Voting and fan power among K-idols at award shows and performances have been a hot topic in recent weeks, here at Dojeon Media we discover the dark side of what happened behind the glitz and glamour.
The role of fan voting in award show results and chart performance has been heavily debated. Discussions explore the influence of large fan bases and whether they unfairly skew outcomes.
Being an influencer in 2024 has its challenges although it has never become easier. With many award shows taking place domestically and abroad influencing a large fan base can skew outcomes in who wins awards and even more political debates.
In South Korea, K-pop groups or “idols” debut weekly on network television shows, battling other bands to win media play. Fans campaign online for their favorites and research how many Spotify streams, YouTube views, album sales, or social media mentions a group needs to have a song top the charts or win an award. They have also long donated to charities, often to commemorate an idol’s birthday, a group anniversary, or an album release, but both performers and fans largely avoided politics until now. It is no surprise that many political players use K-pop idols to help shift their voters by paying these idols large amounts of money to play a short private gig at a political or private party to big industry names. However, like we have seen in US politics it can be dangerous using public figures to shape political outcomes on a mass scale.
If we look back K-pop fans in the US had made headlines in 2020 when they reserved tickets for one of Donald Trump’s rallies and then neglected to show up — leaving the president to face a nearly empty auditorium. During America’s civil unrest after Minnesota police killed George Floyd on camera, BTS donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter; its fandom, known as BTS Army, matched the donation in 24 hours. I think this say's it all.
It has been said before that "fans have the power to create stars" and this is the case as one popular song, style, or social media post with a large following and sharing can easily put that star/person in demand and pushed to new heights overnight. This also leads to them not being prepared and then later on breaking down or falling off the rails. Overnight sensations are not quite what they seem and rightly so.
South Korea in my opinion is obsessed with trends and current idols, and with this not seeming likely to fade away overnight I am concerned about what the future holds with upcoming elections in Korea, larger fan bases, and bad behaviors or idols.
Let us know your thoughts on voting and fan power in the comments below!
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