Why Okay-Pop Fans Become Such Good Friends

Last March, 25-year-old Kiana Fazeli was on the library learning for the MCATs from 8 a.m. to eight p.m., prepping for medical college purposes. “I used to be truthfully sort of depressed,” she remembers. “It was a really, very lonely time for me.”

Then, the YouTube algorithm surfaced a video for Stray Kids, a Okay-pop group, and a member, whom she now is aware of as Felix, caught her consideration. She questioned: “Who is that this good-looking fellow?” She began poring over Stray Kids’s TikToks and music movies and studying extra concerning the eight-member group. That snowballed into Fazeli moving into BTS after watching their trip docuseries, “In the Soop [Forest],” and their selection present, “Run BTS.”

A buddy from LA observed her new curiosity and supplied to reply questions and introduce her to different followers. In October, Fazeli paid greater than $500 to see Stray Kids in live performance in Oakland along with her newfound pals — all of them traveled up from Southern California and stayed at her place in San Jose.

New Yorker Yosub Kim, 36, was working at Giphy when an editor talked about that “BTS” was a trending search. A Korean American who grew up listening to Okay-pop within the Nineties — he was a fan of first-generation teams like H.O.T. and S.E.S. — Kim did a deep dive into the BTS members, their music catalogue, and their openness about psychological well being, particularly in South Korea. As a homosexual man, the songs “Spring Day” and “2!3!”resonated with him.

“I usually felt alone rising up as a result of I used to be deeply closeted, so songs like ‘2!3!,’ the place there’s discuss of hoping for the longer term and letting go of the previous, which I nonetheless dwell on always, [resonated with me],” he says. “I additionally love the tune ’00:00′ as a result of it jogs my memory of the identical factor: to let the previous go.”

At his subsequent job at Twitter, he struck up a friendship with a West Coast-based coworker after she gave a presentation about BTS that he thought-about “considerate and engaging,” Kim says. “We simply actually bonded over their music, their gentleness and kindness in direction of their followers, their being open and trustworthy about their struggles.”

Two years in the past, Nicole Haack, a 46-year-old Chinese Mexican American reverse logistics specialist in Wisconsin, chanced on BTS on her YouTube feed. She descended into the rabbit gap acquainted to any ARMY. Now, along with being a diehard BTS fan, she listens to Blackpink, Twice, TXT, and Seventeen.

None of her shut pals had been aware of Okay-pop, however in June 2021, Haack discovered a Facebook group for BTS followers over 40 and made pals — together with with a lady from Germany. Just 5 months later, they met up on the Permission to Dance live performance in LA. On a bus chartered by the Facebook group’s members, she additionally met a lady from Tennessee who has since grow to be an excellent buddy — she and her daughter traveled with Haack to Chicago final July to see BTS member J-Hope headline Lollapalooza. She’s additionally traveled to BTS concert events in Las Vegas and South Korea with pals she made via the group.

These friendships — at occasions unlikely — are rooted of their love of Okay-pop. Because the character of the business requires “fan service” from their stars, or “idols,” neighborhood is a key element of a Okay-pop group’s success. There’s a selected infrastructure for fandoms, too: every has a reputation, merchandise, lightsticks, and a prolific presence on social media. As individuals get extra aware of the style, they usually get drawn into fan communities, and finally kind deep bonds that may transcend a love of Okay-pop. Most Okay-pop followers are in at the very least one group chat the place their favourite artists function the inspiration for every day conversations after which extra profound connections.

The relationships usually journey from on-line to actual life: assembly up at concert events, particular occasions, cup-sleeve occasions. and dance events, the place gifting “freebies” — personalized swag within the type of keychains, equipment, picture playing cards — is the norm. Fans additionally open up their telephones for the Air-Dropping of memes — one other key element of Okay-pop fandoms — at these occasions.

Fazeli, who works as a medical analysis coordinator at Stanford University Medical School, says that insider data of Okay-pop can result in quick and actual bonding in a manner that cuts rapidly via superficiality.

“You can work with any individual for years and nonetheless solely know a sure bit about them. But even primarily based off Okay-pop biases [your favorite in a group], you may inform lots about any individual,” she says.

Because a lot Okay-pop campaigning and promotion occurs on-line, and since the fan base is international, communities are additionally constructed there, after which switch into actual life. Twitter, particularly, has been key to constructing the Okay-pop neighborhood.

“Especially on Twitter, you see individuals simply spilling all of their ideas onto the web,” Fazeli explains. “It’s like speaking right into a void, the place it is mildly cathartic, as a result of you realize that persons are listening to you, nevertheless it’s like a spot to vent. So I really feel like that is additionally one thing that units it aside from different sorts of friendships.”

The international scope of Okay-pop additionally permits its fandoms to satisfy in a melting pot. Constanza Jorquera, 33, a longtime Okay-pop fan and an affiliate researcher on the Chilean Korean Study Center on the University of Santiago, notes that Okay-pop embraces common themes that supersede language.

“Okay-pop has plenty of literary tropes which are vital on the subject of producing friendships, belonging, and bonds with artists, such because the ‘hero’s journey,’ ‘coming of age,’ ’empowerment,’ and ‘teenage angst,'” she explains.

Many followers say the friendships they’ve fashioned via fandoms have pushed them past their consolation zones, too.

“Because of BTS, I’ve met individuals I might have by no means met. . . . Our love for these males helps us kind robust bonds,” Haack says. “None of those ladies are Asian. I’m the one one. I’m touring to locations I might by no means go to, doing issues which are out of my consolation zone as a result of I stan BTS. Most of the ARMY that I meet are probably the most type, caring, and considerate group of individuals. There isn’t any judgment. I’ve additionally made a bunch of pals right here in Wisconsin due to BTS. We do lunches collectively, do purchasing journeys to H Mart, and go to concert events collectively.”

Something related occurred when Kim’s colleague launched him to different ARMYs. They bonded over their love of BTS and the group’s messaging, however additionally they checked in on every others’ work lives.

Although the coworkers usually met for lunch when in the identical metropolis, in February of 2020, Kim and his ARMY colleague had been capable of share an unimaginable expertise. A buddy invited him to “The Today Show” for a BTS efficiency, and he in flip invited his colleague. “I used to be shocked however not shocked that she would come at a second’s discover,” Kim says. “We had been all the way in which in entrance of the stage and despite the fact that it was freezing, we beloved each second of it.”

Kim remembers making eye contact with Jimin, who additionally threw out his hand heaters at them. It was one of many highlights of 2020, he provides.

Omg @kathiepham caught Jimin’s pack ‼️‼️‼️ #BTSTODAY pic.twitter.com/00cZl0FyPA

— yoey⁷ 요섭 🥢 (@yosub) February 21, 2020

“It makes me so completely satisfied occupied with how I had nobody to speak to about Okay-pop or Korean music in center college, highschool, and now we have now the world to speak to,” Kim provides.

Like Kim, Clarice Chang, 32, a trainer in Los Angeles, has been into Okay-pop since she was younger. Her favourite teams are TVXQ and Super Junior, however she additionally loves SHINee, BoA, and Epik High. She grew up with pals who additionally knew and beloved Okay-pop, however because it’s grow to be extra international, she’s additionally acquired far-flung pals via social media, particularly through the pandemic.

“Finding individuals who like the identical teams as me and who’re in the identical age group as me has been comforting and plenty of enjoyable, and oftentimes we find yourself studying extra about one another past the lens of Okay-pop and bonding on these as nicely, whether or not it is shared experiences or different hobbies,” Chang says. “Quite a lot of the chums I’ve made on social media are from everywhere in the world, so it is also an superior alternative to study so many different cultures.”

When Fazeli began her new job at Stanford, she rapidly discovered that her coworker, Cynthia Pérez, was additionally a BTS fan.

“Obviously, I used to be nonetheless pals with Cynthia previous to figuring out that she was ARMY. But figuring out that we additionally had that in frequent, it was nearly sort of a reduction, that I may specific that a part of myself in a spot that is usually presupposed to be knowledgeable ambiance,” Fazeli explains.

Then, someday, one of many professors in a neighboring lab observed Pérez’s BTS Mang plushie.

“BOOM, one other friendship occurred,” Pérez remembers. “To have a health care provider additionally share the identical love for a bunch was simply wonderful. The informal, ‘Have you seen Hobi’s new music video or JK’s early Vlive?’ within the hallway is enjoyable. Nobody else understands what we’re speaking about however the eye contact — we all know what’s up. All three of us went to see ‘Yet to Come’ on the cinema, it was a lot enjoyable.”

Before the professor went on sabbatical, she gave Pérez and Fazeli items: BTS ARMY Bombs, or lightsticks.

“Both of us nearly began crying,” Fazeli says. “This is our first lightstick ever. And she gave them to us. So it was undoubtedly actually particular.”