When you say boy band, like Big Bang, Infinite, the first thing that comes to mind is screaming teenaged girls, right? Well, there is a new demographic of fan springing up that embraces the boys of K-Pop, like G-Dragon, as enthusiastically...and she just might be your mother.
A new article on the website The Japan Times introduces the K-Pop "aunties" of South Korea -- older women who are fans of K-Pop and not afraid to show it. In the artricle, we are introduced to Lee Un-young. A 46 year old housewife living in Seoul, South Korea, Un-young's apartment is a shrine to one of the most well-known boy bands in all of K-Pop, Big Bang.
"There are a lot of auntie fans in their 40s like me, who started following Big Bang when they were in their 30s," says 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 isn't embarrassed by the fact that she is old enough to be the mother of any one of the band's five-members. She says she was embarrassed at first when she went to her first Big Bang concerts and other events as she was almost 20 years older than everyone else. However, Lee found fans her age .
"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 is supportive of his wife's obsession and even says he admires her commitment.
Although the overwhelming majority of K-Pop fans are younger, Baek Sung-Hee is another 40 something housewife who is into the K-Pop idols as well and sees nothing wrong with her passions.
Is it creepy that older women are obsessed with younger men, being fans of boys they are old enough to be their mother? What if the shoe were on the other foot and it was an older guy and a young female singer?
