how it all began
(warning, long post ahead)
i’m not exactly a ‘veteran fan’ who’s been following them since their debut. my first acknowledgement of them came upon me watching you’re beautiful like crazy fangirl, following every single tidbits about the drama. i was impressed at hongki’s acting and then found out that he’s actually a singer too! of a band nonetheless!
i was not really interested in kpop at that point, i don’t know much about who’s who and what’s what, but at least i know that a band with members who sing and play instruments is not a common thing in mainstream kpop culture. that alone is enough to raise my curiosity.
my first impression about them was pretty mixed up. not really sure whether it was in a good way or not. but their song is indeed catchy and fun. plus, it doesn’t hurt that they got some pretty faces. but the magic didn’t really work until i hear one of the song from their first album, a man’s first love follows him to the grave.
that sure an awfully long title. aside of that, i’m really surprised that even though i heard it on early 2010, the melody was still fresh and unique. it’s a kind of genre that i rarely found in korean music (note that my korean music vocabulary mainly consisted of korean drama soundtracks, back then). and i have to say that they pulled it quite smoothly. even up till now, it’s still one of my favorite song of them.
as i browsed through their history, i found out more about kpop industry as well as their handsync issues. i admit, there’s a point when i thought that they’re just standing there and looking pretty and handsync-ing. but rumor ain’t the one who plays the melody; i liked their songs anyway.
i remember that it was around the time when they stayed in japan for their debut, when i found out the fact that they had already released a few indie album in japan as well. and they surprised me (again) at how different they sound in their japanese release. it raised my respect for them so much that i began to be a fan. so long au revoir, so cute album with cute cover, with songs like ready go and winters night; i just love it. and then came the time for their first japanese debut which also immediately became a hit, flower rock.
it was just amazing. that’s just exactly how you should do your music, dude. with passion, and sincerity. some hongrish here and there, well, one can learn to be better.
it’s not really exceptional or revolutionary, but if you take it at the scale of korean pop, it is revolutionary. as long as i remember, at that time, korean artists who tried their luck in japanese music usually just took the lazy way, translated their korean songs and slapped a ‘japanese ver’ behind the title (no offense, btw). but ft island, not only they made an entirely new album, it is even better than their korean release. for the fact that they dare to choose the ‘hard path’, started from the very bottom, i think they deserve all the praise.
and that’s how it all began, for me.
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