[OFFICIAL THREAD] DDONGI COUPLE ~ (Eric Nam ❤ MAMAMOO Solar) LEGGO~!

[407801baby]

2 hours ago, enko20 said:

That remind me. I wish I can have time to find and put together a playlist for all of Ddongie couple's BGM. I really like the songs that MBC uses for them. If there's any kind soul out there that can do this I would be really, really thankful 

Anyway, @cinnaminskies, this remind me of the 2nd event we had a while back. I don't know if you've read through that or not, but yeah, I really love this idea.

Here's my top 5 moments (not in any order):

1)  Their heart-to-heart talk in the pool, by a mile. The fact that they both are introverted people make this conversation that much more meaningful. You could see that even though if felt a bit awkward, they both were very happy to finally be able to let the other person see what's in their mind. Especially Solar, since she's even less expressive than Eric, but through this we realized how much he mean to her even if she doesn't say it out loud. Really, every time they've done this, they always ended up having a greater impression of each other (like when the panelist asked them to tell each other their strengths and weaknesses, they both brought that moment back to this talk).

2) On the subject of honest feelings to each other, my #2 will be all their letters to each other (Is this allowed? I feel like I'm being greedy lol). The first letter Solar wrote to Eric on their wedding day, we learned that she's happy to see Eric takes care of her, and that she knows she's not good at expressing her feelings and she's not perfect (also she was welling up with tears while reading this). In her 100th day letter, we learned that she began to trust him more as time passed by, and finally, Eric's letter to Santa Claus let us know that Solar is like a Christmas present for him. 

3) This will be my 419028928th time to mention this, but yes, Eric's wish at the pool. Even though that Jeju trip was filled with jokes and dancing around (like they always do), there were hints that Solar still felt some awkwardness around Eric. When Eric said he wanted to use the wish, Solar said it's getting hot in here. Yep, even she thought he would ask for a kiss, because let's be real, most men would, and then BAM! "I want you to speak casually to me". Solar choked on her drink hearing that (and I did too ). It's almost like you can read her mind at that time even though she's a tough one. Her face expression said it all, she was like "Wait...WHAT??". This was the moment when Solar began to truly trust him and his intention (refer back to her 100th day letter).

4) The entire Chuseok competition. I really didn't know that both Eric and Solar are THAT competitive. When they got the mission card, both of them were like "Ah dang it!",  and then the moment they got there, well... It was basically fanfares and fireworks everywhere. Their couple dance was lit (still can't get over that Eric's lip bite omg), their rap lines were straight fire even if they lost (Solar calling Jota an ostrich [Tajo] killed me), and their "My Ears Candy"... no comment lol. But most importantly, that competition pit them against the other couples, and through it, they saw how much of a blessing it is to have each other in moments like that. 

5) Shout out to Moonbyul for this one! That's right, it's Solar's modified version of "Wish List". In this song, Solar expressed so many of her good impressions about Eric:

• A guy who looks good in jeans (She likes his physique, also eventually his "precious bottom" *cough*)
• A guy who likes my favorite dishes (Wonder why she keeps cooking for him even though she's not good at it? Yeah)
• A guy who laughs even when my stories are boring (Because of that, Solar also learned to find humor in his "in and out of season" jokes)
• A guy who has sexy brain (Basically fangirling over his talents)
• A guy who hides me in his bosom while I flossed my teeth (The way he takes care of her)
• A guy who makes a great cream pasta (Memory of his wedding proposal)
• A guy with beautiful eyes when he smiles (Did you notice Eric's smile look like an emoji? Like this --> xD; also, remember what she drew on "The Qmentary"?)
• Even when I'm broke, he is a guy who want to see me (Well she's not literally broke, but she meant he's someone who want to be with her no matter what I guess)
• Even when I'm rude, he's a guy who still responds with a smile (I agree yeah, Eric is pretty calm even though she can be really loud sometimes haha)

 

i 100% agree with you so i think i need appreciate this by quoting and like your post (esp no 5) i got a feeling Solar really put her mind to write that, and sincere/really meant it. thank you @enko20 your opinion and how you put it in your word is touching me. so does the other chingu @Ira Ajja and @cinnaminskies who already wrote it before. i'm waiting from the other too 

@Farfalle yes i'm from Bali, how about you? Thanks for your info :). I always think Eddie is Eric's manager and he followed Eric everywhere according to his schedule. Your korean is good great job 

[Farfalle]

Honestly I had a hard time to choose favorite moments of our Ddongi couple. I also like the moments that are already listed by chingus here. After thinking hard, here is my 5 favorite moments (not in any order because I couldn't decide):

#1: Their walk together at night!

Spoiler

This scene is really memorable for me, because their actions were still raw and natural, since it's still at the beginning. I'm feeling butterflies while watching this moment from the beginning to the end. And I know I'm not the only one, since both Eric & Solar said that they felt strange at that time I feel the flutter from the beginning! Solar glanced at Eric a few times, Eric thought what to do/say, and both of them didn't know what to do with their hands And when finally Eric said something, Solar stuttered to reply. Eric joked a lot with her, wanted to make the situation more comfortable. How cute! Not to forget that they showed their compatibility as a couple here when they're dancing around to random music or playing around with each other's jokes. You also can see they're reluctant to part at the end, they did highfives several times And that weird goodbye scene from Solar... They thought about a hug, but they're too shy and busy with their own thoughts

#2: When they talked heart-to-heart with each other
Yeah, especially when they're in their empty pool at their terrace. They talked a lot about what they thought and felt about each other (thanks to that book!). It's like doing WGM BRI but in front of each other. Btw, I'm curious about their thoughts regarding their first meeting I hope they can have talk like this again! Talking about heart-to-heart talk, I also like when they mentioned about each other's strength and weakness when the panelists visited them. Their conversation in the Jeju pool when Eric started to say his wish is also a favorite!

#3: When they're playing around in the snow!

Spoiler

Honestly I love all of the moments when they played together. I picked this one because they looked the most happiest here I'm also confused to pick a moment of their snow date, but I love to see they're just playing and laughing like that, not really care about filming, just having fun. Looking at them happy like that makes me happy too! They really look like two kids when they're like that. They're not 26 and 29, but 6 and 9 (or should I say 26 and 29 months old?)

#4: Chuseok Special!
The same with @enko20, it's mainly because they leaned on to each other, especially Solar who wasn't that good with new people. I agree with Solar, they realized their importance to each other after Chuseok special. Their performance in overall games were also exceptionally well, which surprised me. And it's a skinship parade for shippers (and non-shippers) who were thirsty of their skinships  How I wish that there's a Ddongi couple focus version of the Chuseok special, so I can watch their interaction even when they're not the main focus hahaha.

#5: Solar's unexpected caring gesture to Eric

Spoiler

Fixing hair, cleaning his eyes... She almost did all of those things unexpectedly, by her intention. She fixed his hair at their 2nd meeting. She cleaned his eyes when they're in the truck. She fixed his hair again when they swam in Jeju (although this time Eric intentionally got his hair messed up). She cleaned his eyes again before they started staring game at the dog playground. She also brushed the snow off from his hair at the snow theme park. And not to forget, Solar's "Are you okay?" when Eric looked tired in the middle of "Heartmon Go!". She worried for him when the others didn't realize it, including Eric himself 

 

Honorable mentions:

• Everytime they call each other on the phone!
  Don't know why, but I enjoy watching their conversation on phone. And not to forget Solar's trademark "ppyong~!" at the end of their call 
• Their phone push-and-pull
  Solar's face turned to be serious when she couldn't find her phone. Then when Eric asked whether she left something, Solar's face turned bright again because she knew what happened They continued to fight and forgot about their eating broadcast for a while. And this cute fight made her informal speech came out naturally  We can see Solar also admitted that she didn't really pay attention to her phone when she's with Eric.

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@morethanacityname Oh, it's unfortunate  *pat your shoulder* You're right! Thanks for the info, chingu!  Here's an article and also a V app with Eric giving a preview about that:

• http://www.allkpop.com/article/2016/10/eric-nam-to-meet-benedict-cumberbatch
• http://www.vlive.tv/video/15139/닥터-스트레인지-스팟라이브-예고영상-IN-홍콩

 

It will be aired on upcoming V app on Oct 14th 10 PM KST!

 

@enko20 Love to read your post, chingu! Yup, it's like the 2nd event before but now we got more beautiful moments of them  Thanks @cinnaminskies to make an activity here

@407801baby I'm from Jakarta. I love Bali btw  I think maybe you're also right. I stumbled to Eddie's linkedin and he wrote that he's Eric's manager. Maybe Eddie is his manager when he's outside Korea? From his IG post, I think he doesn't live in Korea.

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Article about MAMAMOO today in Cultwo Show:

http://www.allkpop.com/article/2016/10/mamamoo-were-filming-new-mv-before-their-scheduled-appearance-on-cultwo-show

Solar still hid her hair when MAMAMOO performed at Han-kyeong University 

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I found this while I rewatched the old episode. Look what Solar wrote on the envelope!
WARNING
Curled up fingers and toes

 

[cinnaminskies]

@Farfalle ahh your moments list was so special! Thanks for adding to the discussion!

Also, can you tell me what's written on the letter? Maybe it's just my eyes acting up, but I can't really tell, and I'd love to know!

[Ira Ajja]

  sorry it's out topic...but mcountdown today have crazy line up i hope mamamoo can join in (but we still don't have the date for comeback...huhu)

Shinee Infinite BTS GOT7 MONSTAX APink LadiesCode Davichi Ailee Sandeul etc

 

[Farfalle]

The official preview pictures are out!
http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/ent/wedding/photo/

 

More from MBC Entertainment's IG

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Their outfits look different with a fanphoto that we saw when they're departing?

Spoiler

But look at their couple striped shirts  Solar's face also has less make up than usual, maybe it's when they arrived at Dubai. They might change their outfits before they landed. And they took a selca with Solar's phone  

@cinnaminskies The letter content is already being subbed, right? But if you want, I'll post them later

@Ira Ajja Yeah, they haven't set their comeback date and they don't have MCountdown as their schedule. They're still performing for festivals.

[Ira Ajja]

Thanks for the wgm pic update @Farfalle ...i'm drooling see their food so next ep will be the plane scene, burj khalifa and the market...

[enko20]

@Farfalle Thank you chingu! They look so good together seriously. Solar in hijab = so cute!  

Eric with vanilla Eh Yoon Do hair on the first day, and is looking like he REALLY had a good day. Me likey! 

------
I come bringing good news chingus.

I know I said before that it might take me at least two more weeks to finish the 1st part of my opinion piece. However, thanks to many of chingus'  kind assistance (and party because I'm so hyped to share this with ya'll), I was able to write it a lot faster than what I expected from myself. It still took me a whole 3 weeks to write this though, the struggle is real. 

The post will be put up very soon. But before that, I just want to make a disclaimer. I'm no professional writer, but just a simple shipper who love to try out new things like Solar (Ddongie couple effect is contagious, I'm telling ya...). So, I would really appreciate any kind of honest feedback from all of you. The more feedback I get = the better I will do on my next part of writing.

Also, because I know that a Great Wall of China text is incoming, I've chosen to put article and video references in hyperlink. Please let me know if you prefer this format or direct embedding instead.

Have a great day/good night everyone! 

[papaxmoo]

Hello fam! I'm new, after reading so much I finally decided to sign up for the sole purpose of being able to spazz with you guys(yes that is me quoted on the previous page from ksd). other than being hyped AF for DUBAI, I'm planning on making a compilation of all the little moments that may have been missed, so I've been going through many many many pages with your amazing analysis skills. your detective skills are no joke fam! I especially love the little interactions outside of wgm, gosh I got so much to say but just wanted to say hello for now. I appreciate you all. 

please forgive me if I make mistakes I haven't been involved in a forum in a while. 

[maeryl]

@Farfalle I doubt our couple's bravery too. But I really hope that they went inside the haunted house for a halloween special episode. Agree, her sideburns are lighter and it looks like it's blonde.. can't wait to see her new look! And thank you for translating their messages to their in-laws im dyingggg to know what did they wrote so thank you thankyou! and thank you for sharing the preview photos for next week's episode

 

@papaxmoo Hello, chingu!! <3 Looking forward to spazz with you and to see your compilation!

 

edit:-------

MAMAMOO had a minor car accident on their way to their event. They went to the hospital for a physical check-up and thankfully they're fine.. there are no serious injuries. 

 

 

[coolbrattyro]

@papaxmoo hello!! welcome to this family!!! I read your comment about our couple in ksd... it's so nice of you. I'm looking forward for your compilation..  Keep spazzing ..

@enko20 I am also looking forward on your more insights about ddongie... I always love your comment and all your reviews about them.

@Farfalle :Thank you for all the pictures.. Solar is so beautiful with that jihab...
And please do translate the letter.... Please Please Please ... thank you.

@maeryl: where did you get that news 

anyway, it's good that they are all fine.

I can't wait for saturday to come...
These two are my weekend dose of vitamin

ddonggie couple fighting!!
saranghae!!

Ppyong!!!

[Le_Sanguinea]

@enko20 - Cool! Can't wait to see the text! (Also, I vote for hyperlinks. Embedded content might be a bit difficult for shippers with low bandwidth connections.  )

@papaxmoo - Welcome to the forum! Hope you enjoy browsing the weekly reviews and snaps. More shippers the merrier.

EDIT: Accident? 

 

[maeryl]

@coolbrattyro I saw it on twitter. Here's an english translation of RBW's statement

-

 

 

[coolbrattyro]

10 minutes ago, maeryl said:

@coolbrattyro I saw it on twitter. Here's an english translation of RBW's statement

-thank you

 

 

@maeryl thanks.. I didn't notice that a while back...
I guess I was suddenly worried...
Thank God they are all fine:)

[maeryl]

@coolbrattyro It's okay. I freaked out earlier when I saw moomoos tweeting that the girls had an accident (And there are no english translation of the statement earlier so i got really worried ) But yes, thank God they are all fine. 

[Farfalle]

@Ira Ajja It looks like they really got the "luxury" part! (or are all Dubai hotels that luxurious?) Hahaha our Ddongi couple can't leave food in their episodes as usual.

@enko20 So agree with you, they look so good together!  Yeah, Solar looks so cute in hijab, her mochi cheeks are clearly shown haha. They really looked happy! Looking forward to read your writing! I would be glad to give you constructive feedback, but I'm afraid because I think I'm still also bad at writing  And I vote for hyperlinks too, with the same reason as @Le_Sanguinea  

@papaxmoo Hello! Nice to see a new chingu to spazz and discuss things about our adorable Ddongi couple! I'm also looking forward for your compilation, chingu!

@maeryl Me too! Both of them are kinda jumpy, and we've seen Solar's reaction when she's in haunted house (thanks "Showtime"!). And I'm curious whether Eric succeeded to protect Solar, who will let out her high-note scream. It would be hilarious  Thanks for providing info about MAMAMOO's accident too. I read it on Twitter, surprised and also worried Glad to know that the girls are alright, it's really the most important thing. And guess that now MooMoos are raging towards RBW 

@coolbrattyro Yup, Solar looks good in hijab, Eric also looks good with that head scarf  Will post it soon, chingu  

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Catching up their updates!

Eric is in Hongkong!

Spoiler

 

 

EDITED:

Solar's long post in fancafe regarding the car accident. They're really kind, knowing that the fans worried a lot about them.

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Found a blog post by Department of Tourism of Dubai, I think? They teased us about our couple's trip to Dubai. I hope they'll post some unreleased stills of our Ddongi couple later after the episode airs!

http://dubaiblog.kr/220832704340

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Our couple is mentioned on a show (don't know what show) as the celebrities who have used hoverboard  

 

[enko20]

Prelude

To begin with, I feel like I should first explain my thought process behind breaking this whole opinion piece into three different parts. As I was pondering on how to piece all of my scattered thoughts together, I figured that it would be best to write about Eric and Solar separately as an individual first. Hopefully, once I’m able to lay out my opinions on their backgrounds and personalities, these writings would then be served as a basis for my third and final piece, which will be about how their personalities and storylines intertwined together to form the couple that we’ve come to known as Ddongie today.

With that out of the way, let’s get started, shall we?

-----------------------

In Part 1 of the series, my primary focus is going to be on the man of our OTP, Yoonddongie. Throughout my writing, I will briefly describe his background and use them to provide contexts as I explain the characteristics that pertain not just to Eric himself as an individual, but also to those that he shares with Solar as well.

Part 1: Eric Nam – Beyond the Image of a Perfect Gentleman
by enko20

 

“I think on an international basis, they’ve been able to see a lot of my real personality, just being carefree and a little humorous and crazy, but the Korean audience doesn’t get to really see that and that’s regretful.” [1] 

                                                                                                              - Eric Nam

Eric Nam, the Korean-American man from Atlanta who took an unconventional path into the K-pop industry, instantly became my favorite person to root for once I found out about him. In his early days as a YouTuber in America, however, I was only interested in his singing talent and thought of him as a friendly guy. When I heard about him debuting in Korea with “Heaven’s Door”, I became his fan and wanted him to make it big in the industry, but that was about it. I didn’t quite follow his non-musical activities in Korea and wasn’t aware of his status and how people perceive him as a person, because I wasn’t that into K-pop back then as I am now (I was only interested in K-dramas and variety shows at the time).

Before I knew it, his reputation skyrocketed in and out of the country. People began to advertise him as the “Nation’s Boyfriend” - a man with flawless manners and endless charms. He began to appear on interviews with Hollywood celebrities, became affiliated with other well-known names in the industry, and even got a gig on After School Club to boot. From there, I started to pay more attention to his personalities on shows and interviews, and he grew on me even more as time went on. I found out about those charms of his that they were talking about, but eventually, I also found out his downsides as well. That was the short story of my experience with Eric in his pre-WGM days.

When the news broke out that Eric was going to join my favorite variety show WGM as a cast after years of being a panelist, I got very excited. I knew that this was going to be his chance to showcase what he’s good and not good at. Unlike his other K-fans, I never once thought that he would be “too good” for the show, because to me, Eric has always been a boy-next-door kind of guy who’s very approachable rather than an elite, upper-class gentleman that’s out of any girl’s league. The image of a “perfect” person put too much of an unnecessary burden on him to live up to it [2], and I was worried that it would affect how he carries himself out in WGM. However, he has proven me wrong with what he does, and I’m glad that he has used WGM as a platform to be himself rather than as an opportunity to further building on the “flawless” image his fans make him out to be.

With that, let’s delve into some of the strengths and weaknesses that he has displayed as a person and why I believe he has translated said strengths and weaknesses seamlessly onto his WGM appearance:

 

(1) An adventurous person who is willing to take risks to realize his dreams.

          “At the end of the day, I don’t have any regret. Wherever I am, I made the right decision for me at that time…” [3]

"I try not to regret anything in life. " - Eric to Solar, WGM Episode 14

 

Before Eric came to Korea to make a name for himself as a K-pop artist, he actually was quite close to two different career paths. The first one was a job at Deloitte Consulting, and following that, a social enterprise work in India. It was then that he took his first big risk, which was to make a conscious decision of leaving everything behind to go to Korea for an audition of MBC’s “Birth of a Great Star 2”. [4]

Eric told Solar during their Han River date that he came to Korea as a challenge for himself. However, that statement alone couldn’t fully capture the magnitude of the decision he made. In an interview with Fusion, he recalled what actually happened then: 

        “They [Eric’s parents] were against it in the beginning… They were like ‘No, you are not doing that. We just paid for your college, you know how expensive that is. That’s not happening.’”

        “She [Eric’s mother] was like, ‘No no no no no no, let me put this straight for you. I think you’re misunderstanding Korean culture. You’re going to find out how many more people there are who are so much better than you at singing.’” [5]

Despite his parents’ objection, he still made the conscious choice to follow his dream. Eric clearly isn’t a guy who will settle for comfort zone. He will always seek for new opportunities, new challenges, and he will fight for what he believes in until he gets it.

If you are a Mamamoo fan, then you should also know about a certain girl that faced opposition from her parents on her way to becoming a Kpop sensation. Similar to Eric, the path she took was a very thorny one, but she stood resolute in her quest for stardom even when there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel. More on this very soon…

Soon after his audition, he once again was offered a chance to return to his consulting field, this time for YG Entertainment. While the job sounded very tempting, he ultimately rejected it, opting to stay true to his dream of becoming a singer that he had set out to do in the first place [1]. Again, Eric showed his absolute determination to stay on the path that he wanted to take, and had he given up at any point then, Eric might not have become the man that we know of him today.

(And if we’re going to talk about his adventurous side, then his latest appearance on SBS’s “Law of The Jungle” just served as a further proof for this, yeah?)

Why do I bring all of this up? Because It’s relevant to something Eric does in WGM, and that is his decision to join WGM in the first place. As I said before, Eric already expressed his desire to be a part of many variety shows, including WGM. He even said “just get me a wife and I will go on that show” [6]. However, the reality is that his decision to join WGM received many opposition from his own domestic fanbase. Not only that, he also risks falling out with Moomoos as well should he make any wrong moves during his time on WGM with Solar. Eric himself is a Moomoo too, do you think that’s what he wants? Yet he still decided to take this risk knowing it could hurt his own reputation, and that is the last thing he want to do to himself. If anything, that just goes to show that he sees WGM as an opportunity and a challenge for himself, not just to display to his Korean fans his true personalities, mind you, but to also show that there’s something (or should I say someone?) in all of this that’s worthwhile for him to pursue with all his might despite the backlash.

(2) An independent, capable man that can take care of himself and others 

Spoiler

cr: @zituans on Twitter

In this snippet of Eric Nam’s story in his “Interview” album, we could see how the situation he grew up in forced him to become a person who had to learn the ropes on his own. Being the eldest among the three brothers, it’s his responsibility to take care of them, and eventually, of his parents as well.

This is what allow him to establish his footing in Korea as a single man, and to reach out in support for his peers in the same working field. Just like what he said to Solar, he’s a person who’s capable of doing things on his own when he was in the U.S, but the only thing that holds him back in Korea is his struggle with the country’s language (Eric’s appearance on MBC “I Live Alone” showcase this to the fullest extent). His ability to be a pillar of support to the people around him is simply an amazing trait of his. Because of this, even a girl group leader like Solar can depend on Eric, and Moonbyul even said that she can be at ease seeing her friend with someone as solid as a rock like him.

(3) A humble person who doesn’t let hubris get the better of him

Ego is certainly a hard thing to avoid when you are being constantly showered with compliments from fans and people around the industry. Despite all of that, however, Eric displays a tendency to downplay all the praises being directed toward him rather than basking in his own glory. How many times have you heard him saying “Eyy, it’s nothing really” when someone say something good about him? Not to mention, the best one I’ve heard was when he was on the KCON NY stage drinking water, then said to the crowd “I know some people look cool drinking water, but I’m not one of them.”

Obviously, whether Eric is really humble or not isn’t something that can be proven with just his words, so the best litmus test for this is based on his demeanor and other people’s judgement of him. Really, if he is a fake humble person, he would’ve slipped up somewhere along the line, and many of his peers and fans would have called him out for it. Yet so far, not a single person has had a bad thing to say about him in this regard. That, to me, is enough of an adequate validation for this character of his.

(4) A very chivalrous and gallant guy, and also a man who inspires confidence, trust, and admiration among his female peers.

This is something that should be obvious to see if you’ve watched Eric on WGM. However, I will save that conversation for a later date. For now, I will opt to discuss about the one trait that he is most known for by his fans and peers in real life – that is, his respect and caring treatment for the women in his life.

Being raised in a family with a loving and caring father, Eric grew up taking after the man in charge of his household. Eric’s father, Nam Beom Jin is a man who understands the importance of being able to take care of his wife well (he said he never once got into a fight with his wife a.k.a he learned to yield to the woman of his life), and he did a great job of teaching Eric these moral values that he still carries with him until today.

Not only that, ever since arriving in Korea, Eric has also put his achievement and fame to a greater use. He demonstrates his altruistic character by using his work as a platform to promote others less-known female artists/groups along with him. Some examples include Park Jimin, Juniel, Playback, SPICA and more. This goes back to his supportive trait mentioned in (2), and it helps give us a picture of why he has managed to build up a reputation as a good man among many women he has encountered in the past and present.

Because of this, it is hardly surprising to me that he gets along very well with people of his opposite gender (Ailee, Amber, Jimin, Chloe Moretz, KOLAJ’s Teesa just to name a few). I would really recommend watching Ailee and Amber’s One Fine Day just to give you an idea of how close-knit Eric is with them. Eric is extremely popular with girls for a good reason. As sad as it for me to say, a man of his gallantry level is simply a rarity in today’s world. That’s why, when someone like this come along, it’s only understandable that many women would love to have an Eric Nam for themselves, hence the title “Nation’s Boyfriend” and “One Family, One Eric Nam”.

(5) A man who finds it tough to fall in and out of love, and a man who have problems expressing himself in love. 

You would think that what I described about him in (4), and about how daring of a person he is  that he would not have any trouble finding a girl to love. However, it’s actually the opposite. Here’s what he has to say about his love life:

      "I met my first girlfriend when I was a second year university student in America. My first girlfriend was on the later side because I tend to get to know the girl for a long time before dating. Because I begin dating someone after getting to know them and figuring out how we get along first, once I start dating someone, it′s very hard for me to change my mind." [7]

Unlike his usual risk-taker self, Eric actually is quite cautious when it comes to a relationship. He is someone who wants to understand and connect with a girl on a deeper level before consider courting her (sounds familiar?). If you read many of his previous text interviews, he always emphasizes that the girl’s personalities need to match with him well before he thinks about things like appearance or age.

Because I’m personally a very open and forward person myself in this matter, I find the contrasting dating style of Eric very intriguing to me for an odd reason. Honestly, you can take this trait of him either as a strength or weakness depend on your viewpoint. For me, while it might cost him some potential relationships by him playing safe, it might end up help him choosing the absolute right partner for himself once he’s ready to settle down in the future.

One point also worth mentioning is that, the very own “Nation’s Boyfriend” image that make him could one day ironically break him as well should he choose to change it to “Person X’s Boyfriend”. It’s another reason that has forced him to be reserved in this adventure as well.

Another thing that is not quite as known about Eric is that he often finds it difficult to express emotions and love words. Again, referring back to his “Interview” album’s story, Eric himself said it plain and clear in the very first line: “I’m not very good at expressing myself.”

When I first heard about this and what he said to Solar in his resume “I’m cold”, I was incredibly baffled. “How exactly is this man cold?” I asked myself, so I spent a while to try to understand what he meant by that. Now, because Eric himself has yet to offer any explanations, I had to read between the lines and made my own inference as to why this is the case. This was when I came across this article. In it, he was asked what genre of drama he would prefer if he ever get into acting, and he said: “I’m okay with anything except melodramatic stuff. I think I might be good in at maybe a comedic role or sarcasm?” (Explained his appearance on SNL Korea 7)

What does this mean? Well, my take on this is that he’s not a person who is into cheesy stuffs, and would rather play it off with humor and laughter instead (sounds even more familiar?). Also, it could means that he’s a person who finds it tough to deliver “melodramatic” dialogue lines naturally, and would opt to do it in a sarcastic/comedic way instead if he had to (does this ring a bell?). So the word “cold” that he used probably meant that even though he’s outwardly a very fun and friendly person, his struggle to express his feelings might make a girl think he’s indifferent about, or even worse, dislikes her. (I will leave a more detailed behavioral explanation of this to someone with a better psychological knowledge than me)

Eric’s BRI in Episode 25 of WGM also backup some of the points I made here. After he wrote the letter to Solar, this was what he said:

Quote

     “It’s hard for me to say something sweet, so I don’t usually do it. But when it comes to writing, it feels like I have a better chance."

 

WGM Sidenote 1:

Spoiler

I’ve read many of chingus’ opinions saying that Eric has been adjusting his relationship pace to match with Solar. I think I also agreed with this before, so allow me to backtrack on this. Eric is actually not adjusting anything at all. In fact, her relationship pace matches perfectly well with his.

WGM Sidenote 2:

Spoiler

Since we’re here, I also would like to point out something very interesting as well:

   

During episode 12 of WGM (Mamamoo visit), Moonbyul asked Eric how many girls has he dated before. He said “2”, and then proceed to say “No, not recently. It [the breakup] happened before I came to Korea.”

However, in an interview with Yes24 Muv Hall back in March, he was asked if he has dated in Korea, and this was his answer:

      "Yes, I have dated in Korea. After we broke up, I was single for a long time. I thought I needed to focus on my activities, so I immersed myself in work." [8]

This means that the answer he gave on WGM was referring to his first girlfriend in the US. The second girl he dated was actually in Korea, which he didn’t talk about with the Mamamoo girls. Just an interesting thing to note.

 

WGM Sidenote 3:

Spoiler

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. What exactly is special to Eric about Solar’s words: “Your weakness is that you have no weakness”?

If you consider the context of his dating life. I think it begins to make more sense. He has experienced breakup twice already. For a person who can’t get over a girl fast, going through something like that must have hurt him a lot. Even though I have no clue what actually happened, he could have felt that he must have done something wrong in the relationship that led to a bad ending. (perhaps it has something to do with his inability to express himself in love?)

This is why, now that he’s with Solar, notice how he keeps asking her “Is it okay to do this?”, “Is it okay to do that?”. We’ve all agreed that he usually does this to make Solar comfortable, but here’s a different perspective on it: He keeps worrying that he could do something bad that turn Solar off, and when she said she finds nothing wrong with Eric, it came as a massive relief for him.

 

 

It’s clear that Eric has certain criteria that he looks for in a girl before he would want to date her. What are those exactly? I will talk about them more in part 3. For now, all I will say is that, one of the criteria he’s looking for is that she should be similar with his (6) trait below.

(6) A very hyper and quirky man with an odd sense of humor and tons of crazy antics.

      “If there really was one Eric Nam per family, Korea would become really noisy and hectic. My personality has calmed down a bit these days, but I am someone who can’t sit still for one second. I always sing or dance around. If I was included in every family, people would probably tell me to quiet down.” [9]

If you are an avid follower of Eric during his heyday on ASC, you will definitely know this to be true about him. The guy has quite a knack for making the odd jokes and doing the most random of dances whenever he’s in the mood. A lot of his peers has made comments on how odd of a person Eric could be. Henry mentioned that Eric is not in his right state of mind, that he really is just a weird guy who dances crazily [10]. Ailee on an ASC BTS said jokingly that Eric is psychotic [11], and on his V-live app on the day CHMS was released, she said “I never thought people could move like that” in refer to his dance moves [12]. Even his fans are so entertained by it (in a sense that it’s so ridiculous) that they label him a “Dance Machine”. Clearly, even his closest friends struggle to handle his quirky tendencies at times.

For me, this side of Eric is pretty much a double-edge sword. While being crazy and random might help him as an entertainer, it could cause him problems when dealing with serious matters. I’m not saying that he doesn’t know how or when to be serious, but that people who are not on the same wavelength with him in this regard might find this side of him to be a complete turn off. The industry loves to portray him as cool, calm and collected gentleman, but in reality, he just wants to be an exciting guy who loves to sing and scream his lung off in delight while jumping around like a maniac just like many of us. [13]

Yet, luckily for Eric, there happens to be a unique girl like this waiting for him on the horizon. She’s a girl who can’t stay in one place, a girl who would laugh at the most ridiculous thing, a girl who would sing and sing to her heart’s content, and most importantly, a girl whom they called “춤신춤왕” (Dance God-Dance King) who, if she sees a mad man whipping out a ridiculous robot dance in the middle of the night, would gladly follow along with joy…

I believe that those are some of the most crucial traits of Eric that will come into play once the discussion regarding Ddongie couple begins. I could sit here all day and list the rest of them, but that would be way too much. Hopefully, this has given you an overall picture of who Eric is a man, and why I myself have come to stan him harder than any other idols I have had in the past. Even though Eric is not quite the faultless person his image might make him out to be, I still truly love him for who he is, and in my opinion, Eric could seriously become one of the most unique and greatest WGM (and real life) husband ever when it’s all said and done.

_____

[1] Eric Nam on Turning Down Job Offers from YG and Pursuing Music [MWave]

[2] Eric Nam Says He’s Afraid of Accidentally Destroying His Good Guy Image (KBS’s Happy Together 3)

[3] Eric Nam - Overcoming Social Stigmas as a KPop Star #INFINITIQ30 (HYPEBEAST - #BornToChallenge)

[4] The Kool Guyz: Interview with Eric Nam and Hanbyul (Asia Pacific Arts)

[5] Eric Nam Could Become the First K-Pop Artist to Make It Big in America (Fusion)

[6] Eric Nam Answers Fan Questions in Candid (#AskEricNam Interview at KCON 2014 by Soompi)

[7] Eric Nam Talks About His First Love (JTBC’s New House)

[8] Eric Nam Talks About Being Called The “Nation’s Boyfriend” (Yes24 Muv Hall)

[9] What If There Was One Eric Nam per Family? (CeCi Fashion Magazine)

[10] Super Junior’s Henry and Eric Nam Reveal Each Other’s True Personalities (KBS’s Best Man)

[11] Ailee – Behind The Scene/에일리 스페셜 방송 뒷이야기 (After School Club)

[12] Cool Summer, Hot Eric Nam (Eric Nam’s V-Live App]

[13] Meet Eric Nam at Heaven’s Door [K-Popped!]

-----------------------

In Part 2 of the series, the spotlight will be shifted toward Ms. Yongddongie, the girl we all love to call a “pretty fool” in an affectionate way. Unlike Eric, my knowledge about her was quite limited before her appearance on WGM. As I found out more about Solar, I realized how simple yet complex she is as a person, and her life story simply left me with nothing short of fascination and wonder. With this upcoming piece, I hope we all will be able to see what she truly has to offer as a Korean girl named Kim Yong Seon compared to her “Solar” persona that is as plain for people to see as the Sun itself.

Part 2: Solar - The Enigmatic Yeba

(To be continued....)

[macaroonjunkie]

BIG fan of these two 

@enko20 wow such an amazing detailed analysis. R u hoksi ednam or amber..seem to know him inside out.. The references are daebakdaebak...

[autumnleaves19_stv]

Salute @enko20 please write more. Cant wait to read the rest of ur writing. Wonderful..just wonderful.

[coolbrattyro]

@enko20: thank you.. that's a very detailed information about Eric. (How did you do or know all those info?)must be too much effort searching all these. Really grateful for that, I think I got to know Eric in a deeper level because of that.

Like you , I also do not follow or watch all his show. I think the only time that I knew him was because of ASC. Since then I started watching some (not all) of his shows and listen to some of his songs as well. THEN he appeared in we got married not this one but as one of the panelists ( during SOLIM stint), like you said, Eric is not really a fond of cheesy stuff coz you can see all his reactions everytime SOLIM do cheesy things or even cringed worthy actions.

I remember at that time even SOLIM fans started to like him and started capturing and give emphasis on all his reactions. I started to love him since then. 

And now that HE is really a part of the show, I might go insane once they leave the show ( I hope it will be far from now). 

I'm looking forward to part 2 and 3

-------------------

Reading Solar's letter to MooMoos made me atleast. These girls are worth the time watching and supporting, despite what happened they still want to perform and give back to their fans. I salute them for that. I will never regret being one of MooMoos.

Thats all for now!!

Ppyong

 

 

 

 

[onlybeagles]

@enko20 Applause!!  So much appreciation and thanks to you, my friend! Keep em coming!!! Can't wait!! Im gonna post a longer comment on that later on since i just took time off studying to read that amazing Part 1 of your column.