I'm back into Kpop! *finger-hearts*

If anyone knows me and has been reading this blog for a number of years, I did a post about leaving K-pop. For folks not in the know, K-pop is short for 'Korean Pop' a popular music from South Korea that's catchy, addictive, and has become a global phenomenon since the early 2000s. 

Right now, I'll give my timeline for becoming a fan for another post. What I do want to say is that I returned to this music after a number of years away for personal reasons. After listening to BTS, the 7-member group who has become a global household name and my first as a fan to hear any K-pop music all in English, I realized it was time to return to a former fandom.

I think one of the many reasons I personally gravitated towards K-pop music was not just through the gateway of K-dramas- South Korean soap operas and TV series -but the synchronized dancing is just one of the pulls for me. I've always enjoyed ballet, modern dancing, and other performative arts, and as a former New Yorker, seeing random people break-dance on the streets. But it's when I entered junior high and watched our school's drill team during assemblies(do kids still have those?) and sports rallies. To be honest, I preferred watching them over the cheerleading. 

Fast-forward to community college when one of the Black fraternities did their Step-dancing during Club Rush Week. You also can't blame me, a young Black person, to find all these Black men, near my age, attractive!;p

Fast-forward to the early-to-mid 2000s when the 'Korean Wave' started and any cable Asian channel or station started to show B-Boy Competitions happening and there were plenty of representatives from the Southeast to East Asian nations. 

What's more, being used to these large music groups because I was also listening to modern Japanese music, it didn't take long for me to get into these mega groups, their incredible costumes, stagecraft, and the SYNCHRONIZED DANCING. Which I was already a fan of from Black culture of break-dancing(Puerto Rican dancers along with Black dancers, brought into mainstream dance culture), school marching bands, drill teams, and Black Greek Life step-dancing. 

Why am I saying all this? Because I'm creating my own K-pop music groups and bands for my story and I felt this was a good time as any to post my comeback to the fandom. Also, K-pop fans will get this, but these groups also have frequent comebacks too.;)

Look for my K-pop people posted to my Instagram @ Handdrawnbycarmenjr!

Take care, Dear Readers.