The Fan Chant: How K-pop Crowds Learn to Shout on Cue

The loudest part of a K-pop concert is often rehearsed at home. A fan chant is an organized response that fans shout together at set moments in a specific song, and before a show, fans learn chants by watching guides, practicing with each other and passing resources around online, MN K-pop Connect wrote in May.

That timing is what separates it from ordinary cheering. In a September guide, Korea Front Row argued that fans who join in stop yelling whenever they feel like it and become an extra rhythmic layer in the performance.

What it means

NPR once called it "a dedicated script that K-pop fans can do together" during particular songs. That is the short version.

The Korean term is eungwonbeop, Korea Front Row notes. The script can include artist names, bits of the lyrics or short phrases shouted in the gaps between vocal lines.

MN K-pop Connect lists the usual ingredients: member names, song lyrics, group introductions and signature phrases tied to the artist.

The spelling moves around. NPR and Korea Front Row write it as one word, "fanchant." MN K-pop Connect splits it in two, "fan chant." Both turn up in English-language coverage.

Its closest relative in the concert kit is the lightstick. Korea Front Row says the official lightstick is called eungwonbong in Korean, which shares its first two Hangul syllables with the word for the chant. The same guide says modern lightsticks can connect wirelessly at some concerts, so colors and lighting patterns stay in sync with the show.

Where it came from

The origin of the term is unclear. None of the sources behind this entry says who coined it or when the first chant was shouted.

What the sources do provide is a rough timeline of the scene. The V&A says the hip hop boy band Seo Taiji and Boys, formed in 1992, created a new genre now considered the forerunner of K-pop.

By 2003 the practice was already a well-run machine. Koreapeek's author recalls a first K-pop concert in Seoul that year: thousands of fans with coordinated light sticks, fan chants in sync and section leaders directing the crowd.

That chain of command is still in place. Koreapeek says senior fans in Korea's official fanclubs volunteer as chapter leaders, section leaders and coordinators. They teach chants, coordinate light stick colors, organize fan projects and manage crowd behavior at concerts.

The chant also has a cousin outside music. Korea Front Row points to Korean baseball in Seoul, where coordinated chants and songs for individual players make up a big part of a day at the stadium.

In the headlines

Korea Front Row, Sept. 17: A fandom-culture guide that gives the Korean term and says official fanchant guides are shared for many releases so fans know where each response goes. It also tells international fans they don't need to know every chant before a concert in Korea, which matters to anyone planning a first trip.

Koreapeek, June 28: A concert and idol-culture guide that explains the volunteer structure inside official fanclubs. It shows who actually teaches the chants in Korea.

MN K-pop Connect, May 30: A post on lightsticks, chants and concert etiquette. It says that for many idols, hearing fan chants ranks among the most rewarding things about performing live.

NPR, May 17, 2022: When concerts returned to South Korea that year, cheering was banned to limit the spread of coronavirus, so shows went on without fanchants. Fans folded paper back and forth into clappers to make noise until the ban was lifted the month before NPR's report and the chants came back.

Why it's having a moment

This fall the term is being kept alive by homework. Since May, MN K-pop Connect, Koreapeek and Korea Front Row have each published concert-culture guides that walk newcomers through the chant.

Crowd participation also showed up at a tribute show this month. The Family Arena listed "KPop Princesses: A Tribute to Demon Hunters" for Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m., billed as a "Sing Along" where attendees could "belt out your favorite fan-favorite songs with the whole crowd." The listing says the event has no affiliation with Netflix or Demon Hunters. A sing-along is not a scripted chant, but it is built on the same idea of the audience joining in.

How to use it (and how not to)

"I've been running the fan chant guide on the bus all week so I don't miss the member names."

"Hold it, the chant goes in the gap after this line."

"I don't know the whole fan chant yet, so I'm just following the section around me."

The etiquette comes down to timing. Sources describe chants as responses placed at specific moments in a song, per MN K-pop Connect, so shouting a line in the wrong place throws off the crowd's rhythm.

Nobody expects perfection. Korea Front Row says international fans don't need every chant memorized before a concert in Korea.

In Korea, the people running the crowd are usually fanclub volunteers. Koreapeek says section leaders and coordinators teach chants and manage crowd behavior, so their cues are the ones to follow.