Fannish healing and "the tentative step forward": Musical affect and parasocial directionalities in BTS fan narratives

Situating itself within the frameworks of musical affect and relational labour, this research examines the healing practices of BTS fans from all around the world. As the biggest Korean musical act to enter the global stage to date, BTS as a group have fostered a unique iteration of the parasocial relationship with their fans and, in doing so, redefined the structures and potentials of the fan-artist relationship. Both through their music and public image, the resulting expansion has allowed fans to create individual networks for affective healing. The purpose of this research is then to establish relational networks as a conceptualization of fannish healing as it is transformed and reappropriated into the lives of individual fans.