excuse me do you have a moment for kpop?
As you may have noticed from my tumblr and/or the constant screaming, kpop has taken over my life.
I've had a surprising and heartwarming amount of friends from fandoms previous ask me questions here and there about particular groups, members, songs, even just a bunch of "hey are you ok???" queries that lead me to believe that Some Explanations might be in order?
Ostensibly, this is the lead in to a series of group-specific kpop primers I'm making as part of an agreement I entered into heather which went a little something like "hey, so what if I make a bunch of intro / info / image-dump posts for the boy groups I'm losing my mind over, and to be efficient with our time and desire to destroy one another, you cover some of the girl groups I haven't had a chance to fall for yet?"
If anyone else wants to join in the madness and finds themselves hereby compelled to devote their time, affection and emotional ranges to kpop, well, shit happens.
FIRST THINGS FIRST. I'm Irish and all of my fandoms have been US / Brit / CAN -centric, so kpop was a huge culture shock to say the least. I'm kicking these shenans off with the explanation of some terms and thoughts that you're going to want to be familiar with in these parts.
GENERAL THINGS YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF FLUMMOXED BY (if you’re at all like me)
- IDOLS. "idol" = "band member." You'll hear / read a lot about "idol culture", which just means anything to do with the part of the music industry that specifically surrounds or pertains to kpop girl and boy groups.
- BIAS. Your bias in a given group is your favourite member. Your bias can change at any time. You can have a current bias and an ultimate or overall bias. For example; Mark was my first Got7 bias, but Jaebum is my forever bias now. Yixing is my Exo-M bias, Jongin is my Exo-K bias, Yixing is my Exo bias.
NAMES. Pretty often members of groups have stage names and real names. If we look above, you’ll see I referred to a ‘Yixing’ from Exo-M. Yixing is his real name, whereas ‘Lay’ is his stage name. Similarly, Jongin is the real name of Exo member ‘Kai’. This is mostly important for fanfiction, where members are generally referred to by their real name instead of their stage name.
UNITS / SUB-UNITS / LINES. Within each and almost every band, there exists other subdivisions. Seventeen, for example, is clearly divided into three sub-units: rap, vocal and performance. Exo is divided in two: Exo-M and Exo-K. Sometimes these divisions are label-mandated, but sometimes fans will create things like ‘the maknaa line’, the ‘foreigner line’ etc. There are official and non-official uses of this term. Sometimes management makes them up, sometimes fans do, but if you see the terms ‘unit’ or ‘line’ it really just means a grouping of some members for a specific reason.
ERA. Kpop fans describe a period during the promotion of a particular single / album as that single / album’s ‘era.’
FORMAL / INFORMAL SPEECH. Pretty much what you might think: there are two ways of addressing people; one you use for elders and seniors and strangers and one you use for those closest to and younger than you. This comes up in kpop a lot because there might be challenges etc., where a younger member of the group gets to speak to an elder without honorifics, there might be a time when one slips up and forgets to use it, so on and so forth. I include it because it always seems to be a HUGE deal when it happens.
“STAGE”. This is how one refers to the staging / choreography / general SHOWING of a song or album etc. Groups talk a lot about coming back with bigger and better “stages.”
“POINT” OF CHOREOGRAPHY. The most notable / memorable point or move or step in any piece of choreography. Becomes particularly relevant when groups are playing games where they’ve gotta explain a song or group without words and can pretty easily do so when most groups or songs have a really well known point of choreography.
HYUNG, NOONA ETC. This goes back to the honorifics a little bit, but it’s easier to understand, I think. Here’s a quick and simple break down:
Girls refer to older men as “oppa” (which technically means father) and older women as “unnie.”
Boys refer to older men as “hyung” (which technically means brother) and women as “noona.”
A “sunbae” is one’s senior, and “hoobae” is one’s junior, but those are lesser used.
“PLEASE ANTICIPATE IT” / “GIVE X LOTS OF LOVE.” Mean what they say, but you hear ‘em alllllllllllllllll the time. Pretty much every group says it. “Please anticipate it” means they’re hoping you look forward to whatever they return with and want you to stay interested in them as a group, “give us / me / it lots of love” just means ADORE US, basically.
There’s a cool little gesture that entails putting one’s thumb and forefinger together at odds and it’s meant to signify the shape of a heart. You can see it in action here.
DORM LIFE. All kpop groups live together in a single apartment generally referred to as “the dorm.” More times than not, they’ll all share a single room. There are bunk beds. Someone sleeps on a mattress on the floor. When the group is particularly large / space is scarce, people will sleep in the living room. It’s commonplace for members to shower together to save time. The hours they keep are WILD. Idols get little to no sleep. They’re in the studio until all hours of the night, they practice right through the night. They dance until they physically can’t. They work harder than it even seems possible to work.
TRAINEE PROCESS. Depending on the company they end up with / start with, these kids can start the trainee process as young as 10 years old, as old as 17 or 18. If they’re taken on by a company, they’ll spend the majority of their day taking dance classes, singing lessons etc., with their education taking a secondary spot. This can continue for years; almost a decade for some.- DEBUT. Refers to the performance or point at which they first perform for the public. For trainees, debuting is the goal they’re working toward.
- FOOD. Food is really really really important to idols, as you will see. This is probably because they work so hard and such long hours that any chance they get to refuel is relished. They eat a lot of vegetables, soups, ramen and rice and meat seems to be everyone's favourite thing in the world; fried chicken and beef especially. A lot of variety shows etc., will give them food prizes, and it always makes them extra competitive. Pizza is a popular choice, too, and idols drink a lot of Coke, which they call "cola." There seem to be a whole bunch of convenience stores in most of the cities they go, and they're pretty inclined to buy and eat a lot of name brand treats and drinks, ice cream is a particular favourite. Fans often ask idols "have you eaten?" as a way of showing their concern for their well being, and this seems to be a pretty often asked question in Korea in general. It seems almost to replace "how are you." "Eat well" / "eat a lot" is urged all the time. Be full and be happy and healthy, in other words.
AIRPORT WALK / OUTFITS. Surprisingly important in this fandom. Groups don’t get to fly to other countries without having every moment of that process photographed by fans and paparazzi alike, so what they wear to the airport has become a priority. See Got7’s BamBam for further example.
LINERS. The year that these idols were born plays a huge part, and even across groups those born in the same year will band together as ‘91 liners, ‘94 liners etc. Idols have surprising friendships across the industry and often it’s to do with the year they were born.
ENLISTING. All males are expected to enlist in the Korean military before the age of 35 This extends to idols.
SCHOOL. High school in Korea is a vastly, vastly different process to that for European or American students. Including mandatory extra-curriculars, students are often looking at 18 hour study days as the norm. As such, many Koreans wear glasses or contact lenses due to the many hours they spend reading and writing. Competition for college places in Korea is fierce and as such, students in high school pay that price. Idols often continue to study as part of their trainee process and take the college entrance exams alongside regular students.
FAN SERVICE. This refers to the lengths idols are willing to go to to entertain / satisfy their fans. Those lengths are SIGNIFICANT. There’s little to nothing that idols won’t do. if their fans are the ones asking. Autographs, photos, aegyo etc.
AEGYO. Similar to “kawaii” in Japanese culture, literally translates to “cute.” There’s a number of stock poses / gestures that equate to aegyo service, and they often involve baby voice / cutesy talk. Aegyo is used to talk fellow idols into buying you food, to make someone who is mad at you so incensed by your cuteness that they forget all about their anger, and/or to embarrass yourself and others. A key element to all of this is the Gwiyomi song, as invented by BtoB's Ilhoon.
VISUAL. RAPPER. VOCAL. Members in each group serve various roles. If a member is considered a primary “visual”, he’s generally considered the best looking member. Etc.- SELCA. Selfie!
- "DARK" SKIN. Skin tone in general is a controversial topic when it comes to kpop. Most of what passes through your dashboard is whitewashed by those who edit. Even in terms of natural skin tone, there's a lot of debate in fandom as to whether it's acceptable or not that idols themselves will often comment on their relative skin tones. The discussion in general probably needn't be a difficult one, but the issue stems from the fact that the darker an idol's skin tone, the more negatively it's talked about. Idols wear lighter makeup than their true tone calls for. Those who are naturally more pale are praised as being more beautiful. It's pretty gross, all in all. An example of "dark" skin tone in kpop groups is Exo's Kai:
Next to Lay (Yixing) you can see that Kai (Jongin)'s skin is ever so slightly darker. Though it's a truly miniscule difference (and one that - thankfully - Kai says he's proud of) it's still something he's more or less picked on for.
BOYFRIEND PIX / BOYFRIEND VERSION. Kpop idols are quick to behave as though your boyfriend would, whether in pictures or practice versions of their choreography. Essentially, they will act as someone who is dating you would. It’s a gift!
DANCE PRACTICE. Pretty often, your groups will tape and upload vids of themselves practicing choreography. Again, it’s a gift! Sometimes they will be THEMED. The boyfriend version of anything is your new best friend.
K-DRAMAs. Kind of a side-correlation since they’re not a direct result of kpop, but pretty often kpop stars will find their way into k-drama roles. K-dramas are soap operas, essentially. They’re wonderful. Watch Dream High 2 and Oh My Venus.
AGENCIES. Different groups are with different agencies the same way different Western groups would sign with different labels. SM are the biggest one, the titan of the lot. They manage Exo. They’re monsters.
FIGHTING. Kpop groups say this all the time. “fighting” or “hwaiting” as it sometimes sounds just means “LET’S GO,” essentially.
DAEBAK. “the best!”- FANMEETING / FANSIGNING. A fanmeeting is basically a fan hangout; songs will be sung but the focus will be on fan questions / audience participation. Fansignings are really just signing events.
- "JAGI." You'll see this in ~imagines etc, on tumblr a lot. It's a term of endearment for a significant other and it means 'honey,' but can also be a term used to describe one's newly wedded partner.
- KOREAN HIGH SCHOOL. Is hardcore as f u c k. There are very few universities in Korea so competition to get places is fierce beyond anything we know in the Western world. High school kids work up to 18 hours a day including study and necessary extra-curriculars and even at that they're encouraged to work harder and do more. To highlight just how serious this point is; statistics say that up to 90% of Korean school kids have eye sight problems because of how much reading they do and how much stress their vision is put under as part of their education. Most idols thus wear glasses and/or contact lenses.