I’m turning 30 in November.
I was first exposed to Japanese music from different anime on Adult Swim. Something about it not being in English and flowing so well really sucked me in. Used to get ridiculed for it too. “How do you even know what they’re saying?” Yeah, I don’t know Japanese, but music is so much more than just lyrics… I feel like 90% of the people I know only listen to music for the lyrics and the meaning of the song and that’s just not me. When I listen to a song in English, I’m literally not comprehending what’s being sung lyrically. It’s hard to explain, it’s like I’m taking the song in as a whole rather than trying to figure out what’s being sung.
I think around 2008/2009/2010, I was exposed to SID, GACKT, Lycaon, and D. I remember my friend sending me a Youtube video of D’s Lapis lazuli song and it awoken something in me LOL. I was in shock that music like that existed. I knew I liked J-pop stuff cuz a lot of anime openings/endings were J-pop. He then sent me Lycaon’s Plug>into the>Socket music video. I was just like “holy fuck, heavy Japanese music? What are you???” Those 2 really propelled me into looking stuff up on my own and discovering those music sharing blogs. Eventually found my way to Monochrome Heaven and yeah…
I’m a visual kei lifer. My friend who initially got me into vkei fell out of it, but I know ill be listening till I die. When Shounenki debuted and I first listened to bloom beautifully and Gazellebabel, I had that same euphoric trigger I had when I was first exposed to vkei.
Was blessed to be able to go to Japan finally in 2019 right before the pandemic. I was only there a week, but I was able to attend 3 vkei concerts. A horrifying yet amazing experience. Never felt so uncomfortable and like I didn’t belong in my life. I’m going back this October for 3 weeks and I’m planning on attending as many lives as I can!
Just turned 21 last month, was supposed to go see Versailles for my bday, but I couldn’t buy tickets online with a Dutch credit card :)))
I tried at a Family mart, but it was already sold out by that time…
I ended up buying the violin Miku figure with the money I had saved up for months :,)
I’m 33 at the moment.
I’m honestly surprised there’s so many people under 25 who are still into VK. I feel like my generation got into it because a lot of jrock was popular in the early 2000’s, but when I walk around weeby places today, most of the music that’s popular is kpop or Japanese edm, maybe some Vocaloids or anime intros.
It makes me happy to know younger folks are still discovering the greats.
Hey everyone! Just wondering about the mix of vkei fans we’ve got here. If you’re cool with it, mind sharing which age group you’re in? Super curious to know how different people from various generations vibe with Visual Kei.
I’m 33 and discovered visual kei in 2005. Pretty much jumped back into it recently since I got tired of dealing with the K-pop fandom (still listen to K-pop though) But my true roots still lie in J-music
