Hello everyone, and welcome to another editon of The SB Mixtape, with a playlist for every occasion! And this week’s is a rather personal one:
Growing up in a traditional South Asian family, I was never allowed to date. And even though I ticked the “single” box on forms, I never really felt single in the Australian sense of the word; my marital status felt more like “awaiting betrothal.”
Well, last fortnight I officially got engaged, and as a result, got permanently taken off the market (sorry Minho, you had your chance). In my mind, though, I was never really on the market to begin with; and while I am more than happy with the choices I’ve made, I have also been thinking about singledom and wondering just what it means to me.
The general assumption made when talking about singledom, is that it’s about being fine after a break-up or not needing a lover to have fun; and those are definitely valid explanations of singledom. But, for me it’s also about the realising those flutters of first love, creating flutters in others as their first love, confessing your crush, discovering more of yourself intimately with others, becoming obsessed, the pain of unrequited love, and — of course — the flirting.
These aren’t all exclusive to people who can date, of course; but where I can’t experience something myself, pop culture (and the accompanying fan culture, ahem) has always been there to help fill in the blanks, somewhat. K-pop is no exception to this, with the songs below representing my own understanding of this part of life.
Readers, what are you thoughts on singledom? Would you agree with my definition of it, or do you think there’s another more fitting name for what I’m describing?
(Image via: Instyle Weddings)
