k-pop ♪ aroceu

I got into k-pop in December of 2009, due to a variety of factors. I had been getting to know my friend Christie at the time; and as I tend to do, I browsed her blog. That was when I saw the song she was currently obsessed with: "Sorry Sorry" by Super Junior.

Just a few short months beforehand, I had been shown this song against my will through a dance cover, which I wasn't that interested in. But upon seeing the song again on Christie's blog, I went, oh, I remember this song! I decided to check it out for myself and give it a chance, because I had heard of it twice now - first when I didn't care for it, and now with someone I was enjoying becoming friends with.

So I watched it.

I wasn't ready for the complete alteration of my brain chemistry in that moment, and in the subsequent weeks, months, years of my life. From there I delved into Super Junior's most current discography - "Super Girl" by Super Junior-M remains to be one of my favorite songs of all time - learned the members, and caught up with the news. This was during Super Junior's biggest member leaving scandals; the first ones, really. But I'd already gone through my most devastating friend breakup and the Panic! at the Disco breakup in this year, not to mention my parents' divorce recently as well. So I went, alright, it's just another one of those things, and locked in.

Suffice to say, Super Junior - and my resulting hyperfixation on writing fanfiction about them - completely upended my life from there on out. I'd just gotten my first domain earlier that year (July 2009), but suddenly with this new obsession, website-making felt completely by the wayside for a solid year and a half (I didn't renew it the following year). It made me practice my writing and learn to grow addicted to the process; flourished my budding obsession with yaoi that started in 2008; and, of course, was a gateway drug into a completely new genre of music I hadn't heard before. I couldn't stop listening to k-pop for quite some time afterward - western music didn't hit the same after my first foray into k-pop.

I'm a second gen girlie at heart. This page certainly makes it evident. However, my other favorite group of all time is Pentagon, who I got into during 2021, which was materially the worst year of my adult life. Pentagon was my lifeline through that (well, that and yaoi) - I obsessively watched their music videos, variety shows, interviews, and whatever else, giving me so much joy during an incredibly difficult period of my life. Their Shine choreography practice was what did it for me. I already knew the song, because one of my former roommates was always playing k-pop music as it came out for years, despite not intentionally keeping up myself. Pentagon helped and changed my life as much as Super Junior did, even if slightly differently 12 years later. But still for the better.

Anyway, I casually listen to k-pop these days, not with the same obsession I had before. But I'm always spinning my old second gen loves. The groups are listed here in approximate order of importance to me, though longer lists are more disorganized.