'Silver ARMY' reshapes BTS fandom

Members of "Silver ARMY," an informal group of older international BTS fans, appear in a trailer for the documentary "BTS ARMY: Forever We Are Young." Captured from X and YouTube

Vicki Ronn, a professor of English at Friends University and a BTS fan in her 60s, gave her adult son a vinyl copy of BTS member J-Hope's solo album "Jack in the Box," turning him into a dedicated fan.

Ronn discovered the group in 2020. Watching BTS perform "On" in front of New York's Grand Central Terminal on NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" sparked her interest. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was captivated by their dynamic stage performance and soon fell in love with their lyrics.

"'Black Swan' is a song about the fear of losing your passion for what you love," Ronn told the Hankook Ilbo at Jeonbuk National University on Sunday. "Listening to it made me reflect on how I had been losing my passion as a scholar."

89-year-old American sparks fandom shift

Ronn was among many who traveled to Korea to attend a BTS conference at Jeonbuk National University. Her presentation explored ideas of aging, participatory culture and the reimagining of women, examining how BTS has transformed the lives of older fans abroad and the new social relationships they are building through fan communities.

Ronn introduced Dori Jacobson as an example of the "Silver ARMY," an informal term for older BTS fans. Jacobson, an 89-year-old resident of Las Vegas, took a photo holding a sign reading, "IF AN 89 YEAR OLD ARMY CAN WAIT UNTIL 2025 FOR BTS TO RETURN, SO CAN YOU GUYS! STAY STRONG!" and posted it on social media. She created the post in December 2023 to comfort younger fans grieving the group's hiatus during the members' mandatory military service.

As Jacobson's case demonstrates, older BTS fans are moving beyond passive consumption to become active participants helping shape the fandom. The K-pop fan culture, characterized by its passion and solidarity, has taken hold among middle-aged and older adults.

The Silver ARMY phenomenon reflects a broader shift in the global K-pop fandom. K-pop is no longer the exclusive domain of teenagers and people in their 20s. As the consumer base expands to older demographics, the culture of fandom itself is shifting.

Older fans have emerged as an increasingly important consumer group for K-pop. Grace Kao, a sociology professor at Yale University, attended BTS concerts in Las Vegas across two consecutive days in May. Kao said in an email she sees quite a few audience members in their 50s and older, noting the Connecticut ARMY community she belongs to has a similar demographic.

"Middle-aged fans often have the time and disposable income to travel for concerts and view K-pop as a wholesome alternative to Western pop, raising the overall age profile of the fanbase," she said.

Members of the BTS Over 40 ARMY Club pose for a photo. Korea Times photo by Yang Seung-joon

Older fans fill overseas K-pop venues

Ronn cited intergenerational connections as the defining difference between traditional American pop culture fandoms and the older BTS fanbase. She pointed out that K-pop's emergence as a new platform for mature American women represents a new frontier for the K-pop wave.

"People who experienced the feminist movements of the 1970s and 1980s have found their voices again through BTS," Ronn said.

Ronn's observations circulate widely in American online communities, where a 98-year-old American woman holding a BTS lightstick at a concert recently became a viral sensation.

Vicki Ronn, right, an English professor at Friends University in the United States, listens to a presentation during the 5th International BTS Conference at Jeonbuk National University Convention Center, Sunday. Courtesy of The 5th BTS: A Global Interdisciplinary Conference

On social media, personal testimonials frequently surface. A 64-year-old British fan posted that BTS pulled her out of severe depression following a heart attack in 2022. A 68-year-old psychotherapist wrote that BTS gave clients facing terminal diagnoses a renewed motivation to live.

Why mature fans choose BTS over Taylor Swift

This raises the question of why mature Western audiences choose BTS over a familiar local artist like Taylor Swift.

"I think Taylor Swift mainly sings about what I felt in my teens or 20s," Ronn said. "Of course, many of my college students are Taylor Swift fans and connect deeply with her lyrics, but BTS's lyrics feel to me like a more universal narrative that crosses generations. They contain a philosophy of life."

U.S. pop star Taylor Swift performs on stage. Captured from Taylor Swift's social media

The professor said the song that moved her most was "Fake Love."

"Women of my generation grew up being told that we had to hide ourselves. There was social pressure to live as a 'false self' rather than show who we really were," she said "I think that's why women my age find BTS's music more relatable."

K-pop group BTS poses for a photo after performing "Dynamite" at the FIFA World Cup halftime show in New Jersey, July 19. Courtesy of BigHit Music

K-pop fills youth narrative gap in Asia

While BTS has brought renewed energy to older fans around the world, the group also serves as a guiding force for Mongolian youth.

Anujin Mungunkhu, a 17-year-old Mongolian student, shared during the conference why youth in Mongolia listen to BTS. In an interview, she said she coped with anxiety after entering 10th grade by listening to the 2020 track "Life Goes On."

"The song's message is, 'Things may be hard now, but do not worry too much. Life goes on, so let us keep living together.' It comforted me," she said.

Anujin's presentation was part of research by Tsengel Davaasambuu, a professor at the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture, titled "The BTS Effect and the Physicality of Hallyu: A Socio-Economic Analysis of the Korean wave in Post-Nomadic Mongolia." She said BTS's "Love Yourself" campaign resonated with local youth navigating rapid social transitions.

"More than half of Mongolia's population is now concentrated in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. This sudden shift to city life has left people used to the relaxed pace of a traditional nomadic society feeling completely disoriented," Davasambuu told the Hankook Ilbo. "For teenagers growing up in the middle of all this massive change, BTS's message to 'believe in yourself' has really struck a chord."

Mongolian student Anujin Mungunkhu, left, and Tsengel Davaasambuu, a professor at the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture, pose at Jeonbuk National University Convention Center during The 5th BTS: A Global Interdisciplinary Conference, Sunday. Korea Times photo by Yang Seung-joon

K-pop's role extends beyond comforting individuals. In April, Girls' Generation's "Into the New World" echoed outside Japan's National Diet in Tokyo during a rally defending the country's pacifist constitution.

Demonstrators gather their K-pop lightsticks to take a picture during the "No War" street rally in Osaka, Japan. Captured from X

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.