Opinion | K-pop fans up in arms over Stray Kids article – we’re not all ‘teens and tweens’ and it’s time for this lazy stereotyping to stop
- K-pop fans were rightly angry after a recent Stray Kids’ interview in Billboard magazine saw the group’s fans labelled as ‘teens and tweens’
- K-pop is a multibillion-dollar industry that would not be so lucrative without the spending power of significant numbers of adult fans
Following Stray Kids’ recent interview with US music magazine Billboard that was published on September 8, fans of both the boy band and K-pop in general were irritated over a perceived dismissiveness towards the group’s audience at a recent sold-out US concert, who were referred to as “teens and tweens”.
Though it was seemingly used to make a point about Stray Kids being a leader of the fourth generation of K-pop acts by attracting a new wave of fans, the terminology – one that has been repeated time and again across K-pop – hit a nerve.
One Twitter post that received thousands of likes read “‘Teens and tweens’ 90% of us pay taxes”.
The outpouring of frustration from mostly Stray Kids’ fans – known collectively as Stays – saw Billboard edit the article, changing it to refer to “some teens and tweens” in the audience.
Fans shouldn’t have to get repeatedly upset over this ongoing narrative.
K-pop is nowadays a multibillion-dollar industry, with millions of fans around the world. Stray Kids are one of the most popular acts, with a major world tour under way this year.
The incident recalled a similar one from 2021, when talk show host James Corden implied that BTS’ fans were “15-year-old girls”. He later apologised directly to BTS during an interview later that year.
