Taeyang and Min Hyo Rin opened about their relationship in 2015.Reuters

People change when they fall in love, and, so did BIGBANG member Taeyang, who is currently dating South Korean actress Min Hyo Rin. The singer-songwriter, who has been in a relationship since 2013, revealed that he discovered his romantic side after meeting his lady love.

During his interview with Dazed and Confused, Taeyang opened up about his relationship with the 30-year-old. The boy group member showcased a completely different side of him. He said, “Honestly, I think people change after meeting someone you love. I didn’t have many romantic relationships, and the romantic scent inside me was beginning to disappear.”

The 28-year-old continued with some filled poetic words: “I felt ‘dry’. However, after I fell in love with my girlfriend, I recovered the romantic side of me. It feels as if rain is softly touching my dry heart. Thanks to love, I feel a lot more relaxed now. For that alone, I am thankful for love.”

Meanwhile, the power couple of the K-pop industry does not get to spend much time with each other because of their busy schedules. Once Hyo Rin revealed: ” He’s not in Korea often because of his schedules overseas, but we try to meet whenever he is in Korea.”

Dishing out details of their typical date style, the former model shared: “We eat good food, and just casually spend time together. We both love to eat, and have similar tastes, so our opinions don’t usually go against each other.”

Source: IB Times Singapore

K-pop group BIGBANG’s 10th anniversary concert was held on Aug. 20 at Seoul Worldcup Stadium in Mapo-gu, Seoul. A yellow banner with the above slogan was held by 22-year-old Shanghainese Wang Weisi. A fan of G-Dragon, Wang said, “I’ve been to their concert in China, but didn’t hesitate to reserve a ticket in Korea in hopes for a more special concert.” With global fans crowding the stadium, various foreign languages can be heard.

Here we live in an era of “global idols.” EXO fan clubs amount to 3.7 million, including Chinese and Japanese fans. Once limited to Asian regions in the early 2000s, World tours held by K-pop idols have now reached to the Americas and Europe. The SM Town Paris Concert held in 2011 was clearly a symbolic evidence of the “globalization of the Korean Wave.” It was the first live concert held by K-pop singers in Paris, and hundreds of local fans extended the concert from once to twice by demonstrating a flash mob. Since the first world tour in 2008, BIGBANG held its second world tour last year, attracting 1.5 million fans from 15 countries including not only Asians, but also Americans and Australians. Now, global fans do not hesitate to visit Korea for domestic concerts. “At least 10,000 tickets are bought by overseas fans of BIGBANG or EXO,” said an official of the ticketing website YES24.

Global fandom not only attracts overseas fans, but also invites the culture itself. Peruvian Roxana Salazar Kysfe enrolled her first class at the Cusco Korean Council in 2011. “I wanted to understand the lyrics of my favorite singers without translation,” the 25-year-old fan of Super Junior and BIGBANG said. “I learnt Korean cuisines and history at the Council.”

“K-pop idols are the first success created by the Korean Wave,” said Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University. “Thanks to the creation of global fandom in idol media contents, the entire Korean culture including food and fashion are going global.”

Source: Donga.com