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Music

10 Questions You Always Wanted to Ask a K-Pop Fan

We want to be part of the K-pop phenomenon too, so we asked a fan to initiate us into a BTS fandom.
16-year-old Ashlesha Desai is part of an ARMY, the groups of BTS fans around the world.  

We're getting very up close and personal with the love for Korean pop music love in India, and its surrounding industry. Let super fans power your soundtrack, tell you how to talk and walk K-pop style, in the best that K-pop fashion has to offer. Read more here.

K-pop, as a superfan explains, is not a subgenre of pop music. 16-year-old Ashlesha Desai, a K-pop fan from Mumbai adds, “K-pop songs cover an entire different set of themes, and so it represents a completely different set of thoughts.” A student in 12th standard, Desai identifies as part of ARMY, the collective noun for fans of K-pop group BTS. That’s not her only identity though. She also wants to be a fashion designer and listens to Michael Jackson and the Beatles.

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From Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ creating YouTube records to BTS winning the ‘Top Social Artist’ award at the 2018 Billboard music awards, K-pop is a fixture on international playlists. An effective use of social media, creatively choreographed videos, and very catchy music has made K-pop exceptional, just like its fandom. Blind loyalty to your favourite band, live streaming the latest music videos until it reaches record breaking views, and indulging in fan wars on Twitter–it’s all just an average day in the life of a K-pop fan. We wanted to find out more.

VICE: What makes you choose K-pop over any other music?
Ashlesha Desai: The fact that the music is powerful enough to make me understand what the song is about without any kind of command over the Korean language never fails to surprise me. Of course, I listen to several other genres too, but K-pop holds a special place. Rather than choosing it over other music, I’d just say that it produces a completely different feeling in my brain the moment a song begins as compared to other genres. Is it actual neural impulses or is it just me trying to convince myself? I don’t know.

Being a fan requires art skills.

Weirdest question anyone has asked you about K-pop?
Oh boy. This can literally go on and on. The ‘common’ questions (by the way they are all completely absurd) look something like this–“How do you even understand what they’re saying?” or “Can you even differentiate between them? They all look the same to me.” Another stupid (and repetitive) one is when they refer to a male member of the band and say “Are they gay/girls?”.

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Do you think K-pop is only for teenagers or young adults? Does it also produce music for other age groups?
Absolutely not. K-pop can be heard by all age groups. It’s just the mentality for acceptance of new things which makes a difference. Since teenagers like to know what’s current, they don’t have a hard time accepting a completely new song style. Recently, I’m beginning to see an expansion of the age group range, especially in the fandom I’m in.

BTS fans light their way with ARMY bombs aka light sticks.

What is the biggest misconception about K-pop?
That K-pop artists are simply robots rising from entertainment companies who have no freedom in anything they do as an idol. Every K-pop idol has a distinct identity of his/her own. Another really strong statement is questioning the male idols’ sexuality or outright calling them female. This is prevalent in a country like ours, where ‘masculinity’ is of utmost importance, and is defined by a man’s body proportions and facial features.When will we understand that part of being ‘masculine’ is being comfortable with yourself and confident in the work you do?

One thing you want to change about K-pop?
The kind of pressure society puts on idols to look and dress a certain way. An artist needs to have more freedom in expression of their thoughts through their music instead of their company imposing it on them. After all, that’s why they want to become a music artist in the first place. The homophobia in the community also needs to change with changing times.

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Do K-pop artists have to look a certain way to qualify as K-pop artists?
As of today, yes. All of them undergo major transformations. This is especially pressuring for female artists, whose weight is constantly tracked and they often have no freedom to eat whenever and whatever they want. As for males, yes to a certain extent they have a specific look and style too.

Just like Lego, BTS will find a fandom of mixed ages. We think.

Do all K-pop artists undergo plastic surgery?
Not necessarily. No BTS member has undergone any kind of augmentation so there you go. If they do, it’s their choice, their body. I wouldn’t want to look into it too much.

Why are girl K-pop groups so different from their male counterparts? Misogyny much?
Yes, probably. The themes for girl group songs and choreos are often repetitive and portray girls as ‘cute’ or ‘shy’. I think powerful themes need to come out more and girl groups should not be told by their companies what their next album is about.

Are you under any pressure of proving your loyalty/fandom for your favourite band on the internet?
I used to be, but it’s reduced considerably. Earlier I thought voting/telling people to vote for award shows and generally promoting the band and keeping track of all their activities and variety content would make me a ‘devoted’ fan. I’ve now realized that as long as I know that I love the artist, anything I do/don’t do doesn’t matter.

At the BTS Wings tour in Bangkok in 2017.

What was your experience at the BTS Wings tour that you attended in Bangkok?
It was… words can’t express it! It was beautiful. I enjoyed every single moment and I’m happy I got to see ARMYs from another country and interact with a few of them. The boys, of course, did not disappoint. You can see the joy on their faces while performing and I think that’s awesome. Jamming to a BTS song with an ARMY bomb in hand and yelling fanchants along with an arena full of people like you–you can only imagine what that feels like. I’m super lucky to experience that as a reality. The fans also had a special fan projector holding up lights, as you can see in the picture. ‘Be Your Wings Forever’ is so relevant and meaningful; I was really touched being part of that experience.