my fan girl beginnings
June 26, 2019.
The fateful day I stumbled upon a video of Park Bo Gum dancing to BTS’ Boy with Luv from his fan meeting here in Manila. I shared it on my feed saying that it’s been on loop since the weekend. I watch it every time I need a picker upper. At about the 8th time of watching it, I scrolled down to see the comments and I noticed a bunch mentioning V, sharing that he must be proud of Bo Gum. That got me wondering who this V is. How is he related to one of my favorite K-drama actors?
I only planned to watch the video about V and Bo Gum’s friendship, but Youtube’s algorithm started recommending other BTS videos. I went through some of their live performances, barely distinguishing the members from each other. Curious, I asked an ARMY officemate how she recognizes her bias out of the seven when they dance in sync while wearing almost the same styling.
It was a whole new world to me.
Then I got to watching their music videos. That’s when Mic Drop sealed the deal for me.
This scene!
The swagger. The choreography. The styling. Everything about this MV just screams talent. This is also the video that initiated my journey into the BTS rabbit hole that got me checking out Try Not To Laugh Challenge videos until the wee hours of the morning.
BUT WAIT, there’s more.
A few months after discovering BTS, I created a Korean Spotify playlist.
By the end of 2019, this playlist grew from 6-10 songs to 67.
My Spotify algorithm started changing and kept recommending new K-artists to listen to.
Come August, I got introduced to DAY6 by a new friend I met in church. She shared how one of their main vocalists, Park Jaehyung is a Christian and he’d often share a bible verse in their album’s thanks to portion. Of course, that automatically made him my bias. Haha! And he’s also one of the first hallyu artists that I drew!
This is also the beginning of my Instagram feed becoming a gallery of oppa drawings. Shortly after, I created social media pages dedicated to my artworks. Gratefully Creating (the Facebook page) was born.
Follow me on insta: @gratefully.creating
Casual listening evolved into reading the English translations of their songs and sometimes I’d hear God through the lyrics. Here are some of them:
Please remember
You may feel small in this world
But you’re so beautiful to Me
Don’t worry for no reason
I’ll be by your side
Don’t worry, trust Me
I’m still here
Waiting for you
Calling your name
If you’re tired or struggling
Don’t wander any more but come to Me
I’ll always be here
I want to cry for you
I want to hurt instead of you
I don’t want any scars in your heart
Ever again
God even used K-pop to remind me how faithful He is! He is willing to provide for us and bless us, even beyond our necessities!
Exhibit A. I posted this on September 2019:
I wrote a small hope I had in the caption when I posted my drawing of GOT7’s Jackson Wang, which was coincidentally the same day ticket selling opened for the Manila leg of their Keep Spinning world tour!
God often hides in coincidences, no?
That same month I closed a 2-month freelance project that pays enough for me to buy a lower box ticket! I even got my first pay a few days before the concert. Talk about God’s perfect timing!
It was a memorable first K-pop concert! From JackBam’s zumba dance moves, GOT6 teasing JAY B, Youngjae talking about Coco, and of course the amazing performances! I stood up and sang, pretending to know the lyrics, to my favorite GOT7 song, Just Right. I also got to befriend an ahgase while waiting in line for photos with the members’ standees and the GOT7 logo just before the concert started.
November that same year came and this time it was DAY6 that I got to watch perform live. This is one of the best concerts I’ve been to! Jae’s teary ‘ment was a touching highlight. They reminded me how much I loved rock music and I also received a buzzer beater provision for this! Hahaha my client literally paid me on the day of the concert, just a few minutes before the gates opened.
My 2019 came to a close with me drawing BTS’ Suga and getting encouraged by the lyrics of his solo song, So Far Away:
By 2020, I applied for a credit card because I was trying to buy JAY B’s Represent merch but they won’t accept any of my debit cards. I don’t recommend doing this at all. Hahaha this got me debt because I bought a VIP standing ticket for WINNER’s Cross Tour in Manila. A big lesson for me to fan girl responsibly and to stan within my means!
Debt aside, this concert was such a fun experience! They danced to Sarah Geronimo’s Tala and of course I had to dance with them! I had so much fun jumping around and head-banging, I got bodyache days after. Another bright side is meeting new friends from all over the world! Some of them, I still interact with through social media.
It’s also through these concerts that I got a glimpse of the culture of generosity among the fans. While going around the venue, I was so surprised when a girl handed me a pack of candies and a GOT7 post card. I saw international inner circles with paper bags and luggages filled with merch like photo cards, keychains, and sometimes even snacks all given away for free. It was so pure!
What a sight to see, people of different ages, gender, backgrounds, and nationalities, all coming together to enjoy music. There were no barriers.
Today, asking strangers if they like K-pop is one of my favorite ice breakers. I’m also part of a communiteam of fan girls and fan boys who stan different artists. We learn Hangul together, we recommend music to each other, we celebrate comebacks together. Let me know if you want to join!
I also produced post cards with my fan art!
So that’s my K-pop story, thus far! I’ve now added creating art for something K-pop related like an album or a poster in my career bucket list! So thankful for what I’m learning and who I’m meeting in this journey. And I’m so excited for what’s ahead! The best is still yet to be in K-music, fan-girling, and in life! God’s got greater things ahead for us!
Thank you for reading until the end, chingu!
a grateful multi-stan (iGOT7, My Day, ARMY, Carat, and Inner Circle so far hahaha),
Izza
P.S. sharing a screenshot of a line that God used to remind me of His love. It’s from SEVENTEEN’s teaser trailer for their comeback this June. Also their first comeback that I’m awaiting as a Carat!
