By K.T.: Pandemic, Penthouse, and K-Plot Twists

I never planned to become a K-pop fan. My first brush with Korean pop culture came in 2012, when PSY galloped into global consciousness with Gangnam Style. It was fun, catchy, and ridiculously addictive. But just as quickly as the earworm hit my playlists, it disappeared.

K-pop, however, didn’t fade. Acts like BIGBANG and SHINee were making waves, but I wasn’t paying attention. After all, I’d already been through my girl- and boyband phase with NKOTB, the Spice Girls, and the Backstreet Boys. It all felt overly generic, squeaky clean, cheesy—and I wasn’t looking for a sequel.

And then came YouTube, relentlessly recommending one video: Carpool Karaoke with BTS.

Out of curiosity (or algorithmic fatigue), I finally clicked. What followed was twenty minutes of chaotic charm, seatbelt dancing, and the kind of genuine energy that is uniquely BTS. Seven guys I had never seen before made me jump down a rabbit hole, somehow making me care for them more than I should. Next came a marathon of Run BTS! episodes, artsy music videos, and a bunch of odd young men I suddenly wanted to adopt (any V-biases out there?).

BTS became more than just a band whose music I happened to like. They became my companions during the pandemic, when the real world started to feel out of reach. Still, I assumed this was a phase I’d grow out of once life returned to normal.

But then, something funny happened. Or rather, something I never saw coming. My pandemic-born, slightly embarrassing, very much under-the-radar K-pop fascination suddenly collided head-on with my real-world, very polished professional life.

At the time, I was working in the five-star luxury hotel sector in London—tailored suits, immaculate lobbies, champagne service, the works. When the borders finally reopened and the world began to shuffle back into motion, the usual crowd returned: diplomats, Hollywood names, a few royals here and there. But then something shifted. Suddenly, our inboxes were lighting up with requests for Korean artists.

And just like that, the global phenomenon that had quietly made its way into my heart was checking into my hotel.

It was surreal. One moment, I was devouring Run BTS! episodes on my commute, the next I was noting down specific room preferences and dietary requirements for people I’d only ever seen on my screen. (But if you’re here hoping for secrets: sorry to disappoint. I’m not in the business of spilling tea that was shared in confidence.)

Still, that moment—when these two worlds overlapped—did something to me. It was like a switch flipped. The music, which had already pulled me in, suddenly felt even more layered. The artists became more than distant stars. I wanted to understand more. Not just about them, but about where they came from and their language.

So, I went all in. I signed up for Korean classes. I started reading books by Korean authors (PS: I have an article about this in the works too, learning the history and the heart of a country that had quietly crept under my skin. And in time, that curiosity became something more—a new purpose, a new direction, a new adventure I hadn’t even known I was looking for.

And that’s how it all began. That’s what led me to my SeoulShare journey.

By Fia: Of small and big happiness

For me it started with a video that my Youtube-Algorithm suggested (which I until this day am thankful for). Before that I had never consciously had any contact with media from the east as I only listened to western music and watched western movies/series. Maybe I had watched one or two Bollywood movies but that’s really it. I cannot recall what made me click on the video- but I can clearly remember the feeling of being absolutely flabbergasted by it. The vocals, the fashion, the choreography, the design, production quality and the visuals were so top notch, new and different that I was captivated immediately.

Mentioned video was “Fake Love” by BTS. Completely hooked, I started out by listening to their music, watching their music-videos and variety shows until I was finally able to tell the members apart. Nowadays I cannot even understand how I couldn’t distinguish them as they have pretty distinct features. I started to see beyond the surface of the, from the western perspective, feminine exterior of the idols and learned a completely different view on masculinity. To see how close the members were, how lovingly they interacted with each other-even physically- was somewhat healing for me to watch: no toxic masculinity there, just brotherly love. Really, it felt as if my eyes were opened to a completely different world, and I wanted to learn more. 

In the beginning I intuitively connected with the sound of their music, then I deeply linked with their lyrics. Emotions I didn’t know I had and emotions I had never shared with anyone, BTS’s voices and words made me feel all that. I felt so understood and inspired. Especially their message of learning how to love oneself loudly and unapologetically, a process sometimes ugly and hard, spoke to a desperate and lost part of me. There is a saying that your K-Pop group will find you when you need them the most and I can say this is true for me. At the time I was struggling a lot with family issues and additionally the COVID-pandemic hit. During all of that BTS was an anchor for me. 

And it wasn’t only the group, but also their fans. Living in a town with 30,000 residents, there was no such thing as a K-Pop scene. I had one friend who also listened to K-Pop, so any other interaction was with the online-community. One might think that that is not very personal but surprisingly enough, the bond of our shared passion is strong enough to transcend space. Watching the latest releases always brought a smile to my face and chatting about these with other fans was equally fun. And of course, the highlight, joining BTS’s live-streams was always exciting. It was so cool to see what my favorite idols were doing in that very moment and to connect with them. Oftentimes, this made me realize how amazing it is to exist at this very same time. Serendipity, one might call it 😉

While listening to BTS, I also started watching Korean movies and series. Repeatedly, I was blown away by the mindblowing quality. Through those I learned a lot more about the culture, which helped me understand the members backgrounds and the context. I found myself fascinated by the collectivistic society and its practices, which are so different from our western, individualistic society. Personally, I do appreciate the freedom of individualistic expression in our culture, but I have always felt overwhelmed by the absence of clear patterns of behaviour in our society. From my point of view, being given clear rules for social interaction (based on the hierarchy of age) felt oddly liberating to me. The Confucianist essence resonated with me, and I felt like this was something I really needed to experience myself in person. 

For some time, it had been my personal challenge to travel all by myself. It was something I had always found cool but had always been too afraid to do and didn’t have the motivation to get out of my comfort zone. My curiosity about Korea was the final push I needed to push myself across the cliff and I booked a one-way ticket to Korea. My friends and family were sceptical, a young woman traveling to Asia all by alone? Sounded dangerous to them. But my mind was set – even when my trip was cancelled because of another COVID-wave and I lost all the money I had spent on my bookings, I saved up again and waited until I had some free time after the completion of my undergraduate degree – and I went. 

I stayed for five weeks. I won’t go into detail and rather write another article about it but the fact that afterwards I decided to do a year of Work and Travel in Korea says it all. Up to this day my heart is filled with the wonderful memories I made there, at special places, with lovely people. As an introvert, it was sometimes hard for me to connect with others, but I found that K-Pop is an icebreaker like no other: The moment you ask someone about their bias, you get to talking immediately. This shows again what a wonderful link this shared interest is. Altogether one might say that BTS encouraged me to take this huge step to travel to the other end of the world by myself and helped me find connections there. How great is that?

After returning to my home country, my life changed a lot. I started a new job and have somewhat settled down. I miss Korea and often have the wish to go back, at least for vacation, but altogether I am happy the way things are now. With K-Pop even my routine doesn’t get boring because there’s always something new to explore. It feels amazing to be part of a fandom, a movement. Nowadays I listen to a lot of different K-Pop artists, but BTS will always hold a very special place in my heart. BTS were, and still are, my 소확행, my small but certain happiness. I cannot wait to see what’s going to happen after their discharge and I’m sure: the best moment is yet to come.

How did you get into K-Pop and who is your bias in BTS? Leave your story in the comments 💜