In the beginning, I couldn't stop humming the beat; it had been cemented in my head. At first it was just a song that I would play to make fun of, but I couldn't help it.

Over and over again, I played it. There was something about it, something different. My ears craved the tune again. The chorus was ridiculous, the Engrish (mistranslated english words and phrases) was unbearable but I wanted to listen to it. It was different than most of the music I listen to.

K-Pop.

I had gone into the world of fandoms. The world where Engrish is a normal thing you would sing along with. Besides the occasional fan wars and drama, I felt like I had a family within my own fandoms. It was simple; we, all the k-pop fans, were interested in a particular group, and we all respected each other for that. It gave us a common ground. But it's even more than that, we all still shared the general idea: We all liked K-Pop. Most people who are used to western music made fun of this genre. This is probably the biggest thing that binds us together. Most of us non-Korean listeners have probably dealt with being made fun of for liking K-Pop, and this makes us even closer. We go back to K-Pop to feel better about being made fun of. It was my poison and my cure.

It's not just about the music, though. It's about getting to know the idols, it's the variety shows (reality and talk shows). We are able to see how our idols are behind the performances and the members showing their everyday personality. The fact that many of them are so multi-talented amazes us: singing, acting, dancing; it is so impressive. Being able to relate to them makes us even more attached to them.

It first started with a chorus of "Fantastic Baby," but I was pulled in by a another simple chorus of "Haru Haru." It sounds pretty silly, doesn't it? I thought it was quite laughable too, but it grew on me. It was different than the pop songs.  When you ask people what their thoughts are on k-pop, Korean’s popular music genre, they would probably call it something like a cheesy, sugar-coated excuse for entertainment. They see brightly colored outfits, boys in heavy eyeliner and synchronized dance moves. They become annoyed with strange Engrish and similar feeling of tunes. What people don't realize is that K-pop is much bigger than fancy outfits and make up on their faces. In fact, K-pop is transforming Korea as the world knows it.

I have been listened to K-Pop for about four years now. It wasn't just the beat and the lyrics, it was also the members of the group that got me so into k-pop. The way they were so humble, the way they cared for their fans.  This was something else that I found unique to K-Pop, the way the groups treated their fans. Their number one goal is to make their fans happy. That may sound a little cliché or unbelievable, but for what they are paid, it is quite believable. Idols split their earnings between each other, and this can range between 1 to 13 members. Some groups have even more members. The idols share dorms and are worked to the bone, getting sometimes only 3 hours of sleep or none at all. They have trained for about 2-5 years, some of which have trained for 7-9 years. I admired their care and determination. I am aware that not all idols are the same as what they seem but I do appreciate the idols who I know have worked hard and are humble of their success.

K-Pop changed me for the better and for the worse. After I discovered K-Pop, it was the first time I had known what it was to be passionate about something. Everyone else had something they loved and were experts at, whether it was a sport or an art. As I said before, K-Pop isn't just about the music, it's about being involved in the lives of the idols, the community, and keeping up with them is actually harder than it may seem. Keeping up with tumblr, Allkpop, and other fan sites is actually quite difficult. While other people may be able to memorize math equations easily, I'm able to memorize the names of approximately 200 or more idols, regardless of whether I even cared for them. These aren't just regular names, either. Ryeowook, Sungyeol, Onew, not so average names for the native English speaker, and learning to pronounce them is difficult too. 

It was the first thing I was good at and was passionate about. It was something that others had no idea about. The feeling of being so connected to other fans and my idols was exciting. It's like a world that I can escape to from everyone else. Finding K-Pop is probably the best thing that has happened to me. K-Pop is something that makes me happy, and learning about each new rookie group is even more exciting. Every day, going back to the world I am almost completely accepted for what I liked, it was relieving. K-Pop is something that would take many pages to describe due to its large umbrella of other genres and unique ideas; K-Pop is a far planet that fans can escape to.