[MV][learning Korean] MBLAQ check: Smoky Girl (스모키걸).
— Cloud cover by: Stephe, Managing Editor ^@@^
seu-mo-ki geol. Very cool. 🙂 ^@@^
(Source credit: J.Tune Camp / jtunecamp @YT.)
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Good luck with entering the military as a regular soldier, Joonie. That’s what Rain tried to do, too (he was in the Infantry first). And Se7en. And some other celebs, but you see, if the ROK has other plans for you, you will find out in due time.
Do make the attempt (because if you don’t, the netizen A-holes will slay you), but I’m just sayin’. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. (Sure as shootin’, they’re going to want you as an actor, and I can’t blame them.) Even super Marine Hyun Bin ended up working with the Marine Band before he got out.
Stephe ^@@^
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I think it’s just a matter of growing pains. In the music industry and in ANY industry, you cannot stay in the exact same place with the exact same people and expect your career to continue to advance properly. You’ve got to take what you learn and make new twists and turns and connections in order to keep growing. (Reference PSY and Scooter Braun, etc.) Unless you want your career to go kaput.
Just as Rain had to leave JYP to continue to grow and become his own man or he would not be who he is today, a Hollywood-bound world star, MBLAQ has to branch out from him in order to achieve their OWN fame apart from his. Baby birds do not stay in the nest their whole lives — when it’s time, they’ve got to jump out of it and try to fly on their own in order to survive. Kids have to leave the nest too, or live stagnant with mommy and daddy all their lives. It’s all the same thing.
As a writer, I’m very grateful to the mentors I’ve had who are published authors, but I don’t want to be known all my life as their student or because of their fame. I want to be known for my own name, and to pay it forward someday to someone else.
So it’s not that MBLAQ is “trying to get away” from Rain for a bad reason. It’s what they’re SUPPOSED to be doing in their journey from boys to men, and the best way to honor him as their previous producer is to go forward and make as huge a name for themselves as they can, the same way he did. (No matter what JYP does or doesn’t do for the rest of his life, he will always be known as the man who gave world star Rain his start, without fail.)
It’s been five years. Rain’s and MBLAQ’s careers are growing naturally in different directions now because they each need different things, but they still share roots and are growing towards the same sun. And personally, he will always be their hyung. That doesn’t change.
The thing that is so weird to me is Rain has been gone from JYPE/J.Tune for a couple of years now (and he needed to be, JYPE was no good for him, no good at all), and people are acting like he just left and OMG, how could he. He and MBLAQ haven’t been part of the same company for a long time, and yet when he went in the military, what did they do? Called him up on the air on his radio program and hung out with him. Because he’s still their hyung. They’ll still be at his house watching sports and stuff, they’ll still be 2-waying or whatever they do. LOL
IMHO, the problem is not with Rain and MBLAQ, but with the public. People are making a problem where there is none and seeing into things that aren’t there.
Stephe ^@@^
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Stephe I completely agree with everything you said. People need to move on and let them move up in their own directions.
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Rite on Stephe…. Im sure Rain is applauding his “kids” success and is very proud of them. I was very elated that Rain choose to go out on his own. He gave a lot to JYPE and doesnt owe anything. I still wonder why, if it is true, he would sign on to the Cube agency.
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Hear, hear. Good comment, Stephe.
I must say I don’t get that whole thing. I see no change or controversy here. None.
Terri :-}
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What baffles me the most is all of the “but what about the MBLAQ” comments come from MBLAQ fans. Like they don’t think their main biases can hold their own. IMO MBLAQ absolutely NEED to recreate their image so they can move on with their career and have an independent image.
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I loved MBLAQ, but they seem to be trying to distance themselves away from any association with Rain. Then Lee Joon goes on a show the other day and when asked where he would serve when he goes into the military and he said as a regular soldier not as a celebrity soldier. Now, I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding, but did any of the prior celebrities enter the military as celebrity soldiers or were they celebrities that are also soldiers. I hate all the criticism that Rain is unnecessarily getting (I feel) because I don’t see anything wrong he did. Whatever he got, he worked hard and earned it, why is that so blind to those critics? I don’t understand, and I’m saying this not as a fan, but I just hate that now he has this label like he was the only celebrity and he got perks, etc., maybe if the military would recognize that celebrities already to a ‘community service’ by their work and touring, etc., maybe they could change. SMH I don’t know, I just had to rant. Does anyone else understand what I mean, and what are your feelings on the matter?
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If Joony did say that, it’s probably cause of the problems Rain faced this year. Celebs go into the military wanting to be regular soldiers but find it hard to avoid and ROC uses celebs shameflessly. MBlaq are doing thier own thing and are very successful but I don’t feel they are distancing themselves from Rain. They will be happy to see him next month, Im sure.
Speaking of Joony he looks hot as always in the vid, I like the song too, very nice. I wish I didn’t have to give him up on the 10th, lollsss…maybe they can share me. What a yummi thought.
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Exactly. Who wants to go through the HELL that Rain did because of the public??
“Yes, I plan to be a celebrity soldier in PR –” Duck and cover, here come the netizens, ruining your life because they are the authority on who should serve where! *heavy sarcasm*
Stephe ^@@^
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Yeah, Connie. I know what you mean. I hate it too.
I believe that almost all of the celebrities who have gone into the Korean military have served in the PR division at one time or another during their military service. I even seem to recall that Hyun Bin did some recruitment activities in the Marines as a PR Ambassador. The difference there was that the Marines were very closemouthed about Hyun Bin’s activities and kept everything really hush hush. In fact, they even made a statement telling everyone to “leave Hyun Bin alone.” So, he was totally protected, which was awesome. Unlike Rain in the ROK Army. Sigh. With Rain, it was like the Army spokespeople just wouldn’t shut UP. They kept talking and talking, and news kept leaking and making everything worse with the netizens. It was crazy.
Yes, every Korean celebrity always says that they “want” to serve as a regular soldier before they go into the military, but then 99.9% of them end up serving as celebrity soldiers anyway. I think people keep forgetting that in the military you have something called “orders.” Those orders tell you what to do and where to go, what unit you will be serving in.
Just because you WANT to serve as a “regular soldier” doesn’t mean that the ROK military is going to let you do that. Sure, people will tell you that they have to “apply” for the position and that they have to interview, etc. But that’s silly. You have to apply for EVERY position in the military. That’s the way it works. Having lived a military life for 12 years with my EX, I know there are never any real “choices” in the military. You do what they want to do ALL THE TIME. Oh, sure, sometimes they pretend that they are letting you choose, just to make themselves look better, when in reality you have no choice at all. You do what they tell you to do. You go where they need you. Period.
And if the ROK Army said, “Rain (or Joon or whoever), we know you want to serve as a regular soldier, but we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you interview for the PR Division, what do you think is going to happen? Would he even be allowed to say no? Regardless of what anyone says, I really don’t think so. That’s just not reality. Does anyone honestly think that the Army was going to give up the chance to let Rain, one of the biggest stars in Asia, get away with living a quiet military life out of the spotlight? Really? All that FREE Army publicity going to waste? REALLY??? If any of you do believe that, then you are very naive people. LOL.
My Ex was in the U.S. Army for 12 years. He was required to change unit assignments every few years. Every single time he transferred he was *clears throat* “given a choice” as to where he would like to go. He was given lists of assignments that were available and he would choose his top three favorites. Not ONE time did he ever get what he wanted. Not ONCE. Several times it was “STRONGLY RECOMMENDED” that he take a position because the Army could really “use his expertise” in that Division. Gee. Hm.
Well, okay, once he did get to choose an assignment, but that was because his mother was critically ill and so he begged for a compassionate reassignment in the middle of one of our tours in Germany to Fort Benning, where he could be closer to her during that terrible time. We were so stunned that they had approved his transfer that I told him to get the hell outta the country and go be with his mother, while I took care of packing up and moving our household back to the U.S. We were that afraid they’d change their minds. LOL. And of course that decision put a “black mark” on his career which never left him and was one of the main reasons he decided to leave the Army after 12 years. Oh, and this is the same Army who called him and told him over the phone that his father had passed away. Yeah. You read right. OVER THE PHONE. So, yeah. The military really really cares about their soldiers, don’t they. Sure, they do.
Ah, the life of an Army wife. I don’t miss that at ALL. Let me tell you. I’ve got so many bizarre stories. LOL.
Terri :-}
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Terri I’m sorry, I do get it, all the pain you went through being married to man of color and what your kids went through. We have a lot in common in many ways. But the dictionary is not always correct. Case in point other words (N) that the NAACP made change to which was also some of my family members at the time were involved. It’s just we all have a different live experience and some are better or worse depending. Its just always is not B&W ya know? Also it’s been to long since that awful conversation we had and I’m really all about trying to get along I hate being misunderstood or being petty it’s just not cool life is to short and I truly love ya girl!
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I’m with ya, Lotus. Love you too, girl.
And I love this place on the Internet, too, actually. ♥ No other place like it, I don’t think.
Terri :-}
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Terri you changed what u said on here originally. U said BiAlamode! I made another comment; it’s like that etc then u changed it and put my name in? Then u should have also deleted what I said! Or just put back your original comment! It makes me look foolish!! I’ll never comment on your site again if you don’t change it! Or is that what u want all along?
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Lotus, this is Stephe. Did you see what Terri said to you? She apologized to you. She simply made a mistake.
She was replying to several people at the same time from our blog admin panel, which is confusing to navigate, and called you BiAlamode by mistake when she was talking to YOU. All she did, when she saw her mistake, was go back and change the name from BiA to Lotus so that you would know she was talking to you, not BiA. And then she apologized to you for making the mistake and confusing everybody.
As a matter of fact, I called her on the phone because I saw the mistake she made before she did. I told her, “BiA isn’t even in that conversation, girl! Weren’t you talking to Lotus?” And she was like, “OMG, I need to fix that! I was talking to Lotus. I was doing too many things at one time. Thanks!”
She immediately fixed the comment and made an apology to you for her mistake.
We both simply forgot about the “it’s like that” comment in the moment, that’s all. WHY would she want to make you look bad? WTH? I don’t understand. Terri has never said one bad word about you to me, ever. “I’ll never comment on your site again if you don’t change it! Or is that what u want all along?” *speechless* Huh?? Whatevs.
I’m going over now and deleting the “it’s like that” comment for Terri because I don’t think she’s home from work yet. Good grief.
Stephe ^@@^
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The “it’s like that” comment is now deleted.
^@@^
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Stephe this was the very reason I stop going to other blogs. Because I girl made a comment to me, I responded, but then her initial comment was deleted which made me look like a jerk. What I didn’t know at the time was she worked on that blog which then got me deleted. So I do understand mistakes but do you see we’re I’m coming from? And thank you.🌻
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Oops, Lotus! LOL. I’m so sorry. I was in the admin pane of the blog responding to multiple people, and I switched a couple of names.
I really did mean that I love ya, Lotus. And I love BiAlamode too. Heck, I love everybody! 🙂
Terri :-}
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Hey, Love you too Terri. Don’t know why you love me…..since I didn’t comment on this post (I don’t think…..can’t remember) but glad I got love coming my way. *SMILES*………………………………
*P.S. Now, I see. There was a mix up. Oh well, that happens sometimes I guess. No biggie………..Love to all my Clouds. I feel another Bi photo coming on. “Lemme” go see what I can come up with. *SMILES*
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Love this song. It is a great Club song and I like the feel. When I first heard Smoky Girl and saw the video concept my first thought was it reminded me of Primary. Later I learned that Primary, Zion T and Simon D collaborated on this song. I can hear the Zion T influence in the singing style. Congrats to MBLAQ on a great comeback song.
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