2 Years of Pop Reviews Now


As this is published, I'm most probably on a bus with a choir of 30+ and another 10+ adult staff, pulling my hair out because I'm part of a group of junior staff - on the way to a 5-day intensive choir camp. Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta do. *sigh*

Two years ago on this very day, at the age of 13, I published my first review - Westlife's Everybody Knows. I've matured so much since that review but to be honest with you, I never thought this day would come - NEVER.


I can't believe it's been 2 years since I started PRN, but that also means that it's been 2 years since my passion for writing reached it's peak. PRN went from a sideline to serious business - if I want to I can actually earn money from this, but I choose not to.

When it comes to blogs, I'd never been able to commit to one for longer than a year, but PRN has changed everything. Never has there been a time when I wanted to shut PRN down and never was there a time when writing for PRN didn't make me happy, no matter how stressed or annoyed I was. The entries here are more than just reviews, they're reflections of me and how I've grown over the years (yes, I can say yearS now!).

My first year was spent laying down foundations - I blogged about artists I liked, built a solid body of works and introduced myself to a circle of bloggers I now call friends. This second year though, I learned how to think. Gone were the days of me trying to get my blog noticed by legendary bloggers - I had already gotten them to acknowledge and know of my presence. Because I didn't have to focus on promotion or reviewing music I knew people would want to read about, I was thinking up crazy but 100% true theories and analyzing parts of pop music I could've and would've never done before.

I was taking my reviews a step further and turning them into critical writings on a type of music people often take for granted - I think it's safe to say that I've given some resemblance depth to pop music. I've also reinforced the fact that this is truly what I want to do forever, and PRN has given me a reason to keep doing it.

I ventured into a new music industry in this second year and even at this early a stage, PRN is one of the few critical Kpop review blogs online, if not the only. I used everything I knew and learned from blogging about Western pop and applied it to kpop - I took the critical thinking, the analysis and the ideals that made a good song and I was able to really get to the bottom of some of the biggest kpop hits of 2009.

Of course, none of this would've been possible without the people who I've met and talked to on Twitter because of PRN. To the bloggers, Ken, Paul, Mel, Aaron, Jio, Mike, J. Mensah, PPG - thanks for sticking with me through my kpop phase, even if I know some of you don't really like it. But to Mel in particular, I GOT YOU PROPERLY ADDICTED TO DBSKKKKKK! yesss. To the people I've met through kpop - Jinhee, AA-chan, Rome&Adio, Sheng and all my spazz-mates, oh dear. Thanks for all the spazzing sessions on Twitter and the sometimes intellectual discussions. But Sheng and Jinhee in particular, you two wouldn't believe how big an impact you've made on me. : )

But more than anything, PRN has opened an infinite amount of doors for me. Because of PRN I was introduced and 'inducted' to a new circle of kpop bloggers and I'm so thankful to Jinhee over at Babelpop for giving me the chance of a lifetime - literally. PRN got me an editorial position at OMGKPOP (which I've now resigned from), got me another editorial position at Virgin Music, and has now gotten me an offer for a feature editor position at POPSEOUL! which I've turned down - none of these would've been possible without the people from these influential sites seeing Pop Reviews Now. I'm doing what I love, more and more people are reading my work, and for that I'm just so damn honored.

That was kinda like an acceptance speech. But anyway, point is, Pop Reviews Now is 2 years old today and thank every single one of the 111,000+ readers who've visited it during this short span - I have big things planned for year 3, just wait!

7 comments:

  1. MORE POWEERRRR!! CONGRATS! Looking forward for more years of PRN! xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hehe - Good Luck!

    CONGRATULATIONS!!! - You really deserve each and every success you get - The site is really rather great!

    Thank you SO much for the mention, but you really shouldn't have - Congratulations again!

    Bring on the next year of stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  3. 2 years! so I'm not that young at this blog =P I've been reading PRN since August 09 or so. Nevertheless, all those months reading most of your articles/posts have helped me to be more critical about music, not just Pop & KPop, but in everything.

    PRN caught my eye because there were posts about Korean music; I was interested (still) on KPop so I started to read the post, don't remember what post thought, and the magic of this blog began & is still here.

    Thanks for sharing your amazing opinion about Pop music in general.

    ReplyDelete
  4. happy blog birthday :) Congrats on 2 fun filled years :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pop the champagnes! Cheers~ Congrats :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Isn't it always so lovely to see how far we've come -- and you especially have accomplished so many great things in just two years time! How time flies! So proud of you, bub!

    And yes, you converted me. I was listening to some 2NE1 at home and my mother was like, Errr. I don't want to know. Heh.

    Can't wait to hear all about your touring endeavors. :) I know you're having a fun but stressful time. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. *pops confetti* (rather late but what the heck)

    Thanks guys! I feel so loved. Weehee!

    ReplyDelete

Want to share any of your thoughts on the above post? Drop a comment here! I read all comments and reply occasionally, especially if you have specific questions for me. :D

Note that comments are moderated. Spam, self-advertising (K-Pop-related and otherwise) and overly vulgar submissions will NOT be accepted. If you want me to promote/endorse/follow/link to your site, please e-mail me at popreviewsnow@gmail.com instead.

 

Recent Tweets

Like Pop Reviews Now on Facebook!

Statistics (Since May 2009)

Music - Top Blogs Philippines Follow on Bloglovin

Blog Archive

You're reading an award-winning blog

The K-Pop Writers' Workshop


A workshop for writers of critical pieces on Korean entertainment -- formal reviews, expository essays/Op-eds, and personal essays/Creative Non-Fiction.
Learn from the best in K-Ent writing