While the landscape of Korean entertainment can be vast and wondrous, it’s often the little things that make us fall in love, inspire awe, evoke secondhand embarrassment, or sometimes… break our hearts.
In this edition of Beats of the Month, we ask our writers: Among the many things vying for your attention this month, what won and made your heart beat?
All Hail Ateez’s Seonghwa (and His Magnificent Styling)
— Siena
Ateez are one of my favorite active groups, so when they make a comeback, I am always a thousand percent seated. “Work” is not reinventing the wheel, but Ateez’s consistently fun and catchy wheel is a pretty good place to be. What is blowing my mind about the comeback, however, is a certain eldest member’s styling.
Ateez’s styling is generally solid, with occasional duds, and occasional flashes of divine fashion inspiration. Certain members are more consistently fashion-forward: leader and fashionista Hongjoong, and after some early career stumbles Mingi has emerged as a literally towering standout. But their styling team struggles acutely with others (if they put Yunho in one more school boy/sailor outfit, I’m going to riot).
Recently, however, their styling team has been taking more, largely welcome, risks (particularly in editorial contexts). The central member in these experiments has been Seonghwa, whose styling has increasingly embraced gender fluidity and esoteric color/print/silhouette combinations.
Those experiments burst into the spotlight in Ateez’s promotions for “Work,” with one memorable outfit after another, from a cowboy-esque fit with envy-inducing lavender denim, to a street style take on the wicked witch of the west, to popcorn cardigan chic, to my personal favorite, an absolutely insane yellow outfit that definitely shouldn’t work and yet very, very much does.
Seonghwa’s “Work” styling verges on the absurd in the most delightfully fashionable of ways, elevated by his complete ownership of each look, and the fact that the wit of the styling suits the song’s mood so well. The only downside of how much these outfits slay is that some other members’ weaker, more conventional styling stands out in contrast (although Mingi’s “Work” outfits also continuously rocked).
But the potential is really there, and if Ateez’s stylists can continue to lean into a bit of stylish anarchy (and continue their longstanding and admirable trend of customizing styling to particular members’ needs and vibes), then the talented group might be able to add fashion icons to their considerable list of accolades.
The Ups and Downs of Korean Dating Shows with EXchange 3 and My Sibling’s Romance
— Eileen
Earlier in the year, I thought my obsession for Korean dating shows was going to come back in full force with the broadcast of EXchange 3. Regrettably, my high hopes for the program came crashing down.
The first few episodes were genuinely intriguing, including elements from previous seasons and having a strong focus on the ex-couple backstories. Initially, I saw no problem with this. After all, I believed the ex-couples were the key to the EXchange series and what made it so unique. But as I continued watching, I realized the importance of balance between the lighthearted and heartbreaking moments. With nearly all the ex-couples on EXchange 3 having only separated a few months prior to filming, the program essentially becomes a dose of tragedy week after week with prolonged conflicts and intense yearning. The episodes get more draining, and if I wasn’t already a fan of the series, I’m not sure how long it would’ve taken me to finish the show.
I suppose some of these changes could be attributed to the different PD (Kim In-ha) and production team. Not that I want to fully blame them; I can only imagine how much pressure they were under to continue a series with such a tricky concept.
Interestingly, as EXchange 3 was approaching its finale, a new dating program My Sibling’s Romance began airing. With PD Lee Jin-joo (creator of the EXchange series) in charge, I was hooked once again.
The show’s concept is similar to EXchange except the cast members consist of sibling pairs instead of ex-couples. It sounds odd but works surprisingly well. The first half of the program is basically a feel-good family sitcom with a wholesome atmosphere which was nice after watching all the suffering in EXchange 3.
And then things took a turn for the worse. The way My Sibling’s Romance went from being a cozy family show to the horror in its ending episodes is mind-boggling. Those love lines that were built up so carefully in the previous episodes? Torn down, crushed, and reduced to ashes. The budding romance that started late but was set to be one of the most heart-fluttering on the show? Completely fallen to pieces.
There were some successful couples that I liked though, and I still think the program was well-thought-out. I actually wouldn’t mind a more polished second season but for now, I’m left wondering if there will be another dating program that I enjoy as much as EXchange 2 sometime in the future.
