Look at it. It's taking her over. She's obsessed.
Are you 'weekend at Bernie's'-ing?
Hello everyone and welcome back!
I'm Grace
And I am Mamrie and today
This Might Get... Thrown Back.
We are educating ourselves in the world of Kpop
We've explored this before, we got ripped to shreds
We pieced ourselves back together and we're ready for another one
We're ready to be torn down by internet strangers based on just purely trying to learn
Oh, Curiousity. What an a**hole
What a dick
K-Con is coming to Los Angeles very soon
Which is all things Kpop and a huge convention and we thought we should educate ourselves.
Thank God we have an in-house Kpop expert Diane Kang with us today
*Clapping*
Woo
Yeah
And when did you discover your love for Kpop?
Literally January
Of this year?
January
Wow
Because my friend in high school was obsessed and she always wanted me to listen to them
and I really refused for some reason and then it all hit at once how much Kpop makes sense.
Your current state of Kpop obsession has really just happened in the last nine months, eight months
Yeah
I'm scared I'm gonna get addicted.
Look at it. It's taking her over. She's obsessed.
Are you "Weekend at Bernie's"-ing?
Give us a little rundown, give us some education
We want to find out as much as we can and then you're gonna test us after this
Kpop TED talk and we're gonna see who is, you know held on to the most information
We're gonna start from pretty much like the very beginning. Today we're just
- The Big Bang?
[Note: Mamrie is referencing the Kpop group "Big Bang"]
So the two groups we're talking about today is H.O.T. and Sechs Kies
And they had somewhat of a rivalry
Oh, it was an NSYNC, like, Backstreet Boys?
They were part of the first wave of Kpop being popular outside of Korea
What H.O.T. stand for?
Apparently "High Five of Teenagers", which -
That's hot. That's hot. H.O.T.
In your face [inaudible]. Okay, how many members are in hot? There are five?
Okay, how many members are in H.O.T.?
There are five
I think that's the ideal number for about a boyband.
Yes, would Kpop groups be considered boy bands or is that not the correct term to use?
You call them idols. That's like the term.
Yeah an industry based on humility
No one really says boy band or girl band. They say girl group, boy group
I think that I'll point out now that each Kpop group has a leader and people mistakenly think
leader means like the Beyonce of the group, like, you know - center of attention, spotlight, gets all the lines...
like it's actually like, very, um, administrative
Like a house mom?
So leaders are the liaison between the company.
That's extra work.
Yeah, so like they're in charge of relaying what the management wants but also the desires of the group
The Den Mother
Yeah
That's the short straw, like I wouldn't want that one
But I'm an idol. I want to party.
Now let's see some, uh um, High Five of Teens.
Uh oh.
Sassy
Oh my gosh.
This is straight up fly girls in Living Color.
Yeah! Also they have my aesthetic oversized sweatshirts
Yeah, you would fit in so well
What year is this?
This is 1996
I have to imagine that they lose like ten pounds a show.
Like that's a full sweat suit. We got Cookie Monster happening
What is this guy doing?!?
Wow, that was like a weirder version of the worm.
Grace if that ain't you?
That's how I dance, invite me to your weddings.
Is that a unicorn Kangol hat?
Yes, that's like a very solid High Five of Teens. It's almost very reminiscent of Teletubbies
Um, so their label is SM Entertainment which is one of the biggest groups in charge of idols in Korea
Now this band was only active for like five years
But they put out five albums. If you're part of the, like, fandom of it you wore white
Very cult-ish.
Yeah, that's almost like a gang
They were known for like, you know, addressing the issues of teen people and having like really serious songs
Do you remember when New Kids ([on the block] said "This one's for the children"
Now tell us about these five guys
This is Kangta.
That's his stage name. His real name is Ahn Chil-hyun.
Wow, he has hardly aged
So this was the leader of the group
Wow. My ideal hair
Is he an extra in the movie "Clueless?"
And this is Tony
So he auditioned in LA
And he moved to Korea to be part of H.O.T. and his role is sub-vocal.
Jang Woo Hyuk -
he was the main dancer, so he was the guy doing the [Diane imitating H.O.T. dance from clip]
Hotter now
I was gonna say - what a glow up
A very Travis Barker vibe
Lee Jae Won
Unicorn Kangol
He has an aesthetic
He was the main rapper
He's the baby
It's a big social role
He's the Joey McIntyre who sings "This One's for the Children"
They had a rivalry with
The next group that we're gonna talk about
And they came back and had a reunion for the first time since they disbanded on the show in 2018
And they held this
surprise free two-hour long reunion concert and over a hundred thousand people signed up in one day for a 1,000 person venue
So they expanded it from only just 3,000
Tanacon
- to 4,000
Tanacon
You see the white
Oh I see
And a lot of them are moms, so they brought their kids
Oh, that's sweet
- with them, to the concert
So this second group is called, well, popular(ly), they're called Sechs Kies
Sechs Kies?
But their full name in Korean is Jek Seu Ki Seu
[It means] Six crystals because there's six members of the group
Oh, a bigger group
They have an advantage
This was still the age of JNCOs, huh?
This looks like a very weird version of Rent
Is this pre-minions because that's really -
Yeah, because minions stole their look!
They seem a little bit more big dick energy [than H.O.T.]
You don't think Tony's got BDE? [Big Dick Energy]
I didn't say he didn't!
I'm just saying these dicks might be a little bigger
They were created in answer to...
how popular H.O.T. was
See, that's apparently what NSYNC was formed after the success of Backstreet Boys.
Yup, by Lou Pearlman. What's his name?
Ron? Lou Pearlman
The entire concert, the one who chose to not be active anymore
Decided to join in last minute and the fans freaked out and cried
Uh, Eun Ji Won, 40 [his age], he was scouted in Hawaii
Uh, he's sub-vocals but he's leader
Lee Jae Jin, 39, sub-vocals - he's weird
[fearful] They will come for us Diane
No, that's like his brand and it's very charming and he's very funny
Jang Su Won, 38, lead vocals
He tried to have an acting career and they called it robot acting, it didn't work out.
Wow
I've been there
Kang Sung Hoon, 38
He's lead vocals. He's just handsome
He's cute
I like his aesthetic, yeah
Kim Jae Duck, 38, main rapper
Okay, this one, Tea: He lives now, is roommates with, an H.O.T. member, Tony
They're best friends now
I like that he opted for a glamour shot
for his updated photo
Aw
Ko Ji Yong, sub-vocal, 38
He's with child now
You're not here anymore
We don't care
Just kidding
Good for you, created a life
I love it, okay
You ready? Go head-to-head?
Let's do it
Alright
Let's see what we remember
CHOMP!
What is the name of the show responsible for these groups' reunions?
Grace
Infinity Challenge
Thank you
Next one
To Grace!
Who is the leader of H.O.T?
It's Moon
[gasp] She's right
Good job
Always lookin' out
What color does s-
B - yellow
yes
damnit
Which of these is not a single by H.O.T?
Grace!
Grace
Uh, School Anthem
You're right
What variety show-
Return of Superman
Yay!
*Clapping*
I feel like we've really come a long way since our last Kpop attempt at education - thank you Diane Kang
Thank you for teaching us all of this, now, back to work!
Ugh, I'm sweating
Welcome to our world.
Oh, she loves my hugs
The gratitude problem comes from 8bit Woofie who made this amazing 8-bit illustration of us this - might get pixelated. Thank you so much
Don't forget to Like comment subscribe and share all the wealth with others. In the mean time
I mean do we have a liaison, are you the liaison? I just need to check on Diane?