If You're Not Korean/asian...

[Guest ayoteddy]

I just like there cute tiny eyes......sorry what was i talking about -thinks- oh yeah my friend showed me bigbang and i was like woah there really cool yo.

[Guest J-QTies]

I saw one of my best high school friends Liked a page called "Super Junior" and I knew she liked South Korean stuff so I thought it was some kids' show there. I asked her about it and she told me Super Junior is actually a boy group and showed me Exploration of the Human Body (EHB) featuring them. I loved Super Junior's personalities and the hilarity so my friend spammed my Facebook page with music videos from Korean pop. I was hooked on "U", "Sorry Sorry", "Noona is So Pretty (Replay)", and "Lollipop (f. 2NE1)" hooked me in finally. Unfortunately my friend no longer listens to Korean pop (and my other K-pop friends do not either) but I am ever so grateful that I met her because K-pop has made my life so happy and exciting now. FIGHTING!!!

[Guest kurayami12]

I was a big anime fan (still am actually). I found an AMV (anime music video) with 2NE1 and Big Bang's "Lollipop". I was like "WTH? What language are they singing in? It's not Japanese...it's not English..." I didn't even both looking it up, but I started listening to Big Bang's "Haru Haru". I totally forgot about k-pop for about a year, then found SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong". Been hooked on kpop and SHINee ever since~ 

Not asian, BTW.

[Guest kurayami12]

I was a big anime fan (still am actually). I found an AMV (anime music video) with 2NE1 and Big Bang's "Lollipop". I was like "WTH? What language are they singing in? It's not Japanese...it's not English..." I didn't even both looking it up, but I started listening to Big Bang's "Haru Haru". I totally forgot about k-pop for about a year, then found SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong". Been hooked on kpop and SHINee ever since~ 

Not asian, BTW.

[_ajakajak_]

he's beautiful > jung yonghwa > cn blue > yongseo > seohyun > snsd

and that is how i got into kpop

[Guest magnetfelt]

Well, I am not Asian at all, but my two younger siblings are half Thai.  Thanks to that, I joined my dad when his family where going to visit Thailand. One of the days, I felt really ill (I shall not describe that:P) and stayed home and watched TV. Of course I turned on the music channel! When I listen to music and find a song I like, I always write it down. I wrote down an American song (which I can't remember now:P). After that, a music video came with an Asian song! But I didn't write the name down because of the music, but there was a lot of guys just dancing around. I thought that is was kinda "lol"... *cough* But the next song caught my interest! It was 2ne1's fire. But I wasn't instantly hooked. The same with the next song - "Gara Gara Go!!" by Big Bang. My addiction started to grow after a couple of months.

When visiting "family", they had a party. They played this song over and over again, and since I really liked it, I wanted to find it again (which I haven't...), so I found Thai music charts from when I was in Thailand and found the songs on YouTube to listen and find out if it was the song I wanted to find. 2ne1 and Big Bang was there, but I could remember them. When I found "Fire" again, I suddenly remembered because of the video. I saved it in a playlist for later. Then I searche for Big Bang on YouTube, and was sent to their channel. I liked the music, so I started to check out more. But it wasn't mainly the music that had me to listen. The music videos made me stay and watch. And listen. That day, I ended up liking G-Dragon's solo songs a lot. I downloaded all the Big Bang music I found! (Illegally! But now, I BUY their music, TAKE THAT YOU PEOPLE WHO DOESN'T LIKE DOWNLOADING! I wouldn't have bought their album if I didn't download, because then I wouldn't be addicted!)

So, me, a white person in this small place, got hooked to Asian music by herself. And I really want to find that song I heard in Thailand.

[Guest tony]

My friend lent me a se7en cd and shinhwa cd and that's how I started to listen to korean music. I liked it, so I searched for more shinhwa and se7en music, and eventually branched out to other mainstream kpop music at the time.

I fell out of the loop after I graduated from high school, though. Haven't really had much time to catch up with kpop.

[Guest usaluver]

i think it was arirang tv and kbs international which got me into kpop.i discovered them by coincidence.unfortunatley kbs was only available for 2 hours.at least arirang tv was available 24 hours. i watched korean music shows like Show music tank or Showking M  or pops in seoul .even though i didnt understand a single word korean i totally fell in luv with the korean language.one of my first kpop song was jewel song by Boa and i immediatley thought it sounds  somewhat very close to japanese.

however my curiousity /interest for korean entertainment grew bigger and bigger.nowadays i barely could survive without kpop btw im half asian

[ad_fa]

introduced by my friend...

starting with shinhwa (around 2003)

that time...kpop is not very exposed to the public unlike now

so we had to involved with forum to know latest about kpop group..

[Guest mayo]

ahahahha. well, my sister's friend decided to show us her VHS of H.O.T.'s music videos... and thats how it all began. this was about 10 years ago. fan since.

[Guest fbvattenmelon]

Through watching/following the Starcraft 2 scene. In the finals of the most prestigious tournament (the GSL) they always have kpop artists preforming

[the_summerangel]

Here's my story. I'm a white French-Canadian from a small town, so there was pretty much no Asians around while I was in highschool. However I had this Thai friend in college and we'd go hang out at the anime club once in a while, so I guess that's why one day she lent me a kpop MV video tape (it was in 1999 I think). There's a lot of clips I don't remember but I liked H.O.T.'s Hope, Haengbok, Lineup, as well as S.E.S's Dreams Come True and Park JiYoon's Steal Away. So after listening to that tape several time, of course I had to give it back, so I ordered a couple of H.O.T. cds online and listened to them again and again. Unfortunately by the time they released their 4th album, my computer's audio was all messed up and I kind of lost interest after listening to a distorted version of the 'newer' songs.

So I kind of forgot about all that for a while. When I changed school I met some friends who where really into j-rock so it got me back into asian music. I discovered rock bands like Dir en Grey, Pierrot, and Plastic Tree, as well as jpop artists like Hamasaki Ayumi and Utada Hikaru. I started listening to H.O.T and S.E.S again - even though by then H.O.T had disbanded and S.E.S where pretty much releasing their last songs. By that time I didn't really hang out with kpop fans anymore though, so it was not as fun. Then one day at a party, I realized that this other girl (the younger sister of a girl from college) also liked the song Dreams Come True by S.E.S, even though she didn't know that much about kpop. She got into kpop more after that - I showed her some H.O.T MVs and we became friends over liking kpop. It's was nice to have someone with whom to watch videos and chat about kpop again. And since we both like to sing we started going to korean karaoke and got more confortable with reading hangeul and with the language in general.

Anyway I've kept on listening to kpop ever since that time (so... maybe 10 years), and got to know more people who like kpop - for exemple, another friend from college who I'm pretty sure I introduced to kpop, but who now knows so much more groups and news than me!

OMG I'm a white French-Canadian too!! Nice to see I'm not alone ahah! C'est vraiment rare ici je crois...

I first started listening to... Jpop, yes. I had a Chinese friend obsessed with w-inds. (a really awesome Jpop boyband) in high school, and she pushed me to listen to every single of their songs ahah!! Then, she also listened to DBSK a lot, so she gave me one of their cds for my bday and then I loved them so much!! I was really impressed with their strong vocals and harmonizations skills! So, I only listened to these 2 bands for like... 3 years lol. Until I got my own laptop, then I discovered soompi randomly and started getting interested in more kpop bands... and now I'm pretty much kpop addicted lol.

[Guest starry71]

A couple of things

1) I naturally like to expand my horizons anyway. When I was teenager I got into classical music for instance.

2) The internet. This meant I could listen to things from places where I previously hadn't really been able to hear that much (or anything) from.

As far as 'asian' pop music, I like melodic pop music so early on in the 2000s I found I liked older Jpop from the 70s and 80s. First Korean song I found was actually me looking for a Japanese song called Polaris, I ended up with a Korean song by a singer from H.O.T. Then later I looked at a lot of Korean music, including earlier stuff like the 80s. Also finding videos of stuff on the internet too. Then I really got into Thai music, which is probably my favourite pop of the 2000s, Asian music is interesting as it can be very western influenced and melodic, but I like discovering things from everywhere and not just one part of the world.

[Guest Marinamarato]

I am not Korean but i listen music and get lyrics translation English ..  so i can enjoy more Korean music ..

[Guest gmarie]

I'm not Korean or Asian. I'm from the USA... I got into Kpop way back when H.O.T.'s song "Outside Castle" was new. All those years ago! ** Oh the memories. This was back when the International Channel existed on cable and there was a show called Music Video Heaven (omg I still miss that show!). I don't know if anyone here remembers that. Since those days, mainly over the last few years or so, I haven't been listening to much American music. I listen to mostly Kpop (and some Jrock). That's my story. <3

[Guest Oana03]

I'm not Korean , I'm from Europe . When I was small I watched an anime named Inuyasha and I really liked the soundtracks . When my parents bought me a computer I started searching for japanese music and then anime , culture etc. Then about 3-4 years ago the drama Queen Seon-Deok was on tv and I really liked it ; I was like it is not japanese , not chinese then .. it should be Korean . Now I love all about Korea ( and Japan as well~ ) and I'm addicted to K-pop .

[Guest Michele.K]

because different music makes me feel different .I like trying different things. and music.

[jades_saber]

I had a lot of Asian friends growing up. I got hooked on Japanese music (from animes) and then gradually discovered Korean music. I'm not a huge fan of music that is popular in America (I hate country, sorry) so it's nice to listen to something different.

[Guest wannagorocka.]

My brother was really into anime and manga, it rubbed off on me I guess.

Also, my dad stumbled upon Asian dramas and became instantly hooked.

I discovered K-Pop specifically through Stephen Colbert and YouTube, haha.

[Guest -rikki-]

I'm not Asian at all (unless you count the part of Russia in Asia), but for some reason I was listening to a Japanese radio station just over a year ago and SS501's 4chance came on and I was like "This doesn't sound like Japanese! But its pretty good.", and I looked up the band and it led me to to Chocolate's what to do, then Co-ed's bbiribomm bbaeribomm (or something I can't remember), then Miss A's breathe. I fell in love with all of them. and found them on YouTube. Which led me to a radio show with U-Kiss and Miss A and I fell in love with U-Kiss. Pretty much ever since then I've been listening to kpop.