As a new writer for the Odyssey, I decided to write something that I have been interested in for the past couple years. I have recently gotten into a music genre called K-Pop, which is Korean Pop. K-Pop has been around since the 1990s in Korea, but it wasn't until PSY's music video, "Gangnam Style" took the world by storm on Youtube.

But even before, there were groups such as the Wonder Girls, SHINee, Girls Generation, and Big Bang who had already won people's hearts before the Korean wave expanded. Although I have just gotten into K-Pop, I have had the pleasure of going to two concerts for two different groups. Both groups had been male, which in the K-Pop industry are very popular compared to girl groups, well from what I have seen.

Both concerts had been very entertaining and memorable for me. The first concert I had gone to was by the very popular group EXO, who debuted in 2012, but took the world by storm in 2013. It was their first tour in the United States and will most likely not be the last. The second group I had seen was this past July was GOT7, which was the very group that had gotten me into K-Pop in the first place. I also had the pleasure of being able to meet them after the show, briefly.

While both concerts were entertaining, I noticed something that most international K-Pop fans probably have noticed by going to these concerts. Fans from all walks of life attend these concerts. It didn't matter if you were Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, had gone by yourself, with a friend, their parents---EVERYONE was there. Another thing that I had noticed was how the artists could not believe the turn out they had at these concerts.

Both concerts that I had gone to as well as the other dates during their respected tours had all sold out. In fact, the concert I had gone to in July had added a second date as well as another date in Los Angeles. Most K-Pop groups do not have the opportunity to come to the United States, unless they attend KCON, which is a convention in Los Angeles and New York and they celebrate Korean culture and entertainment.

I follow a fellow Youtuber on Twitter, who had the opportunity to see her favorite band in Chicago for a fan meeting, which is where the members perform a few songs, answer questions from the fans, and play games with the fans. All of the members were so surprised and had no idea that they had gotten such a large turn out. If I'm not mistaken, that same group had another fan meeting a couple months later.

What I am trying to get at is, even though a lot of international fans would love their favorite groups to come to the United States for concerts, it is still going to be a long process to have those groups travel over here so often. Plane tickets are expensive and there are so many different things the entertainment companies have to go through in order to make that happen.

My time going to K-Pop concerts are not over and I cannot wait to attend another one when the time comes or maybe I'll make a trip out of it and go to Korea and witness it first hand.