K-Pop Stan Vocabulary
Stan lingo changes all the time. Discourse on the internet moves quickly and words shift and acquire new and very specific meanings. Monia was asking me about some English-language K-Pop stan vocabulary so I thought I’d write it up to share. These are not “official” definitions but rather meanings I’ve picked up through many years of observing English-language K-Pop stan conversations online.
Stan lingo can be extremely opaque to outsiders. Inside jokes get calcified into shorthand references. K-Pop has a sea of specific fandom names—e.g. Shawol refers to a SHINee stan but you may also see Shawols use even more granular terms such as “Taemint” or “Blinger” for dedicated fans of a particular member of SHINee. Stans will also warp fandom names for comedic or pejorative purposes. E.g. VIP refers to a stan of BigBang but outgroup stans may refer to them as “Criminal Stans.” ARMY refers to a stan of BTS but you may also see “Armchair” or “Armywhale.” EXO stans are EXO-Ls but outgroup stans may refer to them as “Eggs.”
Then there are the idol nicknames. Jennie from BlackPink is insultingly referred to as “Seoul Cycle” by a certain section of K-Pop stans who are upset that she has dated popular male idols. BTS fans have started calling BTS member Namjoon the “Father of K-Pop” for reasons that I have not been able to parse. Some K-Pop idols may also be referred to by their stage name and their given name. BigBang’s Taeyang may be referred to as “Taeyang” (his stage name), “Young-bae” (his given name), or SOL (his Japanese stage name).
English-language fans will also abbreviate three word Korean names to initials. E.g. LSM for Lee Soo-Man or JJK for Jeon Jung-Kook.
First Generation K-Pop.
Retroactively applied label to the domestic Korean teen pop groups that emerged in Seoul in the mid-1990s through the early 2000s. E.g. H.O.T.; Sechs Kies; S.E.S.; etc.
Second Generation K-Pop.
Generally taken to begin with the debut of five member TVXQ in 2003/2004 and lasting through the early 2010s. Includes heavy hitters like BigBang; SHINee; KARA; Girls Generation; etc.
Third Generation K-Pop.
The cohort of groups who followed in the wake of the immensely successful Second Generation groups. These were the little brother/sister groups of the Second Generation heavy hitters. Includes EXO; Winner; BTS; BlackPink; Twice; etc.
Fourth Generation K-Pop.
The cohort of groups who followed the Third Generation—the little brother/sister groups to the little brother/sister groups. Includes TXT; Stray Kids; NMIXX; Itzy; etc.
The Big Three.
A Third Generation term used to refer to the three major K-Pop companies at the time: SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. This is now sometimes widened to “The Big Four” or “The Big Three plus Hybe.” Stans of K-Pop groups from non-Big Three companies (including Hybe) may still refer to “Big Three Privilege,” which refers to the belief that a group from a Big Three company is assured major success.
Bias.
A stan’s favorite member in a group.
Bias wrecker.
A member of the group who is not the bias but who occasionally does something cute or hot that threatens to unseat the current bias as the stan’s favorite member of a group.
Comeback.
A new album or EP cycle.
B-Side.
Every track on an album or EP that does not get pushed as a single with a music video and so on is considered a “B-Side.” E.g. EXO’s Obsession (2019) had one single, the title track, “Obsession.” Every other song on that album is referred to as a B-Side.
Solo stan.
Used as a pejorative term for K-Pop stans who only stan one idol out of a group. This is different from stans who have a bias or favorite. Solo stans don’t just have a favorite, they only like the one member.
Diet solo stan.
Used for stans whose online behavior doesn’t quite reach “Solo Stan” territory but is judged to be dangerously close. The implication is that the “Diet Solo Stan” is only paying lip service to liking all the members of a group and secretly only likes the one member.
Akgae.
Korean term for stans who move past Solo Stan (liking only one member of a group) into actively hating and attacking every other member of the group.
Multi stan.
Used as a pejorative term for K-Pop stans who stan more than one group. The term can be used as a pejorative term by stans dedicated to a single group. In particular, this term is used by BTS stans as an insult. You may also sometimes see mocking reference to an infamous post which claimed that in Korea “multi is a slur.”
K-Poppie.
Used by BTS stans as a pejorative term for (other) K-Pop stans. The implication is that unlike stans of BTS “K-Poppies” are frivolous and only care about things inside the fishbowl of K-Pop.
Visual stan.
Used as a pejorative term for K-Pop stans who value an idol’s looks above all other qualities. The implication is that the love of the “visual stan” for the idol is shallow and surface level.
Success stan.
Used as a pejorative term for K-Pop stans who value chart performance and sales metrics above all other qualities.
Manager Army.
Used as a pejorative term for BTS stans who express dissatisfaction with how BTS’s career is progressing. This could be anything from expressing a concern about an overbooked concert tour or simply not liking the style choices of a particular comeback. You may also see “Manager Anti” or “Manti” to refer to these fans. The implication is that these stans incorrectly believe they know better than the company what is best for the group.
Sasaeng.
Korean term for stans who stalk idols. They can be quite dangerous although some are rumored to be tacitly encouraged or tolerated by K-Pop companies for various reasons--whether because they can propagate information both positive and negative to the fandom at large or because they may be wealthy (or determined) enough to move bulk sales of albums.
Leftover.
Used by BTS stans as a pejorative term for stans of certain Fourth Generation boy groups. The idea is that these “leftovers” were introduced to K-Pop via BTS but then made the unforgivable sin of abandoning BTS for one of these other, younger groups. The stans of these younger boy groups are therefore taken to be BTS’s leftovers by BTS stans.
Meow Meow.
Used to describe an idol who stans feel sorry for because he is suffering from hardships through no fault of his own. It is also used to make fun of those idol fans who believe their bias is a pure soul suffering through no fault of his own when to the outside observer it appears that he brought it on himself.
The term originates in a now infamous tweet about BTS member Suga. The context is that Suga had just released a solo album which included a song that featured a clip of a Jim Jones speech. Some stans found the inclusion of a such a notorious cult leader—one responsible for the deaths of many people, in particular many Black people—unacceptable. The fans who were upset wanted an acknowledgement that the inclusion of the Jim Jones sample had been a mistake while other fans defended Suga’s choice to include it. The company eventually issued an apology, blaming an unnamed producer.
The original tweet has since become a copypasta:
my poor meow meow..my baby my little baby who hurt so much but treats people with nothing but kindness forgive me for not being able to do more..i tried my best i really did.
Company stan.
A pejorative term for a stan who is seen as taking the side of their favorite idol’s company above all else—including the idol. e.g. A stan who defends poor quality tour merchandise may get called a “Company Stan” or a stan defending the company deciding to scrap an idol’s upcoming solo release may get called a “Company Stan.”
Nugu.
Derived from the Korean word for “Who” and is used to describe an idol or group who has a very small or non-existent audience. The nuance of this particular to English-language fans is that because we are so dependent on the Internet as a source of information, any “Nugu” group that reaches international fans is going to have some money behind them and won’t truly be completely unknown. e.g. K-Pop girl group Rescene would be considered “Nugu” by English-language fans. They are not from “The Big Three” or Hybe and have a very modest audience online, getting around 10-20k views on their YouTube videos despite a heavy push for (the genuinely catchy) “Uh Uh”.
Stans may also throw it around as insult toward groups or idols that they feel are not on the same level as their favorites.
Aegyo.
Korean word for acting extremely cutesy. There are some stock gestures that form the foundation of idol aegyo, such as puffing the cheeks out, forming a heart with the hands, and affecting a higher pitched tone to the voice. English-language stans are very divided on aegyo. Some love it and some find it extremely fake and cringe. It can be jarring to see 30+ year old men acting like simpering tween girls.