Entry 1: What my first experience of a KPop concert felt like.

 

What is the term KPop?

Kpop is generally known as Korean Pop music. The music of KPop is a genre that is specified as a girl or boy band/groups or a single artist. However, as of current times, KPop has become popularized. In my personal opinion KPop is not a great description of the term for the genre of music because the artist in KPop has released other genres of music like Ballads, EDM, Rap, etc. In other words I am here to share my KPop experience by going to a concert.

   

How did I discovered KPop?

My first encounter with this genre of music came from hearing other people when I was in high school and online mention it. Later on I listen to a KPop song to see why people were talking about it. I listen to a song called Lie by Park Jimin from a KPop group named BTS. 

BTS is a seven membered group that debuted on June 6 in 2013. At first it was not that easy for me to recognize and remember each members' names as the Korea's music industry has a tendency to change their apperances a lot in a short period of time. However, I only could recoginze two members out of the seven of them. Their stage names are RM and Suga. The more I learned about BTS the more I grew to love and appreciate each of the memebers in both as an artist and a person.

The Day of the Concert                        

On November 26 of 2021, I went to their Permission To Dance On Stage tour as it was a birthday gift from my older sister. At the beiginning of the day I got ready and went to SoFi Stadium in Los Angales. I will admit I was both excited, and anxious of going to this concert. I have social anxiety and I have a hard time dealing with big crowds.

I got to the stadium around two o'clock in the afternoon and checked that I had all my belongings. My sister and I then bought some things from the concerts merchandise booth. We both made sure that we were prepared. There were lines around the area of the staduim so we tried to find our gate. We mostly waited in line around four o'clock till six thirty when the staff started  letting people into the stadium. When we entered our gates we immmediately went to the bathroom, and then we went to buy some food. Afterwards, we headed towards our seats and waited for the concert to start. While we were in our seats we had to connect our lightsticks. The lightsicks synced with the concert and played in tune with the music. The concert started there was certain parts that were more outstanding then the rest. For example, their performance for one of their song called Black Swan was aestheically pleasing to see in person. 

Certain Memories

I will confess that at times I cried at the concert especially at the very start of it when I saw them singing on stage. I realized how impactful this moment was to my life. The thought never occured to me that I would ended up here, and it was hard to believe that it was really happening. Within my tears of happiness I also felt very proud of their journey, and mine to get to this point in life. As BTS has truly helped me through certain hardships throughout the years. 

Ackowledge The Artists

Finally seeing BTS in person was a surrealistic moment for me. I was shocked and admired their performances. They all have talented voices and are amazing dancers. The most memorable moment I remember was the props they used for certain songs. For example, they brought a gaint yellow couch and a big bed with decroations that moved around on stage for their song called Life Goes On.

The best part at the end of the concert was the gaint purple balloons and conffeti that came out from the stage. I took some conffeti home with me and notice the conffeti was shaped after the designs of the Permission To Dance theme. Afterwards, when I was heading home one of the memebers of BTS was already live streaming on the social media app called VLive. I found it amusing and baffled since the live started fifteen minutes after the concert was over. To this day I have no idea how they were already at their hotel room.

Take To Considetration

The BTS conecrt was vastly different experience compare to Western artist concerts that I have been to. To give an example, the fans for BTS dress up in various forms for the event. 

Here is some pictures to showcase:

A fan dressed in a carrot costume.  From Pinterest

For more infromation this costume above is a reference to one of the members that dress up for their BTS 4th Muster in 2018. Below is the BTS member that the fan was dress as.

Jeon Jungkook in a carrot costume from their BTS 4th Muster event. From Pinterest

It is very common to see fans dress in references of certain inside jokes, outfits the memebers had worn in the past, or currently for their concerts. On the other hand some fans go a different route and dress accordingly to the theme of the concert or dress as the color of the fanbase of BTS. The fans also hand make their clothes to concert as well.

A fan dressed in a  Permission To Dance themed outfit. From Pinterest

A fan dressed in the color Light Purple. From Pinterest

As you see here the color that the fanbase uses is a Light Purple. The fans and BTS have calimed this color because of one of the members stated the words "I Purple You." on November 13 of 2016. This became known to express how much love both BTS and ARMYs (The name of the fans of BTS) have towards each other.

A fan dressed in hand painted pants based on the BTS member's themes. From Pinterest

In additon, there were a lot of booths in this concert compared to Western artist. The booths consisted on free small samples of a skin care products BTS had collaborated with, a place to take pictures, merchandise, and food. Lastly, KPop concerts have lightsticks for each KPop group. Lightsticks are an important part of the fandom as they are desgin to be used for concerts. It is a praticipation that fans can do if they want to. The lightstick can light up and is bluetooth connected to the stage's system which, allowed to change colors with BTS's songs. 

The lesson I learned:

This day made me learn that while I may have thought of the worst scenario due to having social anxiety, the concert exceeded any of my expectations. In this case I was glady to be proven wrong and had a fantastic time! I did discover that there were some mistakes made in the process and will take them into consideration when planning to attend another KPop concert. I would have liked to have gone through more of the booths. As a good saying my sister tells me. 

"When you go to the an event for the first time you are bound to make mistakes. Learn from them and prepare a better plan next time."

Be Prepared:

The biggest lesson I had was to be prepared. Below is a list of things that I would bring or do next time to a KPop concert. 

• Get a smaller stadium approved bag.  At the time I bought an Amazon clear bag that was too big for me to carry.
• Buy and use stadium ear plugs! After the concert I realized I have sensitive hearing since at some points in the concert I felt like I could only hear static noises.
• Get to the merchandise booth as early as possible!! The day I went to the concert it there was very warm weather and waiting to buy merchandise felt terrible under the sun. They had very long lines.
• Explore and attend the booths around the statdium. I admit I did not walk around a lot in the area around the statduim. However, I didn't choose to go to the booths they had because they all had long lines and I didn't feel I had the patience for it.
• Bring something to calm down my anxieties. I had a rubber duck I bought at Target before heading to the stadium. As it did help me calm down and not get any anxiety from the crowds of people. I realized it only work for the meantime and I should get a better object than a rubber duck.