You’ve heard of Beyoncé’s ‘Beyhive’, Justin Bieber’s ‘Beliebers’ and One Direction’s ‘Directioners,’ these fanbases, often called ‘armies’, are made up of ‘stans.’ A stan is “an extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan.” Being a stan in an army is just one part fandom and equal parts promoter, organizer and defender for the artist of choice.
While there are currently many large social media armies that cause a frenzy, below are the top 5 biggest social media armies of the moment:
BTS ARMY
South-Korean boyband BTS is unabashedly the face of K-Pop. The septet has amassed millions of fans all over the world known as ‘BTS ARMY,’ which stands for “Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth.” BTS stans are dedicated. One could say the fanbase operates as an organized movement, literally.
BTS ARMY recently rushed to the band’s defense when Kanye’s producer, MIke Dean, took a swipe at BTS after losing album of the year at the 2022 Grammys. It began when the Recording Academy tweeted a photo of BTS’ performance at the award show with the caption, “Name a group ~smoother~ than @bts_bighit, we dare you. #BTSARMY #GRAMMYs.” Dean clapped back in a since-deleted tweet, “Anyone.” BTS ARMY immediately began tweeting at Dean nonstop until he tweeted an apology, “OK. SORRY TO BTS. JUST F―ING TROLLING.”
The ARMY’s dedication goes beyond just protecting the band. In June 2020, as part of a fan-led charity to match what the band donated to the Black Lives Matter movement, BTS ARMY raised $1 million to support the BLM movement in 24 hours. Talk about strength in numbers. Whether you listen to K-Pop or not, you have to appreciate the level of dedication these fans have for the band.
Barbz
Nicki Minaj’s army is called the ‘Barbz,’ named after Minaj’s Harajuku Barbie alter-ego. The Barbz are a very active fandom online with one goal in mind— defend their favorite at all costs.
In September of 2021, Minaj tweeted to her 22 million followers, a story of her cousin’s friend in Trinidad and Tobago who became impotent after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. In another tweet, Minaj claimed she would not be vaccinated until she felt she’s done “enough research.” While many Barbz disagreed with her tweets, others took her word for it. To show their support for her claims, Barbz marched and chanted, “Nicki told the truth to me! Fauci lied to me!,” at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
In other cases, the Barbz have taken extreme measures to fiercely stand by Minaj. A lawsuit filed by Jennifer Hough in August 2021, claims Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty harassed and intimidated Hough to retract her accusation that Petty sexually assaulted her in 1994. Petty was convicted of first-degree rape in New York and served time in prison for the alleged crime. Once Hough opened about her experience with the couple, the threats came flooding in. One Barb said, “Hope you die b****.” The message continued, “You mad he’s married to a millionaire now you want money. your clown a** will be exposed. Don’t come for my queen and lying on her name.” Outraged Barbz even leaked Hough’s personal contact information. The Barbz army is certainly loyal but it’s a great example of just how toxic stan culture can be.
Swifties
Taylor Swift’s army, cleverly named ‘Swifties’ are die-hard fans. Swifties are known to ride hard for the singer’s No.1 albums, to the point that they’ve doxxed a music critic over a review of one of Swift’s albums. Swifties grew angry over a review by Pitchfork Senior Editor Jillian Mapes. Mapes rated “Folklore” an 8/10 and described it as “a sweater-weather record filled with cinematic love songs and rich fictional scores.” The outrage? The not-so-bad review knocked Swift’s Metacritic score down. Swifties swiftly retaliated against Mapes. Cue angry social media tweets. Some fans took it upon themselves to tweet Mapes’ address, phone number, as well as photos of herself and her home. Doxxing music critics is just one part of the job as a Taylor Swift fan, the other part is harassing her ex-boyfriend.
Swift has been very vocal about her past relationships in her music. One particular ex-boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal, stands out among them. Swift’s brief relationship with Gyllenhaal inspired her “Red” album, which was recently re-recorded as “Red (Taylor’s Version).” The song “All Too Well,” details the heartbreak surrounding the short-lived romance with references to an “old scarf from that very first week” and Gyllenhaal’s cruel breakup over the phone. It didn’t take long for Swifties to spam Gyllenhaal’s Instagram posts with irate comments followed by several scarf emojis. One thing about Swifties, they’re going to protect her from music critics and ex-boyfriends.
Arianators
It’s a fanbase that’s evolved since her days as a Nickelodeon star, Ariana Grande’s army of ‘Arianators’ are always showing love for the “Positions” singer. Arianators not only support Grande’s achievements, but they’ve supported her during times of tragedy and controversy.
In 2018, Arianators stood by her after Grande’s ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller died of a drug overdose. Trolls online blamed Grande for the rapper’s death which didn’t sit well with her fans. Grande stans immediately pushed back against the trolls’ claims by pointing out that Grande had nothing to do with Miller’s death. One Twitter fan said, “Demi Lovato overdoses, it’s her fault because she made the choice to use. Mac Miller overdoses and it’s Ariana Grande’s fault for leaving him and moving on. Just say you hate women and go.”
Moreover, Arianators defended Grande when she was at the center of controversy over her appearance. Grande was accused of ‘Asianfishing’ in since-deleted Instagram photos. Social media users claimed that the singer was attempting to look more Asian. Her legion of fans came to the rescue. One fan noted that the claims of ‘Asianfishing’ were made by non-Asian people and that many Asians and South East Asians didn’t notice. Another fan said, “I’m an Asian and trust me, it’s so f***ing racist to assume our eyes are small.”
Blinks
Girlband sensation, BLACKPINK is yet another K-Pop group that has acquired a fanbase of millions. ‘Blinks’ as they’re called, are the official fanbase for BLACKPINK. Though Blinks have become increasingly divided, they rally together for one thing— the music. In February, BLACKPINK’s agency, YG Entertainment announced that the band would be releasing their merch 2022 Welcoming Collection. This announcement did not go over well with Blinks. Fans were frustrated over the agency’s decision to release new merch instead of music. Some Blinks were so distraught, they called for a boycott of the merch release. Others reported the official YG Entertainment Twitter account, while some tweeted, “No music. No money.” The demand for music doesn’t stop there.
In 2021, BLACKPINK gave a speech at the United Nations Summit for Climate Action. The quartet used the opportunity to address the climate situation and emphasized taking action. Some Blinks shifted the important conversation into one about the lack of promotion of a certain member and new music. Blinks claimed that YG Entertainment was not promoting BLACKPINK member Jisoo, well. One tweet read, “YG THANKS FOR THE CLIMATE CHANGE REMINDER but Jisoo #JISOO have been waiting JISOO SOLO for almost 3 YEARS.” Another Blink tweeted, “BLACKPINK comeback has the same urgency as climate change.” It goes without saying, Blinks do not mess around when it comes to music.
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