It is no surprise that I am a fan of Kpop. Do I understand it? No. But do I have to understand it in order to listen to it? Absolutely not! Music is universal and it doesn’t matter and it shouldn’t matter what language it is in, if its a good song and makes you feel good…then listen to it!

I am a fan of Korean Pop music and Korean Hip Hop..to an extent and I love many different artists and groups in that genre. So I thought, why not discuss my love for each of these groups and maybe get in interested in finding out more about them as well.

Now, before I get started, I just want to put an opinion out there. There is this controversy (which shouldn’t even be in existence) in the Kpop world that you cannot be a multi-fandom listener. Meaning you cannot claim to be in a fandom of more than one group/artist. Which is absolute bulls**t. You should be able to like and love and obsess over whatever group and however many groups you want. It is possible to spread your support and love for music across many different groups. Whoever tells you that you have to pick one and stick with it just hasn’t opened their eyes to all the possibilities and wonders of music that is out there yet.

Also, for “new to kpop” readers, here is some basic vocabulary for you before I start my post so you are not confused.

“Stan” is not just a song by Eminem, in the kpop world it means avid fan. So, for instance, if I stan a group, it means that I am an avid fan of that group. I follow them on social media, I keep up with recent events and most likely have purchased their entire discography.

“Bias” simply put is my favorite member of the group or favorite group overall. So if I say someone is my bias, that means they are my favorite group member. There is also variations of this term such as “ultimate bias” or “bias wrecker”. “Ultimate Bias” is your number one; all time favorite, no one can come before this person or group. “Bias wrecker” is the person that makes you question your loyalty to your bias.

So now that you are a little educated on the terminology, I’ll get into my Kpop groups that I stan, and I believe you should too.

BIGBANG is one of the most iconic groups in Kpop and one that every kpop fan should listen to and stan. They were so forward thinking during their debut and even after that it was hard to any other group to really compare. The group consisted of 5 members, Taeyang, G-Dragon, T.O.P., Daesung, and Seungri. My favorite song by this group is hands down “BANG BANG BANG” but their most recent song “Last Dance” is a close second. My bias in the group is T.O.P but my bias wrecker is G-Dragon.

EXO is another one of those iconic groups from the early 2010s that changed kpop in different ways than BIGBANG did. EXO was unique because when they first debuted they had 12 members and they were split into two subgroups; EXO-K and EXO-M. These different sub groups had different roles. EXO-K spoke Korean where as EXO-M spoke Mandarin. Obviously all 12 members spoke both languages but they did release each song in both languages with different vocals from each member of the group. However, over time EXO lost some members and they are currently at 9. (well technically 8 but I’m still holding out hope for Lay!) The current members consist of D.O., Chanyeol, Sehun, Suho, Chen, Xiumin, Baekhyun, and Kai (although Lay is another member..but its complicated). My bias used to be Lay, but now with the current members it is Baekhyun and my bias wrecker is Chanyeol.

BTS is the group that is taking over the kpop world as well as making their way into the music stream in the U.S. after their Billboard appearance. What I stan about BTS is their choreography and their catchy af songs. Not that the other groups I mention don’t have catchy songs, but BTS for some reason has that formula that they just get stuck in my head. The group consists of 7 members, Rap Monster, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, V, Jimin and Jungkook. My bias is hands down V (taehyung) and he’s probably my ultimate bias…but he does have competition to that which I will discuss later. My bias wrecker however is Suga (yoongi) purely for his savage personality.

iKon IS A GROUP YOU NEED TO STAN BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE THEY DON’T GET THE ATTENTION THEY DESERVE. Sorry, I feel very passionate about this one. iKon is one of those groups that have such great music, choreography, stage presence as well as group dynamic. They are one of the few groups that I can honestly say I Youtube deep dive with and end up watching funny moment compilations of at 2am. Seriously, go check them out if you don’t know who they are. Also they debuted on my birthday so I feel a strong connection to this group. 😉 There are 7 members, Bobby, B.I., Jay, Song, D.K., Ju-ne, and Chan. Although you might see some of the members referred to by different names (stage names but then there was a change, its complicated). My bias is Bobby (ji won) and he is the one that is in competition with V from BTS. But my bias wrecker is Jay (jin hwan).

So I am going to stop there for boy groups. Because I could probably list about 5 more, but those are the ones that I always find myself listening to the most and gravitating more to.

As far as girl groups go, I don’t really have that many that I stan. I have the legends 2ne1 but I don’t have a bias or a bias wrecker because it is just too hard to pick. I love them all! But recently I have been starting to stan BlackPink which is a fairly new girl group form YG Entertainment. Again, I don’t have a bias or bias wrecker for this group because I am fairly new to this group. But, regardless I highly suggest that you check them out if you are a fan of girl groups.

As for solo artists, I do have a few that I stan and have been for quite a while. The first being Jay Park, I don’t think there is much to say here other than you need to listen to him to understand. He’s originally from Seattle and is a Korean Hip Hop artist that started his own label called AOMG. Next would be Zico who is another solo artist who was previously in a group called Block-B. Although I am not a huge fan of Block-B’s music, I am a fan of Zico’s solo work. Finally, although I could pick more, Dean is my last solo artist that you will definitely need to check out. His voice is one that will melt millions!

I should probably stop there before this gets too out of hand. I hope you check these groups out if you are new to Kpop and don’t know who to look up first. Or if you are an avid kpop fan like I am and you are part of a multi-fandom like me and you stan any of the groups or artists that I mentioned above.

Please feel free to leave a comment below suggested more groups or artists you think I would like and I will be sure to check them out if I haven’t already!

-Stefanie