I’ve been following K-Pop for about 12 years now, and I think it’s a good time to make one post about my journey through the genre, especially since the group I mainly follow is celebrating 10 years in the industry.
Chapter 1: Genesis
I used to travel to Taiwan to visit family relatives every summer, so I got my taste of what was popular in East Asia for music thanks to my aunt working in the music industry as a producer (she quit a couple years ago, for the record). In 2009, there just so happened to be two songs that received heavy airplay (as well as parodies)…
I guess I’ll talk about this first one since it’s the one that I associate with the most having listened to it on repeat many, many times. Sorry, Sorry was part of the craze in Taiwan and it began to seep through to Asians in America. Heck, my brother did a short performance of it with his group at our summer camp for Chinese youth back home, and it was largely based on a parody from a satire show in Taiwan…
The dance craze for Sorry, Sorry was nuts. Eventually I picked up much of it (although I never finished) thanks to seeing it over and over and over again.
At some point I began to dig further and further into the group’s rather illustrious history at the time. One obvious factor for doing so was that at the time, one of the members, Hangeng, hailed from Harbin, China. Over time, I came across some of the variety show appearances that Super Junior made, the most notable being Explorers of the Human Body:
I like to look at this episode in particular because it was part of what cemented Kyuhyun’s comeback at the time. If you aren’t aware, Super Junior originally started with 12 members in 2005 and was meant to have yearly rotations of members, but this was reversed near the group’s 1-year anniversary in 2006 when Kyuhyun was brought on as the 13th member. He slowly began to make a name for himself as one of the top vocalists in the group (if not THE top), but after one year, the opportunity he had was nearly taken away from him on one fateful night.
In the early morning of April 19, 2007, four members of Super Junior, including Kyuhyun, were returning home after finishing a broadcast of Kiss the Radio, hosted by two of the members (Leeteuk, the group’s leader, and Eunhyuk, one of the main dancers), but a burst tire caused their car to hit a guard rail, spin twice, and flip over. Although Eunhyuk and Shindong (the fourth member to attend the radio session) sustained minor injuries, Leeteuk and Kyuhyun were not so fortunate. Leeteuk’s injuries required 170 stitches and he remained hospitalized until April 30. As Leeteuk was hauled away on his stretcher from the scene, he could be heard muttering “…Kyuhyun…” to his attendants.
Kyuhyun, who had been behind the driver’s seat, sustained the worst injuries, including a pierced lung that developed into pneumothorax, and he remained in coma for four days. Doctors initially planned to pierce a hole in his neck to repair his lungs and perform a tracheotomy, but his father, who had once staunchly opposed his son’s career choice, was the first to oppose, vehemently stating, “My son would rather die than not be able to sing.” Doctors would plan another surgery, although he only had a 20% of living. Nonetheless, Kyuhyun would spend about six days in the ICU and was walking on his own about a month later, eventually getting discharged on July 5.
So yea, Super Junior went through plenty of struggles. There was also Hangeng’s eventual departure which spawned became part of the “slave contract” narrative. There’s also Kangin’s long hiatus, comeback, and eventual departure. Then Sungmin’s marriage and how Korean ELFs (ELF standing for Ever-Lasting Friends, Super Junior’s official fandom) turned their back on him (stupidly).
But if I were to leave one last remark about Super Junior, it’s this:
God bless this man. Kim Heechul is what every man (not just men in the celebrity sphere, just men in general) should be: brutally honest, but also courteous, especially to women. There’s a long thread on Twitter somewhere of him making subtle gestures to look out for fellow female celebrities, such as handing blankets to idols wearing short skirts. I’ll leave this other one that features testimonies from his colleagues.
Anyway, onto the other track that made waves during that summer of 2009. Nobody was just as big, and what’s even crazier is how this wasn’t even the first song that gave everyone a Wonder Girls dance craze.
Finding all this stuff back in the day was really cool. What was even cooler was that by the time I was looking into their stuff, I found that they were also beginning to enter the American industry, getting their start through opening for the Jonas Brothers.
Back in the day, most artists from Korea had interpreters with them, but to see the girls talk so seamlessly while answering questions without one was a pleasant surprise. Then there was also their budding YouTube channel and their series “Real WG” where they’d talk about hobbies and answer questions about themselves. It was super cool!
And so, with the 2nd gen of K-Pop gaining steam, they began to get more appearances on shows across Asia, including Taiwan variety programs, and I’d be watching clips and being like, “hey, I recognize that show!”
It was also through these clips that I began to know a bit more about sub-units, mainly Super Junior-M:
Funnily enough, it was also through Super Junior-M that I came to know another girl group, and I went down a rabbit hole that gave me my first true understanding of fandom culture…
Chapter 2: Something Bigger and Brighter
I reminisce upon this time fondly. Girls’ Generation takes me back.
I’ll try to keep this chapter short because I could go all day about how much I dove hard, but yea, I was quite the SONE back in the day (SONE being the fandom for Girls’ Generation). I’d watch countless variety show appearances to death, including ones in which they starred in, such as the first iteration of Hello Baby, Horror Movie Factory, and the one that followed the leadup to their debut, Girls Go To School.
Here’s the main point: most often it might not even be the music that gets me into groups, it’s the variety show appearances where I get to see more of their personalities, and SNSD was no exception. I’m not one for bubblegum or cutesy stuff (most of my personal friends know me for being somewhat of a metalhead or a rocker), but SNSD had quite a few bangers in terms of their music.
Then there were the variety appearances, and boy did I laugh my ass off a crap ton. The countless anecdotes always brought a smile to my face. Sooyoung telling Seohyun to “mind her own business” as she woke up. Taeyeon ripping Yoona for making a flounder expression while reminding her that she’s the group’s center. Tiffany winking at every beat while covering Tell Me by the Wonder Girls. Then there were the personality quirks: Sooyoung being downright hilarious with her countless impersonations, Sunny being an aegyo-incarnate while pissing off her fellow members, Seohyun’s surprising abilities and talent despite being normally reserved, Taeyeon having the soul of an ahjumma, etc.
Again, SNSD also served as my introduction to plenty of other groups in that second generation, such as 2NE1, Kara, 2PM, Shinee, etc., along with other fantastic variety shows like Star Golden Bell. I’d follow news rabidly on Allkpop to get the scoop on what was going on. It was a great time to be K-Pop fan.
Chapter 3: Coma
September 30, 2014 was the beginning of what I refer to as my “K-pop coma”. SONEs know that date as the day that Jessica was effectively kicked from the group. The way in which it was handled and how the news broke was a shocker. It kind of broke the sense that the group was truly “united” and had an “unbreakable bond”.
From that point forward for about two years, I continued to follow the news of the K-Pop sphere but I don’t really remember much about that time, hence “coma”: things went by but nothing really stuck.
The one thing I really followed (albeit in a very loose way) was Running Man by watching old episodes. Originally I’d watch episodes that involved idols, like the Idol Winter Olympics episode.
But then I began to gravitate towards episodes that featured just the cast members. One special series was particularly intriguing…
Who doesn’t love a chase/spy episode? Episode 91, which featured the return of Yoo Jaesuk as Yoomes Bond, was truly something special. There’s also the episode where the cast members had to show their unity that ended on such a sweet note (Episode 267). Running Man is such a gem of a show.
Chapter 4: Renewal
What’s funny is that through Running Man, I technically became aware of the group that would bring me back to K-Pop and out of the “coma”.
Meet APink, a perfectly dorky girl group that debuted on April 19, 2011. They had made some sporadic cameo appearances on Running Man as well as some of the members being actual guests. Both Eunji and Naeun appeared to team up with Gary once in Episode 162 in an “idol battle” of sorts. I also knew about the brief stink from Yookyung’s departure in 2013 (the stink coming from Yookyung’s father). So I had known about them for some time prior to August 2016. Why that specific time? It was because I somehow found myself watching compilations like this…
as well as random snippets like this…
Then I found “Showtime”. Showtime is a reality show that focuses on an idol group and chronicles some of their interactions and activities, and APink was the third to be featured. Needless to say, watching the 8-episode season got me hooked and I became a Pink Panda…
Showtime really hearkened back to shows like Girls Go To School or Hello Baby that showcased the girls’ personalities and it was super infectious: Chorong the cute leader, Bomi the bubbly clown, Eunji the lively vocalist, Naeun the adorable fashionista, Namjoo the talented loudmouth, and Hayoung the savage maknae.
It didn’t help that I also found specialized fan channels that put together random funny clips of the members, the most prominent being APink Comedy (now shutdown, the backup channel inactive). I found myself laughing again much I had a few years prior, and I had a reason to stick around.
I’d also learn about other groups as well, including Twice, in which the youngest member, Tzuyu, is a fellow Taiwanese (although unlike me, she was born and raised there whereas I am as American as the average Bostonian). There’s also the MiSaMo Japanese trio which is super cool, and funnily enough, they hail from the Keihanshin region (in that order!) of Japan. Sana’s arguably the biggest Panda in the idol sphere, for the record. She’s begged to meet them many times!
Chapter 5: The Rise and Fall
What I haven’t mentioned thus far is that I used to lurk a ton on forums between 2011-2018. First it was on the Allkpop forums to follow SNSD news, and I managed to hear of the T-ara (non)-bullying controversy as it broke. At some point (I honestly don’t remember), I switched to the forums on OneHallyu and lurked for quite some time, both in the SNSD threads and eventually the APink threads. Thus, I caught the Five comeback as it happened and it was a ton of fun.
I eventually broke my lurking on APink’s 7th anniversary and slowly became a regular poster and wound up following the I’m So Sick and Eung Eung comeback cycles as well, albeit interacting a lot more with Pink Pandas from around the globe.
However, by 2019, I slowly began to become a regular presence in the APink/Pink Panda sphere on Twitter. Simultaneous with this eventual rise on Twitter was the deterioration of my mental health. Outside of my online presence, I had my teaching position where I was working effectively withdrawn at the end of the school year, barely lose out on teaching at a top exam school in Boston, land a job and a middle school, then leave three months later when the job became so miserable I had to leave to save my sanity.
Around the time when I was beginning to suffer severe anxiety attacks at work, I was also beginning to sabotage relationships with other Pandas. I won’t get into too much, but I unwittingly overstepped boundaries thanks to me not learning how social media works and being unable to understand social cues (especially in a text-only setting), as these people began to gradually ghost me. Having been ghosted in real life, I didn’t take that well and it contributed to my mental state crumbling.
The stick that broke the camel’s back for me was when two of the people whom I considered “close” began to beef with each other on Twitter. At this point I still hadn’t gone over what had happened a few months back, and someone gave me a rude awakening over this and I had to shut down my Twitter usage for good, and I haven’t spoken to any of the people I’ve talked about since.
While I can laugh about some things about that time (the beef and the causes and just general aspects about it), there are some things I don’t wish to get into and I still hold some amount of grudge, but at this point by staying away it keeps me from dwelling on it and I’ve honestly gotten over it. I have returned to Twitter to post VERY occasional things, but they’re all pre-mediated and I refuse to engage with the content on that godforsaken site as I used to. F*** Twitter.
Chapter 6: The Resurgence
I have yet to mention that I still maintain relationships with some folks from Twitter, albeit now on Discord and Instagram. We message here and there about things regarding APink, but we also check in and ask about random things to see if we’re doing okay, given the pandemic and all.
Over time I’ve come to largely ridicule some of the excesses and toxicity of fandom culture, and most of the folks with whom I interact with on Discord share this view. I’ve recognized that being away from Twitter gave me the mental clarity I needed in order to be able to poke fun at my previous persona and also just remark on how ridiculous some people who live and die on Twitter can be, whether it be influencers or clout-chasers. Hopefully we’ll all come along to see just how dumb Twitter is.
Anyway, I’ve since become an emote manager on the giant APink Discord server and it’s fun work when the server is at Level 2. When it goes away then 42 of the 55 emotes I’ve submitted go away. However, we still have a ton that many other mods/emote managers have submitted, including the legendary Rong Smirk. Long Live Rong Smirk.
I’ve also been making various fan arts, and for the 10th anniversary I chose some various selcas/pics of the “pairs” in APink to draw in my trademark manga/sketch-style/chibi style, and I’ve posted them my Twitter page (thread starts here). Again, don’t expect anything on my Twitter page even after the anniversary celebration concludes, like ever.
So hopefully y’all enjoyed this retrospective. I look forward to seeing how the K-Pop sphere continues to evolve, and hopefully APink will be around for a while.
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