KPOP CONFESSION #1 : Getting Into It

Since I'm not a long time kpop fan (only 7 months), my first kpop video I watched was PSY's "Gangnam Style". And no, this is not the reason I joined the kpop fandom or why I got curious. The first kpop video I saw and got
curious about was Girls' Generation's "I Got A Boy". I was a YouTube fangirl during my middle school days and their MV kept popping up all over the home page so I was like "fine, I'll watch it". I liked the song, the dance, the clothes, and how pretty they were. The only
thing I was slightly upset about was how the song was in Korean so I didn't understand what was going on except for the fact that they got a boy. The next MV I saw was SNSD's Paparazzi, even though it was in Japanese. At the time I wasn't a kpop fan so I couldn't tell the difference between Chinese, Korean, and Japanese like how I can now. I didn't really like it (even though that's my favorite Japanese song of theirs now) so then my curiosity died out.

I got my curiosity again during winter break from school in December 2014. Winter and summer break is usually the time I discover and get really deep into things (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and even One Direction). I feel like those times I actually have time to enjoy things and not feel pressured by school work.

I remembered SNSD's "I Got A Boy" and rewatched the MV. Like the average stereotypical American, I couldn't really tell them apart at first. So I did what any other curious person would do: look up their Wikipedia page. I tried remembering their names and even clicked on their individual pages where I stumbled upon Jessica and her having a sister (Krystal), and her sister in a group called f(x). Amber was the one who caught my attention in f(x). But not because of what you think. It wasn't because she was a tomboy, but because she was Taiwanese-American. I was confused because she was of Chinese descent, yet she was in the Korean market. Also she was American meaning she speaks Englsih and I secretly feel like I have a connection to every idol who speaks English and/or is American. I was also curious to her hear speak Korean since she wasn't. I've seen little clips and interviews and she's really funny. I loved how she interacted with her group members and others. After that, I started listening to some of f(x)'s songs. I even had f(x) as a radio in iTunes Radio. Since it doesn't only play f(x) songs, I heard SHINee's Replay which introduced me to SHINee. R&B is my favorite genre so this song was my kpop slow jam. I even saw the MV for it and loved the dancing and Minho's face. After that I watched Lucifer and I was a little freaked out by the music video but I liked Minho's face it.

My first variety show was SHINee's Hello Baby. I LOVED IT. It was hilarious, heart-warming, cute, and loving. It also showed whether or not our oppars are baby daddy material. I really fan-girled over Minho in this show. Not only was he handsome and screamed testosterone, he was so cute with the baby and that was when Minho become my SHINee bias.

My first drama was To The Beautiful You with Minho from SHINee and Sulli from f(x). I had a friend who was into korean dramas (and not neccessarily kpop even though she listened sometimes) and she gave me a list of korean dramas to watch over winter break. I was going to watch some of them but I was stalking looking at Minho's Wiki when I seen in his filmography that he was in a drama so naturally I clicked it. So when I found out that Sulli was in it too I made that drama a priority. I watched it all in 2 days. I cried after. I wasn't sure because it was a beautiful story or because it was over but regardless I cried like a bitch. It didn't help that the OST was amazing too. I put it in my music library and every time it came on I either cried or wanted to cry. Since it was my first drama, I didn't know that it was pretty cheesy, even for a korean drama. But I was lucky I wasn't into kpop really deep otherwise my expectations would be higher and I would've noticed so much product placement. Since it was a SM produced drama I thought about: the leads were from SM groups, whenever they went somewhere the audio would play a song that's "coincidentally" from a SM group, and EXO performing at that celebration in episode 2 since that was the year they debuted and they needed all the advertising they could get. Other than that, there was the basic product placement like EVERYONE having the same Samsung phone with the same case, just in different colors.

After getting to know f(x) and SHINee, I thought I could go back and listen to American music, but add f(x), SHINee, and maybe a little SNSD in there and I would be ok. WRONG. I discovered EXO. My first video of them was their most recent one at the time, Overdose. I loved it. Here in the western world, we don't have boy groups who sing, dance, and rap anymore like in the 90s and early 2000s. The best we have is One Direction and they just make good catchy songs and don't dance. So to see this I was really excited. It didn't help that they were all really good looking, especially the part where the MV goes to the part where they're dressed formally. The next video of them I saw was Wolf and even though the song is really catchy, the MV is a mess and the english translation is hilarious. But then, I watched Growl, which I LOVE, and that saved them for me. I watched then watched all their other MVs from MAMA era and they were all good too.

After getting into EXO really deep, to the point I could tell the members by random body parts, I kind of got into kpop as a whole. Considering how many groups there are it's nearly impossible to get into EVERY group. I still have school to worry about. I only stan groups that I have a genuine interest in or where I like ALL of the members.