for background, it seems that anytime a Kpop group achieves something in the west, it’s called “Asian representation” and “paving the way for kpop/asians in the west”, which in theory is amazing! however the fans’ reactions to these achievements is more often than not just turned into bragging and fanwar fuel

I’m sure there’s good examples I’m missing here but the biggest situations to mention is with BTS’ first ventures into the west and the term “Western Validation” as well as what happened with SuperM and the Grammys today

with BTS’ presence on Social 50 chart and their first Top Social Artist nomination in 2017 came that infamous “We don’t need a BBMA” thread. plus other kpop fandoms promoting voting for western artists so BTS wouldn’t win. at this point doing anything in the USA was called seeking “Western Validation”

in 2018 when LY: Tear was nominated for the album packaging Grammy, kpop twitter dragged it to hell and back and gave thousands of retweets to tweets calling the design “the shit I see on my shower wall”

both of those achievements could arguably be seen as good examples of “Asian representation” in the west and Kpop becoming more known and acknowledged in the west

then fast forward to today with a Billboard prediction of SuperM being a contender for a best new artist nomination. now ARMYs are angry because another group is mentioned that isn’t BTS. Something similar happened last year when Billboard mentioned Blackpink as a contender for the same award. It seems every time a different Kpop group does something in the west (billboard charts, award nominations, talk show appearances etc.) there’s always some ARMYs getting mad

now we see more fighting on social media, people saying ARMY should support it because it’s “Asian representation”, and suddenly no one is calling these achievements “Western Validation” when it comes to the groups they stan. and there’s ARMY getting angry because another group getting a Grammy would be taking the spotlight away from BTS who “deserve a Grammy more”, among other reasons

and it just got me thinking... none of these fandoms actually care about Asian representation do they? it’s only ever brought up when fandoms are trying to brag about their group’s achievements. It’s used as a “my group did this first so they’re better” kind of argument. Every time a new achievement happens it causes fighting. If people actually cared about Asian representation why would they be angry?

more people would’ve supported BTS for their BBMA if they cared. most ARMY wouldn’t be so angry right now over SuperM mentioned in an article if they cared.

and it sucks because I know there’s so many Asian people out there who would have never thought to see Korean groups top the American charts, or be considered for American awards and it’s really unfortunate that it’s just used for fanwars by the majority of Kpop stans.

sorry this was long but I’ve been thinking a lot about this right now. let me know what you guys think about all this, if there’s any examples I missed or anything else to add

Edit: people bring up good points about Asian American representation and I definitely agree!

Edit 2: I’m seeing more posts about people wanting a SuperM nomination just to see Armys mad and wow... you all are definitely proving my point that you care more about fanwars