I like K-Pop.
Just typing those words makes me cringe just a little bit.
When I first started listening to K-pop, I quickly learned that there's a stigma attached to K-Pop fans. (It's kind of like saying you were a Nickelback fan in the early 2000s… or even now.)
It's something you hide away from your friends, family, classmates, coworkers.
K-Pop is something you enjoy alone, in a dark room, with headphones on.
That how I was once…
My first encounter with K-Pop was BIGBANG's "Fantastic Baby" music video. It's your quintessential K-pop music video… Ultra-styled hair, colorful outfits, plenty of eyeliner to go around, and a bright, upbeat sound.
It's a good example of one of my favorite aspects of K-pop… It's unashamedly, unapologetically in your face.
But, other than the dark corners of the Internet (a.k.a. Twitter and Reddit), K-pop fans often aren't.
Many of my K-pop loving friends – some who've been fans for nearly a decade – have never told friends and family of their love of K-pop.
And I used to be one of them… For years, I didn't tell anyone I listened to K-pop. If someone was getting into my car, I'd make sure a local radio station was on – and not my embarrassingly large K-pop playlist.
That was until one day, a close friend accidentally stumbled on my love of Korean music. She got into my car, grabbed my iPod, and starting going through my music. Before I could snatch it back, she asked, "What's K-pop?"
Before I knew it, I was telling her about my favorite groups and playing some songs.
"Don't you think it's weird?" I asked her.
She just shrugged and said, "No, I think it's cool."
[Side note: I still haven't converted her into a K-pop fan, but I won't stop trying!]
Over the last year or so, I've slowly – and subtly – let people know I'm a K-pop fan. And so far, no one, whether they're friends, family, or coworkers, has made fun of me or questioned my love of K-pop.
But new K-pop fans tend to think they'll be cruelly judged. But more often than not, that's just not true.
Most people I've talked to say non-fans are more curious than anything about K-pop.
Now, there are the occasional ignorant comments, of which I'm sure you're familiar:
You don't even know what they're saying!
Are those guys wearing eyeliner?
Isn't it all just fake?
That's that Gangnam Style thing, right?
Most of us have likely gotten one of those once or twice. But usually from Internet trolls who, let's be honest, don't have much else to do with their time.
I'll admit that to an outsider K-pop might seem a bit odd. There's a lot about the culture surrounding K-pop that might need explaining to non-fans.
Aegyo is the first thing that comes to my mind. It's not easy explaining the concept of idols – especially male ones – when you're from a western culture. (G-Dragon's gwiyomi anyone?)
Also, our obsessive need to vote. If there's anything a K-pop fan is good at, it's voting for music shows and various awards.
Do some people get judged for liking K-pop? Of course. But that doesn't mean you should hide.
Once I started wearing my K-pop swag outside, I'd run into other fans… made a few good friends along the way. I've even had K-pop blasting from my car's speakers – windows down, of course – and met a fellow fan.
The fact is that everyone has something they’re passionate about and not all of it is mainstream.
It's okay to like something that's a little bit different. We don't have to stay in comfortable bubbles if we don't want to.
K-pop has pushed me out of my own cultural bubble. I've learned something about a country vastly different from my own, learned a new language, and hopefully become more accepting of people who aren't like me.
If K-pop is your passion, I hope you won't be afraid to share that with people around you.
Who knows, you might make a new friend and turn someone into a fan.