The Rabbit Hole
I had heard the name BTS thrown around over the internet but being of the older generation, I was set in my ways and to be honest, the last boy band that I fell in love with was The Osmonds! I figured I certainly wouldn’t want to listen to a Kpop boy band.
One day in April 2022, I for some unknown reason, I accidentally watched a video of theirs (can’t even remember which one it was) then remembered an interview on The Graham Norton Show that had BTS as guests and I thought “what the heck” and watched it. One member was missing on that interview and little did I know then – that member would become my joint bias! Jimin. I don’t know why, but “I’m your hope, you’re my hope, I’m J-Hope” just sounded so cute to me. Then curiosity got the better of me and I watched the Dynamite MV. OMG!!! So many different videos of that song to watch. YouTube is a dangerous place to be because I must have then spent the next 5 hours just watching videos of these guys. Like many others, I didn’t know who was who mainly because as soon as I thought I’d figure it out, they’d all change hair colour!!! – so when I watched the butter video of them with their names on the police clipboards and mugshots..I literally paused the screen and took a screenshot of it. Over the next few weeks I watched so many videos that I was dreaming about them all night and waking up with their songs in my head….but at least I had learned their names! THEN I discovered RUN BTS and that was it – RIGHT DOWN THAT RABBIT HOLE!!! what funny funny young men! Not too long ago, there was a quiz online – can you identify the members by their lips….from someone who couldn’t figure out who was who to getting 7/7 lips correct was a huge thing lol! I look back and I think to myself ‘wow, in a year I’ve come such a long way’. I’ve spent hours upon hours watching live feeds from airports waiting for one of them to leave Seoul and return to Seoul. (hours waiting for just a couple of minutes seeing them lol) I’ve spent untold days just watching videos and listening to their music. To this day, Dynamite is still my favourite song of theirs because it’s what made me listen to them properly.
At this stage in writing, only 2 members have enlisted in the military – Jin and Hobi. I cried when Jin went in…but my goodness….I cried for days when my sweet Hope went in. I’m sitting here watching Jimin doing his Tiffany PR and he looks so lost – my heart breaks for him. He must miss the guys so much. I really won’t be able to stand it when he enlists BUT the sooner they all go in, the quicker they’ll all be back, making music again.
I can’t really explain why I fell in love with these guys. I am so obsessed with them that in all honesty, I just want to be home watching them. I feel close to them. I simply cannot put those feelings into words. I’ve spent so much money on merch – it’s ridiculous. (I didn’t do this in my teenage years – perhaps I’m making up for lost time lol). I’ll be making a BTS room in my house soon! I used to think I was being a silly old woman (I neither act or look my 61 years of age) but then I discovered that I’m certainly not alone and there are much older ARMY than me. They have reached out to so many people – where age, race, religion, gender etc etc makes absolutely no difference to them. They’ve taught us to be kind and tolerant amongst so many other things. Who would have thought that 7 boys from Korea would make this gay lady fall in love with them at the age of 60! Unbelievable. I’m mentally dating Jimin and Hobi! and you know what? I don’t care who knows it!!! A friend of mine has a 22 year old daughter and she told me that I’m the coolest older person she’s ever met and doesn’t regard me as being in my 60’s because she loves Army and we can have so many great chats and we even went to BTS Karaoke not long ago! I made friends with another ARMY from a local group and she’s 30 years younger than me and said if she wins tickets for Agust D concert in Seoul, she’d take me! I was so flattered that 2 people regard me in this light. THIS is a prime example of something the boys preach – age ranges with no limits! I hope that when I am 70-80-90, I will love them just as much as I do now.
Young Forever and Apobangpo (아포방포)
BORAHAE
ps – the attached picture depicts the EXACT stages of how ARMY fell in love with BTS