Dad at K-pop show: I didn’t exist, only Exo did!

“It’s pronounced XO,” my daughter insisted as we made our way to Dubai Mall on Tuesday.

“But it’s written EXO,” I protested.

“Yes. But it’s EX as in ex-girlfriend, ex-husband, ex-president …,” she explained.

I wasn’t going to argue with a teenager. More so, when I’m clueless about K-Pop. It’s a genre of music foreign to me. And I was always baffled about its popularity.

The only Korean singer I know is Psy. And that’s because his single went viral on YouTube, breaking all sorts of records.

My daughter has always been keen to remove my misconceptions of K-Pop. She insists that I see videos of BTS. When you have a stubborn daughter, you can’t escape.

Well, the videos were great. Very slickly made. The singing, it wasn’t my kind of stuff. My honest remarks didn’t go down well with my daughter.

When EXO came into town, my daughter insisted on seeing them. Even though, it was less than 40 hours before her exams. I reluctantly agreed and got an earful from my wife. If this makes my daughter happy I’ll go with her, I told my wife.

When we arrived at the Dubai Fountain, a huge crowd had already gathered there. “If I see one of them, my day is made,” my daughter said, as we weaved our way through the crowd.

A roar went up, and a throng of youngsters ran towards the base of Burj Khalifa. My daughter joined them, dragging me along.

The security fence restricted access, and there was at least a 10-deep crowd. And in a matter of minutes, the crowded swelled. As my daughter inched forward, I was pushed backwards by a surging gaggle of girls.

Girls, they were. Most of them were below 20 years of age. There were Emiratis, other Arabs, Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans and many other nationalities I couldn’t recognise. I could hear a multitude of languages, most of which I couldn’t decipher. All of them had their mobile phones held aloft, in a desperate attempt to film the band.

Never had I ever felt so lonely in a crowd. I just didn’t exist. I spotted some boys, and one silver-haired man like me: may be the father of another daughter.

Every once in a while somebody shrieked. And the rest of the crowd followed suit. EXO must have put in an appearance, I thought. As the high pitched shrieks tore into my ear, I retreated.

“I saw a blond,” a girl said. “I think that’s Kai, another said. I looked up and saw some suits. Must be security guys, I thought.

Suddenly, the fountain came alive. The entire crowd whirled around and ran to the fountain as the EXO hit “Power’ rang out. It was like a flash mob. Each of girls kept singing and jumping. And the only word I could understand was “Power”.

K-Pop, I may not understand. But I was left in no doubt about their popularity.