Xnghan recently annouced his upcoming charcter which is a honey badger named Oxoling. Oxoling is a honey badger that eats 4 leaf clovers and has ear peircings. The preorders open tomorrow and the design very cute and unique (as far as I know it is the 1st honey badge character in Kpop).

Seeing this made me think about all the different Kpop dolls that now exist so many groups have them now. It is a great way to sell merch to fans and non fans (I own dolls for groups that I dont even listen to since I thought the character was cute). Even Twice recently annouced their new charcter dolls for their 11th anniversary. Some of the dolls are really cute and unique others are less.

Personally I really like Rizuko (RIIZE Shotaro) and BubbleNyang (NCT Wish Yushi). Both dolls are cute and also unique in some way that makes them stand out from other dolls. I personally am not a huge MCT Wosh fan but own several Bubblenyang dolls.

What are you favorite Kpop character dolls? And which ones do you think are the most unique?

I’ve been a TWICE fan for years. Sana was the first member to let me know the group, but Chaeyoung ended up being my favorite. I absolutely love her unique style. I adore all the members tho. Being a ONCE just makes me so happy!

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time with H2H too, and I’m obsessed with their music. All the girls are so lovely. Jiwoo was the first one I knew, but Yuha is my bias now. Pretty Please is my fav song.

Love to hear your stories! I bet they’re really interesting.😄

I know K-pop has always had a problem with sexualizing minors which is disgusting and I do not condone it but the stuff with A20 LITE has gone too far.

If you don't know, a girl group was recently debuted with all of the members being minors ranging from ages of 17 - 13 years old. The company created an AI chatbot which allows people to chat with AI versions of the members which could lead to risks of exploitation of the members via people using it in inappropriate/gross ways as the chatbot is pretty unrestricted.

Lee Soo-man, the creator of the girl group, not only allowed very young minors to debut but hasn't worked to make sure they are safe and if anything, has put them more in danger.

I want to make it clear that I am not hating on the girls as they are the victims imo, have worked hard and are talented, and deserve so much more than this obvious exploitation.

I really think the police or something needs to investigate this chatbot because this should NOT be allowed.

Did you see something on TikTok or Insta that made you go, "Hmmm?"

Do you want to discuss some issue that seems to be a big deal on tiktok, or in YouTube comments, but isn't being discussed anywhere else?

This is the place! Here is the thread for things like:

"I saw this girl on TikTok talking about ..... do people really think that?"

If what you want to talk about is being covered by reputable news, then it doesn't go here. If it's Social Media drama - meaning anything at all that is only being discussed in Social Media spaces, then it does go here.

Remember: references and links to X are not allowed on kpopthoughts.

So if you’re on the same side of twitter as I am, you must’ve seen them, the comparisons people are making between Hearts2Hearts and A2O LITE. Most of them uplifting A2O to shit on H2H. I’ll admit that as a fan of H2H’s music, I might be somewhat biased, but I also just genuinely don’t see the need for these comparisons, they’re two entirely different groups.

I’ve seen their ages compared, and while I agree both groups debuted way too young, in my opinion there’s a difference between a group that debuted with an avg age of 16.95 and two adult members, and a group with an avg age of 15.48 and no adult members. I do realise that’s only a one-year difference, but in these circumstances I do think that makes a difference. Especially when the voices and faces of the members of A2O are being fed to AI to make chatbots. We already know how bad parasocialism is among kpop fans, this is only feeding into that.

I’ve also seen a lot of people claiming that A2O already has a much better vocal line than H2H. Which I think is crazy because we barely have any material from these girls. Now I’ve listened to NEON a few times, and I genuinely don’t hear those girls doing anything I couldn't see H2H's vocal line doing. People need to stop judging the girls based on one bad encore. They have so much material (school festivals, their second-week promotions on music shows, etc) that show they are more than capable of delivering stable live vocals. Yes, they don’t have a Taeyeon or a Wendy, and I’ll admit they’re a downgrade compared to previous SM groups, but this has been a pattern ever since Red Velvet.

People are saying that A2O LITE is what Hearts2Hearts would’ve looked like if LSM stayed in SM. Which we almost know for sure isn’t true. SM has been planning on debuting a larger girlgroup with a cute concept for almost a decade now. This is just my speculation, but we know Yeri was supposed to debut in another group as the center, with even younger trainees, so in my opinion it’s safe to assume that this was SM’s first attempt at that. That of course all fell apart when they decided to add Yeri to Red Velvet. We also know that aespa was originally a cute concept, until they changed the concept and decided to add Giselle. H2H was always meant to have the cute concept.

I’ve also seen a lot of people say that A2O is bringing back the “old sm” sound, comparing them to Shinee and F(x). But to me, and a lot of other people, H2H have always sounded like a blend of early SNSD and Red Velvet’s red side. I’ve seen people compare Style to Kissing You by SNSD, Lemon Tang to Red Velvet’s Red Flavor, and even Pretty Please to S.E.S.’s sound. So to say that they don’t have that “SM sound” is just objectively wrong to me. SM isn’t just experimental “noise music”. Even The Chase, which to me is a song that sounds uniquely Hearts2Hearts, still sounds like a true SM song to me, with the heavy bass, the vocal stacking, the members sharing lines, which really reminds me of 2nd gen SM.

I was a huge fan of IKON and their music after the whole scandal I lost interest in the group.After that a while ago I listened to B.I's solo work and really enjoyed them..I hope his other song's get the same love as BTBT.

Mnet has officially revealed the second batch of performers for mama 2026. Now I would say this is pretty much all the artist who will perform, sure mnet MIGHT announced around 1 to 5 new performers before the ceremony since they haven't confirmed this as the final full line up and they have done this the previous years(who knows they might even announce a third line up). This are the list of the current line up of performers:

Day 1(November 20):
Allday Project 🆕
Alpha Drive One
CL(2NE1) 🆕
Babymonster
Enhypen
Hearts2Hearts 🆕
Illit
INI
Lngshot 🆕
Modyssey 🆕
Nct Wish
Rescene
Treasure 🆕
Street World Fighter: Director’s War 🆕

Day 2(November 21):
&Team 🆕
BigBang 🆕
Cortis
Hwasa (Mamamoo)🆕
Ive 🆕
Izna 🆕
KiiKii
KO1KEYZ 🆕
Le Sserafim
Nayeon(Twice)
Woodz 🆕
Zerobaseone

Now I would say that this are some extremely solid additions, I am actually excited. Making her grand return to the MAMA stage after a whopping 11 years since her last appearance, CL will be making her come back performance to MAMA. Like Nayeon, this will be Hwasa's first appearance at MAMA since her last performance with Mamamoo back in 2020. Lngshot, Modyssey, K01KEYZ, and Woodz(along with KiiKii and Rescene) will all be making their mama debut stage which is extremely exciting and I am happy for all of them. Overall I like this line up and I can't wait for the actual performances. Legendary acts like Big Bang, CL, Hwasa, and Nayeon which are considered "MAMA legends" by mnet are all performing which is already a huge plus compare to other years. Once again while it's not guaranteed, mnet might announce a few more performers as the days go by so let's see what happens.

Are you personally happy with this line up? Who do you wish was part of it and who are you the most excited to see?

Personally, I am definitely asking for an selfie/autograph respectfully if it is an idol I stan. If he/she said no,I am just gonna disappear like I was never there. Definitely checking out the environment too tho,like if there are many staffs/managers or if they are filming something or if he/she seem to be in a rush of if he/she is with someone else like maybe their own friends.

What would you do?

Enha, TXT and Lsfm coming to India and me not being able to go and my phone literally giving the worst fomo by showing it in every social media, everywhere possible, be it Reddit, Instagram and even YouTube 🙂🙂🙂

Hey stayssss

There is something that always has come to my attention since I started enjoying Stray Kids: the fact that I.Ns beauty is SO UNDERRATED AND UNDERESTIMATED!

Felix, Hyujin and Ban Chang are always the ones on the top of every ranking and it makes no sense to me that I.N is nowhere close to those three. EVER!!!!

Like honestly ever since I first watched their videos, I.N s beauty stood out SO MUCH to me. I think he is crazy beautiful, just another level… i understand the other 3 I mentioned are considered as well, but… come on I.N is at least close to them if not better looking!

STAYS HOW DO YOU SEE THAT? Agree, disagree? Why?

I need Hanbi and Songha in the final line-up pleaseeee. 😭 Their voices are amazing!!!!

My fear popped up in my mind because people have been talking that the members from A20 soul and lite are soo young!

Hanbi and Songha are in their early 20s. Please tell me that SM won't let them go to make the line-up younger or something. I would lose my mind! Irene debut at 23 right? So I should relax.

They deserve to debut. People in their 20s deserve to debut.

Maybe I sound too anxious but... Idk. There has not been that much iinformation about when they will debut. Hopefully SM does not change their plans drastically due to A20 ( really talented groups btw).

I still have on repeat the Wolf cover and all the high notes and charisma.

People keep glazing LSM but previous SM groups' debuts have never gone viral in Korea like this, even if the song is later deemed a classic like SNSD ITNW.

Neon went viral once A20 performed it onstage at their showcase, because the choreography was very well done. Particularly the intro dance got A MEGATON of attention such that Koreans started effusively praising the 2 Chinese dancers (if you know your geopolitics this is unprecedented) for being able to pull it off and wondering which street dancer choreographed it. It was revealed to be J-Black, and he just posted a video discussing his work on a2o's choreo and how they requested for more difficult choreography which surprised him because girl groups usually prefer to make the choreography less difficult. The video got almost 500k views in 12 hours and most of the Korean comments are praising J-Black and saying that they got hooked onto the song because of the mesmerising intro dance which is something they haven't seen done before. It's very hard for Koreans to feel something is new or revolutionary in Kpop at this point, thus it started to gain traction and because it's not easy to do a dance cover of that, Koreans are instead making memes of the intro with cats, other celebrities, even LSM, Bang Shihyuk, Min Heejin, JYP.

TWS Jihoon and Kyungmin also posted their version which also went viral since they mastered it really fast, it's a choreo that BGs can replicate if they have 2 strong dancers but most GGs will find it hard because many GGs have 1 strong dancer but it's uncommon to have 2 very good ones? Clearly starting Neon off with this intro is meant to be a flex and gauntlet-throw. Hopefully Bailey or Juun tries it with someone else from their group, Koreans are mostly gagged by this part because you see a lot of people stating that they hope more idols and street dancers cover it as a dance challenge. A few dance channels have tried but they lack the smoothness and panache, I'm sure better versions will come out with time and practise. The intro dance is one of the main hooks of Neon, it's a challenging dance that kids will want to attempt once they see it. Will harder choreo that flexes dance skills become a new thing in GG choreo? It's probably gone viral also because it stands in stark contrast to other groups pursuing less structured and less synced choreography.

For me, it's NMIXX “DASH.”

What I love most about the song is how every sound takes an unexpected turn throughout the song. But it doesn't feel try-hard or too much to me. It just feels so fun, fresh, and cool.

I saw a lot of Korean comments saying that the song is just on another level.

I really hoped that, kind of like aespa's "Next Level," it would become one of those songs that people are confused by at first but eventually fall in love with, and that it would become NMIXX's signature song. But unfortunately, it never quite got there.

IVE's "XOXZ" would be a close second for me.

I love it when a song makes me feel excited and kind of sad at the same time, and this is one of those songs. I don't know what other people would say about this claim, but this song has always felt like Tate McRae's music with just the right amount of sentimental. Like “DASH,” this one is still on my playlist, and I get excited whenever it plays. But sadly it didn't make the kind of impact I wanted it to in Korea and in the West.

I would expect some asymmetry in attention but it really feels like no one is talking about Soul at all. I actually really like “Superstar” more than “Neon”. It reminds me of older Super Junior music. LSM has successfully tapped into a nostalgic Kpop sound for both groups like MHJ did for New Jeans.

The Melon Daily Chart for October 15th was recently posted and it showed that A2O Lite's debut song "Neon" has reached the #1 spot. For those unfamiliar with Melon, the often referenced Top 100 chart is updated on an hourly basis whereas this Daily Chart is updated only once a day and heavily factors in the total number of unique listeners as well as the number of streams for a full 24 hour period.

The six songs from 5th gen groups that have reached #1 on this chart are:

Illit - Magnetic

AllDay Project - Famous

KiiiKiii - 404 (New Era)

Cortis - REDRED

Rescene - Love Attack

A2O Lite - Neon

There have also been multiple songs from 5th gen groups which have come close to reaching #1 on the Daily Chart, but just narrowly missed out:

TWS - Plot Twist (Peaked at #2)

QWER - My Name is Malgeum (Peaked at #2)

AllDay Project - One More Time (Peaked at #2)

Illit - It's Me (Peaked at #2)

Hearts2Hearts - Rude! (Peaked at #3)

Rescene - Deja Vu (Peaked at #3)

QWER - T.B.H (Peaked at #4)

Kiss Of Life - Sticky (Peaked at #4)

Rescene - Pretty Girl (Peaked at #4)

It looks like 5th Gen groups as a whole are definitely gaining mainstream popularity and momentum overall within the Korean domestic market. There was only a single #1 hit each in 2024 and 2025, but there have already been four #1 hits so far this year.

Edit: Added some groups I missed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhISxJD9oZc

사계연서 (Seasonal Love Letters) is the third track on Hawwah, the newest digital single by Dodree. It's a great listen and I just wanted to talk a bit about the lyrics. It's a love song, but I enjoyed the focus on how regional the description of the seasons is. While listening to the song, I could imagine an idyllic love progressing throughout the year, exactly as they sang it. The rural setting of the MV further enhances that feeling. The description of each season was so crisp and beautiful even when read through the translation, and I bet the wordplay is even better in Korean.

The other part of the song I really like is the description of the love letter as a painting with words, and that the letter itself is metaphorical. I love that the heart itself is the notebook one writes in. The ink being the condensed memories of your lover throughout the seasons that you use to write them into your heart, so that they can live within you is an inspired choice of lyrics. What a great song.

Also for folks who want more Korean in their kpop, the entire song is in Korean with no English additions.

I usually listen to CDs but now I'm outside so I use headphones

I listened to Billlie Trampoline and the song goes crazy wity all the instruments and voices coming in and out and it's very dynamic and full of details

I know it's probably true for most songs but you know other song like that; when you have to hear them with headphones to get the full sound?

I just noticed that K (&Team) is 1997-liner and debuted in 5th gen but he's the same age of some 3rd gen idols like Rosé and Lisa (BLACKPINK), Mina and Jihyo (TWICE), Jaehyun (NCT), Jungkook (BTS), etc

I’ve spent the past few months building a tool for making random play dance mixes and talking to people who use it for practice and events. Along the way I picked up some things that seem to make RPDs go better, for dancers and for hosts. Sharing in case they’re useful.

If you’re hosting or making a mix:

• Cut on the beat, and leave a short gap. A clip that starts mid-move, or songs that run straight into each other, leave nobody time to get in. A countdown of a few seconds between songs makes a big difference.
• Check the ending of each clip, not just the start. A cut that stops in the middle of a move feels awkward for the people dancing.
• Spread out the groups. Five songs in a row from one group means most people stand around for five minutes.
• Mix difficulty and eras. A balance of recent releases and well-known older songs keeps more people involved.
• Have a backup offline. Outdoor events and weak wifi don’t go well together.

If it helps, the tool I’ve been working on handles the cutting, countdowns, and shuffling: kpopgenerator.cloud. It’s free and needs no sign-up.

What else would you add? I’m especially interested in what experienced hosts do differently.

​For me, it has to be the Center, Main Vocalist, and Main Dancer.

​Center: A legendary position held by so many iconic K-pop stars (like Wonyoung from IVE, Karina from aespa, Wonhee from ILLIT, Ahyeon from BABYMONSTER, and Nayeon from TWICE).

​Main Vocalist: If we’re using a soccer analogy, they’re like the wingers or strikers. You could easily say they're the absolute core of the group.

​Main Dancer: I think this position is just as vital as the Main Vocalist.

Disclaimer: This is not hate to the members, they are talented and worked hard for this, I'm only critiquing the company/adults in the making of this group.

The youngest member is 13. 13!? And three of the members are 13 as well. The oldest is 18. The maknae should at LEAST be 16 imo.

Maybe if the debut had been more age appropriate I would feel less uncomfortable with the group but the young members were wearing miniskirts and cropped tops. There are so many creepy people on the internet and if the company wanted to debut members this young they should have taken more actions to protect them from all the grossness on the internet. ​

also the AI thing is so disturbing and how the hell did the company approve of that?

For a few years now Mnet has been giving out an award to older kpop legends called the ”inspiring achievement“ awards. Now basically I would say this is Mnet’s own take of the Vma’s Vanguard Award, since it’s meant to recognized the artist and their impact in Kpop(Plus they perform a medley of their hits). Now PLEASE correct me if I am wrong since I am not so sure if this had already been a thing before, but this was first introduced back in 2020 and Boa was the first recipient. For some reason they didn’t give out this award until 2023 which was given to tvxq, than to Jyp himself in 2024, and the final recipient was Super Junior.

Something that I wound like to point out that this award seems to be given to acts that are celebrating their anniversary. Boa, Tvxq, and Super Junior were all celebrating their 20th debut anniversary when they were given this award, and Jyp his 30th. Also all this acts made a comeback before or after mama took place, so clearly like the vmas it also works as a way to promote their new music. Of course this might not be the case this year, hell they might not even award it all all. Tho if they do end up awarding it, who do you think will/should be given this honor this year?

Hello friends! We are excited to announce another instalment of our Kpop gen rates, this time jumping into our first ever 4th gen rate, Early Gen 4 Girl Groups. Welcome to the EG4GG Rate! If you haven’t already, make sure to join r/kpoprates to stay tuned for future rate-related posts!

Quick Links:

• Ballot submission: Reddit PM // Ballot template (Google Docs) // Ballot template (Pastebin)
• Playlists: Spotify // Youtube (MV ver.) // Youtube (Audio ver.) // Youtube (Lyrics ver.) // Apple Music

Deadline: Sunday, November 9th, 11:59PM Pacific (Link to a timezone converter)

How the songs were selected: The initial locked and survey lists were decided through host discussion, using a combination of r/kpop's artist TTT results, as well as streaming statistics and general relevance. We then held a pre-survey campaign on the discord server, where server members could suggest songs they'd like to see added to the survey. Following this, we conducted our usual song list feedback survey.

Now, without further ado, let's introduce the 55 songs in the main rate (& the 7 songs in the bonus rate) that were selected for this rate, sorted by artist debut order:

fromis_9:

Glass Shoes

DKDK

Love Bomb

Feel Good (Secret Code)

We Go

DM

Attitude

Supersonic

i-dle:

Latata

Hann

Lion

Oh My God

HWAA

Dahlia

Tomboy

Nxde

Queencard

UNI.T:

No More

KHAN:

I’m Your Girl ?

Nature:

Girls

LOONA:

Hi High

Favorite

Stylish

Butterfly

So What

Star

GWSN:

Puzzle Moon

Night Aviation (The Interpretation of Dreams)

Bazooka!

IZ*ONE:

La Vie En Rose

Violeta

Fiesta

Secret Story of the Swan

Panorama

Sequence

K/DA:

Pop/Stars

More

DreamNote:

Ghost

Cherry Bullet:

Q&A

Love So Sweet

ITZY:

Dalla Dalla

Icy

Wannabe

That’s A No No

Not Shy

Loco

Untouchable

Imaginary Friend

Motto

Everglow:

Bon Bon Chocolat

Adios

Dun Dun

La Di Da

First

Pirate

Bonus Rate:

fromis_9 - 22nd Century Girl

i-dle - Uh-Oh

LOONA - Why Not?

GWSN - Tweaks ~ Heavy cloud but no rain

PinkFantasy - Tales of the Unusual

Cherry Bullet - Hands Up

ITZY - Cheshire

The Bonus Rate is optional and you do not have to submit a score for every song in the bonus list. If you do it, you can score none of them, all of them, or any number in between. You cannot give a 0 or 11 to any song in the bonus, as they are not part of the main rate. While it is optional, we hope you consider participating.

* Spotify Playlist

* Youtube Playlist (MV Version)

* YouTube Playlist (Audio Version)

* YouTube Playlist (Lyrics Version)

Rules:

• You must listen to and assign a score to EVERY song listed. If your ballot is missing any scores it will not be eligible and you'll be sent a message asking you to fill in the missing scores.
• Each song should be assigned a score between 1 to 10. Decimals up to one point are allowed but any further is a no-no – 6.9 is fine, but 6.99 is not. Don't use commas (i.e "8,8") to separate your decimals!
• You can use ONE 0 and ONE 11 for the entirety of the rate, for your least favorite and most favorite song respectively - they are optional but HIGHLY encouraged if you feel some type of way about any given song! Comments are also encouraged but not required for such scores (except if you give a song a 0). You can add them to any song by simply typing after the numerical score, like so:

Everglow - La Di Da: 9.9 Wow this song sure is fresh and new and exciting I cannot wait to see what the community thinks of it

• This is the ONLY correct way to format a comment. Please do not include colons (ex. 9: I stan!), dashes (ex. 3.3 - This song sucks), or any other symbol after your score/before your comment as it breaks the program.
• For this rate and most future rates, we have a ballot average minimum of 4.00. In addition, if your ballot average is between 4.00-5.50, you must leave comments on your lower scores (which we define as any score that's a 3 or lower). {Do not worry about having to calculate your ballot average, once you submit your ballot, we will tell you if you need to make changes to your ballot for it to be accepted.} ___

SUBMITTING A BALLOT:

Link to Reddit Chat to send in scores

As Reddit is (unfortunately) moving away from the private messaging system in favor of utilizing the Reddit chat system, we are forced to also adopt the Reddit chat system for messaging. You can make a copy of either the Google Docs or Pastebin ballot templates below, add your scores on your local copy/file, and send the link to your local copy/file in your Reddit Chat message to u/kpoprates.

Google Docs ballot template

Pastebin ballot template

• If the private message link is not working (or your private message exceeds the character count), please use the Google Doc template (make a copy of it to your Google Drive) for your ballot and DM it to u/kpoprates. If you message us a link to your Google Doc, PLEASE double check your permissions so that "anyone who has the link can view the document" (since the default is otherwise).

Alternatively, if you have Discord, you can message the link to your ballot to all of the rate hosts, \@aidshha (u/aidshha), \@yureves (u/snowswinters), and \@mkh.zo (u/zo142) (please message all of the rate hosts, not just one).

Google Spreadsheet you can use for calculating averages/trends and making predictions

You can also submit the top/bottom 5 prediction form at any time.

DEADLINE:

Deadline: Sunday, November 9th, 11:59 PM Pacific - This will be the FINAL deadline, no extensions will be given this time! (Link to a timezone converter)

REVEAL DATES (Reveals will take place on r/kpoprates as well as the KpopRates Discord: https://discord.gg/rkpoprates)

Day 1 - Saturday, November 14th, 8 AM Pacific (Time zone converter here)

Day 2 - Sunday, November 15th, 8 AM Pacific (Time zone converter here)

We also encourage you to participate in the ongoing 2022 in b-sides Rate! Thanks!