To make things clear to all those who dislike Kpop for a reason or another, you can stop reading now because this entire post will be based on an entity of Kpop, so I guess it wouldn't interest you well maybe a paragraph or 2 later on that is my two cents worth about Kpop and its antis, i.e, purists who scoff at it.

Unfamiliar Kpop terminologies will be explained below.(scroll all the way down)

So last friday, 9 December, I woke up at 6.50 am and headed for Singapore Indoor Stadium. It's not hard to guess why, since there's so much publicity about it. Yes I woke up early to head there because SNSD's concert was going to be held that very night, 1st night in Singapore. I bought tickets about 2 months before, and I got mosh pit C tickets (not exactly what I'd have preferred, but no choice since I'd booked in advance and skipped the ticket grabbing showdown cum dramatic crash on Sistic's website the day tickets were released.) In order to get to the front of the pit and stand right behind the barriers separating the stage and me, I chose to go to the venue and queue up early with a few fans that I had got to know by chance, because unfortunately, none of my close friends are SNSD fans and other friends that are couldn't exactly go with me one reason or another. So I decided to go with them. By 9am the 4 of us were sitting on the floor outside the stadium under the sun. The official queue for pits A and B had already started, so those left waiting in a disorganised manner were those from my pit.

About half an hour of waiting or so later, suddenly, everyone started rushing forward. Monkey see monkey do, but in these situations, it is wiser to follow because the front monkeys are likely to be correct, and there's nothing to lose. So we stood there squeezing, somewhere in the middle towards the back of the crowd, because we started a little slower, and I suddenly spotted my JC friend JH, separated just by another person in front. Turns out she had been there at 5am, but was super irritated because she got squeezed to the back now. Anyway, the squeezing was because the official queue for pit C was about to start. They let people in by pairs and when it was done, they led all of us to a sheltered area behind the stadium which was to be the place where we were going to stay till evening when the concert entry started. Around 9.30am, we were all settled down. We were the first batch of queue-rs for pen C. My fan-friends chatted for a while, and I also chatted with Lynette on Whatsapp. Time passed pretty quickly, and it was ok because we were free to leave the area for toilet/food/whatever as long as we let the front and back people know to avoid queue-cut conflicts, as the security instructed. This female fan-friend also brought along a mini stereo to blast SNSD songs, so it was pretty fun to listen and sing along/lip-synch. The other fans around were also friendly. We went to the nearby mall food court for lunch, where more friends of the fan-friends I was with met up with them. They didn't need to queue as they were going for the seated category.

After lunch, we went back to our area with a drink for the malay girl fan sitting near us who helped to draw some SNSD pictures on the back of some of my fan-friends' Soshified foam hearts. She was super fast and good at drawing, and my fan-friends couldn't resist but ask her for the favour as well. We also played a few rounds of cards, borrowed from the people in front. It rained around 2 plus, and we couldn't sit because the floor got wet with all the water flowing down the sloped floor, so everyone around the tent  stood up. However, my fan-friend's stereo was still blasting songs, and you could hear murmurs of fan chants here and there. 'The Boys' came on and there was a resounding "G.G" along with Jessica's part at the intro of the song around the shelter which shocked my group into laughter, because it was so loud and unexpected. You could really feel the sense of camaraderie among all the Sones as well as the growing anticipation as the time drew closer. The security also kept heightening our anticipation by telling us 3 hours beforehand the details about the gates opening later(which was MUCH later), and I had to hold my bladder till about an hour later when I finally decided that they were cheating me and headed for the loo in an insecure state of mind. The whole time we were waiting, it was quite funny because we kept hearing phones that rang with the ringtone set to "The Boys". Not surprising for Sones I guess.

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There were some conflicts, where the others fans in the same sheltered queue shouted at some people who cut queue in their row. My row was fine, except that my fan-friend's friend wanted to cut and had to convince the front and back people she was the only one, before they allowed her to do so, since she was part of the group that got shouted at. Her other friends had to go to the back. Fans are very united against queue cutting, fair enough. We entered the stadium after the bag checking and everything was done. I managed to sneak my camera in and stood on the left side facing the stage, just behind the barriers, though not entirely, first row, but there was a small opening between the first row people, so I managed to stand in between slightly behind.

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The concert began at 8.20pm, with an epic opening. There was a gigantic box in the middle(which I later discovered it was meant to mimic a lamp), and I knew what was going to happen from Youtube videos of the same concert previously in Japan. As the lights darkened to signal the start of the concert, the screams became deafening. A video was played, featuring the girls as angels descending, and when it ended, the chains holding the top of the lamp moved a little for a few times. The stage lights display started flashing on the lamp, before the entire lamp was slowly elevated onto the stage. The gigantic lamp opened to uncover SNSD in the middle, and I swear it was like magic to see them in real life, after being used to seeing them on videos and posters. The concert started with the song 'Genie'. Sunny, Yoona and Yuri walked over to my side of the extended stage, but Sunny was the closest, almost directly in front of me, while the other two stood further away on my left and right. Upon seeing Yuri so close, of course I screamed like I didn't. She is my bias and I had drawn a small fanboard on sketchbook paper for her, but too bad she was quite a distance away and too engrossed in her performance to see. The entire concert was superb, and they were whisked up flying about 3 times. Throughout the concert, the girls regularly walked around the stage, which spanned and extended such that they were able to come quite close to those seated. The girls also paraded the whole stadium in a ship (like going on a theme park ride) while wearing sailor uniforms. Yuri walked past my side a few times, but everytime she passed by she looked up and everywhere else except directly down where I was, with my fanboard and all. I was kind of disappointed, because she didn't give any much fan service(waves, eye contact), while instead, Sunny Seohyun, Yoona, Tiffany, Hyoyeon all gave loads at my side. Guess it's just my luck to be standing at the wrong place, but it's ok she's still my bias. :X That aside, when they performed the English version of "The Boys", the audience chanted "G.G" so loudly that it reverberated throughout the whole stadium. The solo stages put up by each of them was also hot, especially Yuri's performance of "If" and Yoona's "4 Minutes". However, Yuri's performance seemed a little restrained because I have seen her solo performance in Japan for the concert on Youtube and she definitely let go more, plus her costume revealed her perfect abs, which was covered up by netting this time round, but she did show her kkab-ness throughout the concert.

When the SNSD ship came around to my side, I was torn between scrambling to get the camera and waving Yuri's fanboard. In the end, my camera pouch fell to the floor though I managed to get a shot and focused more on getting their attention.

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Now do you believe me when I say Yoona kept coming to my side? Most of the pictures I've got here are of her, ok that's also because whenever Yuri came near I was too busy waving my lightstick and fanboard to get any pictures.There was an encore 3 times, before they finally said "goodbye" and "see you tomorrow", which sadly I wasn't going to go for. I wanted to get more pictures, but photography/videography was very strict. The security standing between the barriers and the stage were constantly on the lookout for cameras, and if they saw they would shine a flashlight no matter how concealed you were in the pen. I did succeed a few times, but also got a warning once. After that, I kind of completely gave up altogether and focused on enjoying the show, since a warning of more than 2 times would get you thrown out (and they made good their promise on that to some persistent fans). So throughout the concert, I was trying very hard to capture every moment in my head so I would remember this till the next time they come again. All in all, it was a great show and it was fun waving my pink official lightstick while wearing the official tour shirt. (Pink is the official colour for SNSD)

I had withdrawal symptoms though almost immediately after the concert ended. I wanted to attend the 2nd night, but I knew it wasn't practical nor good for my purse to go see the same show twice. I heard the second night was better, because there was a fan event where all the fans in the stadium raised up the message "소녀시대 makes my life complete" when they were singing the song "Complete" (which is featured on my blog here) like this and this moved the girls(taeyeon and jessica I heard especially) to tears. Seems like the atmosphere was much better than the first night. Next time around, I guess I am going for the second one.

Now there has been a lot of hype this week over an ST article that seemed to criticise Kpop. Well, yes Kpop may sound/look plasticky and repetitive to a lot of people, but for those who appreciate it, it is another genre of music altogether. Plus, those who don't like Kpop will never understand the closeness the fans feel to their Kpop idols. Even if it may be perceived as a superficial piece of music by purists, you cannot totally ignore according the credit of these idols. Their sweat, tears and years of training and hard work are what made their success today possible, and it was never an easy road to begin with. The perfect synchronisation didn't happen overnight and for the umpteenth time, they may look "alike" and some may indeed have gone through plastic surgery, which is another controversial topic, but it's fine if the fan doesn't mind. If you aren't even a fan in the first place, why do you have/bother to mind? Again to each his own. I idolise SNSD, because they represent my dreams and are my role models, but this doesn't mean that I go to extremes by stalking them 24/7. I see their efforts and their individuality on stage, and have witnessed their dedication to all live performances, such that they don't disappoint at all. The hearts idols put into their performances are obvious and they show their personalities to fans, whether true or not can be debatable as we never truly know, but it does make every fan feel close enough and personal to the idol. To every Kpop fan, Kpop has a meaning, and this meaning may never be understood by those who refuse to be objective and stereotype the music on the very first note they hear. I haven't even gone into how this phenomenon has revolutionised the music industry. Album sales are picking up, as fans are willing to get albums instead of downloading the tracks online illegally. Concert tickets sell like hotcakes and you see fan unity at Kpop concerts, chanting and cheering in unison with their lightsticks that you have almost never seen before at other concerts. It may be cult-like, but you cannot deny it stems from a common love and not blind following for Kpop. By dismissing it as nonsensical and "it sucks" is alright -- to each his own, but to completely see it as worthless would be an insult to this musical phenomenon that has culminated into a worldwide craze. I am not ashamed of it, because it is something I enjoy and further sheds light for me on my future direction.

So what's all the fuss about? (:

Terminologies

Bias- The particular group member you like/favour/are biased towards in a group

Fan-chants- Specific cheers(in korean) the fans shout aloud at parts of the song. These cheers can be learnt online and are used universally even in different countries.

Kkab- Used to describe hyperactive and cute behaviour

Sones- Official name of Snsd fans