Debut. Bias. Maknae. Leader. Line. Lightstick. Comeback. Aegyo. Visual. Idol.

These words in a row may sound a tad nonsensical to the uninitiated but trust me, they belong together. These are just some of the terms associated with one of the biggest music industries in the world: K-pop.

What is that? Well, the simplest definition is Korean popular music. For a longer answer it’s a music industry that trains pop music stars, or ‘idols’, and mashes up different types of music with pop, like hip hop, rap, rock, electronic, salsa, reggae, etc. The artists perform intricate dance numbers, have fans all over the world, and some music videos get millions, if not billions, of views online. And with the group Stray Kids having made their way through Toronto at the end of June (I was there!) and the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters now on Netflix this seemed like a great time to gush a little bit about one of my favorite sources of music.

Chances are if you’re not already in the fandom you’ve probably heard a K-pop song or two. The song “Gangnam Style” by PSY was insanely popular back in 2012 (BTW that music video has acquired 5.6 billion with a B views since it showed up on YouTube 12 years ago). Recently a few artists have released music in English that has made its way to our airwaves. BTS’s “Dynamite” and “Butter” are two examples.

For my own experience I’m not by any means a longtime fan. I was a full-fledged adult when this latest wave of popularity came to our part of the world, and some would not consider me the target demographic (though fans of all ages exist, including fans much older than I am). So let me tell you how I became a fan as I approached middle age.

My first exposure to K-pop was, like a lot of people, probably “Gangnam Style”. A great song and a fun anomaly in my little world but that was about it. Then in 2018 BTS entered my orbit. I watched their performances of “Idol” and “Fine” on Jimmy Fallon and was intrigued. Having been a teen during the 90s boy band craze (Backstreet Boys for life!) I saw that same passion in the fans screaming from the audience for these seven guys on stage singing, rapping and dancing. I downloaded a few of their songs, and songs from other artists, but I was still just a dabbler at this point.

Then 2020 happened and all the uncertainty, fear, isolation and anger that came with it. But in late summer BTS released the song “Dynamite”. At first glance it’s just a fun dance tune with somewhat nonsensical lyrics with a bit of a retro feel overall. To me though, it hit something deep down. It was one of the things during that heavy and oppressive time period that reminded me there was still colour, fun, dancing, music and style out there in the world, just waiting for us when this all blew over.

And from then on, fandom mode unlocked. I’ve seen the memes of someone lamenting “I only wanted to know their names” and then plunging into everything else that comes with being a K-pop fan, and that was certainly my experience. The music, sure, but the videos, the tv appearances, the live chats, the concerts, the merch, the other fans, the fanart and edits and stories. Sharing your biases (favorite members). Learning the names of different fan groups (BTS fans are ARMY, Stray Kids fans are STAY, Blackpink fans are Blinks, Twice fans are ONCE, etc.)

My first concert was P1Harmony a couple of years back (Fun fact, one of the members of that group, Keeho, was born and raised in Toronto! He’s a local boy, so that concert was a homecoming for him.) Then on June 29th of this year Stray Kids rolled into the brand-new Rogers Stadium for their very first show not just in Toronto but in Canada, and it was the last stop of the North American leg of their DominATE world tour. It was special night. Standing in the crowd with all the other fans, waving my lightstick as it changed colours, screaming and singing along. It was powerful. It was fun. It was magic.

Now there’s no way I can do this topic justice in the short amount of writing space I have here. There are so many things! There are controversies and dark sides, there’s history, there are cultural elements and hiatuses, there’s the idea that K-pop is an example of soft power on the global stage, there are legitimate concerns about exploitation of artists, there are many artists and more debuting all the time. And I still don’t know anywhere even close to everything about it. So here are some books and resources to check out with my patented K-Pop list on Bibliocommons and the K-Pop collection on Hoopla.

Lots of great titles there for different age groups. I asked some fellow VPL library staff who are also fans for some suggestions as well. For must-listen albums one staff member recommends Love Yourself: Answer by BTS and Oddinary by Stray Kids. For books, another staff member recommends K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee and Beyond the Story: 10 Year Record of BTS by Myeongseok Kang. I and other staff absolutely have to give a shoutout to The Yakuza’s Bias by Teki Yatsuda, a manga series that tells the tale of Ken, a hardened Yakuza criminal who becomes the biggest fan of a K-pop group and one of their members in particular. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe and if you’re a fan of anything at all you will absolutely get it.

Thank you for letting me fangirl. Here’s hoping more bands come to the GTA to show off their stuff. Happy listening and reading!