Hey there! I've earnestly read all the pages of the K-pop satanic symbolism like some kind of conspiracy nerd and I've also read a fair few pages of this 'BEE TEA YES' thread also, but never posted a comment. So here I am! Yay!
I've also been worried about the members especially V and Jiiin in the past year. The fandom seemed possessed and was starting to rub off on me (like trying to dye my hair black just because they did in Euphoria, running around a building 12 times at midnight after listening to their album or waking up in a panic that Teahyung had committed su!cide and BH has hired an identical clone/doppelganger ... totally normal human behavior right?) Also I feel that they have creatively burned out AND sold out thus leading to this new generic sound. Their new songs since LY era (except a couple on Tear album) seem to lack a depth and musicality that they used to have... but are still annoyingly catchy. All these reasons and more which added up led to me leaving the fandom. Not to mention, but I also couldn't stand Idol.
So, I came here looking for answers after their Idol MV honestly nauseated me and gave me the creeps (the "I know what I am I know what I want" scene or the "there are many of me inside of me" scene) which freaked me out so much it made me think about the utterly bizarre Yeontan 'coincidence' again, which led me to watch the video about Jonghyun again, which led me to read the comments and someone had linked the satanic symbolism in K-pop thread which led me to come here.
I really enjoy reading a lot of your posts and although some extrapolations/interpretations seem frankly a bit far-fetched or overly pessimistic to me, I appreciate the effort some of you guys put into pulling apart symbolisms in these music videos. Whether or not these symbolisms reflect a darker reality, I don't think we can say for sure but reading the theories is fun nevertheless If it's alright, may I share a bit of my background?
You can skip if it's too boring.
{I was born in a loving Christian family with strong moral values and we have always had a heart for Japan so we had Japanese homestays or sometimes homestays from other countries (usually Asian) my parents were missionaries (for 5 years, way before I was born) who met in Japan and both studied Japanese. My brothers also both took interest in Japan so I grew up being exposed to some Japanese, games, music and TV from an early age. Actually, I'm writing this from Japan as I'm doing a course which ends at Christmas. Anyway you're probably thinking "what in the world does this have to do with Japan??" quite a lot, because even though my middle brother introduced me to Bigbang at an early age and I liked bopping to the music (especially 'My Girl'- haha that was my favorite and Taeyang is still my bias in BB) I didn't really care much for Kpop (because I was too obsessed with puppies)... It was only when a Japanese homestay introduced me to SNSD and SHINee (especially SHINee) when I started to like K-pop.
I was about 14 at the time but I was obsessed with Japan and at the time I preferred J-pop but it was easier to find K-pop on Spotify and Youtube so I started adding more and more to my playlist but I was still only a casual fan. I moved schools to study Japanese the following year (2015) and thought nobody else liked K-pop. Then to my delight I was at Youth Church and heard a girl in my grade singing a SHINee song (Lucifer of all songs) I talked to her and then a month later we were both waiting for drama and music class and she said "Here's something I think you'll love" She pulled out the iPad, and 7 spunky young men in different occupational wear jumped rhythmically and energetically around a crimson room, one adorned in hair which may very well be competing with the wall for the brightest shade of red. Yes ,folks...She dealt me...DOPE (my first BEE TEA YES song)! I don't remember, but I must have liked what I saw (and I wanted to become more friends with her) because I put their ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY in my playlist as I'd done with SHINee and SNSD.
I watched a bunch of their V-lives and other random videos and read a bunch of posts and memes about them. I slowly fell in love with them to be friends with the girl and also because I wanted to try a fandom experience and be deeply enamored. I know I should have stopped when I realized their leader condoned sins that my family strongly abhorred or even that they had like 5 songs with the F-word in it (I'm not even including the mixtapes) I even remember being disgusted when they went to the church and Y00ng! stuck his middle finger through the confessional thing. I had a blacklist for K-pop idols in my head, and if someone did something but like swearing or supporting a sin that was my justification method to "stop me from falling in love with them". I just kept going. I sensed some sort of spirit of demonic oppression in Y00ng! and some sort of 'antichrist' seductive spirit about RocketMan just by listening to them rap and looking at their eyes.}
I think sometimes we misunderstand the term "giving your soul to the devil" as if it's something HUGE and irrevocable, but I think it starts with something as simple as telling a lie and not apologising. Take RocketMan for example. I think RocketMan "sold his soul to the devil" if you like when he built his career on lying to his mother and going to rap in Hongdae instead of going to the library/computer cafe as he told her he would. I've also read somewhere that he 'hated' his sister because he wanted more time on the computer or something like that. He also mentioned watching pornography and that's another very common pathway people can open their souls to demonic influence due to lust. If I recall, he even said he showed the other members which I find very disturbing.. All of these things the society may deem small add up and weave a person into a deeper and deeper web of a cycle of committing sin to justify sin.
I believe however, God has also shown me in the past couple of years the potential various people have at being used for his glory IF they were saved. I could see it in even RocketMan back when he did that duo umbrella song with the girl and even stronger when he did the UN speech. I can almost hear his testimony in my head and the others also sometimes. God showed me that putting people on a blacklist and shoving them aside because they live in sin is not helpful but praying for them instead without adopting their sin is powerful. I've had dreams of people I pray for getting saved (YES! including BEE TEA YES). So I just want to encourage you that if you're praying for people's salvation keep praying and if you're not then please consider it. Even if it seems like they'll never get saved, don't give up (that's what the enemy wants) and even though the enemy seems strong, he's not as strong as we give him credit and I'm going to say this: It's up to them, but they can get saved! Absolutely nothing is hopeless. And sorry I know I'm not supposed to talk about a religion or something but I think at the very least moral belief is an integral part of what we're trying to uncover so here is mine along with my encouragement to you even if you don't believe it. All good, I can't make you. Also, If you're interested to hear about somebody's dreams about BEE TEA YES, then that's good because I've had tons... Even if they don't mean a whole lot, some of them would probably be a good laugh!
