what is your culture shock in kpop world

Quote from Lulu_Key

Another example was that people were mad WG had to give rookie award to SHINee and not 2pm since they are from same label in 2008. It took me 3 years to get WHY people had a problem with that

Crazy how they debuted at the same time. 2PM feels like sexy senior senior group 🔥

Quote from sveznalica

Crazy how they debuted at the same time. 2PM feels like sexy senior senior group 🔥

Yeah srsly

I think that was a big deal back then bc big agencies weren't debuting bgs at the same time.

SHINee members looked like baby chicks compare to 2pm.

2PM had a variety show and SHINee appeared in it. That episode was the funniest thing.

fanwars

For me was def the level of fan wars and how ugly/serious it got; especially when it impacts both the artist and fans in harmful ways but at the same time, it is kinda accepted and promoted because it is ‘fun’. Like we still see comments here that trolling is necessary or it will be boring. Related to this is the fact that many fans aren’t really here for the music.

All the fuss about dating. I still don't understand it and it's the most baffling thing to me. "Dating scandal" is possibly the dumbest phrase ever. Just... why?

The whole idol system aka kids as young as 8-9 becoming trainees. Also, dating being scandalous.

The Hanni's trapezius muscle discourse

1. Learning charts/sales data exists

2. The volume of social media information/content generated (including livestreams), and fans actually caring about it and using it to identify as a fan (ex. by sharing and gaining information). Before getting into k-pop I would have rarely been interested in any specific celebrity or YouTuber that much, to want to know what they are doing in their daily life and behind the scenes. But I guess in k-pop they just volunteer a lot of that information and make it fun.

I have seen fans behavior in sports, anime, games, etc. But what set kpop fans apart is their willingness to connect with their faves. Fanwars, Stalking, being creepy on fanmeeting, every crazy things that kpop fans do in my opinion comes from their obsession to connect with their favorite idols.

The obsession with numbers. Is fucking crazy.

Personality tests, the whole INFT shit, I don't think I hear about these anywhere else, at least not as much as in Korea.

The other one came from Korean dramas, the amount of violence depicted from bosses toward their employees, like the boss would slap the secretary and people just acted like it was normal.

Quote from Help1

1. Learning charts/sales data exists

2. The volume of social media information/content generated (including livestreams), and fans actually caring about it and using it to identify as a fan (ex. by sharing and gaining information). Before getting into k-pop I would have rarely been interested in any specific celebrity or YouTuber that much, to want to know what they are doing in their daily life and behind the scenes. But I guess in k-pop they just volunteer a lot of that information and make it fun.

I forgot to mention another thing. Not just the large quantity of social media posts, YouTube content, and livestream content that idols put out. But:

3. The massive amount of information that Korean/domestic fans specifically collect and learn about idols. The first time I read namuwiki pages for my favorite idol groups, I realized that those who actually understand Korean and engage with idols on social media/messaging/livestreams, and maybe attend some fansigns or performances are much more involved in the idol culture than those who don't. And it's actually crazy that there is wide knowledge about funny things that occurred at fan events or minor pieces of info revealed in casual conversation on a livestream. I have asked about this on R*ddit but I don't even get how people find some of the personal information about idols. Some of it like birthday and height might be revealed somewhere, but what about real name, education history, and hometown? Blood type?

I mean admittedly I didn't follow Western celebrities much, but I imagine they might reveal their real names or hometown in an interview. Meanwhile for idols there are lots of random unimportant members in small groups, so I don't get how anyone would find stuff about them or when they would even reveal their personal information. Sure, maybe talk about your hometown in a self introduction or livestream or whatever, but I can't believe there's someone keeping track of that and putting it on a wiki.