South Korea’s 40-something K-pop ‘aunties’ just as obsessed
SEOUL: They don’t fit the normal fan profi le, but South Korea’s 40- something K-pop ‘aunties’ are every bit as obsessed with their idols as their teenage counterparts.
Posters and photos of one of Kpop’s best-known boy bands, Big Bang, adorn every wall of Lee Un-Young’s apartment in Seoul — a live-in shrine to a decadelong devotion.
The fact that she is old enough to be the mother of any one of the band’s five-member line-up doesn’t bother the 46-year- old housewife at all.
“There are a lot of auntie fans in their 40s like me, who started following Big Bang when they were in their 30s,” said Lee, who has a particular soft spot for the group’s leader, G-Dragon, who has carved out a successful solo career on the side.
Lee admitted to “feeling shy” when she fi rst started going to Big Bang concerts and other events when she was already a good 20 years older than most of the teenage girls around her.
“But then I slowly found some other fans who were around my age and we immediately clicked with each other,” she said.
“These days, five of us get together once a month and all of our conversations revolve around Big Bang and G-Dragon.”
Lee’s husband Park Tae- Kyun is supportive and says he admires his wife’s commitment, although he could do without the posters that cover even the windows of their apartment.
“Even in summer, we don’t get any sunlight,” he complained.
Although the overwhelming majority of K-pop followers are either teenagers or in their early twenties, Baek Sung-Hee, a housewife in her mid-forties, sees nothing odd in her passion for the music.
“To me, age is just a number, nothing more,” Baek said.
“And anyway, I know some Kpop fans in their 50s and 60s, so I’m a younger sister compared to them,” she added. — AFP