After almost 4 years, I crossed out an item on my birthday wishlist that I created in 2021 and that was to go to a K-Pop concert. I almost gave up on this one. Eventhough I have been 3 times to Seoul recently, the chances of getting a ticket to a K-Pop concert is extremely slim to non existent. So when it was announced last year that the famous Taemin of SHINee is coming to have a concert in Helsinki, I was not sure if I will have enough luck to get a ticket. Although, the thought of him coming to Helsinki is a miracle in itself. I mean, why Helsinki of all places! Then sure enough, when the tickets were going to be released, I was in Osaka. I was again in a situation where I had an extremely slim chance to get a ticket. But then a miracle happened! A kind lady in Finland offered to buy a ticket for me. When the 8,000 tickets were released, it was sold out in less than 2 minutes. But fortunate enough, one of the sold tickets was mine. So grateful!

I was looking forward to the concert but I was not so invested in it either. Maybe because it didn’t hit me just yet that this was really happening. It was when Taemin entered the stage that I finally realised that this was real, that Taemin was really there performing a song that I’ve listened to many times before. It also dawned on me that it was almost 4 years ago when I had my first K-Pop concert (online, of course) and it was also Taemin’s concert. Taemin became my first online and live K-Pop concert!

But was I listening to an album and looking at a music video? Because he sounded just the same in his album and danced just the same in his music videos. In fact, how can someone sing and dance so well at the same time? His voice was stable and his dance moves were so sharp, accurate and well calculated. So amazingly talented! It was like going to a museum and the artist himself was present, showing his craft in perfection.

As the short person I am, I’m always sat at concerts to ensure visibility. From where I was, I was able to experience the whole stage – the amazing vocals, the perfect and synced choreography, the flashing lights, the screaming fans waving their fanlights excitedly, the entire audience singing and dancing… It was surreal and it was absolutely Art. In fact, Taemin is Art.