Things have been a little crazy in the K-Pop sphere as of late. This week, The Kraze team shares the little bits of happiness and pride that have helped us focus on the joy that K-Pop can bring.

Kelly (Co-Editor-in-Chief): As a Carat, I’m personally over the moon watching how comfortable SEVENTEEN has been with fans during the current leg of their tour. It’s already rare for idols to go into the crowd in the U.S., but here’s SEVENTEEN, one of the biggest groups, just casually hugging fans at every stop lately. I’ve never seen that level of trust with U.S. fans, or really anywhere else, and every interaction has been so respectful and wholesome. It really feels like such a special environment and just very human. It’s left me stunned.

I’m also very proud of Seungkwan for his latest Instagram post. It takes a lot of guts to stand up like that.

Cidney (Writer): I definitely agree with you. As a Carat, these videos of fans and SEVENTEEN have melted my heart!

Another moment that made me super proud is seeing Seonghwa during Fashion Week. I watched the behind-the-scenes videos and saw how open and honest he is about fashion and how his clothing style is genderless. Watching him break fashion stereotypes and being comfortable with himself, I couldn’t help but feel proud.

Courtney (Writer): Like Cidney, I too am proud of Seonghwa and also Felix for embracing and feeling comfortable in androgynous and genderless styles instead of conforming to societal expectations of men (and, perhaps, male idols).

Kelly: Oh yeah, there’s definitely a lot to be said for that. Especially in an industry that takes so much inspiration from the queer community for concepts. Enjoying and promoting genderless fashion says a lot more than it seems to at face value.

Roxy (Chief Marketing Officer): It’s been kind of hard to be proud of the K-Pop community in recent times, but I really do think the response to Seunghan’s departure [from RIIZE] is something universally good, for the most part. The funeral wreath thing was absolutely insane, and it’s important we all agree just how insane it is. Some people tried to set those up in front of [the HYBE building] for BTS’s SUGA, and a bunch of fans went and shut it down and essentially set up a counter-protest supporting him. I was happy to see that because we absolutely can’t have this funeral wreath thing continue to be a trend.

Jacob (Writer): I also wanted to say the same thing about Seungkwan’s letter as well!

On another note, I am also proud of NMIXX’s Haewon for making a name for herself in variety. She’s been recently announced as the host of Season 3 of Workdol (after her successful stint of hosting Season 2), and it’s just been a joy watching those weekly. She’s really done some amazing stuff there! Of course, it also started the famous “Wemo Check” trend.

Jean (Photographer): I’ve been proud of members that support [other] members even if their groups are not currently the most active, such as GOT7’s JayB sharing how he reached out to BamBam.