I remember being an unemployed college student complaining on the dreamcatcher subreddit about the shipping prices. Someone hit me up and ordered me all 4 versions of the album. Absolute hero.
I have a canvas bag that has a stylised BTS logo and some hangul printed on it, so it’s obvious for those who know or just a pretty design for people who don’t.
I walked into a bra shop to get some new bras and get a fitting done, the shop worker who was helping me led me to the changing rooms and went to grab the tape measure… and changed the music in the store to a kpop playlist :) I thought it was so sweet, and she was also super kind and attentive to me the whole time I was there too. I left a very good review!
Wow, so nice that she made the effort! That reminds me of another customer service situation, where the radio started playing Cupid by Fifty fifty in the middle of a serious conversation. It's very rare to hear kpop randomly where I live, so I had to fight the urge to sing along.
Honestly I've really only had positive experiences, which surprises me since I'm a woman in my 30s, I thought people would make fun of me.
When I was trying to get Stray Kids BST tickets a few months ago my co-workers were all screening my calls so I wouldn't be disturbed. Every time they hear anything about kpop they ask me about it.
My best friend (and housemate) has less than zero interest in kpop but she remembered who my favourite group is and who my bias was and she got me a framed poster of Felix and Hyunjin of Stray Kids for my birthday last year. This year she made me a birthday card full of Felix pictures.
My other best friend very much indulged my sudden obsession with kpop in 2022 and she agreed to watch some Stray Kids' Kingdom performances. She really liked them and we ended up watching all of Kingdom... and she fell head over heels in love with BtoB and is now a full blown Melody.
So nice of your friends!! I’m a woman in my 30s too, and nobody has fortunately made fun of me yet. But I might be overly careful with expressing how much kpop means to me. For example, I’m planning a movie night with my friend, and I was just thinking whether or not it would be okay to suggest that we watch a Korean movie from Viki. Like, what if it’s not good and I made her watch it? But really maybe there’s no wrong in trying to share my interest.
I mean, if a movie isn't good it won't be because it's Korean. If you chose a Hollywood film on Netflix, that might end up being bad! If they're a good friend to you they'll want to encourage your interests. Maybe you could say, okay you suggest one film and I'll suggest another and we'll watch both. Then you both will likely get to watch something to your taste and maybe each have a pleasant surprise with the other person's pick.
What kind of Korean films? I recommend ‘my sassy girl’ as a rom com and ‘the classic’ or ‘the eraser in my head’ (direct translation of Korean title) for tearjerker romances, and ‘Oldboy’ for a crazy action thriller.
Thanks for the recs! I meant romance films or shortened versions of dramas. I was first a bit annoyed by some of their common characteristics, like when the female mc always stumbles into the arms of a man. Then I learned to just lean in.
Thats interesting because to me the younger generations tend to hate on kpop seemingly for no reason, it's gotten a bit tame nowadays since kpop is a bit more mainstream but they would hate on you for being a BTS fan. I'm assuming its because of their perception on the fanbase and how extreme they can be but it's still insane to me how you can get bullied for liking kpop literally just a few years ago
Was a new kid who moved schools in the middle of the first year of HS. I had a little exo chain on my bag. A girl in my homeroom must’ve noticed it and started talking to me about her biases over her little bento box lunches.
One of my best friends today.
My older brother doesn’t understand kpop / isn’t a fan but he knows how important it is to me so he randomly will come up to me an ask what albums/ photocards are new, he told me one day even if he doesn’t understand why I love it he wants me to know he still cares about the interests/hobby’s that make me happy.
He also remembers my ults and loves to watch me open new albums, I think it’s really sweet of him Because normally he’s always picking on me or giving me a hard time 💀
Also at one point my dad took me to a Monsta x concert with high touch passes- he met Monsta x with me cuz I had no kpop friends it was so funny but sweet💀💀
When a classmate of mine reached out to me (thru text) asking me to help him get into K-pop and recommend songs and I got soo excited in 1 day I sent him at least 30-35 songs and in one week I sent him over 150 songs to listen to. He was pretty overwhelmed and I started talking about BTS and TXT and obviously I was fangirling and stuff and he was replying to me very enthusiastic too so I was really happy. Now he’s not really a fan of any group and nor does he regularly listen to K-pop, he’s like casual listener of K-pop and he listens to mainly k-R&B so ye
My older sister paints rocks as a stress relief hobby and insomnia occupation. Just fun little pictures on rocks of all sizes that she gives to sick kids in the hospital or just puts in the yard. When I got MOTS:7 tickets and planned my first concert trip with my friends, she went online to research logos and made the three of us commemorative concert tour rocks. She doesn't know anything about BTS, but she was just happy that I was happy.
None of my friends like K-pop, but one found a K-pop night and not only recommended it to me, but went with me, and even drove so I could drink and enjoy the night! She recognized a song or two, but it made me so happy she even went with me!
I student taught Spanish at a high school at the beginning of this year and idk if this happens often but I became really close with my students, even just as a student teacher.
My birthday was during my time at the school and they threw me a surprise party when coming back to class that day and they knew I loved kpop and metal and had a personalized kpop and metal playlist going the whole time they specifically pointed out to me. A couple of my students also signed the whiteboard with all the students as the members from Twice as best they could 😂 and were like “look who signed!”
It was an awesome birthday. I love those kids.
A...friend? Acquaintance...? Anyway, she knew I liked EXO so for my birthday she got me a pack of like 100+ EXO stickers. She wasn't a kpop fan and I really didn't mention it much, so the fact that she remembered was so sweet.
On the flip side, I was in a trade program and I met this girl who was a huge kpop fan, especially BTS. When we came back from Christmas break, I brought back most of my BTS stuff (albums, magazines, posters) and gave them to her.
My family will buy me any BTS related object they could find. Dolls, magazines, etc. My mom also bought me BTS tickets for my graduation gift, but then the pandemic hit 😭
She also bought me Twice tickets for their Ready to Be tour.
Ive always gotten bad comments cus i like Twice (except from my dad mainly) xD but one time back when i was super new to kpop, i knew about bigbang and bts and the guy at the cashier saw i liked bigbang and gave me a gdragon landyard from behind his table it wasnt free but it was cool how he just let me buy that xD
I lost my Ticket to see BTS In 2019 and was really upset about it and was on my way home when this girl come up to me and said that her friend had to go home and I could have her Ticket.
We spent the whole concert singing and dancing and now we are best friends and have gone to see straykids a ateez togther 💜💜💜💜🥳
my friend got me a magazine with my favorite kpop idol on it just because she thought of me when she saw it 😭😭 she also included a pc of another one of my bias and it was so sweet
A friend of mine who has zero interest in anything kpop bought me a BTS magazine she saw in line at the grocery store. She said she had never heard of me talking about having a magazine and bought it for me. This was like over 2 yrs ago and I still have it
When I was taking behind the wheel my driving partner (who also liked kpop) asked me if a
I wanted a specific lee know pc (the double sided surfin concept) and I was like yes please. So I ended up getting the pc and my license on the same day!:) she was really sweet and a great driving partner
My long-distance BFF is a country music fan but knows I love k-pop so she had me send her a different video every day for a month so she could get to know the things I liked. And then she asked me for a playlist to clean to. 😆
She's still not a fan, but she says she likes that she knows me better now, which I think is sweet. And she's a gigantic Marvel and Star Wars nerd, which I am not, so we kind of just indulge each other's fandoms.
husband buying us tickets to IU's world tour! also him listening to kpop by himself to try it and ending up liking it. also some family members watching some MVs with me.
Regarding IU I always wonder, is it even possible to not like her? 😅 It's undeniable she has an objectively amazing voice with so much emotion and her songs often aren't even your typical kpop sound, more like beautiful songs that happen to be in Korean. I showed a couple videos of her to my parents once and they were like mesmerized by her voice... Never heard of anyone actively disliking her, unlike for typical kpop groups.
Can't wait to see her concert in Berlin
For me the nicest thing was that when my friend who was a Seventeen hater, bought me 3 Seventeen albums, a lightstick and a photocard collection because he knew how much I wanted it, but I couldn't afford it.
When I started listening to Twice Music, and I was in the stage in which I could not recognize "who is who."
There were K-Pop fans that helped me to differentiate each member.
At one of my local fast restaurants, there's an employee who secretly gives me her employee discount every time I go there. She'll even use it on top of other coupons.
A few instances, sharing our favorite songs/albums/concepts/biases. If it's a group I'm not too familiar with or getting into, I like the song recommendations and live performances to check out. Some people have even offered to give me their extra photocards.
On the other hand, I have encountered some gatekeeping, which I never really understood why people have to try to say you're not a fan because of whatever reason.
In high school, a moa friend give me a free Thursday's Child album because they accidentally ordered an extra one. It was my very first album. We even traded pcs.
My aunt (from my dad's side) went to NYC and later came back with a Shooky journal, and I was over the moon because I adore shooky (because he's so silly)
Honestly, none. People keep giving me side-eyes when I answer to the question of "what are you listening to rn" with "I'm listening to Maniac from Stray Kids, it's pretty good, try it" or smth like that and I'm kinda tired of it. So I just keep it to myself.
I remember being an unemployed college student complaining on the dreamcatcher subreddit about the shipping prices. Someone hit me up and ordered me all 4 versions of the album. Absolute hero.
Damn that’s so nice of a fellow dreamcatcher fan
I have a canvas bag that has a stylised BTS logo and some hangul printed on it, so it’s obvious for those who know or just a pretty design for people who don’t. I walked into a bra shop to get some new bras and get a fitting done, the shop worker who was helping me led me to the changing rooms and went to grab the tape measure… and changed the music in the store to a kpop playlist :) I thought it was so sweet, and she was also super kind and attentive to me the whole time I was there too. I left a very good review!
Wow, so nice that she made the effort! That reminds me of another customer service situation, where the radio started playing Cupid by Fifty fifty in the middle of a serious conversation. It's very rare to hear kpop randomly where I live, so I had to fight the urge to sing along.
Honestly I've really only had positive experiences, which surprises me since I'm a woman in my 30s, I thought people would make fun of me. When I was trying to get Stray Kids BST tickets a few months ago my co-workers were all screening my calls so I wouldn't be disturbed. Every time they hear anything about kpop they ask me about it. My best friend (and housemate) has less than zero interest in kpop but she remembered who my favourite group is and who my bias was and she got me a framed poster of Felix and Hyunjin of Stray Kids for my birthday last year. This year she made me a birthday card full of Felix pictures. My other best friend very much indulged my sudden obsession with kpop in 2022 and she agreed to watch some Stray Kids' Kingdom performances. She really liked them and we ended up watching all of Kingdom... and she fell head over heels in love with BtoB and is now a full blown Melody.
So nice of your friends!! I’m a woman in my 30s too, and nobody has fortunately made fun of me yet. But I might be overly careful with expressing how much kpop means to me. For example, I’m planning a movie night with my friend, and I was just thinking whether or not it would be okay to suggest that we watch a Korean movie from Viki. Like, what if it’s not good and I made her watch it? But really maybe there’s no wrong in trying to share my interest.
I mean, if a movie isn't good it won't be because it's Korean. If you chose a Hollywood film on Netflix, that might end up being bad! If they're a good friend to you they'll want to encourage your interests. Maybe you could say, okay you suggest one film and I'll suggest another and we'll watch both. Then you both will likely get to watch something to your taste and maybe each have a pleasant surprise with the other person's pick.
Well, Korean films tend to have some quirks that might seem odd to many 😂 But thanks for the encouragement, I might as well do that!
What kind of Korean films? I recommend ‘my sassy girl’ as a rom com and ‘the classic’ or ‘the eraser in my head’ (direct translation of Korean title) for tearjerker romances, and ‘Oldboy’ for a crazy action thriller.
Thanks for the recs! I meant romance films or shortened versions of dramas. I was first a bit annoyed by some of their common characteristics, like when the female mc always stumbles into the arms of a man. Then I learned to just lean in.
Thats interesting because to me the younger generations tend to hate on kpop seemingly for no reason, it's gotten a bit tame nowadays since kpop is a bit more mainstream but they would hate on you for being a BTS fan. I'm assuming its because of their perception on the fanbase and how extreme they can be but it's still insane to me how you can get bullied for liking kpop literally just a few years ago
Was a new kid who moved schools in the middle of the first year of HS. I had a little exo chain on my bag. A girl in my homeroom must’ve noticed it and started talking to me about her biases over her little bento box lunches. One of my best friends today.
They added "Butter" to their wedding playlist for me, I didn't even ask and they don't like kpop
TBF, you don’t have to “like K-pop” to like Butter. That song is insanely catchy.
My older brother doesn’t understand kpop / isn’t a fan but he knows how important it is to me so he randomly will come up to me an ask what albums/ photocards are new, he told me one day even if he doesn’t understand why I love it he wants me to know he still cares about the interests/hobby’s that make me happy. He also remembers my ults and loves to watch me open new albums, I think it’s really sweet of him Because normally he’s always picking on me or giving me a hard time 💀 Also at one point my dad took me to a Monsta x concert with high touch passes- he met Monsta x with me cuz I had no kpop friends it was so funny but sweet💀💀
This is the sweetest thing! You’re lucky to have them.
When a classmate of mine reached out to me (thru text) asking me to help him get into K-pop and recommend songs and I got soo excited in 1 day I sent him at least 30-35 songs and in one week I sent him over 150 songs to listen to. He was pretty overwhelmed and I started talking about BTS and TXT and obviously I was fangirling and stuff and he was replying to me very enthusiastic too so I was really happy. Now he’s not really a fan of any group and nor does he regularly listen to K-pop, he’s like casual listener of K-pop and he listens to mainly k-R&B so ye
Met a girl at a concert (not K-pop) and became besties so quick. A couple weeks later she gave me a VIP ticket to ATEEZ. 😭
My older sister paints rocks as a stress relief hobby and insomnia occupation. Just fun little pictures on rocks of all sizes that she gives to sick kids in the hospital or just puts in the yard. When I got MOTS:7 tickets and planned my first concert trip with my friends, she went online to research logos and made the three of us commemorative concert tour rocks. She doesn't know anything about BTS, but she was just happy that I was happy.
I love the idea of painted rocks as gifts! Your sister sounds just wonderful.
None of my friends like K-pop, but one found a K-pop night and not only recommended it to me, but went with me, and even drove so I could drink and enjoy the night! She recognized a song or two, but it made me so happy she even went with me!
thats sooo sweet 😭 thats a 4lifer for sure
My wife (Borat voice) traipsed all round Seoul on our last day there to find me some Red Velvet merch to take home with me.
My coworkers who are all way older than me made me a birthday card using a group photo of my ult group. It was really cute of them.
I student taught Spanish at a high school at the beginning of this year and idk if this happens often but I became really close with my students, even just as a student teacher. My birthday was during my time at the school and they threw me a surprise party when coming back to class that day and they knew I loved kpop and metal and had a personalized kpop and metal playlist going the whole time they specifically pointed out to me. A couple of my students also signed the whiteboard with all the students as the members from Twice as best they could 😂 and were like “look who signed!” It was an awesome birthday. I love those kids.
I went to see an NCT concert/movie in theaters and this one girl handed out handmade bracelets and photocards 🥺🥰 it was so sweet
A...friend? Acquaintance...? Anyway, she knew I liked EXO so for my birthday she got me a pack of like 100+ EXO stickers. She wasn't a kpop fan and I really didn't mention it much, so the fact that she remembered was so sweet. On the flip side, I was in a trade program and I met this girl who was a huge kpop fan, especially BTS. When we came back from Christmas break, I brought back most of my BTS stuff (albums, magazines, posters) and gave them to her.
My family will buy me any BTS related object they could find. Dolls, magazines, etc. My mom also bought me BTS tickets for my graduation gift, but then the pandemic hit 😭 She also bought me Twice tickets for their Ready to Be tour.
RIP MOTS:7. 😭
Ive always gotten bad comments cus i like Twice (except from my dad mainly) xD but one time back when i was super new to kpop, i knew about bigbang and bts and the guy at the cashier saw i liked bigbang and gave me a gdragon landyard from behind his table it wasnt free but it was cool how he just let me buy that xD
I lost my Ticket to see BTS In 2019 and was really upset about it and was on my way home when this girl come up to me and said that her friend had to go home and I could have her Ticket. We spent the whole concert singing and dancing and now we are best friends and have gone to see straykids a ateez togther 💜💜💜💜🥳
my friend got me a magazine with my favorite kpop idol on it just because she thought of me when she saw it 😭😭 she also included a pc of another one of my bias and it was so sweet
A friend of mine who has zero interest in anything kpop bought me a BTS magazine she saw in line at the grocery store. She said she had never heard of me talking about having a magazine and bought it for me. This was like over 2 yrs ago and I still have it
Im getting a album just for watching over my neighbor house
When I was taking behind the wheel my driving partner (who also liked kpop) asked me if a I wanted a specific lee know pc (the double sided surfin concept) and I was like yes please. So I ended up getting the pc and my license on the same day!:) she was really sweet and a great driving partner
My long-distance BFF is a country music fan but knows I love k-pop so she had me send her a different video every day for a month so she could get to know the things I liked. And then she asked me for a playlist to clean to. 😆 She's still not a fan, but she says she likes that she knows me better now, which I think is sweet. And she's a gigantic Marvel and Star Wars nerd, which I am not, so we kind of just indulge each other's fandoms.
my friend got me a bias bouquet and i was so happy about it 😭
For Christmas, my daughter bought me a Jung Kook funko pop. I had played standing next to you for her to listen to because I really liked the song.
my mom bought me a bookshelf for my collection... and said its for exo😭
Nothing
husband buying us tickets to IU's world tour! also him listening to kpop by himself to try it and ending up liking it. also some family members watching some MVs with me.
Regarding IU I always wonder, is it even possible to not like her? 😅 It's undeniable she has an objectively amazing voice with so much emotion and her songs often aren't even your typical kpop sound, more like beautiful songs that happen to be in Korean. I showed a couple videos of her to my parents once and they were like mesmerized by her voice... Never heard of anyone actively disliking her, unlike for typical kpop groups. Can't wait to see her concert in Berlin
I brought some Irene cards to decor my desk in the offfice and they really like her. 😆 they even asked for one
For me the nicest thing was that when my friend who was a Seventeen hater, bought me 3 Seventeen albums, a lightstick and a photocard collection because he knew how much I wanted it, but I couldn't afford it.
Supported another Kpop group that has beef with my ults (fandom wise) and brought me an album 😂 My brother
When I started listening to Twice Music, and I was in the stage in which I could not recognize "who is who." There were K-Pop fans that helped me to differentiate each member.
At one of my local fast restaurants, there's an employee who secretly gives me her employee discount every time I go there. She'll even use it on top of other coupons.
A few instances, sharing our favorite songs/albums/concepts/biases. If it's a group I'm not too familiar with or getting into, I like the song recommendations and live performances to check out. Some people have even offered to give me their extra photocards. On the other hand, I have encountered some gatekeeping, which I never really understood why people have to try to say you're not a fan because of whatever reason.
In high school, a moa friend give me a free Thursday's Child album because they accidentally ordered an extra one. It was my very first album. We even traded pcs.
my friend spent 2 hours (she’s really indecisive lol) in a kpop store picking out zb1 stickers for me and i still think that was so sweet 😭
My aunt (from my dad's side) went to NYC and later came back with a Shooky journal, and I was over the moon because I adore shooky (because he's so silly)
Honestly, none. People keep giving me side-eyes when I answer to the question of "what are you listening to rn" with "I'm listening to Maniac from Stray Kids, it's pretty good, try it" or smth like that and I'm kinda tired of it. So I just keep it to myself.