Obsession

I've been obsessed with so many things in my lifetime.  Mostly music-related.  I remember my first music-related obsession: Westlife.  Sure, I liked The Backstreet Boys and Hanson but not as much as I absolutely loved Westlife.  They've disbanded earlier this year but they left more than 10 years of beautiful music and so many great memories.  I used to know every word, every adlib to all their songs from their first album to the third one.  I think I fell of the wagon a bit when my favorite, Bryan McFadden, quit the band.  My family spent upwards of PhP10,000 to attend their second concert in the Philippines.  My mom and I sat up front while my dad, younger brother, and grandmother sat up the general admission seats.  A Westlife fanclub was also the first and only "official" fanclub I joined.  I still love them and still know all the words to their songs.  I don't think they will totally leave me.

F4 came next.  Man, even I cannot believe how hard I fell for this Taiwanese boy band.  (Trust me when I say that I had/have a MAJOR boy band phase.  I am proud of that.)  How much, you ask?  I just know all the words to their first two albums... in Mandarin Chinese.  And I'm not joking... all the words, not phonetically.  I even know what they mean.  ALL the ringtones in my phone back in high school were Meteor Garden/F4-related and I don't even use ringtones!  I made it a point to know the words instead of just the sounds.  Actually, I can attribute the resurgence of my interest in guitar-playing to the Meteor Garden closing song, Ni Yao De Ai.

Another reason why F4 is so special to me is because that is the final concert where my dad took me.  He wasn't there with me inside the venue but he waited around the stadium until it finished to pick me up.  It was a fun night, don't get me wrong, but every time I remember that night, I'm just filled with incredible sadness.

After I calmed down a bit from F4-Fever, I swore never to do that again.  It's too emotionally draining!  I managed to curb it so many times.  I thought I fully outgrew my boy band phase.  And I thought I was doing a good job because after Meteor Garden, none of the Korean dramas that followed appealed to me.  None of the K-Pop wave got to me either.  I was too focused on F4 to even care.  Until 2NE1 came along...

But no, it's not 2NE1 I'm talking about here.  I got into 2NE1 because of Sandara Park.  I got to listening to some of their earlier songs and I thought Fire is absolutely fantastic.  No, my next budding obsession is for BIG BANG.  And to think I disliked their collaboration song with 2NE1, Lollipop.  (Notice the past tense.)  Recently, I listened to it again and it's like listening to a whole different song.  And yes, I know I am terribly late to the Big Bang party.

G-Dragon, Seungri, Taeyang, Daesung, TOP

I've binge-listened to many songs/albums in the past so I know an obsession bubbling up when I feel it.  I literally cannot stop listening to their songs.  There are a choice few but I honestly don't care what song it is as long as there is a Big Bang member singing in it.  Especially T.O.P.  Oh dear, Choi Seung Hyun.  Damn, you look like a girl more oft than not but hot damn, there's something about you, dude.  And that damn VOICE.

I digress.  Big Bang.  These boys are incredibly talented.  And they have honest to goodness AWESOME songs.  I've long ago given up in memorizing Korean songs by word; I've resigned myself in phonetic memorization and yet I find their songs gloriously stuck in my head, I'm singing along even without the music in my ears.  G-Dragon reminds me of Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day.  Both are devils in songwriting.  They manage to put out amazing song after amazing song.  G-Dragon is primarily a rapper but he managed to pen Monster, which to me is a genius of a song.  The same way that BJA penned Good Riddance after a career of punk music.  Daesung's voice is just... man, so emotional.  Taeyang is sauve.  Seungri, especially in Fantastic Baby, is awesome.  G-Dragon is a genius.  But TOP is... he's adorably dreamy.  I prefer him with black hair more than anything, by the way.  That deep voice is so distinct and man, I've fallen in love with that before I even saw what he looked like.

How can I say it's an obsession apart from the points mentioned previously?  Well, I can't stop watching videos of them on Youtube may it be performances or any random sighting.  I look up every version they have of their song.  I want to know if they've sung in English.  I want to know if they spoke English.  If they've acted.  If they have tattoos.  Everything!  But nothing creepy though.  ;-)

Big Bang will have a concert here in LA in November, I think and I'd be damned if I don't go.  I'm deciding whether or not to go to this Friday's 2NE1 concert at the Nokia Theatre.  I might end up going anyway so... *shrugs*. 

It's from my dad where I got my interest in live shows and concerts.  He loved going to shows and he would take us with him.  At the end of the day, it's him that I thank for opening up my eyes to different kinds of music and a wide range of entertainment.