I know a lot of people don't understand why k-pop fans are so crazy and obsessed with k-pop and I usually just ignore those kind of people because to me, they are just people who refuse to acknowledge the awesomeness of it. haha kidding. I know... K-pop isn't everyone's cup of tea. I understand some people just can't stand listening to songs that they don't understand any of the lyrics to. A lot of people have asked me this question, "You don't even understand anything they're singing about, why listen to it?" I always shrugged and said, it's just music and I enjoy it. Why make it so complicated? So many people love classical music and opera, and do they understand fully what the song is about? Even with some English songs, so many people around the world that don't understand English listen to them as well, and I don't see anything weird about that. So those people who asked me that question, you surely didn't do much of thinking before you asked that question.
Anyways... yeah... Just one or two years back, I remember Yongxuan asking me whether I would still continue to love K-pop for the rest of my life or just for a long long time. And I remember saying that I might not love K-pop forever, but I'll love Beast forever. Maybe not as crazily as before but I definitely would not stop listening to their songs or stop loving them. And I believe this is something only true fans would understand. Not just K-pop fans but any kind of fan. You can just ask your parents whether they still like the music they listened to when they were younger, I'm sure they'll say yes and that those music will bring back lots of happy memories.
So about my K-pop history, I'm sure I would have mentioned it before on my blog sometime ago but it actually started in church. hahaha I used to be in the church youth group and used to be one of the youngest and the quietest. So I'll just always be just sitting around and observing what the other older youths (my brother and his friends) were doing. There was these 3 older girls who were crazy about K-pop and I think I was either 13 or 14 at that time and they were maybe 16. They were always singing along to the Wondergirls' songs like Tell Me and So Hot and they even knew the dance moves to them. I just found it so fun and fascinating and I just wanted to have fun with them but I was just too shy. They were also playing Big Bang's songs all the time. I remember one of the girls could even rap along to GD's rap and I was just looking at them in awe hahaha. So one day I just went home to started looking up for these songs on Youtube and started listening to them and I just found it all so cool with all the nice MVs. The first song that I really really loved was Big Bang's We Belong Together. I can't believe that was almost 6 years ago! I remember even asking a friend of mine to help me download the video for me so that I could have it on my phone LOL. Another song I love grooving to was Big Bang's La La La and With U, those were the days I started staying up till 2am every night and these were the songs that accompanied me.
The time where all the K-Pop craziness really started was after my PMR when we had that really really long break from school. I started listening to more K-Pop songs so that I could listen to them while I played Maple Story. Ahhh.... those easy-going days~ Just to list a few of my favourites during that time, Big Bang's 눈물뿐인 바보, 거짓말, 하루하루 and Last Farewell (which I still love love love!). I basically only knew Big Bang and the Wondergirls at that time due to my brother's friends' influence but then I found out about 2NE1 TV when I was searching for more Big Bang videos to watch after watching Big Bang's Documentary. Big Bang appeared in the first episode of 2NE1 TV that's why I found it. So I thought since I had nothing better to do, why not watch 2NE1 TV? I remember the internet speed at that time was so so slow where I had to let the video buffer for a few hours before I could sit down to watch it. LOL Those ancient times where I couldn't watch PPS (do people still use it?) without being scolded by my brothers and I had to lie that I wasn't watching it hahahaha Well, that's how I started getting sucked into the K-Pop black hole. 2NE1 and their charisma in Fire and I Don't Care~ These girls have come so far since then. My first ever K-Pop album was theirs (their first mini album) and maybe one of my few facebook statuses was dedicated to that album and my brother's friends that got me into k-pop commented on that status and said, "I didn't even know you were into k-pop!" LOL
But yeah... that's when it all started; where I started singing "I don't care-e-e-e-e-e~" every chance I had LOL. Beast came into the picture a few months after that.... I rmb clearly blogging about it before. So... the same boring story of me scrolling through Tumblr one day and saw this picture of this good looking guy which led to me wanting to find more photos of him, which led to me finding out about the existence of Beast. And everything thing following that is history. hahahaha I remember that was before 2010's CNY and I had my new phone and I saved all of Beast's and Dongwoon's photos on my phone and was just looking through them all the time. I am still gutted by the fact that I only started being a fan during their Shock promotions and that I totally missed out on their debut and promotions of Bad Girl but that doesn't make me any less of a fan. I can't even comprehend how much love I have for them. Thinking back.... the reasons I got so sucked into K-pop was because during that time, I was not interested in my studies at all, my social life was close to non-existent, I didn't spend a lot of time with my family either because they all were busy with their own lives, and although my uncle controlled me a lot with the amount of time I spent on the computer, I was sneaky and still used the laptop all the time... so I just spent most of my time in my own world, in my k-pop bubble, ignoring the rest of the world. It just brought me so much laughter and happiness. Sometimes I think back and wonder whether I wasted all those time (and money!) on something useless but during those times, it made me really happy and it kept me busy. I don't know what else I would have done if I wasn't so into k-pop. I don't think I would have done any better in my studies because I just had no interest in it hahaha
I've made so many good memories with K-pop... the conversations around it, the friends I've met through it, and the amazing times at concerts and can't miss a chance to mention that first time meeting Beast and actually made a (very short) conversation with Dongwoon >____< Memories of that moment still makes my heart flutter every single time and I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. Thinking back, I really wouldnt have wanted anything to be different... except maybe having the chance to see 2NE1 perform live. I still might have the chance if they come to London soon~ And I'll definitely do anything to see Beast again. But I'm definitely not as crazy of a fan as I used to be. I still smile like an idiot when I watch new videos of the boys... like today when I watched their Adrenaline MV hahaha They just never fail to surprise me by how good looking and charming they can be. They have also come a long way.... a very very long way. From the very bottom to the top and now slowly coming down from the top. The members themselves mentioned in an interview before that every singer would have a time where they reach their peak but then they would have to come down from that peak eventually. And I know that Beast is not at their peak anymore but that's totally fine because to the fans and to the boys as well, the important thing isn't being number 1, it's having that good image with the public and that relationship between the members and the fans. Because everyone knows that, as long as their fans, they would still be able to make it. They're putting all that hard work into the album-making just for the fans aren't they? Nevertheless, the k-pop industry can be an evil place. Idols get hurt and consequently, fans get hurt... and there's always lots of drama with stupid fanwars over the most silly things like fandom colours and fans going ballistic over their oppa being in a relationship. Sigh... it's a place with lots of immature fangirls.
Now, I'm clearly not so into k-pop anymore... I'm still listening to my favourite k-pop songs, especially more today since I'm reminiscing all these good old memories. But i still listen to some new k-pop songs once in a while. I'm definitely more bias nowadays, I only listen to those singers where I know make good music or songs that are really popular at the moment. At the moment, you guys should check out IU's new song 나의 옛날이야기 (My Old Story)! And Beast's Adrenaline, it's a Japanese song. I've also expressed my love for k-hiphop a lot on this blog and some k-indie artists and some artists that sing more R&B songs which is more of my taste. Most of my fav kpop songs are from Big Bang, 2NE1 and Beast and some of A Pink's~ others are like 4Minute and G.Na. But Big Bang's style has changed so much since they first debuted... I still love their old songs so much more. As for Beast, I love almost every song of theirs. My other favourite korean artists has got to be Zion.T, Primary, Dynamic Duo, Urban Zakapa, Crush, Bumkey, J Rabbit, 4Men, 10cm and the lists goes on.... I just have so many good memories with so many korean songs. I'm sure everyone would understand when you have that particular song where when you listen to it, it reminds you of a specific time of your life. Like when I listen to Beast's I'm Sorry and 괜찮겠니 and a few of Sistar's songs, it reminds me of the trip I had last year to Macau and HK, because those were the new songs I put into my phone before I left for the trip and those few Sistar's songs were particularly very summery, which were perfect for my trip! And Beast's Shadow will always remind me of those few weeks where I was at home all day before I left for the UK. So these songs... are just very precious to me.
LOL one little thought on Kpop led to one long blogpost.... the main point I wanted to make was that Beast will always be my favourite. If you thought I was naive or immature when I used to say that I would love Beast forever, I still am because I still believe that I would love them forever. I can't even comprehend how much I love them and only true fans would understand this. If you're not a fan of anything in your life, then don't judge! K-pop is kinda like a hobby. So if you have a true hobby, you'll love it for the rest of your life right? Although I've been very into korean songs, I've been trying to listen to more English songs recently, especially with the convenience of Spotify. But it just somehow seems unfamilar.... and I'll always go back to korean songs after a while. I don't know how much more longer k-pop will be popular for... one day, maybe all these fangirls would get tired of it and something new would attract their attention and k-pop would return to those days of 2007 and 2008.... which in my opinion, were much more fun. But all in all, k-pop will still have a special place in my heart and in my life.
p/s: K-pop also led to watching more korean dramas and to learning Korean, which although I still can't speak the language, but at least I can read and understand a bit~
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