My first exposure to K-Pop was around 2009 when I was still in internship. That was when "Nobody" by the Wonder Girls began making the rounds in the mainstream. Everywhere you went, the catchy tune "I want nobody, nobody bachuu" could be heard. From children's parties to public transportation, it became a viral sensation during the time when YouTube was still in it's infancy (FYI: YouTube was established around 2005).
I didn't pay much attention at that time. All I knew was that it was made by some girl group in South Korea and that it was really so catchy! I saw the music video on MTV several times, and I sometimes saw the CDs being sold at the local record stores, but that was pretty much it. I guess I was too preoccupied with schoolwork to really care at that time. Little did I know that this first exposure to what is now called the "second generation" of idol stars would just be a taste of things to come..
Fast forward a year to 2010 when Super Junior first caught my attention because of their runaway hit "Sorry Sorry". Just like "Nobody" that came before, it quickly caught fire at the local scene, and could be heard far and wide. I guess it was also around this time when I first heard that Super Junior had such a big fandom (I didn't know ELFs were called by that name yet) and began hearing about their sold-out concerts and such.
At first I scoffed at all these fangirls going gaga over a group of guys from a farway land, and I underestimated the power of fandom... Boy, was I about to be proven WRONG.. :P
So now we move forward to yet another year when I was about to start another phase in my medical training. I thought 2011 was going to be a typical year.. Then I first saw the music video for Gee on a local music channel..
Whoa.. 😲
That was honestly my first ever reaction to them. Hehe. The song was just so damn catchy, and Girls' Generation's legendary visuals were absolutely stunning! 😍 I had missed the opening (and the ending), so I didn't see the title of the song or name of the group since I was just channel surfing at the time. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the song was pretty much stuck in my head, and I felt absolutely compelled to search for the song the following day, only knowing that the chorus went "Gee Gee Gee Gee Gee" :P I even devoted time to watch the music channel again to see if I would be lucky enough to catch another glimpse. Eventually I found it on the web, and within a few minutes, I was hooked, and thus began my journey down the rabbithole..
I went through what I now would think would be a normal progression for new kpop stans. First I was curious about who the members were, and spent a great deal of time learning to tell them apart. Naturally I progressed to seeing more of their work in the other MVs and their discography. Hungry for more, I discovered the fandom by way of the international fansite Soshified.com, where I signed up and discovered a massive community that was supporting the girls. Within the forum I learned of their individual and collective journey, as well as the wonders of variety show appearances! Within a few short weeks, I found myself wading in knee deep into a wild world of HD performance videos, TV and Radio appearances, and translated interviews. I was moved by the stories of all their ups and downs as an up and coming idol group, and cheered at the continuous successes they encountered through the years as they established themselves as the "Nation's Girl Group" which, along with their Super Junior labelmates, pretty much put Korea in the map way back in the early 2010s.
The story doesn't stop here of course, and there is so much more to tell, but I guess that will be for another time 😉
- B. Oppa
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