When I reintroduced myself to K-pop last year, a lot of things had changed since I was in elementary school. The most obvious change was how popular K-pop had become. It was no longer hard to find other K-pop listeners at school. With this globalization of K-pop, the concept of physical albums became more popular in the U.S. and could be bought without shipping in albums from Korea or Japan.
Most artists under a record label will release a physical copy of their album as a CD. K-pop does this too, but a bit differently. In addition to the CD, albums come with extra inclusions. Most albums will usually have a photo book that features pictures of the artist from a dedicated photoshoot for the album. The inclusions can range from keychains to stickers to posters, but the most popular inclusions are definitely photocards.
I like explaining the concept of photocards by comparing it to Pokémon cards. They are both collectible cards that fans can collect by trading and selling with other fans. Photocards usually have a picture of the idol on the front and the album logo or design on the back. Each album will usually have one to three photocards included. Like Pokémon, fans will trade and sell photocards for their favorite member or to finish their collection; this isn’t a cheap hobby. Depending on the rarity of the card, these pieces of paper can sell for a couple of dollars or hundreds of dollars.
When I realized that there were physical albums and cards I could buy and collect, I went a little crazy. The first month after realizing this, I probably bought six albums, which doesn’t sound bad until you realize that most albums retail for $23 to $29. Thankfully, I’ve slowed down a lot. As of now, my collection takes up one shelf on my bookshelf and one shelf on my desk.
All this is to say that when I reentered the K-pop scene, I spiraled into the hobby of collecting. Though, given my personality, I feel like I was prone to start a collection of some sort. Some might call it hoarding, but I’ve always liked keeping objects that mean something to me or make me happy. My room is a reflection of this, with various candles, figurines, plushies, and posters covering my desk, walls, and bookshelves.
One might ask what I do with this collection; to that, I say…nothing. Honestly, they don’t serve any purpose except for taking up space in my room. The reasons for collections differ from person to person, but the most common reasons people collect things are for knowledge, relaxation, personal pleasure, social interaction, a challenge, recognition, altruism, a desire to control something, nostalgia, or to accumulate wealth.
For me, I just like collecting things for personal pleasure; it’s as simple as that. There’s no profound, complex reason for why I like collecting things. That’s just how it is, and if collecting can bring me some happiness, then I’ll take it.
