[Article] SS501 The Test of Hope ; The Kpop Life: Lesson From a Veteran Fan

(NOTE: extracted only SS501 related)

The Test of Hope.

What are your hopes when it comes to Kpop? The global mainstreaming of the genre? Meeting your favorite artist in person? Seeing a Kpop concert? Traveling to Korea? We all have little hopes like these, but if you’re like me, you may also harbor a very important one: the reunification and comeback of SS501.

After their contract ended with DSP Entertainment in 2010, members of SS501 went their separate ways and signed with different labels. When details of the so-called split hit the Internet, fans were frantic. Could this be the end of SS501? Are they falling under the five-year curse? After the split, leader Kim Hyun Joong made an official statement that basically said that SS501 would never really split up. The members were just going to pursue their own individual activities. He guaranteed that SS501 would reunite someday and would continue to release its music. This small sliver of hope is something that SS501 fans still hold onto fervently even now.

SS501 solidified their place as my ultimate group bias many years ago and, to this day, no group has ever been able to replace them. Before SS501 debuted in 2005, I was on a Korean Indie group kick and had turned my focus away from mainstream Kpop, so-to-speak. I got the news that a new five-man group would be debuting under DSP Entertainment when a close friend from Japan sent me a few of the latest promotional shots of the group’s members. As I nonchalantly glanced through the six photos, I suddenly stopped when it came to one of the individual member shots. It wasn’t the subject’s stunning good looks or bright smile that caught my attention, it was his eyes.

They didn’t sparkle. They didn’t shine. They looked lost and sad. It was strange that a photo would look that way, isn’t it? It’s especially when you are talking about a group’s promotional shots that are supposed to grab the Kpop world’s attention. Perhaps it was just my imagination, or how I perceived the feel of the shot, but it struck a chord in me to the point that I followed SS501 activities from then on.

Looking back on how I found the group and how I felt about them before I ever once heard them sing, I tried to understand why I was so fascinated by them. Still to this day, I can’t really put my finger on the exact reason why this group spoke to me initially. When they finally debuted, in June of 2005, their first track,Warning, shattered my ideas of their vocal abilities and music style, and consequently, blew me away. After that, I found myself literally loving every song they released–which is rare since I’m normally overly-critical when it comes to music styles, lyrics, and arrangements. Perhaps it was their vocals that really spoke to me, or perhaps it all boils down to that one photo. I may never really know.

Since the split, members Heo Young Saeng, Kim Hyung Joon, Kim Hyun Joong, Kim Kyu Jong, and Park Jung Min, have continued to produce music as solo artists, and up until the middle of last year, fans were still adamantly looking forward to the promised comeback. Then, in July 2012, it was announced that member Kim Kyu Jong would begin his military service. This surprised the fans simply because, up until the announcement, it was common knowledge that he had been exempt from service because of a medical condition. The corresponding policy that exempted him from service had been revamped, and his exemption had been lifted. The whole situation felt like a train derailment to all of the group’s fans. Their hopes were quickly dashed with this one event, and the reunification of SS501 looked even more unlikely.

However, even through everything the fans have endured since the split in 2010, leader Kim Hyun Joong has still been quite adamant that there will be a reunification and a comeback of SS501. Even though the comeback will have to be delayed for two years due to Kyu Jong’s enlistment, the possibility of a comeback is still obtainable.

The plight of SS501 reminds fans that there are no true ‘definites’ in this world. Where there is a will, there is a way. Hope is as precious as it is fragile, and still we cling to it with all our might. While our hope of SS501′s reunification maybe hindered by the realities of this world, having hope brings us almost the same amount of joy as the actual fulfillment of it. This life lesson is the most loved lesson I’ve learned during my Kpop life. We hang our many hopes on our beloved artist and genre and make the choice to do all that we can to see them realized.

orginal article >>>  The Kpop Life: Lessons from a Veteran Fan by Nini

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source: hellokpop.com