Positions and maknae

Leader and maknae describe a member's place in the group, vocalist, rapper and dancer describe their share of a song, and visual, center and face of the group describe how they are presented.¹

The tiers mean something specific in idol groups. The main vocalist takes the highlights, the high notes and the chorus, and the lead vocalist sings the first half of the song and leads into the chorus, which is not what lead vocalist means in a band.² First-generation groups in the 1990s did not separate main and lead vocalists; the finer split arrived as lineups grew to around ten members.³

The leader is the one position agencies routinely announce. Itzy introduced Yeji as its leader at its 2019 debut showcase,⁴ and SM revealed Karina as aespa's leader in a post on its official Naver channel in November 2020.⁵

The job often goes to the oldest member. A 2009 Maeil Business piece on how leaders are chosen says many groups pick whoever was born first: Taeyeon leads Girls' Generation because her birthday comes earliest among members born the same year, and Leeteuk, nine days older than Heechul, leads Super Junior.⁶ Korean press reports on leaderless groups describe the oldest member or the longest-serving trainee taking the role as the old norm.⁷⁸

Some groups have no leader on purpose. When Blackpink debuted in 2016, Yang Hyun-suk said it was the first YG group without one, so the members would decide things together.⁹ NewJeans and Babymonster have none either.⁸ Viviz picks a class president (반장) for each album instead, and TXT and Enhypen announced no member positions at all.⁷ Omega X debuted in 2021 saying every member was a leader and none had a position.¹⁰

The maknae (막내) is the youngest member, and the only position decided by age rather than skill.¹¹ The word is Korean for the last-born child of a family.¹² Members born in the same year are not tied; the later birthday is younger.

The title moves when a younger member joins, since the maknae is whoever was born last.¹³ Being new is not enough. When Minx re-debuted as Dreamcatcher in 2017, it added Handong and Gahyeon at the same time.¹⁴ Gahyeon, born in 1999, became the maknae,¹⁵ while Handong, born in 1996, was older than two existing members.

Fans build nicknames on top of it. The maknae line is the youngest few members,¹⁶ and Jungkook of BTS is the golden maknae because he sings, dances and raps.¹⁷ Neither is a position an agency assigns.

Agencies announce a group's lineup, each member's name and birth date, and the leader if there is one. Naver's person search, which agencies have been able to correct directly since 2008,¹⁸ labels the leader and nothing else, and only for some groups. On Waker's card, only the leader has a position next to their name.⁸

SEVENTEEN is one of the few groups whose agency went further, because a split is part of the concept. At its 2015 debut Pledis placed every member in a hip-hop, vocal or performance team and named S.Coups leader,¹⁹ and the teams are still official units.²⁰ Music sites and fan profiles give each member a tier anyway.²¹

Group pages show a leader when the agency announced one and a maknae worked out from birth dates. The main vocalist, lead dancer, visual and other slots that fan profiles fill stay empty because nobody official assigns them. No theory, body or recognized expert defines main, lead and sub, producers do not divide a song's parts that way, and the labels are attached by fans or agencies at will.³ Only vocalist, dancer, rapper, leader, oldest and youngest have any official footing; the rest is mostly assigned by fans.¹¹ A tier is added only when the agency or Korean press uses it for that member, under the rules in How Melomi records it.

Center is rarely announced. The word spread in Korean media in 2016 through Produce 101.¹¹

Visual and face of the group are opinions about looks and presentation that fans settle among themselves.¹¹²²

Profile sites fill every slot anyway. Kprofiles' guide defines each position but does not say where its member assignments come from.²³

Positions belong to a membership, so a member of two groups can lead one and not the other. They show on member cards and in the line above them on the group page.

Leader is recorded when the agency or the group has announced it. 22 of 393 active groups on Melomi have one. Groups that said they have no leader keep the field empty.

Maknae is worked out from the birth dates of current members, so it moves on its own when a younger member joins or the youngest leaves. Editors only tag a maknae by hand when a birth date is missing or wrong.

Vocal, rap and dance tiers are added when the agency or Korean press uses them for that member, with a source. Visual, center and face of the group are fan judgements and need a source that is not a fan profile. Fan profile sites are not sources for any position.