The term “fan meeting” ought to be self-evident. It’s an event where artists meet their fans, but don’t fans and artists meet at a traditional concert? Perhaps one imagines a “meet and greet” event where you pay extra for the opportunity for a photo or to say hello to your favorite artist. In the world of K-pop, a “fanmeeting” (one word) refers to an event with a very unique format.
My husband and I just attended the VIXX Starlight 6th Fanmeeting at KBS Arena in Seoul on May 19. VIXX is a third-generation boy band who debuted in 2012, and its fandom is known as “Starlight.” It was my first K-pop fanmeeting in Korea, and it was not what I expected.
Instead, it combined elements of a concert, myriad dance challenges, fun parlor games and interactions with the audience to create an experience of collective nostalgia for an imagined shared past between the artists and the fans. We were invited to attend by the kind folks from Jellyfish Entertainment and immediately jumped at the opportunity to go. While I am not too familiar with the group, I have long been an admirer of their song “Error” and its fabulous music video, from 2014.
It includes androids and seemed far ahead of contemporaries in contemplating love and artificial intelligence. I was also familiar with the group's 2015 song “Chained Up” with its brutalist structures and chains and the 2017 track “Shangri-La,” featuring fan dances. In preparation for the fanmeeting, I listened to a dozen .