Meet Connie
Bukchan Hanok Village
My name is Connie, and I am joining Sabrina and Shamra to share my reviews of K-Dramas on Hallyu Reviews. A little bit about me...I am a young-at-heart, adventurous mom of five kids. My passions are: food of all kinds, especially Asian and Peruvian (both eating and cooking), airplanes, animals, researching, and now, K-Dramas and K-Pop. I speak fluent Spanish, and am learning a Korean word here and there by watching K-Dramas.
My intro to K-Dramas was actually through a C-Drama (Chinese Drama), in early Winter of 2025. I was browsing movies on Amazon Prime, and the drama, The Rebel Princess, appeared in my feed. The "thumbnail" photo intrigued me because it featured my favorite Asian actress, Zhang Ziyi, as the FL (female lead). I decided to explore it and was instantly hooked by the gorgeous cinematography, costumes, and actors. Although it had 68 episodes, the story kept me so engaged that, by the end of it, I knew I had to watch more of these beautiful cinematic productions (I have since watched The Rebel Princess two more times). A friend mentioned that she watched K-Dramas, so I decided to give those a try. Since I was already fond of the historical/costume dramas, my first K-Drama was The King's Affection, which I loved! I watched a few more historical dramas (both Chinese and Korean), and then moved into the 21st century! The modern dramas captured my heart just as much as the historical ones. I now watch mostly K-Dramas, but I will also watch C-Dramas, with a few J-Dramas (Japanese Dramas) sprinkled in. Am I addicted to these dramas? Absolutely! To date, I've watched 117 dramas, and keep a list of all of them. Honestly, they're all I watch on T.V. anymore, staying up way too late doing so. My Top 5 K-Dramas, so far, are: The King's Affection, Mr. Sunshine, Crash Landing On You, Captivating The King, and Alchemy Of Souls 1&2. My next favorites are, Her Private Life, What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?, and Perfect Crown.
My son once said to me, "Mom, now that you watch K-Dramas, it's only a matter of time before you start listening to K-Pop." I said, "No way! That's music for young people. Never, in a million years, will I listen to K-Pop!" Little did I know the journey that awaited me...
My intro to K-Pop was through YouTube. One day, a few months into watching the Asian dramas, a music video popped up in my YouTube feed. It was “Love Poem,” an IU song covered by a trio of main singers - Jongho, Seungmin, and Eunkwang - from three separate K-Pop groups: ATEEZ, Stray Kids, and BTOB, respectively, that they had performed on Kingdom: Legendary War. I clicked on it, and oh, my goodness! It was so beautiful, I couldn't believe it. I had to know more! I first explored Stray Kids, and loved them. I discovered that they were going to perform in concert in Washington, D.C., so I bought tickets, and my same-age friend and I went to see them. They were amazing, even though the concert was cut short due to a severe heatwave that day. Of course, I became a STAY. Then, I heard that a group named ATEEZ was coming to Baltimore, in July. So I bought tickets, not knowing anything about them. I figured, why not see them, since they were coming? I immediately began to explore their music in preparation for the concert. I loved them so much, I did a deep dive into their entire discography, and knew right away, that I would be an ATINY for life! At their concert, they lived up to their label of "Performance Kings!" I spent most of the rest of 2025 listening to ATEEZ whenever I could. To me, they are the "Swiss Army Knives" of K-Pop - they can do it all, and with a style only they possess! I've since gone to other concerts: Enhypen, Xdinary Heroes, P1Harmony, Seventeen, BTS (Las Vegas), Ampers& One, and The Rose. Future concerts include BTS (Baltimore), Lngshot/Jay Park, and Monsta X. My "Ult Group" is and will always be ATEEZ, for their vocals, dancing, performance, presence, visuals, and personalities. My close-second favorite group is Xdinary Heroes (a K-Rock band where each member plays an instrument and has insane vocals). There are so many groups to explore!
The world of K-Dramas/K-Pop is wonderful and so interesting. I love learning about all of it, and have actually experienced a sort of unexpected personal "renaissance" as I've been on this journey. Never did I think I would be into K-Pop or K-Dramas, yet here I am, and I love it!
