K-pop terms explained: bias, maknae, comeback and other fandom words

Members and roles

• Bias: your favourite member of a group. Your "ultimate bias" is your favourite across all groups.
• Bias wrecker: a member who keeps tempting you away from your bias.
• Maknae: the youngest member. A "golden maknae" is a youngest who is good at everything.
• Leader: the member who speaks for the group and often gives the speeches at awards.
• Visual: a member noted for their looks, often placed at the front of photos.
• Centre: the member who stands in the middle of a formation or gets the most screen time in a song.
• Main vocal, lead vocal, main dancer, main rapper: official position names that agencies assign, though many fans now pay them less attention.
• Line: a group of members born in the same year, such as "97 line".

Releases and promotions

• Debut: a group's or soloist's first official release and performance. Fans count anniversaries from the debut date.
• Pre-debut: the trainee period before debut, or content from it.
• Comeback: any new release, not a return after a break. A group can "come back" several times a year.
• Teaser: photos and short clips posted before a release.
• Title track: the song the group promotes on TV and in the music video; the album's other songs are "b-sides".
• Promotion period: the weeks after a release when the group performs on music shows.

Music shows and charts

• Music shows: weekly TV programmes where acts perform their current songs. Several give a "win" each week based on a mix of sales, streaming, votes and other factors.
• First win: a group's first music-show trophy, often an emotional moment.
• Triple crown: winning on the same show three times with the same song.
• All-kill: a song reaching number one on all of the major Korean real-time charts at once. As charts have changed, fans now often talk about a "perfect all-kill" with more specific criteria, so check what a given fandom means.

Fans and fandom

• Stan: a devoted fan, or to be one ("I stan them").
• Fandom name: each group's fans have an official name chosen by the group or agency.
• OT4, OT5, OT7 and so on: "one true" plus the number of members, meaning you support the whole group rather than one member. It also signals that you count every member, including ones who have left.
• Solo stan: a fan of only one member, sometimes used critically.
• Antis: people who dislike and attack an idol.
• Sasaeng: an obsessive fan who invades an idol's privacy, by following them, finding their home or leaking their schedule. The rest of the fandom condemns it, and so should you.
• Multi-fandom: a fan of several groups.

Concerts and fan culture

• Lightstick: the official light each group sells, in its own design. At many concerts the lights are synchronised from the stage.
• Fanchant: the names and lines fans shout at set points in a song. Agencies often publish an official guide before a comeback.
• Fansign: an event where fans meet members one by one to get an album signed. Entry is usually by lottery tied to album purchases.
• Fancafe: the official fan community, traditionally on Daum Cafe, though many groups now use other fan platforms as well.
• Photocards: small photo cards packed at random inside albums. Collecting, trading and sorting them is a hobby in itself.
• Album versions: the same album sold in several packages with different photos and cards.

Words you will hear from idols

• Aegyo: acting cute on purpose, often requested by hosts and fans.
• Sunbae and hoobae: senior and junior in the industry, by debut date.
• Daebak: amazing, a huge success.
• Hwaiting (fighting): a cheer meaning "you can do it".