loona

there's a lot of different ways people get into kpop. for me? it was fire emblem: three houses that did it.

in 2019, there was this incredible twitter thread of fanmade interactions between the fe:3h characters on twitter. here's an example:

after reading and re-reading the thread multiple times, i tweeted out a question - who's that girl in lysithea's profile picture? i quickly had a follow-up question - how do i "stan loona"? one reddit post later, i was in the thick of things.

i had rarely interacted with kpop before this. my prior encounters with it had been hearing "the boys" by snsd everywhere in high school when it came out, and my ex becoming REALLY into BTS after we broke up. so the first kpop song i ever sat down and listened to with intention was heejin's "vivid". suffice to say, i fell down the rabbit hole shortly afterwards.

this was september of 2019! we were fresh off of loonacon (otherwise known as kcon 2019, for the uninitiated), and i had SO much to catch up on. i spent months digging through their predebut lore, watching all the variety content i could get my hands on, and professing my love for kim hyunjin to anyone who'd listen. the [#] album was my first comeback with the group, and i insisted that anyone who didn't like "so what" just didn't get it. now, years later, i can say it confidently - if you don't like "so what", you just don't get it.

since i came across them, i've been a dedicated stan. i woke up for every comeback, i spent way too much money on MD, and my profile picture on my main twitter is still chuu's color, as it has been ever since november 2022.

now, i follow the members as much as i'm able to. i can't buy every album, but i stream and i follow their antics and i'm so excited for a potential ot12 stage in the future. my favorite re-debut single is easily "sensitive", and my bias of the twelve girls is still hyunjin - though yves is a MASSIVE bias wrecker for me.

despite being a huge stan, i haven't actually listened to all of loona's music. in the future, i might use this site to chronicle my first listens to a ton of their predebut b-sides - keep an eye out for that!