Stan Culture and Why I Joined In

If you’ve ever been on Twitter, then most likely you’ve seen a fancam or two—videos of idols singing and/or dancing. Most likely you know BTS and their fandom, ARMY. At first, you might not understand why people are so in love with them. Like why are these random people replying to tweets with just a video of someone dancing? This has triggered a lot of hate towards fandoms and in turn the artist themselves, particularly for K-pop artists. 

So, what exactly is a stan? If you want the simple answer, a stan is a stalker fan, hence the name. If you want a more realistic depiction of a stan though, just think of someone who is passionate about something, anything. When you think about it like that, they’re just a normal person who enjoys something and wants to share with others their joy. Typically a stan will know a lot about an artist’s music or whatever else they do and tries to understand the artist as a person. There is a spectrum of stans, like most things in this world. Some are very chill about their stanning, wanting to only give off positive vibes and support their favorite artists. Then there are the die hard, more toxic stans who will berate anyone who comes for their bias (a person’s favorite in a group). This is an extreme though, most people aren’t like this, just like in real life. Some people are super intense, but for the most part you’re going to find people who are cool and just want to talk. 

Stanning is nothing new, despite the term popping up recently in the last few years. Groupies and fans have been around ever since there were people making art. Being a stan is just a new term for those people, and it gets used interchangeably with a fan. Sometimes it’s just used to ask who someone really likes. “Who do you stan?” Usually people will start off their answer with artists that they love, know a lot about, and want everyone to know about. But as you keep listing artists, you start getting to people whose music you like, but you don’t really know them outside of their music. Is this the line between being a stan and being a fan? Maybe—people have different opinions on this. When do you officially become a stan? No one knows. 

Why do people start stanning artists? Everyone has their own stories, but one common denominator is having an emotional attachment.This is kinda how it happened for me, and I suspect many others. It’ll start off with liking an artist’s work, following closely with things that they’re putting out. Then you start to get curious about who they are. Is this person that you’re listening to a decent person or people? What’s their personality like? Are they a gatekeep, gaslight, or girlboss? So now you’re emotionally attached to this artist, it feels like you know them, even if you don’t actually know them. You think the best of them. And then you find a community of other stans who also adore this artist. This is an important step in keeping a stan loyal. Like people, fandoms have personalities of their own. Not everyone within the fandom will follow along with everyone else, but for the most part you know what to expect when you join that fandom. After a while, you understand if the fandom is full of cool people who make funny memes or if they like to pick on other artists. To be honest, choosing fandoms is similar to making friends. You go in with not much knowledge, get to know them, and then decide if you wanna talk to them again. Sometimes it works out and you’ve gained something, but other times you think it’s best to leave things the way it was before. 

Honestly, this whole stanning culture is a way for everyone to connect with each other. It makes you feel close to not only the artist, but other people who have the same interest as you. I truly believe that the artist will draw you in, but it’s the other stans that make you stay. Who made the Youtube videos of your favorite artist being cute? Who tweeted a video on Twitter of your favorite artist spitting straight facts? Who posted that screenshot of a banger tweet on Instagram? Who is building so much hype and making sure your favorite artist is always on the back of everyone’s minds? It’s the stans. 

Stans are just your average human. We just want to talk about what we like with others. Sure, some of us are a little too obsessive, but that’s only a small part of the fandom. We only see the people trying to be loud, giving us a skewed look. Sure, you could try and ignore the stans around you, or you can join in. See what all the fun is about.