The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Korean fans waited ardently for Willy Freedman’s concert that was going to happen tomorrow. They were filled with excitement about attending their first Willy Freedman’s concert. On an internet forum made up of only Willy Freedman’s fans, many wrote posts saying that they couldn’t sleep in anticipation of the concert. Yet, between the posts, there was also another noticeable topic that kept getting mentioned.

—I knew Willy was close to Kang Hyun-Sung but he’s also close to Siren??

It was about Willy Freedman’s friendships in Korea. Though these posts had been scattered dimly in between, they almost took up half of the news posts after some journalists posted a couple of pictures. It was a picture of Willy moving with Kang Hyun-Sung in the car and Siren’s car following closely behind them.

—Willy ate with Siren?

—They say Willy, Kang Hyun-Sung, and Siren played together

Reply: Haha that’s a strange combination

Reply: How much does he like Kpop that he only meets idols in Korea lol

Reply: At this point, shouldn’t he make a collab song with an idol

Reply: I know right…haha

Willy Freedman’s connections in Korea was an interesting topic to the fan since Willy was an artist who didn’t seem to have much close connections even in the United States. On the internet, there were videos of Willy Freedman sitting alone in award ceremonies and even when someone tried to start a conversation with him, he would sloppily respond back. Thus, it was very surprising that Willy Freedman was close to Kang Hyun-Sung of all people.

It gave a small sense of pride and joy that the hottest star in the U.S. wasn’t playing around with other superstars but was so close to Korean idols. And the fact that Willy was making more connections in Korea and those connections were Korean idols drew more attention.

—At this point, one of Willy’s grandparents might be Korean

Reply: Rather than that, isn’t he just an idol fan?

Reply: hahaha that’s true

Reply: Can he please just do his activities here?

Reply: If he goes to music shows, he can see as many idols as he want lol

People thought the more connections Willy built in Korea, the more activities he would do in the country; and as the forum continued to be filled with news of Willy’s ties, a picture came up on Willy Freedman’s social media account at 11:50pm. Below the picture, there were the following lines:

—I had such a fantastic first day in Korea. I will always remember it as one of the best days in my life.[1]

—Wow, seems like Siren and Willy are really buddy buddies now

—Do we have any Siren fans here? Do they usually get close to people so fast?

Reply: I don’t think those guys can even speak English…lol

Reply: What? Did they really talk only through body language all day then?

Reply: Ah seriously ahahahaha

Reply: Forced ‘Talk With Your Body’ hard version haha

Reply: I can see them getting close

Thinking of how Willy and Siren might have gotten people, people thought of all sorts of humorous imaginations. Yet, Willy’s feeds didn’t end there.

—Guys, something huge is coming in 10 minutes! Wait for it!

In ten minutes, it was going to be midnight. It appeared Willy was going to upload something on the day of his concert.

—Willy what is this?

—Something huge?

—What is it?

—Is he going to announce something in ten minutes?

—Did he make something with Siren?

—For real, is it a song with Siren?

—Wow, I really feel like he did something with Siren; that’s a picture of Siren Kang Do-Seung’s studio

—This is insaaaaane I think it’s really huge

—They are really going to do a collarb at this rate

—Really? For sure?

—I’m so curious

People waited for what Willy must have prepared with Siren. Though Willy didn’t mention that he did something with Siren, everyone deduced from the picture he uploaded and the previous articles that had been released that he was working with Siren. Then, finally, when it became 12am, Willy uploaded a minute-long video with the following description.

—The full version will be released right after the show tomorrow.

The thumbnail of the video showed Willy holding onto a headset over his ears while inside a recording room. People clicked on Willy’s video with full anticipation. The beginning of the video sounded familiar yet unfamiliar. At first, it seemed to be a completely new song but as Willy hummed the melody line, people got a grasp on which song this was. It was Siren’s “Blue Ocean”.

—This is crazy. This is Willy’s Blue Ocean version

—Ah Willy hyung! I knew I could believe in you!!

—My heart is thumping

—Wow…is this really the same song?

—Hahaha I can feel the soul from Kpop

—It’s like adding kimchi on a pizza but it’s so goods

—Hey! No need to eat KimPiTang*! [2] I could listen to Willy’s Blue Ocean once more!

—This is how Korean and American ties became stronger

—This is diplomatic relations

Willy’s “Blue Ocean” gave a refreshing shock to people and the video began to spread across the internet. At first, only Willy fans seemed to watch the video but in just thirty minutes, it began to spread across many people in Korea.

—Siren did a collab with Willy

—What’s going on?

—Our babies…they are quickly becoming global…

—I can already imagine being pushed around by both national and foreign fans in concerts

Reply; Don’t already think of things like that haha

The group who responded almost as fast as Willy’s fandom was obviously Siren’s fandom. Willy’s video went on trending and began to spread across Bluebird.

—How come this guy won’t do a collab with Only One but did it first with Siren?

Reply: I guess there were some circumstances

—Willy is seriously mad at singing though

—I didn’t think other group’s cover of Blue Ocean was very fitting but this one is so suitable

Reply: It’s probably cause Do-Seung recomposed the song

—Is Siren really going to Billboard?

Reply: At this point, how much are they trying to suck out of their debut album?

Reply: Lol They are really squeezing out this debut album dry

At this point, Siren fans even talked about “Blue Ocean” entering the Billboard charts. It wasn’t all in their head, as even overseas, the video that Willy uploaded was amassing buzz.

—Willy just uploaded this video. Is it a new song?

Reply: It’s a cover of a k-pop song

Reply: Willy covered a k-pop group’s song?

Reply: Siren is a new k-pop boy group, but they are already famous in Korea

—Why isn’t there a full version of this song? Is this Willy’s next album title?

Reply: It’s a k-pop group’s song cover. The group’s name is Siren.

—Willy released a new song!!

Reply: It’s a k-pop group cover. Siren.

—So, a k-pop idol wrote a new song for Willy?

Reply: It’s a cover, you idiots!

Unfamiliar with who Siren was, American people simply thought Willy had uploaded a new song. Yet, there were people who consistently informed people that this was a cover of Siren’s “Blue Ocean”. After all, even if Siren wasn’t famous in the US, they still had enough recognition to get an explanation comment about them.

The next day on Willy’s concert day in Korea, Willy Freedman added “Blue Ocean” to his setlist as promised to Siren. Before singing “Blue Ocean”, he didn’t forget to mention Siren’s name multiple times.

“Siren is an amazing team that gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation in our last meeting. I want to thank Do-Seung who gave me this wonderful song, Tae-Yoon who wrote these cool lyrics, and I don’t want to forget Dong-Jun, Yeon-Hoon, and Woon either.” Willy went as far as to mention each of the Siren members’ names which made not only Willy’s fans but Siren’s fans go crazy.

—How close did our guys get to Willy??

—Perhaps, they have more diplomatic talent than as idols

—Make Siren global

Fans made a fuss over Siren who built a humongous connection almost overnight.

—It’s first time Willy seemed so close to someone besides Kang Hyun-Sung

—Hwo much did he like the song exactly? Haha

—I think Siren’s song will do well even in the States

The rest of the public also enjoyed seeing a Korean new idol group quickly amassing fame even in the US. Though this was Willy Freedman’s concert tour, buzz about Siren explosively increased as much as Willy Freedman. And this didn’t only happen in Korean either. As one of the hottest artists in the US right now, every action Willy did became a big issue. Thus, the fact that he did Siren's cover was quite surprising.

Americans who didn’t know “Blue Ocean” was Siren’s song eventually learned that Willy did a cover song. Of course, there were some mixed reactions.

—The original isn't to my taste. I want to listen to Willy’s version.

—K-pop is definitely a bit too much for me.

—Young guys wearing marine uniforms sing? Oh…

Since it was a song that didn’t fit mainstream American music, these responses were quite natural. Yet, there weren’t only people who showed negative responses, and there were people who showed strong positive responses as well.

—This is really good? I should add all this group’s songs into my playlist.

—Who is that handsome guy in the middle?

Reply: Do-Seung. His body is even hotter than his face.

Reply: My goodness…

—I have been listening to this song all day long. I think I have fallen into the k-pop hole

—Why isn’t everyone listening to this song?

Even in the US, Siren’s fandom was expanding. Furthermore, Siren’s album that had been placed in the corner of the music store began to come up on the main sections. In some cities, it became the most sold album of that week.

—The reception Siren has been having in the US is pretty significant right now

—It seems really great? My friend who goes to college in the States told me that Siren’s album is on the main section in their local album store

—I think people who like K-pop there are all listening to it

Korean fans already began to notice that Siren was gaining some traction in the US. They were finally treading on new territories among national idols.

1. Whole post is originally in English ☜

2. Short for kimchi-pizza-tangsuyuk(Korean Chinese sweet and sour pork) combination that’s relatively known ☜