It all started in December 2024 when APT song was trending everywhere, especially on TikTok. I liked the song and was vibing to it. At first, it didn’t cause any issue, but since then TT kept showing me BP content, and I ended up binging on them. By late February 2025, I felt like I might actually be starting to like BP and in early March I felt positive that I'm into BP and somehow I didn't feel comfortable with it bc they were too popular for me to stan. (I typically stan something that no one else in town knows about, plus it's weird for me to like a Kpop group bc I'm not that guy - I used to think if you like Kpop then you have a bad taste in music) At this phase everything hit different, I started to feel uncomfortable whenever I saw anything BP related including APT song. At one point, I was at the computer with my colleague and we accidentally bump on a video about APT on Youtube, my heart started pounding and I didn't feel good so I went to the restroom to calm down, I begged 'Please get rid of this feeling I had for BP' and I really meant it. Around that time I decided to uninstall TT. Moving forwards to mid March, I went to a minimarket and saw NewJeans on a Pepero box, never heard of them before, and after going there a couple of times, things crossed my mind 'what if I check out another girl group, maybe it can distract me for BP' so I decided to start finding out about NJ, I watched lot of clips of them on X. Whenever I think about BP I quickly watch NJ videos. Anyway, since that, a lot of NJ stuff flooding my feed, and I learned they were involved in a lawsuit that I didn't really understand at that point, I was like what is Hybe? what is Ador? who is Hanni? I was so desperate to escape BP so I ate all the articles and news about NJ to distract me from BP. During that phase, a couple of times I felt like 'Nah NJ isn't for me' but I kept watching them anyway bc my knowledge about other gg was very limited. Before 2025 a Kpop gg I knew were only SNSD, BP and FiftyFifty, I remember when I was a freshman, my friend told me he likes SNSD, at that time Mr. Simple was popular, I think it was around 2011, so that was the very first time I came across Kpop. Back to topic, In early April I think I started to like NJ for real (I kept it secret ofc, I had few friends who were into kpop, if they knew I like a Kpop group I'll be embarrassed for life) and I binged watching their clips on insta and YT shorts, clips I watched were a diary-like videos. All of the sudden their lawsuit news started to make me uncomfortable, but I ignored it, so I kept eating their updates on X and a megathread, I really went down the NJ rabbit hole and Kpop in general, big mistake!. I kept binging on NJ clips all the way to May, my feeling for BP slowly fade away, I swear everything had been shifted to NJ but it's far from better. I started to feel infuriated by the drama around them, like I had my own problems and I don't need to get caught up in other people’s mess, plus the football team I support has been in the downfall era for years so I've had enough of problems. By mid-May, my feelings for NJ growing stronger but at the same time I didn’t want to get invested, I felt that was the sign I needed to stop, and I realized I was just playing with fire. I took a break from reddit and quit X for good, I decided to stay away from anything NJ related, when I went to the minimarket I tried my best not to stare at the Pepero boxes. Now, I hadn’t watched any of NJ’s clips for months. During that time I re-installed TT, since my feelings for BP had gone away I can enjoy APT again, it distracted me a bit from NJ but a few NJ related videos somehow sneaked into my fyp, I scrolled quick, I almost got heart attack whenever vt about NJ popped up. As for their music, I haven't heard much, only Ditto and a bit of Super Shy, tbh Kpop is still not my cup of tea. I listened to Ditto on repeat and I still couldn't understand why people think it's a good song, to me most Kpop songs sound similar, if you play Ditto and then you play any IVE song, and tell people that the two songs were form the same group, they'd believe you. I don't think there are any idols who have a recognizable voice. Apart from APT (if it's count as Kpop) Kpop songs which I think had quality were Cupid and Love Shot. I wasn't actually a fan of today's music in general either, there were only few songs in the last 10 years that made it into my playlist, I think Coldplay haven't made a great song since Viva La Vida. Deep inside there's still part of me who wants to explore NJ mvs and engage in Kpop community, but I know if I'm doing that there's no return for me. I wonder if Kpop industry put a spell on you, I mean, they knew human psychology well, they knew how to get you hooked and to make you like them. My knowledge about Kpop group is going to the moon this year, I somehow ended up knowing the likes of NCT, Enhypen, IVE, Kiikii, Triple S, Kepler, Meovvy, Illit, Seventeen, Kiss of Life, Gfriend, Gdragon etc, somehow a little part of me felt embarrassed for knowing all those, other part of me feels like you can’t be a fan of a Kpop group and think you’re the coolest person on earth, BUT I'm more open to Kpop songs now, if there's a banger I'll take it as a guilty pleasure. 2025 has been the year of something else, I wish I could go back to January when my life was still normal. submitted by /u/Gullible-Distance594 [link] [comments]
