Maknae, Leader, Main Vocal, Lead Vocal, Main Dancer, Visual … These and other titles describe the different positions that the members of a K-Pop band hold. Often they are assigned not just one, but even several positions.
New K-Pop fans come across these titles very quickly, because established fans usually know exactly which idol holds which position and also discuss it regularly. And it's not just them, the media use these titles too. In their articles they talk about, for example, “SHINee’s Main Dancer Taemin” or “Stray Kids Leader Bangchan”.
In case all these terms still confuse you a little, here we explain what they stand for:
- Leader
- Maknae
- Visual/ Face of the Group
- Center
- Main Vocal, Main Rapper, Main Dancer
- What is the difference between Main, Lead and Sub Vocal?
Leader
In general, the leader is the head of a group or organization. That also applies to K-Pop. The leader of a K-Pop band leads their members. This means, for example, that at award shows or other events they often do the talking and motivate their members. They protect their members, listen to them and try to find compromises when there are disagreements. It's also often their job to communicate with the agency when the band has problems.
The leader is often the oldest member of a band. Here are a few examples:
- SHINee - Onew
- Red Velvet - Irene
- Stray Kids - Bangchan
- Monsta X - Shownu
- ITZY - Yeji
- aespa - Karina
However, the leader doesn't necessarily have to be the oldest member. As a rule, the role goes to whoever is the most mature or has the most experience. Bands often choose their leader themselves and, for example, vote for the member who had already taken the lead beforehand.
Below you'll find a few examples of leaders who are not the oldest member of the group:
-
Twice - Jihyo
(The oldest member of Twice is Nayeon) -
(G)I-dle - Soyeon
(Oldest member: Miyeon) -
TXT - Soobin
(Oldest member: Yeonjun) -
BTS - RM
(Oldest member: Jin) -
IVE - Yujin
(Oldest member: Gaeul) -
Le sserafim - Chaewon
(Oldest member: Sakura) -
Ateez - Hongjoong
(Oldest member: Seonghwa) -
Nmixx - Haewon
(Oldest member: Lily) -
Enhypen - Jungwon
(Oldest member: Heesung)
Did you know that there are also groups that have no leader at all?
The members of these bands share the duties of a leader, either together or taking turns, and often sit down together to discuss problems. Mostly they are groups with few members:
- Blackpink
- K.A.R.D
- Oneus
- VIVIZ
The girl group Miss A and the trio JYJ are considered some of the first K-Pop groups without a leader. Both debuted back in 2010.
The boy groups 2PM and iKon appointed a leader when they debuted. In both cases, however, the leader later left the group. Afterwards, both 2PM and iKon chose not to appoint a new leader.
Just as there are groups without a leader, there are also some with several.
This is often the case for groups with an especially large number of members.
The 13-member boy group Seventeen is divided into three units: the Vocal Unit, the Performance Unit and the Hip-hop Unit. Each has its own leader!
- Vocal Unit - Woozi
- Performance Unit - Hoshi
- Hip-hop Unit - S.Coups
S.Coups is also regarded as the overall leader of all of Seventeen. By the way, he is also the oldest member of the boy group.
NCT consists, as you surely know, of several units that all release albums independently. Of course, each of these units also has its own leader:
- NCT 127 - Taeyeong
- NCT Dream - Mark
- WayV - Kun
Taeyeong is the overall leader of all of NCT.
ONF consists of six members in total, who are divided into two teams called “On” & “Off”. On is more focused on vocals and Off on intense choreographies.
- On - Hyojin
- Off - J-Us
Hyojin is the oldest member of ONF. There is no overall leader, because Hyojin and J-Us lead the group together.
The 10-member boy group Treasure is also led by two leaders: the oldest, Choi Hyunsuk, and the second oldest, Jihoon. They share the duties and responsibility.
Maknae
The maknae is simply the youngest member of the group. The term is not only used in the K-Pop industry, but all over South Korea. Maknae (Hangul: 막내) is namely the Korean word for “the youngest”. So the term maknae is used not only for the youngest member of a K-Pop band, but also for the youngest member of a family or the youngest in a group of friends or colleagues.
Here are a few of the maknaes of our favorite K-Pop bands:
- BTS - Jungkook
- Blackpink - Lisa
- Ateez - Jongho
- Stray Kids - I.N
- ITZY - Yuna
- NewJeans - Hyein
- Seventeen - Dino
Maybe you've also heard of a Fake Maknae, Evil Maknae or Giant Maknae before?
Fake Maknae: Idols whom fans often think are the maknaes in their respective groups. They are misunderstood because they look or act the youngest.
Evil Maknae: Maknaes are often cute and innocent. They also have a lot of respect for their older members. But there are also the so-called Evil Maknaes! They are cheeky, like to play pranks on the older ones and have a good answer for everything!
In the entertainment industry, the term was already used during the second K-Pop generation, and back then probably even more often than today.
These are the best-known Evil Maknaes from the second generation:
- TVXQ - Changmin
- Super Junior - Kyuhyun
- SHINee - Taemin
Of course, there are also Evil Maknaes in many younger groups!
Giant Maknae: Literally translated “giant maknae”. As the name suggests, these are maknaes who are taller than their older bandmates. A very well-known example is Wonyoung (IVE) back when she was still in IZ*ONE. Wonyoung was IZ*ONE’s maknae and regularly stood out in group photos because of her height.
More examples
- ITZY - Yuna
- Twice - Tzuyu
- Pentagon - Wooseok
- NCT Dream - Jisung
Twice (From left to right: Mina, Jeongyeon, Tzuyu, Sana, Chaeyoung, Nayeon, Dahyun, Momo, Jihyo
Visual
This refers to the best-looking member of the group. Of course that's a matter of taste, but as a rule, the person who is considered the Visual is whoever most closely matches Korean beauty standards.
The Visual is also often called the “Face of the Group”, which represents the band.
However, some would say that the Visual and the face of the group are two different people. The Visual looks the best, but the face of the group is the best-known member of the band, the one most fans would think of first. Even with this interpretation, it's of course possible for someone to be both the Visual and the Face of the Group.
Here are a few K-Pop Visuals:
- Astro - Eunwoo
- SNSD - Yoona
- Red Velvet - Irene
- Blackpink - Jisoo
- aespa - Karina
- IVE - Wonyoung
- Le sserafim - Sakura
- BTS - Jin
- SHINee - Minho
- Stray Kids - Hyunjin
Center
The Center is the one who most often stands in the middle during the choreographies, especially in the chorus. As a result, the Center also gets the most screen time. This can be, for example, the best dancer, the Visual or someone else entirely. In many groups the Center changes with every comeback.
Main Vocal, Main Rapper, Main Dancer
These are probably the simplest terms on this list! A Main Vocal is the one with the best voice in their group, Main Dancers are the best dancers and Main Rappers are the best rappers.
Groups often have one Main Vocal, one Main Dancer and one Main Rapper. But especially in bands with many members, there are one or all three of these positions more than once.
Here are a few well-known examples
- Main Vocal: Lily of Nmixx / Jongho of Ateez / Chen, Baekyhun & D.O. of EXO
- Main Dancer: Taemin of SHINee / Jimin of BTS / SuA of Dreamcatcher / Chaeryeong & Yeji of ITZY
- Main Rapper: Moonbyul of Mamamoo / E:U of Everglow / Changbin & Han of Stray Kids
There are also cases in which a member holds several Main positions at once. Hayoung of fromis_9, for example, is both a Main Vocal and a Main Dancer. The same goes for Taeyang of Big Bang.
What is the difference between Main, Lead and Sub Vocal?
As you may have noticed, there are not only Main Vocals and so on, but also Lead Vocals, Lead Dancers or Sub Rappers. What's that about? Don't worry, that's also very easy to explain:
The Main Vocal has the best singing technique and usually gets the parts in songs that are difficult to sing.
The Lead Vocal is the second-best singer of the group after the Main Vocal.
The Sub Vocal is yet another step down. They sing better than those in the band who are not Sub Vocals, but not as well as the Lead Vocal. The term “Sub” isn't used as often as “Main” and “Lead”, though. This position is often simply called “Vocal”, without any further addition.
It may seem a bit brutal to divide the members of a band so clearly, but it also shows their individual strengths. Especially with new groups, the positions also help fans to get their bearings and get an overview.
We have found that less and less importance is attached to the positions over time. The longer a group has been in the business, the less pronounced the differences are. After all, the members naturally keep developing over the years and get the opportunity to show other sides of themselves! So even Main Dancers eventually release their own solo albums, and Vocals impress with their perfect dance moves!
As you can see, there are quite a lot of different titles that are handed out within a K-Pop band. To finish, we'll show you an example of what it can all look like:
- Cha Eunwoo - Visual, Face of the Group, Vocal
- Yoon Sanha - Maknae, Lead Vocal
- Moonbin -Center, Main Dancer, Lead Vocal
- Rocky - Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Vocal
- Jinjin - Leader, Main Rapper, Lead Dancer
- MJ - Main Vocal
You can find a few of these terms and many more in our K-Pop ABC for Newbies.
Do you still have any questions? We're happy to answer them for you!
