reminder that supporting the comeback (ESPECIALLY financially) has a huge risk of backfiring on the girls. any money that BBC earn from this comeback could very well be used against the nine girls that filed injunctions for lawyers. another reminder that boycotting the comeback will not harm the girls personally. we know they do not get paid anyway. we know 9 out of 12 members that filed the injunctions are boycotting fab. that speaks volumes. there is a very high chance that none of the girls want to be doing this. do not give that corrupt company a single fucking penny.

Idolizing Imperfection: The Ancient Allusions of 'Midas Touch' - KISS OF LIFE (an essay)

I have missed writing kpop essays so much and after watching the new Kiss of Life MV, I couldn't resist doing a scene by scene (with some lyrics) breakdown of the allusions to ancient mythology - (there are lots of other modern references, especially to Britney Spears, but the ancient ones are what I will be focusing on here, believe me there is more than enough to talk about.) I don't have any official qualifications surrounding this field (yet), but I am studying classical civilization and roman literature for a qualification, and I have a long time obsession with Greek mythology especially. Obviously all of these are my interpretations, this is not a definite guide to what exactly the creative direction team at S2 Ent. were thinking about for this comeback, and if you think I missed something or have a different interpretation of one of the scenes, please let me know in the reblogs/comments.

Let’s begin with the title of the track, ‘Midas Touch’. It references the Greek myth of King Midas, who (according to Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’) after winning the favour of the god Dionysus, was granted any wish he desired. Midas chose the ability to make everything he touched turn into gold, a wish driven by greed. Midas revelled in his new found powers, but the problems arose when he realised that all food he touched would be turned to gold too - he had condemned himself to starve to death. The myth is essentially a cautionary tale about the effects of greed; Midas is a tragic hero that brought about his own suffering due to his hamartia (tragic flaw) - his blessing becomes his curse. Today, having a ‘midas touch’ means that everything you are involved with is successful, but the main association of Midas with greed still remains. In the context of the song, KOL are saying that a relationship with them, although destined to end in tragedy, would be worth it for the ‘gold’ they can bring - “위험할수록 재밌잖아” (“The more dangerous it is, the more fun it is”).  Midas may have died a tragic death, but his time alive was quite literally golden. Still, it feels slightly odd that KOL are associating themselves with someone so flawed - an idol should be the image of perfection, and in this way, the meaning of the song becomes quite subversive on a meta level. Keep this interpretation in the back of your mind, we will return to it later.

Within the music video itself, each of the four members are given solo scenes that I believe allude to different women of Greek mythology. Julie is first, depicted lying on a blush pink velvet heart with gold embellishments, shell and heart shaped boxes littered around her. The composition of the framing, as well as the beach imagery seems to allude to Boticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’, linking Julie with Aphrodite/Venus, the goddess of love. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is seen as beautiful beyond compare, but is also often characterised as highly vain and self absorbed. After hearing that some Greeks had begun to worship the ludicrously beautiful mortal woman Psyche instead of her, (and also out of protection of her son Eros to whom Psyche was married), she sent Psyche on a series of impossible trials designed to kill her, so she could remain the most beautiful. Once again, KOL compare themselves to people in the ancient world who were famously flawed.

Natty is seen next, intertwined with glittering spider webs. This is perhaps a reference to the tale of Arachne, a mortal woman who was highly skilled at weaving. She boasted that her skills were greater than Athena herself, the goddess of handicraft (and many other things), and Athena transformed her into a spider as punishment for her hubris (excessive pride). Like the tale of King Midas, Arachne’s story also centres around a fatal flaw bringing your own downfall, and like Midas and Aphrodite, Arachne is not typically remembered fondly within Greek Mythology canon.

Perched on a half dress, half throne that resembles a peacock, Belle is seen next. Originally I wasn’t certain who was being referenced here, but after some research I believe it may be Hera, although if you have another interpretation here I would love to hear it. Hera, the goddess of marriage and fertility, queen of the gods, and wife to Zeus, is affiliated with peacocks as they are one of her sacred animals, and are said to pull her chariot like horses. Hera is also, like Aphrodite, a goddess often portrayed in a negative light in mythology, repeatedly characterised as jealous and spiteful. A famous example of this is when Hera sent two snakes to strangle Heracles/Hercules, the illegitimate son of her husband Zeus, out of spite and jealousy for the boy’s mortal mother. Whether Hera had a right to be annoyed at her husband’s repeated adultery is another discussion, but generally speaking, when Hera is in a myth, she is often the villain.

Finally, we see Haneul, perched upon a corinthian style column (we love a greek column) surrounded by severed heads on spikes, a clearly war ridden scene. This is the allusion I am the least confident about, but I think perhaps she is supposed to be Helen of Troy? Helen is famous for being the catalyst for the Trojan War (perhaps this is the war scene she sits within?), she is the ‘face that launched a thousand ships’. Depending on the source, Helen is either a victim, kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris, or she was seduced and went willingly, abandoning her Greek husband King Menelaus. The second seems to be the accepted narrative among many Roman authors, with writers such as Martial (in Epigrams 1.62) portraying her as the polar opposite of Penelope, who was seen as the image of loyalty. As a result, Helen is commonly portrayed as disloyal and unfaithful, the opposite of what an ideal woman in the ancient world was supposed to act like.

In their group scenes, there is also SO MUCH Medusa imagery - with snakes crawling all over their faces and hissing at the camera, and half broken stone statues littered here and there. As I am sure you are probably aware, Medusa is very much a villain in the myths she is depicted in, and despite modern reevaluations of her story (that I agree with) portraying her as a victim, in the primary sources, she is essentially an evil monster for Perseus to destroy - her death marks Perseus’s ascension to hero status.

So why oh why are KOL comparing themselves to figures so flawed? In their previous releases, especially their first comeback with ‘Bad News’, the girls are depicted trying to fix injustices in society - they expose corruption in corporations, they combat casual misogyny and sexual harassment, and they call out bullying and abuse. In ‘Midas Touch’ I believe they continue their addressing of injustices and double standards, this time with a focus on the idol industry, their own stomping ground. In the kpop industry, idols are expected to be perfect in every way - beautiful, highly skilled, never controversial, and loyal to their fans. Should an idol fail to uphold these impossible standards, they are relentlessly punished, especially if the idol is a woman. Last month, Karina’s earnest apology to ‘fans’  for falling in love exposed how ludicrous the standards are to the world, and other idols like Sakura, Wonyoung, and Jennie, continue to get bullied on a daily basis for not meeting all of the bars the industry sets them. A kpop idol should be talented, but never show off, they should be beautiful and care about their looks but never be vain, confident but never egotistical, and driven by passion, not the desire for fame and money. It’s all fucking impossible, especially when what constitutes being called the second traits is utterly arbitrary and depends on how many people woke up on stan twitter and decided they didn’t like you that day. In ‘Midas Touch’ KOL calls this out by openly depicting themselves with the traits that kpop stans hate - Julie is Aphrodite, beautiful but vain, Natty is Arachne, talented but boastful, Belle is Hera, confident but jealous, Haneul is Helen, influential but disloyal, and they all are Midas, spurred on by greed instead of passion. They recognise that these accusations are unavoidable, and by reclaiming the imagery of these symbols of undesirable traits, they call out and reject the standards the idol industry places upon them. Like Medusa, they may be seen by many fans as a villain, a hurdle for their favourite groups that have more promotion and budget to overcome on their way to the top, but in actuality, they are victims of an industry desperate to mould them into products to be bought and sold. I’ve seen lots of discussion online about what KISS OF LIFE’s concept is, as it seems to vary every comeback, but after ‘Midas Touch’ I am led to believe that their concept is rebellion, against society, idol culture, and the things they deem as wrong in the world. Other groups have  done concepts similar in the past, such as LOONA in ‘Butterfly’ (you really thought I wasn’t going to bring them up at some point?? Are you new here??) but KOL is doing it explicitly, and consistently, and to me, that's very exciting. The kpop industry is ever changing, and with the foundations of the new 5th generation being established as we speak, perhaps KOL could cause it to change for the better. In summary, I am SO excited to see what they do next.

That honestly took a turn I wasn’t fully expecting at the end, but I hope you enjoyed regardless - I didn’t really talk about the actual song here, but I fucking loved it, and my full review will be part of my April monthly roundup - see previous installments on my masterlist. I encourage all of you to listen to ‘Midas Touch’ if you haven’t already, congratulations KISS OF LIFE for graduating nugudom, stream Birth by ARTMS, stan loona, and prepare for the loossemble comeback - lmk if you have any thoughts on my analysis or any other interpretations, or any topics you want me to write an essay on. cya next time ~ ari

Team Subbits' translation of Chuu's Dispatch Exclusive, edited highlights (full document here)

ׁ   ׅ  𝗉𝗋𝖾𝗍𝗍𝗒 𝖽𝗈𝗅𝗅  ౨ৎ  ✿

orbits lets support hunnies in their boycott too!!! as a fandom who successfully launched a boycott, we are very supportive of the fifty fifty fan union

LOONA (1/3) Love&Live (BOYCOTT) 1080p

k*ll bbc

DO NOT SUPPORT THIS COMEBACK

i am reposting specifically to help in the efforts AGAINST blockberry creative. these are the recent teaser pictures for loonas last second comeback: O.

1) the girls have been as clear as possible that they do not want to take part in this comeback and that they are being forced to under contract. specifically haseul and hyunjin have directly communicated with orbits to confirm that the girls are doing their best to boycott without breaking contract.

2) this comeback was completely last second thrown together with no mind put toward cohesiveness and quality. it’s suspected that all of the songs are former rejected loona songs that have been sitting in the dungeon for years. B.U.R.N is suspected to be the cut title track from the # album. Flash is credited with MonoTree, a composer who loona has specifically not worked with for years at this point. BBC is instead framing this as them finally giving orbits what they wanted but it’s not true.

3) the teaser photo shoot was almost certainly shot about a day before it was released. orbits quickly noticed that choerry’s nails matched nails that she had gotten only 4 days prior to the post meaning that the photoshoot couldn’t have been taken more than 4 days in advance. furthermore, the first teaser video we received was proven to be made up of entirely stock footage that can be found easily on shutter stock which is comical.

4) the girls have been very clear that they haven’t been paid once since debut so the boycott doesn’t hurt them at all. we’re trying to free them from this financial debt BBC has forced them into.

if you are an orbit or casual loona fan, please do not support this comeback. this means not supporting any media directly posted by BBC including teasers, and clips. there are many reposts on the internet including the posts that i will be making. avoid streaming loona on any official platforms for the time being (i temporarily removed all loona songs from my playlists). and do not post anything with the songs on the album when they release.

the boycott is going so well and we have the chance to free all 12 girls! good luck orbits 🫡

Just so we’re all clear, the LOONA ladies do not want this comeback.

Not only did Hyunjin use FAB to show her displeasure, but the nine members seeking contract termination have cited a breadown of trust between them and management - they may love their fans (in the way artists appreciate those who praise their work) but comeback activities will only be a source of stress.

If you want to support LOONA, send positive messages. Start twitter trends to let people know that they’re wonderful but not to stream because the money will certainly go to their abusive company. Do tiktok covers for all I care. But do not give a dime for their comeback.

good morning.

so yeah today an orbit hacked the 'this is artms' spotify playlist and changed the cover and title in protest of modhaus using ai art in artms's upcoming debut teasers

i love this fandom

Please take part in LOONA UNION's petition collection here, which will be used by LOONA's team of lawyers to help secure their freedom. This petition collection was created with the advice of the law firm representing LOONA, and will be used in the court of law to express the consumer's loss of trust in Blockberry Creative.

being an orbit means having to go through one of the most ridiculous career trajectories in kpop. i mean, we really have been through the most

don’t buy loona’s seasons greetings. we are still boycotting. just because the comeback was cancelled does not mean we are done orbits