As irony would have it, as soon as I decided to be active with my writing again, my body thought otherwise. I fell into a four day long intense fever that almost drilled my strength down to dust and let my bones feel like they've been abused like hell! After three (or four) days, I am up and walking again...(Running might take some time you know.)
Now that this attack fell upon me, my life seems or feels pretty much upside down. I don't feel like I am the same person that I was last week and it just feels weird.
The changes seem to have come faster in my absence and suddenly I am supposed to accept certain facts that I planned to take it in a certain way, with my stride you know. But now things are done and all I have left to do is to accept them.
But apart from that nasty surprise, I am making a new way for myself and i've found that expressing myself really helps and what better way to do it other than write?
Hopefully I get to stay in touch with this habit and hope I just blog with absolutely no reason coz if I realized something when I was sick...I feel alive when I write and when my writing interacts with people..hey, double bonus for me.
I am going to let the world know more about me in my own way and maybe they'll see me for who I want them to see me for.. (That makes sense right?)
Inspirations are in a way saviors to me. In my life, every time I've fallen down, time and situation has been kind enough to me to provide me with, introduced me to things that end up saving me. I wanted to slowly write about each one of them, in a way to thank them and also in a way to introduce them to this side of the world, our world, where they are barely known. This post appears first because the timing worked out as such. These people I am going to talk about debuted today (15th October) four years ago (2009) and we just happened to be right here to wish them forward.
They are The Charismatic, Deadly, Sexy and Lovable Five Member K-Pop Boy Band
Now...I know we are all skeptical about other language stuff in general and in the recent days the Korean fever has been catching up and we've been too quick to comment on and judge it without even knowing anything about. I myself did that and it is something I regret. Not only was it good, it was funny, innovative and they are creative in ways I didn't imagine. Now the mistake I did was to be prejudicial. I was too quick to act the way we people generally act - not too keen on knowing new stuff. But I've always wanted to be diverse in terms of knowledge about the world around me. Trying to get to know these people have been my first step towards that goal. I wanna apologize to everyone, every artist and everything I've judged before even getting to know about them. I was wrong.
Now back to celebrating their 4th Anniversary :)
They are called MBLAQ, an acronym for Music Boys Live in Absolute Quality and like I said they debuted 4 years ago today (15.10.2009). They belong to the Republic of Korea (South Korea for those who don't know) and are referred to as an idol group.
Now that is the definition sites like Wikipedia would give you. This is how I would define them.
MBLAQ is an awesome band that produces wonderful music with absolute talent that is a combination of five handsome men and wonderful human beings. They are hot, sexy, funny, ridiculously cute and extremely passionate and they are my newest inspiration.
The team is made of five men (though a couple were still boys when they debuted :P) who are here to let the world know of their presence.
The pic you see above is their debut promotional. The concept is pretty clear - Charismatic men who are Black Vampires. As strong as they seem on photo, they were on stage.
Check out their debut song for a first impression... Its called 'Oh Yeah' . It has a catchy beat and some awesome dancing. It will leave you wanting more.
Not many of us know their mentor but some die hard action fans may. They were found and formed as one by one of the famous star in Korea, who also managed to branch into Hollywood, known better by his stage name, singer, actor, producer - Rain. More famously known as the 'Ninja Assassin' (the movie title). Now I had watched that movie and man it had some kick ass action sequences. I am all up for a bloody and gory action flick and it was exactly that. Never did I expect to see a connection between them.
Now, credits where credit is due, I wholeheartedly thank my cousin Chandhini for introducing me to this world and especially these guys. I cannot proceed without thanking her now.
So onto the memebers.
This band is led by, fearlessly may I add, by the eldest member in the team - Yang Seungho, the vocal.
Born on October 16th, 1987, this guy claims that he became the leader only because of his age. But every fan who knows them now will disagree. He is fearless, tough but all considerate and caring at the same time. Has a bag full of tricks in his hands, from playing the piano, to performing magic, to b-boying, break dancing and so on. The most notable talent of his is his ability to play the piano. He's a trained pianist and has been at it for almost eleven years. You should check out his playing, you are bound to fall for this guy. Another notable thing is that he is the only one out of the five that uses his real name. This dude may look like a hard shell to break through but as his friends and fellow idols claim, he is one sweet person.
Following him is the next eldest member, the owner of the honey voice - G.O, the main vocal.
Born on November 6th, 1987, (Real Name : Jung Byunghee) the dude just ended up being the second eldest by just days. Though that is the case, the members claim that he's the 'mother' in the team while Seungho is the 'father'. Why? Coz he nags a lot, lol. But more than that, he is apparently the person who openly cares for each and every one of them. He has one of the most amazing voices i've ever heard. I don't even have to understand what he's saying to be moved. His voice just does that job. Personality wise, this one is a prankster. His wit is beyond imagination and so is his knowledge. He is a good cook too. So if you need an ideal man..look left.
Following that, the face of the band, or should i say body? Honey Abs and Vocal - Lee Joon
Born on February 7th, 1988, (Real Name : Lee Changsun), he is the ambiguous middle. He can't be considered the eldest or the youngest, but he is certainly talented. More than singing, his passion was and is still is acting. And hell, he is one fine actor. For someone who is an amateur, he is leaping forward by miles in terms of learning. His personal traits are that he is a shy and sensitive person but his on stage profile says otherwise. His powerful eyes radiate attitude and his perfect body just woes every female fan out there. While he can be powerful too, he's most loved to being the cute and foolish one.
The fourth member, the mystical, the silent powerhouse, Rapper and Vocal - Cheondung
Born on October 7th, 1990 (Real Name : Park Sanghyun) this one, I still am learning new things about him everyday. Generally known as the silent one out of the five, I would also add the most surprising one. The usual image he carries forward is the mystical one but I am thinking in reality, he's a sweet heart. Basically a timid person yet expresses himself better through his work. He can be really naughty at the same time all serious and confuse us all at once. Overall, this dude is unique.
Finally, last but definitely not the least, the maknae (means youngest in Korean), Rapper - Mir
Born on March 10th, 1991 (Real Name : Bang Cheolyong) this dude is the energy of the band. Calls himself the 'atmosphere maker' of the band and he stays true to that. When he's on stage performing his rap, you momentarily forget the guy who he is generally, for his speed and accuracy in rap and the spontaneity baffles me. Off stage, variety wise, this dude is unbeatable. If he's there, you are bound to end up laughing. I'd say he's the most easy going, open minded, openhearted member of them all. Being the youngest, he is adored by everyone.
Now that you know who they are, I want to let you know what they are to me.
It was just like any other thing in life that means a lot to me now. These guys crawled their way into my heart silently and before I even knew it, I was attached to them. After college got over I had this long break until I got a call for my job. After the first month, I was done. I am generally a loner. I have very little friends and I'm mostly close to my cousins. Other than me, everyone else was somehow busy and I was eventually in a situation to deal with loneliness. Now I am a fighter. I fight hard against boredom, silence and all the deceiving thoughts that come along with it. But after a long battle, I was reaching my point of exhaustion. I was this close to fall down into depression. That was when I re-discovered myself thanks to these boys.
The first thing I saw of theirs was their variety show called 'Hello Baby', where they had to raise three multicultural babies for a duration of three months.
Although at first I was only attracted to their humor, as the episodes went by, I saw how caring they can be too. And the way they were lost taking care of the kids and how in the end they were inseparable and the way they shed tears at the end...I was crying along watching this at 2 in the night, suppressing my sobs.
Since then began the journey of discovery...of their music, of their personailty, of their passion and about the fandom that exists worldwide, proud to be called an A+ (They are named A+ because all five of them are of the blood type A. Weird coincidence right?)
The first song that impressed me completely and touched me so bad that I am still addicted to it like so bad. The song title 'This Is War' is a cry of a man who's been betrayed by his friend, a friend who stole his girl from him. The concept might sound cheesy but the emotions are a reflection of true loss. The video amplified the song's impact by a 100% and all it took was one look at it for me to fall for them.
Then I slowly discovered that they've released four mini albums and one full length album and when I discovered them this year, they had released their recent one, 'Sexy Beat' with the smash hit song 'Smoky Girl'. Now this song is so cool in every aspect, you end up chanting 'Smoky girl...Smoky girl...' even after the song is over!
As I kept discovering them, they slowly inflicted pain in me.If you see every song I've posted above and every song that they've had music videos released, they have this amazing dance sequence that goes along with it. I mean, it blends so well with the song and they also become iconic steps that define them in the future. The pain inflicted in me was the realization of how lazy I've become and how I had forgotten my passion for dance. Just by watching them dance, I couldn't sit quiet. When I got up to try though, I realized how weak I was. Giving up everything I love for reasons so simple and trivial, in the end, I had become a lazy girl with no stamina. It was when I decided to turn the tables around by starting to get back in the groove by changing my food habits and by dancing again. These guys inspired me to dance again..So Thank You MBLAQ!!
So, once I stepped into my dancing shoes (literally) I took on one of their songs first. It is called 'Mona Lisa', about a girl as beautiful as the painting and just like it, something that they could never have. The dance was so cool and difficult at first, I took in a stride and learnt the whole thing in a week. Check the dance out...It's addictive!
And hence began my quest to better health with MBLAQ and their songs and their dances!!
You might think this.. 'Oh come on, you are not writing a post to tell how you started dancing again on their anniversary are you?' No I am definitely not. I am writing this to thank them because, by looking at them I learnt that it is okay to be me for I am a combination of all their individual personalities but together. And maybe that is why I am so attached to these guys.
I am still finding my way in this world and acting the way I act with people hasn't been giving me great results. I've barely been able to socialize and communicate after finding out that my attitude sometimes bothered or hurt people whom I wanted to care about. I was almost about to give up on even trying to get to know people but it was then when I completely discovered these boys and how it was okay to be yourself.
I know that they are celebrities and if once people love them, they are going to be loved no matter what. But these guys have a charm and I surely related to it. They are really down to earth and they interact with their fans as if they know each one of them personally. They call their fans family and somehow I always end up liking people with fandom who end up as a family (Supernatural, my first TV Show love. *post about it coming soon* ).
With leader Seungho, he is always called 'The Devil' due to his temper. If the people close to me know one thing about me, I am known for my temper too. Because of this and also due to his nature, he always said that he wasn't able to express himself as much he wants to. He's a timid person too, contrary to his appearance. But he never changed. People looked past his temper and found the caring person that he is eventually and he said that he is better at expression now even without having to change who he is. Through this I understood that people you need are not going to stick, people who want to need you, who wants to find you, will look past your shortcomings and will find you eventually. Thanks Seungho for letting me know that I don't have to change for the world.
With G.O, he's always called the 'Mother' in the team like I said before. Although he nags, he's supposed to be the most outward when it comes to caring. With his humor and wit, this just adds more respect to him. I care a lot outward too but I've feared that I might be a little suffocating to people around me. I've even tried to restrict myself in terms of caring too. But looking at him look after the members and the kids in the show and the way he acts all around, as a person he feels secure about who he is. Thanks G.O for letting me understand it's okay to care for people and it does not make me insecure.
With Lee Joon, I learnt or should I say rediscovered my persistence. Contrary to his stage presence, he's supposed to be the most shy, most timid of the five and because of this he gets teased a lot. He is also someone who doesn't express it right out in the other person's face if and when hurt. Now this trait, it is the most I relate to. I don't easily tell people that it hurts me and I keep it inside, until it boils over one day and destroys me. And I've been teased too. But even when he keeps it all inside, he once said that he moves on despite all of this because of the drive he haves for his work and with he support of friends and family. Now, he hadnt let go off that habit and so haven't I but because of hm, I have learnt that persistence pays. So thank you Lee Joon for this lesson.
With Cheondung, I relate in terms of passion. He grabs and claws his way into any opportunity given and is also very keen about creating his own work. Now I am an aspiring writer but there are many instances where I end up thinking that I may not be able to bring my talents up enough to the mark where I can be recognized. But when I heard his story, how he worked hard to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer, I was touched as well as motivated by it. Even if he releases a song and it becomes a hit, he is never satisfied and even in the face of doubts he keeps going on. So thank you Cheondung for helping me not lose hope on my passion.
With Mir, I match the enthusiasm. He claims that he is not the brightest of them all, in the sense, he is more on the silent side, someone who loves to be alone most of the time. But he steps up everytime whenever, even without someone asking him to do so. He steps up, puts himself out there and makes sure everyone feels comfortable around him. With him in the room, there won't be any awkwardness or any inhibition as he acts in a way that you can't help but fall for his charm. He is also someone who thinks about every one of them that he holds dear, something I do too. There is no prejudice in terms of love when it comes to him and he's reassured that for me. So thanks Cheolyongie.
When you look at their personal lives too, the way they are attached to their families and friends, it just reminded me a lot of things I had forgotten as time passed by and now I really feel better,both physically and emotionally. So thank you to all five of you, on the whole, for reminding a lot of things even in the short time I've known you.
They are four this year and they've become a family over time, not only among themselves but with their fans too. Still, I feel that they are a bit underrated. They have screaming and fainting fans all over the world, especially South America, where they are highly popular in Brazil and Mexico. In Korea itself however, they are loved but they haven't won as much as awards and accolades that I wish they would've won. But hey, every thing that I am a fan of has been an underdog in their industry. And mostly its not about the awards but the recognition of talent and that has been done precisely by the A+ all over the world.
In India, of course, we haven't completely opened up these things. But when we do, I hope a lot of people notice them along with some more amazing artists in K-Pop (Check out Super Junior, SHINee, Infinite, Beast and a lot more if you feel like finding more apart from them) I really hope people after reading this post (if at all someone reads it...) will listen to their songs and promote them around to their friends and so on for they are new and they give a new feel to the trend of music around and hey, who doesn't love supporting a good underdog?
Honestly I've know them for like about 6-7 months but I already feel like I am part of their four year journey till today. That is how much I am in love them. And I just wanted to share that fact to the world just like how they share their love through their music and activities. These are guys whom you'd love too be friends with, love to have as family and love to only love more.
So with this I conclude the post with a celebration happening inside my head. Its their fourth birthday and I hope I get to celebrate many more of it and I also hope after reading this post maybe you'll come to like them and maybe next birthday, we'll celebrate it together.
MBLAQ...I'm your A+ but you are my +. Keep rocking and ruling the world with your originality.
