K-Pop Offstage: What happens outside performing?
PICTURE THIS — It’s a brand new day, and your bias group is finally having a comeback! After countless nights of scrolling through concept photos and album samplers, it’s now only a test of time between you and the 6 PM KST music video release. You await their live showcase to watch them perform their brand new songs for the first time. Of course, the day isn’t complete without blasting hashtags on your stan account, looping the whole album on streaming sites, and making sure those MV views don’t get frozen!
Fans can’t help but give complete attention to their biases whenever they have new releases. It goes without saying that staying up late at night is a routine for the content-seeking stan. In turn, idols are almost always maintaining their presence, being active both physically and digitally. Aside from music show promotions and variety show appearances, idols also commit to fansigning and fanmeeting events to physically interact with their fandom. These rare opportunities allow not just for fans to relay their support in person, but also for idols to be in front of their biggest cheerleaders instead of the mechanisms of production. Although fans won’t have enough time to say everything they want, that short moment will most certainly become a memory of their lifetime.
However, you may now ask, how about the international fans? You could say that concerts and tours give a similar experience, but those aren’t exactly comparable. Interestingly, idols have been investing in something much more friendly especially for non-Korean speakers. Activity on digital platforms, such as Instagram, Youtube, and V LIVE continue to increase as idols amplify communication and interaction with their fans. These modern takes on fanclubs and fancafes, terms familiar to the previous generations of K-Pop, provide an avenue for live streams, vlogs, podcasts, and other content for the young and even the young-at-heart fans. In doing so, idols can not only talk about fan responses from comments and chats, but they can also share their unscripted thoughts and open a window into their personal lives.
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Take for example Stray Kids’ Bang Chan, who is well-known for his regular live streams in Stray Kids’ V LIVE channel entitled Chan’s Room. Spanning for almost a hundred episodes, Chan’s Room serves as a safe space for everyone, whether or not they are STAY, the fandom of Stray Kids. Inside his room, Chan interacts with viewers by playing songs that are dear to his heart, as well as some recommendations from the live-chat section. He expresses his thoughts, emotions, and experiences along with the music, which entices viewers to connect such stories to their own journeys with the songs. Chan also tries his best to accommodate all questions and give supportive messages to those who ask, regardless if it’s about his hobbies and interests or just friendly life advice. At times, he also invites guests, such as his fellow members or his friends around JYP Entertainment, to accompany him and the viewers in reminiscing their memories with songs. Indeed, these types of interactions with fans are quite effective, amassing roughly a million live viewers each week, tapping their way into at least 150M hearts for every live stream.
Vlogging is also quite common among several idols. In particular, 채널 NCT DAILY on YouTube, home to a variety of videos of NCT members, features Johnny’s Communication Center, or JCC for short. In his vlog, NCT’s Johnny explores anything under the sun, be it creating arts and crafts, doing physical workouts, or visiting a fortune teller. He is also often seen with one other member, in most episodes, engaging in these activities during their promotions and tours. Johnny also highlights his memories with other NCT members as a group through his thanksgiving episode and the well-known Johnny’s Fashion Evaluation, among others. For sure, his enthusiasm and adventurousness are highly contagious as an admiring viewer. Seeing Johnny explore his curious journeys and fulfill his dreams serves as an inspiration for viewers to create their own adventures and destinies. To quote him in Episode 0, “Everyone being different is what makes the world very exciting, and I feel that I try my best every day to make my world special.”
Lastly, let us dive into the realm of audio-based content as we look into DIVE Studios, a podcast network featuring appreciation for the Asian arts and culture. Among idols who hold their podcasts such as Jamie Park and Eric Nam, DAY6’s Jae and AleXa are well-known for their collaboration on How Did I Get Here?, “where we live our best lives on the internet and come out on the other side knowing more but not feeling all that much smarter.” In the said podcast, the two start with the premise of answering a random yet pressing question, eventually diving into a discussion, navigating online references, and sharing personal experiences and reflections. These questions, although boundless, may range from personal topics such as internal monologues and body features to social phenomena like superstitions and the Mandela effect. For a podcast, How Did I Get Here? is particularly captivating because the two are always frank and natural despite talking about things that you usually just ponder on your own. As venturing into mind-boggling conversations can seem intimidating, Jae and AleXa always maintain a chill but insightful setup for every viewer to feel comfortable and entertained while still learning about the world. If you want to go check out an episode yourself, How Did I Get Here? is available on several platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube.
These are merely a fraction of all available content made by various idols and idol groups to further communicate themselves to and with their fans. As observed, these types of content show a side that fans usually don’t see when idols are performing on stage. They play games with friends, they attend classes in school, and they even fangirl and fanboy over their favorite icons as well. We see that idols, aside from their robot-like training and divine-like visuals, are fundamentally just like us, humans. They also go through even the most mundane of things which we usually don’t bat an eye on. They have their own journeys and challenges, and they are also learning each day. By knowing how much more similar and connected we are with them, we can augment our fan experience from not just what they offer as artists, but also as individuals.
Likewise, idols cherish the stories that they hear and receive from their fans as well. These virtual platforms offer opportunities for mutual engagement and fulfillment, wherein both idols and fans are able to learn from and about each other. Having viewers and fans who can relate to idols’ experiences as ordinary humans can definitely help boost their drive to continue working on and improving their craft. Fans also feel a sense of understanding in seeing their idols represent their feelings and experiences. It goes to show that the fandom culture is definitely two-way, as it should be. Both idols and fans are comforted by the assurance that one always has the other when in need of support and inspiration.
As such, by the time you come across more digital content, you may want to think about the motivation of your idols behind it! Now, let’s try another PICTURE THIS — It’s only an hour before midnight in the Philippines, and you received a notification on V LIVE from your bias group, “Starting LIVE”. As you wrap yourself up with a blanket, do you choose to sleep, or to spam the comments in hopes of getting noticed by your bias?
