K-Pop Offline Experiences Save My K-Pop Online Sanity

If you're any kind of K-Pop fan who's been around a while, you've probably no doubt run into something wild and crazy online when it comes to K-Pop discourse. It could be as mostly-harmless as a meme that's gone viral or as serious as a multiple reply thread about someone who may or may not be a K-Pop insider leaking unreleased media and info about some of the biggest names in the industry. Worse yet, you might have been subjected to fanwars over everything from who has the highest sales and most clout to who has the best abs.

After years and years of having to field online community feedback professionally, I'm mostly amused (and probably a bit numb) to some of the craziest that K-Pop online has to offer. When you've been given a death threat over the fact that the development team you represent had the gall to change a character's hairstyle, everything else seems tame by comparison.

That said, it's not like I can't get a bit exhausted and slightly crazy at having to read some of it. You can curate your feed, ignore the insanity, refuse to engage, but if you keep up with the industry like I do, there's always something that slips by, like how there've been so many megathreads for the whole NewJeans vs. ADOR controversy that it can legally vote and drink in the US. Even someone toughened up against the anonymous and unhinged stuff you read online has limits.

Thankfully, for as exhausting as K-Pop fans online can be, they are balanced out by my K-Pop offline fan experiences.

I've been occasionally going to K-Pop events and concerts on and off for years now, and my experiences with fans offline is the complete opposite of those online. Maybe it's the fact that "IRL" you can't be as bold and anonymous, maybe it's the sharing of the experience of waiting on or gathering together for a beloved K-Pop group or artist, maybe it's just the ability to be away from the siren call of "clout" online. Or maybe, just maybe, people are just there to have a good time and aren't interested in fighting about it.

Whether it's the creativity and generosity of the freebies people have given (I've gotten everything from homemade photocards to the above mini lightstick keychains to straight up free albums) or the fact that I've been able to make plenty of friends waiting around, or how I've encountered many instances of people just being plain nice, the offline K-Pop fan experience has been far more positive to me.

I think part of this, besides the fact that it's mostly much harder to be an asshole to someone's face than it is to do so online, is because K-Pop fans are there to see a group that's likely traveled to see them, certainly the case if it's not in South Korea. Ticket prices being like they are also means significant cashola has been put up by almost every attendee, too. People don't want to ruin that for the most part. Not to mention that K-Pop, like maybe anime/manga way back in the day, is sort-of-in-the-mainstream but not really - it's still considered a side hobby to the general public with some stereotypical skeletons in the closet, with varying levels of truth (see: any Dark Side of K-Pop type article or narrative). I don't know about you, but that kind of fringe fandom mentality when it comes to a hobby tends to bring people together.

Are there bad experiences offline at K-Pop events or concerts? For sure. Can we see not-so-great behavior even when you can see it right in front of you? Of course. But by and large, I feel like my K-Pop offline experiences have renewed my faith that those same fans can go back and be (mostly) normal and rational online when discussing things. After all, if they can, for one day, come together offline and be kind to and be excited with one another for the shared experience of seeing a beloved K-Pop act perform amazing music for a couple hours at a time, there's still a chance that translates to online interaction. If anything, I know I've usually made at least one or two friends that I hope will have my back the next time I make a random post about BTS and somehow get flamed for it.