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Picture of the group "Twice"

 Twice, the nine member Korean pop (better known as K-pop) girl group that debuted in Korea is slowly but surely crashing into the states and stealing the hearts of Americans (including mine). Twice debuted on October 20, 2015 with their EP "The Story Begins." Their feel good, happy, girly songs have helped them over these past six years amass quite the fanbase and following. I got into them and their music senior year of high school but have grown to be a more dedicated fan in the past year or so. I've joined their fanbase which they've bestowed the name of "Once." Once is a very serious and devoted fanbase. The Instagram (@twicetagram) dedicated to the group has a whopping 21.8M followers as well as the Twitter which has 9.2 million followers. You would be surprised, despite Twice being a girl group and producing mainly upbeat bubbly songs; Once is dominated by "fanboys" instead of women. Around 59% of Once is male. In a report done by statista.com, distribution of the audiences at Twice concerts held in Seoul, South Korea in May 2019 by gender, it was found 69.4% of the audience was male.
Member Jeong-Yeon taking a selfie 
with male dominated audience 

 There is no specific rhyme or reason as to why Once is so dominated by male fans, however, speculation says it's because of the groups "sexy and cute" concept that the production company tries to push. "Sex sells."   However, when it comes to loving and supporting Twice, gender does not play a factor. Once loves to celebrate and back Twice as much as they can. Often with K-pop groups fans will often have a favorite member which is referred to as a "bias." Having a bias is a key part of being in a K-pop fandom. Usually with K-pop albums that are sold they will include "photo cards." Photo cards are exactly what they sounds like, cards that have a photo of different members faces. More often than not when fans buy the album they will often trade or sell photo cards to other fans. You might wonder why fans would trade/sell/buy. This may be because the fan wants a photo card of their bias that wasn't included in their album or they may be trying to complete a set. Selling and buying happens mostly electronically. You can find photo cards on Etsy, eBay, and even Amazon. For trading you can go on almost any social media platform and find accounts solely dedicated to trading. Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter. For example the account @TWICE_trades on Twitter.
Binder full of Twice photo cards
    Another thing that is often sought out when it comes to Twice (and K-pop in general) is "fancams." Fancams are videos of a group performing however specifically focusing on one member the whole time. These videos are often uploaded to YouTube and streamed by fans. Once will usually watch their bias,  different performances to see how the member preformed in each, or at times compare different fancams with other Twice members. An example of this is a fancam of member Sana preforming the song "Likey." Which, in the eyes of many Once, is the song that put Twice on the map and was the jumping point of their career.

  Along with fancams, edits are often made of the members. There is a numerous number of edits Once make and they come in different variations. Solo, pairs, or group. Twice edits are often found on Twitter or Instagram and it's Once way                                                         of showing appreciation to the members and the group as a whole.                                                                        
                       
 
                                                                        
Members Dahyun (left) and Sana (right)
Something that often goes hand in hand with edits is ships. Once may make an edit of their favorite Twice ship. Shipping is when fans take one (or more) characters (or people) of a fandom they enjoy and pair them together either platonically or romantically. Shipping varies from fan to fan. There is difference in opinion for the most popular Twice ship but using my research I found the most popular Twice ship based on data and recent polling. The most popular ship is "Saida" which is the combination of the names of members Sana and Dahyun. Saida is a platonic ship, the most common reason these two are shipped together so often is because they are both seen as the craziest and dorkiest in the group. Making Once admire them as a pairing. Twice is a major power-house in the K-pop industry and has become a big part of my life. Each member is different in their own way and brings their own touch to the group. If even one member was to step down and leave the group it wouldn't be the same. I'm happy to be a part of Once and am hoping to see Twice next year on their world tour. 










Resources: 
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1116318/south-korea-twice-seoul-concerts-audience-distribution-by-gender/
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Twice-have-so-many-male-fans
https://kpopsource.com/threads/age-and-gender-demographics-for-8-groups.22163/
https://twice.fandom.com/wiki/SaiDa

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