Happy Anniversary, boys!
It’s insane to think that a year ago around this time, you were completely wrecking my ult group, X1, with your 5th Mini Album, nostalgia, and how fucking personal and beautiful every song on the album was. At first, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but after watching the music video and watching the performances of the title track, “nostalgic night”, something about you boys captivated me.
I was a PDX101 fan; I remember watching the show over the summer and being so mesmerized by Byungchan’s visual and Seungwoo’s vocal and how well put together they were as trainees on the show. They were debuted idols already, getting a second chance at not only redebuting in a new group, but in hopes that if they did not make the final lineup, their fans will come back to them in Victon and fall in love with them as a group. In an industry with a BTS, NCT, and other monster boy groups, Victon’s success was subpar. Many people didn’t know of them despite being a group that debuted in November 2016. Prior to “nostalgic night”, they never had a music show win. Long and behold on 11/12/19, Victon had their first win, and wow – it was an emotional one; one for finally getting that win, for going through a time in their careers where disbandment was being discussed, and because Seungwoo was promoting in the PDX101 project group, X1, at the time.
It was their chemistry that got me during the summer of 2019. Watching their old reality show from 2017, it made me realize that they were more than just a group of 7 guys. They were legitimately a family, and they loved each other like brothers. In an industry where Kpop is heavily scripted and put together artificially, Victon never felt fake. They were honest, and real, and their tears and love for their fans (Alice) never felt like they came from a manufactured place. After having Victon literally destorying my life for the latter half of 2019, I finally came to terms like these boys were my boys, and they were the group that I was meant to ult. That day was 1/9/20, on my birthday, while listening to their song “The Chemistry” on the bus on my way to work.
It’s been one hell of a year for me, and it’s not even over because they are making a comeback in December with a full length album; the first in their discography. But, within the year, they’ve had two concerts, one fanmeeting, two comebacks, and so many amazing things for them as a group and for them individually!
For me, I’ve became a kpop collector; solely a Victon collector. I created a trading account in the kpop community on Instagram and in the process met so many amazing people that finally understood my love for a genre and a group as Victon. I met my best friend solely through our mutual love and utter trash for our boys. I’ve been the happiest I’ve been in a really long time because this is the first time in a really long time I felt like I was owning my damn identity. I have tattoos (3 actually) that are Kpop inspired. I wear pins and buttons and jewelry with Victon on them; I have Seungsik’s name on me in my outfits all the time because that man is my ult and like, wow the love for that man is unreal. TLDR; although there are moments where I feel like I don’t fit in due to my own worries and anxiety, I still can step back and see just how much I finally do belong in a community.
So, in all honestly – thank you, Victon, for being the catalyst for the many things to happen in 2020.
사랑해요 ~~ ❤
Letters From Liz. 