[21 images][6 vids] Rain check. (Magic Show, GRE-KRITI photo shoot, charitable acts & a blast from the past.)
— Cloud cover by: Stephe, Managing Editor ^@@^
1/29/2020. News outlets have reported that Rain and Kim Tae Hee donated ₩100 million KRW (roughly $100,000 USD give or take, depending on exchange rates) on January 14 to the Archdiocese of Seoul. The donation was delivered by Rain’s mother in law and, according to the couple’s wishes, the donation will be used to help single mothers and their children. The donation is in the name of their second daughter, who recently celebrated her 100th day. In 2017, the couple also donated the same amount to the diocese in the name of their first daughter to mark her 100th day, also. The news photo below shows Rain’s new sister-in-law (the pro golfer who recently married actor Lee Wan, Tae Hee’s brother). As expected, KTH and Rain kept things low-key by not showing up and not letting reporters make it all about them. *thumbs up* ^@@^
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1/28/2020. Rain was an absolute sweetheart when he shared these snippets of his GRE-KRITI photo shoot on his Instagram with all of us! The picture of timeless poise and elegance — that’s our Rain! 💘 ^@@^
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1/25/2020. As the GRE-KRITI brand ambassador for 2020, Rain wishes consumers, viewers, and everyone celebrating the Lunar New Year a very happy one. ^@@^
ALSO ON THIS DAY:
On our Instagram, we reminisced HARD about how, 9 years to the day (1/25/2011), Rain attended sponsor MCM’s boutique opening on Sloane Street in Knightsbridge, London and our beloved Katie (former Cloud USA forum mod and UK connection) got to meet him! Here’s a link to her full fan account here on our blog for those of you who want the DEETS — their whole conversation alone in the autograph area, how his hand felt, everything about him UP CLOSE, how soft-spoken he was, how he genuinely smiled through the entire event, what happened during him leaving, etc. It’s a great read and she worked so hard for these lovely pics and videos , we could never describe how truly proud of her are. ❤️ ^@@^
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1/23/2020. A clearer visual of the GRE-KRITI vision board during Rain’s product photo shoot. The first video is in my previous post. ^@@^
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1/21/2020. The latest from posts from Rain sponsor Magic Show on their Weibo account. ^@@^ (All credited as tagged.)
Cloud USA 
Stephe I can not wait for that article. You have just put everything I have thought about RAIN’s treatment my the industry. I like boy bands, but at my age they take a lot of concentration, I am good to go, until the confusion set. I prefer the solo performers and MY HONEY never disappoints. That’s just me.:) 🙂
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Stephe, I’m can’t help wondering – maybe you have an answer – why whenever S. Korea does a retrospective or just a rundown on how Kpop started and how it broke through to the west – Rain is never mentioned? They go Tae [somebody] and the Boyz (no disrespect to them but I don’t know their name), Big Bang, then BTS. If it weren’t for Rain, I would’ve never paid Kpop any attention other than to turn my nose up at what I perceived (back then) as cultural appropriation and, in my opinion, the following groups would not have finally gotten it right without having him as a fore runner to look up to.
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I’m not 100% sure but I do have my educated opinion from all the years I’ve been in this game. And I don’t think I’m wrong.
I think what’s going on is because of several different pieces of a main puzzle. The main piece being that, because all of the Korean groups riding high on USA and world recognition right now — BTS, NCT, and SuperM, and all three of them sooo deserve it — they are exactly that, GROUPS. Not solo singers. It seems like all anyone wants to write about to be on the bandwagon is the history of K-Pop as if it only ever consisted of groups. If there was a soloist or soloists who were riding high like that today, things in the press might be very different.
It’s a damn shame because whether a solo singer is trending today or not, it was soloists and Rain in particular who kicked the doors open and lead people back to Korea’s doorstep, NOT a group, so by rights the soloists should be included in the damn articles as well. But since when does the press do anything right.
I am going to be writing about this and my other reasons for Rain being ignored — including the fans themselves not doing right by him — in 2020 because I can barely stand it any longer. He deserves better than this for what he’s done to propel the K-Pop world forward.
Stephe ^@@^
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