fancam
A fancam is a video of a celebrity filmed or edited by a fan. In K-pop it usually means footage that stays focused on one idol for a whole performance.
What fancam means
Dictionary.com gives two senses: footage of a celebrity taken by a fan, and a fan-made video built from clips of a show or film, often centered on one character. In K-pop, Wikipedia explains, a fancam is a “full focus” on a specific idol in a group, so you can watch just your bias instead of the whole stage. In Korea this kind of clip is called a 직캠 (jikcam). It’s also spelled “fan cam” as two words.
On social media, the word also covers edits: a short, music-backed montage of a celebrity or character. Posting fancams in replies, whether relevant or not, became a running joke on Twitter.
Examples
- “His fancam from that stage has 20 million views.”
- “Drop the fancam, I need to see that dance break again.”
- “Why does every reply to this news story have a fancam?”
Where it came from
It’s fan plus cam. Wikipedia names one of the first big viral fancams: Hani of the girl group EXID dancing to “Up & Down,” filmed by a fan. In 2020 fancams made headlines outside fandom when K-pop fans used them to flood a Dallas police app that had asked for footage from protests, and to drown out far-right hashtags.
Related terms
See more terms like this in our K-pop slang guide.
Example sentence
I watched her fancam three times just to catch the hand move in the chorus.
Similar words
focus cam, edit
Notes
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