Let's inaugurate the kpop/kdrama label with how it all began... for me.

If you've read my about page (and why haven't you yet?!) then you'll know that it all began with You're Beautiful for me. Snarky Taekyung, meek Minam, comic-relief Jeremy, zen Shinwoo... it was painful to watch sometimes but oh, the addiction came on strong. Seriously. I was ready to give up by the end of episode one but I'm never one to just give up like that, so I gave it another chance. And another. And another. And... you know. By the halfway point I realised I was hooked. By the end I wanted to hug it and squish it. So, you know. Addiction. Yes, indeed.

This brings us to kpop, and how You're Beautiful introduced me to the fantastic, elastic, robotronic, symptomatic (I'll shut up now) world of kpop. If you've watched the drama, you'll know that the main characters are all part of a fictional idol group called A.N. Jell (angel... get it?). And you'll know that Lee Hongki, who plays Jeremy, is the glam-voiced leader and main vocal of rock idol group FT Island. You'll also know that Jung Yonghwa, who plays Shinwoo, is the mellow-voiced leader, main vocal and guitarist of rock idol group CN Blue. And if you didn't, well now you know ;)

Must admit, curiosity bit my bum and so off I went youtube'ing their respective groups. I was hooked in a jiffy. Well, not so much CN Blue; that came a bit later. But what I found from FT Island seemed wholly different from those snippets of kpop I'd heard throughout You're Beautiful (such as Girls' Generation's Tell Me Your Wish, parodied brilliantly in the drama).

I kind of grew up listening to bands. My dad introduced me early on to The Beatles, so I've always had a great respect for singer-songwriter-musicians, and these guys are that so I took a liking to them immediately. Add to that the fact that Hongki's voice is magic, and... yep, instant like. Take a listen to this:

But the scene that really sealed the deal for me regarding Hongki (and FT Island by association) was this one. His character was a goofball throughout the series but then you have this one stupendous gem of a lovely but sad scene about halfway through the drama, and my heart immediately went out to him. That's when I knew I needed to check out his band and see what they were all about.

Unfortunately, they're not nearly popular at home (in Korea, that is) as they are in Japan, where the rock scene is more mainstream than in Korea. Supposedly their style is more reminiscent of j-rock than k-rock in any case, but personally I really don't see why that should be a turn-off to Koreans.

What I've learned so far while living here in Korea is this: don't try to make sense of things in Korea with a Western mindset -- you'll just go nuts.