As I am liking, threading, and saving every clip of one of my favourite groups' comeback, TikTok-ing about one of my favourite actors finishing his military service, going back and forth between old fan-cams and this week's new content, something in me softens knowing these artists' hard work was not forgotten or negatively impacted by their hiatus.
Behind all of that immersion, there is a whole quiet machine running underneath. Not just the company. The idol or actor themselves, and us too, we are all working in the same direction so that no one actually slips through the cracks or gets treated like an afterthought.
Can I dare talk about the packed schedules for a second? We usually treat them like a tragedy. It simply is not. It is the job. A full calendar means work still exists for them, means someone still wants them, and still has plans built around them. I think worry has a way of making us forget the obvious part, that most of the time, these are the very people living out exactly what they once dreamed about.
I can assume more than ninety percent of people in this industry are doing it because they genuinely love it. Not all of us have that privilege, or talent, if I dare to self-roast here. They are choosing sleepless weeks on purpose, on repeat, because being tired from something loved hits completely different than being tired from something merely tolerated. When love runs deep enough, the joy quietly outruns the exhaustion.
That "they waited" moment, when a full stadium sings a song back louder than the artists, thousands of voices carrying someone's words further!! Yes, ARMY, the Arirang World Tour is the one on my mind when writing this because it genuinely feels like living in a small piece of heaven. I can only imagine how they are feeling at that moment (no, I am not tearing up, but I bet you are, hihi).
Same thing with actors. The last time someone landed a big fashion campaign or a new ambassadorship out of nowhere, it did not fall out of the sky. Somewhere, a specific brand looked at that exact person in a plethora of artists and decided it needed exactly them, not the whole industry, not the trend, just that one face, that one name, that one negotiation. And it results in emotional moments like fans waiting outside those same events, early some mornings, or way too late some nights, just for three seconds of their favourite unnie or oppa walking by, or long enough to spot what they are wearing before it sells out in less than a minute.
But before any of that happens, before the artist even walks into the meeting room, someone from the agency was already there first, staying up all night on a call with a brand in a completely different time zone, flying out for a meeting that lasts twenty minutes just to lock something in, or reading every trend report, every fashion week recap, and every shift in what is culturally relevant today, not even this month, so their artist is never the one playing catch up. As an avid internet user, I genuinely cannot keep up some days.
Allow me to mention Felix, our dearest Yongbok, who racks up what feels like a new ambassadorship every other week. It is endearing to see from the outside, but it is worth keeping in mind how many separate meetings, pitches, and negotiations had to happen quietly before any of it became a headline, sometimes maybe while he is occupied with another ambassadorship.
As it is my birthday and ARMY Day, I am feeling emotional, so dear FAM, consider this a small, honest thank you to the people whose names we sometimes never know, and to us too, for making sure we give as much as we can to people who keep on giving.
Lastly, a special shout out to Mr. Lee. The man who has been protecting BTS for over a decade, we love you, 8th member. If there is a hall of fame for people who did not sign up to be famous but got adopted by a fandom anyway, you sure are standing at the very top of it, looking FAB, arms crossed, scanning the crowd.