K-pop fandom glossary: the words to know

People and groups

A K-pop group is presented with roles: each member has a position announced by the agency, and the fandom reuses those labels. The roles are not contracts; they describe the usual split of sung, danced or spoken parts, and the presence in promotion. They sometimes change from one release to the next. Fan vocabulary, on the other hand, mostly says who someone follows: that is what bias, bias wrecker and ult are for, and none of them is official.

The fandom itself carries a name, chosen by the group or the agency, and that name works as a collective identity: it appears on official goods, in song titles and sometimes in colours. Alongside the full group there are units: a few members releasing music under another name, without leaving the group. A soloist, by contrast, releases alone, under their own name, sometimes while the group they belong to stays active.

• idol: an artist trained and presented within the K-pop system, in a group or solo.
• bias: a fan's favourite member inside one group.
• bias wrecker: the member who unsettles that choice.
• ult: the favourite artist or group, above all the others.
• fandom: all the fans of a group; the fandom name is its official name.
• maknae: the youngest member of the group; the word comes from Korean.
• leader: the member appointed to represent and coordinate the group.
• visual: the member presented as the visual figure of the group in promotion.
• main vocal: the member who takes the most demanding sung parts.
• lead vocal: the member who comes next in that split.
• unit, sub-unit: a few members releasing music under a distinct name.
• soloist: an artist releasing alone, under their own name.

Music and the calendar

A K-pop release is not only a record: it is a period, with a visual concept, videos, shows and a tight schedule. The word era names that period. It starts with teasers, continues with the release and the music show appearances, and ends when the group moves on. In the database, a release carries a type, an ordinal, a label, a distributor, a preorder opening date and the list of tracks.

There are four recorded release types: single, mini, album and other. They describe the size of the project, not its quality or its importance. The ordinal completes the picture: fifth mini album, second full album. A reissue, called a repackage, takes an existing album and adds tracks and new packaging; it is published as a release in its own right, with its own versions, its own POB and its own preorder window.

• comeback: any new release by a group, not a return after a break.
• era: the promotion period around a release, with its visual concept.
• title track: the promoted track, the one performed on music shows.
• b-side: the other tracks on the release.
• mini album, EP: shorter than a full album, longer than a single.
• single album: a physical release built around one or two tracks.
• full album: the longest format, recorded as album in the database.
• repackage: a reissue of an album with added tracks and new packaging.
• teaser: content published before the release to announce it.
• showcase: an event presenting a new release.

The objects

Object vocabulary is the one used most at the moment of buying, because it maps onto the fields of a page. An album version holds inclusions: each inclusion is an item, with a quantity, sometimes an x out of y note when you only receive part of a set, and sometimes a random draw. The photocard is the inclusion named most often in listings, and the photocard count is recorded version by version.

Around the album there is merch: everything that is not the musical release itself, from clothing to bags and accessories. The lightstick belongs to that group but stands apart, since it is used at concerts. Season's greetings, published towards the end of the year, form a separate set: a calendar, a diary and photos gathered in one box, sold outside the comeback calendar and on a rhythm of its own.

• photocard, poca: a small printed card of a member, included in a version or in merch.
• photobook: the printed photo booklet that comes with a version.
• lightstick: the official light of a group, used at concerts.
• inclusion: an item held in a version, with its quantity and how it is drawn.
• POB: an item offered by a reseller for a preorder, with a deadline and a region.
• merch: derived products other than the musical release.
• season's greetings: an end-of-year box with a calendar, a diary and photos.
• kit: one of the eight format values in the database, next to cd, poca and platform; the contents are read in the inclusions.

Buying and reselling

Buying K-pop often happens before the release, as a preorder, because print runs are produced against recorded demand. The rest of the time you buy from stock, and a sold-out item can return in a restock. When neither is possible, fan-to-fan resale is left, with its own vocabulary, its own codes and its own risks. The abbreviations below are the ones used in listings posted on social platforms, and they are worth reading correctly.

The second set of words covers storage and protection, because a photocard is damaged easily. A card slips into a soft sleeve, then often into a rigid holder, before being filed in a binder. That vocabulary comes back in resale listings, where the condition of a card and how it is held are part of the description, just like the series it comes from and the version that held it.

• preorder: an order placed during the window open before the release.
• restock: a sold-out item put back on sale.
• WTS: want to sell, a selling listing.
• WTB: want to buy, a wanted listing.
• WTT: want to trade, a swap offer.
• proof: a photo asked of a seller to show they really hold the item.
• sleeve: a soft transparent pocket that protects a photocard.
• toploader: a rigid plastic holder for a photocard.
• binder: a ring folder with pockets, used to file a photocard collection.

Stage and promotion

Promotion for a release runs through weekly music shows, where groups perform their title track for several weeks. Those appearances set the rhythm of an era and explain why the same track comes back so often at the same time. Around them sit the fan events, from the shortest to the longest, and the concerts. This vocabulary helps in reading a group schedule, even for someone who only buys albums.

Fan events follow distinct formats. A fansign is a signing session, usually reached through a draw after buying albums. A fancall is a short video exchange. A fanmeeting is a longer event, with games, performances and conversation. Concerts are organised into tours, with a setlist that varies little from one date to the next. These formats appear in every group announcement, and telling them apart is worth doing before buying a ticket or an album.

• music show: a weekly music programme where groups perform.
• encore: a last appearance after the announced end of a programme or concert.
• fansign: a signing session with the members, often allocated by draw.
• fancall: a short exchange with one member over video.
• fanmeeting: a longer organised event, with games and performances.
• tour: a series of concerts given in several cities.
• setlist: the list of tracks played during a concert.

The words that mislead

Five words cause most of the mistakes, and four of them mean something other than their everyday sense. The first is comeback, which says nothing about an absence: it is simply a new release. The second is album, which here names a sold object, with its box and its inclusions, not a listening length. A single album is therefore an album in the object sense, even when it holds only one or two tracks.

The third is poca, which serves both as short for photocard and as the name of a format for certain disc-free editions recorded in the database. Context decides: in a resale listing it is a card; in a format field it is a medium. The fourth is version, which does not mean reissue: the versions of one release come out on the same day and differ by packaging and inclusions.

The fifth pair sets official against fanmade. An official item is produced or licensed by the label and carries an EAN, a catalogue number, or both. A fanmade item is made by fans, often in small quantity: it is not a counterfeit as long as it does not claim to be official, but it is not part of the official catalogue and appears in no reference database, having neither EAN nor catalogue number.

• comeback: a new release, never a return after an absence.
• album: an object sold with its inclusions, not a listening length.
• poca: a photocard in a listing, a disc-free format in a format field.
• version: an edition released on the same day, not a later reissue.
• official or fanmade: made or licensed by the label, or made by fans outside the catalogue.

Häufige Fragen

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