Over the last few weeks, I have fallen back in love with old hobbies that I don’t understand how I discarded. I haven’t listened to a full K-pop album in the last 2 years, but suddenly, over the last two weeks, I felt inclined to listen to EXO again. It was a wild experience that made me wonder why I stopped in the first place.
Going back to listening to EXO felt like regressing into a former self, but I think it was a positive regression. Listening to their songs has given me a sense of comfort that I’ve missed over the last couple of months. Their music reflects and expands on the different personalities and loves I have had since I was a kid. I miss the videos, the albums, and watching old group videos. It is an amazing experience to rediscover my old favorite songs from past albums, and I will not lie, it makes me want to go back to watching Korean variety shows, too.
It might be the stress of the semester, but this might be one of the best things that has happened to me in a while. I cannot wait for the feeling to come back so I can finally listen to BTS 7 months after its release. I miss a world that used to feel so familiar. I can barely name half of the fourth and fifth-generation groups. Listening to and keeping up with the K-pop world was an old hobby of mine, and I still talk to my friends about it even though I’m less engaged.
Right now, I appreciate the regression, but I still miss the feeling the songs brought, since it is not the same as before. Most groups’ songs have more English lyrics than Korean, and the sound is way too Westernized for me, but I want to focus on the groups I have missed and on rediscovering old music that made me feel alive. Thinking about it and rediscovering old hobbies I used to like doesn’t mean I am going back to my old self, but it is a way for me to find comfort in something familiar while recognizing how much has changed over the last couple of years. I know that it will never be as it was, but it is close enough to make me fall back in love.