In between start and end

At this point, I should really stop getting into more groups. However, I am so invested with their songs that I find so hard to not love this one!

TRENDZ is a boy group debuted on 5th January 2022 so they're still a rookie group. The group consists of 7 members with the oldest born in 1999 and youngest born in 2005. I don't think you bother to remember the members names, so we shall skip that part of the introduction 👀

The story begins with how I first heard of them.

This is a bit unusual these days (moreover kpop) but I actually first heard them on the radio. At that time they had a comeback with a song called 'NEW DAYZ' and I first thought it was a really good song. The song had a good hook and I immediately Googled it so that I can add it to my Spotify playlist. Typical behaviour.

I liked it so much that I even searched up their choreo on YouTube. I thought the dance was pretty good.

I listened to the same song for about 4 months until I decided to try listening to their other songs. Figured that I might like them too.

The next song I played on YouTube was 'VAGABOND'. The title reminded me of the K-drama of the same name lol. This was their comeback prior to 'NEW DAYZ'.

When I played their dance practice video, this is when I became amazed by them. Their choreo was very powerful but the song actually sounds good. The sound wasn't as fierce as I thought. The choreo definitely blew me away - it was so beautifully choreographed and they all danced so well with the energy.

I read the comments saying how all their choreography are always so good, so I got curious.

I thought I wouldn't get any more impressed until I watch the next song 'CLIQUE'. At this point I was just like "Why do all their song sounds soo good??" bcos it's rare to see me liking all the songs that I play back-to-back. More impressively, the choreo is always so satisfying to watch. I'm just in love 😍

After watching 3 videos, I was like, "There's no way I'm gonna be impressed with another video" and then I played 'Villain' and bruh, I SPOKE TOO SOON!

'Villain' is literally another level of cool. They literally choreographed the dance with a rope! If NCT Dream danced with a hoverboard and Speed danced with heelys, TRENDZ danced with ropes!

I'm sure it's not the first time people uses ropes as props. I've personally seen PENTAGON using ropes for their performance in Road to Kingdom and I've seen Stray Kids performing with ropes on their neck during 'Red Lights' at their concert, but to see a group dancing with ropes as part of the entire choreo was something else.

I was just blown away by how good they make the choreo look and how they gave the rope its own identity within the choreo. Like it wasn't to simply make it appear "cooler"... They definitely did not half-ass it here.

All of their choreo are so satisfying to watch that I just couldn't get enough of them. I'm falling so hard for their songs and dances.

I'm so excited bcos they're having a comeback in September - yes, that's next month! I can't wait to be impressed by them again. They're also going on their first world tour soon. Not sure if they're coming anywhere near me, but I'm surely gonna be tempted to go. 

.@TRENDZ_OFFCL coming 🔜! #TRENDZ is going on their first World Tour starting this Oct, according to their music label on Aug 16. They will be visiting FRIENDZ in Asia, including Indonesia, Kazakhstan (and more!), then 25 US cities, France, Morocco, Senegal, etc! ✈ #트렌드지 pic.twitter.com/HhvYbOipm7

— SPOTV ent. (@SPOTVent_KPOPUP) August 16, 2023

I do feel like it's veryyy soon to be having a world tour especially since they're still a rookie with basically little to no presence in the vast kpop industry yet, but I applaud the company's effort to promote them. They don't even have a lightstick yet, but I'm excited for their future opportunities. I hope they won't disband too soon huhu.

Dropping by,

Some time last month, I became a TikTok creator. Of kpop contents haha. 

I was on my Twitter stan account when I came across several tweets by the fanbase. Apparently, they wanted more fans to promote the idol group's contents on TikTok. 

Didn't bat an eye at first. A couple of convincing tweets later, I ended up posting video edits on TikTok.  

Although it was a short phase that lasted about 2 weeks, I learnt some cool things about the app from a fellow creator's perspective!

Fun fact. TikTok isn't the first app I use to post fan edits 🤭

I posted similar contents on Instagram back then - prior to it turning into Reels. So there were couple of things I notice rather quickly about TikTok.

The first thing that stood out to me was that literally everyone and anyone goes viral daily!

Personally, it took me just a couple days to go from 20 views per video to 10,000 views per video. 

On the contrary, 100 views is already considered a lot by Instagram standard when you first started out. Mind you that I didn't have any followers until that 10,000 views video started blowing up. 

My next video that went viral even reached 100,000 views overnight! Not to mention that it was the video right after the 10,000 views one. 

It was insane to think about.

This left me dying of curiosity so I spent the next few days, trying to play around with the algorithm to figure out how the app works. Of course, I didn't manage to break all the codes, but there were some hints I discovered that could explain how my posts did so well.

No wonder people go crazy on upload time. It is a game changer! Both of my viral videos were posted at 5pm on a weekday and I don't think it was a coincidence.

So if you're based in Malaysia, be wary on listening to non-Malaysian hacks! It probably won't work with our culture and social media habits as it works on the recommender's followers.

TikTok isn't an app where you should care about your feed looking pretty. The main goal is to be on the For You Page (FYP) and get people to engage as much as they should!

The TikTok algorithm will blast your videos to random niches and let various users decide the virality based on the engagements your videos are getting. It's why new accounts are the easiest to go viral. So avoid experimenting too much with your videos when posting on TikTok.

However, take note that once you've built some followings, that's when you should pay attention to your follower's active time instead. If you want your video to enter FYP, it has to do well among your followers first before TikTok shares it with non-followers.

Unlike Instagram, I realize 'likes' didn't help much in terms of virality. Instead, shares and comments were the ones boosting the numbers. 

So it's important to include some sort of call-to-action (CTA) in your videos such as asking people to share, comment, etc. Or try to make some share-worthy contents!

TikTok values average time for each post. 

The longer people watch your video, the higher the average time gets. Considering how fast people swipe on TikTok, it isn't easy to get people to stay but providing titles or a captivating 3 seconds-intro really helps!

Funny thing about netizens are that they could comment about something you totally didn't see when you first posted. I get mindblown whenever this happens and it wasn't just once or twice! 🤯

Even though you have little to no control over this kind of reaction, do know that this is also a quick and easy recipe to virality. 

Plus, the comments get super interesting to read too!

-----------------

Although, my creative juices stopped after about 10 videos, creating on TikTok had been fun while it lasts.

I will probably return to it when I have more time to spare in the future. No promises though.

Shameless plug coming thru 😜 

@choiunics

Dropping by,

It'll be great if I can do this annually, so that I'll be reminded of each song's meaning every time. To be honest, this isn't as hard as I thought. Even though there were more songs that I liked. These are few of those songs that really lifted my spirit whenever I'm feeling emotional. 

This song was recommended by Wooseok himself in a pre-concert interview.

It speaks about life being like a domino - you always try your best to stand up but at times, you just kept falling down. It's a very personal song to Wooseok so he felt hesitant when they decided to release this solo in his collab album. But I'm glad he did bcos finding a personal song that is officially released on Spotify is so hard 😩

I could picture both myself and PENTAGON through this song. It's a way to tell someone to let me be, but please don't go.

This year, I've been personally convinced that people who are depressed or having a mental breakdown doesn't necessarily want to hide it. We wished that we could express our feelings too, and when we do, don't try to comfort us with words but just be there for us. I guess the moment you say words that stop us from sharing (because you think it'd be hard on us) is just making us feel more unaccepted. So just lend your ears. 

McFly has always been like that one friend who could relate to the inner me. Their music always touches my heart in a very personal way.

'Tonight is the Night' is about finally convincing yourself to break free and confront your worries tonight. It's a way of saying don't hold in any longer and just let everything out now. It's such a perfect song if you need some push to do something you're hesitating on.

This song sums up an entire episode of living with sadness, ironically in a very fun tune. When I felt really sad, hearing someone else share a similar situation gives me some assurance that I'm doing good enough. And that is what this song does. It gives that imaginary pat on the back.

This year is a beautiful mess for both PENTAGON and their fans.

'Eternal Flame' is a fan song and there's so much events that resonates with this song. Their first full album (Dr. Bebe's comeback) excluded a member - Yanan, while the latest album (Daisy's comeback) excluded another member - Jinho, so this was the only song this year and probably for the years to come that includes all of the current members of PENTAGON - which is very disheartening to hear as a fan. 

I love hearing fan songs and this meant more as it was made for us.

"Will the spring snow come?"
— Spring Snow (2019)

"Spring snow will come to us too"
— Shine+Spring Snow (2020)

"It always snows in our spring"
— Eternal Flame (2020)#PENTAGON #펜타곤 @CUBE_PTG pic.twitter.com/dWAFtLMprz

— 구름☁️ (@changgurie) December 18, 2020

I listen to this song so much this year since the day I discovered it. I like the verses in this song and it's totally how I view the people around me sometimes.

This song is about waiting for someone, maybe to be acknowledged or just to get some of their attention. It's kinda like how parents wait for us kids, going out and about in our busy lives yet patiently wait for us til the day we come back home. 

Or kinda how we are unsure of how people felt about us, at times we don't care enough about each other and I actually wrote a blog post of something similar called 'Frientimacy' and I think that is very much what this song is about.

The verse that caught my attention most was;

and another one (imagine your parents or loved ones saying this 😪);

This song is about dreaming big and believing in yourself. Even when success seems further to you more than everyone else, holding on to the hope that you'll shine someday should be your focus. There's a bridge at the end of the song that goes "I want you to be my light" kinda like saying, it'll be nice if I could have you along.

As a fan of 1TEAM, I do keep some hope that they'll be known one day. However, it's hard to keep up as an average group in kpop, where even those from the big companies are struggling. Anyway, this song reminds me of that hope of wanting to have a successful life.

My favourite line is actually the beginning rap;

I guess you can say, staying mostly at home requires a lot of self-comfort.

Those are my list of 5 songs that got me through 2020. Spotify song list aren't exactly accurate when it comes to emotional connection. Before I leave, here's my Spotify 2020 Wrapped just as my future record.

Dropping by,

It's already 4am and I can't sleep cos I'm so over the moon right now!! 

I've never experienced such a big accomplishment like being mentioned by Kpop idols I looked up to. That is something I don't even dare to dream of. It honestly feels surreal to even appear in front of them. 

Before you get confused about what is going on, I'll just briefly explain to you on what just happened. Long story short, I joined this K-culture contest where idols learn and teach people all around the world different Korean cultures. This contest involved few of the big named K-pop artists namely PENTAGON (honestly the reason I decided to join), THE BOYZ, G-IDLE, ONF and OH MY GIRL. Each artist have different genre that they are part of so the one I joined was THE BOYZ's genre.

As much as I wanted to join PENTAGON's genre, I don't really have access to the instruments since their genre is Samul Nori (literally samul means "four instruments" and nori means "play"). So, I joined the genre that I think I could pull of which was Taekwonmu (a combination of taekwondo and "anmu" which means choreography/dance).

Two weeks after submission closed, I got an invitation to be part of the online streaming. Like any other K-pop event, this event also has performances along with some fan interactions, which in this case, interactions with the fellow participants. Honestly, this event is almost similar to KCON except that it's free (both the participation and the streaming).

Ok, moving on to the juicy part.

First of all, I was lucky enough to appear on the screen behind THE BOYZ during the live streaming. Mind you, not everyone who joined got to appear on the screen because obviously it's limited to only a number of people, so the fact that I GOT CHOSEN was honestly a blessing as it is.

You have no idea how long the waiting time was and honestly, it would be a total waste of an entire day if I didn't get to appear on it. Prior to this livestream, everything was so messed up because not only things got delayed but the organizer was also EXTREMELY secretive about it. I even thought I was gonna have a personal video call with the artist instead of this ugh.

Then during the livestream, there was no translator so we're kinda just there to show our faces lol. I didn't understand much but I tried to give my best reaction every time they do something funny or cute. It was a fun overall experience but maybe never again lol.

Next is the actual broadcast. So, in case you didn't get the hint, the livestream was all pre-recorded a week before the actual streaming day. Basically, they could do proper editing and what not before the real event, including adding hard subs.

Now, only during broadcast did I realize that THE BOYZ actually mentioned about MY COVER during the event! When the MC asked Younghoon whose performance did he think was the most impressive, he said, 

In a different clip where they are deciding the winners, Kevin pointed out on a performance saying, 

Then the instructor said, "Oh that's why it looks like there are three people".

Here is a video proof on what happened:

There are NOT many video entries, if not none, that edited like I did. My video was actually inspired by Susiemeoww's cos she does this kind of edit like all the time in her dance covers. I thought it would be cool to have "more people" in my video using that kind of editing. 

One video had similar idea but it's quite obvious that it's a compilation of 3 different clips (unlike my merged style edit), so I was pretty sure that they were talking about MY VIDEO.

After hearing both Younghoon and Kevin's remarks on it, I felt like a true winner! I didn't expect anything out of this and to have idols (ones that I like), mentioning about my video.... just... beyond amazing. I feel like I've achieved my final goal as a fangirl. Legit, being noticed by an idol I like, is literally all I hoped for as a fan and I just achieved exactly that!

My mind just couldn't accept how lucky I am to be noticed like that. Thinking that among tenths of other participants, I was able to stand out to them AND made them think I was worth mentioning, is amazing to say the least. I could never have experienced something that made me as special as this did to me. Totally unexpectable and almost like a dream come true.

Here is my video performance in case any of you are curious:

Dropping by,

If you're reading this not knowing what 'Road to Kingdom' is all about, basically, it's a Kpop boy-group competition show that involves 7 groups, for them to claim the 'King' title. It's a boy-group version of Mnet's 'Queendom'. You can Google the rest.

Pretty sure I always make it clear who my bias groups are both in this blog and my Instagram stories. Because this time around is extra special with such legendary comebacks, I just feel like blogging about it.

Among all the cute things that I bought and the clothes that I shopped, I bought some of the best gifts for myself that I would like to share.

Heavy fangirling ahead!!! Read at your own cringe.

I feel like shedding a tear writing this. I never thought I would stan another group so fast since iKON. Fun fact: Infinite was my 1st, EXO was my 2nd and I kinda supported Boys Republic for a bit but they stopped promoting idk why so I kinda lost interest, then I thought I was gonna be an ahgase, but in the end I partially did (idk why my heart detoured on GOT7 hahah). So iKON is the latest stan I had since 2017.

Let me clear up some terms. So stanning a group in my dictionary means not only listen to their title songs but also listening to as much of their albums like as a daily dose of music, watching fancams on music shows and concerts, watching variety shows (loads and loads of them), started following official and fan accounts on IG, learning from the start about each of the member and actually try to love all of them... even though biases are always gonna be on top of the chart, and just finding myself crying and laughing with them.

I actually realised a lot of things about myself this time I am falling for another boy group.

1) There are not many '98 liners and with this few, I never thought I would fall for another one other than Chanwoo (iKON). Cos I always go for older guys.

2) I tend to not like or stay away from dark or 'serabut' concepts. I don't wanna name any groups but there are many that I haven't tried to listen to bcos of this fact.

3) I don't like over-hyped groups after they are hyped. I like to keep my fav idols to myself #clingy

4) It is easier to stan groups that you can feel attached through an emotional level.

5) My love can't be forced, the more I am forced into liking anyone, the more I'd hate them lol

So the group that I am stanning (pretty much hardcore at this rate) is PENTAGON!! Hahaha I haven't been opening up myself to younger groups yet. I still need to have an oppa in the group lol.

There are so many things that I love about them but let me tell you what makes me love them;

1) Their latest songs are bright and upbeat

Lately, I am so into those kind of songs. Like those saturated colours and funky outfits in their MV, it just brightens up my mood. It started from Shine (shocking much) then Naughty Boy and now SHA LA LA. I don't see myself backing out on these gems any time soon.

2) Hui reminds me of Hanbin. KINO reminds me of Donghyuk. Jinho reminds me of Jinan.

I know I shouldn't compare but I love how I see the similarities in them. FYI, Hui, KINO and Jinho are my biases and I love how they're always in a frame cos #shortpeopleprobs. But Hui and Hanbin are two (in my eyes) great and talented leaders. They are charismatic and full of ideas. A leader who leads with passion and talent, I can see their love towards their team members and that what attracts me the most.

KINO is my first bias (still is) lol. Like how Donghyuk was my first in iKON. They both look so hot dancing. I just have a soft spot for cute main dancers. KINO is another impressive soul. He is a maknae line and unlike other maknae line, he leads together with Hui and I love to have his motivation. And most of all, I love how sensitive he gets hahahah jk (not).

Jinho is another talented hyung. Like Jinan, he is what makes PENTAGON strong. He bonds all of them together and takes good care of them. I could go on and on about each of the members but I LOVE THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER. If iKON has Hanbin, Bobby and Jinhwan, Pentagon has Hui, KINO and Jinho as their main trio. I am a sucker for these trios.

And about the fact iKON had Hongseok competing in MIX & MATCH and he ended up losing. I now realised, I love Hongseok. I am sorry for all my previous misconceptions on him but I'm really glad he didn't quit. He had so much potential up his sleeves for people to see. He looks attractive on stage and he may be a terrible dancer in Pentagon, but is he a flop? NO WAY, HONGSEOK REMEMBER DANCES BETTER THAN ANY OF THE MEMBERS. Why is he even the worse dancer?! He is genuine in what he does and I love how much he is loved in Pentagon. I feel bad he didn't get in iKON but Pentagon really suits him personality-wise. He even sounds better through Pentagon's musics. Not kidding, Pentagon vocals are more suited for BTOB-kind-of-ballads, not YG-kind-of-ballads.

3) I fell for 'Genius' like how I fell for 'Climax'

I'm sorry to iKONIC and Universe, but I have more to compare them with oops. They share so many similarities which I love, so bear with me. Both self-composed songs tell about their hardships and mentions about their parents. It really softens me to hear that part of the song. It is through these songs that makes me feel connected most.

4) I don't like their old songs, but bcos they're old, I love them

This might not make perfect sense but their old songs tend to be very jumpy and have darker concepts in terms of visual, so if you ask me 2-3 years ago, whether I'd like them... I'd probably say no HAHAH. Same goes to iKON, 'Bling Bling' and 'B-DAY' was a bit too much. But if you ask me now, iKON's 'Bling Bling' and PENTAGON's 'Can You Feel It' are my ultimate jam!

5) Their performances are so fun to watch

I remember how 'Shine' was such a hit bcos of the dance and E'Dawn's makeup. I guess that time is when I realise how entertaining their dances are. Looking at 'Naughty Boy' and 'SHA LA LA', these are just some of their fun performances. 'Spring Snow' and 'Round 1' are my latest favourite performances by them. But don't worry, they had many fun performances even before I knew about them so that means, they'll have more in the future for new Universe like me!!

Their "fun" performances are really something I've never felt nor seen before. Like they have this cute vibe and strong energy that applies to every single one of them, even the expressionless Yuto on stage and that makes me so happy seeing them have that much fun. Plus their choreos are too cuteee and they're just everything that I like.

------

Yeaa that would be it for my points about these boys. I don't wanna make y'all puke from my fangirling. So now I have an update that relates to my future plan.

In case, you haven't heard, PENTAGON is having a world tour aaand Msia is not in the list (boohoo). Did you know? After they released their world tour poster, I literally searched for tweets regarding their world tour locations beforehand even though I know damn well, nobody knows about anything. I just wanted to have some glimmer of hope that they'll come here, but in the end... hmmm.

Bcos I am like falling so hard for them right now, I kinda am planning to go to their concert in Singapore instead. Don't kill me but I just had to! I told my roommate after they released the world tour locations that I might do this, but she didn't think I was being serious. And 2 weeks later, I told her about my plan and she was surprised that I was all serious. I even checked the flight tickets and all lolol. But don't worry, I found a cheaper option and I am safely planning it. I'm praying I can really do this... amiinn.

P.S. Check out my last update out of the 3. It's gonna be a big surprise ;)

In case you didn't get it, the ambassador for this year's event is none other than uri WINNER oppas omo!!

So first of all, how did I enter this contest?

I've heard about this contest on Instagram. You know the ads we all hate that creeps in our igstory and on our feeds... That's exactly how!

When I first heard of it being a video contest, I was thrilled. Because it means that I can have fun making videos again. It didn't have to be good... I just wanted to produce something for that matter. I always tell myself "there's no harm trying" and though I kept procrastinating, I ended up submitting a video. A cringe-worthy one. Tengok la if you wish to.

The idea behind that video is simple. I knew I wanted to do a dance cover, but I didn't want to do just that, since I knew most people would go for dance covers as well (that's what Korea is famous for after all). 

This year's Talk! Talk! Korea consists of 5 categories - "K-Food", "K-Music & Drama", "K-Beauty & Style", "ETC" and a special topic for this year; "Peace on the Korean peninsula". So you are allowed to submit your videos based on these categories (can apply for more than one, but they will decide which category if yours are chosen). I submitted mine for "ETC" (bcos my video had elements of Hangeul and Taekwondo) and also for "K-Music & Drama" (which I know damn well I won't a have chance in but #siscuba).

Long story short, I made it to the final 75... fighting for the grand prize, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place. Since there are 75 finalists and 5 categories, there are 15 finalists for each category. Out of the 15 people, the rankings will be determined through online voting that happens weekly and as much as 4 times. Yes, brace yourselves if you are chosen as the finalists. Simplest way to phrase it is for each category, 5 people who lost the first voting are the 5th place winners, 4 people who lost the second voting are the 4th place winner, 3 people who lost the third voting are the 3rd place winners and the last voting determines the 2nd and grand prize winners. Hope that made sense. 

How voting works? Anyone with a Facebook or Google account can vote by logging in. Vote can be cast daily (by daily I mean after 24 hours since the previous voting). So, y'all can use all your different accounts to vote for one person or even everyone. Vote counts are renewed after every voting stage. So, you must work hard to survive again and again. However, voting only results to 40% of the scores, while the other 60% is based on internal judging.

I won 3rd place meaning I competed for 3 out of 4 online votings. Honestly speaking, on the second round, my votes aren't even that high compared to others and I was really surprised for the fact that I managed to surpass that stage. It was really unexpected to go that far considering how mediocre my video was. It's either the judges liked my work more. or that the other finalists who got more votes, were illegally buying them... God knows.

My personal thoughts on this? I hate when I have to bother people and beg them to vote for me or do me any sort of favour, and this contest requires me to do just that. To my surprise, my friends (especially my uni friends) were all so supportive and I'm glad I don't have to be so secretive about that part of me during these desperate times. But on the other hand, I can't help but feel like I'm being judged and that kinda made me feel a little insecure and slightly embarrassed.

Now, is the prize worth it? This part of the story is the one you don't see upfront. Yeah the prize they are giving are cool gadgets and a trip to Korea and whatnot. But of course, the struggle to receive that prize is real as well. 

In my case, I won a PC tablet. The receiving process actually took a long time. The contest ended officially on the end of August after the final voting. I received the email saying the prize will be shipped on September and received early October. But that didn't happen because Koreans have long holidays (Chuseok a.k.a Korean Thanksgiving) in September and it's hard to ship them(?) A month later, they emailed again saying they had to postpone the shipment due to few holidays during the first and second week of October and will deliver by the end of October instead. No doubt that it's a pretty long wait but though they did not update frequently, I still appreciate them for updating us through those emails.

Once my item reaches custom on the 25th of October, I was contacted by the courier company saying I needed a permit. So one thing I wasn't aware was that electronic goods in Malaysia requires SIRIM permit and there's a lot of procedures in applying for them. Also, these extra costs aren't supported by the sender which is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Korea and had been clarified (though was too late since I settled myself) via email as I've prompted. 

It took me a week to settle the SIRIM permit and custom clearance for it to ship to my house. The main problem is the fact that I wasn't informed on the product brand and model beforehand. In order to apply for the permit, SIRIM insisted on knowing the exact product brand and model which I didn't know. As I've mentioned the sender replied to my email quite late and as the custom clearance would charge extra for longer storage time, I knew I needed to settle it soonest. In the end, I requested the courier to open the package and get the product details for me, as how my annoyed dad suggested. 

For SIRIM permit, once I told them the required details, they sent me an email of the application procedure stating they will process the application within 24 hours for walk-in but 2-3 days through email. I don't get how the system supposed to be any different but haihh. I asked my dad to do walk-in since I was still in Melaka and SIRIM is based in Shah Alam, Selangor, just so that I could get the courier to ship the product to me soonest. The courier literally called me everyday for an update on the permit. The permit was settled within the same day (walk-in at noon and received permit via email in the evening). The courier shipped the next day or so.

Additional cost on receiving the prize? RM100 for the permit and RM116 for the custom clearance (including the handling fee by the courier company). Now was it all really worth it? The tablet costed USD250 and it's LG, so wasn't the most hyped brand for a tablet. I would probably appreciate it more if it was an iPad, but sadly it wasn't. I personally don't find a tablet to be that useful since I spend most time either on my phone or laptop to do work. I don't know if I would be able to sell it off for a good price as well. 

I guess the experience was all that mattered. I love the fact I represented my country since no other Malaysian ended up being a finalist and also, my video received so many views lol. For me to be part of a global contest, made it so honorable since it doesn't happen everyday. So I'm still grateful nevertheless, but not gonna lie this contest did gave me good amount of stress ever since the constant voting until the shipment process... I'm glad it ended well, is all I can say.

Here is a video compilation of the winners for the "ETC" category;

Thank you so much for your interest if you ended up reading all that. Sorry if I wasn't being that helpful. If you are thinking of joining next year, GOOD LUCK!! I know the struggle and am truly wishing you the best! Just believe in yourself, hwaiting!

To commemorate me who spent RM380 on another concert tix recently, I would like to share a little story. 

It's called "How I Fell in Love With iKON" hahaha. Just a story I would like to relive once I grow older honestly.

The name iKON had been around for sometime. I heard of them. I guess it was when they first came to Malaysia in 2016 for their SHOWTIME tour.

I had friends who liked them. Not wanting to feel left out, I tried giving their song a listen... thinking well maybe I could've fall for them too? So I listened to 'Bling Bling' and then tried out 'Rhythm Ta', but... I just wasn't hooked. 

I disliked their vibe, it was too angsty for me. But after watching one of their interviews, one member stood out from the rest. It was Bobby. He didn't look very appealing at first. So I thought, "Meh, they're just another hip hop boy group".

*Sings Team B's 'Just Another Boy'*

Fast-forward to few months back, their existence resurfaced when I first heard 'Love Scenario'. OK that song was probably their it song bcos I know for a fact a lot of people started joining the fandom since then. Well, Hanbin had been getting more recognition ever since. #PROUDMUMMA *flick away tears*

So after hearing that song, 'Rubber Band' came along and hohoho the dark hole just grew 10X bigger, sucking all dem fangirl side in me! 

Watched their music shows and dance covers of those two songs. After a while, YouTube started recommending more and more of their content and I happened to click on their fanmade "funny moments" video. One after another, I noticed a lot of the clips were taken during their pre-debut era. It was when they were in those survival shows.

I started looking up for their songs in the show "Who Is Next: WIN" and the first one I listened to was 'Climax'. I didn't know what to expect. Later did I realised... I was tearing up. You should know, it's not easy to move people's emotions at a live stage with hundreds of people watching you. But these boys, who at that time were just trainees, did.

I didn't know much about them at that time, but hear me out when I say I can deeply feel their desperation and sincerity on what they're doing, through that song alone (which was also self-written by them).

Then after I found out they lost to Winner (Team A), it got me curious on why they DIDN'T WIN?!

From there I started watching "WIN" and honestly, I was stanning Team B (a.k.a iKON without Chanwoo) the whole time and was disappointed that they really didn't win. Their performances got such great response from the judges compared to Team A, it was almost impossible for them not to win in my opinion. I didn't have anything against Team A. I know that they tried just as hard, but still my heart wasn't convinced. I guess, the fans were. Or like some said, it was just part of YG's marketing strategy.

And you thought my curiousity would end there, noooo... I have never seen an idol being so transparent *looks at B.I* and someone so determined on something from a young age until who is now around my age. So I wanted to see more of them, that's why I started watching "Mix and Match".

Through that show, I see everyone who was in Team B just burning with the passion to win. After all, it was their second chance (after WIN) to proof themselves. Seeing them getting burn out from practicing everyday in the wee hours made me realise how hard they actually work.

Ultimately, I was inspired by the man called Hanbin (B.I). He was the leader and had qualities that not everyone possess - choreograph dances, compose music, writing lyrics while looking after the other members. He does everything and he's good at it. However, pressure never stops from trying to get him.

With the additional 3 members on top of the 6 original members to compete with, I find it to be so cruel of YG but at the same time so clever of him. Clearly, it was not easy for everyone especially B.I. Yet one thing that amazes me is how in that show, B.I's team always ended up winning after every judging. Like you can never see him lose... I was practically praying to see him lose at least once. It's impressive that no matter who is under his care, he will somehow bring the good out of them. His ability to match different member's needs is a wow factor for me. Truly reflects just how thoughtful of a person he is.

Not saying Bobby's and Jinhwan's teams are bad, in fact they couldn't have done any better, but it was obvious then, why B.I was their leader.

Also compared to during "WIN", Team B had B.I as their leader despite them being the younger group while for Team A, YG had to make the decision during the show itself. Not saying they aren't competent (Seungyoon and Mino are GREAT), but instead just see how incredible B.I is.

Oddly enough, after me marathoning their survival programs which actually ended on 2015 when they debut. The 2018 me was blessed with another news - "iKON TV". I wasn't a YG stan so I didn't know all the previous groups had their own 'TV' but merely the fact that I will get a weekly update after just founding out about them already made me beyond THRILLED! I didn't even have to wait, I was already late lol.

iKON TV has brought a new image of them because they seemed more relax. But can't deny the fact B.I is still as hardworking as ever (when will I ever be like that). Within that short period of time, I fell in love with all 7 of them. It started from Donghyuk but ended with ChanBin.

Then not long after iKON TV, their summer variety show called "Summertime" came into picture. I wonder how their schedule is like... they're already so busy as it is!

Bringing up the reason for this post is because roughly a month ago, YG announced iKON's next WORLD TOUR and guess what? Malaysia pon ada!! Macam tahu-tahu je YG. And few weeks ago, I bought a ticket to their concert here in Kuala Lumpur huhuhu I so hepi, but my bank account aren't.

Even though the system was very inconvenient and my payment card was rejected like 10 times (God knows why TicketCharge is like dis), a junior's friend managed to successfully secure our tickets! Thank God!

To sum up this whole post, iKON is like my current motivation plus entertainment... like who can resist their variety mess? And B.I will always be pabo Hanbin, who shall never stop pabo-ing and I shall love him anyway.

Sooo that's the end of my ramble. I shall see you in my iKONTINUE tour blog post soon (insyaAllah). Kbye.

Dropping by,

Melynn.

Should I start with a salam so people would know I'm a Muslim lol

Assalamualaikum y'all. I did not title it wrongly. I did went to A DANCE CLASS... EEEKKK!! I think one of my new year's resolution is to probably dance more and kinda sweat more, since I've been so lazy at home.

There's a place in town and they were having some kpop trial dance class near my place so Ka Mun and I decided to try joining. There were 2 kpop dance classes happening on Saturdays which is 10am-11am and 2pm-3pm. Since neither of us have transportation in the morning, we decided to go to the afternoon one. 

It's just a simple dance studio quiet spacious for us today since there were only 5 people in the room. Ka Mun and I being the newbies. We simply registered for the trial class but weren't planning to join for good. 

We looked up their fb page for more info and I gotta say that most people who visits here are Chinese. Not being racist or whatever but I kinda feel the need to not make it so stereotypical as if dancing (modern dances / kpop) is a bad thing for a Muslim in hijab. Well, it depends on the movements as in no worshiping of some sort and shouldn't be overly seductive but ofc, the purpose plays a big role (your niat or intention) but you see, it's all good as long as I'm not against my own belief. I don't know why society makes me feel like the odd one out here.

For the one hour class, we learnt like a 10 sec move? We were dancing to K.A.R.D's Oh NaNa. We started from the chorus and it was the body wave. So basically we did body wave. I kinda wing it since I have no trouble with body waves. Except for the part where I used my shoulders instead of chest and that is what I got corrected on. But overall a good experience bcos I actually got complimented huehuehue.

The instructor clapped when I first did the body wave (awwhh) and as I got the hang of it, she said "Wah, not bad. You got potential!" and she was pointing when she was talking to me in English. Everyone else is Chinese so she was speaking in Chinese while teaching them. 

I feel so great about it ahhh /blush

But the classes are so short and not quiet worth it. It's like RM100 for 4 classes and an hour for each. I might as well self-taught myself through YouTube videos. But nevertheless, it's more fun dancing together in front of the mirror so you can see yourself and vain along hahah.

I guess that's all I'd like to share here... So til next time, ta-ta /bye

Dropping by,

Melynn.