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Alma Licona

Judith R. McCann

English 1301 Section 129

16 September 2022

The Hidden Community of K-Pop

When people hear the word K-Pop, many immediately think about crazy fans and

worldwide star Bangtan Sonyeondan, better known as BTS. Behind the stereotypes, though,

hides a community that not many people may know of. This community, which is available on

all platforms, is the K-Pop community. Via Twitter, the K-Pop community is a community in

which many fans participate; through Twitter, these fans work together to share their liked artists,

help their artists acquire awards, and meet like-minded individuals.

To begin with, K-Pop artists are able to gain recognition because of their fans. For

instance, when an artist is set to debut, their company releases pictures, teasers, pre-debut

projects, and music video teasers to build momentum; the company tries to obtain more people to

see the debut. However, a company can only do so much for its artist; this is where the fans step

in. The fans that have accompanied the artist since their trainee days try their best to share

photos, teasers, and information about the artist. As the K-Pop idol gains more popularity, more

people pay attention to the debut. More attention generally means more music video views,

recognition, and more money for the company. Take @jeonshalaaa, a fan on Twitter, as an

example; this user posted a video of three dancers dancing to “Touch” by girl group Litte Mix.

User @cyberxasexual responded to the video by tweeting, “For anyone who’s curious: they are

part of KQ Fellaz 2, the new boy group under KQ Entertainment.” As more people encounter

this tweet, the group begins to gain attention; the group gains new fans that anticipate the debut.
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Along with helping their favorite artist gain recognition, fans also help obtain

various awards. During the months of November and December, fans can vote for the Mnet

Asian Music Awards (MAMA); the categories for the award show can vary from WorldWide

Fans’ Choice Top 10 to the main award: Daesang. Fans make sure to vote for their favorite

K-Pop idol by tweeting and posting hashtags. For example, Han Jisung Loops, @hanjisungloop,

tweeted, “Day 4 I vote for #straykids for 2021 World’s Fans’ Choice Top 10 #MAMAVOTE.”

Other users offer free votes; they create polls with various groups in which fans can vote. User

@Kpopvotes_ is an example; the user tweeted, “Free Twitter Votes!! For Mama 2021.” Under

the tweet, there was a poll in which fans could select the group they preferred. The winning

group was Ateez with 85% of the 320 votes. Therefore, @Kpopvotes_ gifted the male group,

Ateez, with free votes for MAMA.

Moreover, a more personal objective fans in this community have is meeting

like-minded people. K-Pop fans often try to make friends via Twitter rather than in person. Fans

often prefer this since many people think listening to K-Pop is gross (Daryadel, ch.2). For

instance, Twitter user @Gen_minshi tweeted, “Hello I’m Gen she/her looking for interactive filo

engene and K-pop moots.” Gen, in her tweet, made sure to mention what fandom she was part

of, and what she was looking for in a friend. She received replies from many users; one of them

was @eunflict stating, “Let’s be moots.” After meeting new people, fans often start to

communicate with each other and trade items; they begin to trade photocards, albums, and even

lightsticks. After some time, K-Pop fans start to build trust with each other; although many of

them are from diverse backgrounds, K-Pop is what brings them together.

In summation, the K-Pop community is much more than fan girls and worldwide
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star BTS. Behind the stereotypical ideas created by individuals lies a community that not many

people know of. Via Twitter, the participants of this community work together to share their

favorite artists, help their artists gain awards, and meet like-minded individuals. This community

is a space that is used by many fans; it is a place in which fans unite to work together towards the

goals they have.

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Work Cited

f (@jeonshalaaa) “A kpop pre debut group danced touch, a timeless bop, Little Mix you will

always be famous.” 31 August 2022, 11:15 a.m. Tweet.

from Strictland, Jess (@cyberxasexual) “for anyone who’s curious: they are part of KQ Fellaz 2,

the next boy group under KQ Entertainment” 31 August 2022, 6:44 p.m. Tweet.

jisung loops, han (@hanjisungloop) “Day 4 I vote for #straykids for 2021 World Fans’ Choice

Top 10 #MAMAVOTE” 7 November 2021, 3:00 a.m. Tweet.

#MCOUNTDOWN, Free Kpop votes! (@Kpopvotes_) “Free Twitter Votes!! For Mama 2021

#ATEEZ #TREASURE #EXO #TheBoyz” 10 December 2021, 9:02 p.m. Tweet.

Daryadel, Nikta. “Stereotypes around K-Pop music misrepresent fan’s perspective.” Oviedo

Journalism,19 September 2019, https://oviedojournalism.com/3827/opinion/stereotypes-

around-k-pop-music-misrepresent-fans-perspective/ Accessed 8 Sep. 2022.

제니 (@Gen_minshi) “hello i’m gen she/her looking for interactive filo engene and kpop moots

help me by rt-ing this tweet thank you !!” 9 September 2022, 2:03 a.m. Tweet.

hera (@eunflict) “let’s be moots” 9 September 2022, 5:25 a.m. Tweet.