Sophilicity: Rapping

Better late than never right? I'd been meaning to post about this concert for ages but so many things were in the way and not gonna lie... Procrastination was one of the causes,.. LOL.

But in all seriousness, this was actually the first K-HipHop concert I went to watch, and personally I'd actually not known much about Sik-K before. However, after the concert I found myself quite addicted to some of his songs, and actually got into K-HipHop in general after the concert.

So just a little bit from me to you about Sik-K!

I'd actually came to know about Sik-K more after I attended the concert. Some of you may recognise him from the TV show, Show Me The Money. He participated in the 4th season (which I have yet to finish). Sik-K is most known for being a member of Yelows Mob and is otherwise recognised under the name "Young Hot Yellow".

Last year, on the 20th of July, he released his debut album, FLIP which gained a lot of attention amongst the K-HipHop scene. He has also collaborated with various artists ranging from Jay Park (Alone Tonight) to Gaeko (Ring Ring).

Moving onto Yelows Mob, you will find that this crew is compiled of various members including Sik-K. The main members of the crew can be found tagged below:

#yelowsmobbin

A post shared by YELOWS MOB (@yelowsmob_official) on Nov 27, 2016 at 2:28am PST

From what I know, the crew includes the Groovy Room producers (Park Gyujeong (otherwise known as GroovyPark) and Lee Hwimin), the twins, Jung Sungmin and Jung Gwangmin, Sik-K, Mac Kidd, Lee Gwangmin (model), Naeezy, Baek Jaehoon and Lee Thomas.

As for the concert. I was fortunately able to have an opportunity to work as press via my blog. I got to see Sik-K and Yelows Mob during an exclusive press opportunity before the concert. They were really cool guys, but whilst I was waiting to see them, I managed to feature in KpopSteve's video vlog of the concert! You can find me at from 0:40 to 0:45, just check out below:

One thing I had to say in regards to the organisation of the concert was the fact, usually for press, you have the opportunity to stand at the front to take photos, but because of the venue, Dingwalls, we were placed on the sides of the concert which made it quite difficult to take photos. Also, I found that the press area wasn't only for press, as people could easily just walk up and stand in the area. It wasn't exclusive and by the end of it, I sort of just gave up trying to take photos or film. I mainly focused on filming the event rather than taking photos as it was quite difficult to take photos. You can check out the video clips below (PS: I apologise if the sound is a bit dodgy):

Sik-K - Rendezvous

Mac Kidd - OMG

Sik-K x Mac Kidd - Baby We Are

Sik-K x Mac Kidd - Bravo

Mac Kidd - Ice Hoe

Sik-K x Mac Kidd - Act Different

Sik-K - Cha Cha

Sik-K - Don't Play

Sik-K - Habibi

I can't remember whether I stated this before, but I'll just mention it again. This is my own personal opinion, but I really disliked the fact that people were shoving phones up in Sik-K's face. He wasn't able to have his own personal space and at one point nearly fell off the stage. I thought this was incredibly dangerous and the fact that the fans could not respect his performance but felt the need to constantly have phones in face - Yes, I understood I filmed the performances, but to be able to be up close to an artist should be lucky enough. Sigh...

On a more positive note, despite not knowing much about Sik-K before this concert, I really enjoyed his music. My personal favourites was his performance of Rendevous, Habibi and Don't Play from his FLIP album. I have also developed a liking of his song "Alcohol"... I feel it has a very relevant effect in my lifestyle these past months, and even the MV itself describes the state of the alcohol... Too well... I'll link the video below for you to understand aha!

I think if I ignored all the other negative aspects, I would have to say I really appreciated the music. Sik-K creates an awesome performance and I'm glad I was able to attend his concert!

Thank you for reading! I hope I'll have another opportunity to see Sik-K and Yelows Mob live after having the opportunity to listen to more of their productions. Hopefully I'll be able to update soon!~

15:43 2 comments

Currently straying away from my Rome posts for now, but don't worry I'll be back! But first, let's talk about the recent MYNAME concert held at O2 Academy Islington in London on the 10th of September. Why is this so significant? Well, to a fellow K-Pop fan like myself, it wouldn't be right to not talk about my experience working backstage and behind the scenes of the concert! Let's get started...

For starters, I did not expect to be running around as much as I did, but in a way that's my exercise done for the month aha! I was already in London for 9-10AM to meet the concert promoter, the staff and other people at the hotel. Who would of thought that as soon as I walked up to the hotel, the MYNAME members would casually be standing around outside the entrance. What did I do? Casually walk in through the entrance and sit down and wait for the concert promoter to meet me - I actually arrived early for once haha! After, we finally met, the members went off to London with the photographer to complete a photoshoot whilst I went to meet the staff with the promoter. I got to meet the concert agent I met from the HISTORY concert in February - I was so surprised he recognised me! He asked me if I knew Japanese, as he knows I don't speak Korean, but I could only say I understood some (thank god for anime, Japanese dramas and Korean dramas).

TIP #1 - Knowing multiple languages can draw to your advantage

(From my experience, I've learnt that it's quite difficult to do a job like this when you're limited to speaking the language which is why I've decided to start learning Korean and possibly Japanese.)

After breakfast, everyone began to get ready, whilst I ran to do some small jobs. I won't go into too much detail because well... Let's just say it's not too necessary ahahaha... But anyways, I ended up taking a bus later to Oxford Circus as the Japanese staff were interested in shopping in Oxford Street. We later returned to organise where to eat lunch, and sort out the timings for the day.

Let's say the food plans didn't go as well as they should have... The MYNAME members were very interested in watching the football match so they ended up going to a pub by the hotel to watch Manchester United play Manchester City. Most of the Korean staff stayed with them, whilst the Japanese staff and the photographer joined me to eat lunch nearby.

TIP#2 - Make sure that if you separate as a group, that you know whereabouts everyone is located

(Not going to lie, I was slightly worried because I didn't want to lose track of the members however as it is a foreign country it was unlikely they would go off to places they don't know, so they more or less stayed by the hotel which was handy!)

As everyone returned to the hotel, I had to work out the best time to call the cars so we could arrive at the venue at a reasonable time so the members could do sound checks and get ready. Whilst using my limited Korean, I managed to converse with the staff and members - I did stress out in a way because I was worried people wouldn't arrive on time, and some of the Japanese staff came down quite late. Originally, we were meant to split into 2 cars, all staff in one car, whilst I accompanied the MYNAME members to the venue however... It didn't work out that way... Fortunately, we managed to get there all in the right place.

TIP#3 - When struggling to communicate, attempt to use hand signals to assist you

(I found this quite helpful when I was trying to direct the Korean staff to certain places or explain certain situations. I have to thank some of the MYNAME members, such as Insoo for speaking some English to me to help me out aha!)

I'm going to be honest, when you don't know what to say it can be quite awkward... I was sitting in the car thinking what I could say, and I ended up just conversing with the driver. The driver even played the radio to fill the awkward silence. One thing is for sure, I was most worried about the members arriving at the venue in one piece. From my previous experience, we've had K-Pop fans run over to the members, so I made sure to stand in front to help assist the situation and lead them. I totally felt like one of the those managers who take the lead, with my umbrella - trust the British weather...

Once we arrived, I've never felt so relieved. I was exhausted but the day had barely begun. We still had the concert to go and we had a lot of preparations left to complete. Seeing my friends/family working alongside me definitely gave me a boost considering I was mainly working independently throughout the day. Thanks to Tracey and Aneeqa for the hugs! Before I went in, I decided to check out the queue line to see any familiar faces and meet my friends, Shirley and Jacky who were assisting with queue management. The queue was quite long considering the concert didn't start until 7PM and we arrived around 4PM.

Finally, I went in and it was good to be able to return to a familiar place. Despite the promoter telling me I could rest, I couldn't keep still and decided to go help out with the merchandise stand and much more. We only had a few hours left till the show started, and the members were settling in before going to perform sound checks.

The volunteers were assigned different jobs, whether it was to assist the member's needs, to completing runs (getting food, drinks etc.) to queue management to merchandise. Some people were busier than others, but we were more or less reunited by the end of the day.

TIP#4 - Always be on alert
(You never know where someone might require your assistance. Even if you might not be doing anything for a while, there are cases where you will be needed so try not to get distracted - Even if it means leaving the sight of your idols aha...)

As we got closer to the concert, I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of the members. Insoo was probably the most confident in English since he was requesting me for certain things when I was walking past their dressing room. Although, I believe my longest conversation was with Chaejin, alongside Stevie. We were talking with the Japanese stylist, Coba and assistant, Natsu too. Using Stevie's Japanese (which he had learnt for 2 years) with my minimal Korean and Japanese along with English, we managed to form somewhat of a conversation. I think it was hilarious talking to Chaejin. We were talking about ages, and found that Chaejin's birthday is the 26th of December (born 1995) whilst Stevie's birthday is the 12th of January (born 1996) - so they were like "친구 (friend)" aha! Then, there's me as the "막내 (maknae aka the youngest person of the family/group)". After that, Stevie and Chaejin got super close, close enough to be able to take a selfie together after the Meet&Greet.

My new brother, Chaejin from MyName! わたしの男, 채진. 😎👍

A photo posted by Steve (@kpopsteve) on Sep 10, 2016 at 6:26pm PDT

Our conversations ranged from K-Pop groups in general to ideals, we were talking about whom Chaejin was friends with for starters, and how Stevie likes VIXX but Chaejin seem displeased to hear that aha! We also talked about the prettiest girls in K-Pop, Chaejin seems to highly approve of After School's Nana. Personally, I'm a big fan of Ailee, I adore her voice and her personality seems great! This conversation only proceeded to the talk of the prettiest girls after Chaejin said that he really likes London, and thinks that British girls are very pretty - To think, Stevie and Chaejin could of switched positions aha! This all happened whilst Chaejin was casually eating KFC aha...

Unfortunately, we had to cut our conversation short as we realised it was time for the members to get ready for the concert, whilst everyone else got into place. Stevie went to do some last minute drink runs whilst Aneeqa tagged along with me as I got ready at the front of the stage for the photography. Being right at the front of the stage always gives me great closeups of the members that's for sure, and I'm thankful for the opportunity.

Someone threw the Union Jack flag onto the stage, signed with various messages from MYGIRLs and Insoo held it up whilst he was talking to the audience,

Seyong is probably one of the most charismatic members, he seems like a member who seems rather like a casanova aha!

Insoo's voice is amazing live, just like the other members. His rendition of "See You Again" with JunQ was probably one of my favourite English covers from K-Pop idols.

Okay, let's be honest here, I was literally right in front of him when he was performing his dance solo to "Sex You" and when he stripped his shirt, I was mentally nose-bleeding. I mean who wouldn't if you saw a sight like this less than a metre away.

I couldn't help but capture many pictures of Gunwoo. His smile was definitely a winner in the fan's hearts and he definitely a bright character, he seemed to always be smiling even when I saw him before the concert.

JunQ, what can I say, his rapping skills are definitely on pointe. Two of my volunteer friends, Shirley and Aneeqa definitely fell in love with this guy by the end of the concert that's for sure.

Chaejin is probably the cutest member. His actions to the crowd was just undeniably adorable. Whether it was putting a rose in Seyong's hair or just making cute actions to the audience members.

The set list for the night is listed below:
Intro: Get Ready Just That Little Thing Baby I'm sorry Message Day by day Hello and goodbye 잠을 너무 못 잤나봐 My Love SEYONG SOLO Insoo&JunQ - See you again 끌리짆아 EDM Luvtaker EDM Reason 너무 very 막 Just Tell Me Summer Party We are the night Personally, loved so many of the songs, I came back singing "Day by Day" and after the concert I couldn't stop listening to MYNAME. After the concert, we moved onto the Meet&Greet session. This meant assisting with the fans making sure they got a handshake from each member and then in groups of 10, a photo was taken with the fans and group. There were so many gifts given, so it was hard to keep track, and unfortunately we couldn't let fans take up too much time at the Meet&Greet session. After we finished with all the fans, the concert agent allowed us all to get into a photo for ourselves which was super sweet!

The struggle when you there are two cameras and you don't know which one to look at...

And of course we had to take a work selfie after we finally finished! Everyone was relieved to be finished, with a big thank you to all the volunteers along with our personal Korean translator, Katy! Don't think we would of survived without her support aha!

Work selfie after the MYNAME Meet & Greet session 💁🏻

A photo posted by Sophia Tang 🐼 (@sophilicity) on Sep 12, 2016 at 4:52am PDT

As we got ready to leave, we took a couple more selfies, but who knew that members of MYNAME would end up accidentally photobombing our selfies aha! I remember JunQ's reponse when he realised he had accidentally got into the photo, the mere "oh" response made me laugh. However, we ended up inviting him to join our selfie, which he kindly accepted... But then Seyong ended up photobombing our second picture aha!

I swear the amount of times MYNAME members photobombed our selfies 😂 Last night's concert was amazing, it was great working with MYNAME 🎤

A photo posted by Sophia Tang 🐼 (@sophilicity) on Sep 10, 2016 at 5:25pm PDT

Overall, despite how stressful and tiring the day was, it was indeed worthwhile! I hope you guys enjoyed reading the post, and how it can be somewhat relatable as a K-Pop fan. But one thing is for sure, if you want to gain opportunities like this one, create a name for yourself! Don't be afraid to ask about these opportunities, it's always worth trying out. What's the worse that can happen? You get rejected? That's life! Good luck to you guys if you try out for these opportunities, and I hope you tune into my next post. Thank you!

PS: Don't forget to check out the photos taken of the concert. You can check out photos on my FB page, along with pictures taken by KIUK!

(Just click on the KIUK picture and you should be able to go through the pictures by using clicking left and right).

UPDATE:

Don't forget to check out Stevie's video on his MYNAME concert experience! It's a super interesting video, and definitely worth a watch! Check it out below:

12:16 No comments

Oh my, it's actually been a week since I attended this meetup, yet it feels like it was just yesterday where everyone was jamming to Korean songs, freestyle and whatnot.

Where do I even start? To be honest, there's been quite a few events going on this month, so I've been contemplating which events to attend and which to give a miss. It doesn't help now that I technically have two jobs... Oh my... But anyways, I was deciding between two events for this day. One being the Ice Cream Festival located at Lumpy Hill Adventure Playground, and the other being the Inspire Me Korea Summer Meetup. In the end, I decided on the Inspire Me Korea Summer Meetup - And I definitely don't regret it!

So the day started off with some Korean BBQ. I went to grab some lunch at Super KBBQ with John (you might recognise him from FUSI8N).

Korean BBQ today before attending the Inspire Me Korea Summer Meet Up 😁 Samyeopsal and Beef Bulggogi ✌🏼️

A photo posted by Sophia Tang 🐼 (@sophilicity) on Jul 16, 2016 at 11:39am PDT

As for us two, well whenever we meet (which is rarely) we end up always sharing our meals - Cheap Asian life... And what's better, because we were attending the Inspire Me Korea event, we managed to get a 20% off discount between 12-2PM for food. So we decided to order a Korean BBQ lunch. The BBQ lunch costs 14.50 for a choice of one type of meat, however if you want an additional choice then you can pay an extra £5 for another. We chose to get an additional type, picking the Samyeopsal (Pork Belly) and Beef Bulgogi. In total that costed us £19.50, and due to the 20% off discount, we only paid £7.80 each.

Personally, I didn't feel very full after the meal although the meat was good. They provide you with salad and a rice bowl with the meal, but I didn't think there was enough meat in comparison to other KBBQ places I've been to which offer more for the same price. It was interesting to be able to cook our meat though, everyone including us was very lost on how long we had to cook it so we didn't get food poisoning... Oh dear.. We survived though!

I wish I bought more to be honest, but I want to try other foods too if I have a chance to come again! The atmosphere is really good, and as the restaurant recently just opened in St Giles (located near Tottenham Court Road) the aesthetic was very modernised. You guys can check out the Lunch Menu here, as well as the rest of their website.

Moving onto the actual Inspire Me Korea Summer Meetup. We entered the basement where we collected our own Inspire Me Korea sticker, along with a raffle for later. I got the number "11" for my raffle ticket. We began to sit down, and I went to socialise with some old friends as well as some new ones just from discussing Karaoke songs. It was quite difficult to find songs without knowing any hangul, so we didn't get a chance to sing much - Everyone basically sang the English lyrics which came up during a K-Pop song aha... And I remember the GOT7 marathon of songs - Oh my...

We then proceeded to turn out attention to our hosts of the event, Diana (the founder of Inspire Me Korea) and her sister, Alice. We started off the afternoon with an ice breaker activity, where we were given a sheet with boxes on it, where you were required to talk to different people and put down their name if they did any of the things stated in the boxes. You weren't allowed to put the same name twice. I started off by talking to those around me before proceeding to get up and talk to others around me.

Unfortunately, I was missing a couple of boxes, before a winner was announced. The winner of the icebreaker shouting "Inspire Me Korea" first was Ramin. He began to list who he had put for each of the boxes. One of the boxes mentioned someone who is able to sing the chorus of a K-pop song, and for his sheet, he mentioned Nicole. This led to her being made to sing a chorus, in which she tried hard to avoid it but in the end did a great job in singing Taeyang's Eyes, Nose, Lips. Well done Nicole!

For winning the icebreaker, Ramin received a prize of an "Inspire Me Korea" subscription box. The first winner for the day. The following activity was a team activity where we split in groups of about 7-8 members (although additional members were added later, due to late attendees). We had a range of names, one group was called The Winners, ours was called GOT7 (aha we named it after the K-Pop group because there was 7 of us, later becoming 8 which didn't work out as well... oh well aha), another was called 9 Wonders etc.

The aim of the game is basically you are given a word (for us, the word was related to Korea) and the first person in the line, is to draw what they saw for the word, and the following person looks at their picture and draws it (whilst considering what the word may be). As each following person does the same thing, till at the end the person who stands last has to guess what the word may be based off the picture. You win a point for each word you get correct. Then the person at the front moves to the back and it continues. We got all our words correct despite our very interesting drawings...

There was a draw between two teams. One of which was our team GOT7! Unfortunately because of the draw, this lead to an intense game of rock paper scissors, or in Korean, 가위 바위 보 (Gawi Bawi Bo). Our leader, Sarah (JB Leader-nim - I joke) competed against YASSSS's leader, giving us the win! The girls won the "Dress Code" masks, ranging from black to blue to red to yellow to violet. I won myself a "Dress Code Blue" mask. Whilst the guys won themselves snacks.

We moved onto the next activity. This is where our personal talents were involved. For each of the different K-Pop albums to be won, ranging from PSY to Boyfriend to MBLAQ, we competed in singing/dancing for the prizes. The winner was the one with the most cheers after each round for each album.

For the first song, people competed for PSY's 7th Album. It was a dance competition for this round. The participants were Hung, Nathan, Nicole and Sarah. They competed in dance with the song "Gentleman". If you haven't heard of the song, or watched the MV before, check it out below:

It was a great laugh watching everyone compete for the album. Everyone seems to only know of the chorus - I mean I can't exactly dance very well to be saying anything, and I'd probably only know the chorus myself... But who do you think won?

... The winner of the round, was Nicole! She is also a dancer for the group, Ujjn. Check them out! She did a great job, and received the most cheers from the audience, winning PSY's 7th album.

For the next round, we had participants compete for the Boyfriend album. However... No one seemed to know any Boyfriend choreography or lyrics so Diana decided that people could choose a GOT7 song to compete for. We had a range of songs in which people competed for. One was GOT7's Just Right performed by Hung and Nichelle. Check out their performance below:

Followed by a performance by Stevie and Ramin. You may recognise Stevie as KpopSteve on YouTube. They performed GOT7' Girls Girls Girls. We also had another performance from John (of FUSI8N) who performed BTS' Fire. Originally he was planning to perform GOT7's Fly however due to the rights not being obtained for their new song, he resorted to BTS' Fire. As soon as the song started, many of the attendees ended up joining in with the dance which made a lot more entertaining. Check out their performance below:

For the final album to giveaway, we had an MBLAQ album. I decided to go for it since it was the last round, and was the first and only singing contestant for the activity... RIP. But before I performed, we had a few dance entrants. Jahliss and Nicole decided to perform Teen Top's Rocking - I think what is most difficult about this dance, is the tutting and quick step... Well for me anyways. But they both did it incredibly well, I highly praise them for it. Check out their performance below:

This was then followed by a performance of 4MINUTE's Hate. Here we had two members of Ujjn (Nicole and Lily) as well as Tosin, with Nathan on the side aha. Check out their performance below:

I performed last so I decided to perform what I knew best, which was G-Dragon's That XX - I realised there was explicit language in this, and I performed it uncensored... Oops. I missed the beginning of the song but managed to jump right in the song luckily... It was so embarrassing, haven't performed for a while aha. It was reassuring when I heard the cheers after my performance, and surprisingly, I actually won! Thanks to everyone for the support.

I actually have a video which Jahliss decided to film - I didn't tell her how to use my camera because I didn't want her to film so I'm not gonna show the video either mwahahaha... I think what surprised people the most was when I started the rap - It's quite interesting seeing people's reactions aha! I've got to say this will always be one of my favourite songs. You can check out the original MV below:

For our final activity. We went back to our teams for a pub quiz. The quiz incorporated different elements of Korea from TV shows, to naming Korean items, K-Pop and more. For those who had attended Korea, already had an upper hand of knowing some of the answers. We were relying on our leader, Shari for her fast reactions. When a team knew the answer to a question, the team leader had to put up their hand, and the one with their hands up first got a chance to answer the question.

We all looked towards the screen, attempting to answer the questions before we finally found a winner. The winners for the pub quiz were the 9 Wonders. Similarly to GOT7, the girls received face masks whilst the boys received snacks.

Before the day ended, Diana wanted to share with us a presentation about Inspire Me Korea. For some of you who don't know already. Inspire Me Korea is a subscription box service which provides goods "inspired by Korea". The incorporate beauty elements, K-Pop items, snacks and more into their boxes.

One thing is for sure, you definitely need to check out their promotion video, it's super cute and I love their little mascot for the promotion video. It has definitely made me want to subscribe - And hopefully I'll be subscribing soon when payday comes! Check out the promo video below:

Diana always thanked all the sponsors who helped her with the event. From SuperStar BBQ, to Devada, to H-Mart to Panda Eyes. They all contributed to prizes and more to the event. Before we finished for the day, we had the raffle. Everyone started to pull out their raffle tickets. You were also able to receive more raffle tickets through making purchases of K-Pop items available to the side.

The prizes for the raffle ranged from beauty bags from Devada, to face masks and more. I managed to win myself a beauty bag with my raffle. I think I was quite lucky that day aha! You can check out all the prizes I won last week below:

All the prizes I won from yesterday's Inspire Me Korea Summer Meetup event 💕 Thank you so much @inspiremekorea for hosting an amazing event! I had lots of fun ☺️ 1. Won the Dress Code Blue face mask for a drawing game with my Team, GOT7 😂 2. Won the MBLAQ album with my singing rendition of That XX - aye G-Dragon! 3. Won the beauty pack, sponsored by @MsDevada, through my winning raffle ticket, No. 11 ✨

A photo posted by Sophia Tang 🐼 (@sophilicity) on Jul 17, 2016 at 1:46am PDT

Once our hosts left, we ended up doing a bit of karaoke before the place got rather lively. From freestyle performances to sexy concepts, I can totally say it escalated to the extent where it felt like it was an 18+ event... Oh my... You can check out what we got up to in the playlist below:

I definitely had a lot of fun at the event. It was a great event to socialise with people, and with people with similar interests. I look forward to attending the next Inspire Me Korea meetup. For now, don't forget to check out Inspire Me Korea at all their links below:

http://www.inspiremekorea.com/

Inspire Me Korea's Facebook

Inspire Me Korea's Twitter

Inspire Me Korea's Instagram

Inspire Me Korea's YouTube

Special thanks to Octavian Who who took the photos for the event and allowed me to use them for this blog post. You can check out his links below:

http://octavianwho.com/

Octavian Who's Facebook

Octavian Who's Twitter

Octavian Who's Instagram

Octavian Who's YouTube

Thanks to everyone who helped me retrace my memory with this event despite being a week ago... I had some awkward memory gaps here and there but I remembered eventually. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, it is quite a long one, but I should have some interesting travel posts to update you soon! Thanks for reading!

19:56 2 comments

What can I say? I have an exclusive giveaway for you guys only for these next 48 hours! Sorry for my absence, I've had a few issues with my blog recently and considering the circumstances I've been going through along with being away in another country these past few days, I haven't had a chance to update as much as I had originally hoped.

Some of you may know, that last February I worked with HISTORY, and this September I'm fortunate enough to be able to work with MYNAME as well! Because of my collaboration with Arpeggios Entertainment, I will be giving away a pair of tickets for the MYNAME concert in London on the 10th of September! The overall value of these tickets are £62! So you'll be saving money and as a fan I'm sure you would love to see your favourite group on stage!

So what do you have to do? It's simple, just complete the form below for the giveaway. For this giveaway, I would suggest looking into additional entries such as an Instagram or Twitter follow which is shown after you've completed the main details of the giveaway. This is to give yourself the best chance to win the pair of tickets! Also, I suggest that if you're not interested in the group that you let others have a chance to win the tickets. The tickets are not re-sellable or exchangeable.

The giveaway is only for a limited time only. Beginning from Sunday, the giveaway will end at 23:59 on Monday the 4th of July. The winner will be announced on Tuesday the 5th of July, and the winner will be contacted within the 24 hours in which the draw closed.

Don't forget to check out Arpeggios Entertainment at the website and many social media links below!

http://www.arpeggiosent.com/

Arpeggios Entertainment Facebook

Arpeggios Entertainment Instagram

Arpeggios Entertainment Twitter

Arpeggios Entertainment Tumblr

I can't help but thank Arpeggios Entertainment enough for giving me an opportunity to exclusively giveaway a pair of tickets just for my blog readers! In a way, it's a special thanks to all the readers who have been following me over this year. PS: Don't forget that my blog anniversary giveaway is currently still live, so join in the giveaway whilst you can!

01:03 No comments

So there's been many conventions such as MCM Comic Con Expo as well as Hyper Japan which have featured the LoveJojo store, but now it is LoveJojo's time to shine with the upcoming launch party!

So what is LoveJojo? Well, LoveJojo is an authentic gift store featuring various cute toys and gift. The store was founded by Jojo Hua, who is currently also the managing director. LoveJojo by definition has to be one of the most "kawaii" stores that I've know, particularly for its exhibits of plush toys at various conventions. If you're looking for cute plush toys e,g, alpacas and more, LoveJojo is the store for you!

So why exactly is LoveJojo hosting a launch party?

Well, the launch party is the celebrate the launch of LoveJojo's kawaii subscription box, which is currently being sold from £15! The way it works is, that longer the monthly subscription i.e, the more boxes you purchase the cheaper it is for you!

1 month subscription = £19.99

3 month subscription = £18.33 per month

6 month subscription = £16.66 per month

12 month subscription = £15 per month

Question: Is the subscription box worth it?

Answer: Definitely! Considering the variety of items included in the box e.g. snacks, plush toys, accessories, stationery, makeup and more, you'd regret not making a single purchase! Best of all, if you purchase the 6 month or 12 month subscription you can get additional gifts along with your subscription!

6 month subscription - free extra exclusive mystery gift(s) up to £5

12 month subscription - free extra exclusive mystery gift(s) up to £15, a signed postcard from Jojo (the founder and managing director of LoveJojo) as well as a personal thank you from Jojo herself on the stage of the launch party!

Plus, the packaging has been created so that it is sturdy meaning you can keep the boxes and reuse them for other things too! Check out the video below from the LoveJojo instagram, to prove it!

A video posted by 💖 Kawaii Subscription Box 💖 (@lovejojo) on Apr 16, 2016 at 3:53am PDT

So purchase your subscription box now! By purchasing from the link down below:
http://lovejojo.com/shop/lovejojo-kawaii-subscription-box/

You can also pick up your subscription box on the night of the launch party and be one of the first in the world to receive the subscription box! Now that's definitely an achievement worthwhile aha!

But why should you attend the LoveJojo launch party?

Well, think about all the cute things you can think of and put them all together in one place, this event is basically a glimpse of your imagination! From what I've known, there definitely isn't enough kawaii events around London, and the founder, Jojo agrees! Here is your chance to showcase your love for the Japanese culture by strutting your stuff in the cutest outfits with others who can relate aha! If you're voted as the best outfit, you will be awarded with a minute of fame on stage, sharing the stage with many awesome performers!

The current line up involves:

Kelsey Ellison - A world famous artist from the UK who is known for her many performances relating to Japanese pop culture. With over 70,000 subscribers on YouTube, her videos vary from covers to clothing hauls to vlogs and more. She has also had the opportunity to perform in Japan as well as releasing her own songs inspired by the Japanese Pop culture.

Check out her YouTube below:
https://www.youtube.com/user/KimonoTime

Leader Looi - Known for her feisty and dangerous style, she will be taking the stage with some lively dance sets accompanied by back up dancers. She is most known for her K-Pop renditions, and was also one of the finalists at the K-Pop World Festival: UK.

Check out her YouTube below:
https://www.youtube.com/user/GoldenrodGirlVAA/

Aisha Anime - A renowned journalist known for her reports of Japanese culture around the UK. An enthusiastic kawaii cosplayer, interviewing people such as the likes of directors of animes, games and movies, as well as voice actors and more!

Check out her website below:
http://www.aishaanime.co.uk/

Ich Loc - Some of you may recognise him as the MC of this year's Chinese New Year Festival in London! He is an inspirational speaker who believes "living life with no limits". Also, he is the co-founder of the Limit Break Lifestyle Academy.

Check out the Limit Break Lifestyle Academy website below:
http://www.limitbreaklifestyleacademy.com/

Manifest Nation - Presented by B-Better, a bunch of talented individuals joined together to form the energetic dance group, Manifest Nation.

Check out the B-Better website below:
http://www.b-better.org.uk/

Strange Chocolate - A diverse indie live band, prepared to take us on a fantastical journey with their performance. Their name was inspired by none other than, Domo-kun!

Check out their SoundCloud below:
https://soundcloud.com/strangechocolate

Last but not least, there will be a performance from the dancing female duo, Elle and Lei!

So if you're into Japanese culture, cute things including free food and drink, mystery prizes as well as awesome performances with your ticket, what are you waiting for?!

Tickets are available to purchase down below:
http://lovejojo.com/shop/lovejojo-launch-party-tickets/

Early bird promotional ticket - £12 (until the 30th April ONLY)
General online ticket - £15 (from the 30th April onwards)
On the door tickets - £20 (WARNING! There is a high chance that tickets will be SOLD OUT early before the night. If there is a full capacity at the venue reached before the day, on the doors will not be available for purchase.)

UPDATE: USE MY SPECIAL CODE "LOVESOPH" FOR £5 OFF YOUR TICKET NOW!

Date: Saturday 7th May

Doors open at 5PM
Show starts at 6PM
Event ends at 10PM

Nearest station: Finsbury Park (Located on the Piccadilly and Victoria Line, the station is within 10 minutes walk of the venue.)

Venue: Platform Islington, Hornsey Road Baths, 2 Tiltman Place, London N7 7EE

Don't forget to click attending on the Facebook event below, if you have purchased a ticket!
LoveJojo Launch Party Facebook Page

Thank you for reading my post, and I hope to see you guys there!
I'll be accompanying a friend, and working as the photographer at the event, so don't forget to say hi if you see me!

23:51 1 comments

We've actually been very fortunate this year in the UK. There's been lots of groups coming to the UK from HISTORY in February, Rock Bottom this month, B.A.P in May and now we have MYNAME coming the UK this September!

Thanks to the help of Arpeggios Entertainment who will be organising the concerts for the UK and France, for those who particularly enjoyed the experience from the HISTORY concert, you're bound to enjoy the MYNAME concert just as much and if not better?! For the MYNAME concert in Poland, Kanzen Music will be organising the concert, whilst the MYNAME concert in Romania will be organised by Kompas Events.

But what is the point about knowing all this information, if you don't know the group itself?

MYNAME are a 5-member South Korean boy group signed under H2 Media. The group was created by Fly to the Sky (a South Korean R&B duo) member, Hwanhee. They first debuted in October 2011 with the song "Message" (메시지). MYNAME, not only have produced discography in Korea but also in Japan. After only one year since their Korean debut, they made their Japanese debut with the release of a single album featuring the Japanese version of their song "Message (메시지)". Since then, they have been successful throughout Korea and Japan, with one of the members, Gunwoo recently releasing his first solo album, "I Am 27" early this year in Japan.

Although, I haven't personally listened to many MYNAME songs myself, from the selection of songs I've listened to, I deem them to be a great group with "Baby I'm Sorry" being one of the most memorable and emotional songs I've listened to, especially with the violent/graphic concept of the music video.

Message: (October 2011)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZoLmKy9tGA

Hello & Goodbye: (May 2012)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0tBpo6_7Xg

Message (Japanese Ver.) (June 2012):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnvKYfzrD9U

Summer Party (Japanese Ver.) (July 2012):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsKWVPx-BlU

What's Up (Japanese Ver.) (October 2012):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0It28fEa50s

Just That Little Thing: (January 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCzp7l3JCEU

WE ARE THE NIGHT (Japanese Ver.) (March 2013):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0nuGcumWMA

Baby I'm Sorry: (July 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSAO8op0ow

Day by Day ft. D.O: (October 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyx7_yd2SPk

Shirayuki (Japanese Ver.) (November 2013):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IBBp9tsZfs

F.F.Y (Japanese Ver.) (February 2014):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q5eoc9XH_I

Too Very So MUCH: (February 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXvHQeG1Lu4

Stop The Time (Japanese Ver.) (March 2015):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxrJJHILtq0

Just Tell Me: (May 2015):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJJUen2rcM

HELLO AGAIN (Japanese Ver.) (June 2015):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgSLHZaO_4

But as everyone K-Pop fan learns, you'll find yourself immersed in music videos where you'll begin to develop interest with each of the members. So let's have a brief outline of each of the members profiles from MYNAME:

(Information of the band was sourced from MYNAME's official website and other sites, however figures are subjected to change overtime.)

INSOO

Birth Name: Kang In Soo (강인수)

Birthday: March 10, 1988

Blood Type: AB

Position: Main Vocalist

Height: 178CM

Weight: 58KG

Instagram: insoo_casper

Twitter: k10208888

GUNWOO

Birth Name: Lee Gun Woo (이건우)

Birthday: January 30, 1989

Blood Type: AB

Position: Leader/Main Vocalist

Height: 181CM

Weight: 57KG

Instagram: iibbgwiixxy

Twitter: Mybabygunwoo

SEYONG

Birth Name: Kim Se Yong (김세용)

Birthday: November 20, 1991

Blood Type: O

Position: Rapper

Height: 177CM

Weight: 59KG

Instagram: sy_911120

Twitter: MYNAME_KYong

JUNQ

Birth Name: Kang Joon Kyu (강준규)

Birthday: August 9, 1993

Blood Type: AB

Position: Rapper

Height: 180CM

Weight: 58KG

Instagram: kkangx

Twitter: kkangxx9449

CHAEJIN

Birth Name: Chae Jin Suk (채진석)

Birthday: December 26, 1995

Blood Type: B

Position: Maknae/Sub-Vocalist/Visual

Height: 176CM

Weight: 56KG

Instagram: chaejin95

Twitter: chae_jn1226

UPDATE!

Tickets will be sold for the London concert online on the 1st of May at 10AM

O2 Academy Islington Pre-Sales will be sold on the 29th of April at 9AM - Standard tickets only

Ticket Prices:

VVIP (Meet & Greet + Early Entry) - £90

M&G (Meet & Greet) - £70

Standard - £31

All tickets include a concert admission for a 2 hour show.

All prices started above include service charge but exclude processing fees.

VVIP and M&G tickets will only be available from the Arpeggios website.

Please make sure to bring valid ID along with the ticket to enter the venue.

Meet & Greet consists of a handshake with each member along with a picture taken in groups of 10.

Doors will open at 4:30PM

Show starts at 6PM

Meet and Greet will approximately start at 8PM

UPDATE 2!

Additional locations have been added to the MYNAME European concert tour!

Arpeggios have announced an additional location, which will be in Stockholm, Sweden however the venue is yet to be confirmed. The date for the concert will be on the 2nd of September!

There has also been a final announcement regarding all the locations featured in the European tour for MYNAME, so don't miss out your chance to attend the concerts! From the 1st of September to the 11th of September, MYNAME will be touring Europe!