So after watching a few performances from the F(x) and EXO concert, I am once again reminded why I stan M over K so much. Yes, I have a few favorites in K like Joonmyun, a love-hate relationship with Kyungsoo, and somehow love Sehun because he's such an awkward, yet cute, and snarky maknae that he's just somhow able to creep up my bias list on occasion, but M I just like more. And it's not because Jongdae is my bias and I basically want to marry his voice if I could and want him to be happy forever and whatnot. 

M is the more cohesive group out of EXO, the more equally talented group, and everyone flows off each other well and they have this chemistry and charisma that K lacks. K may have Kai, who is a wonderful performer, but he also dances so much for himself sometimes, that yes, he may seem lightyears ahead of some of the members in EXO, but when looking at the group as a whole, it's not good. Group dynamics and being seen as a team is what makes a group good and even though Kai shines individually, he doesn't give anything to the group so to say. And this isn't me hating on him, but when you compare him to say Jongdae who's pretty consistent with his stages and has a lot of stage presence, he also is affected by what his other members do, because at the end of the day, Jongdae is a team player. And that's what EXO is, they are a team, and for a team to do well, all the members must shine. So if you only have one shining, then it's not going to work. (Take soccer for example, you can have the best team in the world and still play like and lose to lesser teams because your teamwork . But if you work as a team and feed off each other's energy and trust your teammates, then you're going to go far and have minimal trouble with any other teams that may stand in someone's way.) So when I say EXO is a team, I mean it. Just like any other group.

So when I watch K and M performances, M always manages to captivate me in a way K cannot. M can be fierce as a whole, even Kris, who some people like to make out to be a lazy arse can have the charisma that M needs as a group to succeed. Out of M, Jongdae, Tao, and Minseok are naturals at being fierce, while Yixing, Kris, and Luhan sometimes may have some problems due to their lack of facial expressions or Luhan just having that type of innocent looking face, somehow manage to overcome those things and still make me think 'Oooh, these guys are rocking it today, they're on fire,' rather than 'Uh, one or two people are doing really well, but the others not so much.' The latter thoughts are usually what I think about K, because as individuals they can do fine and some may even be outstanding, but as a group, they . (Harsh I know, but sometimes I just can't help my thoughts.) And with M, I don't get that at all. 

When M does their stages, they have chemistry and charisma and they're interesting and fun to watch. Jongdae may be my bias, but many, many times have my eyes strayed to the other members and focused in on their parts as well, noting how fierce and great they can be. For example, EXO did 'Let Out the Beast' for the concert and while K was good, even with the ty choreo, M stole the show. M brought it and basically did what they were supposed to do. And even when I rewatched the performance via youtube, I was seriously bored as when it came to K and even though Kai does well, he bores me to tears because I don't want to just see him doing well, I want to see all of them succeed and be the team I know they can be, but when I don't see that and I just seem him dancing for himself, then it's not interesting or fun to watch. And when M came out, everyone just doing their thing (but doing it in such a way that it was obvious that they were doing it together... I know this doesn't make sense, but there is a part in the fancam where Tao and Jongdae are walking away, looking sassy and fierce as , it's partly because they're like that, but also because they're feeding off that energy that they've created, making them seem so much more in sync as a group) and looking 'swag as heck,' I was significantly more into their performance and what they did than K. Even when the dancing seemed to break down a little bit later in the song, M was just so fierce and on point that it didn't matter. They brought it, just like I usually always tend to notice in their performances.

Even when M did Candy by H.O.T., I thought they did extremely well and were super cute. Even Kris who I don't think is cute at all made me think he was cute. (Yes, I know he can be a dope, but seriously, with his face, I just seem him as the dopey big brother archetype rather than the cute guy next door like he seemed to be in the cover.) Because really, I know the rest of M can be cute as hell and when you just have them feeding off each other and just being bros together and doing cute things, they are cute as . They're cuteness is natural and a lot of it stems from the chemistry they have on stage together. (I swear, they're just really cute and it works and it seems so natural that when I look at K trying to be cute, I just want to facepalm because it's just too much and so forced and somewhat fake sometimes that I just cannot with K.)

People may think that Jongdae does well with K, but that's because he's super agreeable and most of his chingus are in K, but as a person, Jongdae just gets along with everyone and because of everything that has gone down in China, Jongdae has a great relationship with all of M too. (Him and Minseok being the bros who got close because of them being promoted in China instead of Korea as well as Minseok most likely helping Yixing when it came to teaching Kris and Jongdae to dance better, Jongdae and Luhan being bros enough to go on shopping dates (and for guys to do that, it takes some trust there to do such a thing, especially since most times, we'd rather just go to the store, grab what we need, and leave, so for them to go on little shopping dates is pretty awesome), Jongdae and Yixing just understand each other because they're both snarky as hell and just have a thing for music that just brings them together, and then Kris is the guy Jongdae was roommates with and most likely went to for advice when it came to the things that MInseok and Yixing couldn't provide, the two becoming bros that way, and then Jongdae obviously looks after Tao like a younger brother and just seems to connect with him on the basis that they have similar struggles with language/culture barriers both have had to go through.)

And because of the obstacles that M has had to face in China, they've become quite close and are more like a family than just people who work together. (Because if we're going by relationships between K and M, Jongdae may be close with his chingus in K and may look up to Joonmyun and look out for Sehun, he also is extremely close with Yixing and for the two to work on compositions, even if he just helped Yixing out with just singing, shows that the two trust each other a lot. It's one thing to sing together and get along like friend, but it's another thing entirely to even do something like compose a song or even work on a song a friend composed because of how intimate and how much trust one must have with the other to do such a thing. So for people to say that Jongdae isn't close with M are so painfully mistaken that it pretty much hurts me to think that Jongdae should have obviously been placed in M, when it's obvious that Jongdae loves the M guys and loves doing what he's doing, despite being in a different country and having to do what he does.) 

And then when you compare all of what M has had to go through in China to what K has had to do in Korea, it's pretty obvious that M has had a much harder time than K. Yes, M may have been backed by SM, but when the M guys had to face racism on various shows/interviews/award shows or having Minseok and Jongdae struggle through the language barrier or all of them being unable to see their families because of promotions (while I'm sure K probably had more chances to see their families than M did), M just had so much more that they had to get though than K did. And because of that, they became closer through that and it shows a lot more.

While in K, they may get along and like each other, but some of the members obviously have a few hangups here and there. (For example, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo's rivalry. They may be friends and like each other, but all during their MAMA days, there was a pretty heavy rivalry between the two when it came to vocal stuff. Or Baekhyun and Chanyeol obviously being forced together for fanservice, some of their own, but were probably told by SM to do a lot of because people liked seeing them together. They may be friends, but it's obvious to me that out of all of the chingu line of 92-liners and Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Jongdae are the closest of the four. And while I may love Joonmyun and think he has some really good friendships, he's also awkward as sometimes and probably had to do things he didn't really want to do. Joonmyun may be a leader, but he's not your typical one and I'm sure there were plenty of times where he had to do things he didn't want to do and he and some of his relationships may have sufferered for it. Things that aren't that relevant now, as they've gotten a lot closer and have overcome some of these things during OT12 promotions, but it's still just enough to possibly to still ruin the chemistry between all the boys and how well they do live. Something that has gotten better with time, but is still lacking to what M has. M was basically forced into situations that they weren't comfortable with, a lot different than the norm when it came to idol groups (things that K did that they didn't), and because of that, their chemistry was affected in such a way that it has affected their performances and their relationship with each other.)

(And I can't forget the fact that Minseok was the most hesitant to go to China at first, and yet, he has the closest relationship with Luhan. I know some may not find that odd, but if you think about Minseok not wanting to go to China, not wanting to sing in Mandarin, or even be in China when he could have been in Korea, he probably wasn't that forthcoming at first or had to hide thoughts like "Why am I here," or "Why was I picked to go here when I could have stayed in Korea" or anything else really, he probably had a few reservations with some of the Chinese members at first (even though he's come to love all of them and gets along with all of them well). I mean, he could have easily became Jongdae's best friend, even with the whole age heiarchy thing, and yet, he's friends with Luhan (And yeah, I know they're similar in age, but Jongdae was going through a lot of the same stuff he was and that would have made them really close, so for him to have such a good friendship with Luhan and eventually the others is pretty telling to how M works). And even now, after months of OT12 promotions, his closest friendship is still with Luhan, which is amazing and awesome and just great. However, there are so many things that people can assume or even think about what Minseok and Jongdae had to go through or what they thought about SM at the time and for them to get over that and love the M members like they do and just continue to be as close as they are is pretty freaking amazing. Especially with how close all of them got too. It wasn't some gradual thing that took years, but was a thing that took about half a year to 8 months to cultivate and ever since, all of them are still able to get along really well.) 

And because of this, their music, their stage presence has just thrived because of it. While K, who individually can do well on certain occasions and shine or have a few members that constantly shine, M just manages to build off each other and thrive whenever they sing together that it just makes them so much more fun to watch. I don't want to say better, because that's mean, but if you look at M as a whole when it comes to talent and how much all of them have, it's kind of hard not to compare sometimes. Because while K has some great rappers, dancers, and singers, M has that, but also a lot of them seem to be very talented at other things too. All of them aren't just good at one thing, but excel at others too. For example, Jongdae may be a great singer, but he also has great variety skills, is a pretty decent dancer (after practice), and is obviously a bit of a mood maker for the group (and he may even have some talent in acting/modeling if we go off his magazine shoots and parts in their MVs). While in K, Kai may be a good dancer and may have some talent in rapping (just enough to give him quite a bit of lines), but isn't really that great at anything else (sorry Kai stans, but I have yet to hear him sing that well and modeling is usually a hit or miss and his acting in MVs is pretty bad). And if we had to go by who was a triple threat/most multi-talented person in K, that would go to Chanyeol. While in M, everyone has at least a few things they're really good at and then a bunch of other things that they're decent/good enough in and making them much more well-rounded performers. (Like Kris with his rapping (he may not be the best, but his raps work for M's songs and that's more than enough for an SM group) and then being able to sing pretty well too (he may not be a BDCL, but with practice he could easily be on level with Yixing) and he's also developing some decent variety skills as well (some may be a bit more intersting than others, but he's fun to watch, which is more than some others.)

And when you know that and also combine that with the fact that M just seem to work and are able to thrive off each other when it comes to their performances, it makes a bit of a difference. Especially when all of them work as a team and see each other in that way. If one or two members are feeling down, it's much more likely to see M live (I haven't seen this yet, but I know that Jongdae suffers a bit when others are suffering when it comes to their lives). But this doesn't happen often, because they just all seem to trust each other and know that if they're going to do well, then they work as a team, and because of that mindset they have, they are able to perform much better than K. 

If you want fierce, you'll get fierce. If you want cute, you'll get cute. 

You'll get everyone to do those things in M, while in K? Not so much and if it is done, then sometimes it's too fake or looks odd and just doesn't work well. 

(And yeah, I may hate Baekhyun's voice and that's probably the huge reason why I don't buy any of K's albums, I know that Baekhyun is a good performer. And when he shines, he shines, but consistency is only like 65-35 compared to Jongdae's 85-15. But when you compare that with the stats of everyone else in K when it comes to performing live and then just K and M, M will win hands down on how consistent they are as a subgroup when it comes to performing.)

So overall, I think I'll always be an M stan more than a K stan and will continue to buy M's albums compared to K's and will most likely love M's performances more than I do K. (And no, I will never be that person who likes all the members and whatnot. I may respect them all, but it doesn't mean I like all of them either.) And unless K somehow manages to get some more brotherhood between them, a more realistic and natural bond going on, M will most likely be better than K. 

(Oh and belated Merry Christmas to all. )