There are K-Pop fans across the globe who share the same passion. But on online platforms, it is hard to know about each other’ stories and K-Pop life. Even if we are in the same fandom, it is hard to get to know each other. So at Kpopmap, we started the Kpopmap Fan Interview Project to get to know more about K-Pop fans from different countries: more about their K-Pop life and tastes and to give them the opportunity to share with our readers about their favorite group(s) and bias. Admin SH from Fashionbebe514 is the next fan to answer our questions. She is a fan of MONSTA X (OT7) and more particularly of ShowNu! Check out how she entered the fandom, the songs and content she advises to new fans, and much more! Can you introduce yourself? Where are you from? I’m referred to as admin SH, one of the three admins of @fashionbebe514 and I’m originally from the United States. I have been working and living in Jakarta, Indonesia. I work in the fashion publishing industry, hence the strong interest in MONSTA X and WonHo fashion, and the account was established a few years ago due to mutual interest with two other fellow MonWenee (MONBEBE + WENEE) that I had the pleasure of meeting through group chats on Twitter. How and when did you enter the fandom? Originally, I came across the ‘Hero’ MV on YouTube accidentally back in October 2015, while I was searching for something else related to a different group I was into at the time. As someone who has a love and hate relationship with heights, the ‘Hero’ MV struck me as quite cool, with the rooftop scenes and strong dance moves. I heard about the “No Mercy” reality show when they were airing, but I’m a total cry baby so I didn’t really want to watch it just to get emotionally invested in a contestant and then cry over them leaving so I never watched it. But after ‘Hero’, and already knowing who made the cut, then I started searching for it and watched all the episodes, and just stuck with them as my ult group ever since. What are the reasons why you love your favorite group? Like any other fan, I have a ton of reasons! Aside from their obvious talent in singing, dancing, performing, song-writing, and now producing, perhaps one of the strongest reasons though is that the members are genuine. I’ve seen so many groups be sort of cookie-cutter and way too molded to fit that “perfect idol” persona, but with MONSTA X and WonHo, they just come across as really genuine. You really see who they really are, they don’t wear masks or pretend to be someone they’re not, and it was really refreshing to me. Who caught your attention at first and why? ShowNu. His facial expressions and dances in ‘Hero’ caught my attention, and I haven’t moved on ever since, and I really don’t intend to any time soon! Who is your bias, and why? Same answer as above! That was the first “encounter” and with each new subsequent video I watched of him, from “No Mercy” to “MONSTA X Ray” (all seasons), and every other bit of content I’ve watched over the years, it just makes me adore him even more, so it’s been really tough going through these last 352 days (at the time of writing) without him. 287 days to go, and believe me, I’m really counting the days, minutes, and seconds until he returns. Why is he my bias? There’s also a very long list for this, but if I had to narrow it down to 4 things it would be (1) Genuine. He comes up with the most unexpected comments and reactions sometimes that you know he is always just being who he is. He just says what he thinks on the spot and what he says is always witty and is pure comedy to me, and I love him to bits for that. (2) Levelheaded. He’s calm and collected, he doesn’t freak out, doesn’t seem to panic, and just takes in things with a cool head. Shownu can truly show you what Grace Under Fire looks like and that to me is great leadership. (3) Selfless and Thoughtful. From sharing his earnings from the CF he did with the other members, suggesting to give HyungWon more screentime/lines in the ‘Beautiful’ MV, to things like visiting the members while they do their solo projects and sending coffee trucks to the set even when he’s supposed to be off-duty. (4) Talented. There’s no way anyone can ever say ShowNu is not talented. His singing voice can heal the soul, his dance moves are simply unparalleled, and he truly can light up the stage. There’s so much more but I doubt your readers want to read a 618-page book about how much I love ShowNu. Can you recommend a title track and a B-side track for new fans? My favorite title track to date is still ‘Jealousy’, it’s very close to my #2 favorite, which is every other title track they have come up with! ‘Neol Hada’ will also forever be my most loved B-side track, it’s so cheerful and happy and you can’t help but smile when you hear it. Additionally, I’m also totally in love with ‘Newton’ but it’s really the MV that got me hooked. They look like they are having so much fun, they’re basically smiling from ear to ear pretty much the entire time, and it just makes me really, really happy. I can’t even explain it! Can you recommend a fan cam, V Live, cover video, cover dance, or individual content video of your bias to our readers? I have rewatched ShowNu’s VLIVEs plenty of times over the years, but my most-watched ShowNu VLIVE is actually a more recent one, from July last year. Even today, it still cracks me up how he did his version of the flying kiss. He’s a comedic genius!
I also enjoy watching clips of his time being a judge on “CAP-Teen”, he was such a caring and thoughtful judge, he’d really give very good advice and encouragement to the contestants. For older ones, I enjoyed watching ShowNu on “Lipstick Prince” too! Can you also do the same type of recommendation for the group? For any new MonWenee, the “MONSTA X Right Now” and “Monsta X-Ray” series are a must. An honorable mention goes to the BuzzFeed Celeb channel’s interview where they’re answering questions while playing with adorable puppies. That’ll melt your heart for sure. Can you share with us one of your favorite lyrics? The song ‘Stand Up’ has the most amazing lyrics, it’s a song I listen to whenever I need encouragement. Not only is the melody upbeat and energetic, but the lyrics really lift you up. “무릎 꿇고 넘어져도 다시 일어나면 돼” and “아픔 뒤엔 기쁨이 찾아와” in particular, are my favorites. How do you not feel encouraged and positive after those lyrics? Are there any words from the members you would like to share? As a foodie who gets as hangry as ShowNu does when I don’t have time to eat, his most memorable words are from the 4th gen video when he said “이간은 배가 불러야 머리가 잘 돌아가고 머리가 잘 돌아 가야 호의적인 행동이 나온다는거 분들도 아시죠” which I loosely interpret as: people who are smart are nicer, and you’re only smart when your belly is full. What is your favorite group/bias’ influence on your daily life? One of the biggest influences ShowNu has had on me is that he has changed my mindset about the importance of exercising. He’s so disciplined when it comes to routinely work out and I was honestly the laziest person on the planet. I’d rather stay in bed for another 40 minutes than get up and work up a sweat but watching ShowNu work out so much reminded me that you have to work hard to achieve something, and you don’t maintain weight by staying in bed. Of course, I don’t work out for hours and hours like they seem to, but at least I can tell myself to get up and move for at least 30 to 40 minutes, and that’s already a huge accomplishment considering how much I really don’t like sweating haha. What is your favorite side of fangirling/fanboying? I have to admit, I have a major weakness for beautiful ShowNu PCs so I’ve been collecting them. It’s exciting to open up albums and discover which ones you get and every time I got a ShowNu one it felt like winning the lottery or something. The thrill is pretty addictive! I only have a few ones left that I don’t have because they’re quite rare and were from broadcasts and fan cafe events. Do you feel there are any misunderstandings, things that are not well known, or any prejudices about your favorite group from other fans (non-fans)? The only thing I’d like to mention here is that there was so much chatter about that Bulldog T-Shirt he wore, but if you think about it, all brands really want are high engagement rates, interactions, and conversations about their products on social media platforms so, in fact, with all that talk, be it good or bad about his outfit, ShowNu has proven that he’s pretty much a social media marketing genius! Name a variety show/content show that you would love to see your bias on? Tell us why. ShowNu is so great with kids, as we saw on both “Monsta X-Ray” and “Twotuckbebe Day”, so I’d love to see him do shows like “Baby Cloud”, or whatever is still airing when ShowNu finishes his mandatory service. If you could spend the day with them, what would you want to do together? The ultimate dream would be to go restaurant hopping with ShowNu! He’s as much of a foodie as I am, so I think that would be really fun! If it were more than a day (like a week?) I’d take him on a food tour in Indonesia. We have such a wide variety of tastes and flavors. There are more than 1,000 ethnic groups in Indonesia so you can imagine the variety of different and unique delicacies! If any producers out there want to make a variety show of it, I promise you it could easily be a 12-episode fun food show! Can you recall a moment where you cried/laughed with your bias? I remember the first time I laughed and cried in a span of 5 minutes with ShowNu was when watching the “No Exit” hypnosis episode. I lost it when he said he was bald in his past life (married with 3 kids in his 20s!), and then quickly cried when they were discovering how he died in that life. Name 1 quality in your bias that you wish you had. ShowNu’s level of endurance, both mentally and physically. He is one strong human being! If your bias were to collab with another idol, who do you think would be best? First, The Weeknd! ShowNu mentioned this as his dream collab too, and I honestly don’t know what The Weeknd is waiting for! Secondly, though ShowNu did have a collab with him for the Pepsi campaign, I think a real Rain X ShowNu single and MV is absolutely necessary for sake of humanity and my sanity 😁 Admin SH’s message to ShowNu: I have so much to say to ShowNu, but I’ll save them for when I get a chance to speak to him in the future when he’s back (fingers crossed for winning a fan sign or video call!) For now, I’ll just say I’m extremely proud of everything he has accomplished, and I can’t wait to watch him flourish even more when he’s back. I wish Shownu bigger and better things, always. Thank you for answering our questions, admin SH. If you are interested in joining Kpopmap Fan Interview Project, please get in touch with us at [email protected] Everyone is welcome to participate.
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