. Hotels suck.”

You sighed. “Tell me about it.”

Awkward silence hung over the two of you as you looked at the floor, at your feet, at his feet, tried to discern if his pants were very dark gray or blue, cleared your throat, scratched your ear, met his shifty eyes again— 

“How…how is working with Jungkook?”

His question caught you off-guard. You looked at him in surprise. “Uh…it’s, um. It’s good. Very comfortable, very productive. It’s great, actually.”

Taehyung nodded, pursing his lips as he looked down again. “Simon has been a better listener this week. Did you talk to him?”

A weight was lifted off your shoulders on hearing that. You grinned at him with all your teeth. “Really? That is really good to know. Comforting, even. I did talk to him, yes.”

Taehyung looked into your eyes as his lips spread into a slow, soft smile. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. I thought you would think I was stupid for demanding so much, but…” He shrugged his shoulder, one corner of his lips ticking farther up his cheek. “You made it work. I feel so much better now.”

You exhaled, willing your heart to not beat so fast. It was your job to ensure they were all comfortable, this was part of what you were getting paid for. But somehow, the way Taehyung seemed to have taken it so personally made you not wanna mention the fact in the moment.

Also, he didn’t know how this wouldn’t last. You’d been giving Simon tips to handle himself professionally around Taehyung, literally every single day. It kept the wheel running, but it was tiring both of you out, immensely. Simon was out of his element and you were getting slowly overwhelmed and under-rest due to the amount of responsibilities piling on for you. You were determined to talk this out with your boss, this Sunday, and find a way out before you broke.

Right now, though, you gave Taehyung a bashful smile. “I wanted you to be comfortable and feel good about working on this project, Tae. I am constantly working out plans to better it.”

Taehyung looked at you with so many emotions swimming in his eyes, that the intensity of it almost made you wanna look away. But you didn’t. Instead, you tried to decode what any of it could mean. 

This time the silence between you two was not awkward in the least. It was charged—heavy with this unknown tautness between your mind and heart and this indecipherable look in Taehyung’s eyes.

“Tae?”

The trance was broken by Jin, startling both of you.

He walked into the halfway from behind Taehyung, peering around him with a frown. His eyes widened when he saw you. You immediately bowed, always extremely cautious about being respectful around BTS’ oldest member. “Good morning, Jin-ssi.”

He chuckled at your address, insisting that you didn’t have to bow every single time. “Just the respectful good morning is fine. Did you just get here?”

You nodded, subtly glancing at Taehyung whose eyes were slightly rounded and still stuck on you. Why was he acting like you two were caught by Jin? You’d just been greeting each other and catching up!

Right?

Right.

“Ah! There comes Riya!” Jin suddenly announced the arrival of his partner on your team, cutely waving at someone behind you.

Your teammate Riya walked into the hallway after you, having walked here on her own insistence. “Good morning, Jin-ssi. Taehyung-ssi. Boss.”

You smiled at her, nodding in acknowledgement of the respect she paid. “Where’s Simon?” you questioned.

“Just here!” the man himself responded, rushing in after Riya. 

You met Taehyung’s eyes, and he nodded with a meaningful look and a small smile on his lips. Your heart felt light.

The unexpectedly happy and positive start you’d gotten in the morning lasted with you the whole day, making your time with Jungkook a lot fun, and fulfilling in terms of work, too.

When Sunday came in and you received your boss’ call, her first question was about how well you were settled in the apartments, followed by how you’d handled things with Simon. You had done a decent job on the former, but the latter was gradually turning out to be a pain in your ass. You told your boss as much.

“Drag it out for another week, and then design a change of gameplan. If he really isn’t doing a good enough job by himself, it’s better if he works with someone else. This whole charade will tire both of you out. And V would be facing issues, too, if Simon’s heart isn’t into it.” Your boss had looked at you solemnly through the computer screen.

“Simon’s heart’s a bit too much into it, boss, that’s the whole issue.” You had derisively chuckled at your joke, but her words had left you thinking into the late hours of the night.

Taehyung had definitely been facing issues, you’d heard it from the man himself. And the respite he thought he’d gotten this week was momentary, because neither you nor Simon could honestly keep up with it for too long. And it was very unfair to Taehyung. This book was supposed to showcase a part of all the boys. A biography was the culmination of one’s whole life—something very personal, precious and endearing. The process of its creation should have been a similar experience for the boys, too.

You really would have to assign someone else to Taehyung.

On Monday morning, you knocked at Simon’s door at seven.

“Just this week, and then you switch,” you told him.

“Really? Oh, my God, thank you so much!” Simon cried out.

“Please accommodate him the best you can.” You sighed. “I’m too tired to give you notes everyday. Will you be able to manage?”

“I’ll accommodate him the best I can, just as you said.”

You hadn’t taken his word for it, but it seemed like the knowledge of his misery ending soon had done Simon well. He did a fair job of maintaining his professional composure, and on Tuesday, when you went in to grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen, you saw the two of them laughing about something, too. Taehyung had politely greeted you, exchanging more than a nod for the first time in more than ten days—minus that one altercation in the hallway, of course—and then immediately went back into the discussion.

He seemed to be really into it.

It made you feel a lot better. 

On Friday, you and Jungkook went for a walk by the pool in the late afternoon with a cup of ice cream in your hands. He brought up Taehyung, asking how the elder was doing.

“You told me he was having some trouble with his partner?” Jungook asked, biting into a huge glob of chocolate ice-cream like a maniac and braving the brainfreeze with a straight face.

You grimaced at the sight. Then exhaled, plopping a spoonful from your own ice cream into your mouth. “He’s doing a lot better, now. It might not last, though”

Jungkook, instead of quizzing your ominous statement, nodded in understanding. “Does it have something to do with what I told you about hyung’s personality?”

You sighed. “Pretty much. We might have to change his partner.”

Jungkook paused at that. “Is there a possibility that…” He trailed off, confused, doe eyes looking at you.

You couldn’t lie to him. You shrugged. “Everything’s on the plate.”

On Sunday evening, you decided to gather the team for the call with your boss. Sending them a quick message once you all got home, you hopped into the bathroom for a long, relaxing showe. 

When you came back, you stepped into your office to the welcome sight of your team occupying bean bags and chairs and spread across the entire surface area of the place.

Collectively, you all brought up Taehyung’s partner with the Editor-in-Chief.

“Why don’t you do it, Y/N?” your boss questioned you after the rest of them had briefed her with their progress so far and detailed out their future plans with their assigned boys.

You sighed. “I have been doing just as great as the rest of them, boss. It wouldn’t be ideal for me to stop working with Jungkook after we’ve been making such great progress.”

Your boss took her glasses off, the highlight on her nose glistening as her movement caught light. She shook her and then sighed. “One of you is going to have to make a sacrifice.”

Simon, rightfully, flinched with a guilty face.

“So either you talk one of your team members into doing it, or you do it yourself. You’ve got one whole week to discuss it. Tell me what you decide, next Sunday.”

You kept tossing and turning in your bed. You’d either have to force one of your team members. Or you’d have to disappoint Jungkook. Your prospects really weren't looking good. 

You would like to believe you and Jungkook had become friends in these three weeks. It is impossible to remain a stone-faced stranger with someone literally relaying the story of his entire life to you. And besides that, too, Jungkook was a very likeable guy. He was a curious soul with a myriad of interests. Taking notes on literally every topic would always branch out into an enthusiastic conversation between the two of you. 

Sighing as you recalled how the two of you had shared your roller-skating experience with each other just today, you shut your eyes and decided to finally go to sleep.

On Monday morning, your team members were gathered in your new office to begin with the scripting process of the biography. As you got down to comparing notes and checking off boxes, each one of you resolutely ignored the gigantic elephant in the room—that fact that one of you would not be working with the same person when this week was up.

Strangely, this forcible change of partners was weighing down on all of you not just because of how much more labour it would cost, but on an emotional level, too. Which was a very unfamiliar concept, at least to you. You never got attached to clients, knowing it would only cause hindrances when you had to criticize their work—which was why they were talking to you in the first place. You had been somewhat lucky too, in a way, because it wasn't easy for you to get attached to people.

But Jungkook turned out to be just a really easy person to get along with. You really had become friends.

This, you suddenly realised, would also mean that Jungkook would make friends with another partner just as easily.

“Guys, remember—it’s not just their story that we’re writing, it’s ours too!” you announced to your team, clapping your hands to raise their spirits as the six of them worked on their computers. “They’re the narrators, sure, but we are the writers. Use your words wherever you find fit, do not hesitate to trim, omit or add. This is what we were hired to do.” 

At noon, you all ordered takeout and took a break.

“We’re all really on schedule, boss,” Riya, Jin’s partner, spoke up from her spot across the room from you. Her rounded eyes narrowed suddenly, and she winced. “Well… except Simon, but we kinda already expected that.”

Simon, seated on a bean bag to your immediate right, cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“You’ve been really shitty at your job, Si,” Areum, Jimin’s partner, commented, looking at Simon through her round framed glasses, her face displaying disappointment.

“He really has,” you added. “But it cannot go on like this. You’ll have to be really professional with your partner, this time round, Simon. You’ve really done a lot of damage with Taehyung. Boss won’t just pull you off the project if something like this happens again, she’ll fire you.”

Simon visibly gulped, nodding with his wide eyes fixated on you.

“So, who’s gonna take his place?” Nathan, Yoongi’s partner, butted in, prompting Sana to stop stretching. “Have you decided yet?” he asked you.

You exhaled. “Why not ask dear Simon who he wants to work with? The last time he kept protesting about the assigned choice, and I didn't listen. Maybe he’d have done better if the selection of his partner was voluntarily done by him.”

All eyes turned to Simon. He cleared his throat, looking beyond nervous. “Please don’t put me in this spot. One of you will have to let go of a month’s worth of hard work for me, as it is.”

You looked around the room. “Any one of you willing to switch?”

Five pairs of eyes turned to look at you incredulously. “No one’s gonna willingly give their research up for you, Simon,” Charlotte, the only redhead on your team and Hoseok’s partner, spoke with a roll of her eyes. “None of us.”

“Simon,” You sighed. “Choose.”

And then Simon squeezed his eyes shut and fisted both his hands to whisper, “Jungkook…maybe?”

Of fucking course.

Later that night, you had calmed yourself down enough to tell yourself that everything was gonna be okay. You could be a darn hardass professional when you needed to be. In fact, being humble and empathetic was usually what posed a challenge to you. You would very smoothly transition into working with Taehyung, you were sure of it.

You belatedly thought about how much change these past three weeks had already brought about in your nature. You were starting to show a lot more compassion than you’d thought yourself capable of. That kind of came in this job’s description, because biographies made people vulnerable, and vulnerable interviews required compassion. 

You had to unlearn some of the things you’d picked up over the span of your adult life to save yourself from hurt, and also the guilt that came with hurting others. Jungkook also helped, in a way. His openness and just the overall cheerful vibe that his nature eluded made you want to be more of a friend to him than a writing guide or an interviewer.

You wondered how Taehyung would be. 

There was something undeniably intense and mysterious about him. Now, you weren’t naive enough to want to “unravel” the guy’s mysteries, but you sure were irked and curious. Maybe he was one of those kinds of artists that literally lived in their art.

Back when you didn’t work in this company with this hectic schedule and had enough spare time on your hands to write, you used to pride yourself to be one of these kinds of artists, too. You lived in your stories, kept building characters up wherever you went, whatever you did. You wondered if it was something similar with Taehyung for music. 

You would find out, eventually. There was no point pondering it so much.

Sighing, you turned off your side lamp and decided to retire for the night.

Your writing week was gliding past smoothly. It was just Wednesday, and you all, ahead of the schedule, were at the verge of finishing up your writing parts.

“Are we super efficient or did we sign up for a longer duration of time than needed for this whole project?” Sana questioned, typing away on her laptop.

You snorted. “Or maybe, we didn’t design the blueprint with as much uniformity as we’re required to.”

“You don’t always have to critique everything, boss,” Charlotte, Hoseok’s partner chimed in, flipping her long mane of auburn hair off her shoulder as she shot you a look. 

You glared right back at her. “Uh, actually, I do. That’s kind of my job here.”

You’d been harsher than was needed, making the whole room go quiet. Only the clicking of keyboards echoed around you all for a while.

“Where’s Simon?” Nathan, Yoongi’s partner, asked after some time.

You sighed. “In his room, finishing up his writing work there. He doesn’t feel comfortable sitting between all of us because, and I quote, y’all give off really judgy vibes that fuck with my concentration.”

“That might actually be true,” Areum, Jimin’s partner, mumbled in Korean under her breath.

“Did you mail Manager Woo about the switch yet, boss?” Nathan asked you as you got up to get a refill of your coffee.

You exhaled. “Nope, I'm stalling,” you confidently confessed, leaving the office to make a trip to the kitchen. On your way back, you knocked at Simon’s door before peeking in. “You doing okay?” you asked him flatly.

Simon gave you a nod, not moving his gaze from the laptop screen. You rolled your eyes and came back to the office.

“Should one of us do it? If it won’t look too unprofessional?” Sana asked.

You wrinkled your nose. “It would look grossly unprofessional, Sana.” You pursed your lips as you sat behind your laptop again. “Fine, I’ll do it right now.”

You took a sip from your coffee, and opened your email. This was final, now — no coming back.

You were officially gonna start working with Kim Taehyung.

gimme feedback, much much appreciated!

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Tags: @tangledsparkles​ @hoefortaeshands​ @getmemyfries

#vantaenet #bangtanarmynet #btswriterscollective #ficswithluv #thebtstown #taehyung angst #bts angst #taehyung fluff #bts fluff #taehyung imagine #bts imagine #v angst #v fluff #v imagine #jungkook imagine #bts v #bts jungkook #*mine #f: wbcs

[sanstropfremir]

excited to see what you have to say about todays episode cause like the other person said, the stunts from the atz/skz/btob also looked lowkey awkward to watch lmao. i feel like the dance part cant really be judged against each other just based on how different they were. also the ikon/sf9/tbz rap performance was much more khiphop inspired while skz/atz/btob were basically "kpop group's rapline does a unit stage" if you know what i mean lmao. im curious to see if you're going to talk about the judges and how some of them were picked solely to have exposure👀 or if there might be a reasoning behind all of them (the dance girl i understand but like... okay)

also, i have to ask if you watched rtk and if you'd feel comfortable sharing who you think should've won/if the boyz deserved it? as a deobi i know its not that big of a deal but i was lowkey proud and stunned by them during rtk and while i think they're doing good on kingdom too, their performances became way too overwhelming/doesn't leave an impression after for my little brain 🙃 i love them tho. also not that you care but i wish they would represent more their full dance line, because juyeon is doing amazing but it can be mentally and physically tiring to be the ONE guy who does all the dance and center parts, like do it as a trio or smt dont push it all on him while there are ten others on the team

i hope you enjoyed my (very) long review and my apparently literally opposite opinions from everyone else! that’s a lie they’re not opposite, i'm just looking at very different things. thank you for also clocking that the performance stages were two different styles! i'm fairly certain the rankings arent out yet for that stage at least, so i'm not envious of the judges having to decide between two performances that are pretty much on opposite ends of the spectrum. also i did make a mistake in my review, i just watched the first half of the episode and they do in fact call it the dance stage, so that’s on me. my point still stands though, group dancing is still dancing.

as far as the judges go........why are we upset about them.....? honestly they all seem fine to me. i mean, i can understand people being pressed about s*ju because they make people mad by just existing, apparently, but that doesnt negate the fact that they have nearly two decades of experience in the industry. if they arent going to have changmin do any judging than they might as well get some other sm vets, since yanno, they did kinda establish the industry (sm, not s*ju. although s*ju is the first kpop group i ever remember hearing way back in like, 2008. in canada. before having a personal device with internet access. sooooooo). and i mean, we all have opinions on the separation of art and artist and everyone can draw their own boundaries of who they choose to consume the work of, and that’s valid. i have lots of those lines too. but you can’t deny the sheer amount of experience, and shindong is a director and music video producer, so he ain’t stupid. i dont see any problems with having a lineup of some idol veterans, a frankly incredible choreographer, and some producers. oh wait, are people mad about the rookies????? why are people mad about the rookies?????????????? huh????????????? have people forgotten that rookies spend literal YEARS training before they even debut??? they’re not incompetent, they’re members of the industry that have worked hard to be there and have valid opinions and abilities to recognize what they think is good?? also.......what’s wrong with doing something for exposure? how do you think groups get popular in the first place? fuck, the prize for kingdom is a variety/reality show! which is exposure! you know that’s how arts marketing works, right? if you want people to listen to your music, you have to advertise it to people. you need an audience. if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it sell thousands of albums? thousands of tickets? why are you invalidating artists on the basis of wanting more exposure? are you worried they’re not going to ‘judge fairly’??? you know none of these groups' reputations are going to be hurt by their placement in the show, right. these are all high level groups already, with established brand rep. THEY are doing this show for exposure too. is this what people are complaining about on twitter?? so every stan account promoting fancams and comeback dates under hit tweets has to delete them now because artists aren’t allowed to do anything for exposure anymore. ?????? am i too old??? what happened to make people think that exposure was bad???

i have only watched the stages from rtk, and not while the show was airing, so i dont really have any context for the show as a whole. do i think they deserved to win? i dont really think anyone ‘deserves’ to win a competition show, but they did produce a couple of phenomenal stages, so was i surprised? no. personally i would have picked pentagon because they had the best vocals and also they took a few more conceptual risks that paid off really well. their cover of follow is a fantastic remake and honestly we need more dramatic remakes like that, ones that really change up the sound. i made a couple of conclusions about tbz in my episode four review that are relevant here (they’re at the end of the tbz section). although tbz are good performers, the problem is theyre trying to showcase those skills by being heavily conceptual, but their creative team is ALL over the place and nothing is landing. I dont think they’re doing terrible in kingdom, they’re doing very well, but their creative team is not providing them with a stable conceptual base. i know i make designing sound relatively simple, but it's not at all. i'm just smart and very good at my job. there are a lot of mediocre designers out there, and tbz just do not have a good creative team for kingdom. and i do actually think it's a shame that they’re fronting juyeon so much, because one of their strengths IS their group work. they have a more of a contemporary flavour than most other groups at the moment and they can do some really sharp synchronization that should to be seen more. i wish they had actually done group work for the performance stage, because we’ve already seen juyeon do a solo stage, plus he has solos in all the stages. give him a break and let the others have a chance to do something at least.

#kingdom #the boyz #kpop analysis #these are rhetorical questions anon dont worry im not actually mad at you im just deeply confused #i very carefully curate my kpop content consumption and have no desire to know the drama so i have no idea whats happening 90% of the time #also i am old #i am a grandma and i make pickles as a hobby #(im not actually a grandma im just crotchety but i do make pickles as a hobby) #actually i think i did have a cellphone in 2008 but i was deathly afraid of opening the internet browser #because back in the day it cost like 40cents a minute to use the internet #you think i am kidding but i am not #also do not mistake this as a personal defense of s*ju there are several members that i would strangle with my bare hands #kpop questions #text #Anonymous #kingdom asks

[skswriting]

The thing with jks "scandal" is kinda dumb because he never promoted his brother brand. I didn't even know That his brother had a clothing brand 😂 and isn't it just stupid of armys to buy everything he touches 😂😂 I mean it's not his fault. In my opinion. It get to a really ridiculous point where he removes labels from water bottles cuz he know that people will buy out shit 😂😂

While I personally don't have a problem with JK wanting to wear clothes that he likes and finds comfortable, even if it is his brother's company that he has a stake in, I can understand understand people would think he's doing backdoor advertising.

We all know JK is the king of sell outs and we know that he knows it too. He's mentioned before that when he mentions liking something, clothes or detergent, he has a hard time finding it after because army goes and buys it. It's the reason that one brand of hanbok specifically thanked him (and why modern style hanboks are becoming popular, I think I saw an article about that.) So JK is aware of the effect that he has and probably used some kind of bias in wearing his brother's clothing in documented pictures. On a subconscious level he's aware of this backdoor advertising and I could see how Korean army's especially feel negatively about this and I do agree that transparency is important. And I think that's the problem people are having and why they're calling it a scandal: JK "using" army's "ignorance" of not knowing its his brother's brand and posting pictures like he has in the past of other brands and then those selling out. If people knew it was his brother's brand and that he was a part of it and he was posting pictures in clothing and "advertising" for it I think he would face WAY more backlash.

However I also think it's a little ridiculous I saw it be called a scandal and I feel bad that he probably feared enough of a public attack that his first course of action was to take himself off, at least in a public sense, his brother's board of employees. I haven't seen anything else about it so I don't know if it's already blown over, but anything involving BTS and really JK (because I think he's universally the most "popular" member) sadly gets blown out of proportion quickly.

I also don't want to call army's stupid for wanting to buy something that their idols like. I may not have any clothing, but I sure as fuck bought into the marketing that was the cuteness of BT21 and those plushies. It's just worrisome when it comes to younger army's because they are more impressionable and good enough marketing is enough to convince them that they NEED something just because it has their idols on it. I will FOREVER be pissed that BH was selling water with a BTS logo on it for like... 16 bucks. How absolutely outrageous and frankly disgusting.

#asks #anon #i love jk n like i said i havent seen any other articles so i hope hes okay #also im on my phone so sorry if i used run ons or seemed to be rambling #because i was probablg rambling LMAO #okay i think thats all i wanted to say #sorry this took me all day to answer i read the ask this morning got to work and then forgot about it lol

[kellyloveskpop]

BIG HIT TAROT READING 

This article is all opinion, alleged, and for entertainment purposes only.

For this reading I asked multiple questions and used multiple tarot and oracle decks. I probably won’t list all the cards unless it’s notable. But I keep records of the pulls if anyone is interested I can post the full list of cards.

There will controversial takes in this so ‘company stans’ be warned.

Why is Big Hit starting to buy up entertainment companies and what is their end goal? 

The Magician flew out as soon as I finished asking the question and I kept it aside as a significator card. This immediately put across the impression of collecting power. The cards that followed mentioned transition and transformation, also relationships built with like-minded people but ultimately getting in over their heads. Big Hit are most likely looking to absorb companies to transition into being a conglomerate. Idols, street culture brands & influencers, games, tech, clothing, communication... you get the idea. They see a chance to become a global powerhouse. They weren’t threatened by the popularity of other groups, the popularity is precisely why they are interested in buying them out. Popular artists are available for relatively low prices, especially when they can take companies that are struggling with lack of staff and organization. They jumped on a chance to make household name artists even bigger. Their biggest earners are about to go on hiatus, making up the difference will take other big name artists. The problem will arise as they may have their hands in too many things they aren’t knowledgeable enough about and put their trust in the wrong people-- their hunger for power will end up being their downfall. This doesn’t mean the company will fully collapse, but they will find their end goals unattainable. Overseas ventures look especially confused on how to progress.

Does Big Hit care about the well-being of the idols from these companies?

Short answer is ... no. At one time they did put art first, and that is certainly the image they want to keep at the surface level, but things have changed. The Magician appeared again in this second card draw (from an entirely different deck) but instead of being the first card, it appeared as the central card in the reading, surrounded by the others. They’re pushing the groups without much care for their emotional or mental states. They want constant output and it will cause them to burn out. Big Hit understand how to market and get the most money out of their artists as possible, and at the end of the day the bottom line is the main concern. This isn’t very different from how most idol companies work. But there’s a sense of Big Hit being an extremely high pressure environment. Big Hit outsourcing the training process is looking more and more likely, so all that matters will be how the purchased artists turn profits. Emotional investments in them will be even more distant from the top of the company to the idols at the bottom. Especially once share holders enter the picture. 

How does Big Hit feel towards BTS these days?

Like I mentioned before, Big Hit works hard to make things look BTS is their pride and joy on the outside, but this reading had the most reversed (upside down) cards out of all the readings today, namely Death and The Fool. Big hit is forcing changes, holding the group back from what they want to do and it’s leaving them feeling disappointed. They’re not allowed to transition into something new or experimental creatively, or take any risks. Also a possible feminine energy around them upsetting them and being cruel or putting down their ideas in a careless way. 

There were so many more questions I wanted to ask and rabbit holes I want to venture down, but I ended the reading here. I will probably return to this at a later date when I have more time. 

#tarot #kpop #kpop tarot reading #bts #big hit #zico

[noahfence1d]

Queer people who took time coming to terms with our identities know the dance of avoiding definitive terms and labels. We know what it can look like when someone is a baby queer in waiting; we certainly understand what it’s like trying to figure out how to exist both authentically and safely in the world, calculating the risks of being your true self, and why that waiting period exists—and, for some, never really ends. This process of coming to terms and coming out, however, poses different challenges and has specific implications when you’re a celebrity. Some celebrities—especially those with teen fanbases, like Shawn Mendes or Taylor Swift—are no strangers to being pinned as queer icons because of their presentation, language, or even the friendships they have, despite not being out as queer. However, figures like Mendes or Swift are known for vehemently pushing away from any narrative defining them explicitly queer. Other celebrities, like Harry Styles, have strongly leaned into queerness—or at the very least, embraced being coded as queer.

Look up “Harry Styles queer” on Google and you’ll get a range of headlines from “We need to talk about why Harry Styles is a lesbian icon” to “Harry Style’s New Music Video is Extremely Bisexual.” Styles often dons floral suits and a more stereotypically feminine demeanor alongside lyrics like ones from his song “Medicine,” which are unmistakably bisexual: “The boys and the girls are here/ I mess around with him/ And I’m okay with it.” Recently, Styles announced a tour with artists similarly dubbed queer icons, Jenny Lewis and King Princess, a musical setup that seems like it was made in heaven for queer fans. On his new Saturday Night Live appearance, Styles played a sexually ambiguous character in the Sara Lee sketch, referencing being thirsty for men, almost locking in his “brand” of queerness yet again. In October 2019, Styles’s single “Lights Up” was also deemed a bisexual anthem by certain members of the queer community, especially as the corresponding music video shows a nearly naked Styles surrounded by people of all genders who are touching and carressing his body.

In a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, he explained why he often dons rainbow flags on stage at his concerts and why he’s been so vocal about supporting queer people. “Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’” At this point, Styles isn’t new to curiosity surrounding his sexuality. Throughout his time with One Direction, rumors about his sexuality swirled, as he had a close relationship with bandmate Louis Tomlinson. The relationship became a hot topic, and one hugely obsessed over in fan and fanfiction communities. In a 2017 interview with The Sun, while discussing the way that celebrity sexuality is constantly questioned, he said, “It’s weird for me—everyone should just be who they want to be. It’s tough to justify somebody having to answer to someone else about stuff like that … I don’t feel like it’s something I’ve ever felt like I have to explain about myself.” At his final show for his tour in Glasgow in 2018, Styles announced onstage, “We’re all a little bit gay.”

For much of his career, it’s almost seemed like his fanbase is rooting for his queerness. One reason that online communities seem to be so obsessed with queer-adjacent celebrities like Styles is that they normalize queerness, making it feel more accessible. “If they were to come out, it would be a huge benefit to LGBTQ visibility in the media, and a lot of people in the LGBTQ community would love to have a celebrity of that stature on ‘their’ side,” Ash, a bisexual woman, told me. But Styles doesn’t actually claim queerness just because many fans, queer and otherwise, have hoped that he’ll one day do so explicitly. “Can straight people be queer?” asked a 2016 Vice article about the impact of the term’s increasingly broad application. The fact is that cis, straight people can’t be queer—so what does that mean when queer communities tout artists like Styles or Swift as part of our culture?

At some points in history, having these kinds of allies for the community who are not queer themselves, like Lil’ Kim, who has advocated for gay men and against homophobia in the rap community since the early 2000s, has been monumental. Queer audiences of yesteryears also gravitated toward performers like Dolly Parton who didn’t have to be queer themselves because they were accepting and loving toward all, and used their platform to normalize and uplift the queer communities that have celebrated them. In this day and age, however, expectations of performers have heightened. Unlike other celebrities dubbed “queer icons” who happen to be straight, including Madonna, Janet Jackson, or Parton, the fanbases of artists like Styles’s skew younger. And younger audiences don’t just want performers who see and welcome them. They want performers who are them—artists who understand the queer experience because they are queer, and they’re here to reflect audiences back to themselves.

So why the critique if there are seemingly so many positives to any representation or acceptance? It’s not that Styles, or any celebrity or public figure for that matter, owes us any information about their sexualities. On one hand, simply by existing in such a public manner, these celebrities offer a sliver of hope that there might be someone just like us navigating the world of queerness and identity. Celebrities like Styles or Swift—who has made use of queer aesthetics herself, and whose friendship with model Karlie Kloss has been the subject of rumors—remind us of who we were when we navigated our queerness more subtly before we were ready to explicitly tell someone close to us, or our resident queer community. Entertainers like Jackson or Parton became queer icons because they embraced queer fans during a closeted time, and perhaps it felt okay to have acceptance without representation. It was clear the performers weren’t trying to be queer. On the other hand, with Styles or Swift, the lines are blurred, and it’s unclear whether they’re trying to say they’re one of us or merely accept queer fans while borrowing from the culture to fit in and create a brand.

“I think it’s important for white queer folks to interrogate the whiteness of their queer idols, and work to understand why they feel more inclined to celebrate the visible queerness of one artist over another.”

There’s often a concern that celebrities are co-opting queerness as a marketing ploy. With the long history of queerbaiting (using the possibility of or undertones of queerness to gain favorability with queer people) in popular culture, there’s a certain level of disingenuousness to letting the bait and switch go on with minimal critique. The kind of support and lauding that celebrities like Styles receive for more playful expression and experimentation is not always present for queer people of color like Syd (formerly of The Internet), Alok Vaid-Menon, or Big Freedia. When she sees mostly white, thin, able-bodied figures with “queer energy” centered as icons in the queer community as opposed to queer people of color, Olivia Zayas Ryan, a queer woman, wonders why. “If you’re showing up for a pretty white boy in a tutu, where are you when Black and brown queer folks are vilified, ridiculed, and worse?” she told me. “If you are excited and feel seen when queer aesthetics are in the mainstream, what are you doing to honor, protect, and recognize the folks who created them? I think it’s important for white queer folks to interrogate the whiteness of their queer idols, and work to understand why they feel more inclined to celebrate the visible queerness of one artist over another.”

Conversation around both queerbaiting and our curiosity about celebrity queerness is an ongoing and complicated one. For example, there are theorists who have posited that Kurt Cobain was a closeted trans woman. “Many transgender women see themselves in his shaggy hair, his penchant for nail polish and dresses, and his struggles with depression,” Gillian Branstetter, a transgender advocate and writer, told me. Cobain’s fascination with pregnancy (“In Utero”) and his distaste for masculinity (“In Bloom”), as well as his partner Courtney Love’s references to having a more fluid lover (“He had ribbons in his hair/ And lipstick was everywhere/ You look good in my dress”) stoked this interest in his sexuality and presentation. “It sounds very familiar to trans women whose own relationship with masculinity and femininity was often expressed in coded ways before they came out,” says Branstetter. Styles, who like Cobain shows disinterest in conforming to a traditionally masculine rock-star presentation, seems to spark the same interest in fans from the queer community.

With our investment in Styles or other celebrities who are likely straight but exude “queer energy,” it feels as if we’re looking for a mirror of ourselves, seeking to claim the most popular public figures as our own, and in turn feel more normal and accepted. Perhaps our obsession with artists like Styles comes down to the excitement of feeling visible—but what do fans of potentially straight queer icons like Styles actually want? Can we thread the needle between feeling seen and normalized in our queerness while also feeling the imbalance between Styles’s privilege and the most marginalized people in the queer community’s lived experiences? Ultimately, it’s queer fans who get to decide if Styles’s kind of allyship and solidarity with the queer community is enough, or if it’s begun to give off the all-too-familiar stink of disingenuous baiting.

#did I write this? #Harry Styles #queerbaiting discourse #he's going to have to shit or get off the pot at some point

[blackgoddessofsassiness]

How To Create A Website

You’ll be requested how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost and to offer a little bit of information about your demographics (age, location, etc…), however after that you can get going earning money by surveys. Then scroll right down to the section with the package deal information. Then level the title to your blog. You can purchase a domain name by the corporate to fix this difficulty, however you’re nonetheless not in total management of the blog as a whole, so it only plugs the leak. Through the use of a running a blog platform, you possibly can write on a weblog like writing in Microsoft Word. You won't start a weblog and earn cash right away. Studying how to start a blog that makes money isn't tough. There are some ways you can generate income utilizing quite a lot of instruments, and the Internet presents plenty of lucrative ideas that can make it easier to supplement your earnings. Think you are the ultimate Fashionista? Give it some thought: if you understand that Person A always posts about night time-out makeup methods, and you want going out, and Particular person B posts random make-up stuff, which webpage you may visit first? Email still works. You wish to make it really easy for individuals to hitch your electronic mail record that they barely think about it.

Examine that your electronic mail address is right, for when you could reset your password in future. This is the place you want to put your chosen blog title aka the URL you'll kind to get to your webpage. Whatever matter you pick, it is advisable to love it, and naturally interested in it. Simply add what you’ve discovered about that particular topic up to now 3, 6 or 12 months since you first wrote the put up. Provide you with an excellent matter and name in your blog or website. So, you've got every thing covered and your first weblog publish is reside. And little doubt an excellent wanting and fast loading blog will appeal to visitors and as mentioned: “the first impression is the final impression”. A concentrate on blog posts. This is the proper place for bloggers who like the concept of “reblogging” posts. Longer posts get better results when it comes to Google rankings and social shares. Native Guide: Google additionally offers a platform “Google Guide” to popularize a selected place a person visits. Create Local Focusing on Content.

You now have a podcast episode that’s ready to be uploaded to iTunes, SoundCloud, or anywhere else and promoted alongside the rest of your content! You possibly can set your content material apart with gorgeous images and video. You possibly can both get the free model or chose a price point primarily based on the number of internet sites you’ll be utilizing the plugin on. Are there any good free themes? Possibly you are the next JK Rowling, but if you don’t put out your stuff on the market, we will never understand it. Verify us out anytime for marketing tips and a free subscription to our cutting edge publication. Free domain name. They provide free domain identify registration with our account. Be at liberty to let us know what blog you started and the way you discovered using this information together with how we could improve it to make the processing of getting started easier. So, you need to begin a blog, however you have no idea how to start a blog? I do know some business homeowners which have had great success on Pinterest. Article directories might be an ideal resource for articles to post in your blog.

When you’re selecting a WordPress theme to get a new weblog on-line, they are going to almost all the time have a sidebar on the appropriate aspect (some cases it’s on the left). It’s sooner, extra powerful, and more customizable than something out there. WordPress is free, straightforward to make use of, very powerful, and very fashionable. You can too simply change the appear and feel of your blog via the use of WordPress Themes. Create a title to your blog which is short and memorable (three phrases, we’d say). As an example, let’s say you need to start a blog for brand new homeowners. So long as you can handle a laptop computer and have just a few dollars for internet hosting charges, nothing can cease you from having a nice web site or blog. Jetpack is an all-in-one plugin that provides your weblog features like stats, related posts, seo, social sharing, safety, backups, velocity, and e mail list management. Tips On How To Simplify Blogging To be perfectly honest, there isn't any shortcut to constructing a successful blog. Setting up a blog is easy, and fast, but to really make it popular and capable of earn good income, there's just no cutting corners. For beginners though, there is a way of making the task faster, and that how to start a blog is by preventing any mistakes that lengthen the time scale in becoming successful and learning how to begin a blog page properly.

Because there are still many people that still find it difficult understand the intricate thought of starting tweaking their unique web log, we could be susceptible to errors and mistakes that would naturally make us start yet again, lengthening the task. But if you've got a help guide to follow, then there's really silly to make mistakes. Before I get to talk about earn money blogging, I would like to provide you with a short guide on the way to set up your site. First you'll need to visit or , and sign up with them for any free blog. Sign up is straightforward, you merely submit a questionaire plus you've got to verify you current email address. Once you confirm your email then you have your website up and running. Many internet marketers who use a Word Press hosted blog will realize that is automatically set on No Follow, not Do Follow. This implies that when anybody comments, search engines like google won't follow the link that's used in the comment. Consequently, there is no redirect for a own blog. The advantages of using a Do Follow weblog do understand. Step 3- Cut down your list round 2 - Choosing a blog topic is like picking out the American (blog) Idol. Well, it is just acceptable for you to eliminate many of the potential topics you have decided. Maybe you can help to conserve the rejects to get a future blog project. But in the meantime, determine what sort of blog you'd like to pursue. Other examples of blog topics you might choose are: photo blog, tutorial blog and also film review blog. After picking out the 'one' (blog topic) it time for one to eliminate the other lists you are trying to choose.

[02m1lk]

180907 NYLON Interview

Cai xukun’s emergence catches the attention of people; he carries with him the innocence of a youth, yet at the same time he carries maturity rarely seen in others his age. After officially debuting, he chose to ‘settle down’ and put all of his focus into making music, proving himself with his works.

“Life is an endless learning journey, I hope to become better by constantly improving myself. Moving forward on the path I’m passionate about, first I have to put in time, then enjoy every second on stage.”

The morning of the photoshoot, cai xukun appeared in beijing 798’s bee hive center for contemporary art wearing a navy shirt. The first thing he did after arriving was head to the filming area and discuss the plans for the day with the crew. While observing the site and the style of the clothes, he thought over on how he should express this photoshoot with his own style later on. After changing into his first outfit, he quickly came to an agreement with the photographer; and without needing too much guidance, he immersed himself in the switching of poses in front of the camera.

It seemed cai xukun only adjusted himself to a state of relaxation after going into the resting room, selecting music to play on his phone. Ever since returning from overseas he’s been constantly preparing for his new album, while flying to different cities and countries. But other than the occasional yawns, you couldn’t see any sigs of tiredness coming from him.

“1”: From nothing to something

We met cai xukun just a week before his 20th birthday. Before this, he never really specially prepared for his birthdays, usually just having a simple meal with his family But this being his first birthday after debuting, turning 20 holds a huge significance to him. He says: “This might be one of the most important birthdays in my life. Because of this album, my 20th birthday has been endowed with significance of many different levels. It’s like a homework I want to hand in to myself, and is also a reciprocation to the long period of accompaniment ikuns have given me. I think the best present I can gift to them are my works. This album will be released for free, (as a gift) to my fans.”

On the 2nd of august, under the anticipation of many, he achieved first place on various music charts with his new original EP《1》. The title of the album holds his experiences and journey thus far, holding the meaning of starting from zero, from having nothing to having something. And the number ‘1’ is special to cai xukun, symbolising a new era as well as his brand new style of music. But cai xukun’s ambitions towards music will not cease after《1》, he says: “《1》will continue to include my original works in the future, and slowly accumulate to become a full and diverse album. I will work hard to express my personal style from its visual, audio to performance presentations.” You can find his traces in every song of his - in its lyrics, style, and tone colour, even each breath was specially designed.

On the day of cai xukun’s birthday, he took first place on sina weibo’s influencing celebrities chart with a high score of 98.51. And before this, he’d already maintained this placing for a long record of 13 weeks straight. It’s because of these high numbers and being the talk of the town that cai xukun has been named as a prime representation of ‘new generation idols’. Facing these endless achievements, cai xukun’s understanding towards the label of ‘new generation idol’ is simple, he says: “I feel that as an idol, the first thing that should be done is to spread positive energy, bring to fans a ‘(hardworking/motivating/)self-improving’ attitude through the stage. Secondly it is to concentrate on your career (the things you are good at), focus on training and learning, and to not be disturbed by the external voices. For myself, this career would be music. I am very willing to obtain knowledge in this aspect (music) and try new styles.”

Throughout the interview, you can easily feel his love and passion for music, towards this, he doesn’t hide anything at all: “I truly enjoy every ‘state’ (that he is in when) at work, whether it is a photoshoot, being on stage or behind-the-scene productions, I am willing to participate in everything. The sense of achievement I receive from the process of participating in all these lets me feel enriched.” Even when he hardly has any time for himself, as long as he is able to squeeze out that little bit of time among his busy schedules, he will use it on composing music. When inspiration suddenly hits, he will immediately record the melody and lyrics on his phone. To him, no matter where he is, the best state to be in when composing is to keep a rash and passionate heart towards music.

The ability of forgetting oneself on stage

The cai xukun on stage perfectly expresses the arrogant aura of a Leo. He carries a trait of being born for the stage, a combination of stability and ‘explosive force’. Unlike having to play out another person’s life when acting, on stage is where he can express his most authentic side, and in his heart the stage is also the place with the most freedom.

In the subject of performing on stage, cai xukun is no doubt an outstanding student with full marks. Every time he performs he is just like a ‘model textbook’, from his movements to the tiny changes in his expressions, it is hard to pick out flaws. This model performance student’s achievements comes from his hard work and practice - it is only through endlessly practicing in the dance studio to engrave every movement in his muscle, can one then shine on stage freely. He admits he is someone with strict expectations of himself, persevering on his own ideas when at work. He has a (measuring) scale in his heart, only deciding what’s most suitable for himself after taking in the different opinions from people around him. After the end of every performance, cai xukun never gives up on any opportunity to review himself, through re-watching his performances repeatedly, he uses the scale in his heart to seek for areas of improvement, to create an even better performance for the next time he stands on stage.

Just like the lyrics cai xukun wrote in <you can be my girlfriend>, “rumours and gossips are just playthings in my eyes” - what can be truly ‘taken into sight’ by him is only music. On his path of becoming a singer, cai xukun has never thought of giving up. Even when he’s asked a hypothetical question of ‘if he can’t sing, what would he do?’, he only smiles and shakes his head, saying: “No, there wouldn’t be a day where I won’t sing.” About how one can stay focused, he shows maturity above that of his age: “I feel you have to ‘settle’ your heart down to learn, life is an endless learning journey. I hope to become better by constantly improving myself. Moving forward on the path I’m passionate about, first I have to put int time, then enjoy every second on stage.” The confidence and charms he exudes now are the best requites from putting in hard work.

Under the influence of his mother and grandfather, cai xukun has started yearning for the stage since he was small, and naturally stepped onto the path of chasing his dreams. On his 10th birthday he once made a wish: “I want to become a singer, and make my own album.” Ten years later today, he fulfilled his childhood dream. Except that, maybe the him back then didn’t expect himself to cause such an uproar with the fulfilment of this dream. (Then what is your next wish?) “I hope to fulfil this dream even better. Other than publishing works, I have to publish good works. I don’t wish to make music following the (current) trends just to ‘be welcomed’ by the (general) ‘market’.” After he debuted, various comments and judgements came with his popularity. Towards this cai xukun chose the best method of responding, and that is to let his works speak for him.

In the eyes of others, perhaps cai xukun’s name blew up overnight, yet this supposed ‘one night’ costed a span ten years. Before the fame, he spent day after day practicing, waiting for an opportunity that belongs to him. When this opportunity arrived, cai xukun calmly gathered all of the lights on stage and created for himself a unique halo of his own, making people unable to ignore his existence anymore.

In this ten years of chasing his music dreams, his journey was not smooth-sailing. But whether it be when he felt lost or faced difficulties, cai xukun’s motivation never extinguished. He turns the strong energy in his heart into chances for himself to improve, and even thank the heavens for the experiences he’s been given. “All the difficulties that I’ve been through while chasing my music dreams are my wealth, they’ve given me a lot of help and even inspiration.” Keeping himself grounded over the years, waiting for that moment to go on stage. His experiences perfectly confirms the old saying: one minute of performance on stage, ten years of hard work off-stage.

“Keeping one’s heart grounded in a world of temptations”, cai xukun’s motto will accompany him on his career for the next ten years, eventually arriving at the ‘other side of the shore’ acknowledged in his heart.

He carries a trait of being born for the stage, a combination of stability and ‘explosive force’. Unlike having to play out another person’s life when acting, on stage is where he can express his most authentic side, and in his heart the stage is also the place with the most freedom.

Q & A

Q What did you eat for breakfast today? A I didn’t eat breakfast today.

Q How many hours of sleep did you get this week? A It depends, when I’m busy I get about 5 hours of sleep per day.

Q What do you do when you feel stressed? A Eat.

Q Your favourite colour? A I like all colours.

Q The meme you use most often? A (thinks for a few seconds) I actually don’t really use memes.

Q Do you prefer typing or voice-chatting on wechat? A Typing.

Q Your pinned contact in wechat? A I don’t have any pinned contacts right now.

Q The last person you sent a wechat message to? A My family.

Q What trait of yours do you think is most like a leo? A It should be when I’m on stage.

Q How do you plan to spend your 20th birthday? A Play with music with my ikuns.

Q A song you want to do a cover of the most? A Actually I’ve been preparing a song recently, when it’s done I’ll share it with everyone.

Q The one thing you will definitely do before and after you go on stage? A Before going on stage I will find a corner to let myself be ‘quiet’ for a bit, after coming off stage I’ll find time to watch my performance.

Q If you could collaborate with one person (regardless of time periods and countries), who do you hope to work with and how? A I’d want to work with film master charlie chaplin and act in a movie.

Q If you can only eat one dish for the rest of your life, what would it be? A Stir-fried beef with celery.

Q A body part of yours you’re most satisfied with? A Eyes.

Original article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/tZn0gyYp55mh8rdq1ZYoCA

Full Translations: @02m1lk Do NOT repost, please take out WITH credits.

#cai xukun #xukun #caixukun #180907 #interview #ninepercent #nine percent

[jorjathomas]

Comparing existing magazines

As I've began to do some mild research, I thought it was beneficial to gather some information regarding my intended audience. I should see if there's a gap in the market for this particular self help magazine or if it would be high in demand or not. In this post, I have compared old magazines that were published for young women to see what has changed and what particular topics have became more popular over the years. Obviously magazines aren't as popular anymore for teens as most people would pick up a phone and scroll to kill time rather than buy a magazine from your local store however, I'm interested to see the comparison between the two. 

Old vs New

At first, I was going to compare two magazines and analyse the differences however as I started to do some research, I thought it would be interesting to see how certain magazines which have been running for a long period have changed over time as digital journalism has grown. I will contrast these brands with zine businesses which suits my idea.

Tiger Beat:

Google states ’Tiger Beat was founded in September 1965 by Charles "Chuck" Laufer, his brother Ira Laufer, and television producer and host Lloyd Thaxton. The magazine features teen idol gossip and carries articles on movies , music and fashion.’ This magazine is aimed towards adolesant girls just like my idea which is interesting to see the differences. Its funny to see how young women were perceived from looking as this magazines as they seem very celebrity based. As Tiger Beat is created by men, I'm assuming this is what they think teenage girls think about. I would say in the 60s this was true as boy bands where the hot spot for screaming girls however personally having a magazine just to get in the celebrity gossip is draining. The 60s was a very pivotal time for music and musicians didn't have a massive social platform like most artists do now so having a magazine like this is where fans would get updates about their lives. I think my opinions about Tiger Beat are solely based on how this generation has changed, I've defiantly bought zines just like this if it has my idol on the front however when looking at certain quotations and how its predominantly males being displayed despite being for girls is strange to me. For example the third image on the right where it advertised a ‘Peek inside Justin Biebers room’.  Not only does this feed on the artists personal life but it heightens this concept of teenagers becoming a obsessive fan. when looking at this magazine I begin to question whether this sort of content is normal for teenagers or am I just conditioned to believe it is what I should be thinking about as a teenage girl? Its even more ironic that this is made by men aswell but I don't know if that's the activist in me. To conclude, there was defiantly a gap in the market for supporting young adults when entering the real world as you can see. 

Teen zone:

Again, continuing with my previous opinions Teen Zone had the same intentions for their audience. Looking back at their earlier issues, it mas predominantly celebrity based. This involves gossip, looks and updates in their ‘perfect’ lives. This defiantly increased the idea of needing to be famous and look good all the time in order to be successful or good in life. These magazines are full of photoshopped faces with content telling people that they could look a certain way to feel accepted. Although looking briefly at the magazines are harmless I think they can be deep rooting in the problems girls feel in society when growing up. The only difference with this magazine in comparison to Tiger Beat is that they are still running as a business and have changed their content significantly. Teen zone only publish online now and when researching into their content i was surprised when seeing their statement. It states ‘TeenZone Digital Magazine is a magazine for the South African teenager. Teens in today’s society are increasingly being fed a diet entirely consisting of celebrity gossip. This grossly underestimates them. Teens today have voices that we all need to hear. They need to be taken seriously, and to be given the opportunity to express their views and concerns; to ask the important questions and receive trustworthy, accurate advice; and to enjoy themselves in a safe environment. TeenZone seeks to provide this platform. It is a magazine for teens, by teens.’ 

Teens in society now are much more vocal on certain events and I think we are defiantly becoming more aware on subjects which we may have not noticed before. The fact that Teen Zone has turned this around and creating a platform for teens to speak on matters special to them in inspiring and what I want to do also. They've defiantly succeeded well since moving digital as articles are much more accessible than a printed zine.

This is a picture of their website which differs from their zine. They have toned down their imagery and noticed as they are able to add more content onto a site.

As i began to look further into popular magazines from particular decades, eg; teen vogue, J-14 etc, I began to see the same results and outcomes. They were all very similar in content but I was surprised to finally see a magazine which although was produced a little later than the others, was drastically different to the others. Both aesthetically and within their content. This was a magazine called Rookie.

Rookie:

What makes Rookie magazine so different to the others is that this business was created by teenagers for teenagers. They are much more closer to their audience and were able to relate to the content they were giving out. Rather than adults profiting of their perception of what a teenager goes through despite not being one. I personally can see the differences between the two. Firstly Rookie stood out to me because of its collage-like personality. Its much more playful and personal than the previous zines I've looked at. The layered imagery with colourful texture achieves this friendly environment for teenagers to read though. I defiantly want to achieve this with my zine and I am going to look into this sort of work digitally and also physically to achieve a dimensional look rather than all of my work looking flat or 2D. 

This is a screenshot of Rookies site. Not only do they produce articles that teens can read for pleasure or to gain information, they also have platforms that can actually gives teens a place to talk and interact with others which I think is the drastic change for the industry. Interacting with the audience on a personal level proves that Rookie cares for their audience and wants to spark change. Unfortunately Rookie has stop publishing altogether as a business since 2018 for financial reasons.

Other magazines that I am interested in: As I've looked into previous magazines and began to understand their concept and beliefs,  I began to look into modern magazines that also produce the same concept as me and to see what makes them so different especially since there has been a massive sift in the journalism industry. Both of the publications below are fairly similar. Both want to create change and form a safe space where women learn new subjects which may not be normalise yet are very important for personal growth. They both combine their articles with art which helps create a visual understanding of their zine even better than standard text. I defiantly aim to follow these footsteps but I need to search for an unique concept that could help my idea become more popular for a young girl to read. I wanted to this as sadly both of these zines are either discontinued or temporality stopped making issues which makes me assume this idea isn't that successful so far whether that's due to the pandemic or society as a whole I'm unsure as of yet. I will begin to look at the impact of Covid on magazines later to understand why so many of these great businesses aren't running anymore despite having a positive impact on young women.

Got a girl crush:  “Got a Girl Crush is a blog and annual print magazine about women, by women, for everyone. We aim to disrupt the broken narrative of most women's publications and tell stories of all ages, races, and backgrounds of women all over the world. We believe that print is not dead and that there is value to having a tangible medium to read, digest, and share--rather than sharing a link online that is easily forgotten tomorrow.”

(Issue 3, published September 2016 from https://issuu.com/gotagirlcrush/docs/girlcrush_issue05_content-final )

I liked this magazine statement because it isn't restrictive on a specific audience. They mention that their content is open for anyone which I think is surprising. When thinking about making this zine I wanted to think of content that isn't too limiting or biased towards women as I think the real change in society will have to come from men's views and actions aswell as women's. When looking at their monthly articles, it was very text heavy. They had many important figures like planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, human rights activist Grace Lee Bogg menstrual activist & drummer Kiran Gandhi etc. Each had powerful stories to tell and impact onto readers. Despite this the illustrations and other visual forms of art broke down this barrier which is why it didn't look too overwhelming. I will follow through with this if not add more art into my final outcome as I’d like to be more creative for this project and really experiment with collaging. I had briefly did this in the first project and enjoyed the process.

Selva Beat: “Selva Beat is an environmental magazine with an edge. We take environmentalism and place it in the context of your favorite topics – beauty, fashion, culture, food, sex, love – to make activism as accessible and engaging as possible. Founded in 2014, we began as a way of educating the public about conflict palm-oil and have expanded into a multi-media platform that motivates others to better the planet through creative means.”

A magazines visual décor is very important as sadly you do judge the book by the front cover. Initially, this is what I liked about Selva Beat, it was very colourful and they had nice curvy, bubbled typography which isn't that common on magazines. When researching I didn't realise they were very environmentally orientated aswell as being a conscious feminist magazine. I was saddened that they aren't running anymore as I think this magazine would've been a good pivotal point. 

[thotyssey]

On Point With: Frankie Sharp

One of NYC’s few truly great and original nightlife event producers, this giant got his start at a small dive bar in San Francisco before making it big here with the notorious Westgay at Westway. He’s still giving us massive weekly kikis featuring the best of the scene and way beyond, but lately he’s been offering some more intimate vehicles as well. Thotyssey rides the cutting edge with Frankie Sharp!

Thotyssey: Hello there Frankie, thanks for finding a minute out of your super busy schedule to chat with us! How are you doing?

Frankie Sharp: I’m great! Super high from last night's MARY, my weekly cabaret at Club Cumming. It was a great show. But today, back at the grind. How are you?

I'm hanging in there, and riding these weird weather fluctuations! You're a San Francisco native... I think that city has the best weather.

SF has the best weather probably one month of out the year, September, which is their late summer. It’s perfectly sunny and warm, and not too hot. Otherwise, surprisingly pretty grey and nippy. But when its good it’s good. I respond better to the drama of the seasons. I need constant change around me. My blood pressure responds well to that, I think.

That probably translates well to your work as a nightlife event producer, where if you can't consistently change and innovate, then there's no point in being there.

I certainly can’t stand still or in one place for very long. That also probably has to do with me being a military brat, living in a new city every year. Every grade from Kindergarten to ninth grade was a new place for my family to call our temporary home. That also sharpened my skills on how to make new friends very quickly.

Were you always creative / artistic in some way when you were growing up?

Very much so. I had some friends, but usually only at school. I spent most of my time alone. I would write and draw my own comic books about gay superheroes, except I didn't know they were gay at the time. I just knew they were hot men I liked drawing, and powerful female characters whom I suppose were drag queens. I feel like I manifested those characters into my current adulthood. I’m surrounded by powerful creatures and gay superheroes all the time now.

I'm predicting a Frankie Sharp graphic novel in the future! So, I understand it was a dive bar called the Gangway in San Francisco where your nightlife career began?

Yes! I was working answering phones for an advertising / design firm. I hated having to be somewhere at 9am, and at a desk no less. So on my weekends I was eating ecstasy and running around with all the nightlife creatures, going to all these great club events listening to house music.The best house music outside of Chicago is San Francisco house. I was going to parties thrown by magnificent drag queens like Juanita More's Booty Call and Heklina's TrannyShack, fun club nights by Honey Soundsystem. SF nightlife is all performance-based and peacocky, I loved the nightlife there. 

But there was still something missing. When I first went to Gangway, I fell in love. It was a dilapidated dive bar--a half-working jukebox and carpeted walls, but 100% gay clientele over 50. I loved it. I grew up in bars, as my mother was a stripper in the Philippines and that’s how my father met her when he was a sailor stationed there. So for some reason, those kind of bars are very sentimental--almost spiritual--to me. 

So I decided to throw a party there on a shoestring budget--way before I knew what a "guarantee" was, or how to strike a deal. I just wanted to have fun, and be able to afford a pizza slice. I DJ'd from iTunes, and filled the room with 99 cent balloons. It was the best time.

OMG after that graphic novel you need to write a full-on book! 

What motivated you to come out and mix it up in NYC?

I was very into reading PAPER Magazine, The Face and i-D, and NYC was so fully represented in those mags. And then I became obsessed with all things New York. It was during Electroclash era. There were great bands like W.I.T., Fischerspooner, Scissor Sisters, the goddesses AVENUE D (”Do I Look Like A Slut?”) and wonderful performance artists like Sophia Lamar and Amanda Lepore. I I had them all cut out and taped to my wall like some kind of teeny bopper fan. They were all queer, bold, interesting and unapologetic about their message of both fun and consciousness. Talk about manifestation: all those people I mentioned who I was full-tilt-boogie fans of are now all very close friends of mine. 

Not to mention when I first saw Wigstock when I was 16. I knew New York was going to be my home eventually.

I was able to afford my pizza slice and I was having fun outside of work, but then it hit a wall. There’s only so much you can do in San Francisco; albeit a wonderful city, it’s a small town, too. I needed more room to grow. So a one-way ticket to NYC was booked, and I never looked back. I moved Sept 11, 2009. I remember ‘cause the ticket was super cheap to fly on that date.

Eventually you start meeting these people here, and making things happen with the Frankie Sharp brand. MySpace and Facebook were definitely around then, but I'm not sure how much they were being used to market nightlife... is that how you were doing it?

Sorta. Myspace was somewhat used for promoting, but I was still printing out paper flyers then. Passing them out everywhere, legit putting them on cars, etc. I kinda miss that old school aspect. Nowadays, being able to monitor the response gives me a lil’ anxiety. But I have anxiety over everything. I just wanna do a good job and make everyone happy.

I miss those days too! And yeah, having access to all that promotional data can  be information overload. 

The party that most people will always associate you with from your earlier NYC career is WestGay at the Westway! It was such an interesting location for a kiki because it was kind of isolated in its neighborhood, but that just added to the appeal. 

Yeah, exactly. Once you were there you were stuck.

What else was it about WestGay that resonated with people so much, do you think?

We had very, very, very few rules. I mean, dicks and titties were out, celebrities getting laid by gogo boys, the influx of Drag Race was just happening which we heavily included in our programming. Not to mention I had even more NYC idols who became friends perform: Lil Kim, Azealia Banks, Eve, Foxy Brown, Mel B from Spice Girls, Hercules Love Affair... I even had C&C Music Factory perform. They were the first actual CD I owned. 

I mean, it was just everything! And at the time, there was nothing like it. All the other parties were sorta people in black, all kinda looking at each other. Honestly, it was some guilt-free, shameless fun that you didn't have to feel bad about. It was chic, in that it was totally not at all. It was completely hedonistic. Over indulging was the theme.

In the event production world,  rules suck. Is that like one of the hardest aspects of planning a memorable event where guests can feel like they can really let loose... dealing with restrictions from the management, and the limitations of the venue?

Yeah it was one of the reasons Public Arts sucked so hard. A great venue to look at and on paper. But horrible behind the scenes.

You’re talking about a party you were heading this past summer for a brief but memorable run, Something Special. Who or what wasn’t working for you there?

A lot of venues want gay dollars, but they don’t want gay people. And it wasn’t Matt and Carlos (who also owned Westway), they were great. It was their partner, The Public Hotel. They were corporate assholes, and made life very difficult for me. The didn’t respect what we were doing, and took months to pay. They could’ve really ruined my reputation, because it took forever for me to pay my staff sometimes. And these are hard-working artists. 

But oddly, it was still a successful night and very well-attended. And it served me in other ways. At least it got the attention of the Moxy Hotel, who is a part of the Tao Group and the home for my new Sunday night MAGIC. They are incredibly supportive, saw what were up to and signed off on our buffoonery (because our buffoonery is also lucrative).

But it was very stressful [at the Public Hotel]. Not sure why anyone would continue doing things there, especially gay folks.

Ironically, you got a GLAM nomination this past year for Something Special, and the GLAMs were held in the Public Hotel!

I introduced [GLAMs producer] Cherry Jubilee to that space at the tail end of my time with Public. I was trying to do them a favor. The GLAMs had some very familiar technical fuck-ups throughout the night that were the venue’s fault. It actually gave me PTSD. But the GLAMs themselves were just that... GLAM!

I love what Cherry Jubilee does, what a great producer. I just hope one year it becomes more inclusive to all aspects and pockets of the city and surrounding boroughs. Because right now, it really is just a popularity contest for clubs above 14th street. Westgay won best party every year for four years. For that I am so grateful. But it seems things have changed. 

But maybe its not the awards--perhaps its the parties that have become more segregated. At least in the small time MAGIC has been running, it feels like a good bridge between uptown and downtown, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 

What are the seeds that need to be planted for an event to be Frankie Sharp-level great? And then, how do you know when it’s time to switch things up with something that’s already going strong?

In the beginning stages, I have a tight group of people I work with, and have for years since Westgay: DJs, performers, hosts and sub-promoters. Then with each new event, I hire a second string, usually of younger up-and-comers. 

But before everything else, it’s location location location... venue venue venue. Does the room have heart? Can you do Runway? Can you zigzag and find something new all night? Will Amanda Lepore look good in this lighting? Does the sound hit the bottom of my spine? There are many questions that need to be addressed. But it’s always an ongoing transformation. I’m never, ever satisfied. I’m always tuning something.

Always seeking that elusive perfection! Speaking earlier of Brooklyn, your Saturday party Metrosensual at Metropolitan Bar has been running strong for a while now, with top notch guest performers ever week. Metrosensual has definitely helped put Brooklyn nightlife on the map, as far as star power and general epicness. 

I LOOOVE METROPOLITAN. Those boys there who run the show are probably the most professional, supportive and friendliest out of every venue I’ve ever worked with. I always tell Steven Mac, who is the GM there, if I ever open my own club, he’s going to run it.

Do you have a favorite Metrosensual moment from parties past?

Bringing Brooke Candy and a her full band--people lost their minds. I loved bringing Latrice Royale there, because the crowd is just drunk and wanting to have a good time, and extend love to the performers and the performers only want to give the same in return. Valentina, of course, was a big night. What a pro, and in person looks not real-- like an Almodovar goddess. Frankly, every week rules. Its pretension-free, which is so refreshing and important to me. I think of Metrosensual as my Marc by Marc version of my bigger nightclubs. It’s really my favorite.

Dragula’s Biqtch Puddin will be there this Saturday! 

Her manager reached out to me about having her perform, and when I mentioned it to some kids they were like PLEASE have her. I think people are super excited to see her. I know I am.

MARY at Club Cumming is a weekly cabaret variety show that you produce, and it's a much more low key but still eclectic affair, in a very intimate setting. Ragamuffin and Tyler Ashley are among the performers who appear each week, and you frequently sing on the stage yourself as well! What prompted you to create this very different sort of production?

Our administration, and my sobriety. When Club Cumming was Eastermbloc, I was doing Friday nights there... a party called Dumb Club. It was house, hip hop, party jams, a short drag show, gogo boys, debauchery, classic East Village. When it was bought by Daniel Nardicio and Alan Cumming, they approached me about doing something there still. 

But I needed to give something more soulful, something more fulfilling and intimate. I needed to engage with the people who have been coming to my clubs. So I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do just that--while being radically queer, irreverent, political and warm, inviting, inspiring and honest. It’s all the club hosts, gogo boys and DJ’s I have at my club nights, who have all of these additional talents that have been laying dormant finally get to see the light of day.

There were enough unhinged, boozy, headless dance nights. I wanted to build an environment full or art and love. Music and Song. It’s been life-changing thus far. And my new sobriety needed a new project. I couldn’t have asked for a better sponsor.

Congratulations on your sobriety. There's a growing number of sober people in nightlife who keep at it, but it never ceases to amaze me with all the world’s vices at arm’s reach. Is it still a daily struggle? It was never a struggle. I’m not one who wakes up in the morning and wants booze or drugs, or is like "what a stressful day, I need a drink.” I would drink heavily at work because work was in bars and clubs, and I would work 3-4 nights a week and then I would recover from that 2-3 nights a week. That’s your whole week.

And I wouldn't be able to grasp reality. It really screwed with my emotional and mental state. I was unable to be productive, and that’s what I am: a producer. What is a producer who can’t produce? When I was doing WestGay, I was in a blackout pretty much for four years... and it was very successful. That was me at a C- grade level. I wanna see what I can do at a conscious, strong A+.

Being sober has changed my life rapidly, and I keep becoming brighter, lighter, stronger. And I feel love more than I ever have. I describe it often as getting as close to the divine as I’ve ever felt. Close to God. I know that’s heavy. But I feel very connected to the universe and our planet these days. The high that drugs and whiskey used to give me I get from hard work, building communities and hitting a high note at MARY. Cheesy, but true.

What an amazing place to be at! That brings us to MAGIC at Magic Hour, which I guess is only a month or two running now and already a tremendous success. Did everything just kinda “magically” fall into place here?

Honestly, yes. They called me. I called up my business partner in crime, Birdy Black, and we did a walk-through. When we realized the topiary of the bushes were teddy bears fucking, I knew this was our new home.

One thing I realize is, I’m huge on energy. Every event I’ve ever done is an exact representation of where I am in my life. WestGay was LOUD, ruthless and intoxicating because I was loud, ruthless and intoxicated. Something Special was just that: special and confused and erratic, because circumstances were just that. MAGIC is everything I’ve learned and manifested and called upon for everyone else. It has nothing to do with me. It’s not about my ego or money; it’s about giving a gift to New York City, the love of my life. It’s truth, acceptance, art and cuckoory harnessed.

There's always a great cast of hosts and performers there, and you've really done wonders bringing actual huge stars to appear or perform there. Damn, Charlie XCX is gonna be there this Sunday, that's amazing! How is this even happening?

I saw she was in town performing, and her show sold out in 60 seconds, or something absurd. I saw everyone on social media freaking out about not snagging tickets. So in my usual fashion, I wanted to find a way to give something to the kids and create something special for everyone. I reached out to a mutual friend and asked if she had an afterparty planned. She did not... so I made some phone calls.

She’ll be performing with a huge roster of other stars we’re not announcing just yet. But it’s going to be insane. It’s taking everything for me not to mention who they are! but everyone is going to gag with everyone on board. Which then inspired me to do a big performer once a month, moving forward. We have lots planned!

Lindsay Lohan hosted a Brian Rafferty party this past MLK Weekend.

I love Brian Rafferty. We were just texting the other day because he found some old tally list from his Griffin party, which I hosted once. I brought 25 people! It was my first NYC hosting gig. Hes a good egg.

Is queer nightlife now officially a vessel for major artists and celebrities to reach out directly to their fans?

I can’t speak on that. But personally, I’ve always tried to have bigger names perform or DJ at my events. It’s New York! I love the idea of having Andy Cohen DJing my small bar parties, or Azealia Banks at her career height performing the closing of WestGay so people can be really close to them. I love the surrealism of that.  I think, like me, those celebrities just wanna give something back.  

And everyone wants to be a part of New York Nightlife. It’s Legend.

Do you have anything else in the works, as far as events or other projects?

Jazz singer and musician David Raleigh and I are starting a monthly, social media free eleganza of a dinner party called IRL (In Real Life). I’ve been planning it for a couple of years now, but life kept happening. I have a gorgeous space in the East Village for it now. People will check their phones at the door, a small orchestra provides the evenings soundtrack plays, Stacy Layne Matthews will cater it for the first one, and we all just actually get to exchange with one another. All this exciting bumper cars we do in the club is wonderful, but I wanna know more about the people around me. We can still have club looks and glamour, but Its a classic dinner party where people TALK. 

Every month starting in August, we will always have a spotlight on a superstar chef, a bold-named performer from everything from Broadway, opera to hip hop, and a speaker doing an inspirational "TedTalk.” We already have very recognizable names scheduled to perform, and inspirational speakers we just love to hear preach their path of success: authors, filmmakers, writers, politicos... etc. 

So classy! That should certainly break some ground as far a nightlife experience goes.

Also, I’ve been working on a scripted TV show for what seems like years now. It’s gone through so many incarnations and different producers and networks interested, but we have a new avenue for it now, and that’s exciting. And pretty soon, my full attention might have to go there. We’ll see!

Right now, everything I’ve ever wanted is happening. And I know that sounds like I’m gloating, but I wanted to honor my sobriety once again--and not in a preachy way, but in a conscious way. With a clear head, strong muscles and sharpened tools, anything you want... you can just take. It’s a magnificent discovery to uncover.

A true inspiration! Okay, to wrap it up: what's the best piece of advice you can give to a newbie who wants to start producing nightlife events in NYC?

Stay out of my way. Just kidding! Be nice to everyone. You never know who anyone is. Plus, just be a kind human person. Life is better that way. Know your worth, but leave your ego out of it. 

Do not poach talent. 

Respect other promoters’ venues. 

And always find a balance of night with day. Vitamin D is needed, so is water and exercise. Feeling powerful from the inside out will get you far.

Thank you, Frankie!

Frankie Sharp produces MARY at Club Cumming (Tuesdays, 9pm), Metrosensual at Metropolitan Bar (Saturdays, 10pm) and MAGIC at Magic Hour Bar & Lounge (Sundays, 10pm). Check Thotyssey’s calendar for a full schedule of his events and appearances, and follow Frankie on Facebook and Instagram.

See Also: Frankie Sharp (11.30.2018)

On Point Archives

#onpointwith #frankiesharp

[sanstropfremir]

I absolutely LOVED reading your kingdom review. You gave me such an insight in things I never even considered, especially since our rankings are so different from each other. The Boyz was my favorite, the narrative was about RTK. How they felt bad for having to compete against their friends but eventually the groups only lifted each other up and it helped TBZ grow into the group they are now through the hardships and mental dilemma, falling into the next challenge right after they reached the top. It should have been more obvious though, I agree, it wasn't really visible for anyone who didn't know. I was wondering how you felt about the dancing in general? my reason for not ranking BTOB high was lack of choreo (and Peniel's verse), same goes for SF9. Mostly because I don't feel the hype when watching, it doesn't keep my focus on the stage. As a baby-performer myself, my goal is to make the viewer curious about what's next. is that the wrong way to look at it? that's what I've always been told, building the tension up and down to create focus. would love to hear your feedback on that! thank you so much for sharing, we need more reviews of people who actually know what they're talking about.

i'm glad that you got some insight from it! like i answered in the previous ask im here to hopefully bring some more depth and understanding for people that care and are curious!

you unintentionally proved my point about tbz’s performance: that is way too complicated! even the most talented solo dancers i can think of would have trouble distilling that down to something readable in 100 seconds, much less a group of like, a dozen people! the introductory stages are meant to show us the character of the group and their abilities in the most concise way possible, it's not the stage to do deep philosophical and emotional introspection. for a full stage? absolutely, go hog wild! but for this stage it was too ambitious and ultimately was ineffective to anyone that isn't a fan of them specifically. 

by dancing in general do you mean like, every group? i put most of my opinions on the dancing where i had them in each of the individual rankings but honestly? unless there is something that really stands out positively or negatively, a lot of ‘average’ kpop dance looks the same to me. i know it’s not, obviously, and if pressed i probably could do a more serious breakdown, but dance is only one element of performance. it has equal weight with all the others in my mind, and therefore i notice when it is either 

very good

does something unique

very bad, or

interferes with another element

which is the same as how i evaluate every element, if that makes sense. 

hmmmm. i thought about this a lot in the shower and turns out i had more opinions that i expected so i'll put them under a cut.

firstly, i don't think lack of choreo should be penalized or considered an ‘incomplete’ performance. at the end of the day, these are bands, and a part of their brand/product they sell is the music. complex choreo does not need to be attached to that to make it a successful performance. also, btob did have choreo. any movement on stage is technically choreography. but this terminology can cause confusion so usually non-dance choreo is referred to as ‘blocking.’ but they also did include the song’s original point choreo at 1.41. the blocking in their performance was well thought out and suited the arrangement, by placing spatial emphasis on each part of the song that needed it. obviously it comes down to personal taste if the performance is ultimately ‘successful,’ because all art is subjective, but just because something isn't as visually complex as something else doesn’t mean it doesn't have the same level of thought. think of it like this: one is a super clean-lined post-post-modern grey/white living room, and the other is a kitsch goth basement. both share interior design principles and have obvious care put into the space, but they are vastly different styles that appeal to different tastes.

part of the job of production designer/AD is to decide what gets emphasis. a question you're always asking yourself is ‘is this important to the story that we’re trying to tell?’ and btob/their AD made a very smart choice with their introductory stage because it says a lot about them and their abilities in a short amount of time. that stage said ‘our foundation is strong, we have the training and experience and confidence to be up here and not rely on visual tricks.’ because they know they physically cannot do the things the 4th gen groups can; they're a decade older and they only have four members, it's just not feasible. something you learn with experience is the power that specific and pointed emphasis holds, which segues into my answer to your last question. i don't necessarily think that ‘building hype’ is the wrong way to perform something, but i do think it is a flawed way to approach creating a performance.

i think that ‘hype’ is flawed concept at its core, and one that focuses on the idea that there’s always being something more, something next, beyond the work itself. now there’s nothing wrong with playing with tension within the internal structure of a piece, that's exactly how constructing a narrative happens. however, the flaws come once we extrapolate beyond the boundaries of that individual work. the idea of ‘whats next’ implies that you have to constantly be promoting, have a sequel coming, building hype etc so people will keep engaged with your work. which is deeply capitalistic in nature and operates on the assumption that art exists purely as a product to be sold. and in order to keep selling you need to keep making a bigger and better and more spectacular product. and this is not the case at all. marketability is not the essence of art, it merely a factor of creating it under this insufferable system. kpop in particular suffers from this because the industry is specifically fabricated to produce capitol. we can have discussions all day about idols and their artistic integrity but at the end of that day, they are all cogs working with a system that was specifically made up by essentially one person to be culturally exported and to just print buckets of money. so in following that train of thought, there is a constant attitude of bigger and better because shock value (whether positive or negative) gets social media attention and therefore it sells. and it has become exponentially easier (and also seemingly required) to make things that are bigger and better than ever before. i remember being blown away by the projection floor at the sochi 2014 olympics because something of that scale and complexity would never have been possible without literally having the funding of the olympics. now that technology is easily accessible to anyone with an amazon account and the time to learn how isadora works. in comparison, it took 2400 YEARS for just the job of a ‘theatre designer’ to be even become a job at all.

because of kpop’s fan culture it is especially prone to ‘hype’ behaviour. in general with the accessibility of the internet and social media, everything has turned into a competition, and who can generate the most buzz ‘wins’. but ultimately that has taken away the general public’s ability to recognize that you can enjoy something quietly and you can enjoy something slowly. that the enjoyment of something doesn’t need to be all exclamation marks and keysmashes and trending hashtags on twitter. there is value in a work engaging in an emotion within you that is not just excitement. most of the artists and companies that i consume the work of i don’t do so because their work makes me excited, i do so because i liked the experience of engaging with that work. several years ago i saw the eternal tides by legend lin dance theatre, which you can watch a really short clip of here. that is not slow motion, that is actually how slow the dancers are moving. and 90% of the show is performed like that. and its two hours long. and it was one of the most incredible performances i've ever seen. if i ever get the chance I will go see another one of their shows again, not because i care about how they can top that experience i had, but because i know they can produce that experience, and that is enough to make me want to seek them out again. the speed of the internet has also loosened the general public’s understanding of just exactly how long creating a performance work can take. the lead dancer in the eternal tides was with the company for eight years before she and the piece were ready enough to be performed. large scale operas, musicals, and plays often have a year or more of pre-production before they even get to rehearsal. smaller theatre companies workshop new pieces for years at a time. performance is hard and it takes time. you can eliminate some of that with sheer amounts of money and people, which is what the kpop industry has done, but it speeds up the cycle of consumption to a degree that is not sustainable, especially for companies and creators who do not have that kind of access. performers and performance makers often don't put enough trust in their audiences. if they like what they see, they will come back. they dont need to be constantly bombarded with content at all times.

now that i’ve said a bit about why i think hype is a flawed concept, let's bring it back to kingdom. sf9 did something very interesting with their stage in that they actively chose to limit their dance time. and this plays very well off the performance film stage that taeyang did a couple of weeks ago. taeyang is talented and confident (for good reason), and his solo was incredible. but when it came to the intro stage, instead of trying to one-up the solo stage, the group instead said ‘well people are going to be looking at us because taeyang is insanely talented, so let's show them that we ALL have the confidence and the attitude to be up here.’ no need for flashy theatrics, they had the foresight to do something that would make them stand out from the rest of the groups. even if i was just casually watching the stages without doing any analysis on them (like i did for rtk), i would still be able to distinguish them because they had the stones to stand around for half their stage time. now i recognize them and would like to see what else they can do. same principle as what btob and also what ikon did. there is a fine line between anticipation and hype that gets equated in media consumption nowadays, but the two are not the same.

i think the tldr on this is that you dont need to ‘build hype’ or ‘go all out’ to make an interesting work. just focus on telling the narrative that you want to tell, and the people that recognize that will come. i could have a lot more things to say about peoples shrinking attention spans and the constant stream of information that we consume on a daily basis that devalues the labour done by artists in the eyes of the public and promotes hustle culture that is burning out and damaging creators at a rate that is both exponential and frightening, but that’s probably for another time, because this is SO LONG

#kingdom #kpop questions #this was a very interesting ask thank you anon! #the consumption and production of art is fascinating and also as an artist it gives me a fucking headache #many thoughts head too full #i hope this provided you with some more insight anon #none of your opinions are wrong i just have different ones and thats ok! i love discussions like this #Anonymous #kpop analysis #text #general design questions #kingdom review responses #answers #kingdom asks

[phillymakerfaire]

https://ift.tt/2FKOHec

Think of yourself as a consumer for a moment. 

What compels you to buy several items from the same Etsy shop? 

What prompts you to follow an artisan on Instagram? 

What makes you stop dead in your tracks at an art fair?

I’d bet it’s a cohesive product line. When your products are visually unified and organized, it’s easier for customers to see what you’re about, find what they need, and buy complementary items.

To boost sales, there’s no better strategy. Let’s talk about the many benefits of developing a product line and how you can shift your handmade business toward this approach.

Benefits of a Product Line for Artisan Entrepreneurs

Developing a product line might feel a little counterintuitive for an artist at first, but keep reading. The benefits may outweigh the drawbacks.

Creates a Recognizable Brand

Whether it’s your signature color palette or an unusual medium, customers should know right away they’re looking at your work. When you create a cohesive line-up of products, it’s easier for customers to remember you, understand the value of what you offer, and share your story with others. That’s how you get fans who keep coming back – and act like an influencer among their social circle. You want them to say, “Check it out – this is the artist who…(insert unique, memorable quality here).”

For example, NextFab member Cody Huges of Untitled Design uses discarded raw materials to create home goods that double as artistic conversation pieces. Despite the uncertainty of his materials, he’s developed a refined design aesthetic that’s unmistakably his.

Courtesy of UNTITLED_CO

Streamlines Processes and Reduces Costs

When your products have something in common, like the same base coat or a specific laser cut shape, it’s easier to break down the production process into groupings of tasks. This creates an opportunity for greater efficiency. Many of our members take advantage of NextFab’s digital fabrication tools to build the elements of their products quickly and consistently. 

A product line also uses similar materials, so you can buy supplies in large quantities. By purchasing wholesale, you’ll get better pricing and potentially lower shipping fees. Plus, you’ll eliminate waste. All these savings can translate into more profit per item.

Encourages Multiple Purchases

A well-designed product line considers how each item goes together. Whether they’re functionally similar (like a set of dishes) or aesthetically pleasing in a group (like a trio of framed art), it encourages customers to make more than one purchase. Have you ever seen a carefully staged photo with a collection of products on Instagram? That’s what you’re going for!

Gwanyan of Kpelle.Designs is a great example. This NextFab member is a Liberian-American artist who creates culturally-inspired jewelry. Her Instagram posts often feature her wearing multiple pieces at once, showing customers how they might want to expand their collection.

Courtesy of kpelle.designs

“Finding new customers for each sale takes money, time, and effort,” says Rebecca Ledbetter, NextFab Marketing Manager, “It’s much less expensive to market to existing customers. A product line helps you do that very effectively.”

Focuses Decision-Making

As an artist, it’s fun to explore new territory and see what happens. But as an artisan entrepreneur, it helps to focus your time more constructively toward profitable products. When you have a defined product line, it’s so much easier to answer questions like – Should I use this color? Which material should I buy? Do I need this equipment?

How to Develop a Successful Product Line

So, now that you can see the many advantages of a building product line, how do you get started?

Create Collections

Think of your current products and how you might place them into logical groupings. This will depend on your artistic medium and market niche/audience, but you might consider categories like color, materials, or overall aesthetic design. You could also divide them by the type of shopper or their intention. For example, “The Bookworm Collection” or “Gifts for Cooks.” If you have a fairly disparate set of products now, decide on collections and keep them in mind as you plan future items.

NextFab member Idol Light has several collections for its unique scientific glass jewelry, such as the Gem Cut Collection, Under $100, and Eco-Bling. This helps shoppers navigate their huge selection and find items that complement each other.

  View this post on Instagram

  Love the combos y’all have been ordering lately!

#nofilter #ecobling #ecojewelry #sustainablefashion #science #optics #light #womanownedbusiness

A post shared by Idol Light (@idol.light) on Aug 1, 2020 at 2:08pm PDT

Document Your Process

Having a defined product line requires a higher level of consistency and quality. After all, you’re developing a group of items that should appear as depicted on your website or social media. There will always be variation in an artistic process (and that’s what makes it special), but you want to make sure customers are getting what they expect. To do that, you need to confirm what materials you’ll always use and write down how you create each item from beginning to end. This is where the expertise of NextFab staff can be invaluable. 

Marc DiGiaimo, Woodshop Manager, notes, “The story of the product, and its process, often helps to enhance its identity as well as integrity. How that story is represented online can in turn help enhance your brand identity. Be sure to stay consistent with how you tell your story.”

Find Reliable Suppliers

Let’s say your woodcraft product line features a certain stain – and that particular shade is critical to the look and feel of your custom wood furniture. What would you do if the manufacturer goes out of business? Make sure your suppliers are dependable and you have back-up options if they happen to go out of stock. This is another area where NextFab’s resources and knowledge comes in handy. NextFab’s experienced staff can help you identify alternative materials and suppliers, as well ways to make your process more repeatable and scalable.

Get Feedback and Do Research

Ask your customers if they’d be interested in complementary items to go with one of your popular products. See if people tend to buy more than one item together and figure out why. Learn from past purchases and ask lots of questions to understand why they decided to buy. Once you’ve developed a product line, keep adapting your offerings based on what sells.

It’s also a good idea to learn from artisans in a similar medium or those who target an audience like yours. What’s trending right now? What’s been successful for other artists, and how could you replicate that? Having access to a community of passionate and collaborative makers through NextFab can speed up your learning curve. 

Ready to Build Your Product Line?

Learn about becoming a NextFab member. With our mass production tools, knowledgeable staff, and other maker resources, NextFab can help you create a successful product line and a profitable sales process.

Also, check out NextFab’s webinar series, From Making to Selling. Featuring experts throughout the creative economy, we share hard-earned insider tips on how to grow your artisan business.

The post How to Design a Product Line to Create a Brand appeared first on NextFab.

#IFTTT #NextFab

[earnxmoney-blog]

Want to be your own boss? Try freelancing.

Learning How To Make Money.The Definitive Earn X Money Guide To Earning Money While You’re On The Learning How To Make Money Online.

This is a difficult decision to make at first because it means turning away a lot of business. However, the process of narrowing in on the target clients that you work best with will help you achieve much better results in the long run.

Once you have a few clients who are willing to advocate for you, the momentum will really pick up. This is something Caroline Beaton has had a lot of success with when she got started with her freelancing business.

How To Make Money From Home.

Going back to our focus of competing on value, not price, everything you do in regard to starting your freelance business – especially when you have a very limited amount of free time – needs to point back to your ability to deliver the highest quality results for your clients. As one of my freelance idols, Paul Jarvis so eloquently puts it, “make your clients so happy & successful that they become your sales force.”

To determine the best type of target clients as you start a freelance business, ask yourself these three questions:

Which businesses will find my services useful?

Which businesses can afford to pay the prices I’ll need to charge, in order to get to my income goal?

Who are the decision-makers within these businesses, and what can I learn about their demographics & interests? Can I find a way to connect with them on a personal level?

When you have all of this information, you’ll be well-positioned to craft a cold email that cuts straight to the core of what these clients need from you—you’ll be able to connect with them and offer immediate value.

How To Make Money From Home.

With my target clients, smaller startup teams, and founders with personal brands, they can instantly relate to me because of my own personal affinity to startups.

and will naturally pick up with my style of content marketing strategy. Because my portfolio work is directly applicable to what they do, they also start out with much more confidence that I’ll be able to drive similar results for their business, too.

Set Strategic Prices for Your Services

I’ve spoken a lot about setting the right prices for your freelance business before you get started. I even architected an infographic that walks you through the process of setting your freelance hourly rate.

How To Make Money From Home. Define Your GoalsWithout clearly defined, easily measurable goals, you’re going to have a very difficult time getting to where you want to go.

Find a Profitable NicheLet’s assume you’re a graphic designer by trade, or you’ve at least been building your skills with Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop in your free time.

Identify Your Target ClientsJust as important as finding a profitable niche, is attracting the right types of clients for your freelance business.

As you’re just starting your freelance business, it’s fine to take a bit more of a shotgun approach to landing a few clients. Make some initial assumptions about who you want to work with, target them first, and after working with a few of them, you’ll develop a very clear sense of whether or not you want to continue pursuing similar clients.

The primary reason I’ve narrowed down the focus of my freelance business this far is that I work best these types of (very similar) clients, and they both run in similar circles that lead to frequent referrals. I’m building my reputation within my niche.

How To Make Money From Home.

Get Organized in Order to Show Off Your Skills..

Before you quit your day job and dive into the world of freelancing, it’s important to gather together all the tools that you’ll need to succeed.

For most freelancing careers, like copywriting or graphic design, you’ll need to have an impressive portfolio if you want to convince clients to hire you. Start going through your previous work and select the pieces that you think best represent your skills to be part of your portfolio.

Then start investing in any equipment or technology that you need to complete your job, and decide where exactly you’ll work. Having a dedicated area to work (even if it’s a local coffee shop) can make a big difference for your productivity.

You’ll also want to cultivate a professional image online by having a LinkedIn profile and your own website, ideally with a blog that you update regularly.

Don’t Sell Yourself Short..

We’re taught that bragging is bad, but if you don’t talk yourself up, you’ll never convince clients to hire you. The trick is to back up the claims you make about yourself with facts. For example, if you’re trying to convince a potential client that you’re excellent at developing content for business blogs, send them samples of business blogs that you’ve written before. Actions speak louder than words.

How To Make Money From Home.

Market Yourself Across Multiple Platforms..

Don’t just sit back once you’ve set up your website and assume that clients are going to find you. Advertise to targeted clients using LinkedIn groups, Facebook, Twitter, and any niche social media sites that you think will appeal to the people and businesses you want to work for.

Want to be your own boss? Try freelancing.

Ask Satisfied Clients for Testimonials..

You don’t just have to talk up your skills yourself—you can have satisfied clients do it for you. Getting a recommendation from a client is a great way to win over new clients because it shows you’re not the only one who thinks you’re good at what you do.

Develop Your Brand and Start Pitching..

There are thousands of freelancers out there, so what sets you apart from everyone else? Your brand is your identity, and it needs to clearly show clients why they’re going to get the best work if they hire you.

Keep updating and developing your website, blog, social media profiles, and portfolio to show off your best professional self, and start pitching projects to potential clients instead of waiting for them to come to you. When you send a pitch email, include a link to your website, LinkedIn profile, and relevant project samples.

How To Make Money From Home.

Create a contract that clearly outlines your rates, payment schedule, kill fee if a project gets canceled, revision fees, and deadlines. This will help both you and the client understand exactly what you’ll be getting.

What professions can you freelance in

In theory, a lot of industries will have a requirement for a freelancer. But the areas you are more likely to find a greater requirement is in:

Journalism

Copywriting

Editing

Proofreading

Bookkeeping and accounting

Fashion

Programming

Photography and videography

Graphic design

To find current freelance job openings, you should start using the search bar on LinkedIn.

You can find out how to make a super appealing profile in one of our last blogs.

This option does then require a certain skill set, marketing know-how, and connections to form strong relationships with local business owners. Naturally, this can take time, so it’s worth considering before committing to the freelance world.

The pros of becoming a freelancer :

To become a freelancer you’ll soon start to realize how quick and easy it is to get started. You no longer have to cater to others in a business or sit in pointless ‘meetings about meetings’.

How To Make Money From Home.

You’re your own boss and can work whenever you want. If you don’t like the sound of a project, you can turn it down and unlike working for one company, you’ll be able to take on a wider variety of work.

No day is the same with freelancing, so if you are a free-spirited, ‘live for the moment’ kind of person, this might just suit your personality.

If you don’t mind being on the go 24/7 and always keeping yourself busy, freelancing will certainly help you do that. Although this might not suit someone with a lot of responsibilities as it can cause stress and make it hard for you to shut off while you’re away from work.

What are the cons of freelancing?

Getting startedThe main thing to remember is to consider how it’ll impact your life (including getting a mortgage) and if it suits your lifestyle and personality.

If you think freelancing is up to your street, you should try to get everything set up before you launch. This includes a website, contracts, invoice templates, and an overall strategy of how you are going to target work.

If you don’t, you may find yourself chasing your tail – especially if you get inundated with work straightaway.

The biggest challenge when it comes to freelancing is motivating yourself and staying positive.

Work doesn’t always grow on trees, so it’s important to not only savor the moments when you’re busy but to actually enjoy the times you have a bit more of it on your hands.

Financially, you should always put money away and learn the basics of accounting.

In essence, becoming your own boss means you are an accountant, marketer, businessman or woman, entrepreneur, and salesperson. That’s a lot to think about if you aren’t really into the whole ‘being organized’ thing.

How To Make Money From Home.

You also have to have thick skin and accept that businesses and recruiters will say “no” (or nothing at all) to you. That’s why you have to be proactive and forward-thinking. Always have your mind on finding your next gig.

Unfortunately, there are cases where a business is late on a payment or doesn’t settle your invoice altogether.

Want to be your own boss? Try freelancing.

Learning How To Make Money.

You Can Make Money Online Now.

How to make money online.

How to make money online for beginners…

Learning How To Make Money.The Definitive Earn X Money Guide To Earning Money While You’re On The Learning How To Make Money Online.

#business Earn Money entrepreneur Make Money Make Money online Money Small business

[everyoneneedsalisteningear]

Dear friend, wanted to share with you something I've deliberated upon.

as a person who was an avid kpop fan 2010-2013 (fan of SHINee) , then a casual follower up til start of 2020 where I am now a fan of MAMAMOO, it got me interested how BTS managed to achieve the kind of international success they did.

after some research (and yes I do like a couple of their songs but I'm not a hardcore fan), I concluded that it's really all a team effort.

yes the members (abilities, personalities, being involved in their music etc) do play a huge part, but I'm more amazed at the whole marketing aspect. simply because there's also many other talented, funny and genuine kpop artists out there who have never achieved their kind of unparalled success.

There are many many people behind the scenes, thinking of concepts, ways to promote, directors of MVs, song arrangement, social media platforms... there's bound to be alot of strategic planning going on. I would say that BTS's company also plays a huge part in their success. from what I read online from their fans, it's very clear that however promotions are being done, everything about BTS (at least what makes them likeable) is being churned out very regularly and delivered very easily with great accessibility to the the public. because the fans feel like they connect with the members individually on a personal level, they feel like they're being appreciated, they feel like the members are somewhat saints? they truly feel it. and we know from the power of the Internet that with social media, videos, interviews and all that, that kind of connection is very very possible when the correct content is delivered. as someone who has been and currently am a fan of kpop groups, I can say I've felt it before. as if you knew the person like a friend. but I know now it's an illusion. all the content makes you feel that way, but in the end you don't know them irl, and all they can be to you, is a source of good music, solace, warmth and positive vibes/funny content.

the way I was obsessed about SHINee when I was 14ish is different from the way I like MAMAMOO now. yes I do watch fan-created compilations of my favourite moments and squeal and whatnot, but back then, I was obsessed with their personalities and who they were as a person, in addition to their talent itself. there's this personal link that when I look back on it, is quite laughable? we only know them briefly from what we see on screen. back then I used to scour through all the videos I could ever find of them, watching ALL the content I could find, branding myself as a shawol with badges and stickers and doodles.

whereas now I'm trying to move away from that. I do really appreciate mamamoo, their talents and music, and some things they do (fan service type stuff) are very exciting and they are complete crackheads at times which is extremely amusing. but what impresses me most is their performances and their music, and I believe that should be the core of everything.

I think that's something Western music has over kpop, is because they don't have variety and reality shows for mini celebrities or the idol culture, that whoever makes music, literally just makes music. and whatever else they do is just a side thing that comes up as gossip sometimes. whereas in kpop groups there's this whole need to share yourself and build your brand and whatnot which is just slightly... manufactured.

anyway I missed my point.

so why is BTS so successful? team effort. the members themselves have the abilities and personalities and music to make it out there, and the company truly believes and invests in them in a very successful manner, being creative and churning out promotional content like no other, and targeting American audiences from the start, with twitter as well. also I think another thing is that BTS's producer or CEO etc is actually a songwriter and produces many of their songs. this kind of consistent and harmonious relationship is what makes good songs that the artists feel and are able to deliver as well. it's the same for mamamoo, whom their CEO is their main producer and songwriter, and frequently works very closely with the members to create songs and concepts.

but I think BTS's team really took it to the next level. thing is though, I guess, is also finding the main appeal of whichever audience. I can understand BTS's appeal to international audiences and mamamoo's appeal more to Asian audiences (esp at the start, but with HIP it feels more international-appealy), but I can't exactly pinpoint it. it's just their vibe I guess. a more laid back, individualistic, creative and hipster vibe? *somehow BTS found a road of their own, and their company were extremely successful in showing their unique road. * I believe it has alot to do with very accurate marketing analysis and strategy (looking at what's different in the market, what appeals, how to utilise social media efficiently etc etc), as well as the members having alot of say in what they do (think about it, teenagers will know best what appeals to teenagers🤷‍♀️), in addition to their abilities that are obviously of standard.

don't even get me started on groups that have great popularity WITHOUT abilities, that kinda pisses me off. in that case, their songwriters/choreographers should be getting so much more credit than they themselves 😤

but yeah. that's just my take on it.

coz as a fan, let's say I don't have MMMTV, which is behind the scenes footage of mamamoo during various promotional activities, or Vlive broadcasts, then I will feel significantly less attached to them. having inside jokes and all these getting to know personally is part and parcel of the whole kpop idol package, as yucky as it is, that we judge music not only by the music and performances, but also by visuals, concepts, personalities, humour level and range + timing of promotional videos released on various Internet platforms.

isn't that a feat and a half.