Hi! It’s Annie!
I am a single Pringle and, though things are clearing up, I spent most of my Valentine’s Day inside due to Covid and wallowing in my singleness. Today is technically SAD (Singles Awareness Day), but I usually do most of my celebrating on Valentine’s Day by dressing up just for myself and eating a lot of chocolate. Of course, my Valentine’s Day has never been the same since I became a K-Pop stan. Instead of just passing by the topic altogether, I now joke that my Valentine this year is Kim Namjoon and continue on. I actually did quite a few things this Valentine’s Day that made it a pretty good day to me and most of it had to do with the comfort for me that is K-Pop. So I’m going to go through some of my favorite K-Pop things to do on Valentine’s Day with some other things thrown in. And my reaction to some news that we got yesterday as well! So this was my day yesterday! The general Valentine’s Day of a K-Pop stan.
Yunho and ATEEZ:
I’m going to start with this because I woke up to this yesterday and this is much less self care. Starting yesterday, a giant argument started regarding Yunho of ATEEZ that only gained more fuel today and has continued. Definitely not my favorite. This was because after the concert, many Yunho fans were complimenting Yunho on how great of a dancer he is and calling him the main dancer of the group; basically complimenting him on being one of the best fourth generation main dancers. Why would this start an argument? I have no idea. But it kind of did. Many other ATEEZ fans were saying that they shouldn’t be calling Yunho the main dancer because there isn’t actually an official dancer line for the group and saying that the other members should also be complimented. I think they were somehow thinking that this was solo stan behavior? It wasn’t. Yunho fans came back saying that Yunho often gets pushed into the background and that he leads all the dance practices, which makes him the main dancer. Also supporting him by sharing quotes from past interviews where he expressed frustration with being underestimated because people don’t think people as tall as he is can be good dancers. A main dancer standing at the height of 6’2” is not usual, but he’s one of the best dancers I’ve seen nonetheless. Yunho is one of the most under represented of the group and they have all said that he leads all of their dance practices. We even got recent footage of him leading a “Rocky” dance practice. He deserves this recognition, and pointing out the skills of individual members isn’t solo stan behavior. It only is if you’re pointing out the skills of one member to negate those of another. That’s not what was happening here. But I suppose seeing one of these arguments is natural for a stan on Valentine’s Day because something like this happens practically every day in some fandom or other.
More Covid:
This is also unfortunately kind of daily news right now. In the past couple days both San of ATEEZ and Taehyung of BTS have tested positive. They’re all vaccinated so none of them are getting any really bad sickness, thankfully. I just hope that we see the end of idols (and everyone else) getting Covid soon.
K-Dramas:
While not exactly K-Pop related, depending on the drama, I did watch some of my favorite compilations of my favorite K-Drama couples. I started a new K-Drama as well, though I ended up putting it down today because it was moving too slowly to keep my attention right now. I’m not going to say what it was, and it won’t really matter because I won’t review it anyways. But I always have my favorites to return to! For example, ‘Crash Landing on You’ has one of my favorite couples in it of all time with Jeonghyeok and Seri, and the couple is getting married in real life now! Congratulations to them! My favorite scene with them is probably still the scene where he takes one step across enemy lines just to kiss her. It makes me melt every time. Other K-Dramas that I highly recommend for the cute couples are ‘Vincenzo’, ‘Boys Over Flowers’, ‘Her Private Life’, and ‘Lovestruck in the City’. Those are probably my all-time favorites. ‘Vincenzo’ is surprisingly full of adorable couple moments despite the more action packed nature of the show. I should clarify that for ‘Boys Over Flowers’, I am definitely talking about Yi Jung and Ga Eul and not Jun Pyo and Jan Di. I actually made an entire post about why I like them best if you’re curious, but in short I think their story was more well rounded. ‘Her Private Life’ has such an understanding couple in it and it was made for K-Pop fans. (It also has one of my favorite first kiss scenes in a K-Drama.) ‘Lovestruck in the City’ is a lot more emotionally charged (A LOT more), but it is totally worth it if you’re prepared to cry. Though with that one I mainly mean the main couple, because the others go through some specific problems. It makes more sense when you watch it. But I really couldn’t think of many things to do, better than spending Valentine’s Day watching K-Dramas! It’s a good way to wallow.
BTS:
Now this is how I spent my evening and was definitely the highlight of my day. When my sister and I went to pick up dinner, the place we went to was playing an entire BTS playlist. We were definitely jamming out in the restaurant. How could you not? On top of that, Weverse just released old ‘Bon Voyage’ seasons and a bunch of concerts again. So my sister and I spent the night watching ‘Fifth Muster: Magic Shop’. This is one of my favorite BTS concerts of all time. Seriously, if I could go back in time to see one concert it would probably be this one. There’s something so warm and comforting about the ‘Magic Shop’ idea and this concert really established the magic of BTS. They create a community where everyone feels safe, heard, and understood. You can’t help but feel your worries slip away in the Magic Shop. And watching a BTS concert has to be one of my ultimate forms of self care. I still want to go back to a concert of theirs very badly and sometimes I can’t believe that I’ve already been to one. But I do miss the boys a lot. This concert also really makes me want to see ‘Pied Piper’, ‘Dimple’, and ‘Intro: School Luv Affair’ live sometime. But I’m going to be honest, I am more than happy with each and every song that they sing live. So really as long as I’m there, I’ll be happy with absolutely anything. In order to commemorate how I spent my Valentine’s Day, I did take a picture of my Tiny Tan Namjoon in front of the screen I was watching the concert on. Just so I know that this year I did spend the day with Kim Namjoon as my Valentine in a funny way. Gotta say, the company was superb.
I am absolutely certain that I am not the only person who spent their Valentine’s Day this way. I have no regrets and I don’t think any stan who spent it in any way that’s similar have any either. This is part of stanning! Like I said, you really can’t beat the company when you know you have the support and backing of some of your favorite people out there who you also unconditionally support. I had a lot of lighthearted fun this year, and I hope all of you beautiful people did too! Here’s to another Valentine’s Day as a K-Pop stan! Definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 