How You Fell In Love With K-pop

K-pop is a drug, an addiction you can't shake off no matter how much rehab you undergo and no matter how many times you try to turn off your computer or hide your iPod. Once you're in, you're hooked and it's almost impossible to remove yourself from the situation. The "K" in K-pop may stand for "Korean" but we all know it stands for "Krack" because once you take a hit, you're in for the long-run. 

My first foray into K-pop was Kim Jong Kook's "Loveable." Not to date myself, but my best friend had posted the music video's link up on her AIM away status back in 2007, and as soon as I clicked on it, my soul was completely sucked in and sold forever. The funny thing about K-pop is that you can never just stop at one video. Once you find yourself thoroughly enjoying one video, there is this internal excitement of discovering other videos by the same artists that you can't contain. Soon, you find yourself stumbling upon other artists, and other music videos and you feel yourself being completely immersed by this feeling of curiosity and wonderment. After Kim Jong Gook's "Loveable," I watched every single episode of the hit idol game show, "X-men," and soon fell in love with Epik High, Fly to the Sky, Lee Seung Gi, Lee Hyori, and many many more. My life was now completely consumed by the K-pop epidemic and there was no turning back. Here are the symptoms I experienced of falling in love with K-pop:

You start with a click of a video. For story-telling purposes, let's say it begins with Wonder Girls "Tell Me." You're a girl and think the girls are pretty, the song is catchy as heck, and the dance moves are irresistibly adorable. You find yourself clicking on the YouTube repeat button on the left hand corner of the video and refreshing it over and over. Soon, the melody gets stuck in your head and the girls' smiles and charm become engrained in your memory bank and you want more, you crave more. 

After watching "Tell Me," 20x over, you look over to the right hand side of the video and you see new videos you haven't seen just yet, and the clicking begins. "So Hot," turns into "Nobody," and "Nobody" turns into a Wonder Girls interview marathon. Every single show they've been on, every single interview they've done, and every single event they've ever attended has now been seen by your eyes and you're absolutely hooked at this point. After you've watched everything there is to watch on the girls, you move on to fan-sites and official pages and find out each members date of births, hometowns, favorite pastimes, and blood types, 

After your Wonder Girls binge, you start checking out similar artists, others who are part of the JYP dynasty. You see something on the group 2PM and you wonder, so you delve into the abyss. 2PM becomes your new obsession and you go through the exact same cycle you did with the Wonder Girls, except this time around, you find yourself crushing hard on 6 of the best looking Asian men you've ever laid your eyes on. After you convert into a HOTTEST, you soon discover that there are more groups like 2PM with different flavors, looks, and vibes and then your journey into K-pop takes a new turn. 

Your loyalty will always stay within the groups that first got you into the wonderfullness that is K-pop, but you soon realize you have options now to become forever fans of groups like SHINee, SNSD, DBSK, Big Bang, and 4Minute. The options are limitless and your love is overflowing, and K-pop becomes your everything, your upper, a reason to smile everyday. It brings you up when you're down, and it gives you comfort when you feel sad. This sounds like an exaggeration, but I sure you it is not. And that ladies and gentlemen are the symptoms every K-pop fan undergoes, and if you related to any part of this post, congratulations, you are truly a K-pop fanatic. 

Writer: Ellie L.