Forum Friday: What was the moment that got you hooked on your favorite K-pop group?

[Guest TeamSOOMPI]

TSIF: Thank Soompi It's Friday!

All around the Internets, Friday is known as the day when people are free to discuss topics that would normally be considered, well, off-topic. It's the start of the weekend, after all! So kick back with a drink, settle yourself for a relaxing night at the keyboard, and tell the world about your personal K-pop experiences and feelings.

This week, we're here to ask:

Most of you have that moment... when you realize you've fallen in love... with a K-pop group. Maybe it was a smoldering look your bias gave you when you first watched a music video. Maybe you just heard a lot of their music, and you never really paid attention to it, but then, like the heroine in a romantic comedy, you gradually realized, "Hey! I actually love every single thing about these guys."

Or maybe you had your own Peter Griffin moment like:

Whatever it was, we'd love to hear about it. So what was the big moment that made you realize that your group is the best thing ever?

[inspirit7in1 0]

I think it's the time when I saw Infinite's article that they are practicing for almost 18-23 hours. And I was digging all the past about them, I realized I was so fangirling very hard and I didn't realized I am now upcoming 2 years Inspirit (In May). Infinite only made me stay for so long for a fandom. I have many previous fandoms, I don't know what should I do I feel like also quitting to k-world but after meeting Infinite... I think I couldn't escape anymore.

[darcydevenus 2,010]

I was watching SCENT OF A WOMAN,  and heard Joonsu of JYJ as the visiting musician.  I'd heard his voice many times before,  but I just fell in love with his song. I had to find out who he was. Then I realised that I was already a huge fan of DBSK 5... and JYJ. But it was the moment I realised just who I was fan-girling.  JYJ for life.

[EliseL 2]

watching BTS's Just One Day made me fall in love with them! And from then on bangtanbombs, rookie king and American hustle life made be obsessed with them! XD They are funny, super talented and make great music! I would say that BTS is the only group where i know all of their songs cuz they are just that GOOD!!! XD I have definitely fallen into this deep dark vortex which is bangtan! XD

[Guest aivzthegreat]

For me, It was when I started watching Apink News 1,2&3 (which I looked for after I watched Apink's Showtime.) Seeing how happy Apink was when they meet their 80 fans for the first time just melt my heart. And look now.. They already have thousands of fans.

I realized that they worked so hard to be where they are right now. That It wasn't an instant fame unlike other groups. They climb up the ladder to reach their position. I also love how their personalities never changed from then upto now. It was a gem. I think every Panda knows what I mean to say.

[Kate Barreras 0]

I was just watching HIGH SCHOOL LOVE ON, when I got curious 'bout the two male lead. I found out it was Seongyeol and Woohyun of INFINITE. And then, I started to discover all things about their group. I even downloaded all their songs and music videos. I also watched all their reality shows. Attended one of their concerts. That's when I realized that I'm already addicted to them. Up until now, there is me supporting them. And always hoping that one day they'll gonna notice me. ☺

[Hi-C Pajarillo 0]

6 hours ago, EliseL said:

watching BTS's Just One Day made me fall in love with them! And from then on bangtanbombs, rookie king and American hustle life made be obsessed with them! XD They are funny, super talented and make great music! I would say that BTS is the only group where i know all of their songs cuz they are just that GOOD!!! XD I have definitely fallen into this deep dark vortex which is bangtan! XD

MOD EDIT: DO NOT QUOTE IMAGES, GIFS, VIDEOS!

OMG! Same! I saw them of Ryewook's show, and JHope was just bouncing to Just One Day, i was like, ineed to know them! Rookie Kings, Bangtan Bombs and Hustle Life. ahhh ilove them so much!

[tiananum2 1]

One summer day my friend was crazy about new dance MV 쩔어 of BTS and showed me the MV saying that her friends were going to make a cover dance. I was very busy and didn't watch MV carefully. But one day I was bored and watch 쩔어 MV again. From the first appearance of Jungkook with words "A-yo ladies and gentlemen~..." I understand that I like him kkk. I searched many information and video about them like I was preparing some presentation work for lesson I liked their songs and knew that they write songs themselves and help with choreography and those facts made me their fan. They are sincere and enjoy scene and music not popularity  or so it. That's why I like them. 

[mahi_loves_jeonjungkook 0]

i was one day just seeing some articles on twitter when one article suddenly said "fans are going crazy for BTS comeback with HwaYangYeonHwa Pt.1" and so i searched some of their dance practices... i saw Boy In Luv on the top and it made a big impact on me... for their voices i searched and saw Just One Day and fell in luv with Jungkook's smile... i've been crazy for him and BTS since then...

[Jarosław Puchacki 0]

Edited January 8, 2016 by Jarosław Puchacki

[mpint07782 1]

For me, being introduced to Big Bang's Alive album in 2011 & then looking up the MV to Fantastic Baby. That lead to me looking up their other MVs and other variety events.

As for Got7, my sister showed me Girls Girls Girls which lead to us watching all their stuff as it came out.

For BTS, I saw that they did a cover of Taeyang's I Need a Girl and I started to look up their other stuff.

As for 2ne1, I got into them while watching Big Bang's vids.

However, this is not how I got into K-pop but how my fav groups became my favs.

P.S: Seventeen, Monsta X & VIXX just started to become my favs recently so that's a whole another story. kkkk

[Cho Meem 0]

I got hooked to bts the moment I saw them. Before I was never even slightly interested in boy groups. I was mostly into girl groups like Girls Generation. But then BAM. I saw this video from youtube where kpop fans dance to kpop dances and the other person has to guess it. Then and there, I heard the song Danger by Bts and the dance choreography was like so good. :3

I then immediately typed Bts and watched all of their mvs, and was disheartened to see that they didn't gain popularity yet, but still I believed in them and trusted them. It was like early 2015, so I need you and Run mvs werent yet released.

When I saw the mv danger i was engrossed by Taehyung's tongue swirls and those gaze. His deep voice was like so soothing and despite their medium popularity I cheered onto them and watched all of their variety shows, stream, made daum fanaccount even if i couldnt properly read or understand korean. I made twitter account just to follow them It was all Kim TAEHYUNG. 

ARMY forever.

[shay-the-cat 12]

There are so many great stories on this thread already wow!  I see a lot of well-known groups here, so I hope you guys might listen to my little story about how I fell for my favorite group, M.Pire. Heads up, this might be a little long. 

 

When she was living in Korea, a friend of mine mentioned that her apartment was not too far from where M.Pire (who had made their debut a few weeks before) lived and trained- she would see them a lot when she was commuting to work and went to the same convenience store and cafe as they did. She said that their debut song was really good and that the members were really attractive, so I decided to check them out- if you have never heard of them, you should check them out. 

 

Can't Be Friends With You 

She Ain't Like That

I loved the vampire concept and the song was amazing- but what really got me was the choreography. I love how strong and masculine it is, and the part when Jerry jumps on Red and Haru's backs was incredibly badass- that whole section of the song where Jerry raps is amazing. That was in 2013, I have been following M.Pire ever since and gradually falling for them more and more. The members are so hot and hypnotic on stage, but off stage they are a bunch of sweet, funny and playful guys who really care about us fans. They love to talk to us and hear how we are doing. 

That same friend showed me a pic of the Chinese member Red, who she described as "hot", and he very quickly became my ultimate bias when I learned how sweet and dorky he is. I fell so hard for him when I learned through an interview that he would have been a novelist if he wasn't an idol because that is the career I am pursuing right now. :3 And just like the group itself, I have been falling for this sweet guy more and more everyday. (I could go on and on about him, but then we'd be here all day) 

(neither of these are the pic she showed me, these are my favorites of him) 

Right now they are on hiatus, but I am more than willing to wait for them- they are worth waiting for. So that's the story of how M.Pire became my favorite group. Thanks for reading!  

[missblackmcstar 2]

Hello, well, the first time I listened to a Kpop song was BigBang's Fanstastic Baby, but I really didn't pay attention to it. Later that year Psy's Gangnam Style was played everywhere here (Mexico), it became a topic, it was played that much a lot of people got tired of it. It was on September 2015 I was watching a Buzzfeed video, a segment called "The Try Guys" where four guys try different things and enjoy them (and that way break some prejudices), and that week they were trying Kpop, in the first episode they watched multiple Kpop M/Vs

 

And around the minute 4:35 JB's beautiful smile caught my eye but I did nothing about it. After the rest of the videos were releasing showing more about the korean culture I got interested and rewatched the first episode more carefully. I look up for all the music videos that were shown (Girls' Generation's Party, EXO's Call Me Baby, 4 Minutes's Crazy, GOT7's Just Right, Sistar's Shake it and BIGBANG's Bang Bang Bang) Since I had already had a good impression with GOT7 I watched Just Right after the others. I liked them all, but when I was watching Just Right (at first I thought the concept was a bit weird, until I understood the lyrics), Youngjae's beautiful voice got me off guard and I loved him (he was my first bias ever), then when I saw JB in the car with that gorgeous smile again I fell for him too, and I also fell for Junior's cuteness and sweet voice, I sincerely loved the song and the video. And that's how I started looking for everything that could show me more about GOT7, I became an IGOT7 the day after when I already memorized their names and was able to identify them. They're the ones that got me into Kpop, even if I don't know much about Kpop yet (I'm such a newbie), I decided to learn korean and try everything I can to travel to Korea to a fanmeeting someday. I love them deeply for change my life. ♥

Sorry if it's a very long story, I'm just so happy about sharing the story about how I knew about Kpop

 

[knims 96]

I was originally a 2PM fan but when Jay Park left, I was pretty devastated. Luckily, a few weeks later there were two big boyband debuts. As the resident BEAST fan on Team Soompi I have a shameful confession to make - when MBLAQ and BEAST debuted I watched "Oh Yeah" first actually fell in love with it. So, I  watched only MBLAQ performances for the first week of their debut.

Then the second week came around and I watched, I think, a full episode of M-Countdown and finally, finally saw BEAST. Then I watched the "Bad Girl" MV about a billion times and it was game over. Despite their hot mess styling, I loved the fun they looked like they had and I am always a sucker for groups that can change their choreo each performance or add in little things to make performances unique. From the beginning I liked Junhyung's voice and now... a whopping, uh, 6+ years later he's still the guy that I'll always have a soft spot for, no matter how embarrassing he is hah.  And BEAST is always the group that I purchase their albums, watch their variety, and try to see every time I'm in Korea - it's a steady relationship

(Also I know that talk a lot about BTS but I am firm in BEAST being my most major K-pop love.)

Look at this hot mess though (he's so precious):

[aaronp 0]

Where do I even start!!  I want to say I'm probably one of those that you would call a "Kpop elitist" or "first generation international fan" lol honestly. I first heard of Kpop about in 2008-2009 when the Kpop fandom started to take shape internationally. I was a freshman in high school lol I don't wanna say I was familiar with Asian pop culture, but ever since middle school I was addicted to anime and Japanese culture so I was kinda familiar with Japanese and Chinese artists at the time and eventually bumped into Kpop like, "what is this energetic, amazing, perfect sounding masterpiece that I'm witnessing?!" See I already knew of Kpop but never heard it. I would see promos of these groups online while watching anime or hearing Japanese international radios on the web. I remember exactly what came on next, my favorite Jpop radio was playing Super Junior's Sorry Sorry. I, since then, fell in love with one of my favorite ultimate bias groups and Kpop. At first I was like oh it's another Japanese song lol but after a couple days I didn't hear it again and was freaking out!! So I waited a couple more days and weeks and I eventually heard another promo for 2NE1 and Big Bang for Lollipop!! I heard it and became addicted again!! This feeling I had became so obsessive and craved Kpop. It wasn't even one of those moments people have where people say, "I'll get used to it." No, once I heard the songs, even without understanding one bit of what they were saying I knew I needed it in my life. After that experience I did a bit of research and discovered that I wasn't even listening to Jpop lol I had no idea it was Korean. So, I changed my favorite online radio station to discover a Korean station that played music almost 24/7. I heard then SHINee and After School and knew I fell in love. It didn't take long to completely stop hearing Jpop and Other Chinese stations. I completely stopped and just listened to Kpop ever since. It was like I had an epiphany or some awakening! I wanna say I'm one of the lucky ones that had the opportunity to grow up with Kpop. A lot of people don't know that Kpop was not at all big as it is now. It was mainly solo artists at the time and bands like SHINWA, tvxq, SuJu, GG, Big Bang, 2NE1, AS, SHINee, ALL the senior groups now, paved the way for Kpop's growth. I was lucky to witness the formation and debuts of so many of the early  groups music so that's probably why I absolutely love the senior groups and have been my biases ever since. And of course, because I bacame so addicted I even started showing my friends trying to convert their Japanese ways to Korean lol since my group of friends was already familiar they became addicted and we all began talking and sharing sites and stations to get our daily dose of Kpop and Korean entertainment haha Since then it's been amazing to see how much the Kpop fandom has grown and how many huge successful groups and companies there are in the industry. Kpop and my love for my bias groups even led me to chase my dreams!! I'm in college now almost about to graduate with degrees in creative writing and Asian culture with hopes of working for a company in the Kpop/Entertainment industry!! It just feels so great knowing how much something so unfamiliar can become so impactful in one's life like mine to the point where it has become something so normal, common and every day for me. I'll always be thankful to that first radio station because it led me to a dream I didn't even know I had. Kpop really has changed my life  

Edited January 9, 2016 by aaronp

[JackieM 0]

My first contact with kpop came when I watched boys over flowers and loved the songs

[knims 96]

 

I love that most of these are about BTS and most of them are like "I fell in love at first sight"! It's pretty amazing that so many people have found them AND have fallen so hard for them! What is their secret? All the reality shows and bangtan bombs? Their sincerity/determination? Their chemistry? 

 

2 hours ago, JackieM said:

My first contact with kpop came when I watched boys over flowers and loved the songs

How did you discover Boys Over Flowers?? That's always my question when people are into Korean drama before the music!

 

2 hours ago, aaronp said:

After that experience I did a bit of research and discovered that I wasn't even listening to Jpop lol I had no idea it was Korean.

HAHAHAHAHA this is great! I wonder how many fans were fans of J-pop before discovering K-pop and how many completely dropped J-pop once they did

 

8 hours ago, missblackmcstar said:

It was on September 2015 I was watching a Buzzfeed video,

WHOA I'm so impressed that Buzzfeed is what got you into K-pop! That's such a great argument for why we need more K-pop in mainstream media. I think the Try Guys did a great job portraying the quirks of K-pop without being negative. Has Got7 been to Mexico yet? I can't remember... 
 

10 hours ago, shay-the-cat said:

When she was living in Korea, a friend of mine mentioned that her apartment was not too far from where M.Pire

That is like living the dream! It's so sweet of her to promote them because of their same-neighborhood status! I hope she eventually was able to tell them that she was doing free promo for her "neighbors"! 

 

11 hours ago, Cho Meem said:

I then immediately typed Bts and watched all of their mvs

I like that for every new fan, the first step after discovery is to literally watch every single MV that they've ever done - totally a common theme here!

 

16 hours ago, inspirit7in1 said:

think it's the time when I saw Infinite's article that they are practicing for almost 18-23 hours.

I always end up looking more into groups when I see articles on how hard they practice! It's like, impossible not to start to look at them favorably when you realize just how hard they work... So impressive ㅠㅠ

[LiliCakes 105]

I am a kdrama addict. I was browsing kdramas on DramaFever and I noticed a few comments on some of the dramas that I've already watched, mention that It's Okay, It's Love is a good kdrama to watch. I started to watch it and instantly got drawn to Do Kyungsoo's character. I become even more engrossed into the series when I learned that Kyungsoo's character was a hallucination. Because of my nursing background, this added greatly to my interest in the drama. I became interested in learning more about Do Kyungsoo. I went to his bio page in DramaFever and saw that he was in another TV series called EXO Next Door. After reading the bio for that drama, that's where I learned that he was part of the kpop group EXO. I didn't know much about kpop at this point, so I decided to search for them on YouTube. One of the songs that popped up in the search was the music video for Growl. I was that video and oh man...that's when it started. I was so drawn not only to their singing, but their choreography, their style, and their swag. From there, I started to view more of their videos and I couldn't stop. I learned that there were tons of other kpop groups and started listening to them as well. They have opened the world of kpop to me and I am always learning more and more about it every day. Because of this, EXO will forever be my ultimate bias group, with D.O being my ultimate bias.

[xiashenghan 6,971]

B1A4

Was watching their Hello Baby show (I didn't know them before, just heard about them) since I like that show, then in one episode they were having an English quiz and their song Only Learned Bad Things was played. Searched it up and fell in love with the song and them.

WINNER

Cheered them on since first episode of WIN: Who is Next days. For some unknown reason I just like them from the start. Their struggles and hard work from that show made me love them. Since almost all of YG was tormenting them, especially YG. They are underdogs during that show and I like their determination.