VietNamNet Bridge - The story between Vietnamese fans and Vietnamese stars also brings many unexpected and interesting things that are not different to the K-Pop.

Capital supporters welcome K-Pop heroes

Vietnamese K-pop fans “throw stones” into literature exam question 

Vietnamese fans fainted at music festival 

 

 

Thanh Hang (middle), Miss Vietnam Mai Phuong Thuy and director Nguyen Quang Dung wear the T-shirt prepared by Thanh Hang’s fan club for the premiere. 

So far, when it comes to "idol culture," Vietnamese audiences only think about the fans who are crazy for Korean music, Korean films and Korean stars, with wild actions to express their excitement, their support and their advocacy to their "idols." However, when the fanclub of singer Uyen Linh - the winner of Vietnam Idol 2011 - bought 1,000 cell phones and simcards to text for their idol to compete for the Favorite Song 2012 competition, people was startling to think of the strength of Vietnamese fans.

The fan club of Uyen Linh is not the only case when fans were willing to pay to make their idols happy in the way they think is best. To celebrate the birthday of singer My Tam on January 16, her fan club in Ho Chi Minh City installed a large banner, made of LED lights, at the Tan Son Nhat Airport for seven days, with the content "Happy birthday My Tam". That is just one of the numerous valuable gifts that the fan club has presented to My Tam.

The Fan club of supermodel, actress Thanh Hang welcomed the premiere of her new movie “My Nhan Ke” (Beauty Trap) by delivering 200 T-shirt with the picture of Thanh Hang’s character in the movie. All the guests who attended the premiere ceremony wore the T-shirt.

Each fan club tries to create value and difference. The fan club of the 365 band uses the word "Stellar" (star) to call their club. Always appearing at all events related to their idol, “Stellars” express their love to their idol in the way that is not less passionate than Korean fans. The 365 band also admitted that without the enthusiasm of “Stellars,” the band could not achieve its current success.

If the fans of the 365 band are teenage, the fan club of singer Dam Vinh Hung has a faithful audience in the middle-aged or older. They are called "old dolls." They follow Dam Vinh Hung everywhere he goes, regardless of their age and health. In response, Dam Vinh Hung always gives them the best seats at his press conferences and the events organized by himself.

Although they have not yet reached the professional level as K-pop fans, Vietnamese fan clubs are considered the "representative" of Vietnamese celebrities. The power and position of singers increase thanks to the growth of their fan clubs. However, when the enthusiasm is deformed, fans can distort the beautiful image that they try to build for their idols.

Back to the story of Uyen Linh’s fans, who bought 1,000 cell phones and simcards to support their idols, one can see the strength of "manipulation" of the fans in the music awards voted by the audience. This is the use of money to change the voting results. Assuming their idol wins in the competition, the audience would have questioned about it?

Spending a lot of money, time and effort, if they do not generate the desired results, controversies, questions, lawsuits from fans start booming. When singer Ho Ngoc Ha won the "Most Favorite Female Singer" of the HTV Awards 2012, the fans of singer My Tam expressed their discontent by chanting "My Tam" and "Smashing deceit," making a riot at the award ceremony.

Accidentally, the fan made their idols get dragged into the unexpected "war." And whether they want it or not, the relationship between the two artists is very easy to crack because they are "attributed" as rivals.

 

Fan of My Tam shout slogans to protest the results of the HTV Awards. 

The root for this action comes from the consciousness of some fans, especially teens. Dinh Anh, who attended some music programs that brought together a lot of fan clubs of famous singers, says: "I’m afraid if I have to sit near fan clubs because their screams always drown out the voice of singers. If their idols sing, they can cheer. But when other singers perform, they also shout the names of their idols as a way to 'belittle’ these singers to confirm the advantage of their idols. I wonder why they are very proud of that?"

The fans of Will, a member of the 365 band, used to queue in front of the office of VAA company to cry because Will was suspended from the band’s performances. This case is still referred to as a vapor reaction of V-pop fans.

But that's not the only case. Recently, in the reality show “The Voice 2012”, when contestant Bui Anh Tuan lost his first place in the team of Ho Ngoc Ha, Tuan’s fans said sorry to their idols on Facebook and promised to “not let this happen the second time."

Bui Anh Tuan is a young artist who emerged from The Voice 2012, with the hit “Where love begins” but he has quickly had a large number of fans. The numbers of fans and anti-fans of Bui Anh Tuan are equal so whenever incident happened, the singer's personal page became a battlefield.

The relationship between artists and their fans is a resonant relationship. Being admired by fans, stars have a big voice in directing their fans.

Singer Dong Lan, a member of team Dam Vinh Hung at The Voice 2012, says: "I like old ladies in the “old dolls” association because they and Dam Vinh Hung have the emotional relationship that is beyond the relations between the idol and fans. It's simple but profound as a family. I still remember that after the Blind round, after giving instruction to us, he immediately turned to discuss the plan to attend the funeral of the relative of an old lady in the fan club."

Young singer Khoi My says that her fans are mainly teens so her principle is not publishing her schedule to prevent fans from quitting class to follow the singer. This principle has been applied since Khoi My’s fan club was set up.

 

Singer My Tam and her fans at a charity event.

 

The 365 band accepts the follow of their fans but they also remind their fans that they will not be happy if the fans make their teachers and parents sad.

Handling scandals caused by fans is not easy, because if artists are not clever, they can make their fans angry and turn their back on them. When her fans reacted against singer Ho Ngoc Ha, My Tam immediately sent two letters to her fans, asking them to be calm and giving them a reasonable explanation about the incident. With gentle words, but frankly, My Tam quickly defused the controversy related to her and Ho Ngoc Ha and helped the fans learn from experience. Known as one of the stars who is very keen on doing charity, My Tam has regularly invited her fans to charity events.

In the future, to have a strong foothold in the entertainment industry, the creation of a "backend" from the fan club is a serious issue for artists. Not simply cheering, singing after their idols, the role of fans is to "fire" other audience, and more importantly, when the stage light is turned off, they work together towards meaningful activities in real life. If they are directed professionally, fan clubs will receive support from the audience and really give a perfect image for their idols.

T. Van