X Never Marks the Spot

Getting into BTS, fanning on a band, one thing that didn't really occur to me was how it could impact my relationship with music.

My musical tastes have always been really basic. I like what I like and so I've collected a diverse playlist over time (Jpop from anime, miscellaneous songs from fanvids, that time I got obsessed with Blind Guardian) but I mostly tend to go for music that I'd call "accessible," the sort that I can decide within a single listen whether I like it or not.

So a couple of days ago a member of BTS, RM, band leader (and my bias), released his second solo album. "Right Place, Wrong Person" is self-described alternative/experimental hip-hop/pop/??? -- one friend said he's going through his Sgt. Pepper phase -- and I listened to it when it dropped going 😅😅😬😅😂😅

It wasn't a surprise -- we knew he'd been working with an indy Kpop collective, and he'd performed one song from it before, which was already pretty off the beaten path (in retrospect, "Come Back to Me" is by far the most standard pop song on the album!) But RPWP is, in a word, weird -- rough and raw and very definitely Not My Kind of Music. Not something I'd ever seek out or listen to again.

Except because Namjoon's part of BTS, so I have this parasocial attachment that means I want to hear what he has to say -- and because his last solo album I absolutely adore, though it's a completely different beast -- I did listen to it again.

And again.

And several more times, and every time I enjoy it more? Not even in an "appreciating art" way but in a vibing, bopping along, riffs-getting-stuck-in-my-head want-to-hear-it-again way.

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In conclusion: fanning on music is fun, and I'm happy to have this gateway into it!

So anyway, hey! how are you doing? Anyone still here?

So I've been thinking that I want to try to get back online more, somehow. And this is a nice small place to start.

--There's no real explanation for where I've been! Just that I'm an introvert who lives in a large and active household that I love, but it got a bit overwhelming during the pandemic lockdowns. Now that I have the house to myself again sometimes, I've reached the point of actually wanting more social interaction again.

Also am trying to not be too embarrassed about how my main fandom for going on two years now has been BTS. Midway through the pandemic my sister and I went fuck it, we need something to cheer us up. She had a friend who'd been trying to get her into them for years, so we got a list of vids to start with. And. Yeah. It was simultaneously exactly what I was expecting and completely contrary to what I thought. I didn't think I would fall so hard, and I love it. I've never really done RPF or music fandom before, so getting that new perspective on those ways to fan has been fascinating. The enjoyment of music + the intensity of fanning is a potent combo. And they're good kids -- good men. For the celebrities to set the tone for the new age, we could do a lot worse. Plus it took me a while to get into the fic and figure out what I wanted from it, but when I finally did it got me reading again after a long drought, and writing at last too. Really, of all the fandoms I've been in, this is one of the ones that's just made me the happiest. So no regrets.

(and the LA PtD concert was incredible!)