When I woke up this morning the news I saw repeating on my twitter timeline was that Big Hit is acquiring Source Music. My mind couldn't process this news after just waking up. What? Who? How? Why? It's too early for this. I didn't even know which artists are under Source Music and what kind of changes will this acquisition bring.

Later in the day, I continued reading about the news and just realized that Source Music is the home to GFRIEND, a fairly successful girl group from a small entertainment agency, just like BTS when they just started. People also said that Source Music CEO is a good person and has always been close to Bang Sihyuk. GFRIEND's reputation is also good. BTS and GFRIEND has worked together in the past for Smart uniform brand. Overall, positive reactions everywhere and probably nothing much will change except for GFRIEND's addition to weverse and weply platform.

I also have seen 3 trainees under Source Music on PDX101 and one of them was very enthusiastic about performing BTS' stage, Kim Hyunbin. He received positive reactions from the public albeit not making it into the top 20. Which is... good.

All in all, I was reading sources, news, finding out about Source Music to educate myself but I still couldn't tell how I feel about this acquisition. Am I happy? Do I like it? Does this look good to me? Do I want to support this? Do I care??? I don't know how to feel so maybe I'm just indifferent about the whole thing. Besides, nothing will change as each will maintain their own management.

Oh actually, one thing that bothers me more is the rumor about a third company. Big Hit is about to acquire another company which is said to being home to 'famous idol groups'. The acquisition is still in process but both sides are positive about it and this will be revealed by next year. I believe the words 'top boy group' and 'several groups' have been thrown around and this bothers me to no end. WHAT GROUP. WHO. WHICH AGENCY. Whyyy would you torture me like this. My mind went to current top boy group names, but I really couldn't tell. I personally don't think it would be any of the well-established, publicly listed agencies like SM, JYP, YG, Cube, FNC, Pledis or Starship, right? People are saying RBW because Bang Sihyuk has been close to its CEO. But that doesn't fit the top boy group theory. Yes Mamamoo is one of top tier groups and their releases always do well in the market but they're a girl group. And while RBW does have some boy groups OneUs, OneWe and Vromance, none of them could be called famous or top tier. Cre.Ker? I love The Boyz but they have a totally different concept and while they're on the rise, Cre.Ker doesn't have any other groups at the moment. WHO THEN. People are saying Pledis because of SEVENTEEN and NU'EST. Both are top groups. Both are boy groups. This fit the narration but they're public company. KQ? I feel like Ateez match the concept of Big Hit more, and some of the members are ex-Big Hit trainees so kinda make sense? But they also housed Block B after lawsuit against their original agency and Zico already left the group so ... IDK if Big Hit want this mess under their wing. Block B could be called top tier? And Ateez is rising FAST. Really, we'll never gonna know until they announce it and I'm wasting my time thinking about this.

IDK what is it about the group that makes me want to support them. I don't usually follow girl groups but I've been intrigued with ITZY from the start. Probably because I've seen them on Stray Kids two (!!) years ago, they've starred on BTS videos, and they're killin' it. Ryujin has been a very famous trainee on the kpopsphere for a lot of reasons including appearance in BTS highlight reel and Mixnine.

I have to admit, when Dalla Dalla first came out I wasn't having it, but got hooked right after and the song did extremely well on the charts.

Gaon has released their half-year ranking and in download, digital and streaming chart, Dalla Dalla ranked 6th. No other idol groups other than N.Flying, which is a band, made it to the top 10 in any of these lists. Not even artists as big as BTS, at the peak of their popularity with a hit as huge as Boy with Luv. ITZY holds this kind of power. I don't know why the reaction of i-fans on platforms I visit are overwhelmingly negative, while in Korea they are very well-received. I guess I'm just used to it being the other way around.

They can hate all they want, it's never going to change the fact that ITZY is huge and very successful.

Last night, they released ICY MV which is their first comeback ever and I like it right away! I like it so much I watched it a couple of times. Granted, I couldn't tell how the song goes had anyone asked me this morning, lol. But I do remember that the song sounds like a fun jumbled sounds, I love the beat, the moves are slick, and the music video is filled with bright colors and fun outfits. I looove Ryujin's outfit (the colorful jacket) and she looks stunning in pink hair. Yuna is super pretty and her smile is mesmerizing. Lia's voice is awesome. I of course also love Yeji. Chaeryeong's moves are great! I love the music video, I love the concept, I love the girls, I love the song, I just love them despite not knowing that much about them. The music video has been doing good as expected. It's not even 24 hours after its release and it's already on 7M+ views when I see it earlier. Many other groups out there would do anything for this kind of success and popularity.

I get what people are saying about how reading an overwhelmingly negative comment hampers your joy when you're excited about a release. It feels like everyone else seems to hate the song. I went to r/kpop reddit post which has 3.7k upvotes and being granted a platinum, two golds and a silver award but upvote rate was 81%. People are downvoting hard. The comments felt like they're mostly (?) negative, with many dwelling on how the song sounds different and worse from the teaser, or how they can't get into ITZY, or Dalla Dalla, or Zimzalabim by Red Velvet, and people are upvoting those comments while downvoting the ones saying they genuinely like the song. I get it, some type of music you just can't get into like me with NCT's. But I don't go to NCT posts to elaborate on why NCT's music is not for me every time they release anything. Let NCT/ITZY fans enjoy the new release, just like how fans of any other group would.

I'm also curious because unlike their debut, this time they're also releasing a physical album and I need to know how much they will sell to prove my point. All these hate and bashing I'm seeing almost make me want to buy their physical album just because. Almost.