i’ve been trying to upload every 11 days (don’t ask), but i missed the last period because it fell on the weekend of my cousin's graduation, and i was too tipsy to remember to post ^-^;;; i was gonna make up for it with a suuuper long entry this time around about my divisive homin thoughts, but i found something much less complicated to discuss: the rise of what ListenToToppDogg calls 'numbers stans'. here is the link to their rant blog post if you want to read more, but the basic thing you need to know to follow my entry today is their definition is "people who only stan groups for their acclaim and couldn’t care less about the music". in the comments, asianfanfics user hopelesswriter asserts that music shows are the culpable ones for indulging these fans.

having been a kpop fan since 2020, i am quite familiar with the 'numbers stans' that LTTD describes. i do agree they exist, and i also agree that music shows are part of the problem... but only a part. i think there are many other factors at play here, specifically the fact that new kpop fans tend to skew younger (<18) and the conditions of quarantine (then, when quarantine ended, being chronically online). hear me out:

it's well documented that quarantine resulted in the highest influx of new members to any given hobby, and this certainly includes kpop-as-a-lifestyle. i'm one of them, in fact. this hobby perfectly suited the circumstance where the only place people could connect with other people is online.

factor in the younger age of the fans in question? i assert that manipulating music show scores, rankings lists, sales charts, etc became a game to us. for music shows specifically, the voting apps reward diligence, and the lot of us were bored at home. we had the time to invest in this banal effort, and we got parasocially rewarded when our voting paid off and our faves won. this feedback loop conditioned us to prioritise these efforts and keep track of the results (which are updated in real time within the app). this must have certainly contributed to how granular data points like 'x number of views in y timeframe' became so popular. it wasn't just something to do; it made us feel like we were a part of something, like we were actively contributing to something. even if we were not assisting with the streaming (i did and do, but i know many kpop fans didn't and don't), then we earned secondhand pride from other people's efforts. the positive feedback + the boredom of quarantine was a dangerous cocktail that resulted in heightened sense of self. i was 24 with a full time job when the pandemic started, and i was /still/ into the voting and data sinkhole. (of note, i only stopped doing it because i became too busy, not because i stopped caring. /now/ i don’t care, but the day i made the active decision to stop? it was hard for me, i'll admit haha.)

now that we're out of quarantine, why does this behaviour persist? i suspect it's because enough of these pandemic-era numbers stans remained in kpop and taught newcomers to care about this as well. they're old enough to participate but too young to realise these numbers don't matter at all and don't mean anything to anyone else but themselves. i see it even in fandoms that are years old. among elf, there are a good handful who are  practising numbers stans. these elf are either young/new fans who picked up this behaviour from their time in other kpop fandoms OR chronically online elf who armed themselves with the data to fire back at antis (who themselves tend to be rather young) who were bringing up sj's numbers in their sj talk.

fact is, this behaviour isn't just taught, it's rewarded. it's a common language fans can use to enrich the kpop-as-a-lifestyle. (and yes, i keep using that term b.c i agree with LTTD's implication that these fans and this behaviour cannot include an actual interest in the music. i'd argue it doesn't even include an interest in the other aspects of kpop either like the commodification of idols' personality or idols' active participation in the parasocial relationship they have with fans, which were the original aspects of kpop-as-a-lifestyle. the term 'kpop' has outgrown its status as a genre title, and music is simply not the priority for the fans who subscribe to this data ideology.)

i may have noticed these fans' existence, but i usually ignored them because they weren't the kinds of fans i thought i could be friends with anyway. i never really thought about them until now, much more thought of why they exist, but it's fascinating. all this being said, i actually dont think numbers stans are inherently a bad thing. even though i personally cannot see how it could be rewarding, i don't think they're denigrating their fandom or the community either. as long as we're all focusing on our faves and not bothering to channel energy into being haters or being malicious, you're a valid fan. (just... if i may beg. if you're gonna be obsessed with the numbers on music videos, i hope you are at least also streaming lmao)

on that note: stream cheer man y'all 😁

published: 5.30.2024