First Impressions: 'rosie' by Rosé

‘rosie’ is the debut studio album by New Zealand and South Korean singer Rosé. It was released on 6 December 2024, through The Black Label and Atlantic Records. The album was conceived as a 12-track pop collection, blending various musical elements such as 90s-inspired R&B, shimmering synthpop, and raw ballads, with lyrics exploring Rosé’s excitement and heartbreak in her early twenties. Rosé served as a songwriter and producer, co-producing with various collaborators including Bruno Mars, Carter Lang, and Omer Fedi. —Wikipedia

She first announced the release date through one of her Instagram post on October 1, 2024, making her the first one out of the four Blackpink members who is releasing a full-length solo album (the other three members’ full albums are coming out soon too in a couple of months).

(Text version is underneath each image)

“my first studio album “rosie” OUT DEC 6th

where to begin.
I cannot believe I am finally announcing my first album release to you all. I remember last year as our year long tour ended, I found myself in a session out here in los angeles. That led on to a year of walking in and out of the studio, writing songs with songwriters and producers I’d met for the first time, trying to figure out the next chapter in my career. I fell asleep many nights feeling confused and lost. But with the support of my dear friends and family, my team, and of course my number ones, I am sat here today excited to announce the date of my album release. I have poured my blood and tears into this album. I cannot wait for you to listen to this little journal of mine. Rosie - is the name I allow my friends and family to call me. With this album, I hope you all feel that much closer to me. And yes, it’s a full length album. DEC 6th. #rosie” —Rosé

My Take: ‘rosie’

So last night, after listening to all 12 tracks or Rosé’s new album ‘rosie’ while reading every single lyrics of every song, my verdict is that the album is REALLY GOOD.

Granted I would probably will listen to this album over and over again and my thoughts and opinions might change later on, but for now, here are some of my first impressions:

First of all, we all know that Rosé can sing and how great her voice is. But in this album, with the various songs and music arrangements that she has chosen, her voice really stood out on all the tracks. They also showcase how versatile she is a singer as well as a songwriter.

And apart from ‘APT’, the rest of the album really doesn’t feel like a K-pop album (if you know what I mean). This album debut could very well be the mark where Rosé crosses over to the mainstream Pop category, which I think is very well-deserved since she really has the skill and talent to do both K-pop and Pop at the same time.

Second of all, after listening to snippets of interviews Rosé did for her promo, we all know that this album is basically her talking about her experiences with her toxic ex. And knowing that context, the feelings I had while listening to this album were angsty and heartbreaking. Even if you don’t have a toxic ex, I feel like everybody can relate to the lines from her songs if you’ve been in any kind of relationship.

And like, honestly, good for you Rosé for getting out of the toxic relationship because if you went through all the things that you sing about, it doesn’t sound like a very pleasant experience. 😭

Lastly, I do appreciate the full-circleness of the story she’s trying to tell with her songs. The album really share the journey of her relationship from the initial infatuation stage, the toxic stage, the break up stage and finally the moving on stage. ‘rosie’ does feel like a complete journey.

Rosé really started off the first solo full album release strong and I really can’t wait to hear the rest of Blackpink members’ upcoming solo albums.

Favorite Tracks

There’s no skip in this album, really, but here are some of my favorite tracks (for now) after my first listen:

Track 1 — number one girl
Track 4 — toxic till the end
Track 3 — two years

I gotta say, ‘two years’ melody kept popping up on my mind randomly during the next couple of hours after I listened to it. I guess that’s the one that stuck in my mind the most.

Also, if you haven’t heard any of Rosé’s solo songs before but you’re a fan of Taylor Swift, Niki or Adele’s works, you might want to give this album a listen since according to my cousins who are fans of these three singers, Rosé belongs to the same category.

Her previous solo tracks—which are all in full English—include ‘On The Ground’ and ‘Gone’ on her mini album ‘R’ and ‘Hard To Love’ (which is under Blackpink’s Born Pink album). Those three are my favorites too.

After I’m done listening to the album, I went to X to see how other fans are reacting to the album.

Since I’m still in California, the rest of the world (at least people in Asia) had a 14-hour head start listening to this album and it definitely gave them plenty of time to post their reactions to X. I was actually refraining myself from browsing X too to avoid all the spoilers people posted.

But anyways, as always, it’s pretty interesting to see how fellow fans—in this case fellow ‘Number Ones’ as Rosie officially calls her fandom if you haven’t already know—reacted to the album as well as the ‘Toxic Till The End’ music video.

And the scrolling actually resulted in me staying up until 5 am because Number Ones’ mad observation skills and theories were pretty entertaining. 😆

So here are some of the good ones that I found last night:

Album Reactions

“rosé opened the album with number one girl, closing it with dance all night, which was one of the best decisions she ever made. also, the arrangement of the tracks was so perfect, the transition from drinks or coffees to apt. was smooth af.. aoty indeed!!” —@rubyjaneroses

“When you’re being emotional with all the other songs and APT plays on shuffle 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 —@lalalooch

‘Toxic Till The End’ MV Reactions

“rosé, didn’t your parents teach you not to pick up strangers from the road? 😭😭😭” —@blonkse

“the best thing about this music video is how she didn’t portray herself as a victim but instead showed how they were both toxic to each other” —@pinksviral

“this whole mv is just her bullying him i can’t stop laughing she really was the red flag” —@dreamyrse

The Kiss Scene Reactions

“the first k-pop idol to do a kissing scene? this is history 😂” —@_istantalented

“a kpop artist kissing in her own music video? while half the industry apologizes for falling in love??? she is brave and fearless” —@mrswianna

“Rosé kissing in a mv scene

Blinks:

Throwing tantrum ❌
Send truck ❌
Boycott ❌

Discussing theories and guessing who’s the mf ✅

YEAH WE'RE STILL SANE 🔥”
—@itsmooniiieee

“rosé has just changed the kpop industry forever, from talking so openly about her ex and dating, to kissing in music videos.. after this so many idols are going to feel so comfortable sharing their relationships 😭” —@pinksviral

Honestly, this was the last thing I was expecting. Had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. 😂

Also, I saw some discourse online about the statement “first K-pop idol who’s doing a kissing scene”, I’m very well aware that she’s probably not the first one and as the others have pointed out, the previous generations of K-pop idols have done this in the past (Big Bang is one of the most frequently mentioned). But if you look at the current K-pop climate, having an idol whose public image has always been carefully crafted and tops that with the kind of global fame that Blackpink is currently having, doing a kissing scene is pretty much challenging the status quo. Not to mention that she’s a WOMAN and we all know the double standard the world has in general for woman, especially in the entertainment industry.

So yes, she might not be the first one who have done it, but I think she’s the first one that this current generation (the generation who has gotten to know K-pop after it blew up worldwide) has seen. And she did it in a very non-sexual and PG-13 kind of way which I really appreciate. A very tasteful (and beautifully lit and shot) scene I might add. And if this could encourage other K-pop artists to be more open and vulnerable about their feelings regarding relationships, I’m all for it. After all, they all have to draw inspirations from somewhere right? If not their real life, where else? So let’s just enjoy this small little win shall we?

Bruno’s Reaction

“rosie u better reply with i present to you “the ex” 😝 —skintypink

And then there’s bruno with his comment. 😂 And Rosie actually replied with a “😏” smirk emoji.

Who’s The Ex?

Next up is the million dollar question that I’m sure every single one of Number Ones have in mind (but clearly not everybody is voicing):

Who the heck is the actual ex?

But before I move on to this subject, I want to share something that Rosé said during one of her interviews regarding the inspiration of her album:

“I do want to make sure that that’s very well addressed: The fact that it’s not about the story who Rosie has been with or whatever. It’s really more about the art.” —Rosé via New York Times

I get it, really. Rosé doesn’t want the topic of her ex to overshadow all the work that she has put in for this album.

And I agree.

It should be more about the art.

About the music.

But then, you can’t really expect us (at least me) to not get curious on who The Ex is after you mentioning them in every other interviews, right?

So with that said, I’m sharing the next couple of posts just for fun and NOT TO encourage people to hunt down Rosé’s ex and harass them (it already happened to one guy who’s falsely accused so let’s keep it civil online guys). Out of all the theories that are floating out there, there are two names that I personally think are possible candidates. And just to be clear, when I said possible, I mean like it could be true (like even 0.0001% is a possibility so just take all this with a ton of salt if you will) but I have ZERO knowledge of Rosie’s personal life so I know nothing.

And Rosie, if you’re reading this, I promise this is just a little intermezzo in the middle of listening to ‘rosie’. 😆 I’ll go back to streaming ‘rosie’ right after this.

The Ex theory No. 1

“after carefully dissecting all her lyrics, interviews and timelines....i've concluded that her ex might be loren” —@ROSEANNEOUT

They were close at some point I think (at least there were a couple of appearances of Rosie and Loren together online or in each others’ socials here and there). They did a cover together for Rosie’s channel. But it could be just for work.

The Ex theory No. 2

“HE UNFOLLOWED HER, DELETED ALL HIS POSTS WITH BLACKPINK 😭 ROSE AND JADEN SMITH WERE DEFINITELY DATING” —@haobingaysex

“If he was The ex her close family wont follow him on IG . Stop this drama” —@vanessaxxvo

“Instagram unfollows are the new breakup press releases, I guess 😭” —@HoneyGoldxx

“twitter detectives never seem to amaze me, like how do y'all find things like this out 😭” —@Musclemidgett

“Out of all the options she found Jaden??!” —@arvnd_ofl

This one is an interesting theory, but I feel like the first reply kinda debunked it.

“rosé wearing her ex’s hoodie over an outfit similar to coachella 2019….am i onto smth” —@heyheyandre_art

“no because hold on, isn’t this the same hoodie and black outfit combo?” —@cuntressjnk

I gotta say, her outfit in the picture on the left kinda looks similar to the one she wears in the MV though. And Jaden has been known to be a K-pop fan for so long and it is a bit weird he unfollowed all of the Blackpink members. But it could also be for different reasons as well. Honestly, can’t really picture Jaden being the actual ex.

The Ex Theory No. 3

I was about to conclude this series when suddenly my sister texted me literally minutes ago with new tea that she found from the X-sphere.

There’s a new candidate who’s joining the line-up for the possible ex.

And this one seemed to be the most plausible one compared to the previous two.

“some tea for ya 🍵: this is a thread on mikah, rosé, and “toxic till the end”, the connections. —@mikafiles

Okay, I think this one has more probability than the other two.

“AND HE LOVES SKATEBOARD 🛹🛹🛹” —@mikafiles

“and he injured himself playing skateboard!!!! A little bit coincidence as Rose’s new MV” —@onex3000

I don’t know this guy so I’m not sure if this isan actual X-ray scan or just a prop for an MV.

But to people who can read X-ray scans, is there any broken bone in this scan?

Source: @imyoursbini_

Source: Mika’s Instagram Post 1, Post2

The resemblance is uncanny.

But then again, the question is would Rosie hire an actor who resembles the real ex so much?

The More Than One Ex Theory

“the rosé lore is so interesting i couldn’t stop reading these theories about the ex and the outfits and the references.. oh roséverse is big shut up my novel started” —@dieforyous

“This might be a hot take, but I feel like Rosé is talking about 2 or more exes in the album. I can’t help but notice there are 2 different vibes from all the songs. 1 hinted a lot of angst & pettiness, while the other is more regretful and yearning. Or I’m just delusional lol 🤣” —@agr1298

This whole ex saga literally what kept me up ‘til 5 am last night. 😆 And then one of the replies under this post made me stop scrolling and think. And the realization hit me. It’s actually very, very possible that Rosie has more than one ex. 🤯 I’m sure she has lots suitors out there and it was bold of me to think that Rosie only has one ex. There could well be more than one ex out there.

(Also, as I’m writing this post, apparently there are more theories floating out there that I saw. A couple of new names were thrown into the mix but I didn’t really look into them.)

Anyways, we’ll see if the story goes anywhere. Sometimes fans are pretty good online detectives, but other times we can be a little bit (or a lot) delulu too. So don’t take anything too seriously. At least not until there’s confirmation from parties involved.

For now, I guess this is a good engagement to keep the buzz of the album release going. And again, please don’t dive into this topic too seriously and consume what your see online mindfully. And please don’t go around confronting strangers of about things that are unrelated to you. My suggestion is just to take this as another fun lighthearted topic related to the album. You know, like when you’re talking to your friends about your ex. You guys talk (or maybe rant) about it, get angry together, empathize with what your friend went through, give words of encouragements, take the whole thing as a life lesson and move on with life.

And that’s all I have today. I still have so much to say about the album, but I feel like I need to listen to ‘rosie’ a couple of more (hundred) times and process everything before I can even put my thoughts into coherent words. So I may (or may not) do another review of the album in the future. We’ll see.

If you make it ‘til here, thanks for reading. And if you’ve already listened to ‘rosie’ let me know in the comment what you think of the album and share your favorite tracks! 😊

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On My Playlist: Yesterday by Jay Park

“Yesterday” by Jay Park (박재범) was produced by Cha Cha Malone & Chucky Kim and was released on February 13, 2023.

This was actually the most played track on my Spotify playlist in 2023. 😆

“On February 13, the 35-year-old musician dropped his new single ‘Yesterday’ alongside with a music video featuring South Korean actress Lee Yoo-mi, who is best known for starring in Netflix series Squid Game and All Of Us Are Dead.”
—NME.com

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K-Drama Review: Queenmaker

Greysuitcase - K-Drama Review: Queenmaker | Photo Courtesy: Netflix

Synopsis

“After a crisis of conscience, a powerful fixer uses her skills to boost a civil rights lawyer’s mayoral campaign and take down her former employer.” —Netflix

My Take

Starring two strong female leads, the story focused on the partnership formed between Hwang Do-Hee, a former powerful fixer for a chaebol family (the Eunsung group), and Oh Kyung-Sook, a human rights lawyer who often went up against Eunsung Group to fight for the weak.

This was the first Korean drama that I watched that has the plot revolves around a powerful fixer (I think there were other dramas where the scenario of a fixer came in, but the story never really focused on the fixer themselves).

The progression of the first three episodes were a little slow for me. But afterwards, I think the drama hit the right pacing of unfolding of the story. It’s not too intense but it‘s not necessarily slow either.

The characters are interesting, the actors acted well, and there were plenty of interesting sub-plots that made me want to keep watching. They definitely dramatized the incidents that happened, but they all still believable enough to have happened in real life (at least for viewers like me who doesn’t know a lot of or work in Korean politics). Nothing feels overly dramatized, which I appreciate.

There are also some moral issues and dilemma that are being discussed throughout the drama with the main message being the fight between the good and evil and how much sacrifices you have to make for the good to win the war.

I also like the fact that they show how somebody who has done the wrong thing ended up taking up accountability for their actions and not just skate by while still having the message of there’s hope of a better future ahead.

Being a big fan of Olivia Pope (who here also watched “Scandal”?), Hwang Do-Hee’s character certainly reminded me of Olivia Pope. They both are helping somebody to get elected to one of the most powerful office in the country, their fashion and appearances are always put together and their war rooms are definitely reminiscent of each others’,

Overall, I quite enjoy this drama and would definitely recommend it to those who like political drama.

My Rating: 8.5/10

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Bad Book Or Bad Movie

Sometimes ago, I did a poll on my Instagram asking my followers which one would they rather do, read a bad book or watch a bad movie (and why). The result was 25% of people who voted would rather read a bad book while the other 75% would rather watch a bad movie.

I also got some response on the reason why from the people who rather watch a bad movie. One person said “Movie is easier because it moves and you’re forced to move along, unlike a book where you can’t get past a bad page. I’ve watched a lot of bad movies but I haven’t finished a lot of bad books,” and another person said “Movies are usually a shorter investment time-wise than reading a book”.

(Text version is under the image)

I personally rather watch a bad movie as well. On top of the two previous reasons, with movie, I can always fast forward to skip the boring part or watch it in 1.5x or 2x speed to get it over with. 😆

Or if the plot is bad but the cinematography is good, at the very least I can learn how certain scene is lit and shot.

With books, if the writing is bad, I can hardly pass the first couple of pages, let alone finish the whole thing. The writing style and the plot need to be interesting enough to keep me hooked. Plus since there’s no visual with books, if the writing and plot are bad, then that’s it for me.

For the 25% of you who voted for this, curious to know why would you prefer a bad book rather than a bad movie?

Now that I think about it, reading a bad book can probably be compensated with your own good imagination maybe? If you visualize the words way better in your head, perhaps the story won’t be as bad as it is in words? 😆

Also, I devoured a lot of books when I was younger and I think that also made me a little bit picky about what I read later on because some books are just too predictable, unrelatable (even if it’s a fiction, I want my fiction to be somewhat realistic) or some books are just plainly bad and I can’t bring myself to finish it.

In any case, whether it’s a bad book or a bad movie, the one thing that I CAN stand is probably listening to people who review or recap these bad books or movies in their own words and make them fun (part of it is also probably because I can do other stuff while listening to these reviews so it doesn’t feel like my time is wasted since I can still be productive).

If you don’t already know, there’s a whole genre of this kind of videos on Youtube.

The first channel I found a couple of years ago and started binge watching (hearing actually, since I usually listen to her while editing) was probably @KennieJD who usually talks about bad movies that she watched in a self-proclaimed series called “Bad Movies & A Beat” where she does her story telling while doing her makeup.

Almost all the movies that she reviewed are bad and I would probably never watch in real life, but she’s funny so it’s entertaining to hear her comments about the movies. She now does recaps/reviews on reality shows too which is also pretty fun.

My next find was Stephanie Soo’s channel @MissMangoButt “Baking a Mystery” series where she retells and reviews thriller/mystery/horror movies and books. Usually the good ones, but there are some not so good books/movies that she reviewed. The script (if there’s any) is very well-written and she’s very expressive so listening to her telling the story is very fun.

I actually know her initally as a mukbang Youtuber, but then my sister told me that she started a true crime story channel called Rotten Mango (@rottenmangopod) and I should check it out.

I did and I love it. She talks about true crime cases that are pretty well scripted and well researched and she’s a pretty great story teller overall.

Rotten Mango also has its podcast on Spotify which have more episodes than the Youtube channel. She put up cases that have more explicit and gruesome details on the podcast. So if you want to listen to more episodes, definitely head to Spotify.

After I discovered Rotten Mango, it led me to her other channels, @MissMangoButt and @StephanieSoo where she talks about lighter, non-crime related topics such as celebrities’ real-life dramas. Most of her recent topics have revolved around Asian celebrities/public figures and I gotta say, I learned a lot of new things about Chinese public figures’ recent dramas from her stories. Very entertaining.

Anyways, a little bit of a tangent there inthe end but as always, thank you to those who voted on the poll and DM-ed me your answers. 😊

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On My Playlist: Sweatpants by Lauv

Sweatpants is the 12th track of Lauv’s debut studio album ~how i'm feeling~ that was released on March 6, 2020.

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Intentional Pursuit of Friendship

Photo by: Paola Kudacki for TIME

So a couple of day ago, my friend Juli sent me this article and ended up reading and watching the interview clip embedded in the article.

“You have to pursue people you want to be friends with.”@80forBrady actor @Janefonda explains how she sought friendships with @sally_field and @LilyTomlin while discussing the importance of being "intentional" during the process. pic.twitter.com/TSzdk4P0T2

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) January 14, 2023

My Take

(Text version is under each image gallery.)

After finishing reading and watching the article and the videos, it led me to reflect on my experience on women’s friendship and the intentional pursuit of friendship and I wholeheartedly agree with this.

I’m all for intentionally pursuing people who I want to be friends with.

I think I’ve always been.

Not in middle school though because I was a pretty shy and awkward kid back then and social hierarchy and peer pressure were real.

It started after middle school after I left home for Australia. The moving class system over there might have something to do with it because I didn’t get to spend most of my day with the same group of people, which in hindsight, is a relief honestly. But on the downside, if I wanted to be friends with someone, I had to put an effort to hang out with them during breaks or during the weekends outside school.

There’s also the fact that I was introduced to a couple of different social groups outside school (church, basketball team), which meant I have to make friends with at least one person in each group if I don’t want to be that loner girl during gatherings. Again, peer pressure was real guys. And honestly, it was pretty awkward and nerve-wracking for me.

But it’s okay.

I survived.

Looking back now, that period kind of forced me to start honing my social skills, so it’s all good.

Then after high school, it was the start of my (somewhat) transient life. Went on to live in 6 different cities in the span of 10 years. Not to mention the amount of travel I did every year after that (I think my busiest year was visiting 11 cities in a year). Throughout those years, my social skills got better, meeting new people and introducing myself have gotten easier (anything gets easier with practice, really), and making friends is something that I actually enjoy in every city that I lived or traveled to.

But because of my transient life, I always think that my time in a certain place is limited (including in my hometown sinceI traveled so much). It unconsciously made me prioritize things in my life, including friendship. Friendship for me is pretty high up on the list.

So, with the limited amount of time I got to spend in certain places with certain people, I became very intentional in pursuing people who I want to be friends with. I’d try to meet and spend time with them as much as possible.

Doesn’t really matter what we do—whether it’s spending a whole day together doing everything or doing absolutely nothing—as long as we get to talk and know each other better, I’m always down.

I don’t remember when exactly, but there’s a point in my life where somebody or something someone said made me feel like what I’m doing—this whole intentional pursuit of friendship thing—was weird. Or at the very least, uncommon. It bothered me for a while, thinking I was weird, and afraid that people will find me weird when I want to be friends with them (oh the beauty of self-doubts in your 20s).

But then I met Soo Zee.

The whole self-doubt thing still nagged at the back of my mind during our budding friendship. Plus we initially met on a project so I didn’t want to accidentally cross any line or overstep. But we’ve been meeting for a couple of times, talking about non-work related stuff over food and coffee and desserts and I ended up asking her a question about whether this is a work hangout thing or a friend hangout thing.

I remembered she told me something along the lines of “Yes, we’re friends” and “If I don’t like you, I wouldn’t have asked you to hang out with me.”

I don’t know if I’ve ever told her this but her words brought so much comfort to my then self-doubts because hey, there’s actually another human being who’s also intentional in pursuing their friendship.

I guess in the past, I always felt like I’m the only one doing the pursuing in a friendship. Or at least initiated the pursuit (which later is reciprocated, obviously, if we became friends). And nobody really said that to me explicitly before so I didn’t know if anybody else is intentional in pursuing their friendship, let alone a friendship with me.

Most of my friends, my Indonesian friends at least, usually became friends either because they grew up together, went to school together, or went to church together. Like, their friendship naturally (or sometimes forcefully) formed because they’ve spent so much time together in certain settings (at least from my observation). And growing up, that’s whatI experienced too.

But then after I moved to Seoul, I mostly made friends with people who I met on the internet (which some found weird and I understand. But hey, it works great for me so far, so I don’t think I’m going to stop anytime soon. Also, shoutout to the old version of Instagram for connecting me with these awesome people. It was really an awesome time where I saw real people’s photos more than I saw ad posts) or during my travels.

And the biggest thing about making friends with people on the internet or during my travel is that they could come from a very different walk of life than me.

Sure, there are probably some common grounds that we bonded over during the initial stage of our friendship. But if I didn’t put any effort in pursuing them, the budding friendship wouldn’t have grown, especially with the limited amount of face to face time I get to spend with them since I traveled a lot, we all live in different cities and countries, and most of my friends prefer in-person hangouts or calling over texting. Not to mention that everybody has other (usually more pressing) things that are going on in their lives—work, family, their partner, other friends.

With no intentional pursuit, they’ll just become another face I met during a time in my life that I probably soon forget.

Anyway, after what Soo Zee said, I’ve became very aware of the fact that there are other people who are also very intentional in pursuing their friendship.

I don’t know if it’s the city or just pure coincidence, but all my now close friends who I met in Seoul are very intentional in pursuing their friendship with me. Same with the people who I became friends with from that period onwards.

Some said it explicitly, some said it loudly through their openness and vulnerability when we talk to each other, or through their efforts and actions to spend time with me or check up on me from time to time if we couldn’t meet.

But either way, I’m grateful for every single one of them.

I guess what I’m trying to with this impromptu essay is:

being intentional in my pursuit of friendship has led me to making strangers to become some of my closest friends.

And although intentional pursuit is an important part of forming a friendship with someone, opening up, being honest and vulnerable with each other are as important if you want your friendship to grow and last.

Source: @ninagrewal97 Twitter

Dig deeper than the usual surface level conversations. Talk about things that make you happy, or sad, your hopes and dreams, your fears and struggles and find strength and comfort in each other.

It really did wonders for me in forming new friendship as well as maintaining old ones.

Anyways, didn’t know that this was going to be this long but if you made it ‘til here, thanks for reading! :)

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On My Playlist: Beautiful Scars by Maximillian

About the Song

The 20-year-old promising Danish act Maximillian, has just started 2019 with a personal but simply hypnotic new single “Beautiful Scars”. A perfect mix between the honest lyrics (about his past and his own flaws and mistakes) and the earworming melody of it that will be stuck in your mind for ages.

“I made a lot of bad decisions, hung out with the wrong people and did a lot of things I regret. I literally lived a life on the edge at the age of 13 and “Beautiful Scars” is me facing my life growing up. It’s about how I used to behave and treat people around me. How we all have inner demons that sometimes burst out in the world with no warning,” Maximillian explains.

Maximillian embraces this wonderful trend in which pop is becoming more and more honest: “I believe it’s important to embrace your demons. No one’s perfect –so embrace that –and live your life as good as you possibly can!

—Vibe of Silence

Some of my personal favorite lyrics:

🎵
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Broken all the pieces I've been shaping lately
Focused on the things that didn't make no sense
Guess that growing up was never meant to be easy
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🎵
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I went down a road that only got me nowhere
I've seen every corner, every inch of this place
Being all alone it really got me thinking, maybe overthinking
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Although Maximillian is talking about the mistakes and bad decisions that he’s made in his past, I also feel sometimes when life’s not going the way you imagine it to be, or when life isn’t making sense and you feel lost, you got to break down all the things that you know up to that point of your life before you can have a new start and gain a new perspective. Because, like they say, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result, that’s insanity and you won’t be able to grow from that.

And sometimes being all alone is the exact thing you need to grow. In this current world that’s constantly filled with new content every single second that’s screaming for your attention, you barely got time to think, let alone overthink (although it’s probably not a problem if you’re an overthinker by nature I suppose).

Thinking in peace without having to worry that the world will run and left you behind is, in my opinion, a luxury. Being able to stay still is something that you have to intentionally choose to do. And admittedly, it’s scary being alone with your most honest inner thoughts because sometimes (most of the time, really), every single emotions within you that you usually numbed down with the distractions of this world will bubble up to the surface.

And then, you’ll actually feel.

It’ll be intense and uncomfortable and (sometimes) painful because the only thing you’re focusing on is your feelings. But if you’re brave enough to face your own fears and be honest with your feelings, it’ll also give you a sense of clarity about what you want and what you need in your life.

Growing up is a never ending process that we’ll have to go through all of our life and it’s certainly not easy.

🎵
—
Oh, but what is lost ain't gone
No, you can't just let go
'Cause it's a part of you that will make you strong
Embrace your flaws
—

I believe every bad decisions, mistakes, sadness, pain, anger and heartbreaks in your past certainly made you who you are today. I know people usually say you should let all the negative things that has happened in your life go and forget about it. Although I do believe in letting things go, I also believe that letting things go doesn’t mean that you have to forget all about it because sometimes, things that happened to us will keep us humble, grounded and in touch with the reality of this world. They teach us to be smarter, to be better, and to be stronger.

Every bad decisions, mistakes, sadness, pain, anger and heartbreaks in your past certainly made you who you are today, but they certainly don’t define your future.

🎵
—
I'm not gonna fight back what I've become
Yeah, I've got bruises where I came from
I've been going way too hard on myself
Guess that it's the reason I've been feeling like hell
But I wouldn't change if I could restart
I ain't gonna hide these beautiful scars
—

Being a perfectionist and an idealist at heart, embracing my flaws is something that I’m still learning to do. It took me a quite while to accept that as much as I want to do good, sometimes I fell short because I’m a mere imperfect human. And it’s okay to have flaws because it makes me human. I took me even longer to realize that sometimes I really do go way too hard on myself (and yes, it’s definitely one of the reason why it felt like hell during those times).

Have I embraced my flaws fully? No, not really. I still have to make a conscious decision to do it every single time. But now, I think it gets a little easier for me. Especially when I have people around me who’s letting me be vulnerable and, well, imperfect. People who accept my flaws with nothing but listening ears and silent understanding. People who teaches me how to go easier on myself and love myself a little more. I’m thankful for those people.

One thing that I fully agree with this song is that every single one of these beautiful (battle) scars that I have, have made me who I am today.

Would I change anything if I could restart?

Honestly?

Probably.

There are some painful chapters in my life that I wish I never gone through. But then again, if I skipped those chapters, I probably won’t be who I am today now, am I?

Watch the MV:

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Movie Review: Do Revenge

Greysuitcase - Movie Review: Do Revenge | Photo Courtesy: Netflix

Synopsis

“Drea (Camila Mendes) is at the peak of her high school powers as the Alpha it-girl on campus when her entire life goes up in flames after her sex tape gets leaked to the whole school, seemingly by her boyfriend and king of the school, Max (Austin Abrams). Eleanor (Maya Hawke) is an awkward new transfer student who is angered to find out that she now has to go to school with her old bully, Carissa (Ava Capri) who started a nasty rumor about her in summer camp when they were 13. After a clandestine run-in at tennis camp, Drea and Eleanor form an unlikely and secret friendship to get revenge on each other's tormentors.” —Rotten Tomatoes

MY TAKE

First thing that came to mind when I read the plot was Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on the Train” that was adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel. But only not as extreme as a double murder I guess.

It’s been a a while since I watched a teen flick and although I was expecting the plot to be predictable (which to a certain extent it is), “Do Revenge” did surprise me with its own twists making this a not-so-typical teen movie I should say.

The movie is very well-scripted filled with quick paced dialogues delivered with great acting by Maya Hawke (Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke’s daughter) and Camila Mendes, the two protagonists of the story.

Not to mention this whole cotton candy-esque color theme they adapted for the entire movie that certainly give us an eye-candy. Also, got to mention that I love the color transition on the two main characters’ outfits as their characters grow. Drea started with a more pink/red/colorful outfits and Eleanor with a more blue/grey/muted outfits and they switch as the movie progresses.

Other random observation, just like any other teen movie, all the actors looks way too old for high schoolers. Especially the boyfriend. Also, my favorite secondary character probably goes to Talia Ryder’s character. Never seen her act before but she’s hella cool in this one. Might go watch “Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between” after this.

The one thing that might be different than other teen flicks is they do touch on mental health issues in this movie and they were highlighted by the two protagonists of the movie. I don’t think I remember any movie that I’ve watched did this. Usually the protagonist is depicted as the strong one so it’s quite interesting to see the more vulnerable part of their characters.

Overall, I think the movie nailed all the things that you usually find in a teen comedy drama. If you’re looking for some lighthearted movie to watch, would definitely recommend this one.

My Rating: 9/10

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Blackpink 'Pink Venom' Countdown Livestream

19 Aug ‘22 — At 12pm (KST), Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa greeted Blinks through a livestream for the ‘Pink Venom’ countdown event. After the livestream was over, Jisoo, Jennie, and Rosé said hi and interacted with Blinks who were waiting outside the venue before they left on their separate vans.

Blackpink ‘Pink Venom’ Countdown Livestream Poster | Photo Courtesy: Blackpink/YG Entertainment

Watch the full livestream below:

Blackpink also reacted to their ‘Pink Venom’ music video when they watched it for the first time with the rest of the world on that same day. Their reaction video was released on their Youtube channel on Aug 25. Watch the full video below.

Here are some snippets I found on Twitter during the day of the countdown livestream:

Jennie updated her Instagram story minutes before the livestream started.

220819 제니 스토리 업데이트

유튜브 라이브 5분뒤 !#제니 #JENNIE #블랙핑크 #BLACKPINK @BLACKPINK pic.twitter.com/yB6SubP5pE

— DC 제니 갤러리 (@JennieDCGallery) August 19, 2022

Jennie is BLACKPINK's "workout queen" 😂

— NJ (@NJARCHIVED) August 19, 2022

Everyone working out and busy with their own schedules and lisa?? “I beat all the levels on the cooking game”😭😭😭😭

— ً🫣 (@perfectlalisa) August 19, 2022

Lisa thought she picked herself as the member who fit the choreo the most but held up Jisoo and immediately held hers up when she noticed 😂 pic.twitter.com/vwmha0ikSk

— 젠바 🙈💕 (@blackpinkbabo) August 19, 2022

Lisa really like playing this quiz that she got frustrated when her turn was done.

Hearing that.. Jen immediately said that she can answer one more question.

Look at how happy Lisa after that. She such a baby 😁#Jenlisa pic.twitter.com/BEMoZONVqw

— JL (@ND230917) August 19, 2022

“i want to try the rappers’ parts” JENLISA RAPPING BACK AND FORTH FINALLY??? pic.twitter.com/cQIvLDfcfc

— rj ᱬ (@slytherjennie) August 19, 2022

Jennie chose Jisoo as member who shows new sides for this #PINKVENOM MV because of Jisoo’s charisma 🫶🏻 pic.twitter.com/Ta86so8GhY

— 𝐽𝐽 (@official_jensoo) August 19, 2022

Is that really a hard question Jen 😏

Jen almost spill their moment here but she suddenly held back and change the reason 😌#Jenlisa pic.twitter.com/zbDOTgAjXA

— JL (@ND230917) August 19, 2022

L: I am anyone???

J: NO!#Jenlisa pic.twitter.com/d7ILfnvFwH

— JL (@ND230917) August 19, 2022

jisoo & jennie doing the crab walk 😭🦀 pic.twitter.com/85TREcxrvm

— 𝐽𝐽 (@official_jensoo) August 19, 2022

💭 who gave the most spoilers about the new song?

jisoo ▶️ jennie
jennie : me??

her spoiler during vlive 😂 https://t.co/rl9E6LtZwX pic.twitter.com/dHjZPausxO

— 𝐽𝐽 (@official_jensoo) August 19, 2022

💭 who was the moodmaker during the cb preparation?

Jennie : “I hope she says it’s me. Say it is me”

Jennie’s 🤭😍 after Jisoo chose her 😂

pic.twitter.com/MueDwhyCb6

— 𝐽𝐽 (@official_jensoo) August 19, 2022

jisoo was copying jennie’s teaser pose lol 😭😂pic.twitter.com/sRcxj9rgZ7

— 𝐽𝐽 (@official_jensoo) August 20, 2022

JENNIE FAST READING??? YESS MAIN RAPPER pic.twitter.com/deHwXGFDrq

— ❦ (@egirIjnk) August 19, 2022

Jennie rapping while reading that letter and the translator's struggling

— 터틀 🐢 (@xx_turtle_) August 19, 2022

jisoo & jennie “we love you 🫶🏻” 🥹😭 pic.twitter.com/UV53Rqe6Zj

— 𝐽𝐽 (@official_jensoo) August 19, 2022

After the livestream, fans and masternims were waiting for the members outside the venue. Here are some of the clips before the members left the venue:

Rosé

Rosé had a little fan meeting outside the venue where she cried after meeting Blinks again after all these times. She said she misses Blinks, thus the tears.

I found the whole video as one of Rosé leaving in the car and it really captures the atmosphere and I'm just
😭😭😭🤧#ROSÉ #PINKVENOM #BORNPINK pic.twitter.com/qxbshizx7G

— Colourmeblue99 (@ColourMeBlue99) August 19, 2022

Our little cutie Rosie 🤍 Rosé found out they got first and she was like “Really?” and whispered “I knew that’ll happen” 😂pic.twitter.com/U3PrGvIOFw

— 젠바 🙈💕 (@blackpinkbabo) August 19, 2022

Rosé is too precious, she cried over the fans waiting under the rain and cried again meeting the fans after a long time 💔

— -𝗥- (@artisticrozay) August 19, 2022

she’s crying coz she missed the fans 🥹 pic.twitter.com/6Iri8SzRMC

— ❀ᐢ·͈ʷ̣̫·͈ᐢ❀ (@joohwangie) August 19, 2022

Photos by: @allurelove_rose

Jennie

쿠마웃음 직관 최고야 pic.twitter.com/KQKz5bXbxN

— 가방 (@Gabangaa) August 19, 2022

Photo Source: @jennieedyou, @official_jensoo

Black Pink's Jennie 😘

Soooo pretty! 😵 She parked the car at a corner near the sidewalks so that we (fans) were not at the middle of the road and at the danger of getting hit by passing cars! 😭

Outside YG Entertainment
Pink Venom MV Release
2022-08-19#BLACKPINK #Jennie#YG pic.twitter.com/9j5V904zwP

— HallyuToYou (@HallyuToYou) August 28, 2022

Jisoo

Photo Source: @ohingchu__, @official_jensoo

Some think she may had another schedule because she never came out the entrance the others did

— Disney fanatic (@dwprincess20) August 19, 2022

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K-Drama Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Greysuitcase - K-Drama Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo | Photo Courtesy: ENA/Netflix

‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ is a very lighthearted courtroom drama with a positive outlook on life filled with hope. The series has very little intense moments, cutthroat competitions and evil villains that are usually present in other courtroom drama series.

My Take

Comparing it to the other Korean courtroom TV shows I’ve watched in the past like‘The Devil Judge’ or ‘Juvenile Justice’, or the American shows like ‘Suits’ and ‘The Good Wife’, ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ definitely feels very lightweight.

But since the main character is a woman on the autism spectrum, I can see why the show is different from all those other shows. There’s a certain type of innocence and simplicity in the way Attorney Woo thinks, which I think is reflected on how the scenes are set and shot. And in that sense, I feel the lightheartedness of this drama is part of the way for us to understand her perspective without making the subjects too heavy.

The pace is a little slow for me and it took me quite sometimes to get invested in the characters. But overall, albeit finding myself fast-forwarding scenes on a couple of different occasion, the drama is quite enjoyable for me and it required little brain power and energy to watch this show.

If you’re looking for a feel-good courtroom TV show with a very positive outlook in life, ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ is definitely it.

Here are some of my comments about the show.

// Warning!May contain spoilers from the show. //

Woo Young-Woo

Woo Young-Woo’s character is definitely unique and different. Apart from the fact that she is a laser-focused genius with a photographic memory, I think the thing I like the most about her is how self-aware she is. She knows what her strengths and weaknesses are and tries her best to not to rely on others.

Also, despite the fact that she usually unintentionally became the center of attention, instead of focusing only on herself, she also has great empathy for others. With her struggle of identifying people’s emotions and the nuances of facial expression and body languages, she still try her best to understand others by asking questions.

Korean Court Law

One of the things I like about watching courtroom drama is that I get to learn about other country’s laws and court system.

This drama is a little bit hard for me to do that since a lot of the arguments or law recitations that Attorney Woo did are usually in rapid-fire delivery that made them hard to digest. So a lot of the articles she quoted during her arguments in court flew over my head completely (watching it without knowing what the law exactly says doesn’t really affect my understanding about the plot so it’s still fine).

Since we’re on the subject of court and law, I also do think some of the cases in the drama are light with best-case-scenario verdicts. The situations that the characters were in also feels like the most ideal or positive situation they could be in.

Woo Young-Woo’s Coworkers

Other than his supervisor, Jung Myeong-Seok, who feels like somebody who (sometimes) knows more than her, I feel like Young-Woo is the only one who’s carrying her team in terms of work since most of the solution came from her (and I understand that’s probably mainly because she’s the main character).

But I kind of wish to see more on her coworkers’ knowledge of the law and how they interpret it. Other than the fact that Kwon Min-Woo is ambitious and Choi Su-Yeon is passionate about justice, I don’t feel like I really know the lawyer side of them. There’s not a lot of brainstorming or dialogue between the team to reach a solution. It’s mostly Woo Young-Woo who has an epiphany on how to solve the case.

Romance Plot

Although the romance plot is not the main plot of this drama, I wish they could explore more on the subject, especially on how the society views Young-Woo and Jun-Ho relationship, as well as the reality of it if they were to continue with their relationship.

The whole subject felt kind of brushed off with the easy solution of you can’t judge somebody who’s on a spectrum (which I agree with).

Although some reactions were inappropriate, I also do think Jun-Ho’s friends and family’s preconceived notion of Young-Woo was warranted for. I think it’s normal for them to worry (and I do think this apply to every significant other one introduces to their family and friends, especially if they don’t know the person. I think it’s normal to be worried). His expectation of everybody just accepting Young-woo as she is like he does is a little much for me. Especially when he never really talks about Young-Woo to them. I feel like if you want people to understand, you have to at least tell your side even just a little bit or introduce her to them perhaps so they can get to know her more. If not, then how would people understand?

Underdeveloped Plots

After watching the whole season, there are definitely a lot of underdeveloped plots.

But now, knowing that ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ is going to have a second season in 2024 (although I don’t know if I’ll still remember the story of the first season if the second one will come out in 2024), I guess the underdeveloped plots and slow pace kind of make sense. There are a lot of loose ends after the last episode ended that have the potential to be explored more.

Will i watch the second season?

Honestly, I don’t know. It’s not like I’m holding my breath for it right now. I guess I’ll just have to see when the second season comes out.

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