by Sueji Han, staff reporter
Small white earbuds buzz, vibrating in my ear. I feel someone tapping my shoulder and turn around, only to see my friend peering over my shoulder and trying to get a better look at what I’m listening to.
I pause the music and quickly remove my earbuds. The friend scoots closer to me and squints her eyes suspiciously.
“I never thought of asking you this, but what kind of music do you listen to?”
As I quickly erase all of my music apps, I point toward my phone screen.
“Oh, you know some pop, but I was looking at a video for some school work. I’m not listening to music right now.”
That’s a lie. People who know me would say that I do listen to music; all the time, actually. It’s just that I’m scared that people will judge me for my taste in music.
I live on a daily basis by listening to my favorite kind of music: Korean songs, but to be more exact: Kpop. I am part Korean, so I shouldn’t be ashamed of liking music from the culture I’m so connected to, but it scares me.
I have lived in America my entire life, but at home my parents live in the culture of how they used to live in Korea. As they watched more Korean movies, dramas and music, I found Kpop. I’ve been listening to Kpop songs from a young age; I’m not sure how or where I found to Kpop, but as time went by, it grew on me. When I’m upset, I listen to Kpop on repeat. As a high school student, we’re all stressed and find ways to relax so that we can get back to wherever we left off. To me, Kpop is the type of music I listen to when I have a problem or need some personal time. Music is one of the things that people talk about and can relate to, especially songs that follow a trend in the culture, making the song more popular than others. Usually with my friends, I like to talk about music and find the differences and similarities by sharing each other’s personal taste.
It’s just when other people ask me and I do say Kpop, they make fun of me and mock Korean music because I’m suppose to like the American style of music like the many of the Asian kids that live in America. Everyone knows that it isn’t right to make fun of people, but whether they know it or not, they do it anyways. That’s why, in some cases, I use different answers so they don’t judge me, because who wants to be embarrassed in public, especially when the matter is close to heart?
Recently, though, I have found a couple of friends that love Kpop as much as I do. As I started to see that they aren’t embarrassed about the style of music they like, I’ve found confidence and courage. I enjoy that people other than myself, mostly my Korean friends, are able to enjoy the music that I like. The more I talk about Kpop with them, the more I feel that eventually I will find the courage to tell others the real style of music that I like. As I make more friends and we get to know each other and they ask me, I feel like I will be prepared and will have a chance to tell them confidently that the type of music that I like is Kpop.
