K-pop is known for containing various music influences and genres, as well as the fully choreographed performances that come with the songs. These elements are vital parts of K-pop that can be enjoyed by both casual and dedicated K-pop fans. However, not always will the most casual fans be able to keep up with all of the content K-pop artists put out.
When K-pop groups come out with a new song or album, they perform on Korean music shows such as M Countdown, Music Bank and Inkigayo. These shows are broadcasted on South Korea’s television networks and the performances are later uploaded on Naver and YouTube. Around 2015, music shows also started uploading group and individual fancams, allowing fans to focus more on their favorite members, or see the performance of the full group, as opposed to the one with close up shots that is commonly broadcasted. Idols also use these fancams to monitor and evaluate their performance.
What makes a casual fan different from a dedicated fan? To put it simply, casual fans solely enjoy the music and performances, while dedicated fans dive deeper into their favorite group by watching their video content.
Each fan has a different story on how they started liking a K-pop group.
For Val, she began as a casual music listener of fromis_9 since “Love Bomb,” and decided to finally look into the group when they released “WE GO”. She started off by learning their names, then she watched their content… Before she knew it, she was hooked.
fromis_9 doesn’t lack in the video content department. During promotion periods, the nine girls appear on different shows, showcasing their charms and talents to the audience. They also regularly release original content, such as their own YouTube variety show Channel_9, and the highly recognized Jisun ASMR. They do live streams on V LIVE as well, where they casually talk and share stories with flovers.
With the amount of fromis_9 content that can be watched, some flovers have made their own lists or started projects that would help them organize and easily navigate through the videos. One of which is Val’s annyeong flo website!
Her project began when she was watching fromis_9’s pre-debut videos. It made her smile how much the girls had changed physically and improved their skills, so she decided to create individual fancam playlists as a timeline to see how each fromis_9 member had grown throughout the years. She also made other playlists such as full stage fancams, dance practices and M2 Relay Dances.
During “Talk & Talk” promotions, she converted some of her friends into flovers and decided to make a “Talk & Talk” playlist to help them watch fromis_9’s content. In the playlist, they could find official videos, performances and all fancams. She later did the same for “WE GO” promotions, “Feel Good” promotions, and the most recent, “DM” promotions. Today, those playlists are reachable by every flover through her website.
V LIVE is also a treasure trove for fromis_9 content. It’s a bit difficult to navigate through the site, and as a developer, Val took it as a challenge to semi-export fromis_9’s exclusive V LIVE data into a from_vlive spreadsheet. She also manually added a column where she listed the members present in the video and provided separate sheets with filtered videos for each member. Additionally, there’s a checklist feature which can help the user track which videos they have or have not watched! Everyone is free to copy the spreadsheet and use it to their own liking.
Fan projects, like Val’s annyeong flo website, are beneficial to both the K-pop group and the fandom. Usually, these projects start as a solo project for personal use, then they get shared and recommended to newer fans, and might even develop into something bigger through collaborations with other fans! These projects show how much a fandom loves and supports their favorite group. In turn, the group will gain new fans and receive more love, which just might be the greatest gift any fan can give to their idol.
Writer: Mitch
Designer: Adam
Editor: Bruno
Proofreader: Brad
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