ABSTRACT
K-pop standom is both human and algorithm. They are created through likes, posts, retweets, gifs, memes, and hashtags. The global success of K-pop has the ability to speak to power in a way that other genres of music have been unable to achieve. The sheer number of followers has the potential to influence political discourse. K-pop stans make posts trendy and this has enormous value. Unlike the punk of the 1970s, K-pop lyrics do not need to follow the fandom. The stans are already there. K-pop is, thus, a series of opposites. There is both an intimacy and a disconnect among its fans: a hospitable and inhospitable virtual environment with its community forums; and the fans are both local and global, both virtual and real. They are human: mainly young and mainly female; and they are also algorithms. Unlike punk, K-pop is a creation of hyperrealism that exists in a post-modern society.
