as mentioned earlier, i started to become interested in Asian pop - in this particular case, J-pop - since the final installment of 'Hana Yori Dango'. in the credits when the movie ended, i saw "One Love - Arashi", well, something like that, i don't really remember the exact phrase or words arrangement. not long after that, i looked up on YouTube and found the PV for 'One Love'. [note: in J-pop, PV stands for promotional video, which is a term used to refer to a music video (MV).] i could recognise MatsuJun right away since he played the main character in Hana Yori Dango. in the PV, the five of them are wearing white outfits and the setting has a dreamy flower garden thingy going on. i would show you the PV here but it has been removed from online video-streaming sites that i know of. speaking of removed videos, it's now super hard to find J-pop PVs or official recordings. i suppose it's due to the policy or regulations made by the Japanese entertainment industry. illegal airing and uploading of official J-pop videos are not tolerated. it might be one of their ways to curb piracy and plagiarism. so, it's really hard to find PVs of J-pop artistes on any free online video-streaming sites these days. as sad as it is for international fans, i understand why they do that. so, if you happen to come across a PV or music show recording that is recently uploaded by someone, watch it right away before it gets removed. okay, back to Arashi! from the day i watched the PV, i searched for more information about the group. instantly, i became a fan! since Arashi is under Johnny's Entertainment, i also came to know other talents from that agency. KAT-TUN, NEWS, Ya-ya-yah [this group no longer exists. it was my favourite Johnny's Junior group. i miss Yamashita Shoon! :( ], Kanjani 8, Hey! Say! Jump!, Mis-Snow-Man, and ABC-Z were some of the groups that i had been checking out. i know that some of the names may sound tacky but the members are talented, alright. it's the management in their agency who came up with such names.
here are a few Arashi videos that i manage to find (while i'm typing for this blog's post). watch them before they're deleted!
PV for 'Love So Sweet':
PV for 'Monster':
'Subarashiki Sekai' performance at their concert:
'Be With You' performance at their concert:
'Hatenai Sora' performance in a variety show:
one regular Arashi-hunting day, i casually searched for Arashi-related videos online. i wanted to see if there was any video that featured their song 'Blue'. it's a catchy and melodious song that i like very much. one of the suggested videos was this [thank God this video is still available!]:
i couldn't recognise the guys in this performance video. what i knew was, they were singing Arashi's song. gosh, they looked charming! *easily blinded by eye-candies* i read comments below the video and figured out that the group is called 'B2ST' (pronounced as "beast") and they're South Korean singers.
some time after that, there was a commercial on MTV Asia, promoting a pre-debut documentary of a K-pop group. i didn't give much attention to it because i was not interested in K-pop, really. however, i checked it out just out of curiosity. the MTV commercial mentioned that the group's name was B2ST. yes, the same B2ST who sang Arashi's song in the video i unintentionally watched before. being oblivious (but i didn't mean to), i wasn't aware of that, not even when i started to watch the documentary on MTV. told you i wasn't a fan of K-pop. even when i wasn't into K-pop, i still took the time to watch how the K-pop group members dreamed high and worked hard towards their dreams. without realising it, i was attracted to the group. i bet my fangirlish conscience was like "girl...you're falling for them but you don't even know it yet." yeah..whatever~ after watching several episodes of the documentary, it suddenly crossed my mind that i might have seen the group somewhere before. my memory told me that the South Korean group was the one singing my precious Arashi's 'Blue' some time ago. i believed what my memory told me and searched for the same video once again. bingo! it was the same B2ST. somehow it felt like destiny.....i was very much into Arashi (still am), and B2ST sang their song, which video i happened to bump into. in that performance video, there were five members of B2ST but the group actually consists of six members. the maknae, Son Dong Woon, wasn't part of the group yet at that time. "B2ST" means "Boys-to-search-for-the-top", which portrays the desire to be on the journey to become the best. later, the name officially became "BEAST", which means "Boys of the East Standing Tall". the inspiration to come up with the name "BEAST" came from an American choreographer (or is it a songwriter?? or what?? IDK.), who commented "that's so beast!" - a phrase that's equivalent to "that's amazing!" - when he was at CUBE Entertainment.
one afternoon in 2010, i was having my lunch break and ended up at a Speedy outlet [Speedy is one of the stores that sell CDs, DVDs, and VCDs.]. my visit to that store came from my habit of frequently checking out if there was any newly released drama DVD that i hadn't bought. my DVD-buying impulse is under control now, though. as i scanned through the CDs on the "Featured Section" in the store, one album caught my eyes. it was 'Shock of the New Era - Asian Version', the second mini album by BEAST. attached to the CD, were a t-shirt and a showcase ticket. as if being hypnotised, i bought the CD without thinking twice. that rarely happened, considering that i wasn't officially a fan of the group and my commitment was solely towards Arashi. furthermore, the CD costed RM100++! call me crazy~ i really am. later, i realised that the CD costed that much because of the ticket that came along with it (might be the t-shirt too). it was a ticket to BEAST's showcase in KL. i couldn't be bothered by that ticket at that time, so i just put it aside and listened to the tracks in the CD. oh yeah, i enjoyed the songs in the CD~ i then proclaimed myself as a fan of BEAST, the first ever K-pop group that i truly like.
it's funny, isn't it?
i started out as an Asian-drama-lover. --- a J-drama introduced me to a J-pop group. --- the J-pop group led me to a K-pop group.
it's a wonderful (though expensive) fandom-filled life that i'm living. they make me happy. :)
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