Kpop First Impressions!

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

(Won’t lie, this gif inspired this post lol)

I feel like it’s a common problem for me where I’ll listen to a song or watch the MV, and I’m not into it. But then my Spotify will expose me at the end of the year with their annual list that shows I had that song I originally disliked ended up being well loved and replayed often. I think it would be fun to compare our first impressions vs our current opinion of a song/group!

Feel free to share any type of first impressions, not just songs. Some ideas:
- Songs you disliked initially but now you love
- Songs you loved at first but changed your mind

I’m curious how your first impressions have differed from current thoughts :)

Comments

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

Zimzalabim

Initially I thought it was one of the greatest affront to auditory senses ever created for kpop and was seriously looking into if I could pursue legal action against SM for subjecting me to it

HOWEVER

after the month or so it's been out though I never exactly seek listening to it I can now tolerate it in a 'if it comes on in my shuffle' way and I feel like that's real progress.

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

but why is it in your library if you hated it that much on first listen?

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Omg thanks mods! That was so fast 😙

Some of my recent first impressions I flip flopped on, I have more but my first ones on the top of my head

- Everglow’s Adios. I was like ‘aww, this is a decline from their debut’ but now I have ‘SEEYOULATER’ and ‘goodbye, au revoir, adiós’ replaying in my head constantly. It’s such a fun song and a great follow up to their debut. No sophomore slump for me

- Speaking of sophomore slump...Itzy :( I first thought the song was really cute and had a lot of potential. But minus me watching their live performances, I’m not replaying it often as I thought I would.

- GWSN’s Red Sun. I thought it was the weakest of the three title tracks but it’s quickly becoming my favorite of their current trilogy, it’s highly addictive

[rojounotori.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about ITZY's Icy. I really liked it the first time I heard it and even thought it was way better than Dalla Dalla. But now I never listen to it, just watch the music show performances lol

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

i wouldn't say i love it now, but i definitely had a considerable change of heart with i got a boy. after someone else's offhanded comment about how watching the visuals in the mv and listening to the audio of the song created more chaos than was present in the song itself, i tried listening alone and found it to be true. it felt much less jarring and weird. now, i make it standard practice to not watch the mv until i've listened to the song a couple times

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

i could say kpop as a whole had a bad first impression on me, lol. my first kpop group was 2ne1, and i searched throughout all of kpop to find another girl group with a sound like theirs, but no luck. they had a more "westernized" sound and it took years for my ears to become more accustomed to the overall sound of kpop.

these days, i find that i can start liking pretty much any song if i listen to it enough. no matter how much i dislike it at first listen, it probably will grow on me... such as rv's zimzalabim, blackpink's ddu-du ddu-du, snsd's igab. "disjointed" and experimental songs are the ones i end up loving the most.

[cosmicdaze.livejournal.com]

lucifer was my first kpop song ever and i thought it was okay, but i kept looking for more shinee stuff to watch because i thought jonghyun was hot. ring ding dong was the second kpop song i ever heard and whew...i hated it SO much and almost dropped shinee at that moment but now i just accept it for the mess that it is and jam to it from time to time. thank goodness i kept looking for other shinee songs after that otherwise i wouldn't be here today.

also...i still don't like tempo much as i've tried :( i like some parts of it but as a whole it's just not my cup of tea.

dalla dalla grew on me a LOT. i hated it at first but now it's one of my go-to feel good songs.

i'll probably be back in this post once i think of more songs.

[shalottlady07.livejournal.com]

I followed SHINee for the first three years or so until I stepped away from kpop (cause way too much drama/stress) and when Ring Ding Dong came out, I was like “uuuhhhhh what is this?” but it’s one of those songs that I catch myself thinking “I really wanna listen to that right now.”

//spent all afternoon listening to SHINee World and feel so happy mentally so I feel you

[dantethetaco.livejournal.com]

Oh, this made me think when I first got into Kpop, I had a lot of prejudices back then and two of the biggest affected by it were EXO and Seventeen. So, here it goes:

-EXO

So, I got into kpop around the time BTS was starting to get really popular, they just had released I Need U and Dope. I started watching a lot of BTS stuff at the time since I really liked them, and that led to me really only being in contact with ARMYs. Somehow I got caught in the narrative that BTS were the underrated hardworking talented kids that sung live despite having hard choreo and EXO were the underseving kids that always lipsynched adn that they didn't even like each other etc etc I guess I was naive at the time, and wasn't really aware of how fandom culoture really worked. So I never really checked out EXO, and actually avoided them and kind of resented them since BTS were the ones that were supossed to be where EXO was, in success terms.

Skip like one year and I happened to watch It's Okay, That's Love. And while watching it I was like "Who's this talented boy??? And why is he so handsome????? ... Oh... so he's in EXO? Can he sing?" * checks out D.O singing * "What kind of angel is this??????" So I just started listening to EXO's music, and thank God I did. I love, love a lot of their b-sides, Thunder is one of my fave songs of kpop (that Kyungsoo has a lot of parts in that song is part of it, I'm in love with his singing). I still can't with Chanyeol and Sehun's rapping but whatever, the vocalists are just too good.

-Seventeen

If I remenber correctly, Mansae released a couple months after I got into k-pop. Eeeeeeeveryone was talking about Seventeen and Mansae at the time. So I kind of avoided them, I thought Mansae was annoying and that they were just some kids trying the cute concept, and I really was not into that because I was not going to listen to kiddie songs (oh, boy, was I annoying at the time asjaklsgnlasdg). Since they were getting a lot of attetion I started to hold a grudge againt them (I don't know how to really phrase this, but that'll do).

Then around the time they were doing Pretty U, I think, by chance I ended up watching One Fine Day. And wow they were so funny, and cute. I truely fell in love with them, and ended up knowing all their names by the end of the show. They are now one of my fave groups, these talented boys. DK is SO HANDSOME and talented and funny. And Mingyu can marry me and cook for me anyday. Seungkwan is a gem and I'm sad that he seems to be losing a lot of weight lately (because it seems to be coming from people not liking his apperance :()


Luckily I've grown a lot since then, and I have become wary of fandom inner narratives. Anyways, into more simple things to explain. songs I disliked initially but now I love:

- All of NCT's title songs, I hate them all and then the months pass and they get stuck on my head. I even kinda like Chain now lajufañsloefiñsdfk

- More recently, SF9's RPM and Pentagon's Sha La La. i was disappointed with both songs at first, they were not what I was expecting from both. But now they are both bops to me.

- BTOB's WoW. The first time I listened I came from listening to all their more recent more ballady songs, and I was like "nope" instantly. After listening to it a couple of times more, I consider it one of kpop's legendary songs. It's so good! It's so catchy!

Edit: Also I forgot about these two.

- The first time I saw Jonghyun on a variety program it was on Two Yoo Project: Sugar Man, and he was saying thing like "Of course they think I'm handsome. I'm handsome", and just bragging (jokingly). So I got the impression that he was kind of a fuckboy. Oh, boy was I wrong about this beautiful baby.

- At first, and for about a year, I though GOT7's Jinyoung was the least handsome of the group. Then my eyes started slowly fixing, and now I can see what a perfect prince he is.

[shalottlady07.livejournal.com]

I had already backed away from kpop when Exo was preparing to debut, but I remember hearing about SM debuting a 12 member group in two teams and I was like “LOL NO”.

Fast forward SEVEN years and I’m like “okay who are these people?? These vocalists omg” and then got sucked back into kpop. Love shot ughhh

I agree re RPM.

I remember one of my first impressions of Jonghyun was when SHINee world came out and I was like “daaaaang a solo track on a DEBUT album? Killer vocals.”

[reader17.livejournal.com]

I will admit this happens to me a lot. When songs come out some of them I don't like right away, but if I listen to them a few times they grow on me, or some of them could be a year or two later :)

I watch all of the videos that are posted now with the exception the full music show posts. Those I save to watch later, and later has been about two years worth. So right now I am in Dec of 2017 :)

So this will be my first examples of songs back in 2017 I didn't like but enjoy now:
Red Velvets - PeekABoo
Gugudan - Chocoo
Monsta x - Dramarama
Kard - You and Me

Other songs that I didn't like at first but enjoy now
Pentagon - they were not even on my radar back then I didn't like Gorilla but these past few years I have loved everything they put out.
Block B - Very Good when it came out I thought it was the weirdest video and Song within a few days I loved it and was re-playing it over and over.
BAP's - Bad Man I didn't like the video or the song at first. Within two weeks it had become my favorite song.
BTS - No I didn't like at first, but it grew on me
CNBLUE - Cinderella didn't like at first but then I started to enjoy it
Hyun Ah - Bubble Pop didn't not like it until I saw some more videos of it, and now I smile and sing along to it.

The following tried multiple times to listen to, and then tried again but still can not get into.
EXO - Growl and Wolf
Black Pink - DU DU DU
Big Bang - Bang Bang Bang

I know there are a lot of others that I didn't like before that I know like, and some more that I still don't like and have tried again. But all of these are what was on the top of my head!

[shalottlady07.livejournal.com]

Dramarama is so catchy! But definitely different than you might expect.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

I'm not the kind of fan who will listen to something several times because it's my fave and I want to like their songs - I just listen once and move on if it's not my thing, and (gasp) I don't use any streaming services so I only listen to the music I choose to. I don't put myself in situations where I am forced to acclimatise to a song, haha.

I will say that I used to listen to 2ne1 on repeat, but a lot of their music hasn't stood the test of time for me. IATB is good in small doses, but a lot of their last album feels dated to me now even though it was only 2014 (while their other music is dated it's in a sort of charming way).

CLC's Me has grown on me, if only because the 'areumdaumi' chorus is an earworm but I still have a lot of issues with 4/7 voices not suiting the song, the extreme disjointedness, the post-chorus just being kind of bland. I've now put it on my ipod but it's a song I still skip usually.

I'm also falling out of love with Breakthrough - the more I listen to it, the more everyone's voices except NaJi's sound weak, soft, and lacking in impact, which jarrs against such a statement instrumental (and yes, even Jungyeon's is just there for me - maybe not weak but lacking the power to keep up with the song). I can't help thinking what it would be like if say Gugudan or Mamamoo or hell even SNSD sang it, with their larger roster of impactful vocalists.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

I agree a lot with what you said re: 2NE1. I jammed a lot to Crush when it was first released but a lot of the tracks haven't stood the test of time.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

NCT:
I was so convinved I'd never get into this group, SM was never going to ensnare me with their pretty boys ever again, no siree. And I thought most of their songs were just noise. And then Empathy era happened and now I know all fucking 21 of them by name, Baby Don't Stop is my most played song of 2018 and I want to be Johnny's 50s housewife, so clearly I'm whipped.

BTS:
I'm ngl, I loathed Fake Love when I first heard it, I found it so vocally grating. But the rock version won me over, it's on my gym playlist now

[shalottlady07.livejournal.com]

Oooo I like this post, OP!

Disliked Initially
BTS - In general TBH. It takes me a while to warm up to groups with a lot of attention and I didn’t like Mic Drop, BST, Fake Love, or any of the big singles initially. BST and Fake Love have grown on me, but it was songs like Pied Piper, Save Me, Make It Right, etc. that made me appreciate them musically.

Monsta X - I’m definitely a Monbebe (I’ve accepted it), but Alligator had me rolling with laughter cause the lyrics were so absurd/ridiculous, but now I kinda jam to it.

SF9 - RPM. I instantly leaned towards Round and Round more, but RPM has grown on me a lot and gets stuck in my head.

Loved at first
This is hard... once I like things, it’s pretty hard for me to not like them. However, with kpop, it’s often stuff the people have done that make me not listen anymore more so than actually disliking the music...

[dantethetaco.livejournal.com]

Since you have been away so long from kpop have you listened to BTS' b-sides? Tomorrow (https://youtu.be/8H0MTj6C384) is still my fave song from them, and I love, love all of The Most Beautiful Moment in Life albums. If I had been introduced to BTS recently I probably wouldn't have gotten into them, because I don't really like their most recent sound.

Alligator is still a nope for me, and I'm such a MX stan lmao

[blck-ink.livejournal.com]

Songs you disliked initially but now you love:

- exo white noise: i think i was in a bad mood when o first listened to.it cause it's a masterpiece.
- got7 eclipse: i'm still not entirely sure but it's been getting better each time i listen to it
-nct127 simon says : a bop i had to learn to appreciate.
- oh my girl windy day: i remember hearing this song and having to stop what i was doing cause i was so confused yet intrigued. there was a period i couldn't stop listening to it.

[yuujinchous.livejournal.com]

same about exo's white noise! actually ex'act in general took me longer to warm up than i did to previous exo albums just because i felt like it was such a different sound lol but i love it now

oh my girl's windy day is legit one of my fave kpop songs ever, it's sooo good! i loved it right from the start :')

[scionofawhisper.livejournal.com]

Wasn't into Got 7's Just Right on first listen cause it seemed too cute and childish and put me off, but then I got addicted to it and loved it's positive vibes.

[matryoshka.livejournal.com]

I love that song! I also like the MV and choreography. Usually I'm not into concepts like that but this song is an exception for me.

[aeries-amethyst.livejournal.com]

Funny enough, even though Genie is like THE ultimate soshi title track for me...When I first heard it, I was pretty meh. I have no idea what was even up with me at the time lololol XD But eventually I realized that it was glorious and my eyes were opened to the goddesses known as Girls' Generation. Even though my introductory song to them was Gee, I didn't actually start stanning them until RDR >.< Now I'm hella biased but on a real, I can't actually think of a song that they've released that I don't like on song level even if I don't love it per say. Maybe songs from their first album and The Boys, but otherwise, they've had pretty solid songs for me...Especially with the perfection of their Japanese albums! *O*

As for EXO, I'd say Wolf for shizzle my nizzle. Next would be ko ko bop and tempo.

The only NCT 127 song I like is limitless, but when I first heard it, I was turned off by Taeyong's frog voice. Now I am jamming! \o/

Super Junior - Don't Don, Twins

BTS - DNA, Idol I wanna say Fake Love but they'd need to rearrange the vocal arrangements for that song for me to really like it, though I must admit that the rock version is an improvement

Twice - LOA

BlackPink - KTL

2NE1 - FIL, Go Away

[rojounotori.livejournal.com]

I remember back in the day when SNSD released Hoot I was really disappointed, and then again when they released The Boys (though that have more to do with the bad chorus). Years later I gave both of them another chance and liked them. I felt the same about BP's As If It's Your Last (now I love it).

Edit: Twice's TT and Like Ooh Ahh was also songs I didn't like the first time I listened to them, but later gave another chance and now I love them.

[dull-and-wicked.livejournal.com]

i couldn't STAND russian roulette when it first came out but last year it was on a spotify shuffle and i was bopping before i realized what i was listening to lol.

[matryoshka.livejournal.com]

The first time I heard Tempo by EXO, I was like,"What the hell is this? It's all over the place!" I think I watched about half of the MV and then turned it off. Then it came on a few months later while I was working and I LOVED IT. I've listened to that song so many times now and have actually gotten super into EXO because of it.

I've found that happens to me a lot with k-pop. It's rare that I'll love something on first listen. I have to be in the right mood/headspace for it.

[matryoshka.livejournal.com]

I also didn't like Boy With Luv by BTS initially. It sounded like it was recorded in a swimming pool and like Suga did his rap with cotton balls in his mouth. But it really grew on me and now the things that first stood out to me as bad are actually my favorite parts.

[spread.livejournal.com]

Ateez as a whole.
I'm not on the hype train or bandwagon, I don't see that ever happening tbh.
But when they first debuted I had no idea why people were losing their goddamn mind about this group, like they were the saviors of Kpop.

Then Say My Name happened and I was like "Oh, I get it now."
It's the only thing I really like from them Wave is pretty catchy.

Now I wish them the best and continued growth as a rookie group, however they are just not my cup of tea.
But I'm no longer sleeping on them.
They are talented, but I feel like there are just as talented if not more... groups that STAY being slept on. *ahem* ASTRO *cough*
Again that's nothing against Ateez tho...

[dantethetaco.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't see Astrp taking off with the international fandom. If it didn't happen with Crazy, Sexy, Cool I don't think there's anything they can do to make it happen. Luckily they are doing well enough in Korea despite Fantagio's mess, mostly because of Eunwoo's face but whatever gets them attetion lmao

[klauses.livejournal.com]

me with t-ara. I knew about the bullying scandal, and I knew about the atrocious "bo peep" song, but I also knew that hwayoung was my fave character in "age of youth." I didn't really take either side, but I kind of rejected t-ara's discography because I liked my favourite actor in my favourite show at the time. but OMG, i was missing out on so many great songs!! I wish I knew who was writing the music for CCM, because their groups had so many amazing songs (t-ara, speed, co-ed, five dolls, etc ***edit: and uni-t!!!***). in the end I still don't have a side on the t-ara scandal, I just hate that it simultaneously ruined both "age of youth" and t-ara in one fell swoop, when both could have been great.

and do subgroups count? I was so impressed and amazed with exo-m 2012-2014, but not as much since exo went ot12. I still like exo, I've been a lot less enthusiastic about the group than i was with OT6exo-m.

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of T-ara's hits like Roly Poly were written by Shinsadong Tiger. He also wrote UNI.T's first title track.

[22-taken.livejournal.com]

F(x) - Red Light / I thought the song was pure noise but ended up enjoying it
SNSD - Gee / Didn't get the hype of this song, thought it was childlish. I don't know how or when it happened but I found myself replaying Gee 100 times lol
2PM - Again & Again / First listen: I don't like it, I don't get why everyone is talking about how good this song is. Second listen: Omg I'm addicted it's so good

Popular songs I dislike/don't care about and they never grew on me:
Super Junior - Mr. Simple (their title tracks got many views back in the day and people loved them)
Super Junior - Sexy, Free & Single
Shinee - Ring Ding Dong
BB - Fantastic Baby
Twice - Signal
Blackpink - Kill This Love (I still think their older songs were the best)
IKON - Love Scenario
Almost every title track from NCT

If we're talking about first impressions of kpop, I remember watching Wonder Girls' performance and wondering why their voices were so quiet. I couldn't figure out if that's how they were supposed to sing this song or they just didn't have powerful voices. I remember wondering why the fanchants were louder than the girls' voices.

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

SNSD's Party. I thought it was god awful, was so upset when I first heard it, and it just took me watching a single performance video of it for me to be yelling along with the chorus

[suggestivepeach.livejournal.com]

Apink’s Only One. The first time I listened to it I thought it had zero impact and never had any urge to revisit it, but then I watched one of their weekly idol episodes where they promoted it and heard it in the background and I was like, “holy shit what IS that song?!” and now it’s one of my fav Apink lead singles lol. I love the r&b version as well.

I also really disliked Lion Heart and Party but looking back now i probably just didn’t allow myself to love it bc the songs were sorta cringe, but at the end of the day, they’re too much fun to resist!

[kimbafierce.livejournal.com]

My first impression rarely ever changes, and the two times I remember it happened was when I listened to:

F(x) - Red Light - I loved that song SO much when I first heard it it I kept re-watching the MV whenever I had time, but I added the song to my playlist it became meh, at best. I think I fill in love with the visuals more than the song itself, which wasn't bad but wasn't amazing either.

Twice - Signal - I was so shocked when I first listened to that song I couldn't finish it. Seriously, I hated it so much, it was nothing but noise in my head. But a few hours later and after only hearing it once I found myself mumbling 'signal bonae signal bonae jjirit jjirit jjirit jjirit'. So I went back and listened to it and it wasn't as terrible. I still hate the repetitive opener but the song itself was okay, and I go back to listen to it every month or two. .

[evilcoc0nut.livejournal.com]

Wolf lol. I've hated that song for so long, but then the Exordium live version I think it was, won me over and now I honestly don't mind it. Now there's no EXO song that I hate.

Twice - thought they were everything I didn't like in a girl group, but then they grew on me somehow. Still love/hate some of their songs, but that last album was so good.

BTS - liked them initially, that is, their music, early albums, etc. But then they released that one and I hated it and I was tryna look them up too and they all bugged me except Suga. Then the ifandom exploded and yeah... Still like Suga though. Can't wait until he leaves and does solo shit ahah.

2PM - exact opposite. thought their first few albums were trash, but then later I listened to No.1 and loved it, so I went back, plus got into Junho and Jun.K solo.

Not Kpop, but Lu Han's Good Good - srsly thought it was so annoying, but on his latest live album, it was great, so it's now grown on me. Lu is still cringe af though lmao.

Kai lol. For some reason, he came off really arrogant to me and like standoffish or smth, Idk, but now I think he's super cute. ChanKai is my second favorite interaction in EXO lol.

Also, I've never liked Girls Generation, not that I've given them much of a chance, just Tae solo. BUT now here I am listening to their back catalog and I think I stan.

[oh-folk.livejournal.com]

I HATED Red Flavor for the longest time. I think I was just in a shitty place when it came out lol. Being a straight up Bitter Betty for no reason.

Tiffany was easily my least favorite SNSD member, but I have really come to enjoy her solo stuff. The Flower is one of my favorite songs of 2019.

I didn't pay attention to Twice until Signal and I feel like such a fool lol. Queens of catchy bops.

I'm a total Jessica stan, but lately my love for her is waining. The lack of new music (other than that Christmas song that was essentially an ad). Her shady ass boyfriend. (I am looking forward to the show she's doing with Krystal.)