K-Pop has its own language - here is a short overview of the most important terms, including explanations, so that you always know what's going on and can join the conversation :)
A
Aegyo - In Korean, this term describes exaggeratedly cute behavior. For example, K-pop idols speak in a baby voice or make hearts with their fingers when they are asked to do “Aegyo”.
Akgae - A member of a band who gets noticeably more attention than the other band members.
All-Kill - When a band's song or album reaches first place on all South Korean music charts, it is called an “All-Kill”.
Anti - An anti-fan and hater who regularly speaks negatively about an artist, whether in the comments on the artist's official content or in discussions with fans.
B
Bias - Your personal, absolute favorite in a band. Every fan has their own bias.
Bias Wrecker - The band member who attracts the most attention after your bias and sometimes even distracts you from your bias.
Big Three - This refers to the 3 big entertainment companies that have dominated the K-Pop industry from its beginnings until today: SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment & YG Entertainment. There are discussions about whether, with HYBE, it is now the “Big Four”, or whether HYBE has replaced YG as a member of the Big Three. Even so, the vast majority still think of SM, JYP and YG today when they hear the term “Big Three”.
Black Ocean - At K-pop concerts or music shows, fans often wave the lightstick of their favorite band. When the whole arena is filled with red lightsticks, for example, it is called a “Red Ocean”. A “Black Ocean” happens when “fans” agree with each other and all turn off their lightsticks to boycott a certain band and its performance. In that case, the arena or part of it becomes dark and silent.
B-Side - A song that is not the title track of an album. If an album contains 5 songs, there are 4 B-Sides. The exceptions are cases in which several songs are promoted as title tracks.
The title track is often the only one with a music video and the one that is performed on music shows. Sometimes, though, a B-Side also gets a music video, for example if it is just as popular or even more popular than the title track. As a rule, tracklist posters state which song is the “Title”. All the other songs on the album are automatically “B-Sides”.
C
Center - The band member who dances in the middle for most of a performance and therefore gets the most screen time. The center is not a fixed position and often changes, although not always during a comeback.
CF - “CF” is the abbreviation for “Commercial Film” and refers to commercials that run on TV in Korea.
Comeback - A comeback takes place whenever a K-Pop band or solo artist releases a new song. The song is then promoted on various music shows.
Concept - The theme of an album or photo shoot is called the “Concept”. The official photos of an album or photobook are often uploaded with the title “Concept Photo” or “Concept Image”. This concept shows not only in the photos, but also in the music and the stage design.
D
Dance Practice - K-Pop is known for the dance choreographies that go with the songs. Fans also like to copy them, and special “Dance Practice” videos are released for that purpose.
Debut - The official entry into the entertainment industry. A singer's debut takes place when they release their first album or their first song.
In K-Pop it sometimes happens that a group presents a song or a whole album and still hasn't officially debuted. In the K-Pop industry, it is the entertainment company that decides whether a release counts as a debut or not.
Delulu - The term is derived from the English word “delusional”, which means “deluded”. K-Pop fans often use the term on social media to describe people with crazy fantasies or ideas. It often refers to other fans who have idealistic fantasies about their favorite idols.
Disbandment - When a group breaks up, it is called a “Disbandment”.
Discography - A discography is a detailed list of recordings. For K-Pop artists, a distinction is usually made between studio albums, extended plays and single albums, which differ mainly in the number of songs they contain.
E
Ending Fairy - The member whose face is zoomed in on after a music show.
F
Fan Chant - Every song has an official “Fan Chant”, a fan song, to support their idols at concerts and music shows. It is created either by the fandoms or even by the band itself.
Fandom - The fan community of an artist. In the K-Pop industry, fandoms often have not only a name, but also their own color or even their own logo.
Fanservice - When an idol or actor does something to please their fans, it is called fanservice. This includes, for example, idols taking off their T-shirts or band mates hugging each other, because fans like to see them in a bromance.
Fighting - A shout of support and motivation.
G
Gaon Chart - The Gaon Chart was launched in 2010 and gives an insight into the weekly best-selling songs and music albums in South Korea, which also feed into the year-end evaluation - into the calculations of the award shows.
Generations - Generations are the different periods since the emergence of K-Pop.
H
Hallyu - The term stands for “Korean Wave” and describes how K-Pop is literally taking over everything and everyone and becoming more and more popular.
Hanteo Chart - Unlike the Gaon Chart, the Hanteo Chart is a “Real-time Chart”. The count is done in real time and not accumulated over a certain period. The chart gets its data from Hanteo-certified stores, which report their actual sales to end customers. This data also feeds into the ranking of the weekly music shows.
Find out more about the two charts here!
Hiatus - The term describes a break or interruption of activities. When a K-Pop artist announces a hiatus, they pause their activities for a longer time, for example to recover from an illness.
I
Idol - Members of K-Pop bands. They are true role models for their fans.
Here you'll find albums from your favorite idols. And of course merchandise too!
J
J-Line - When a K-Pop group has two or more Japanese members, they are called the J-Line. The first group with a J-Line was the girl group Twice in 2015. It has 6 Korean members and three Japanese ones: Sana, Mina and Momo.
If a group has several Chinese members, they are called the “C-Line”. The same goes for all other nationalities. But even though groups keep debuting with several members from mixed backgrounds, a “Line” rarely forms, since not all foreign (non-Korean) members have the same nationality. “J-Line” is still the most common term to this day, because Japanese idols are relatively common in the K-Pop industry.
K
Koreaboo - A mostly derogatory term for non-Korean people who are obsessed with Korean culture. Many so-called “Koreaboos” want to date Koreans, move to Korea or even look more like a Korean themselves.
L
Leader - The leader is usually the oldest member of the band and is like a father/mother to the other members; that means they take care of the others, motivate them and represent the band, for example by doing the talking at award ceremonies.
Light Stick - A popular fan item that almost every K-Pop artist offers nowadays. These are elaborate, colorful light sticks that usually show the logo, the name or another symbol of the respective artist and can light up in different colors. Fans wave them at concerts to cheer on their idols. Since every group and every artist has their own lightstick, the stars can recognize their fans by it anywhere. For example at festivals, where the audience comes from many different fandoms.
Line Distribution - The distribution of the song parts among the members of a band. In fan-made “Line distribution” videos, people often compare who sings how many lines, with main vocals, i.e. the lead singers of a group, usually having especially big parts. Unfortunately, the comparison also often makes it clear that some members consistently have extremely few vocal parts.
M
Maknae - This is the youngest member of a band. However, this term is used not only within a band, but also within a family.
Multi Stan - A fan who likes many different groups and artists. “Multi” comes from the English word “multiple”, which means “several, numerous, manifold”.
MV - Abbreviation for “music video”.
N
Netizen - Netizen is made up of “citizen” and “internet” and describes people on the internet.
Nugu - Artists who are rather unknown or have little success are called “Nugu”. “Nugu (누구)” is a Korean word that translates to “Who”. Nugu artists are therefore a nobody; they are considered so unknown that you have to ask “Who is that?”
Unfortunately, “Nugu” is also used in a derogatory way. Some fans use the term for all artists they consider less successful than their personal favorite.
O
OST - Abbreviation for the Official Soundtrack of Korean TV series.
P
Point Dance - A special, extraordinary move in the dance routine of every song.
Pre-Debut - The phase “before the debut” is called “Pre-Debut”. For example, there are Pre-Debut photos, Pre-Debut singles or Pre-Debut albums. “Pre-Debut” simply means everything that was released by an artist before their official debut.
Pre-Release - Normally, new songs are released on the same day as the album they belong to. Nowadays, however, it is common to upload one or two songs in advance. These songs are called “Pre-Release” because they came out “before the release”. In most cases, pre-release singles are released a few days before the album. Sometimes, though, there are even months in between.
R
Rookies - The term “Rookies” refers to young artists who have only recently debuted. Young artists stay in this phase for about 1-2 years.
S
Sasaeng - “Sasaeng” describes extreme fans. The term is mostly used as a negative label for fans who stalk public figures or otherwise intrude on their privacy.
Selca (Day) - “Selca” is the Korean word for “selfie”. Every band has its own so-called Selca Day with an accompanying hashtag. On those days, fans can post a picture of themselves, combined with their idol, including the matching hashtag.
Find out more about Selca Days here!
Shelfie - A “selfie” of your shelf and your K-Pop collection.
SNS - The term is based on the English phrase “Social Network Service”. It stands for social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and so on.
Solo Stan - A fan who is only interested in a single member of a group. Either they don't like the rest of the group or they only know that one member - for example through solo projects - and therefore wouldn't call themselves a fan of the whole group.
Stan - K-Pop fans who have a great interest in an artist are called “Stan”. So if you really like BTS, you are a BTS stan. If you love Blackpink, you are a Blackpink stan. “Stan” can also be used as a verb in a sentence: “I stan Blackpink.”
In general, the term describes a very over-enthusiastic and obsessive fan of a celebrity. In the K-Pop industry, however, it simply expresses that you are a passionate fan.
Sub-Unit - When individual members of an idol group join together to form a smaller group, this is called a Sub-Unit. These sub-units release their own albums and also perform in that lineup on music shows or at concerts. Even so, the members remain active in the big group. Some groups have several sub-units. Every now and then it even happens that a member is active in more than one sub-unit.
As a rule, sub-units are formed within a group. But there are also cases like the sub-unit “Super Junior M”. Its members include the Chinese singers Henry and Zhou Mi, neither of whom belong to Super Junior. They were both only active in the unit. That is extremely rare, though.
Survival Shows - Korean casting shows in which individual contestants or groups compete against each other and are eliminated bit by bit until one or more winners remain.
Find out more about survival shows here!
T
Trainee - This is what the young people who train at entertainment companies in the hope of debuting one day are called. They practice singing, dancing and rapping and sometimes even live at the agency. Some talents are a trainee for 10 years, some for only 1. Not everyone makes it to the debut.
U
Ultimate Bias - The absolute favorite singer, not only within a band, but in K-pop overall. The favorite among the favorites, so to speak. Logically, the Ultimate Bias is at the same time the bias from their respective band.
Unboxing - On the internet you can find countless “unboxing videos” by fans and increasingly also by K-pop shops, in which albums and other fan items are unpacked in front of the camera to show the contents. Unboxings help fans decide whether or not they want to buy an album.
Underrated - In German “unterschätzt”. Fans often talk about “underrated” bands; groups who deserve more attention and whose talent is underestimated.
Unit/ Sub-Unit - Larger bands in particular are often split into “Units” that also release their own songs. Besides these smaller groups that emerge from a band, there are also Special Units or Project Units, which consist of members of different bands and usually only exist for a short time.
V
Visual - The Visual is the member who represents the group - the face of the band.
Vocal Line, Dance Line, Hyung Line (…) - When people talk about the “Vocal Line” (in German “Gesangslinie”) of a group, they mean the main singers. The “Dance Line” consequently means the main dancers. The boy group Seventeen clearly defined before their debut who belongs to the Vocal, Dance or Rap Line, and is also active separately in these groupings. Outside of this division into positions, there is also, among others, the term “Hyung Line”. This refers to the older members of the band; in BTS that would be RM, J-Hope, Suga and Jin. In contrast, the younger members Jungkook, Jimin and V form the “Maknae Line”.
W
WeVerse - WeVerse is the official store of Big Hit, a South Korean entertainment agency and record label.
Did you know all the terms? Feel free to tell us in the comments which term we should add to our K-Pop ABC :)
