What makes a song good? Is it the lyrics? Or maybe the beat? I think music is good when you can hear the passion. When you know that the artist is loving what they do and love making music. You can hear it, the hard work and passion in their voice. A good song can move your emotions and give you goosebumps when you hear it. It makes you feel something. If you like sad songs that make you cry or if you like heavy metal that makes you feel excited you still feel something from the song.

I didn't understand this concept until I was 11. I was on the phone with my aunt who at the time was living in Korea for school. She asked me if I liked Kpop or Korean pop music and wanting to be like my aunt and have her like me I said yes. I actually knew nothing about kpop. So she asked me ¨Oh well which group do you like?¨ and that's when I panicked. I looked up kpop on Youtube as fast as I could and the first thing was Exo's “Overdose”. That's when I told her I liked the group Exo. After a little while of lying she hung up and I decided to listen to it.

The music video starts with all the members in a maze trying to find their way out and after a 40 second intro the song started. The beat picks up as I watch in amazement. They start singing in korean and I had never heard korean before. To my surprise I actually really liked it. I didn't even know what they were saying and I liked it. I finally understood what my aunt liked about kpop so much. After I heard this song I started looking up all of Exo’s songs. I learned all the members and even bought some albums such as XOXO and The War.I did look up the english lyrics eventually just to see what they said and I fell in love with one lyric. Now the way Korean is written when translated to english its a bit weird but the lyric said “Her love, Her love is like a poison to me”. I didn't realize the song was about love. The song is very upbeat and I didnt feel that it would be a love song. But even with knowing the lyrics I can't see it as a love song.

But the point of this is to say is you don't have to understand the lyrics to love a song. The part that makes someone love a song is the passion of the singer and the beat or sound of the song. Lyrics are only one of several pieces in making a song. After I realized this I called my aunt and we started talking pretty often. My mom was adopted and is very distant from her sisters and parents so I didn't get to see my aunt so I used kpop as a way to connect with her. We started talking more and texting too.  She would tell me about the groups she loved and would send me stuff from Korea. Sadly enough as the years past me and my aunt started talking less and less as we both got busier. Even after we stopped talking I continued to listen to kpop. I explored other groups and different types of Korean music like rock and solo artists. I fell in love with Korean tv shows and movies as well.

Now present day I own many albums and listen songs from other groups but every once in a while I like to go back and listen to “Overdose” and bask in the nostalgia. The feeling of being that shy 11 year old in midsummer laying in bed watching all of EXO’s videos. I look back at the song that started it all and introduced me to a new world of music I had never heard of. I'm glad I lied to my aunt that day because I don't know what kind of person I would be today without that music.