As an avid music listener, I have always enjoyed connecting with other individuals who share my taste. I firmly believe that music brings people together in ways that other things don’t. However, when those people get together, sometimes they obsess over the art, as well as the artist, making them a fan. I, for one, will never be a fan of anyone or anything, when it comes to music, and today’s fanbase culture plays a large part in the reason why.
After the 2025 Grammys, when I got on social media, I expected there to be quite a few strong opinions, especially after Beyoncé’s long-awaited “Album of The Year” win for her latest album, “Cowboy Carter,” and both Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish going home with nothing, despite having record-breaking years with their new music. However, what I did not expect to see was this fandom war, full of hatred, bigotry and disgusting behavior.
Members of the Beyhive, which is Beyoncé’s fanbase, were going off on tangents about how “humbled” Taylor Swift must’ve been from finally not winning “Album of The Year,” or even any awards at all.
In the comment sections of videos of Swift enjoying herself at the award show, laughing, drinking and having the best time, Beyhive members took it upon themselves to comment things like “Of course she’s trying to enjoy the show, she didn’t win anything” or “I bet she feel real played.” I was thoroughly confused, considering that it felt a bit unnecessary for them to come for her, especially when she did nothing wrong.
On the flip side of this, Swifties, Taylor Swift’s fanbase, had quite a bit to say about Beyoncé’s win as well. Many of Swift’s devoted fans felt that she should’ve won the award, along with others, for her latest album “The Tortured Poets Department” (TTPD) and its most popular single, “Fortnight”. Their biggest focus, or argument, was that “Cowboy Carter” has fewer streams and less popularity than TTPD.
Amongst all of the discourse, no one even seemed to care about how the winners of Grammy awards are even decided upon, which would’ve helped settle all the discourse. Singer/Songwriter ADIV, who happens to be a member of the Recording Academy, took to TikTok to explain how the different awards are decided upon, as well as what his vote was for certain awards.
Toxicity amongst fan bases doesn’t stop at the American music industry. Another music market in which it is also common is the Korean music industry. Because there are many female and male groups in that industry, people are bound to have favorites between them, and even favorites within the groups.
Some popular groups are BTS, EXO, GOT7, NCT-17, BLACKPINK, TWICE, Red Velvet, MAMAMOO and Girls’ Generation. These groups are just a few of the most popular K-Pop groups across the globe. In my opinion, I think their fans might be more toxic than any American music fan base. I say this because people also have a “bias” within the groups they listen to, which is their favorite member. So not only will they fight with external individuals who don’t favor that specific group, but they will also fight with the individuals within their fanbase that don’t have the same bias as them.
In middle school, I got my first taste of K-Pop fan toxicity. I had just begun learning about K-Pop music, due to my history teacher playing GIRLS’ GENERATION’s music during class. Apparently, I was late to the game, as many of my friends and classmates had already been on the K-Pop train.
When I told my friends about my new discovery, they swarmed me with so much information about the K-Pop world, even forcing their favorites on me. Interestingly enough, though they were currently popping off, BTS was not the first male K-Pop group I ever listened to. I was introduced to the group EXO, which is arguably the second most popular. I’ll never forget that while I was in seventh grade Spanish class, I heard the epic track of “Ko Ko Bop.”
Though I really enjoyed the song, and even went on to have K-Pop music being a daily staple for me, I still could not participate in the whole fandom situation. I hated that people were so obsessed with individuals they had never even met, let alone would ever meet. Music, to me, especially of the international variety, is supposed to be about unity and transparency across all barriers. Instead, it’s something in today’s world that brings amongst the most divide.
If you’re a part of these different fandoms and you participate in the toxic fan culture, to each their own, but just remember that it’s all about the music at the end of the day.