The Unavoidable Cycle: Things Every Fan Goes Through During A Comeback

September is nearly here and that can only mean one thing: comeback season is near!

For some reason, it seems like nearly every K-pop group has decided to release new material around this time, and this leaves fans experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions! Here are some moments that everyone tends to experience during a comeback:

1. The waiting game

The starting point is the anticipation and the waiting stage! This occurs when your favorite group has wrapped up their last album promotion; they’ve completed endless live performances and appearances on variety shows, and they have nothing else scheduled. There is nothing else for you to do as a fan except wait while rewatching the fancams and music videos. On one hand, you’re happy that they’re resting, but you can’t help but miss them!

This is also when you will spend countless time making fun edits of your favorite idols and finding out information you never thought was possible to know!

2. The rumors

After a while, you start to hear rumors that certain groups will be having a comeback soon, but nobody really knows anything for certain! This is when things really start to get interesting. This is also the time when crazy concept ideas start to appear, even though most of the time they aren’t real!

This is also when you realize there are going to be new albums and merchandise to buy, but you don’t have a lot of time to get prepared to buy it!

3. The new hair

As soon as you see idols wearing the infamous bucket hats and trying to hide their new hair colors, you can almost be certain a comeback is on the horizon!

During this time, fans are on high-alert as teasers could be dropped at any second without warning, and none of us are quite prepared for that!

4. Teasers released

So you’re over here minding your own business, when all of a sudden teasers are just dropped out of nowhere! Now you finally realize that the comeback is right around the corner and the fangirl/fanboy-ing increases!

After you’ve watched the teaser a million times, questions start arising. What will the song be like? What will the full music video be like? And how does this new music video fit in with the rest of the music videos?

4. The music video

Finally, the music video and the album are released! Because of the time differences, you usually have to stay up late at night to stream it the minute the video is released, but it’s totally worth it! Even if you find yourself falling asleep randomly the next day, you wouldn’t go back and change your decision!

You usually spend all your waking moments ignoring other responsibilities and streaming the music video, noticing things you wouldn’t have seen otherwise!

After watching the music video at least a million times, you probably still don’t understand everything that happens, and the endless theories end up confusing you!

5. 1st live performance and music show wins

The first live performance of a new song is truly an iconic moment during a comeback; you can see the full dance, which is usually missing in the music videos, as well as the idols’ new look and concept! You’ll probably make sure to watch each and every live performance of the new song, including all of the fancams, just because you love them so much!

In fact, you might enjoy watching fancams more than the official performances because you can see things you wouldn’t normally see, which means getting to see another side of your bias!

6. Sadness once you realize promotions are ending

Suddenly, reality hits and you realize that while you’ve been enjoying the comeback, it also means that you’re one step closer to the end of promotions. You start to feel like you wished there were more activities, but you know that your idols need some well deserved rest!

7. Happiness as you can’t wait to do it all again!

You know that the cycle continues and another comeback will be here before you know it!

Hey Soompiers, which comeback are you most anticipating? Let us know in the comments!

daisyamy is a psychology graduate from the UK who loves SHINee, Red Velvet, k-beauty, and travelling! You can follow her on Instagram or Twitter to see what she’s up to!