longer.blue

ok so this might get kinda long but i just think it's impossible to talk about it without considering the context.. also, i don't keep "receipts" like ever bc i just don't wanna live like that lmao so there may well be some details i simply don't remember.  context: honestly the vibes in the fandom had been off for months before last january already. probably since ontae left sm tbh? and i strongly believe fanning the flames of dissatisfaction in the fandom has been part of sm's media play the whole time, very possibly to put pressure on ontae to accept less than ideal conditions for future shinee activities. but obviously the pressure wouldn't work without the participation of willing fans. there's absolutely a contingent of shawols who just don't care about taemin as an individual (this is why moonbyul's words reminded me of the situation in shinee fandom!). to me that in itself wouldn't even be a problem, i mean we all have our biases and if you just like the group but don't particularly vibe with taemin's solo stuff i don't think there's an issue at all.  it only becomes an issue when they start making it tm's problem, which they keep insisting on doing!! being resentful of his tour so they talk shit and demand shinee tour first, asking about group activity everywhere all the time including in bpm's replies which is so nonsensical, and also many shawols just generally being sm-stans and lowkey (or highkey even) hating and finding issue with just about everything tm has done since leaving that company. just huge amounts of resentment floating around by entitled shawols who felt neglected from lack of group activity and tm spending so much time overseas with his tour. so then we get to the smtown concert disaster. tbh i don't really remember the timeline of events, just that it felt weird that taemin wasn't included in the merch. i mean from that alone it was already clear that things between the companies were very unresolved.  and then boom in comes ceo jang with his fuckass insta story lol. i don't speak korean so can't verify any translations/interpretations, my understanding is that he was shading "another company", not sm. and like sure we can take it apart and discuss the minutiae of what he may or may not have meant, but to me the crucial thing is this: his intentions are actually completely irrelevant to the outcome. which, as we know, was a massive hate train against taemin, tons of viral hate posts on all kinds of different sites, to the point where he felt he needed to apologise and clarify and even bpm had to put out a statement several days later. this stuff extended to his bubble too, where he responded to a lengthy "fan" comment from someone expressing their disappointment and threatening to leave him in a lengthy message (tm quickly deleted his reply, likely as soon as he realised that it was visible to everyone). all of it really did a huge number on him, he pretty much stopped communicating on bubble entirely for a long time, and various comments he made on stage during his tour gave glimpses into the toll it's taken on him. now i don't think ceo jang is like irredeemably evil or whatever lol, but his behaviour was indeed the catalyst for this mess. i mean, sm with their media play is always the true evil pulling the strings in the background and tbh if shawols hadn't so readily offered fertile grounds for the hate to take root, i don't think it would have escalated nearly as badly as it did. a lot of people clearly were just waiting for a reason to attack tm. also, i wanna emphasise that i totally sympathise with jjingus who were just happy that someone was finally standing up for jinki! it's just that in this particular case, regardless of intention, it came at the expense of another shinee member and personally i will just never be cool with that. and it fucks me up that apparently many shawols out there just kinda dgaf. like if you truly care for all shinee members, shouldn't you be interested in all of them getting fair conditions in a new contract, even if it takes a little longer to negotiate? instead of just banging on about group activity at any cost? i won't make my personal dislike of ceo jang anyone else's problem though, just to be clear. but yeah, generally i think there's good reason to be not cool with the guy as well as a depressingly large number of shawols, if you care about taemin. that's how i see it.