The Reality of Kpop Fandom Culture.. ll K-influencer Special Mission

[00:00:00][music] >> Fan culture is literally a cult. These saucing fake You know what? I actually don't even want to call them fans because they're not. Let's just call them for what they are, crazy, psychotic lunatics.

[00:00:23]>> [laughter] [music] >> K-pop culture is a huge part of South Korean economy. And I'm saying this because without these supporters who love K-pop so much, K-pop probably wouldn't be K-pop today. And it's forcing a lot of eyes, international eyes, to look at South Korea. You know, it drives people to actually visit the country. It's great for tourism. It literally is a huge part of the South Korean economy. And I feel so smart saying that right now. I want to look at the K-pop Shut up.

[00:01:02]In fact, I don't even know why I'm talking all of this.

[00:01:05]I want to look [music] at the K-pop industry, but specifically K-pop fan culture. K-pop fans are extremely, extremely supportive. They are very, very, very loyal. We've seen K-pop fans do the most. K-pop supporters like literally do stream parties as soon as the K-pop group is dropping something, anything, whether it's whatever they're dropping, specifically music. There is going to be 24-hour live streams just to get those views up on YouTube, right?

[00:01:37]Because they want to celebrate this new product that just came out, this new music that just came out. There is going to be so much discourse and like a lot of speaking all about this a big, big drop. You saw it anyway whenever BTS came back from their big hiatus. After the whole military side quest [music] I'm joking, it's not a side quest. But like after the whole military thing, the whole world stopped. All these events happening just because BTS came back, [music] right? Another thing K-pop fans do is sometimes force a company to do specific activities because it puts the idols in a better position. So, they will literally go and say, "Listen, like if you guys don't change XYZ, we are not going to give you any money." One of the other things that's so iconic about K-pop fans is how they will have these really, really cool chance. They have a unique chant for each and every artist.

[00:02:34]There's a BTS chant, Twice chant. All these K-pop groups have these amazing chance. And on top of that, I love how K-pop groups have those light sticks, dude. Like, really funny right now is Cravity, this newish group, and they have the most funniest light stick. To be honest, I think it's just like a little PR stunt or something. Basically, a candle. So, like you're holding candles like but like you It's like a medieval When I was scrolling on AliExpress, I was just like, "Why are there so many Cravity fans taking pictures and posting them on AliExpress?" I was very confused. So, if anyone is a Cravity fan, um can you please let me know like what this means specifically? Because look at all these people holding these candles.

[00:03:19]Light sticks usually look like this.

[00:03:24]The concert is like actually going to be held in the dark, and they are trying to conserve electricity. So, by using a candle, it is the best way to conserve electricity and keep the lights on during the concert. So, I actually understand, 100% understand what Cravity is trying to do with that. K-pop fans are so loyal that they literally do free work for these companies, dude. Like, I'm talking free promotions. There are so many K pop fans who gather everywhere in the world and literally do public performances, do like their own concerts. They are dancing. These are called public K pop dance covers and I've always wanted to do a K pop public dance cover in the southern of the Korea because it's so fun. Apart from that, this is literally promoting. You have to learn the dance so perfectly well and with your friends or even by yourself, you go and you perform this dance, you post it online and they really do well.

[00:04:25]All of these things are very good and they're very positive and they really do help boost the K pop industry as a whole, but there is a very bad and dark side to this fandom culture and I have to mention it in this video because I'm all about, you know, seeing both sides of the coin here. And obviously, I can't really cover absolutely everything in short amount of time. So, if you have anything else to add, guys, please let me know. Like, let me know in the comments because I want to know what you think for real. The few dark sides that we can talk about today that I want to mention is that there is a lot of racism, fandoms fighting other fandoms, you know, because of where they're from, idols that also incite these sort of things, whether it's racism or even like cultural appropriation. There's so much of that.

[00:05:23]>> It started with Lisa's money cover. Her hair was styled in box braids, a black hairstyle. Blinks noticed right away.

[00:05:29]During a fan video call, someone brought it up to her directly. Lisa apologized on the spot. She said she meant no harm and loved the style.

[00:05:36]>> It has to be a very very big reform in these companies. There's times where it's really defended by the K pop group's fans and they will say, they will literally call it out and say, "Why would you do this?" And then the company will change it. We've seen that like in the Blackpink's music video, there was a time where they had a statue that was placed on the floor, which is really really it's really rude to do something like that, and that was edited out. Like, but why would that be why would that be happening in the first place?

[00:06:08]>> music video featured a Hindu deity figurine. It got quietly edited out after backlash. YG never issued a real statement about it.

[00:06:16]>> of fans is actually very scary, dude.

[00:06:19]Because these fans are very very obsessive. It doesn't matter what age they are. I know there's a lot of fans that are super young, but they are also adult fans who can be so so inappropriate as well at the same time.

[00:06:32]Fans get mentally obsessed with a particular group that there's times where there's a lot of bad stalking issues, spreading of false information, which is taken very seriously in Korea because you know, there's been so many cases a certain person was spreading false information about BTS members, and then they were apprehended, and they >> [music] >> had to pay a fine, and it was insane because this person would literally make social media accounts where they just spread so much which would go viral because hello, you're making money from false information over other people.

[00:07:09]Doesn't matter whether they're idols or not. It's like, it's wrong. So, all of these crazy situations can sometimes add to the way K-pop fans are looked at. For example, if you are somebody who likes K-pop, it's very easy for people that are like haters or whatever to call you derogatory names like a Korea boo.

[00:07:30]Especially when you're not Korean and you like K-pop, and they be calling you know, me a Korea boo. But actually, a fun fact, I've I've never I've never been called a Korea boo. Maybe I like once or twice, but it doesn't really do anything to me. I couldn't really give a damn or a lake or an ocean over a buck. In my opinion, like through all of this, I honestly think that first of all, you should support K-pop, you know, the way you want to support it, and >> [music] >> you need to you have to protect your mental health, dude. Like you don't have to also like buy absolutely everything, you know, like if you like a particular group, you can support it in ways that are also free because I also be feeling like a lot of people just be throwing too much, and [music] that's like a little bit obsessively and unhealthy.

[00:08:23]And it's honestly okay to like whatever you like as long as it's first of all legal and it's not an obsession. Can you imagine if I put myself on like BTS's level [music] and make you guys literally worship me the way they do? Like that's that's really crazy. Anyway, you guys, let me know if you are a K-pop fan, what groups are you into? What are you looking through right now? Let's get one thing straight. If you don't idolize me right now,