What are K-Pop fandoms, what does it mean to be in a fandom, and how does a fandom name come about? Have you ever asked yourself one of these questions? Then you've come to the right place! Today we're answering a few questions about the topic “K-Pop fandom” that we were looking for answers to ourselves back in the day. Enjoy reading!
- What is a K-Pop fandom?
- What is the difference between a fandom and a fan club?
- What does it mean to be part of a fandom?
- What can fandoms achieve together?
- Prejudices against fandoms
- Stopping liking an artist because of a fandom?
- K-Pop fandom names
- When are fandom names announced?
- Who creates the fandom name?
- Fandom names and their meaning
- Since when have there been fandom names in K-Pop?
- These K-Pop groups had to change their fandom name!
What is a K-Pop fandom?
This question is easy to answer, because fandoms exist all over the world and not only in the music industry. A fandom is a group of people who are fans of something together. That can be a series, an actor, a football club or, of course, a K-Pop group.
Of course, every K-Pop artist and every K-Pop group has their own fandom. As a rule, it also has an official name. More on that in a moment!
What is the difference between a fandom and a fan club?
Most K-Pop artists don't just have their fandom, but also an official fan club. To be part of the fandom, you don't have to do anything special. If you are, for example, a fan of the boy group BTS, you automatically become a member of the fandom called “A.R.M.Y.” So you can call yourself ARMY.
As simple as it is, there are actually a lot of differences of opinion on the topic. Some fans believe that you don't belong to the fandom if you simply like listening to the music. To be accepted by them, you also have to be interested in the K-Pop artist outside of the music and, in the case of BTS for example, know all the members' names and other general facts about the boy group. But we're talking about very general information here, and it doesn't take much for the other members of the fandom to welcome you.
Unfortunately, there are still a few very hardcore fans who look down on those who, in their opinion, don't support the K-Pop artist enough. Anyone who doesn't buy albums or doesn't stream the new music videos non-stop to drive up the view count is not a “true fan”. But don't let that influence you, K-Pop artists appreciate everyone who likes their music and cheers them on!
In contrast to fandoms, you can usually only join K-Pop fan clubs by paying.
You buy the membership for a year and get various benefits in return. These include, for example, being allowed to buy tickets for concerts or fan meetings before everyone else and having access to exclusive fan merchandise. Some K-Pop bands offer these memberships regularly and others only every few years.
However, fan clubs and fandoms are very close to each other. They have the same name, and while official fan club memberships are not always offered regularly, fans are always part of the fandom.
Of course, you can also belong to many different fandoms. We ourselves cheer on many different K-Pop artists and don't feel that we belong to just one fandom!
What does it mean to be part of a fandom?
For international fans, it's above all a good way to introduce yourself to other K-Pop fans and get in touch with them. In general, fandoms and fan clubs now have many more global members than they used to. That's of course because K-Pop has become more well known and the content more easily accessible.
As a member of a fandom, you are part of a community. You find lots of friends and contacts, thanks to whom you will probably never miss an important event again. If you'd rather take everything easy, though, you can also simply enjoy your passion all by yourself. How do you enjoy your fan life? Do you regularly watch music videos and other content like variety shows or dance practice videos? Do you collect albums? Do you meet up with other fans?
What can fandoms achieve together?
It already starts with the fact that Korean fans in particular often band together to throw birthday parties. When one of their idols has a birthday, they rent, for example, entire restaurants to gather there.
They also rent all kinds of billboards, so that the birthday star can be seen in train stations, at bus stops, on buses and on other advertising spaces all over Seoul.
But it doesn't stop there! For example, there are quite a lot of “Celebrity Forests” in South Korea. Forests that fans plant in honor of their stars to do something good in their name. A few years ago, EXO fans raised about 10,000 dollars to plant such a forest for EXO’s Chen! International fans are often involved in such projects too, contributing to their success with their donations.
At the end of 2022, Loona fans successfully boycotted the girl group's latest album. They demand that Loona’s agency treat the singers better and allow them to terminate their contracts. To make their point clear, they decided not to buy the new album “The Origin”.
In the first week, only 93 copies were pre-ordered at the big K-Pop online shop “Ktwon4u”. For comparison: the previous album “Flip That!” was pre-ordered more than 5,000 times in the same period. Many other shops didn't sell the album at all. Loona's fans, who are called “Orbit” by the way, contacted all the well-known K-Pop shops to explain the situation to them and ask them to join the boycott. Countless stores all over the world answered the call! In the end, the release of the album was even postponed indefinitely.
The fan club of the boy group TVXQ even made it into the Guinness Book of Records in 2008. At that time it had more than 800,000 members and was therefore considered the largest official fan club ever!
What feat of K-Pop fandoms have you already witnessed? Tell us about it!
Prejudices against fandoms
There are often prejudices against certain fandoms or habits that are widespread in the fandom. That can sometimes be quite funny!
For example, it's often said that Shawols (SHINee fans) especially love SHINee's fan color - pearl-aqua. Whether it's planners, jewelry or pencil cases; if it's pearl-aqua, they want to have it.
Unfortunately, there are also negative prejudices. For example, A.R.M.Y.’s (BTS fans) are often described as annoying and disrespectful. Even if it's only a small part of the fandom that behaves badly, such prejudices often apply to all members.
And of course, many think that the fandoms of K-Pop stars consist mainly of teenage girls. That's of course not true, after all, all around the globe there are female as well as male fans, and not only young but also adult fans. Passion connects them all!
Stopping liking an artist because of a fandom?
Unfortunately, that is possible; we have had that experience ourselves. If you really like an idol and watch their videos or follow news on social media, sooner or later you come into contact with the respective fandom. Even when you watch Idol B's videos, you might stumble across comments about Idol A.
But what if you are totally annoyed by the members? Of course, the fans can't be equated with the artist, but in our heads they eventually become connected. Whenever you think of Idol A, you also think of the fans of Idol A and the interactions you may have had with them. In the end, that can lead to you no longer wanting to engage so intensively with Idol A, in order to avoid the fans.
With an artist you don't know or hardly know, a few negative experiences with fans might be enough for you to decide that you don't want to get to know the artist better in the first place.
But if you really love Idol A and their music, you will surely come back at some point!
As you can see, fandoms play a bigger role than some people might think. They represent their star!
K-Pop fandom names
Fandom names exist all over the world too. Maybe you know that fans of Taylor Swift are called “Swifties” or that fans of Lady Gaga proudly call themselves “Little Monsters”.
In fact, with these international stars it's often, though not always, the case that the fans give themselves a name. For example, Ed Sheeran fans at some point started calling themselves Sheerios. In a tweet, the singer later explained that he likes the name and accepts it.
What about K-Pop fandom names? Fandom names are a fixed part of the K-Pop industry and there is hardly a K-Pop artist who doesn't have an official name for their fans!
When are fandom names announced?
Some announce the fandom name just a few days or weeks after their debut, while for others it can even take years. But even when it takes a long time, fans wait for their name because they are sure that it will come one day.
Here are a few examples
The Hybe girl group Le sserafim announced their official fandom name “FEARNOT” on August 8, 2022, a little more than three months after their debut on May 2. The now world-famous boy group BTS presented their fandom name “A.R.M.Y.” less than a month after their debut. NMIXX from JYP Entertainment announced the fandom name “NSWER” just one week after their debut.
But it can be even faster: SM Entertainment’s girl group aespa presented their fandom name “MY” on the very day of their debut (November 17, 2020)! The same goes for the boy group TNX, who debuted on May 17, 2022 and christened their fans “THX” at the same time.
Another boy group called ATBO topped even that and gave their fans the name “BOAT” on July 12, 15 days before their debut on July 27!
However, as already mentioned, there are also groups for whom it took years.
One example of this is the girl group (fx) from SM Entertainment. Although f(x) made their debut back in September 2009, the official fandom name “MeU” was only announced in January 2016. So it took almost six and a half years!
In March 2015, heated discussions broke out when SM Entertainment announced that the girl group Red Velvet, who had debuted seven months earlier, would reveal their fandom name in April. That's because f(x) was also produced by SM Entertainment. Fans were angry that Red Velvet got a fandom name after only seven months and f(x) still didn't have one even after five years.
As you can see, even within one agency there is no system for when official fandom names are announced. We do have the feeling, though, that fandom names are generally announced earlier these days than a few years ago.
Who creates the fandom name?
Like the name of the K-Pop band itself, the fandom name is usually created by the respective entertainment company the artist or group belongs to. But that's not always the case!
ATEEZ actually had their fans submit suggestions for the fandom name.
The boy group picked “Atiny”. The name is composed of “ATEEZ” and “Destiny”. It stands for the fact that ATEEZ and their fans were destined to meet. Other suggestions from the fans included AZEET, TREASURE or ZEETA.
In the case of TVXQ, a member of the boy group came up with the name himself.
The maknae Changmin christened the fans “Cassiopeia”. In Chinese, TVXQ stands for Tong Vfang Xien Qi. The name can also be abbreviated to “TVfXQ”. If you follow these letters on the keyboard, the shape you draw forms a W. This shape also resembles the constellation “Cassiopeia”. In addition, the constellation has five stars. TVXQ still had five members at the time.
Fandom names and their meaning
The meaning behind a fandom name varies a lot.
In some cases, they are based on the artist's name.
A good example of this is the boy group SHINee. They named their fandom “SHINee World”. That is also the title of their debut album. The fans call themselves “Shawol” (SHINee World) for short.
The fandom name of Blackpink is also composed from the name of the girl group. “BLINK” is simply a combination of “Black” and “Pink”. It means that fans start with Blackpink and end with Blackpink.
Anyone who sees these two fandom names can very quickly figure out which artist they belong to. Of course, there are many more of this kind, and as simple as they seem, there is usually a beautiful meaning behind them.
Here are a few more very obvious fandom names and their meaning:
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NCTzen (NCT)
NCTzens are citizens of N City (NCT). The members of NCT also often use the nickname “Czennies” (short for NCTzens), which sounds like “Seasonies” when pronounced. -
ReVeluv (Red Velvet)
ReVe consists of the first two letters of “Red” and “Velvet”. The luv stands for love and symbolizes the love of Red Velvet and their fans for each other. “Reve” is also the French word for “dream” and means that the fans make Red Velvet's dreams come true! -
iGOT7 (GOT7)
The name means that the fans have gotten GOT7. (I got GOT7 / Fans have gotten GOT7.) In Korean, “iGOT7” can also be abbreviated to “AhGaSe”, which translates to baby bird. The boy group also often uses the bird as a symbol, for example on their lightstick. -
EXO-L (EXO)
The L stands for “Love” and means that EXO will love their fans forever.
On the other hand, there are of course also some fandom names that have nothing to do with the name of the respective artist.
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Neverland ((G)-Idle)
“Neverland” is inspired by the fairy tale of Peter Pan. In Neverland, children never grow old. With this, the girl group wants to say that they and their fans will never change and will stay together forever! -
SONE (SNSD)
SONE is pronounced like “So One” (One = one) and means that SNSD and their fans will be one forever. In addition, the Korean spelling 소원 can be translated as “Wish”. -
Bunnies (NewJeans)
At first glance, “Bunnies” has nothing to do with NewJeans, but anyone who knows the girl group knows where the name comes from. Even before their debut, a little bunny was used as a symbol for NewJeans. It can also be seen on the debut album.
Of course, it's not only boy and girl groups that have a name for their fans, but also solo artists.
The singer IU, for example, christened her fans “Uaena”. It combines the English word “You” (U) with the Korean words “ae” and “na” and together means: “U love me” (You love me).
The fandom of the singer Eric Nam is called “NamNation”.
Did you know that, beyond that, some members of boy or girl groups also have their own fandom name for their personal fans?
Tiffany from the girl group SNSD announced the official name for her personal fandom in 2018: “Young Ones”. On the one hand, it is a nod to her stage name Tiffany Young. On the other hand, the name is very similar to the Korean word “Youngwon” (Hangul: 영원), which translates to “Forever”. So Tiffany and her fans will be together forever!
In most cases, though, it's the fans who come up with their own fandom names for their favorite idols. These spread and at some point get accepted by all the other fans.
One of the probably better-known examples are the solo fandom names of SHINee. Onew fans call themselves MVP’s (inspired by a line from Onew in the debut song Replay), Key fans call themselves Lockets or Lil’ Freaks, Taemin fans call themselves Taemints, Jonghyun fans call themselves Blingers and Minho fans call themselves Flames. The latter are based on the stage names “Flaming Charisma Minho” and “Bling Bling Jonghyun”.
Which solo fandom names do you know?
Since when have there been fandom names in K-Pop?
This question is not quite so easy to answer. Because although some K-Pop groups from the 1st generation also have a fandom name, it's not entirely clear when exactly it came about.
For example, the fandom of H.O.T, the first K-Pop boy group, is called “Club H.O.T” or “White Angels”. When exactly this fandom name was really introduced is uncertain, though. As already explained in this article, it can after all take years until an idol group announces a fandom name.
Opinions are somewhat clearer about the fandom name of “S.E.S”, a girl group that debuted in 1997. The fandom is called “Friend” and fans assume that the title of the album “Friend” (2002) is a reference to it.
The earliest fandom name for which we know exactly when it was announced is “Cassiopeia” of the boy group TVXQ.
They debuted in 2003 and are considered the start of the 2nd K-Pop generation. The official fan club was founded on April 23, 2006. Fans celebrate April 23 as Cassiopeia Day.
“Seo Taiji and the Boys”, the trio that laid the foundations for K-Pop and is seen by some as the beginning of the 1st generation, did not have a fandom name.
So we would say that K-Pop fandom names came about toward the end of the 1st generation and became the rule in the 2nd generation.
These K-Pop groups had to change their fandom name!
Yes, it can happen that a fandom name has to be changed after it has been announced. And what could be the reason? Simple: it overlaps with another fandom name or even with the name of an artist.
For example, the five-member boy group TXT had to face this problem. They announced on April 25, 2019 that their fandom would be called “Young One”. However, it was almost identical to the name of Tiffany Young. The singer had christened her fandom “Young Ones” in September 2018.
So TXT announced a new one a few months later, in August 2020: MOA.
It is an abbreviation for “Moments of Alwaysness”. In addition, “mo” in Korean means “to gather”. Fittingly, the following message was posted on TXT’s Twitter account: “TOMORROW X TOGETHER and fans moa pieces of each other’s dreams to complete one dream.” (TOMORROW X TOGETHER and fans gather pieces of each other's dreams to complete one dream.)
More examples
The Hybe girl group Le sserafim announced their official fandom name “FEARNOT” on August 8, 2022, a little more than three months after their debut on May 2. The now world-famous boy group BTS presented their fandom name “A.R.M.Y.” less than a month after their debut. NMIXX from JYP Entertainment announced the fandom name “NSWER” just one week after their debut.
But it can be even faster: SM Entertainment’s girl group aespa presented their fandom name “MY” on the very day of their debut (November 17, 2020)! The same goes for the boy group TNX, who debuted on May 17, 2022 and christened their fans “THX” at the same time.
Another boy group called ATBO topped even that and gave their fans the name “BOAT” on July 12, 15 days before their debut on July 27!
However, as already mentioned, there are also groups for whom it took years.
Which fandom do you belong to?
Do you have a question about fandoms that we haven't answered? Ask us!
