kwentonijhingness

GOT7 – What’s with the name? Originally, it was supposed to be GET7, but it sounded weird when pronounced.

So the company decided to name the group GOT7. But fans call them all sorts of names. SAVAGE7, MEME7, 7-ELEVEN… think of a word that describes a group and then add 7 and that’s basically GOT7.

GOT7 is composed of 7 members (if that wasn’t already obvious in the group name): Lim/Im Jaebeom, Mark Tuan/Tuan Yi En, Jackson Wang/Wang Jia Er, Park Jinyoung, Choi Youngjae, Bambam, Kim Yugyeom (GOT7!). Sorry (not sorry). When an ahgase enumerates their names, it automatically turns into a fanchant.

They’re a boy group under JYP Entertainment. They made their official debut on January 16, 2014 with a song entitled Girls Girls Girls. They’re one of the very few ones who do MAT (that stands for Martial Arts Trick) in their choreographies. But they don’t do that anymore and the entire fandom is thankful for it. The boys are great at performing already, even without the tricks.

A few important notes for you, baby bird:

Why Jackson Wang isn’t included in their recent Japanese releases. – Jackson has a solo career in China. It’s part of the reason why he can’t handle Japanese promotions anymore. He physically can’t. Some say that it’s also because of the political conflict between Japan and China. Whatever it is, Jackson is still part of GOT7 even though he isn’t included in their recent Japanese comebacks. Remember to not ask him if he’s leaving GOT7 every time there’s a Japanese comeback and you don’t see him there. Our boy is tired of constantly proving his loyalty to the group. He shouldn’t have to.

AmeriThaiKong, what is that? – AmeriThaiKong are our rappers. Mark is the Ameri(can), Bambam is Thai, and Jackson is from (Hong)Kong. Together, the three of them make this unofficial subunit. Haters and antis say that our rappers aren’t the best and it’s okay if you agree because even the three of them don’t think they’re the greatest rappers out there. However, you can still think that they’re the best because that’s your opinion. While, objectively, they may not be the best, AmeriThaiKong has their own flair to their raps and you can be sure to enjoy their performances.

And can we just commend the three of them for rapping in Korean, which is not their first language?

JJ Project – JJ Project is the duo that came before GOT7. It’s composed of Jinyoung and Jaebeom. They debuted with Bounce, an upbeat song that makes you want to headbang every time it comes on. Their comeback came in five years later, Verse 2 – a masterpiece. It took so long because they had to give way to the group debut in 2014.

JUS2 – JUS2 is a new duo formed early this year (for readers from the future, it’s 2019). The duo is composed of Jaebeom and Yugyeom. To nonfans, it’s a brilliant mix of soul and RnB. To the fans, it’s death by the two flirtiest members of GOT7, the leader and the maknae.

My personal favorite is Touch because it’s both sensual and romantic, but Focus on Me is very artistic. Seriously, it’s one of the more well-made music videos from GOT7! Even casual listeners loved it!

AHGASE – IGOT7 is the official fandom name, but we call ourselves ahgase. Take the first syllables from IGOT7 and put them together to form the name (I – ah, GOT – ga, 7 – se). It also became a play on words because ahgase (아가새) also means ‘baby bird’ in Korean. Let me break it down for you:

I (ah ih 아이 – meaning baby) GOT7 (갓세븐 ga/ka se beun)

Our official fandom color is light green and white and our official lightstick is called an ahgabong, ahga from our fandom name + bong, what lightsticks are called in Korea. Yes, it’s shaped like a little bird. If you take a closer look, you will see the GOT7 logo inside.

The logo has seven corners, symbolizing the seven boys. In essence, it being inside the body of a bird signifies that the fans hold the seven of them close to their hearts and shield them from all the harm and hate thrown their way.

However, whenever GOT7 draws the symbol, it’s always that polygon and a bird inside, which means that GOT7 also protects ahgases. And honestly, that is one of the most beautiful idol-fan relationships that I personally know and is one of the many reasons why I love being an ahgase.

Fun fact: Youngjae came up with the official name for our lightstick.

Also, very much like GOT7, the fandom name has had a lot of other names and it’s mainly the boys’ fault. Jaebeom lovingly referred to us as chamsae (baby sparrow), Jinyoung adoringly called us shoebills (the gigantic bird with legs for days and a beak that can snap a person in half), Mark called us tomatoes, Bambam said we look like dogs (because we told him he looks like a cat), and Jackson thinks we’re phoenixes (because we come with hellfire when we’re mad).

Every kind of bird reminds us of them and it’s evident in their posts, especially in Yugyeom’s hashtags and tattoos and Bambam’s vlogs.

On tattoos and piercings

I’ll skip to the trivia and fun facts that I came to know for being a stan of one year. If you want the actual facts and some tidbits, you can always check out this link: https://kprofiles.com/got7-members-profile/

You can also watch a lot of unhelpful guides on YouTube.

Tattoos – when it comes to tattoos, Yugyeom probably has the most on his body. He may look and act like a giant babie but he has a high tolerance for pain. He currently has seven (that we know of): a big ass tattoo of wings on his back, a green bird and the word TRUST ME on his left shoulder, TRUTH on his right shoulder, an abstract dandelion on his right side, 1997 in Roman numeral with a picture of a bull on top, and i’m not like that on the left.

Bambam went from having zero tattoos to four in an instant, the best embodiment of the phrase that escalated quickly. Staying true to his aesthetics, his tattoos look very aesthetically pleasing.

We’ve always known Mark has a tattoo of a cross on the back of his leg, but then he suddenly had two additional tattoos on his torso, which we believe are the birthdays of his parents, written in Roman numbers. On one of the recent stops, fans also suspected he had another two tattoos on his knees, which they covered the following day, raising more suspicions. And the most recent one is his twin TRUTH tattoo with Yugyeom.

Youngjae may look cute and soft and fluffy but he also has tattoos. One is a ribbon commemorating the deaths of the passengers of the Sewol ferry, which was washed on the shore of his hometown, Mokpo. It’s on one of his shoulders. On the other one is the phrase ars longa, vita brevis, which means ‘art is long, life is short’. That’s where his nickname, Ars, came from. Imagine having a Korean name that translates to genius and a nickname that translates to art. Yes, he is both.

Ironically, it’s the maknae line and the Marknae that have tattoos while the hyung line, Jackson, Jaebeom, and Jinyoung, currently don’t have tattoos (that we know of).

When it comes to piercings, almost all of them have some. Jaebeom probably has the most and he still needs to clarify if he got a nose piercing or if he’s just sporting a fake stud.

Jinyoung remains the only one who has no piercings or tattoos. Dude can’t even color his hair a light shade of brown. It’s understandable that he needs to maintain a clean image (physically) because he’s also an actor.

Self-composing idols, self-sustaining group

They’re all pretty talented and should be credited for being so. Every GOT7 member can compose songs. Here are some of my favorite songs they’ve composed. I’ll just include one song for each member since it’s already too long:

Jaebeom – he’s composed a lot of songs. And honestly, if I’m not conscious with the word count, I’d include them all because I love them all. He’s more into RnB but he can’t put all that soul into GOT7’s music because JYP still doesn’t think it represents their group color so most of them are on his Soundcloud (link). This is one of my absolute favorites:

Jackson – Jackson has composed a few songs for GOT7, in most of which he was involved in lyric-writing or rap making. He also has his solo releases on Spotify (link). My personal favorite among his solo tracks is Bullet to the Heart. But this one is my favorite among the ones he composed for the group.

Jinyoung – Jinyoung puts his sensitivity into the songs he composes and although they’re not always everyone’s cup of tea, when one’s in a certain mood, listening to his songs could tug at your heartstrings and bring warmth to your heart.

Mark – Mark is the visual of the group (but honestly, who isn’t?) and is often known by nonfans as the one who grazes magazine covers left and right, but he also composes good music. One of my favorite GOT7 songs, If, was co-written by him.

Youngjae – he’s not just a great vocalist who’s always stable and composed no matter what condition he’s in. He’s also a great composer. He’s known as Ars on Soundcloud so be sure to check out his stuff here: (link)! I don’t know when the company will finally give him a solo album, but we keep on hoping!

Bambam – We also joke about him being a “singer” when he often sings off-key and out of tune. It’s not that he can’t sing, it’s just that most of the time, he’s not trying to be good at it. But when he does, his voice sounds like honey drips. He uses autotune artistically, not to cover any flaw in his voice because trust me, he won’t even try to hide it. For a glimpse of his singing ability, watch the Let Me switched version here: (link)

Yugyeom – Yugyeom has improved immensely. He has a unique high voice that doesn’t suit his appearance at all, but after learning that he’s the youngest of the group and he likes iced choco, it will make sense to you. Trust me. He also has a Soundcloud (link) and it’s not for the faint-hearted. You’ve been warned.

What You Should Expect on Their Keep Spinning Tour in Manila

1) Remixes – the group makes remixes of the popular songs they perform in their concerts. It’s mind-boggling if you know that they work on their comeback album on top of having a tour on top of their personal schedules and that’s on top of making a Japanese comeback somewhere in between and also on top of translating their own songs into other languages when necessary. So, a remix? That’s practically nothing, just a task that needs to be crossed off a checklist. It’s always fun to watch them live because you get to hear a familiar song interpreted differently. It sounds fresh every time.

2) Ever-changing setlist – GOT7 listens to their fans so they know what songs the fans would like to hear the most and they always incorporate that in their tour. The setlist tends to be a little different per stop.

3) Live performances – the group prides itself on performing live every freaking time. Maybe to other fans of other groups, they always expect nothing but perfection because they put their group so high up on their own pedestal, but ahgases pride GOT7 for being themselves, even in their singing. When you hear a slight difference in their voices, a new adlib here and there, some slightly off-pitch parts, consider yourself blessed. That’s realness right there. Honestly, if you want to hear a perfect song, you need to listen to Spotify. A concert is a different experience and there are some things neither the artists nor the organizers have control over.

4) Visual explosion – as you may probably know by now, all seven of them look so unreal and spectacular, even more so in person. So expect to be blown away by their looks.

5) Fans hard-carrying the songs – it’s not a concert in Manila if the fans don’t try and steal the artists’ job. At one point, I’m kinda expecting GOT7 to just stand there and listen while the fans sing their songs for them. Filipino fans love singing along to songs. Even if it’s in Korean. We guarantee you, we will do the fan chants, the weird sounds in between the songs, the adlibs, we will sing from beginning to end, and we will also scream with our entire chest when they say, “소리질러!”

6) Water everywhere – we hope GOT7 will be more careful when on stage, but when they’re on one, they become little boys who throw water at each other and their fans and run around chasing each other. So maybe don’t bring the clothes you can’t afford to get wet in. And wear waterproof makeup. They would be merciless.

7) Have lots of fun! – what I love the most about GOT7 is that they know how to have fun like no one’s looking. They’re comfortable around each other and with their fans that they would probably say inappropriate things and tease their fans and each other. And I guarantee you will always have a lot of fun just by watching them have fun on stage. Because a GOT7 concert isn’t just a concert, it’s an experience of a lifetime.

See you on the 26^th, ahgases!