How to Learn a K-pop Fanchant: Finding the Official Guide and Joining In
The first time you hear a K-pop crowd do a fanchant, the timing can be striking: a name called in an instrumental gap, the group’s name after a line, a phrase answered back to the chorus. Those parts can be learned from a guide, and you don’t have to memorize the whole chant before joining in. Start with a few responses and build from there.
What a fanchant is for
A fanchant is a script the audience performs alongside the song. In a 2022 NPR segment that aired as cheering returned to Korean concerts after pandemic restrictions, fan Kayla Balba said she thinks fans first created the chants to support the members during songs. Now, she added, a lot of groups put out guides so you know “what to say and when,” and the point is mostly for fans to “be involved in the performance.” Those planned responses are what this guide helps you practice, alongside the other cheers you might hear at a show.
A name call is one familiar form. In NPR’s clip, BTS fans chant all seven members’ full Korean names, from Kim Namjoon to Jeon Jungkook, then “BTS!” The same call opens BTS’s official guide for “ON.” Follow the guide for the particular song rather than assuming every chant opens with a roll call.
Where the official guides live
Start with the artist’s or agency’s official YouTube channel. Look for titles like “응원법” (eungwonbeop, literally “cheering method”) or “Cheering Guide,” usually for title tracks around a comeback. Official community notices are another useful route: BTS’s Weverse community, for example, has an official notice with the “ON” cheering guide, where the fan parts are marked in bold blue. A written guide can be easier to keep beside you while you practice.
The format varies by group, which is half the fun. In IVE’s guide for “LOVE DIVE,” the members hold star-shaped wands and perform the chant to the song while the on-screen captions highlight the fan lines:
aespa took a looser route for “Supernova”: its official guide seats the four members side by side at a table with their lightsticks, pens and paper, and the video’s Korean title says they made the chant themselves. TWICE’s guide for “ONE SPARK” and ILLIT’s for “Magnetic” are on the groups’ official channels too.
Official or fan-made? Find the original
Search for a group’s name plus “fanchant” and you’ll get a mix. Some results come from the artist’s or agency’s channel. Others are lyric-sheet videos, translations or romanized guides uploaded by fans. A fan upload may reproduce the official chant faithfully, or it may propose a different one. “Official Fanchant” in the title does not tell you which.
Follow links from the artist’s official website or community to check the account, rather than relying on its display name. Use the original guide to check the words and their timing. Fan translations and romanization can help with pronunciation, but look for a link to the original and compare the responses before learning them.
For an older song or a b-side, you may find only fan guides. Treat those as unofficial unless you can trace them to an official source. Check the song’s language and version as well as the upload date, and look for any newer official instructions for the performance you plan to attend. Newer instructions matter most for name calls: if a group’s lineup has changed since a guide was posted, don’t assume the old call still applies, and don’t patch together a new one yourself. If there’s no updated official guide, follow the crowd around you for that part.
A simple way to learn one
- Watch once without chanting. Notice where the fan responses start and stop. The guide may display all the lyrics, so identify the highlighted fan parts before singing along.
- Learn one short response. Use the sung line or instrumental beat immediately before it as your cue. Practice the entrance and the ending as well as the words.
- Add the name call if the song has one. Learn its exact sequence from that song’s guide, then practice fitting the names into the available beats.
- Slow down the hard parts. Turn down YouTube’s playback speed, loop a few seconds until the words sit right, then build back up to full speed.
- Try the regular track. Keep the written guide nearby at first, then try a response without looking. If you miss a cue, wait for the next one and join again.
Try that with the “LOVE DIVE” video above: choose one highlighted fan response, replay it with the music immediately before it, and copy the members’ entrance. Then play the same section of the official MV and supply the response yourself. Once that feels comfortable, add another section.
You don’t need a lightstick to chant. If you plan to bring one, check the event’s prohibited-items notice; our lightstick explainer covers versions and concert syncing.
Why it’s worth the effort
Learning a chant turns you from someone watching the stage into one of the voices the artists hear coming back at them. Official guides tend to arrive with a new release, so a comeback is a good time to look for one, but you can learn an older song at your own pace too. Our comeback calendar shows what’s coming up, and what a comeback actually is walks through that release cycle.