What’s the connection between Kpop and being yourself?

Many people often hide their hobbies, likes, and interests because they are afraid they will be judged by society, and that’s the case for many Kpop fans around the world. Because of how media/locals portray us as super obsessive fans, and weird, many don’t like to say that they like kpop, however, people have learned to not let others decide what you like and what you shouldn’t like, and learned how to be yourself.

I were to talk about my “history” with kpop, it all began back in 5th grade. I accidentally saw a video of Super Junior’s “Mr.Simple”, a second-generation group(debuted in 2003 up to 2011). I really liked the visual of the music video, the choreography, and the catchy melody. Even though I didn’t understand anything at that time, I would still listen to it, I obviously wanted to listen to more music like that so I look for more songs by Super Junior, and I expanded to other groups from the same generation, groups like; Girls Generation, Orange Caramel, Big Bang, 2NE1, 4minute and more. From there I eventually listen to 3rd generation groups(those who debuted in 2011 up to 2017) and I continue to now 4th generation(those who debuted in 2017 and on). Back then kpop wasn’t mainstream. Like yes, people knew about kpop but not a lot, the well-known groups were Big Bang, 2NE1, Girls Generation, and Super Junior. Mind you that when I was in 5th grade is when I started to wisent to kpop so I would tell my friends about it and they would tease me about it, even in middle school, I would tell my friends to listen to BTS and they just discarded me all the time and teased, I even got bullied because of it, but that didn’t really stop me from listening to it. Now those friends or people that made fun of me or other people that listen to kpop, listen to it too and is now considered a mainstream genre. 

Many people stop being themselves, stop liking what they like because they want to be accepted by society and I mean of course we don’t like to get teased about something we like. However, that’s the case with many people who like kpop. Not only I’ve been through that but my friends who like Kpop, especially when kpop wasn’t considered “mainstream”. I interview 2 of my friends who like kpop, friend 1 started to like kpop when kpop wasn’t mainstream so between 2014-and 2015, and friend 2 started to like kpop in 2020 when the “kpop wave” was at one of its peaks.

Q1: How did you start liking Kpop?

Friend 1: “On vine in like 2014 there was a kpop channel then I think I saw someone in EXO”

Friend 2: “I started liking kpop after studying Korean for 3 years. My teacher would put kpop in the background and I started to ask her the song titles for the ones I liked and the rest is history.”

Q2: Have people ever made fun of you for liking Kpop? If yes then were you affected by this? Or has it made you like it less/not show it off?

Friend 1: “Yeah I barely get asked that. Yes, my friend I was friends for years said just was weird. Well after that she started getting distant from me cuz we didn’t like the same things anymore. No, I still was always interested no matter what.”

Friend 2: “Yes, it’s always “harmless” jokes but it still affects how you feel. I think over the years I didn’t let it affect me because to me personally, it doesn’t matter what other people think about the music I like because it’s something I like.”

Q3: Has your family ever made fun of it? If so how did you feel?  

Friend 1: “No, they don’t care cuz for one there are three other people in my family that likes it.”

Friend 2: “My family had made fun of me mostly my dad though I believe he felt like I was losing my roots and focusing too much on “Korean boys” and he also said why do I like their music if I can’t understand it. I understand most of the context for most songs and for the songs that I don’t understand it doesn’t even matter because the point of music is to feel the beat.”

Q4: When people ask you if you like Kpop how do you answer?   

Friend 1: “I say yea I do. But I don’t know, depending on the person it could change a bit. Like if it was a random person I’d still say yeah. Basically yes.”

Friend 2: “When people ask I say yes.”

Q5: Do you think Kpop has a connection to being yourself?

Friend 1: “I mean yeah because it’s really enjoyable not only for the music but the members and it’s something that makes me happy through their music and stuff.”

Friend 2: “I mean I find music to be relaxing when I’m anxious so I guess it is a connection to myself.”

Not only people around me, but many people express their frustration of not being able to fully express themselves as people think they are weird or afraid that people on the internet will bully them, or even people they know in real life. In this Reddit post user, @u/HuckinsGirls said, “…it was okay to make fun of me and ostracize me for an interest that makes me genuinely happy. Its moments like these make me panic and lie when asked what kind of music I like.” The writer of this post feels like adults, who are supposed to support you, make fun of you for your liking make you sad. And I totally agree with the writer of this post because there were times when I felt like this. The kids close to my age in my family don’t like Kpop I was the only one, so because I was the only one who liked kpop they always picked on me, so it feels horrible when the adults in your life don’t support you, it’s like if they don’t support you, how are people not close to me supposed to support me?. Luckily I met people who share the same interests as me throughout my life, so I feel more at ease like I can be myself more. 

So, what’s the connection between Kpop and being yourself? Me liking kpop has thought me that people will always judge you no matter what so is better for you just learn to be yourself and care less about other people’s opinions, when I was being myself I found many amazing people that shared the same interests with me, so if I hid the fact that I liked kpop I might’ve never met them or befriend them. No matter what your likes are, you should always be true to yourself.