#67 - Separating the Artist from their Fandom

Nothing is more revealing of me than filling out a dating profile. I want to be funny/pithy/charming but I also want people to know what they’re getting into—you know, that I talk a lot and have an opinion about everything. (I also think I’m right about every opinion I’ve ever had but that’s not “nice to meet you” level information.) But when it comes to listing media that I like—there’s always a pause. Because I need to make a big ‘ol distinction between how I like the thing I like and the perception of what it means to like the thing I like.

And it’s not just that I’m trying to hide or am ashamed of ~a fandom or whatever—I know that it reads that way but, uh, bear with!

I’ve written about BTS, I’m not ashamed of liking them and their songs, I do not hesitate to say I like them and I will absolutely defend them from being written off as unimportant to history when I think the way their fan dynamics work is actually worthy of an entire field of study through which we can understand how to build effective and (mostly*) positive communities online. But the music, and the members themselves, are entirely separate from what I actually find the most intriguing—which is how their company chooses to promote them, the types of information they give fans, how the fandom is split and divided and interacts with each other, what drives the hashtags, why do awards and accolades mean so much more to this fandom than any I have ever come across?

(Did you know there are people who consider themselves Stans of the company that BTS work for? And that online there is extreme hesitation to even mention that you, personally, disagree with the ways in which the company is choosing to promote/talk about/what they’re responding to when it comes to the band? The day I defend a corporation over humans is the day you can come over and toss my computer out a window!) (This is probably why, despite it making total sense for my personality, I’ve just never had any desire to be any type of Disney Adult. Also, the idea that Disney is like “oh no too many childless adults are coming” is hilarious when they have been the sole drivers and encouragers of this behavior for over 25 years. I may not like the company or have any real nostalgia around the parks (could that be because the two times in my life I went they were both entirely miserable experiences? That probably helped, yeah!) but I have read 600 pages on their corporate structure from the ‘80s to early 2000s because if I’m going to shit talk I’m gonna have ALL the information!!) Anyway, it’s fucking weird to care about a corporation because they don’t care about people! They care about money, and they want more of it, and they’re so greedy these days because everything is based on “being good for the board” as if those five dudes don’t already have enough money and this new wave of price gouging disguised as inflation isn’t going to tank the economy and stagnate any growth they WOULD have had!)

Anyway, I think that fandoms have replaced community in a lot of ways. Gossiping is the backbone pillar of community, so it makes sense that in these online communities there is a huge amount of speculation. If there’s one thing people like to do it’s aggrandize tiny snippets of information into large personality-defining traits!! And the ways fandoms move and layer information used to make them inscrutable from the outside. One of the major reasons for the shift that has occurred recently is that the barrier of entry has been lowered. There is no element of exclusion because everything has an explainer video, a listicle, and a way to digest whatever information you need to dive on in at the deep end. And fandoms are doing this because growth became the thing they were centered around. Awards and accolades and record-breaking numbers became how they expressed themselves to each other. Streaming parties and voting brigades are the spaces to bond in now.

In terms of BTS, I think that started from a very organic place. It’s hard to feel like something that means a lot to you is not getting the respect/recognition it deserves. And BTS was an underdog story—at the beginning. So getting those awards was heady for the fandom, and it said something about their taste and how the thing they loved really was good. And I think it became addictive to see the members get the recognition “they deserved” and then it became an inter-fandom pressure to keep that going. So they did, and then they broke records, and with those records came more dismissal of the fandom, so the fandom became closer through being written-off by the outside world. It became the narrative—no one took ARMY or BTS seriously, but they took each other seriously, and I think that the members seem to actually have a ton of respect for the courage it takes to like something that isn’t popular, that other people will belittle you for. So the fans took refuge in that safe space, and the company took advantage of the amount of free organizing and advertising that the fandom partook in! (The member’s relationship to ARMY is truly the #1 thing I want to hear unedited conversations about, there is almost no room on the planet I would rather be a fly-on-the-wall for than before and after an ot7 live.) And Hybe is now one of the largest companies in South Korea, so there’s an obvious benefit for them in harnessing that fandom’s power and commitment. ARMY will buy CDs, and lots of them. They’ll honestly buy whatever! And they’ll stream the shit outta any new song—and they’ll feel guilt if they don’t really love the new release—or more accurately—if the newest song is not their all-time #1 favorite song that has ever been released throughout all of history. (We live in hyperbole now folks and there is no going back!!!) And wanting to be part of something is incredibly powerful. Not wanting to miss out on experiences got shorthanded into FOMO, but that’s a real human emotion and need and the fact that fandoms trade in that is why they’re so addictive!

Anyway, I also like Taylor Swift’s music. I wish she wasn’t a climate criminal but I like her shit. I think it makes a ton of sense that she inspires a rabid fandom because her songs and lyrics are deeply personal and if you were around her age, she’s released music that coincides with a lot of personal growth that I think a lot of people go through between the ages of 15 to 33. Even back when I didn’t like her stuff (a mix of country twang not really being my thing and having weird associations that were entirely not her fault via the con man I lived with being absolutely obsessed with the Speak Now album) I remember her fans talking about her concerts feeling like you just spent two hours with the best friend you’ve ever had. She did want you to feel like you were reading her diary. It’s like…her whole thing. And that’s great! And it’s neat that she’s grown as an artist and a person and been able to overcome a lot of weird bullshit that the music industry threw at her. And I think her fandom is fucking weird—particularly the subset of it that seems banked on outing her!! Like, multiple things can be true at once. Taylor did have a bizarre and purposeful relationship to the press about her relationships during her rise to fame—and I don’t think that was entirely her choice I think there were a lot of ~meetings where a group of dudes—who, by the way, included her own father, which is fucking weird—decided who she was going to date next. Celebrity used to only be achievable through being on print magazines and shit, and her team used that and fueled it. (Taylor was also willing to lean into it a little bit, she talked so much shit about Joe Jonas and the 25-second breakup phone call for years and hey, that’s her right, but let’s not re-write history to pretend that no one on her team was actively stoking this kind of call-and-response with the press so that she could be both the victim and eventual #GirlBoss hero every time she wrote a song telling a public ex to fuck off. People are allowed to grow and change and it’s actually better to have an accurate depiction of what allowed them to achieve that growth without flattening history into “Queens Who Have Never Been Wrong Ever About Anything” because that’s not how humans work, nor press cycles, nor obsession with celebrity.)

But I can also understand how Taylor feels like she couldn’t do anything right, and I get why her fans also felt dismissed and wanted significant awards in order to be able to point to said awards and say “see she really IS talented”.  That desire for recognition makes so much sense when you realize that prestige has always evaded her because her fanbase is full of women and girls so she’ll never be taken seriously solely by artistic merit and having awards is proof of your contemporaries bestowing their blessings on what you’ve made! (Happy, generous art is rarely given the same kind of space and consideration as the moody broody shit.) (And then when she did win awards early on, people made fun of how she reacted to them—and it clearly stuck with her because she tells her younger self to calm down and stop being such a loser in the Look What You Made Me Do video.)

(Anyway, I think Midnights is a perfectly fine/good album and I hope one day Taylor collaborates with other women in a more tangible way because…girlie pop the optics are uh, not great!) (Give Lana a whole verse!! And pick a preposition while you’re at it—is the snow at the beach or on the beach??!) (I realize the snow not real and is, in fact, cocaine.) (My personal view of this album is that Taytay discovered getting high and pleasurably drowning in your own thoughts and was like “oh maybe other drugs are fun too” and then she tried coke and was like “oh, nvm.”)

Obsession isn’t healthy. And obsession with artists is only beneficial for the companies that seek financial gain through exploiting it. It’s great to love an artists work and music, it’s fantastic to find songs and movies and tv shows that feel like they really speak to something real and reflect the world back to us in ways that change our outlooks, perspectives, and opinions. Art is incredible, I feel so so lucky that shapes and lines and colors and movement make me feel things, make me aware of what it means to be alive, make me appreciate beauty and dispare and the commonalities we all have as people trying to move through chaos.

But the compulsion to narrow in and focus so much of our lives on singular artists is terrifying to me. Artists are people. They make mistakes. Some of them turn out to be predators and monsters. They’re not our friends or contemporaries, so it’s weird to hang so much of ourselves on their actions. It’s fine to like things, to want to engage with other people who like that thing too. I think it’s really beautiful that so many people have access to each other and can have long conversations about what these artists mean to them without having to explain a buncha shit in between—nothing in the world is better than not having to provide context during in-depth conversations!!! But the idea that within that space everyone has entered a silent competition for who can stream the most, and have the most followers…is bad!

(It’s great that people want to express their love through editing clips into fun little videos to share with other people, but what happens when you gain a bunch of followers and suddenly feel beholden to a part of your personality that you’ve outgrown? Power is a heady thing and just because the internet moved terrifyingly quickly doesn’t make the ~power that one can feel just by having a huge following on twitter any less real. Pressure is pressure, regardless of how fucking wild or silly it may seem from the outside.)

And what happens when those Faves commit offenses that go beyond petty fandom bullshit and target already (and increasingly) vulnerable communities?

Like, Kanye has been saying untenable shit for years. It’s not new. But people feel that by admitting he’s clearly going through some shit they’ll be foolish, and they’ve dedicated so much time, real time, and emotion into Being A Fan that they double down. And then once you’ve doubled down on the sunk cost fallacy, you’re fucked. It’s now exponentially more embarrassing to admit, so people retreat and make their entire personality the walls they’ve built to keep themselves safe from shame. It’s weird! It makes sense and it’s deeply sad, but it’s fucking weird. Who are these parents that sent their children to an unaccredited school and how can we help them understand why it was a truly awful idea in a way that allows them to grow from this mistake and avoid other cults in the future? (Oh, we’re not gonna do that we’re just gonna make fun of them online and mock their children as if those kids had any fucking say in this decision? Got it. Cool cool cool. That definitely doesn’t make me want to weep.)

His fandom wanting to defend those actions so they can listen to his music guilt-free is a problem. It’s a weird triple-whammy of every action now being a political statement, which is more true in the streaming age than ever before. Streaming Kanye indicates to an algorithm that there is still money to be made so they will continue to give him a platform. Me putting on the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy vinyl that I bought a decade ago, does not do that! (It presents new arguments about how continuing to engage with media we solidify its importance in the cultural canon—but that’s not what we’re talking about here.) When we don’t own the media we’re consuming it does add a notch to the belt in terms of cultural relevancy. It forces our actions to be political. It also forces a reveal of that—because posting Spotify wrapped ledgers became a defining action that people cared about, which only benefits Spotify!!! It’s just free advertising for a company that has routinely proved they have no moral barometer when it comes to who they not only platform, but give tens of millions of dollars to! (Also Taylor’s fandom framing the timing of his “downfall” as some kind karma for the 2009 MTV VMA’s is…brain worms behavior!!!!)

(And just on the Spotify of it all—I find it genuinely bizarre that ARMY gets real up in arms about where people stream because they have to “break records” for BTS by concentrating their power within one music app, I don’t think BTS actually gives that much of a shit that Jimin’s song Filter has 300million streams and is the first solo k-pop b-side to reach that achievement.) (It’s also weird that I was able to pull that stat out of my ass only to check it to find out that yes, that is in fact a thing multiple people made graphics to celebrate. Cuz like, guys, Jimin’s not getting any of that streaming money, but Hybe and Spotify are sure enjoying your concentrated efforts to “not stream like a bot”.)

The culture is rotten and we are being forced to constantly question our own actions in the greater landscape of impact they may have and it’s exhausting. I’d rather be on this side than the sycophantic clamoring for outside approval side, but it really kind of sucks that we’re all trapped. I enjoy analysis, which is why getting into BTS has been Fun with a capital F. There’s so much going on there! There are so many terrifying things about humanity and fan consumption patterns that K-Pop is not shy about confronting/playing directly into. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such unfettered fatphobia anywhere else! (Wait, that’s a lie. I’ve consumed 14/16 seasons of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader show. But for all their sins, Kelly and Judi have never told a 15-year-old they should get plastic surgery on their knees. So. There’s that.) I can like the music and think Yoongi looks real good in soft mohair sweaters and still be absolutely in awe of how poorly that company handled the announcement that the band would be pursuing solo projects. I have no problem containing multitudes in my attitude towards something!

Taylor’s music? Good! Taylor’s flight patterns? Bad!

See? It’s so easy!

*the problem with having millions of people engage with something is the disparate nature of how they will engage. While yes, through BTS, many ARMY have absolutely found self-love (immeasurable good!) there has also been a series of privacy violations and erosion of societal norms (immeasurable harm!). It’s not fair to judge one person for the actions of others, which is why that fandom self-polices in ways that are incredibly interesting, and for adults with fully developed frontal lobes who learned to engage with media offline, we cannot comprehend how rigid the rules become for teenagers who are entering the space. Norms used to be come upon through everyone catching the vibe of what was going on—different fandoms felt different. Now everyone is obsessed with the same culturally significant markers, so the entire experience has been flattened. Boooooo.