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K-POP LEXICON Design Desk
The concert light every K-pop fandom holds up now pairs with a phone, knows your seat and can start a design fight, as CORTIS found out this summer.
When CORTIS showed its first official lightstick on July 8, a big part of the internet looked at it and saw a candlestick. A lightstick is the battery-powered light a K-pop fan carries to a concert. It is official merch built for one group, and the newest ones pair with a phone app so they can flash in patterns tied to the stage.
The candlestick comparison caught on fast. Namane, citing Forbes, writes that it trended online after the teaser, while other fans liked the muted, earthy look as a break from the bright colors most K-pop sticks use.
At its simplest, a lightstick is the light you hold up at the show. Namane calls it the fan-carried "bong" and argues that, for a K-pop act, getting an official one is a milestone in building fandom infrastructure, not a routine piece of merch.
Every group's stick is designed to be its own. Namane's breakdown of the CORTIS model describes a white handle and a clear center that gives off the light. The group name is raised on the front, the fandom name "COER" is engraved on the back, and a button shaped like the group's logo on the handle controls the lights.
These days it is also a gadget. The App Store listing for the BTS Official Light Stick Ver.4 app, a free iPhone app from developer HYBE Co., Ltd, says the stick connects over Bluetooth. With it switched off, you hold down the handle buttons together for two seconds, and it blinks blue to show it is in Bluetooth Mode.
Spellings vary. The BTS listing writes "Light Stick" as two capitalized words, the IVE app goes with all caps, and Namane uses lowercase "light stick." The word has spin-offs in stores too: KPOP USA, an online K-pop shop, sells "LIGHT KEYRINGS" in their own menu category right next to "LIGHT STICKS."
When the word gets heated, the fight is usually about a design, as the CORTIS rollout showed.
July: the CORTIS lightstick launch. Namane's account lays out the timeline. BIGHIT MUSIC posted the first teaser on the group's official X account, @cortis_bighit, and its YouTube channel on July 8, and an official Weverse notice confirmed full product details on July 9.
Per that Weverse notice and Soompi, the stick went on sale only through Weverse Shop on July 13 at 11 a.m. KST (10 p.m. ET on July 12). CORTIS played its first headlining concert at INSPIRE Arena in Incheon on July 18, five days after sales opened.
Why it matters: the CORTIS launch shows the whole life cycle of a new lightstick in 10 days. First a teaser, then the argument, then the shop drop, then the first show where fans actually hold it up.
The CORTIS debate made the word a talking point this year. What keeps it in use is the tech. The IVE LIGHT STICK app on Google Play, from developer FANLIGHT, has a Concert Mode that links the stick to a fan's seat so it can join the light show, and that menu only opens during the concert period. The BTS app's Concert Mode lists upcoming concerts and tells fans whether each one needs pairing.
A few lines a fan would actually say:
The etiquette is mostly about prep. The BTS app says to finish firmware updates and pairing before you arrive, because crowds at the venue can slow them down or make them fail. It also recommends fresh alkaline batteries plus spares, since old ones can make the stick fade, flash odd colors and then shut off mid-show.
Stay where you registered. The IVE app tells fans to enter the seat printed on their ticket and sit in it, because moving can change how the stick performs in the light show.
Design takes are fair game, as the CORTIS split showed. Just keep the critique on the object.
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It is an official light made for one group that fans carry to shows. Namane calls it the "bong." The BTS app listing says its Concert Mode lets fans see different light patterns linked to the stage.
It depends on the concert. The BTS app listing says that at shows without pairing, the stick lights up automatically if it is on before the concert starts. At shows that need pairing, you register the concert in the app's Concert Mode menu and then pair.
Three AAA batteries, according to the BTS app listing. It says the stick stays paired if you swap batteries mid-concert, and the light effects pick up again on their own.
The IVE LIGHT STICK app listing says to hold the stick's button for three seconds to enter Bluetooth mode, turn on Bluetooth on your phone and hold the phone near the stick. Some phones also need GPS on. A Self Mode lets you change the stick's color from a color wheel in the app and check the battery level.
Reviews are mostly good. The IVE app shows 5.0 stars from 146 reviews and more than 50,000 downloads on Google Play. The BTS app has a 4.2 rating from 47 ratings, and one App Store reviewer wrote that the stick connected without a hitch at the Las Vegas concerts but that a firmware update wouldn't go through, and that other users had the same problem.
KPOP USA has a dedicated lightstick section in its online shop. Some sticks are sold in one place only: the CORTIS stick launched exclusively on Weverse Shop, according to the Weverse notice and Soompi.
First Read lands Monday at 7 a.m. ET with the week's biggest stories. The Weekend Lexicon rounds it all up on Saturday.
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