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Basic K-pop Terminology

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Cowboy Cody View member profile	Apr 15 2019, 07:52 PM Post #1
new hair, new tee, new Levii’s Jeans Joined: 24 October 2014 Posts: 39,283 User: 21,308	New to the scene and don’t understand half of the things you see in the YouTube comments? Not a problem! SBS PopAsia has put together a list of words laced into the K-pop fandom vernacular: https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2018/03...fan-should-know Here are some basic ones that may or may not be listed in that link: Aegyo: Korean term for uber cuteness. Listen to fromis_9 - Love Bomb and you’ll see what I mean. Anti: Self-explanatory. Means someone who hates a certain group/member. Bias: Your favorite member of a group. Ultimate bias refers to your favorite member of all groups, and bias wrecker refers to that one member who is fighting for your favorite spot as your bias for that group. Comeback: Used whenever a K-pop act releases a new single. This doesn’t hold the same meaning as it does to western audiences as they can typically take between 3 months or several years in between comebacks. Fan Chant: A fandom usually does this during a performance/concert. Leader: Person in the group who usually organizes the group, speaks during award ceremonies, acts as a proxy during meetings with management, etc. (example: RM has the leader role for BTS) Maknae: the group’s youngest member Music Shows: Also self-explanatory. Acts normally debut/perform their latest singles there. Think Total Request Live (or whatever the UK equivalent is) but there’s like six of them. Sub-Unit: a smaller focus group within a group. EXO has a ton of these. Trainee: also self-explanatory. Refers to aspiring idols currently training in their company before they debut to the GP.


Tafty³³³ View member profile	Apr 15 2019, 11:22 PM Post #2
I found the love, I found the love in me Pronouns: He/Him Joined: 13 December 2007 Posts: 87,421 User: 5,042	This is v interesting! It always confused me when they'd use the term "comeback" Do we know why the bands are more likely to release EPs and not albums as such?


Iz 🌟 View member profile	Apr 17 2019, 03:46 PM Post #3
I'm a paragon so don't perceive me Joined: 3 February 2011 Posts: 37,407 User: 12,929	I find the sub-unit stuff fascinating. Those tend to make better songs in general, it feels a lot more focused. Really big K-Pop groups (and it's even worse over the water in Japan) end up making all their members completely anonymous. Also the 'comeback' thing has always been endearingly ridiculous to me, but is there not any better English word they could use?


Cowboy Cody View member profile	Apr 21 2019, 01:24 AM Post #4
new hair, new tee, new Levii’s Jeans Joined: 24 October 2014 Posts: 39,283 User: 21,308	QUOTE(Jonjo @ Apr 15 2019, 04:22 PM) Do we know why the bands are more likely to release EPs and not albums as such? money? lmao


calxyum View member profile	Apr 21 2019, 12:31 PM Post #5
my caviar brings all the lords to the court~ Joined: 9 April 2014 Posts: 3,792 User: 20,799	QUOTE(Jonjo @ Apr 16 2019, 12:22 AM) This is v interesting! It always confused me when they'd use the term "comeback" Do we know why the bands are more likely to release EPs and not albums as such? When preparing for a “comeback”, groups usually have a concept and colour they wish to show with said comeback. It’s usually the responsibility of their manager to determine how much of this particular concept gets the spotlight. Although Cody is right in the sense that EP’s are more cost effective - more often than not label-heads like to hold material back for future releases that may coincide a little bit more with the theme. This, of course, fluctuates from group-to-group. EXO are one of the most successful teams of all-time in Korea and have often been referred to as “The Nation’s Boy-group”. You’ll notice with each and every one of their comebacks, they release a full-length album. This is because SM Entertainment (their label and arguably the biggest entertainment company in Korea) trust that they will shift sh*t-loads, and the members have been idols for yeaaaaaars now, so they are more trusted when it comes to writing and composing music, and generally creating a concept for their own comebacks. BLACKPINK on the other hand are still fairly new and have yet to release a full-length LP, for the exact opposite reasons that EXO are trusted to do so. Long story short, there’s just ALOT more emphasis on putting in the grind and hard-work before getting to the top in South Korea, nothing is handed to you if you’re too young, or too inexperienced. Heck, YG Entertainment’s (YG being the label BP are signed to) last girl group ‘2NE1’, were around for 7 years before disbanding and are still to this day one of the biggest selling 2nd Generation K-Pop groups of all-time, yet they only ever released 2 full-length albums. #JusticeForCL