bias

/BYE-uhs/

noun · verb

Meaning

In K-pop and related idol-fandom language, a bias is the performer a fan likes best, usually a particular member of a group. Fans can have one bias or several, change their bias over time, or name an overall favorite as their ultimate bias, often shortened to ult. Bias is also used as a verb: to bias an idol means to choose or favor that performer.

1. A fan’s favorite member of a K-pop or idol group.
2. A fan’s favorite group, soloist, or idol overall, especially when used in phrases such as bias group or ultimate bias.
3. As a verb, to choose a performer as one’s favorite: I bias the main vocalist.

Examples

“My bias is the group’s main dancer.”

“I thought I had picked a bias, then the new fancam ruined everything.”

“Who’s your bias in this group?”

“I bias the rapper, but the vocalist is my bias wrecker.”

“My ult bias has been the same since 2018.”

Origin and spread

The fandom sense is a semantic extension of the older English word bias, which means an inclination or preference. In K-pop fandom, the noun came to mean the person who receives that preference, rather than merely the preference itself. The available record shows the expression circulating in English-language K-pop spaces by September 2011, when a fan guide defined bias as a favorite member and gave examples of fans naming their biases. A 2012 study of international K-pop fandom also recorded fans using bias for their favorite idols. The Korean term 최애 (choe-ae), meaning a most-loved or favorite person, is related in meaning but is not evidence that the English slang word directly originated from it.[3]

How to use it

Bias is informal and strongly associated with K-pop fandom, although it can also appear in discussions of other idol groups and online entertainment communities. It usually expresses affectionate preference, not prejudice, but outsiders may first understand it in the ordinary English sense of unfair inclination. Bias can be singular or pluralized as biases; bias wrecker refers to another member who threatens to displace a fan’s current favorite.