She didn’t say, “I am ARMY.”
And for those of us who live and breathe this identity, that difference matters. I did not feel offended. It wasn’t even disappointment. It was more like, alertness. A flicker of awareness that words hold weight, especially when spoken by public figures. Especially in fandom culture, where naming yourself is not just self-expression, but also a declaration of participation.
And Ms. Lea, gracefully and respectfully, chose not to declare. A very wise decision and gesture.
“BTS Fangirl” is Personal. “ARMY” is Communal. There is a quiet but powerful distinction between saying, “I’m a fan of BTS.” And “I am ARMY.”
The first is individual, even intimate. The second is a call to belonging. It ties you into a global network of memory, labor, joy, defense, and shared meaning-making. And perhaps Ms. Lea, in all her wisdom, knew that.
To be ARMY is not casual. It is not a trend. It is:• Streaming with purpose.• Voting with coordination.• Staying through hiatuses, military enlistments, and misunderstood eras.• Creating, curating, and caring not just for BTS, but for each other.
And maybe that’s why Ms. Lea didn’t claim it. Not because she isn’t sincere in her admiration, but because she understands that ARMY isn’t just a word. It’s devotion and a commitment.
I appreciate that she showed restraint. That refusal to casually claim what she hasn’t fully lived is a form of respect. Life is life-ing as it goes. And perhaps all she can do for now is truly appreciate, adore and go gaga over RPWP and the rest of the solo albums of BTS she mentioned in the interview. She is a BTS fan, and I love her for it.
In fandom, ethics exist and love can hold without appropriation. In a fandom ecosystem where parasocial intimacy is often mistaken for personal possession, and stan culture can pressure public figures into performative allegiance, Lea’s choice feels intentional and purposeful.
She loves BTS. That’s clear. She supports their work. That’s beautiful. But she didn’t insert herself into ARMY spaces with the entitlement of someone who has “earned” that title. This is admirable. In doing so, she models how to honor a group’s impact without overstepping the boundary of lived experiences of ARMY, collective or individual.
However, there are comments that missed this point. Someone responded on socmed to Lea’s quote by saying:
“She obviously hasn’t met this and that Kpop group yet.”
And that’s when my ache surfaced. Because the comment didn’t just suggest she was missing out. It subtly implied that her love for BTS was less valid, incomplete, even, simply because the comment hadn’t spread that love wider.
To those commenting with a multistan agenda, my question is this: what if depth matters more than width?
What if staying loyal to one group, through all their seasons is not about being closed off, but about being rooted? Not exclusion but grounding.
For some of us, BTS holds a sacred space in our lives. You may think of this as cultish but, no. What I mean is philosophical aesthetics. More on this in future posts.
BTS didn’t just catch our attention. They caught us in our grief, our becoming, our quiet hours of self-doubt. For fans like me, BTS is not just a band to admire. They are:
• The ones who held us.• The voices that named what we couldn’t say.• The bridge that connected us to generations past and present, thus, creating an intergenerational understanding.• The reason we created, healed, and chose to stay.
To be ARMY is not simply to love BTS. It is to let that love shape your life. The thing is, there are many ways to be a fan.
I wrote and developed this essay not to draw borders or demarcation lines. Not exclusion. Not hate. Not elitism.
It’s about respecting thresholds. Recognizing differences and respecting it with transparency and “relational accountability”. You can be a casual listener, a dedicated fangirl, a multistan, a curious observer and all of those identities are valid.
But if you see someone not claiming ARMY, even when they clearly love BTS, maybe pause before assuming they’re lacking or anything else. Maybe, like Ms. Lea, they’re showing us what fandom ethics can look like: Loving fully, while knowing when not to claim what isn’t yours.
In the end, I don’t need Lea Salonga to say she’s ARMY. Her admiration is enough and it’s hers. And as for me? I’ll say it again and again:
I am ARMY. Not because I stan. But because I stayed. Because BTS met me first and those seven amazing artists never let me go. In the rhythm of that love, I reclaimed who I am at the autumn of my life. That despite this season of fall, Spring Day has stayed. It will never leave me, nor I.
I close this essay by saying that I have fully understood that one person who abandoned me and became a multistan. I can now look at a cohort of fans of BTS and smile at the way they fangirl. Because, that is who they are. As for me, with my ARMY Glow Up projects in full swing this year, and my AGU certificate of commitment offered at the old Big Hit Building, as witnessed by my ARMY Daughter and Tita ARMY friends last June 10, 2025, I have fully healed. In the end, Ms. Lea’s restraint helped me name my own belonging. I am not just a BTS fangirl. I am ARMY by experience, by acts of creation, by choice.
Thank you Ms. Lea Salonga, for your class and grace; your candor and love for music and BTS. Your interview and what you particularly said about fangirling was illuminating.
Thank you, BTS! Thank you, ARMY!
Apobangpo! Purple and true!
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