K-pop:K-pop is an abbreviation for Korean pop music (also referred to as GaYo or KaYo music), specifically from South Korea. Many of these artists and musical groups have branched out of South Korea and have become popular in many countries around the world. 

How do you define k-pop? Korean pop? Korean music?

It's not even that different to English or French music, but it is...well, to me. 

Where do I even begin?

I don't ever want to admit it, but in all honesty, there was a time in my life where I was NOT interested in Koreans. You could say I even hated it when people mentioned k-pop. I never really regret anything in my life, but if there is one thing, it might be all those times I was like that. 

Why was I like that? Thinking back on it, I think it was because I didn't understand how one could possibly like music with lyrics they couldn't even understand.

So, how I got into k-pop is a story I will never forget. I can tell it over and over again, but I won't get tired of it. When I tell that story, I can't say it with a straight face. I swear, there has to be a smile on my face, and maybe I'll have glassy eyes. All those k-pop fans have different stories of how they got into it. Mine isn't that interesting, but continue reading and maybe, you will find it funny, ironic, interesting...? Aish...I don't know.

So, this is an excerpt from my journal, lol:

Saturday, August 28/2010

HEYO. It's, like, 2:00 in the morning and I can't use the comp. so I'll just write. so, on Thursday, August 19 around 4:30, I called Kaitlyn (one of my best friends) and I was bored after crying over the manga "Absolute Boyfriend" and she told me to watch this Korean drama called "You're Beautiful." At first it seemed a bit funny because i was bit uncomfortable with it. I watched the very first five minutes of it and I was like, "Should I keep watching?" because it seemed it would be uninteresting, but Kaitlyn told me it would be good and I decided to go along with it.

I'm glad I did.

Oh, man. I read my old journals and I'm like, "Why was I so detailed with everything?" Haha, it's because I'm afraid that one day I'll get into a coma or something and I'll forget every little detail so I'll read this and aaaaall my memories will come back >.<

So, Thursday, August 19, 2010 was a very special day for me. It was the day I finally changed my mind on k-pop. It was all thanks to my friend. Sometimes I feel like punching her in the face for making me like k-pop, but at the same time...I have no idea how to repay her. I know, it hasn't even been two years, but it's better late than never, right? August is practically my k-pop anniversary month >.< 

I was so sad that day because I was crying so hard after reading Absolute Boyfriend and it was that phone call I made to my friend that made me this way. That k-drama brightened my day and k-pop has brightened my life. I finished watching You're Beautiful on Thursday the next week after that. I stayed up every night that week just watching each episode. I never watched during the day. I only watched in the night time XD I don't know why. It made me feel so, uh, safe and comforted in the night. I was so surprised though that each episode was an hour long.

Okay, here's the real deal. I was really bored and decided to re-read Absolute Boyfriend (ugh, I really can't read it without tearing AT LEAST). I was home with my older sister and my younger sister who were downstairs doing whatever and I was in the computer room reading the manga. The 'rents were working obviously because it was Thursday. I was eating while I was reading >.< I finished the last chapter and I probably finished a whole tissue box (it's not even that sad, lol). I was so sad and I called my friend, Kaitlyn, to feel better.

She answered the phone, "Hello?"

I was on the other line, still crying my eyes out. "Kaaaaitlyn, this is so sad!"

"What are you crying about now?"

"I just finished reading Absolute Boyfrieeeeend!" She got so angry at me for reading it when I fully knew I would cry. I swear, she still does that to this day because I read the saddest things :') Continuing...Eventually, I started to feel better and she told me she was with her cousin recently. Her cousin made her watch this drama she was watching. Kaitlyn was, like, "Go, watch it, Isabelle!"

I was downstairs because the phone was downstairs and that whole time I was talking to her I was in the kitchen making myself a sandwich.

"Go, go, go watch it, Isabelle!"

"Wait, I'm making some food!"

"Hurry up!"

"Okay, okay."

A couple minutes later and I was done. I went up the staircase, skipping steps and crumbs falling off the plate, too. I'm not supposed to eat upstairs...I'm such a rebel ;) Anyway, I opened a new tab on the computer. "Kaitlyn, what was it again?"

"You're Beautiful. Go on mysoju.com and find it there!"

She kept rushing me and I didn't understand why she wanted me to watch it so badly. I found the first part of the first episode. "Wait! Don't start it yet!" Oh my gosh, Kaitlyn. What is it now?  

"What?"

"Okay, so there's this really cute guy in the drama. I think you'll like him! There's another really cute one!"

"What are their names?"

She told me their characters' names. "Shin Woo and Jeremy!" Okay... "Tell me when you get to the part where they're in the car!" I finally pressed play. I was really iffy about it. I didn't have an interest in Koreans or dramas, let alone a Korean drama. I continued anyway because I was on the phone with Kaitlyn and if she heard that I stopped it, she would probably come to my house, tie my hands and feet together, stuff me into a closet, put the computer in there and play it. So, I continued to watch. 

When I saw "Shin Woo" and "Jeremy" in the car, I totally forgot my uninterest in Koreans. 

They were gorgeous. They were stunning. They were adorable. What would I be doing right now if I didn't listen to Kaitlyn? If I didn't find those two gorgeous? At first, I didn't really like "Tae Kyung," but he started to grow on me and as for "Shin Woo," I started to find him annoying. I thought he was still really handsome. Since "Jeremy" managed to stay the same in my heart, I decided that Jeremy was my favourite. I started to do research on You're Beautiful and I found out that both "Shin Woo" and "Jeremy" were part of bands. I started to listen to them and they were my first bands.

Lee Hong Ki was my first k-pop love.

Now, I'd always known k-pop. I knew what it was. Before that happened, I listened to BoA for a bit before I realized I was listening to a different language and didn't understand a word she was saying. I always thought she was Japanese...I'm really dumb. I knew Super Junior since 2005, yeah, but I never paid any attention to them until after my Lee Hong Ki/F.T Island phase.

I had a couple friends who liked k-pop and always posted stuff about them on facebook, when I used to use facebook. A lot of them liked DBSK so I knew them, too. They always posted pictures of Jaejoong. I used to think he looked like a girl. At times now, I kinda think he still does, but now, I think he's gorgeous...though he is getting a bit old.

It's weird when I think about it. I like k-pop waaaaay more than Kaitlyn does, the one who brought me into the k-pop fandom. She knows all these k-pop things and stuff, but she doesn't particularly hate or like them. Actually, two friends and I are trying to reel her into the EXO fandom. It's kind of working, lol. I'll save that for another chapter XD

I don't know if anyone else had the same feelings as I did before they liked k-pop. I also don't know if anyone had the same feelings when they started to like k-pop. I suddenly felt so clean and...ugh, I don't know how to explain it, but the feelings k-pop gives me are so...refreshing. Does anyone else know what I meeean? lol, I don't know how to explain it. 

I still act the same way as I did when I started liking k-pop. When I was watching You're Beautiful, I toooootally fell in love with Jung Yong Hwa and Lee Hong Ki <33 Lee Hong Ki was my first bias :') I was such a fangirl back then and I haven't changed. Seriously...no regrets :D Everyone has their story of how they got into k-pop. How did yours go?