Book Events
As I cruise into the world of trying to make writing my full-time gig (somewhat part time as I would like to be a SAHM) I know one thing is very important. Putting yourself out there. That statement technically covers two things. Putting your books out there and putting YOURSELF out there.
While social media is the biggest way for you to put everything out there for the world to see, one other effective way is book events.
I have mentioned several times since restarting my writing of this blog how I always guess my life plans incorrectly. Book events are no different.
The only signings I had ever done were the ones at the end of the LSF Writers conferences I was a part of. My mom has traveled the country going to different events throughout her 20+ years in the business and I always thought it was so cool! When I was younger, I would join her to the RWA conferences she would go to, and I never really got to experience them because I was young and so my dad would take me around the cities we visited while my mom was at the conference.
Last year I finally got to go to a readers’ conference with my mom as her assistant. It was such a different type of world than a writers’ conference. There was such a production to make the magic of book worlds come to life in the real world for the readers. It was freaking cool to put it bluntly.
After going to that one I decided I wanted to go to one as an author and not just my mom’s assistant. And I started small and somewhat local. A Day (or two) of Wine, Romance and More is hosted by a dear friend to me and the LSF Writers organization Roz Lee. Every May for the last 9 years she has invited around 60 authors to participate in the signing event. And last year was the first year she asked me to join! I was so excited because it really was my first dip into the world of book events. Reader-centric events to be most specific.
I had an amazing time and sold so many books! More than I ever thought I would. I even met a woman who loved K-dramas and K-pop so she was shocked and excited to find me and my books. I knew that at the end of the second day I wanted to come back AND I wanted to do more book events.
Now here is the truth about a lot of these events. If you’re a small indie author, like me, you’re most likely not going to make money. You might break even and that is actually fantastic!
This is where that whole putting yourself out there comes into play. Someone may not have purchased your book at the event, but most authors come with ‘swag’. AKA: free stuff to give to readers in the hopes they will keep it, use it, and inevitably remember the author and purchase their books. Usually, mine consists of Korean candies and Korean instant coffee sticks with some photocards of my book covers. And people love it! I will say at this last event I did see an uptick in sales after the event and I want to guess that it was from those swag grabbers.
Now I need to take a bigger step if my goal is to keep growing as an author and again make this something I can do full time. That means stepping out of the local/statewide books events and traveling to bigger book events.
I have applied for and have been accepted to two as of now. One in 2025 and one in 2026. I know that seems far away but these things can take years to come together and can take years to get accepted into.
I know that going out of state is going to cost more which means the amount of books I would need to sell would need to nearly double to make it monetarily successful, but I also know I need to step out of the comfort zone of local events and venture to places where people don’t know me. That makes me nervous and excited, which makes me happy. So here is to the next few years and the next few books!
Wish me luck!
My Writing Journey (So Far)
Whenever I mention I have published a few books, people tend to ask me how I got into writing. Was it that I just all of a sudden knew it was what I wanted to do or had I been planning to write for a long time? The truth is my journey started rather young and not in a million years did I think I would be doing what I’m doing now. Let’s begin shall we.
I started writing at the age of 10. Journal entries that are so cringy whenever I happen to pick the journal up to read an entry I think what a simple childhood I had. And also, can I go back to that simpler time? Yes, I still have my journals. I have kept them all. My first ever journal was a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen journal. (I know that dates me, but I’m pretty sure we all know I’m old.)
Those journal entries soon blossomed from the everyday what happened in school or at practice to what if I had said or done something differently? How would my life, my story, have changed? Journal entries were no longer journal entries. I ignored my real life to instead dive into a fantasy world I had created. Where the boy I had a crush on did actually like me back. (I sound like Tina from Bob’s Burgers and her erotic friend fiction.)
I would scribble the night away and when my mom would come into my room to say goodnight, she would ask what I was writing about and I would quickly slam the journals shut and say she couldn’t read it. And the reason my mom would have an interest was because at the time she had recently started her book publishing journey.
When her first book was published, I used to go to her book signings a lot and watch in awe at how she could get people to stop and pick up her books as she explained the story with such an affection for her characters that it could convince total strangers to read her works. I saw the good and the bad. The people picking up the book, excited to purchase and the people who picked the book up only to place it back down and move on. I saw the good days when she sold a bunch of books and I saw the bad days when she didn’t sell any. But on both days the one thing I saw most was her resilience. And now almost 30 years later, and the cool ass title of being a NYT Best Seller, she still keeps putting herself and her amazing works out into the world.
I never thought I would be a published author. Sounds crazy as I have 4 Korean books, 1 romantasy book, and 1 short story published and out in the world, but up until I was about 20 years old all my writing, I kept to myself. And the only reason anyone saw my stories was when a college friend stole my journal one night because she wanted to know what I was writing. Yeah, not the best approach but when she came back with my journal in her hand she said, “I need to know what happens next.”
I was surprised I had drawn someone in like that, especially when I thought it was just brainstorming on paper. I continued to write and she continued to read. Once out of college I chose to anonymously put myself out there on the wonderful world of Wattpad. Yep. I was a fanfic writing girlie. I would reach out to all these other fan fic writers that I liked to beg them to read my stuff. Most of them ignored my messages but there were a few who responded and read my stories and ended up enjoying the things I wrote.
One of those people, who I still consider a friend, even inspired the romantasy book I have out now. Gray, if you read this, hope you’re doing well and thank you for letting me create #graykub!
Before that she helped me create a story on Wattpad. A story that was my one big success on the site. I had reached close to one million reads and people begging for new chapters faster than I could push them out. That was the first time I felt proud of my writing. And it was the first time I felt confident enough to share my writing with the one person who had always asked what it was I was writing.
When I showed my mom she started reading the first chapter and asked, “You wrote this?”
I nodded my head and she followed her question up with, “You need to publish this.”
And so, with a lot of help from my mom, I did. Now I won’t share this book or title with y’all because I am no longer proud of the book. However, I do plan to edit and restructure it so that down the road I will in fact put it back out into the world and share it with you once again.
After that, I continued to write for myself. I had the thought, “Well I did it. I published a book. I can cross it off the bucket list.”
But the world would have much crazier plans for me.
When I got into K-dramas and K-pop I never thought it would bring me to where I am today. I started watching and decided I wanted to learn the language. And when I started I found the ‘normal’ way of learning really didn’t work for me. It was meant to be fun and engaging but I was bored and ended up losing interest fast.
I noticed that I was able to pick up words and phrases from watching the K-dramas I had become obsessed with and so I would repeat those and would speak the into a translator that would give me the 한글 .
And as I continued, I started writing again but my lead males became Korean. If they’re Korean, they will need to obviously speak Korean. That forced me to get cracking on my Korean. When I began to throw the words into the stories, I would leave myself footnotes on the pages. That was when I had the lightbulb moment. Other people could learn this way.
I had written most of Seoul Searching when I went to a writers’ conference and decided I would throw my hat into the pitching ring. Every single editor and agent said no. One even said “Why Korean? Who wants to learn Korean?”
While I was upset, it didn’t stop me. I instead said, “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” Which is how this site, Korean From Context, was born. I would try and post chapters weekly, as well as build a blog about K-dramas I was watching (which I def want to get back into) and K-pop concerts I was attending (I would love to but this one might be tougher). All aspects of the site would try and teach Korean in a way that had you not even realizing you were learning.
How did this get me into the world of actually publishing my books? Glad you totally asked. I went to KCON in NYC in 2019 to cover it for this site. As I was sat in the press room with some other people making sure all my stuff was fully charged, I had a woman come and sit with us and happily started chatting and she asked who I wrote for. I went into a very long-winded story about my site and in my head I was screaming, “STOP TALKING AND ASK WHO SHE WRITES FOR!”
I finally did shut up and asked to which her response was, “Forbes.”
To say my jaw dropped is an understatement. But what she followed up with nearly had me fall back onto the floor because I had surely died.
She said, “I love the concept of your site, I would love to interview you for an article if that’s ok with you.”
IF THAT’S OK WITH ME?!? Of course it was! And so she did. Korean From Context was featured on the Forbes website and she even asked when I planned to publish the book so she could write about it then as well. That got people to my Instagram and to my website where I had people begging for the next chapters and asking when it would be a book they could hold in their hands.
The plan was to release the book for a limited time, sell some preorders with special gifts, and call it a day. Once again, my ideas never seem to be what actually happens. Here we are a few years later, 4 books published and another who knows how many coming soon.
So yeah, that has been my writing journey thus far. I am so excited to see where it takes me next! And I hope you will continue to follow along!
Our Top 10 BL Drama Kisses (WARNING! 18+ content)
We have had a rough few days if we are being totally honest. Coronavirus has taken a toll on our lives and those we care about. We are taking life day by day and trying to find some positives during this time. We are putting our Travel NYC Like____ series on hold, for obvious reasons, and we have been trying to figure out something to do instead for the time being. Getting side tracked we began talking about our favorite things. And listing them in top 5-10 lists. And that’s when we came up with the idea to make lists of our favorite things to remind us of what makes us happy and hopefully try and make you happy as well.
Enjoy!
*Sips some coffee* Good day, (not sure what time is will be when you read this so just going with day here) if you’ve been following us for awhile you know our guilty pleasure. If not, here is where we introduce you to some of the best of what we not so secretly lust for.
Welcome to our top ten BL kisses. BL? What’s BL? Simple. Boys Love. BL. And for us it has become part of our everyday life. On Mondays we still crave boba tea (a shoutout to TharnType), and we crave Lays potato chips on Tuesdays (Shout out to Until We Meet Again), and lately on Fridays we really want to start getting into playing the guitar (Shout out to BOTH 2gether and WHY R U).
Now let’s start off with…none of these are Korean, but one does have a korean actor in it, but there are some Korean BL’s out there. We just haven’t watched enough.
We watch several series, and then re-watch to get our fix. After all the watching and re-watching, we go to Instagram where @blworld1 feeds us even more bits and introduces us to new shows and then @mochiigun for all the adorable and NSFW edits.
Just when we think we have had enough we realize we’ve lied to ourselves. We still need more and so we go to our phones and read 만화 (Manwha – Korean version of manga). We will also possibly talk about some of those in an article as well.
We are dedicated to attractive men loving on each other. We think it stemmed from fandoms coupling up members of bands. And not just K-pop. Even One Direction had Larry.
Let’s crack on to the list shall we.
10. Because Of You 2020, JunCheng & Lin Xun: We are starting off soft and sweet. This kiss is just that. It warms the heart when JunCheng professes his love for Lin Xun to the woman who raised the man he loves. He screams it at the ocean, as the mother passed and Lin Xun threw her ashes into the ocean so he could easily visit her. (cue the cuteness)
Come on this is adorable! 9. Until We Meet Again, Win &Team: We didn’t follow this show religiously. In all honesty, we skipped to the scenes that mattered. Which were any with Win and Team. The bad boy with tattoos and a rough exterior but a heart of gold, and the fresh new innocent meat, who totally deserved their own dang series, were more entertaining than the main couple. (this is all our opinion so please don’t come for us. We respect everyone in the show, but everyone has their favorites) They had such a natural feeling relationship. And anytime Win smiled all we could think was, “What that mouth do?” What it does is leave little love bites on our Team for the whole world to see.
add captions to see just how lovely this scene really is. 8. HIStory Crossing the Line, Zi Xuan & Yu Hao: This was the first HIStory season we watched. In fact, it was what got us in BL dramas. They gave us such heart clenching, butterflies in the stomach that we needed more and were sad to see their story come to an end. But this kiss was such a happy lighthearted love that we fell in love with BL.
Why is it so sexy when the glasses come off to make out more? 7. WHY R U?, Fighter &Tutor: This is not the last time you will see these names on this list. They have been serving so many good kiss scenes and the series, as this is being written, isn’t even over. This particular kiss had us screaming and throwing our pillows because one thing we always said was Fighter’s Adam’s apple was so prominent that it was really sexy. And guess who agrees? TUTOR AND HIS MOUTH! We screamed, and we mean do mean SCREAMED.
That Adam’s Apple got the holiest of treatments. 6. THARNTYPE The Series, Tharn & Type: This show kind of fell of the rails near then end for us, BUT there is a second season coming so let’s hope they can redeem themselves. That being said, their ‘first time’ scene was one for the books. Tharn explaining to Type that you don’t simply just get to it, but you take your time to enjoy your partner, really did send us. Throw in his ice foreplay…and well…we melted almost as quick as that ice cube passing between their mouths.
Tharn really makes Type want those kisses after a little coercion. 5. Love By Chance, Tin & Can: A couple that at the end of the show, still wasn’t really a couple had a very adorable and sensual kiss. You could see that while at first Can really was against the kiss, he found it enjoyable and even asked for more of Tin’s kisses. While the second season will be the last BL drama for the actor who plays Tin, we can still go back to this kiss, and hopefully the ones that will come in this upcoming season.
Swipe that lip boy. SWIPE IT! 4. HIStory 3 Make Our Days Count, Xi Gu & Hao Ting: This was the first BL that made us sob ugly tears. It had a devastating ending, so if you plan to watch, keep that in mind. These men had one of the best relationship growths in our limited BL drama knowledge. And when Hao Ting decided to make his big move, the shock was that Xi Gu took the initiative. The scrawny little bottom chose to kiss the big muscular guy straddling him. And what was even more intriguing was Hao Ting not only going along with it but then nervously giving the go ahead to Xi Gu to continue what he’s was doing. The biggest of OOF’s
Is it just us or does the cupping of the cheeks makes this hit the feels even more? 3. WHY R U? Saifah & Zon: We clearly have a thing for sexy kisses…we are hard stans after all, however this kiss was much more tender and cute. Saifah and Zon’s relationship stemmed from their growing friendship as they had to work together but even as they were friendly, you could see their was a lot more flirtation as the friendship grew. And when Saifah said that Zon had his heart?!?! Forget it! We curled into the fetal position and wept at the adorable-ness.
Seriously grab a neck and brush a cheek and we are sold on the kiss! 2. THARNTYPE The Series, Tharn & Type: Yeah, yeah. We know. If we didn’t like this series that much why do they hold two spots? WELL…after skipping past the drama that didn’t seem to make much sense to us, we did want to watch their final special episode and boy are we sure glad we did. This was the ending we wanted from day one! The scene starts with no backgwound music, just some crickets so the ASMR of the making out is PRIME! When we watched Tharn lift Type and we couldn’t tell which one let out the light moan, we groaned. And then when they fell onto the bed and Tharn says hes gonna show Type how he’s gonna be a husband, our groan became an outright howl! Boi!! D-E-A-D!
If Type wasn’t such a dbag for most of the show we probably would’ve liked it more…but this makes up for it a bit. 1. WHY R U?, Fighter & Tutor: Yes they are back for the #1 spot on this list because that’s how good we find this couple’s chemistry. This is their ‘first night’ scene and boy does Tutor’s lustful looks give him a such a powerful vibe. And Fighter, who was nervous at first definitely fed off the sexual energy to give the best bed scene we’ve watched. The actor who plays Tutor had been in Love By Chance, and tbh his chemistry with his partner their is nothing like this show.
So there you have our top 10 BL kisses. We hope you enjoy and hope you watch the series and send all the actors love. If you have any kind of questions on where to watch, or who the actors are, feel free to hit us up on Instagram (@koreanfromcontext) or Twitter (@koreanfrmcntxt).
Travel NYC like Kino and Hong-seok of PENTAGON
We truly must thank idols for going to places we have always wanted to go, but never had reason to go near. While we might’ve complained about one or two locations, even we have to admit we had some fun in Times Square.
We digress. New York is known for the many different bridges that go in and out of all the boroughs. The Verrazano, The Manhattan, George Washington, and even the Outerbridge Crossing. But one seems to have grown in popularity in recent years. And a lot of idols have made this place a stop on their trips.
Cue PENTAGON.
Now we did say a lot of other idols have gone to this particular spot, including Ren of N’uest and all the ‘members’ of PLT, to name a few but we chose Pentagon as we had found certain spots they had chosen to photograph the famous location in a more artistic way.
Fun Fact: we are not as artistic, and had to work with the maddening crowds of a gorgeous summer day, and couldn’t wait until the middle of the night because we were on a time crunch as Sammie had gotten sick as a dog half way through the day.
Just over a mile long, and one of the oldest suspension bridges in the US, the Brooklyn Bridge is where not only cars can cross from Brooklyn to Manhattan, but above the cars is a pedestrian walkway and bike path. And it is the site that, by cloak of night, Hong-seok and Kino chose to visit in their short time in NY.
We loved walking the expanse as the wind cooled out heated skin. The contrasting views of downtown Manhattan and the ever-growing DUMBO area of Brooklyn sitting at opposite ends of the bridge, is fascinatingly beautiful.
We do plan to explore the spot at night very soon so we can say we traveled NYC exactly like Hong-seok and Kino of PENTAGON
Travel NYC like Seungmin and Hyunjin of Stray Kids
Stray Kids went a lot of different places while being here in New York. And since they’re coming back NEXT WEEK, we decided to do one more before they arrive. Some of the spots we loved (Like when they visited The Roxy hotel, and DUMBO) and some we legitimately try to stay as far away from as possible (like Penn Station and now this new spot).
This spot is actually somewhere we had talked about and been to when ASTRO came to town. Yes, that’s correct. We went back to Times Square. JUST. FOR. YOU! To a section we actually have never even been close to if we’re being honest. We had seen it in videos, pictures, and we knew where it was but since it was in Times Square we avoided it like the plague.
Famous from the Alicia Keys and Jay-Z music video for “Empire State of Mind” those bright red stairs actually hold TKTS, an infamous Broadway ticket selling broker. We say infamous because they say they sell tickets cheap, when really they are the same, if not more than face value for the tickets. Fun fact if you come to NY and want to see a show…don’t go there.
The spot has now become an Instagram mecca for the tourists who come to see Times Square. And the boys of Stray Kids hopped on that bandwagon. And what they do, we do. And we have to admit…
It was pretty cool. Actually really cool. Yes, we will admit that something in Times Square was worth going to see. Between Broadway and 7TH Ave, on 47th St. you will find these large red stairs to climb up and see the enormity of Times Square. And you can snap your shot and check another location off your list as you have now travelled like Seungmin and Hyunjin of Stray Kids.
Travel NYC like Hong Joong of ATEEZ
Ever have a day where you crave a food so bad that nothing else but that exact meal, in that exact restaurant will do? Well the day we found a spot Hong Joong had walked past was one of those days. And what we craved were steamed rice rolls down on Canal St.
During a usual summer lunch break at work, we loved going for nice walks in the areas of the city we hadn’t fully explored. We would always stumble on a cool new shop with amazing clothing, or a free experience like a traveling double decker bus decked out like a forest.
But that day we were on a mission. To get rice rolls. We knew about the Canal St Marketplace and all the amazing food and shopping (including a k-pop shop) it had to offer. And while one of us craved steamed rice rolls, the other craved to find this gem of a restaurant tucked away on the streets of SOHO. So we struck a deal with each other. One of us got the rice rolls, the other got her picture like Hong Joong.
Near one of our favorite rice pudding joints (yes that is a real thing), Balthazar is a French restaurant on Spring St. We haven’t eaten there yet but maybe now we will after we’ve wrapped up a day of traveling NYC like Hong Joong of ATEEZ.
Travel NYC Like Sang Yeon, Jacob, and Sun Woo of The Boyz
We were hype when KCON NY 2019 announced one of our fav rookie groups, The Boyz, were performing. We were even more hype that The Boyz made the absolute most of their trip to NY. They traveled up and down the city, and even into the borough of Brooklyn. We find it funny how ‘hip’ Brooklyn has become in the last ten or so years.
We’ve grown up going to Brooklyn as a couple of us have family there. When we told our families that these kpop idols keep coming to the area they laugh. And when we told Sammie’s mother where we were going to take pictures of this location her eyes went wide with worry.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead there…actually I would probably end up dead there,” she explained, not making us feel all that great about making the trek up that way. But after doing our research we found that the area has definitely changed since her mother had lived in any of the boroughs.
The area of Brooklyn, named Bushwick, is now filled with breweries, beer gardens, restaurants, and insane street art. Seriously, the street art covers almost all the old factories now turned hipster shops, and apartments. This was another location we could’ve spent an entire day and not gotten enough pictures.
This corner we shot was a part of their “D.D.D” music video. There are actually several locations in the vicinity of this particular one. We will cover those in future articles.
Like The Roxy, where Stray Kids visited, this awesome crossroads is three street corner mish mosh. The intersection is Troutman St., Scott Ave., and St. Nicholas Ave.
We enjoyed living out a Beatle’s crossing Abbey Road scenario to get this photo and we hope you will too when you travel NYC like Sang Yeon, Jacob, and Sun Woo of The Boyz.
Travel NYC like Many K-pop Idols
While on our Travel NYC Like ___ journey, we knew this next place was a definite must see! From all the pictures we had seen of so many different idols making the spot a stop on their NYC travels the place was a no brainer.
ATEEZ shooting a dance practice video The spot we’re talking about today is a setting that we have seen many a k-pop idol frequent. Not even just K-pop idols like Stray Kids, and ATEEZ, but K-drama actors, like our boy Woo Do Hwan, who inspired Hwan Soo in Seoul Searching, jokingly, made a stop here.
Woo Do Hwanss funny insta post at the famous location This was another location that we had always seen and wanted to go to, but never actually went. But as we drew up the plans for this series, it was one of the top on our list. Rather easy to find, and not actually in Manhattan but in the borough of Brooklyn, we found this gem of a location.
Stray Kids during one of their challenges Located at the intersection of Washington and Water St. in the area lovingly named DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass), is where you will find this picturesque setting. Settled between the cobblestone streets and old brick factories now converted to shops and apartments, it has a view of the Manhattan Bridge so breathtaking it’s no surprise why idols make the trip.
Sammie and E. enjoying their day at the gorgeous area of DUMBO We felt like we could’ve spent all day stood in that intersection. The lighting changed with every passing cloud, and the sun dipping back down to bring on the moon, and we wanted to stay to witness it all. We unfortunately had a lot more ground to cover and we had to sadly move on. Maybe we will hit it up once again and spend all the time we had planned. And maybe we will even see you there while you take amazing, Instagram worthy photos and enjoy your travel like many kpop (and K-drama) idols.
Sammie wishing she could dance along with ATEEZ (Actually just wishing she could dance) PLT make fans Go Holic in NJ
White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, NJ was once again packed with K-pop fans. This time, it was for PLT. A group consisting of five solo artists ranging in different genres of music, like R&B, rap, and pop made NJ their kick off stop in their US tour. Fans lined up around the block, even in the chilled windy air, to wait to get in and get the best spot to see, Gaho, Moti, Jung Jinwoo, Villain, and June perform not only their solo songs, but also their combined music as PLT.
A little background on PLT. The five members, like stated above, are all solo artists under the label Planetarium Records. They have mixtapes, solo albums, singles, etc. singularly and then together to mix their genres to make music as a group, named PLT (a play on their record label name).
As we entered the venue, which we have been to many times, it never ceases to amaze us how gorgeous the place is with it’s stained glass ceiling windows, the large open space for fans to clamor into and the stage in the far back awaiting the presence of the artists who are waiting in the wings to perform.
The lights cut out, a screen dropped to promote the company that was able to make the concert possible, My Music Taste, and as the screen raised, the curtain opened and out walked Gaho. Dressed in a sleek black suit that, when he turned around, had pieces of printed cloth on the back, Gaho grabbed the mic and kicked off his set. He nervously explained her was jet lagged, but hearing the fans cheers gave him all the energy he needed to perform. The fans swooned as he sang his dulcet tracks like, “Going On”, followed by the soul crushing, heart breaking, ‘WHO HURT YOU?!’ song called, “있어줘 (eessojyo- stay here)”, and his most recent single, “Pink Walk,” which we still have stuck in our heads.
Gaho After thanking the crowd for coming, and letting him perform his music, Gaho walked off the stage to make way for the next artist. Jung Jinwoo, with his fluffy curls, oversized suit jacket and pants, stepped out to kick off his set with “위성 –weeseong – satellite) He was so nervous and excited, and the crowd was so happy he was on stage he missed his cue and asked for them to restart, letting the crowd enjoy his melodic entrance once more. He was sweet as he grabbed the hands of the fans as he walked across stage singing “She’s Got Everything,” a yet to be released song, and also “문제 (munjae – problem)” Jung Jinwoo had everyone begging for more and when he walked off stage, it was June’s turn to make the crowd lose their minds.
Jung Jinwoo June kicked of his set rather calmly. Sitting relaxed on a stool, dressed in a green and black flannel, with the new version of UFO pants (which we didn’t think would ever make a come back and have and we’re here for it), and a voice like Jay Park, he slayed the R&B game with his songs, “Gas Station,” and “Serenade.” The chill vibes of his set didn’t stop the fans from screaming for him to continue. When he wrapped up a few songs he spoke about how excited he was to be there and how he wanted to share some new unreleased music. Honestly, most of the members announced and performed an unreleased song and mentioned that new music was coming soon. It not only was exciting for them, but it made the fans crave more. After “오늘 밤은 (onul bamun- tonight)” he concluded his set and asked the crowd if they were ready for the next performer.
June We don’t believe they were and neither were we. As the music started, the fans went absolutely bat sh*t crazy and Villain, in his white denim jacket, spray painted jeans, blue hair with a center part and round Harry Potter like lenses, took the stage to start singing “Fairy.” Now we have never seen PLT perform live, we had heard that all their stages are amazing and we had seen some videos from previous shows but Villain came to kill. His overtly sexual motions as his hands ran up and down the mic stand caused us to hear squeals and even some straight moans from the crowd as he continued. He knew what he was doing and it fueled his entire performance. He finished the song and went into a personal story about how people are essentially shitty, and realized as he went to start his next song he had forgotten his set list. With a laugh and a smile he continued on and performed his hits “마니또 (Manitto),” and “Luhvin It” before also announcing he would be coming out with new music soon.
Villain It was then time for the final solo act. Moti. Once again, a man rocking a black suit, white shirt, but this time he added his own flare by having some pretty sick diamond chains. He kicked his set off with, “겸손 (kyeom seon- humble/modesty)” and when he moved away from his mic stand all hell broke loose. We’ve been crushed by fans before while taking photos. ASTRO at K-expo was probably the most insane. That was until this show. While we were crowded and pressed against the stage for all the other performers, when Moti came out is was a whole different ball game. The dude was running from side to side and seemed to always stop right in front of us. See crotch shot below for proof. He had the crowd who had already been at a 10 shoot up to a damn 20 as he performed, “Blue,” “GO,” and a new track set to hit the rest of the worlds ears next month.
Moti (crotch shot lol) Did you think after he performed it was over? Oh no. They still had their group act to perform. Remember how the crowd had bounced up to a 20? Yeah at the point they were over 100 and climbing to flipping infinity fast. PLT came out and it was like we entered Coachella with how loud and chaotic the crowd went. As they sang their group tracks like, “Igoholic,” “Blah,” and “Hocus Pocus,” they began showering the fans in water. As we were crushed in the front we got a solid shot to the face a few times. And while we were hype on how excited it made the fans we weren’t hype on it getting our camera wet. But such is the life of a concert photographer.
PLT Chaos All in all this concert over shot our expectations. We knew PLT were coming for us but not as savagely as they did. Every solo performance brought new waves of excitement, and when PLT came together there was no stopping the tsunami of hype. If you’re interested in seeing them and are in the US. Their up coming stops are Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago so hopefully you can make your way over to any of those locations. We highly suggest experiencing “We Go Holic” for yourselves.
IMFACT Makes Impact on NJ IF’s
Studio PAV did it again. They brought one of K.F.C’s favorite groups to a town near us and made an unforgettable night for hundreds of IF’s. If you’re not sure what an IF is, read on to not only learn what they are, but also become one!
The date? August 17th. The time? 4pm. The place? White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey. Fans of the band Imfact, lovingly known as IF’s, waited excitedly to get into the venue to not only watch one of their favorite five membered bands perform but also meet and take group photos with them. And we were there to enjoy the party.
Imfact debuted in January of 2016 under Star Empire Entertainment. Consisting of five members, Jian, Ungjae, Lee Sang, Taeho, and Jeup, the group has pumped out solid single after solid single since their debut. Mixing up their styles from bubblegum pop, to hard rap pop, to their most recent style of build-to-a-sick-beat drop pop. We know these are not professional music terms but they make sense and describe perfectly IMFACT’s many era’s of music.
If readers are unfamiliar with Studio PAV, the company has brought bands that we would consider ‘underrated’ to the US to give their North American fans a shot to see their favorite small groups close to home. Bringing groups like VAV, Up10tion, Teep Top, and JJCC who would’ve most likely never made their way over here with any other company. What we love most about Studio PAV is what they offer to fans. Not only do VVIP/VIP fans get hi-touches and group photos, but after the show, fans can get one-on-one photos with their biases.
So kicking off in standard Studio PAV fashion, before the concert, fans were lined up, very well organized we might add, and brought into the venue to await receiving the album for the group members to sign. Once all the VIP fans received their signed albums, it was time for the hi-touch. Walking past all the members as we gave them high fives and they smiled and grabbed our hands just a little while longer than a simple high five to walk around behind them for a group photo where we posed, making our best finger hearts, grew the anticipation within us for what was next to come.
The concert.
The organized lines were then funneled calm, cool, and collected-ly in front of the stage for their special general admission spots. The actual general admission were placed a little further back behind the barricades. The excitement was building throughout the hall. Chants began and suddenly the lights went down and a small video began implying the show was about to begin.
The screams got louder as shadows moved around on stage. The stage lights came up and five amazingly talented men stood on stage. As they pumped out their hits like “The Light” and “Only U” they danced, some rather provocatively (looking at you Lee Sang), their hearts out and we could feel the energy radiating from them. They were as excited to be there as we were. We surmised they were giving it their absolute all since we were the last stop of the tour. Go big, and then go home. Lol. Following their latest songs they dove into some of the slower songs like, “In the club”.
After slowing it down, essentially giving themselves some time to calm their racing hearts and ours, they then went into their solo stages. Kicking it off was Lee Sang. Walking out onto the stage , guitar in his hand, he explained the song was for people who are struggling and how they need to hold on for the better days. It was so moving it even made members of the audience cry.
Ungjae was ready to make that stage his b*tch, for lack of a better phrase. Rapping over the backtrack of “Closer” by Chainsmokers, he rapped his deep voice out getting the audience to jump and dance to the beat.
What could possibly follow that up? Maybe a duet with Ungjae and Lee Sang? Yep. They. Did. THAT.
And then it was Jian’s turn. The opening beat of BTS’s “Mic Drop” flooded the speakers and the volume of the crowd strengthened. the boy not only rapped he danced so freakin hard we were astonished he had any sort of energy to continue the show after that.
The next two soloists were Taeho and Jeup, whose vocals made the whole room melt, and then probably the most iconic thing we’ve seen in K-pop concerts happened they both hit the stage for duet and what was it they started to sing?
QUEEN!!! FREAKIN QUEEN!!
How could it get more iconic? Oh, we know. Jian walking out in a white t-shirt and jeans with a half mic stand like Freddy Mercury to get the crowd to repeat his aye-o’s just like Freddy freakin Mercury. They did an entire medley of Queen songs! We will never forget that.
ICONIC!!
They all came back out dressed in sexy black suits to sing a cover of “Gangnam Style”, and then back to their original songs, performing their debut song “Lollipop”, and they finished the concert off with “Tension Up,” the song that got us into IMFACT.
This concert experience was a highlight of our summer concerts this year. In fact, we would positively say it was the BEST concert we have been to in quite some time. It could be because ever since we found out they existed, we had been dying for them to come to the US since we don’t know when we will make it to South Korea.
IMFACT delivered in both fan service and performances and we were sad the night had to end. But is almost didn’t end. At least for Sammie.
What are we talking about? Stay tuned for what is sure to be the saddest funniest thing you’ve ever read in your life. #waffledebacle
