A common pivotal moment in a young person’s life is going through a musical artist obsession. Being a “fangirl” comes with its glory, however it is not all sunshine and rainbows. Issues such as fandom wars, controversies and expenses come to the forefront of a fangirl’s life. So why is being a fangirl so hard?
There is no such thing as being a casual fan in this world — knowing an artist and their music to a tee is essential for survival in a fandom. It means risking decreasing mental health from toxic fanbases, financial instability from expensive concert tickets and time commitment like a second job. Being a fangirl has never been harder than in the 21st century.
The term “fangirl” originates from the early 20th century, used in A.P. Herbert’s novel “Holy Deadlock” to describe young women who have an obsession with musicians. The term became widespread in the 1960s with “Beatlemania” – a phenomenon describing young girls’ devotion to British rock band, The Beatles. Ever since, being a fangirl has stayed relevant as new bands arise, and there have been notable fanbases since the Beatlemania era. For example, the Michael Jackson fans named “Moonwalkers” in the “Jacksonmania” era, Beyoncé’s “Beyhive,” One Direction’s “Directioners,” Taylor Swift’s “Swifties” and BTS’ “ARMY.” Even with changes in popular culture, young girls’ dedication to musical artists has stayed the same for over sixty years.
However, the culture around being a fangirl has recently made an immense shift. Although similarities like music enjoyment and band interaction have stayed the same, the invention of the internet has made it harder to be a modern-day fangirl. Fanbases have moved to social media since the Beatlemania and Jacksonmania era, and have become a toxic place for people — especially young girls — to be a part of.
It is hard to be a casual fan on the internet. If you are an ARMY but do not buy all of BTS’ merchandise, or a Swiftie but do not know every album by Taylor Swift, you are not considered a real fan by the internet. Parasocial relationships — when a fan puts so much emotional time and energy into a celebrity that does not even know they exist – are normalized in modern fan culture. It is an exhausting mental framework that affects the mental health of many young devoted fangirls. One specific example is the phenomenon of social media arguments called fandom wars, or “fan wars.” When fangirls read negative social media posts about their favorite band that they have a parasocial relationship with, they feel bad about themselves. Fans often internalize these comments, which can eventually start to deeply affect their self esteem. Additionally, social media has made fans think real devotion comes with needing to spend ridiculous amounts of money on merchandise and concert tickets. However, in reality they are much harder to obtain than it seems.
In 2023, Taylor Swift went on the “Eras Tour” where she performed music from every album she has released. This has since been deemed the highest-grossing tour of all time, making over $2 billion. Because of Swift’s popularity, this tour was extremely difficult to obtain tickets to. Fans swarmed Ticketmaster, leading the website to crash within an hour of tickets going on sale. Additionally, some of the tickets that were bought were from re-sellers who would re-sell the tickets to upward of $90,000.. Unfortunately, buying concert tickets has only become more expensive, difficult and time consuming.
Recently, South Korean Pop boy band BTS announced their first group tour in three years, titled “ARIRANG.” Because of the band’s break to attend mandatory South Korean military service, BTS’s return has been much anticipated by fans. This has been a concerning factor as the group is extremely popular, and fans worry about another Swift ticketing issue. Fans went to social media to post about their worries in obtaining tickets, with some expressing that only real fans should obtain the tickets — reinforcing toxic mentalities such as parasocial relationships in fandoms.
When the day came to buy these tickets, one fan posted that over 1 million people were in the queue for the Munich concert. The venue only contains around 70,000 seats, which means a majority of the fans in line were unable to get any tickets. Additionally, concert prices were expensive — with VIP tickets priced around $600 and non-VIP tickets ranging from $100 to $600 for the Munich concert. Similarly to BTS, Harry Styles fans have recently been preparing for his tour, with presales and budgeting for projected ticket prices.
Concert tickets have become extremely unreasonable for all fanbases. Seeing BTS with VIP tickets would be equivalent to a minimum wage worker in California working about 36 hours. To compare with the fangirls of the Beatlemania era, in 1964 it cost $18 of today’s money to see The Beatles. Why has it become so hard for fangirls to see their favorite band, and why are they willing to pay thousands of dollars to see them? The answer: the fear of missing out.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, fangirls have been craving in-person experiences with their favorite artists. Because of the high demand and continuing raise in prices due to inflation, concert prices have skyrocketed — and fans are still willing to pay these expensive prices. Whether that be because of the enjoyment of the music, experience or because of a parasocial relationship with the artist is unclear. However, fans are continuing to spend all their savings for one night.
It leads me to wonder if these high ticket prices are enabling today’s toxic fan culture. Personally, I was one of the thousands of people who were in the queue for BTS’ new tour. I used to be an ARMY in middle school and found myself buying those tickets for my younger self. After winning the Ticketmaster war by buying the tickets and seeing the response from social media, I wonder if I am one of those undeserving fans. Even though I am no longer deep in the obsession, I feel the lingering issues of the fangirl mentality staying with me. It is extremely hard to be a fangirl, no matter how devoted you are to the musical artist.
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