Secret Guilty Pleasure

I have a secret that I think literally nobody knows about… and I’m gona tell you about it! Maybe only my friend Aimee has a hunch about my secret since she shares the same pleasure as me. First, however, I need to give you some background info.

As a child who grew up in the 90’s, I was sucked into the whole boy band/girl band/pop culture fad by default. I loved Spice Girls, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and stuff like that until one wonderful day when I was around 11 years old, I discovered Linkin Park and System of a Down. My life changed from then. Ever since that time, I have listed to heavy metal. I grew to resent singers like Britney Spears because they didn’t make their own music or play instruments (I don’t really care about that nowadays, though). Each year that passes, the heavier my taste gets. Heavy metal will always be my core of music.

Within the past few years, I have really grown to enjoy dance/club/dubstep/electronic/techno music as well. I like DJ’s like Skrillex, Tiesto, Deadmau5, and Steve Aoki and groups like Krewella, for example. This probably stems from two things. First, dance music is also fast paced and can be intense in its own way…it can even be mixed with metal music. I love remixed dance versions of metal songs. Second, I thoroughly enjoy dancing and clubbing. Not only do I go dancing at clubs, I exercise at home by dancing sometimes. Plus I enjoy running to dance music more than metal. So for these reasons, I listen to dance music. It gets me pumped up in the same way that metal does.

Now here comes my secret… Within the past few months, I have come to enjoy another genre of music. The reason I don’t talk about it is because it kind of shatters my metal image. BUT, I am who I am, I’m not ashamed, and I know I’m still metal at heart. So here it is: I am in the early stages of becoming a K-Pop junkie! I never thought it was possible for me to be into boy bands again, but it’s happening, and here’s why: KOREAN IDOLS ARE SO FREAKING HOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTT!! It’s like these perfect little gems fell from heaven, landed on earth, and transformed into walking Asian gods! Like literally, I have become so interested in Korean culture ever since visiting South Korea, listening to K-Pop, watching Korean dramas, and making Korean friends. Even when I was in college, I always thought hangul (the Korean writing system) was super awesome. If I ever study another language besides Japanese, it’s going to be Korean. I definitely want to be able to write stuff in Korean before I die.

So let me elaborate a little more. Yes, I think the main reason I like K-Pop these days (and like I said, I’m still in really early stages. I only know a few bands) is because these dudes are gorgeous. I haven’t got into any female singers or groups yet…and I don’t know if I ever will because 75% of the reason I like these K-Pop groups is because of the hot guys. The first true K-Pop I heard was “Fantastic Baby” by BIGBANG at a dance club. I thought it was catchy, and I seemed to hear it every time I was at a club. The song is kind of old, but it’s still extremely popular (the Youtube music video has over 95 million views!!!!!!!  Almost a billion!). So I watched the Youtube video and bought the song on iTunes. I was mesmerized by the video. Korean idols tend to be so flashy and have an edgy look to them. For a while, my interest in K-Pop didn’t really take off. Eventually I decided I was sick of only listening to the one BIGBANG song. So I watched more videos on Youtube, and to be honest, the music just wasn’t really my style. However, I found myself coming back to the videos again and again because I wanted to see these guys’ beautiful faces. I grew to know some of the songs and started to like a few. I think my favorite song by BIGBANG is “Tonight.” For a while, I was satisfied just listening to a few BIGBANG songs and Google imaging their pictures lol. When I went to Korea, I bought some of their merchandise, and I seriously felt like a little kid again obsessed with NSYNC. It was kind of nostalgic. I can now recall the feeling again of thinking someone is so perfect that it hurts. It’s like this weird obsession. You want everything with their face on it.

So my other reasons for liking K-Pop besides the hot guys are that 1) it continues to fuel my sprouting interest in Korea, 2) it gives me something to bond over with my junior high school students lol, and 3) there are some good songs. Honestly, a lot of the songs just don’t do it for me, but if I can look at these hot men singing the songs, then somehow it’s ok haha! The more I listen to the music, the more I start to like some of the songs though. I think that the reason I actually do like a handful of songs is because a lot of them are basically dance/club music. So I do actually really like those kinds of songs.

Also, I want to point out that K-Pop bands are really great at singing in different languages. Since K-Pop is super popular in Japan, K-Pop artists sometimes sing parts in Japanese or even make Japanese songs or alternate Japanese versions of their Korean songs! How nice! Also, because it’s “cool” and K-Pop bands aim to be multi-culturally popular, they often sing parts in English as well. I must say that Korean English sounds so much better than Japanese English. Their pronunciation is more beautiful in my opinion (sorry Japan, you know I still love you). Which by the way, I haven’t explored much J-Pop…seems like maybe I should since I could probably understand what they are saying! Now I’m kind of curious as to why I got into K-Pop before J-Pop…maybe Kyari Pamyu Pamyu turned me off to Japanese pop music before I could give it a fair chance haha! We shall see…

Some bands I have been listening to in like the past month or two are of course BIGBANG and others like B.A.P, 2PM, CNBLUE, SHINee, and solo stuff from BIGBANG’s members. I am open to some suggestions! Like I said, I’m just beginning to get into this kind of music, so I welcome recommendations. Here are some links to some Youtube videos/songs I like:

“Tonight” by BIGBANG (my favorite song by them)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d5QEWdHchk

“Fantastic Baby” by BIGBANG (the first K-Pop song I heard)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbokV76tkU

“Doom Dada” by T.O.P (T.O.P’s voice is so handsomely deep and the bass in this song is ridiculous!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAoME_aMm1w

“Ringa Linga” by Taeyang (This song makes me wana dance dirty haha.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJfZ69MSlvY

“Hands Up” by 2PM (I literally want to be at the club in this video because it looks so fun! Also, I want their clothes for myself lol.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgrB2KBZws4

“One Shot (Japanese Version)” by B.A.P (These guys are badass! This is the Japanese version of their song.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaG1gDyjFTk

I found this store the other day in the shontengai (covered shopping arcade) of Shinsaibashi. It’s called I <3 韓流. 韓流 (はんりゅう) means “influx of South Korean pop culture (into Japan).” The fact that there is a word for that should tell you how popular Korean stuff is in Japan (even if I just saw a huge protest the other day about Japanese people being pissed at Koreans over territorial disputes). I spent like 45 minutes in there just gawking at all the sexy men. I bought two folders and a calendar hehe! I already want to go back! I swear I must have been one of the only foreigners to ever enter that shop because when I went up to pay, the two owners of the store were like freaking out and thanking me so much haha! I’m almost certain they were Korean, but they said thank you to me in Japanese and English. I wanted to say thank you back in Korean since that’s like one of the only three Korean phrases I know, but I didn’t wana risk sounding like an ass if they weren’t Korean.

Here's the store entrance. It's kind of near
Shakey's.

Inside the store.

Close up.

My purchases.

So lastly, I’m going to share my obsession with you. Here are some pictures of the beauties:

This is Daesung. He is my favorite member of BIGBANG. He is the hottest in my opinion, especially when his hair is dyed blonde. His voice is really beautiful. Oddly enough, he is probably the least popular of the five members in terms of looks. I guess Japanese and American taste in men is different. My students are always shocked when I say I like him the most. They complain that his eyes are too small/narrow which apparently equals unsexy. I told them that that doesn’t matter to me lol. As I’m writing this, I want to post so many pictures of him because I can’t decide which one I like the best…they are all beautiful!! I’m literally crazy!

So I'll give you one more blonde of him.

...and brunette for good measure.

This is BIGBANG. From left to right: Daesung, Seungri,
Taeyang, G-Dragon, and T.O.P. They all do solo stuff too.

T.O.P's voice is so deep, and he is so tall and manly. :)

This is B.A.P. When they first debuted, they all had their hair
dyed platinum blonde...me likey!

This is another picture of B.A.P. Me still likey!

This is 2PM. Dear lord. Actually, this shirtless picture doesn't
really portray them well. They are kind of goofy/silly.

...but they look so good shirtless! 2PM = HAWT!

This is Jung Yong Hwa. I first saw him in a funny Korean
drama called, "You're Beautiful (English title)."

This is a picture for the drama "You're Beautiful."

Turns out he is the guitarist in a group called CNBLUE. His
band mates are equally as hot.