Wednesday, November 28th, I attended the Hwang Chi Yeul KWAVE EXPO Fan Event for Hwang Chi Yeul, 황치열, 黃致列 in Seoul, Korea. As a new fan, I was impressed with how friendly and kind Hwang Chi Yeul was. In the hour long event, he called fans to the stage, sang to them personally, and took time to take selfies using their cameras. With his birthday around the corner, Hwang Chi Yeul was presented with a cake and took a moment to make a wish. Then he faced with his fans behind him and had a giant birthday photo taken! Later in the event, fans described the singer using the letters from EXPO. One of the main take aways from the event was how thankful Hwang Chi Yeul was to his fans and how adoring his fans were in return. (130)
One of Hwang Chi Yeul’s long time fans, Shona from New York, took me under her wing after the event. She along with three other fans invited me to lunch, and later coffee. Shona explained that Hwang Chi Yeul attracts an older crowd. Many women near their fifties are his most loyal fans. They call him Vitamin, because whenever the women are feeling down, they recharge with his music.
One of the women presented me with one of Hwang Chi Yeul’s CDs. Shona shared that they all had thirty or more copies of this CD because they wanted Hwang Chi Yeul to win the Golden Disc Award. The Music Industry Association of Korea awards the Golden Disc based on the volume of album sales. Hwang Chi Yeul is so popular in China that his fans bought 900 million KRW ($828,000) worth of albums for his birthday to help him win the award!