Week 1: I’m turning back to you

19 August 2019 – 25 August 2019

• Personal Hallyu Memories Timeline
• Schedule for Assignment 2

Inspired by Dr. Liew Kai Khiun’s “Recent Memories: Reminiscing the Korean Wave in Singapore”, I decided that before I embark on the second individual assignment I would like to plot my own Personal Hallyu Memories Timeline. 

Prior to the first class for CS4160 Korean Wave: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, I have never really sat down and thought about my history with Hallyu. As I was plotting the timeline (which I have included below), I was reminded of many fond memories: the times when I watched Korean dramas till late at night with my mother even though we both had to wake up early the next day (She had work and I had school), the times when I went crazy over 5 silly guys trying to take care of a baby after my brother introduced me to SHINee’s Hello Baby and the time when I was so excited to watch my first ever K-pop concert.

My family brought me into the world of Korean dramas and Korean variety shows which gave me a first glimpse into K-pop idols. The rest I would say is history as I started delving and navigating my way into the labyrinth of fancy K-pop music videos, breathtaking live performances as well as variety shows that are rolling-on-the-floor level of funny, all because I wanted to know more about the personalities of my favourite idols, beyond the persona I see when they are on stage.

By 2012, K-pop as a genre of music had gradually gained so much momentum due to the phenomenal success of second generation idols groups like TVXQ, Super Junior, Big Bang, Girls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, 2NE1, SHINee, B2ST, 2pm, 2am, CNBlue, MBlaq and the list goes on, that more and more new groups started to emerge to share a slice of the pie. It was a time when I started to lose interest in K-pop because I could no longer keep up with the groups that had seemed to be debuting left, right and centre every other day (though I believe this observation still holds true today.). The loss of interest was also partly because the groups that I have followed were beginning to focus their energies on the Japanese and mainland China markets where access to information was not readily available. However, on hindsight, I deeply regret this decision (more on this later). 

Although I was no longer as active in the K-pop fandom as I was before, I was still diligently catching up on the latest hit Korean dramas such as The Moon that Embraces the Sun and My Love from the Star which both starred Kim Soo Hyun as the male lead. I was also still an avid fan of Infinite Challenge and Running Man. 

Then came numerous turning points for me in the year 2017. First, B2ST changed their name to HIGHLIGHT and the saddest news of 2017 came in December when SHINee’s Jonghyun committed suicide as a result of depression. These changes to the K-pop world I had known marked a before and after in my journey as a K-Pop fan. Nonetheless, 2017 also brought a great blessing in the form of my discovery of NU’EST. 

Basically long story short, I was reminiscing old K-pop songs on YouTube when I came across NU’EST’s cover of After School’s hit song, Because of You. NU’EST was performing the song as part of their first evaluation on the second season of a survival show for idol trainees, Produce 101. NU’EST did such a great job for their performance but it was what I read in the comments on their video that made me feel for them. Apparently, at the point of their first appearance on the show, the group had already been active for five years and in the world of K-pop, five years is a really long time. The group had decided to make a last ditch attempt to save their career and avoid disbandment by swallowing their pride as senior idols to appear on the show as trainees once again. Their failure to become big was something I could not understand then because here I was, sitting in front of my laptop screen, staring at four boys with the most distinct visuals (NU’EST has five members but one member Aron, did not participate in the show due to an injury.) among the newer groups and they had definitely proved their talent and skill in that performance I had just watched. After watching that video, I decided to do some research of my own and discovered just how much these boys have gone throughout the course of their career. I shall not go into the details regarding all the ups and downs they have experienced here but for those who are interested to know more about this amazing group, I found a fan-made documentary done by YouTube user, Lay Naran, who can tell you their story much better than I can. By the way, the video is thirty minutes long.

NU’EST’s visuals drew me in but it was their story that made me stay. Remember, I mentioned how I regretted leaving the world of K-pop fandom in 2012. The reason was because that was the year NU’EST debuted. I cannot help but think that had I persisted in K-pop, I would have come to know about this amazing group much earlier. Yet, I was never one to dwell on “what ifs” and I believe it was fated that I had come to know about NU’EST at a time when I was still grieving over the death of SHINee’s Jonghyun. Interestingly, there are numerous parallels between the two groups and I shall name a few:

1. Both groups have a member named Kim Jonghyun. 

In fact, the two Jonghyuns had met in the final episode of a variety show called Night Goblin which was never aired due to SHINee’s Jonghyun’s passing.

2. Both groups have five members who are like brothers. 

Up till SHINee’s Jonghyun’s death, SHINee was the only second generation group from SM entertainment to have experienced no line-up changes. Despite Jonghyun’s passing, many SHINee fans still consider him a member and I do too. Like SHINee, NU’EST has not experienced any changes in line-up and the members themselves have also openly declared that they wish to be like their Shinhwa seniors who were able to go on singing together for a very long time. It is rare for K-pop groups to enjoy such a close bond with among members just like the ones SHINee and NU’EST have which is one of the many reasons why their fans like them so much.

3. Both groups are amazingly talented.

Both groups had one of the most successful debuts of their time. SHINee with their debut single Replay in 2008 and NU’EST with Face in 2012. While SHINee’s dance choreographies are known in the industry to be among the hardest, NU’EST is on the rise for having outstanding vocal abilities and being well-rounded idols in general.

NU’EST’s story is definitely one for the books and being a huge fan of NU’EST, I would like to dedicate my project to them. As such, I will attempt to name my blog updates using taglines or headers that are related to the group somehow. For this week’s update, the title, “I’m turning back to you”, is actually from the lyrics of NU’EST’s song, Segno, meaning to go back to the beginning. Since NU’EST rekindled my love for Kpop, I thought this title would be apt for an update that focuses on my journey as a Hallyu fan.

In this next part of my update, I would like to detail my plans for Assignment 2 and explain my rationale for the activities I have chosen. Here is a rough outline of what the upcoming weeks will look like for me:

Week 1 (19/8-25/8) [Hallyu]:  – Personal Hallyu Memories Timeline – Schedule for Assignment 2  Week 2 (26/8-1/9) [K-pop fandom]: – BET BET MV analysis – Prepare for trip to Segno KL     Week 3 (2/9-8/9) [K-pop fandom]: – Attend concert & give fan support Week 4 (9/9-15/9) [K-pop dance]: – Dance class Week 5 (16/9-22/9) [K-pop dance]: – Dance class Week 6 (23/9-29/9) [K-pop dance]: – Dance class Week 7 (30/9-6/10) [K-pop dance]: – Dance class Week 8 (7/10-13/10) [Korean Language] – Make learning cards for Korean words and phrases Week 9 (14/10-20/10) [Korean drama] – Literary Analysis of Goblin & Hotel Del Luna (treatment of death on K-dramas, Grim Reaper) Week 10 (21/10-27/10) [Hallyu] – Prepare for presentation

Note that my scheduled activities fall into different sub-categories of Hallyu, K-pop fandom, K-pop dance, Korean language as well as Korean drama. The wide range of activities I have planned is because I would like my project to reflect my extensive experience of the many aspects of the Korean Wave thus far. Out of all these activities, I am looking forward to doing an analysis of a NU’EST music video and some of the more recent Korean dramas I have watched the most. On the other hand, I think the dance classes will be the most challenging because I will be stepping out of my comfort zone. While I do have some experience in dancing, K-pop dance will be a whole new genre that I will be trying out for the first time. Even though I am a little scared, I am also excited to see how all my activities will turn out. I will be updating my progress on this blog weekly (this first post is a little late as I was still figuring out the mechanics of WordPress but the subsequent updates should be posted on time) so do stay tuned to find out how everything goes!

In conclusion, through the exercise of plotting a Personal Hallyu Memories Timeline, I realised that my memories of hallyu are very much tied to precious memories of valuable time spent with my family. Most importantly, I now have a clearer idea of all the unique experiences that have led me to where I am right now 一 a Hallyu fan, and my individual project will aim to showcase my specific interests among everything that the Korean Wave has to offer. With the mini tasks that I have set out to complete, I hope to contribute some of my interpretations of Hallyu products, be it K-pop, Korean dramas or the Korean language itself to boost fan morale, celebrate the work of K-pop artists and drama producers and lastly, to motivate more people to learn about the Korean language and her culture. 

Reference

Liew, Kai Khiun. “Recent Memories: Reminiscing the Korean Wave in Singapore.” Transnational Memory and Popular Culture in East and Southeast Asia: Amnesia, Nostalgia and Heritage, pp. 71-94. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016.