OBSESSION, THY NAME IS K-POP

A long time ago, the summer before I went off to study in the uni, I was head over heels over an Asian waiter who worked in a recently opened Chinese restaurant in a city near my hometown. I remember begging my parents every time we went to Douglas, AZ, so we could go eat at that particular restaurant with the excuse that last time I hadn’t had any spicy chicken and needed to have me some of that. I’m telling you, this waiter was so worth having to do compromises with my Mom in which whatever outfit I’d want I would trade it for the pleasure of going to this oriental buffet.

His bleached hair was shoulder length and at some point had been dyed orange I think. It was a look I hadn’t seen on any guy before, but it totally worked on him. Every time I saw him it was like The Carpenters would start playing in the background, he was so cute. Although his English skills were limited, as a waiter he was very attentive, and I always tried to make sure his tips were generous.

I know he remembered me after the first time we ate there, and afterwards, even when we were sitting in a section that wasn't his, he would always stop and ask if everything was OK in his thick Chinese accent. As cute as his gesture was, he did had the worst timing because he inevitably directed that question at me (since I was the only one who actually understood what he said), but he would come up at the exact moment I’d be stuffing my face with a whole dumpling.

Of course, I never amounted the enough courage to approach him in a Carly Rae Jepsen manner and at least give him my email address, cause talking on the phone would be out of the question. Had I done something of the sort, there’s a possibility we could’ve connected and had a romance as hot as the wonton soup. Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve, right?

Anyways, that was my first and only crush from the orient I had in my entire life. That is, until now.

I’ve told you before about how I obsess sometimes right? Well, let me tell you that these days I’ve been geeking out hard on pop music. After years of listening solely to indie music and trying to find the most underground artists out there, all of a sudden I’m fixated in pop music. But not just any pop, it’s the kind of pop that has to have a letter hyphened before it. I’m talking about the catchy-stick-to-your-brain beats of K-Pop.

Let me explain. It all started with this video, which I saw through Gawker. Let’s just say that, like it did to a whole lot of people on the western hemisphere, it made my day. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you do, because it’s the most entertaining music video seen in a while (but, then again, I do watch only indie and underground music so excuse me if I might be wrong). I was interested in watching more videos from Psy when I noticed the “related videos” list on Youtube and I clicked on it. That was all it took. Psy was my gateway to K-Pop and its most popular young artists.

I feel awkward fangirling a boyband when the last time I was so excited about watching a group of guys dancing and singing in unison, Backstreet Boys were dropping their Millenium album. That was over twelve years ago. Back then it was normal for my teenage self to go nuts learning the dance sequence in ‘Larger than life’ and learning the lyrics to ‘I want it that way’ in just two takes. I was a hard core fan, and I idolized Nick Carter. It seems like it was eons ago, so much has changed since, but now I feel like I am a teenager again wanting to dance to songs like this or this. (The last video is of my favorite group so far... and it is indeed a boy, I don't care what anybody says, he is an adorable maknae).

So, what to do when your latest guilty pleasure/ obsession du jour makes you feel like you are way behind and too old for it? I have no answers, I just keep feeding my fixations until I grow tired of it. Basically, that’s what I do. I’ll love you till I’m sick of you. 

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