Hello, everyone.

So I am often asked by people - fans and non-fans - how I got myself into this death trap called K-Pop. It's a death trap because once you got in, you could never get out. Never! And I'm pretty sure most of you understand what I feel. Haha! There is just no turning back from this bewitching path.

Anyways, back to the main point of this post... I first came across K-Pop, if I remembered correctly, in 2008. Big Bang's Goodbye Baby MV being the very first K-Pop music video I watched. However at that time, I was still very much into heavy metal and rock music (which I still am, even up to this very day. Metallica for life yo! Haha) as well as Taiwanese Pop (F4, Energy and Wang Lee Hom were the bombs!) so I did not pay much attention to K-Pop just yet. When I watched the video, I thought the boys were great dancers and the music was okay. I honestly thought that they tried too hard to be, excuse my language but it was what I honestly felt, black. Of course, I was still pretty ignorant back then. So yeah, I watched the video on TV once and that's about it. I totally forgot about them after that.

Then some time in 2009, a friend of mine introduced to SHINee's Ring Ding Dong MV in which she claimed to be a very good workout song. Haha! So I watched it and my first reaction was 'They look so gay'. I know, I know, you can kill me for saying that. I would've killed myself too if I were you. HAHA! But then I thought that the song was kind of addictive and so I watched it again, and again, and again. And I have to admit that I kind of grew a little crush on Jonghyun at that time. XD But even still, I would not consider myself as a K-Pop fan just yet. I liked the song but only that song. I did not bother looking deeper into it or anything so once again, I forgot all about them just like that until one day, the same friend asked me to watch Big Bang's Gara Gara Go MV (although it's actually their Japanese song) and I was completely hooked!. The video was colourful and fun. Their dance was great, GD&TOP's English raps were awesome and I especially liked Taeyang's vibe in the video. He just had this swag that I was instantly attracted to. Well, he is still as attractive now as he was few years ago.

Gara Gara Go had pretty much became my jam for a month or so and I slowly began digging a little here and there. Since not being able to understand their lyrics kind of annoyed me, I resorted to listening to their English songs like Number 1 and GD's "I'm a hardworking man and I work for my fans" remains as one of my favourite lines from a K-Pop song today. Did you know that they had English versions for Always and Lies too? Oh yes, they did! Anyways, so I listened to their English songs for a while before I gathered all my courage to try and give their Korean songs a chance. Ha! And I did not regret trying it at all for I fell completely in love with Big Bang even more ever since. Their Japanese songs weren't that bad at all either. My Heaven (I know it was originally in Korean, so was Gara Gara Go, but I listened to the Japanese versions first and I actually preferred them than the Korean versions), Koe Wo Kikasete, Tell Me Goodbye... Oh don't even get me started on Tell Me Goodbye. That song was just pure epicness! Damn, I really miss their old songs like Always, Lies, Haru Haru, Dirty Cash, La La La, Last Farewell, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love the new Big Bang. I honestly think that they have grown a lot as musicians and change is quite inevitable in life, so it's understandable. I will still support them no matter what happens! :D

So I officially became a VIP ever since but once again, I would not consider myself a K-Pop fan just yet. A VIP, yes. But not a K-Pop fan in general. For around a year and a half, I remained loyal to my Big Bang boys until I came across a SHINee video again. And this time, it was Replay. It's funny how I watched their RDD video before their debut song. Haha. Taemin looked so cute in Replay! Too cute that I want to squish his cheeks every time I watch it! I actually didn't realise that they were the same guys from RDD until I saw the thumbnail of the video at the side. Hahaha! I started to do a little research on them and I was really shocked to know that all of them were younger than me!! Taemin is like 5 years younger!! Holy crap! But I'm glad that he's legal now so I don't feel that guilty spazzing over him like I did when he was still a kid! XD So, you can say that I became a Shawol ever since. I had their songs and Big Bang's in my iPod when I went to Singapore in 2009. Hee hee. Oh and I went on CD hunting like crazy while I was there and bought myself a few Big Bang albums (including their Japanese) and I have to say that their albums were not as expensive as they are now!! Ha! Unfortunately, I didn't get my hands on any SHINee album simply because I couldn't find any. Sigh.

So, by the end of 2009, I was a VIP and a Shawol.

Basically, Big Bang and SHINee were the only K-Pop groups that I listened to for a good two years straight. Note that, I did know a few about Rain at that time. He was pretty big and I did watch Full House but I wouldn't consider myself as a fan. Even now, I'm still not a fan. Lol. I listen to his songs and I like them but it's not enough to proclaim myself as a huge fan or anything, if you get what I mean. Anyways... 2NE1 and B2ST were the other two groups that I slowly grew interest in, especially 2NE1 - being in the same company with Big Bang and they actually first came out with them in Lollipop MV! But it was Fire that got me hooked! I had never seen such badass girls in my entire life! And I found out that they just debuted not too long ago so I listened to each one of their song. As for B2ST, well, I watched Big Bang's documentary and I was so devastated that SO-1 had to be eliminated. So when I found out that he would be debuting with another group, of course I would check them out! I always had a soft spot for Hyunseung and always will. He will always be SO-1 deep inside my heart. Haha! Of course, I was quite biased at first - following B2ST just because one of them was a part of Big Bang. But hey, at least I paid attention to them, right? If I hadn't then I wouldn't know how talented they actually are! I seriously do think that they are multi-talented and I actually watched their documentary too! You can clearly see how far they have improved from then, especially Dongwoon! From just having one or two lines before, he now has like one or two verses all to himself! And did you listen to his harmonisation with Junhyung in Fiction? Damn, that was dope!

So, by the end of 2010, I was also a Blackjack and a B2UTY.

And that's when my road to K-Pop addiction basically started. I started to pay more attention to other groups and I am proud to say that I belong to quite a number of fandoms now inluding Baby, ARMY, EXO-L, Inner Circle, BBC and more. And yes, I mostly listen to boy groups only. 2NE1 is probably the only female group that I consider myself as a fan of. I do listen to other groups as well like SNSD, Secret and 4Minute but again, I wouldn't consider myself as a hardcore fan.

So I guess that's about it. I would love to go through each and every year of my journey but I'm afraid that I'll bore you to death. XD To summarise everything, Big Bang was the first Korean group I came across and they were also the first group that I fell in love with, followed by SHINee, 2NE1, B2ST and a lot more of other groups! I will talk more about my bias list and whatnot, most probably, in another post next time. So in the meantime, why don't you share your own story about getting into K-Pop with me? :D