The Toxicity of Stanning
Well, stanning someone just because you like them is pretty normal. Can we help it? No, not really. I stan Arca. I stan Hole. I stan Madonna. Those are just a few of my stans. And you probably stan a lot of people, too. It’s not your fault.
The concept of “stanning” was first introduced through the one and only, Eminem. In his 2000 The Marshall Mathers LP he released his song and music video Stan. In it, the effects of consuming fandom thrive and end in a tragic manner. Stan, our main character, loves Eminem. He has a basement full of posters, pictures, and other Eminem memorabilia, including a TV that always plays Eminem music videos. Stan also dyes his hair blond like Eminem and writes him very unique, obsessive letters.
Sadly, Eminem never answers Stan’s letters until it’s too late. Stan locks his pregnant girlfriend in his car’s trunk and goes for a drunk ride. He then drives off a bridge.
The word “stan” has gone beyond Eminem's song - today it is a culture. And, although stanning doesn’t automatically denote obsession, it most definitely alters persona.
Let me explain. Let’s suppose that you’ve been a huge fan of Ariana Grande since her days at Victorious. You loved her character and voice. After the show, you followed her music career. You’ve been an Arianator since day 1. You know who she’s dated, her past and current wardrobe, who her friends are, where she lives, the names of her dogs, and where she went to elementary school. Her music has helped you through a lot. Her lyricism and personality speak to you. You love her singing - it’s angelic. Her style has a big influence on you. Hell, you started doing that cat eye just because you loved how it looked on her.
Who would you be as a person without her?
Very fucking different. And maybe that person is not Ariana Grande to you, maybe it’s your goth cousin from Oregon who you think is really cool. We all have someone who influences us to an enormous degree. And, yes, we would be completely distinct without them. I do think it’s scary - little bits of our personality simply exist because of our admiration of others. So, who am I if not a mix of different people I stan?
Let’s talk about KPOP fans. The genre houses the biggest fandoms in the world. On average, a BTS fan reportedly spends over $1400 on the group’s merchandise. A TWICE fan spends an average of $824. And, in third place, a BLACKPINK fan spends $665. The KPOP stans are so powerful that they were able to leave thousands of empty seats at Trump’s past summer rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Of course, this was a good cause. But, it’s honestly very insane how much power they are capable of. It’s kind of like a cult. But a happy one.
On Twitter, the KPOP stans are very active. A lot of them engage in what are called “fanwars,” when KPOP fans from different groups engage in online fights. Most recently, they had two music videos to stream to reach 100M views each and a daesang (Seoul Music Awards) to vote on, but fans went into a fanwar and fucked up the algorithm (I know this because they were tweeting about this).
Obviously, KPOP stans are not the only ones that fight with each other. There are also sports stans. They fight a lot. Nicki Minaj stans fight a lot too. And Ariana Grande stans.
As stated by I-D writer Douglas Greenwood, “I guess that’s just because fans now see them [celebrities] as family, and will do whatever it takes to protect them. Stan culture is wrapped up in a sort of ‘ride or die’ mentality. Loving someone’s music and taking a bullet for them is different; stans tend to lean towards the latter.”