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’s 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. Ina is the next fan to answer our questions. She is from Indonesia and is a fan of BLANK2Y, and particularly of YoungBin. 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? Hi, I’m Ina (she/her), and I’m from Indonesia. How and when did you enter the fandom? I remembered it quite clearly. I was scrolling through Twitter when all of a sudden some of my friends retweeted YoungBin’s teaser image for the group lineup reveal. That was December 16th, 2021. I found it hard to believe back then that YoungBin was actually debuting. The fans hadn’t heard anything from him for almost a year before he decided to open an Instagram account. YoungBin debuting in a group was something that I was really looking forward to, and to finally get the information about it made me really excited to hype the group and join the fandom. And then as of January 2022, I ended up making a new account specifically for the said group (known as “Keystone Boys” at that time) and started interacting with other people who were just as excited as I was for the debut. What are the reasons why this rookie group is your favorite group? At first, I mostly hyped the group because of YoungBin (whom I’d explain more about later on), but eventually I got to see their very sweet sides through fancafe. They really cherish their fans a lot, and I fell in love with that side of theirs. Them putting K2YWE (the official fanbase name) as their tenth member really showcased that too. For the readers who are completely new to the group and members, can you introduce them with your own words? BLANK2Y is a group with nine very sweet and talented individuals. Their interesting lore has just started to unfold, too, and you wouldn’t want to miss that, so please do check them out. Who caught your attention at first and why? Did you know any members prior to their debut? As I’ve mentioned a few times, I was mostly here for YoungBin at first. I have known Lee YoungBin since I-LAND, and even from before that through their promotional “I-LAND” contents (I-BLANK Interview). Aside from his stunning visuals, I’ve always felt that I can relate to YoungBin a lot. Plus, the gap between his strong image and his cute, somewhat awkward personality is just incredibly adorable. Aside from him, during their first LIVE on YouTube, SoDam actually caught my attention first, because he looked so cute wearing a blue beret, and I have a thing for idols who wear berets. 🤗🤗 Do you have a bias yet? If yes, tell us why. Ever since episode 2 and 3 of “I-LAND”, I have basically dedicated my fandom life to Lee YoungBin, mostly because of the adorable gap that I’ve mentioned before. But other than that, I’m also very biased towards SungJun and SoDam. I don’t know why I’m mostly attracted to the vocalists/maknaes of a group, and these two also fit that criteria (and also YoungBin, because technically he’s also in the “maknae-line”). I have a very soft spot for these two mostly because of their vocals and the interactions that we’ve shared through fancafe. Can you recommend a title track and a B-side track for new fans? I truly recommend the fansongs (‘Constellation’ and ‘I Wish’). That being said, BLANK2Y still has a very small discography, so it shouldn’t be a problem to listen to all of them 😅 and I personally think that they’re all great.
Can you recommend a fancam, V Live, cover video, cover dance, or other from your favorite group or bias? I greatly recommend BLANK2Y’s dance cover of THE BOYZ’s ‘MAVERICK’!! Also, for vocal covers, I highly recommend the ‘널 생각해’ cover by SungJun & SoDam (originally by One More Chance).
Also, this is from before YoungBin was revealed to be a member of BLANK2Y, but I do highly recommend his song, “Yellow” 💛💛. What is your best souvenir with your favorite group until now? BLANK2Y interacts with fans a lot through fancafe (and even more so during predebut era). Nowadays, they don’t do it as frequent anymore, but I see that some of them still do it quite often (or at least more than other idol groups that I’m aware of). Their peak activeness was during their first two weeks, to the point that fans can receive numerous replies from numerous members on the same day. Afterwards, it happened only once every three days, but that was still a drought that most early pre-debut K2YWEs felt, and this story happened during that time. I’m sorry for the long prologue 😅. There was this one day when I felt extremely exhausted due to college. I already wrote less frequently to the boys (maybe once to a few members every two days?) as a result. In the middle of doing my assignments, I randomly tried to write a fanletter to SungJun and SoDam through fancafe, because I was too exhausted and I needed a break. It had been approximately two weeks since I last got a reply to my letters from those two, so I thought they were getting busy and I didn’t expect much. But apparently, both of them decided to surprise me that day. They both gave me encouraging words and thanked me for still writing letters to them. I actually cried when I received said replies, which arrived almost at the same time (only a seven minute difference), because I really needed it at that time, and the timing of it couldn’t be any more perfect. And even though I’m lucky to be able to interact with BLANK2Y a lot through fancafe, the replies that I received that day were the most memorable ones for me. Can you share a fun episode that only fans from your fandom know to readers? “BLANK2Y”… is a very interesting name. We have seen a lot of struggles from other people trying to type/pronounce them properly. During the early days, we usually just laughed them off. Even some of the members have made typo(s) of their group name before, and it became an internal joke of some sort back then 😂 Though, for your information, “BLANK2Y” is pronounced the same way as “blankey”. Going forward, I do hope the mishap happens much less, for everyone’s sake 😅. If you are collecting goods, what is your most precious treasure? I recently got my packages, and I have to say, my current most precious goods from BLANK2Y are my newest SungJun and SoDam photocards 😍😍. Ironically, at this point, I have every member’s photocards but YoungBin’s, who is my ultimate bias 😅 I hope I can get his photocard soon. If you have a chance to cook for the group, what will you cook for them? I’m not much of a cook to be honest 😅 so realistically, I could only give them Ind*mie (a famous instant noodle brand from my country) 😂😂. But if I could magically cook any Indonesian cuisine, I would want them to try Mie Aceh 😋😋 (a curried spicy noodle dish from Aceh, a region in Indonesia). What’s your favourite 2022 moment involving your bias? I think it’s plain and simple, the moment I actually could talk to BLANK2Y (including YoungBin and my other biases) face-to-face… virtually. I was lucky to win a video call fansign entry during their debut era. It was my first fansign, and I was so nervous. But the boys are all so nice and eventually I managed to relax. The peak moment was of course when I was finally able to talk to YoungBin, whom I have been a fan of since 2020. I told him that I have been his fan since “I-LAND” and I was so proud of him that he finally debuted. His reaction to my (personally scripted) Korean speech of some sort was priceless; he looked so happy, and I would forever treasure that image in my mind. My other favorite moment during the fancall was when some of the members recognized my fancafe username and they remembered that I wrote them letters and that they had replied to me before. It was one of those moments that I wouldn’t have imagined to happen to me. But it did. Do you have a dream subunit/unit? For BLANK2Y, I would be interested to see a subunit of my biases (YoungBin, SungJun, and SoDam). All of them are vocalists. SungJun and SoDam have covered stuff together before, but I do wonder how it’d turn out with YoungBin added to the mix. For a sub-unit with other groups’ idols… I honestly would be happy with anything because I stan a lot of other groups, but my biggest wish is to see a collaboration between YoungBin and the other previous “I-LAND” participants, particularly HeeSeung (who is now a member of ENHYPEN), or other 01s from “I-LAND”, since YoungBin said in one “I-LAND” content that he thought that the 01s members got along so well because they showed their personalities without being fake. YoungBin also mentioned in BLANK2YS (BLANK2Y’s predebut reality show) that his bucket list after debut was to meet his friends whom he trained with together on stage. Please recommend your favorite selfie by your bias There’s this one selfie that he posted from the Jeju trip on Twitter. I think he looks incredibly stunning here 🥺🥺. Name a variety show/content show that you would love to see your bias on? Tell us why. The ones that I really would like BLANK2Y to appear on is “ASC” (“After School Club”), because they have great behind variety contents, and M2’s “먹뻥” or “Liar Mukbang” because it’s a very fun segment that combines “Liar Game” and " Mukbang". I think it would also be great to have BLANK2Y on 1thek’s W.W.C or World Wide Cover, because they showcase K-Pop artists singing songs from different countries, and for boys like BLANK2Y who are obviously interested in learning new languages to interact more with K2YWEs (they have tried to reply to fanletters in English and may add some other phrases in other languages that the K2YWEs taught them), it would be an interesting experience, I think. For variety shows, I think it would be amazing if they could appear on “Running Man” or “Knowing Bros”, because those are my favorite variety shows. I think BLANK2Y has the potential for having a great variety sense. What is your favourite way of communicating with your bias? Ideally, during fansigns of course, because that’s the most direct way to interact with them. But on a regular basis, I would say fancafe. Fancafe is the most intimate fan-idol relationship that I think I have experienced. It’s a platform where we can write fanletters to them, and read letters that they write to the fans. I just think that the idea of “letters” is much more intimate than on social media. Although, because I’m so busy nowadays, I mostly just reply to their posts on twitter 😅😅. Have you ever made a new friend because of K-Pop? I have been on twitter because of K-Pop for a while, and of course, I have made friends along the way, either K2YWEs or friends from other K-Pop fandoms. I greatly appreciate the people who are willing to stick with me and befriend me all these years. Special shoutout to those who have been waiting for YoungBin together with me for almost two years and still haven’t given up on him. I cherish the people that I’m hyping the boys with greatly, and there were some points in my life where they have seriously made my days. Let’s keep hyping the boys together 🤗🤗 What are the things you are looking for in their future activities? I wish BLANK2Y could attend more Korean variety shows and have more variety content. I would also be looking forward to more concerts and fan meetings, and hopefully the ones that I would be able to attend in my country 😅. Ina’s message for BLANK2Y: To my dearest boys BLANK2Y, I hope the world recognizes more of you, because you guys deserve all the love that you can get. I’ll always be rooting for you. Hang in there, and let’s meet again someday. I love you guys so much 💖💖. Thank you for answering our questions, Ina. 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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