Confessions of a (Former) Crazed K-pop Fangirl
Posted by Aurus | Filed under Music, Personal | 139 views
Photo source: kiss-ent.com
These past coupla days I’ve been listening to Click-B and watching their videos again and again. Click-B’s a music group from South Korea. (That’s them up there.) Yes, I was an obsessed (to put it mildly) K-pop (Korean pop music) fangirl during my late high school and early uni years. And no, I’m not ashamed to admit it. Those were good times, and I enjoy looking back on them every now and then. Sometimes I’d miss those days, and I’d dig up my old K-pop MP3s - which is what happened recently.
How did I get into K-pop? If I remember correctly, my classmate Mojo is the one to thank. She told me about another music group, H.O.T., and from then on, I was hooked. Well, not exactly. I was a little reluctant at first, for I had seen one of H.O.T.’s videos before (We are the Future), and I didn’t like it. Haha. I thought the band members looked weird. But I decided to give them another try, and they ended up being my favorite Korean group. Each member of H.O.T. is talented in his own way, and while they looked like an ordinary boy band, they later on wrote their own songs and also sang about topics such as war, the youth, and the disabled. Imagine how sad I was when they disbanded in 2001. The former members now have solo careers, and that’s great, but it’s just not the same. I miss H.O.T.!
So how obsessed was I? Some examples:
- I have two original H.O.T. albums, and along with the CDs came postcard-sized calendars featuring the band members. I had them laminated, and I put them up inside my closet doors. They’re still there.
- Back when I didn’t have a PC yet, I’d ask a friend to look for H.O.T. stuff online for me.
- When I had my own PC, I’d download K-pop MP3s and videos, frequent a K-pop forum, and save a ton of Korean artists’ pictures onto my computer. Too bad I don’t have the pictures and videos anymore, my PC got formatted accidentally. But that’s another story.
- I printed out pictures and interviews of H.O.T., and some lyrics of different artists, and put them neatly in a binder folder, which I brought every day to school. Haha!
- Arirang became my favorite channel. I’d watch Show Music Tank and Pops in Seoul religiously. I even recorded some episodes, if I knew that my favorite artists were going to be on. I think I still have the VHS tapes. Haha.
- My friends and I would talk - no, gush about our favorite artists all the time.
- I had dreams about some of my favorite artists.
- And because I got into K-pop, I became more curious about the Korean culture. I studied the Korean language mainly by watching Let’s Speak Korean. I learned how to read and write Hangul, and some language basics. While I can still read and write Hangul, right now I can only remember a few Korean words and phrases. I still have my dictionary and notes though. =P
- And as I learned more about the Korean culture, the more it fascinated me, and the more I wanted to become Korean. But not anymore, I’m pretty happy with being Chinese.
There’s probably more weird stuff I did that I can’t recall right now. But yeah, I shall now conclude this (unintentionally long) entry by bidding you farewell in Korean. An nyung!
April 20th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I have a classmate in high school who liked this band too! She was very much into K-pop, and I think she still is. Lol. I, on the other hand, used to be an Anime fan. Memorized some of those Jap songs that I don’t even understand! hehe!
Btw, the one on the far right is cute!
April 20th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Teehee. You have good taste Joni. Then again, they’re all good looking! XD
April 21st, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Nice. I used to watch all those flicks in Arirang too. One of my high school friends loves K-pop, J-pop and those rarely understood. Hehe. I still know the “3 bears ” song in Full House in Korean. Haha
July 21st, 2008 at 11:53 am
yay!
:D
Click -B click-b
I miss the old times!
I remembered I used to have zillions of photos of korean celebrities