Lim Young Woong: All middle-aged fans, more famous than BTS - BlackPink in Korea

Although not as globally famous as BTS, Blackpink or many other Kpop groups, Lim Young Woong (33 years old) is a top singer in the land of kimchi with a large domestic fan community.

Lim Young Woong was born in 1991 and became famous after winning the Mr Trot contest in 2020. According to Son Min Jung, a music professor at Korea National University of Education, Lim Young Woong's success, in addition to the revival of trot music, also comes from the touching story of how the male singer overcame many difficulties in life.

Lim Young Woong lost his father at the age of 5 and grew up in poverty. It was the hardships of his past that helped him convey his emotions through each song, touching the hearts of listeners.

The male singer's career quickly took off, despite the explosion of K-pop groups in the market.

According to the Korean Film Council, Lim Young Woong's I'm Hero The Stadium attracted 3,795 viewers on October 19 alone across 47 theaters, bringing the total number of viewers to 343,334.

This number surpassed BTS' previous record with Love Yourself in Seoul of 342,366 views in January 2019, becoming the highest-grossing concert film in Korean history.

Previously, the male singer's concert held in May 2024 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium recorded a record number of more than 100,000 attendees.

Gallup Korea conducted a survey on the most popular singers in Korea in 2024. The survey was conducted in March and collected responses from 1,777 individuals over the age of 13 in the country.

As a result, Lim Young Woong took the lead with 10.3% of the votes. Meanwhile, "national sister" IU ranked second. She was once labeled as "national girlfriend" because of her lovely appearance, sweet voice and released a series of big hits. The audience even thought that IU could be the most successful female solo singer in Korea.

3rd place goes to BTS. Although the 7 boys are no longer active together due to military service, the group is still the most prominent name in Kpop. Some other names on the chart include Na Hoon Ah, NewJeans, BLACKPINK... This reflects the extremely diverse musical tastes of the Korean public.

In 2020, the young male singer was the hottest search topic when Trust in Me - his first music product after Mr Trot - defeated BlackPink's How you like that to take the No. 1 spot on all Korean music charts.

Unique, "one of a kind" fandom in K-pop

When mentioning Lim Young Woong, the audience will immediately remember his "unique" fandom, where the members of the fandom are all uncles and aunts in their late years.

The male singer has successfully stirred up fandom culture among people over 40 years old in Korea, which is a difficult audience to conquer.

Lim Young Woong's fandom is called Age of Hero and has a large number of members, proving that age is not an issue in idol culture. They are willing to cheer him on in every activity, even as enthusiastically as young people.

The proof is that the male singer's IM HERO concert in September 2023 had 3.7 million people "lining up online" to buy tickets just 1 minute after going on sale.

A funny story happened after that, when the phrase "Mom, I'm sorry" trended on Korean Twitter because the ticket hunting war was so fierce, many children could not buy tickets for their mothers.

The appearance of Lim Young Woong's name in the nomination categories at the awards ceremony has also become an obsession for K-pop fandoms. Because the majority of the male singer's fans are of a stable economic age, willing to spend a large amount of money to help their idol win.

Kim Im Kyung told The Korea Herald that she is learning how to be a fan girl at the age of 71. She has dedicated a room to collecting Lim Young Woong-related items and even "plowing" music to help her idol achieve high rankings.

It is understandable that Lim Young Woong has captured the hearts of older audiences in the land of kimchi, as trot music is famous for its vibrant, fun melodies while still retaining traditional Korean features.

Rarely involved in scandals

Korean media reported that the male singer was caught smoking during a break while filming the show Ppong School on the morning of May 4. Notably, this was a no-smoking area. In addition, Lim Young Woong was also caught not wearing a mask when all the staff around him were wearing masks to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic.

Regarding smoking in a restricted area, a producer stated: "Even if he was taking a break, smoking in that area was inappropriate, as there were many non-smoking staff and the filming equipment around was very expensive."

Not wearing a mask while the COVID-19 pandemic is still tense also caused the Mr.Trot champion to be heavily criticized by netizens. Before the male singer, many other stars were also criticized for not wearing masks or gathering in large crowds such as Jennie (BLACKPINK), Cha Eun Woo, IZ*ONE...

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