Dear, guys – welcome back to Letters From Liz!
In all honesty, this blog has become a third of Overexposed series, a third of scenes, and a third of Kpop music-related things, and I’m honestly not complaining whatsoever. If there’s anything that I’ve gained during this time of self-discovery, it’s that I’ve accepted my trash for KPop, and I started to do some album collecting. At first, I tried to avoid buying albums because I know myself well enough to know that I would want to buy every album for the groups I liked, so at first, I was only going to collect the albums of my ult groups, and only one version of the album as well. Kpop loves doing this thing where a group makes a comeback and wants to realize 7 different versions of the same album and like the trash community we are, we buy all versions… I’m talking about you, BTS! Although I started to listen to Kpop in 2018, I didn’t start collecting until the end of 2019, and even then it took me a while to finally get the courage to buy some albums after my ult group suddenly disbanded.
But without further ado, here are the things on my shelf!
Magazines/Monographs:
Allure Korea’s 200th Edition (feat. Seungyoun)
After X1 disbanded suddenly at the beginning of the year, I was devastated that I wouldn’t be able to see those boys together for future comebacks. Also, I wouldn’t be seeing this one interact with the other members and being my whole bias in X1 anymore. I told myself that whatever Seungyoun does in the future, I will support him and his journey because I like him as an idol. Although he’s back doing his music thing and his solo album is finally here, he started his year doing some magazine spreads. This magazine, in particular, has some of my favorite photos of Seungyoun ever in it, so it was a must-have.
1st Look V.191: “Youth Blue” (feat. Seungyoun)
If I knew that 1st Look magazine was actually the size of a damn newspaper, I would’ve found a more productive way to store it rather than folding it and paper clipping it. Again, I just wanted this magazine in my collection of Seungyoun things, and from what I remember it was only like 3 dollars, so I said: “Yeah, why not?!”
TWICE “Fancy You” Album Monograph
I feel like because Twice is so wildly popular in the Kpop scene, they do more than just release some albums and eras and then call it a day. Ladies and Gentlemen, these girls come out with monographs. It’s basically a photobook of behind-the-scene photos of shooting the music video and the album photobook, or “jacket making”. Twice was the group that started my Kpop trash obsession, and although they aren’t an ult group (like ITZY is) they still make fire ass music and I’m always excited for their comebacks. This particular comeback was my favorite one thus far; all of the songs were different for the group and unique from each other. The only reason why I didn’t buy the album was because sadly the physical album wasn’t my favorite, but the monograph was beautiful. I’m glad to have some sort of “Fancy” physical thingymabob in my collection.
Albums:
X1 1st Mini Album “비성: Quantum Leap” (QL Version)
This album holds a special place in my heart because it was my first ever album I got. It’s kinda funny; when I started my job at the bookstore, the only thing I wanted to use my money for was to buy this album. It took me about 2 months after it was released to finally buy it, but I definitely knew this was the version I wanted out of both. For my pulls, I got the Seungyoun bookmark and the Dongpyo standee. I also was able to snag Seungyoun’s AR card later on because Seungyoun will forever be my X1 bias. But yeah, not bad for a newbie collector.
VICTON 1st Mini Album “Voice To New World“
This album was the main reason why I started to stan Victon and decide to collect all of their albums. Out of all of their albums, their debut one is my favorite track-list wise. For a rookie group at the time, I like that this was a very fresh concept and I believe it made them stand out from the rest of the boy groups at the time. With this album, it came with Seungsik’s first photocard and this Byungchan photocard whereas the other Seungsik photocard in the came with my signed copy and the Seungwoo photocard I bought on eBay because I have bad luck when it comes to pulling Seungwoo in my own purchased albums.
VICTON 2nd Mini Album “READY“
This album is so overlooked for everyone that it’s even one of the albums I don’t really go back and look at (which I should). This concept and album weren’t my favorite; I don’t go back to this album to listen to it that often because it just has songs that are just okay to me. For this album, I pulled our maknae, Subin’s photocard.
VICTON 3rd Mini Album “IDENTITY“
This was the second Victon album I purchased because out of all of the concepts, this one is one of my favorites. It’s fresh, it’s summery, and the music video to the title track is unique and weird, which was cute for them to do! The B-sides of this album were also really good and I always go back to it every now and then. During the time I got this album, Sejun was totally a major bias-wrecker, so when I pulled his photocard, I was really happy.
VICTON 4th Mini Album “From. VICTON“
I wish I was able to showcase this album better because out of all of them, this concept is my favorite. This album, in particular, felt personal; it was more so a gift to their fans rather than a mini album. The photobook and even the mini book of journal entries from the members were really cute to get with this album, so I tend to always go back to this album just to look at it. I was also very lucky to get this Sejun photocard; he lived on my phone case for a really long time after pulling it. These are some of the hardest photocards to find on the internet, so my journey to getting at least one From. Victon era Seungsik card is still on.
VICTON 1st Single Album “TIME OF SORROW“
This is their first single album, and even though it’s not my favorite physical album because of its simplicity, the concept is just so fucking pretty and angelic; I look through it every now and then. Seungwoo’s curly hair in this era was such a fucking look, as well as Sejun’s pitch black short hair. All these boys looked so fucking good in this era! When it comes to pulling photocards, I seem to always pull Byungchan’s photocards, so that’s exactly who I pulled for this album as well. In addiction, I’m also getting Seungwoo & Seungsik’s photocards, as well as Seungsik’s broadcast photocard which is rare af.
VICTON 5th Mini Album “nostalgia” (nostos Ver.)
This was the first album that was different from the other Victon albums. This was more so a box of goodies than an album! This concept for the boys was so fucking good and majestic and mature; the concept was everything, the outfits were on point, and the album as a whole is so fucking good. Because this was the era that came after Seungwoo and Byungchan’s appearance on PDX101, this was the era that I started to listen to them in and didn’t appreciate it when it first came out! This is the nostos version, and the goodies I got was a Seungsik/Chan mini-poster, Subin’s message postcard, and Hanse’s “nostos” photocard. Also, I had to get Seungsik’s nostos photocard because it’s the cutest ever.
VICTON 6th Mini Album “Continuous” (Blue Ver.)
This is their recent mini-album release which I pre-ordered once the album was put on selling sites. I was completely excited for this to be Victon’s first comeback as a 7-member group and with 3 versions being out for this album, I decided to get the middle one, or the Blue version. This album was really strong; all the songs on the album were co-written by the members and they are all so mature and pretty. Personally, for me, Subin owned this era, hand down! He definitely is going into his own and he’s just not our maknae anymore! Regarding pulls, I got the Seungwoo x Hanse lyric book, the “back of the head” transparent card, Byungchan’s AR photocard, and Chan’s photocard. As time passed, I decided I would get at least one of each member for this album because some of them were just too cute to pass!
VICTON 2nd Single Album “Mayday” (Venez & m’aider Ver.)
Fire off a Mayday, but I can’t wait! Seriously, this title track is one of my favorites because it’s so catchy and so different from their previous comebacks. Of course I’m 100% Victon trash and I bought the pre-sale copies (5 actually, don’t ask why) once it was online to buy and the photos in both these versions are so fucking pretty. Personally, my favorite concept is the Venez (the colorful version) just because the scenery is breathtaking and Victon with flowers are everything. For my first two pulls, I got Subin’s Venez card (which was on my Mayday PC Wishlist), Sejun’s Venez card (which I traded for Seungsik’s Venez card) and then Byungchan & Hanse’s m’aider card, which I might keep for myself. Of course in true collecting fashion, I seeked and bought most of my Mayday wishlist!
ITZY Debut Single Album “IT’z Different” (Photobook)
The biggest mistake JYP Entertainment made was to not release a proper single album for this debut because it’s undeniably one of the best debut tracks of 2019. Y’all. When ITZY first debuted with their first title track, “DALLA DALLA”, it was nothing like a girl group has done before in my opinion. Describing ITZY’s concept is always hard because it’s rather unique for your typical KPop girl group. I was happy that then they released their first mini album, they put together the photobook portion of their single album as a pre-order benefit. This concept was one of my favorites of theirs and for a rookie group at the moment, it was everything!
ITZY 1st Mini Album “IT’z ICY” (IT’Z Ver.)
Shortly after seeing ITZY in concert earlier this year, I decided that it was only right to collect their albums. I always liked them and their music, but having seen them in concert and perform live during their U.S tour, I fell in love with this group even more, and once I finished my Victon collection, I would start my ITZY album collection. It wouldn’t be that hard to do since they only had this album from last year. This album was a good little summer thing; it wasn’t my favorite out of their discography but they rocked it when they performed these songs live in concert. For this album, I got two little ITZY freebies that the website sent with the album, as well as Ryujin and Chaeryeong’s photocard. As for the cover, I was blessed with Chaeryeong, who was once my bias at some point.
ITZY 2nd Mini Album “IT’z ME” (WANNABE Ver.)
This album I pre-ordered, so I was also sent the pre-order benefits; the postcard set and the “Paris et. Itzy” book of pictures that they took when they were in Paris last year. This album was so fucking strong, it’s ridiculous. JYP blessed us with 7 songs, and all of them are so different from each other. Out of the three versions, I got the WANNABE version. Besides the pre-order benefits, I got Yuna’s album card, the Ryujin & Lia’s unit photocard, and Yeji’s photocard (which is my bias!)
CRAVITY 1st Mini Album “HIDEOUT: Remember Who We Are – S1“
This album was a strong one for a debut, y’all. These rookies are going ham in the Kpop industry these days. Anyway, this is the first version of Cravity’s debut album. It didn’t take me that long to stan these boys; four of them were introduced to us through PDX101 last year, and the other 5 boys just mesh well with the boys we already grew to love. Although they aren’t my ults and I don’t have a fixed bias in this group, I already find myself stanning Serim and Wonjin just a little more than the rest. For this album, I got the sticker sheet of all 9 members, Minhee’s standee and photo strip bookmark, the Woobin, Taeyoung, and Minhee polaroid thingymabob, and Hyeongjun’s cute ass photocard! In addiction, purchased Serim & Wonjin’s photocards as well because they are my two biases in this group.
Kim Wooseok’s Solo Album “1ST DESIRE [GREED]“
Wooseok’s first solo debut album was so fucking good, I had to buy it for my collection! Every song on the album was so different and yet Wooseok was able to suit them so perfectly. There were three versions of this album, but I felt like the red one fit the overall concept the most (I mean, the title track is called “Red Moon”) but yeah! Very proud of Wooseok for such success in his solo debut! One-It forever!
TWICE 9th Mini Album “MORE & MORE“
My first ever physical Twice album! I wanted to buy their current comeback album because of the b-sides. Don’t get me wrong, the title track is getting catchy the more I listen to it, but what really got me was the b-sides of the album. They are all so uniquely different & they are certified bops! Honestly, these girls know how to write some bangers. Nayeon wrote my favorite track on the album, “Make Me Go” and Jeongyeon & Chaeyoung wrote “Sweet Summer Day.” I knew I wanted to at least own one Twice album in my lifetime, so I decided that it would be the C version of their new comeback, “More & More”. Twice always has goodies when they make comebacks; this album came with pre-order benefit photocards, nine postcards of the members, “The Most” photocard, and 5 in-album photocards. (Oh, and a coaster that I totally forgot to insert, but I pulled Mina’s!)
Signed Albums:
VICTON 1st Mini Album “Voice to New World”
I was going on an eBay rabbit hole when I found this signed copy of Victon’s 1st mini album floating on the internet. I impulsively bought it but I definitely do not regret it now that it’s on my desk. It’s my favorite album and it was only right that I got it. With this album, only one photocard came with the album and it was Seungsik’s (the one pictured on the unsigned copy). Seungsik is my bias for this group anyway, so I was happy to at least have both of his photocards for this album!
VICTON 5th Mini Album “nostalgia” (algos Ver.)
Another signed Victon album because I’m absolute trash. When starting my album collection at the beginning, I told myself I wasn’t going to buy other versions of the same album because I just don’t have it like that, but I caved in when I saw this version of the album being sold online and it was signed. I saw this listing and immediately purchased it because it was an all Seunsgik set (I’m Kang Seungsik trash), signed by all members, and it was the version of the album I didn’t have yet. I’m very excited to have this in my collection because out of Victon’s discography, this has become my second favorite album (track-wise) of theirs, but this concept remains my favorite of all. In this album, I pulled Seungsik’s “algos” photocard, the same Seunsgik/Chan mini poster as my other version, and Seungsik’s message postcard which happens to be my favorite picture of Seungsik… ever.
X1 1st Mini Album “비성: Quantum Leap” (비성 Ver.)
I was so happy to find this signed copy of my first ever ult boy group, X1’s debut (and sadly last) album! Their QL version was the first ever Kpop album I purchased, so this album holds a very special place in my heart. I thought about buying this version of the album for a very long time due to the fact that this is their only album they’ll come out with, so when I found their promotional signed copy, I had to buy it. She’s probably one of the rarest pieces in my collection just because this album will soon be out of print in the future and there are only so many signed copies out in the world with all of the members. In this album, everything Eunsang was in it: bookmark, AR Photocard, and standee.
DVD:
Victon 1st Concert: New World DVD
This DVD packaging was so unnecessarily big, but the contents were so beautiful! I ordered this bad boy the day it went on pre-order because I’m Victon trash for the 1,109th time. I remember when they first did the concert and how happy I was for those boys. They had accomplished so much in such very little time and for them to have their very first concert in Seoul was exciting! Of course, this was also around the time that X1’s agency announced their disbandment, so I’m hoping that in the future, Victon are able to have a concert with OT7! This DVD thingymabob comes with a photobook, a film bookmark thing, a photocard set of the boys (which happen to be my favorite set of all time), 3 CD-DVD things, and some really cute stickers!
And that’s it… for now! This post took forever to put together because I was just waiting for all of my junk to arrive in the mail within the last month and knowing me, this isn’t the end of my album buying. Seungyoun’s 1st Solo album that I’ve been anticipating for is finally coming to me as well! Oof, we’re excited. But yeah, thanks for dealing with my trash mess once again!
Letters From Liz. 