When K-pop makes new fans want to K-stop

K-pop, both as consumable media and in a fandom cultural context, can be overwhelming and difficult for newcomers to engage with, understand, or enjoy to its fullest extent due to this lack of understanding. As a result of these potential difficulties in engagement, K-pop and K-pop fandoms can be somewhat passively self-gatekeeping, as opposed to the active gatekeeping done by some fans which is another discussion entirely. It can be argued that any fandom may have these issues with overwhelming newcomers, but K-pop has a particular difficulty in this when engaging with Western audiences due to its conspicuous cultural differences. However, there are several other factors that act to make up for this pitfall as well. It works in the favor of budding fans, such as myself, that the nature of K-pop fandom (and fandom in general) is to create art, media and form culture around its object or objects of affection in such a myriad of ways that they will reach audiences as diverse as the fandom creators themselves (Lee, 196). One popular mode of this fandom media production is song cover videos, such as those created by Suggi- a well-known K-pop and Western pop cover artist on YouTube.

With over 893 thousand subscribers between his two channels, Suggi reaches a large and diverse audience by means of his talent, diversity in genre coverage, and trickle-down popularity of the artists he covers. As a result of the amalgamation of these factors, Youtubers like Suggi will inevitably create fans through his own introduction, as Western pop fans of his will also be exposed to his K-pop covers and vice versa. This mode of K-pop cultural brokering is advantageous to newcomers as they are exposed to a type of K-pop lite, Suggi;’s covers being passionate and more low-key to accommodate his singing voice as well as his videos themselves being simple in every way that the original music videos of the songs he covers are flashy and extravagant. This prevents new fans from becoming overwhelmed or intimidated and possibly dropping their pursuit into the genre as a result. Because of this, there are many scenarios where fandom content producers such as Suggi are a better initial means of spreading love and passion for K-pop and K-pop culture than the original K-pop media itself.

Lee, Hye-Kyung. "Transnational Cultural Fandom." In The Ashgate Research Companion to Fan Cultures. Burlingham, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2014.