10 of the Most ICONIC Stan Moments That Prove We’re An Unhinged Generation
We’re living in a time where music history is being made.
Not just in the way we receive music, but also in how we’re giving back to the artists that make it. Gone are the days of fans, here are the days of “stans”.
We’ve all been there. One minute you’re scrolling TikTok or watching a concert livestream, and the next you’re witnessing a stan moment so iconic, so unhinged, it deserves to be in a pop culture museum.
From chaotic crowd energy to fangirls catching the eye of their faves, here are the most legendary stan moments that took the internet by storm. Buckle up – it’s about to get very parasocial.
10. “WHO IS IT?!”
The majority of Gen Z missed out on a Britney Spears upbringing, but almost every single one of them would recognise the phrase “it’s Britney bitch.”
While it was a line from her song Gimme More, its popularity grew from a stan interaction at her concert, where a guy shouted, “WHO IS IT?” just before she said it. She couldn’t help but laugh, and the moment lived on in infamy on the internet.
9. Jungkook Giggles Mid-Song
During a BTS concert, one ARMY member held up a sign that read, “Marry me, Jungkook” and then proceeded to faint dramatically as he glanced her way. The camera zoomed in just as he let out a giggle and tried to keep singing.
The clip exploded on Twitter and sent TikTok into meltdown. It was stan culture at its most delusional, and we loved every second.
8. Swiftie Shares Major Marvel Spoiler
You had to be there to understand this moment. It was right on the release of Avengers: Endgame, one of the biggest movie launches of our time. The plot twists were diabolical, and people were actively avoiding their phones to prevent spoilers. However, there’s an unbreakable rule on the internet that everybody should know: Do NOT annoy Taylor Swift fans.
This Swiftie took no trouble in spoiling the most dramatic death of an entire film franchise just because some people were “assholes for Taylor” on Twitter. There is truly nothing more iconic.
7. Fan Loses It at the Exile Surprise Song
Staying on the topic of Swifties, we saw a lot of their unhinged spirits at The Eras Tour. As a girlie who queued for hours and made it to the barrier of Wembley night one, I’m guilty as charged.
However, everyone on TikTok witnessed *that* girl breaking down crying while her friends held her from outside the stadium as Taylor played Exile onstage.
It was a moment that divided the internet. As a regular person? It was wild, maybe a slight overreaction. As a Swiftie? Girl, I’m right there with you.
6. “Start again, I wasn’t recording”
Ariana is the queen of having the best stans, and she has proven time and again how much she loves them.
During the Sweetener Sessions in August 2018, Ari was performing a stripped-back set. However, one fan shouted to her, “Can you start again? I wasn’t recording!”
She was happy to oblige, and that’s probably the only time shouting over your fave singer while she’s performing has ever worked for the better.
5. Harry Styles Helps a Fan Come Out
At one of his Love On Tour shows, Harry read out a sign that said, “Help me come out to my mum – she’s right there.” After a beat, he waved to the mum and proudly shouted, “She’s gay!”
The crowd lost it, the mum cheered, and the fan cried. It was wholesome, chaotic, and everything a stan could ask for.
4. Sabrina Carpenter Fan Confession
Nothing shocked me more than hearing the confessions that came out of Sabrina Carpenter’s Emails I Can’t Send Tour. Long before the days of Espresso, Sabrina would ask her smaller audiences to confess love and breakup stories to her, and one got particularly heated.
A girl confessed that her boyfriend had cheated on her with her own mother, who was standing right next to her in the crowd. That had to be an awkward car ride home.
3. Mr Beyoncé Knowles
An oldie but a goodie. We all know Beyoncé is a queen but imagine loving her so much that you legally change your last name so you can be her husband.
“Are you my cousin?” she asked a fan at the barrier of the stage, reading his ID.
“I’m your husband! I took your last name!” He exclaimed and then belted out Say My Name as the music began.
2. Ariana Fan Tweets From Her Fridge
In what must be the most iconic Twitter thread of all time, a fan made a series of tweets from various random objects in her house after her phone was confiscated.
Back in 2019 Dorothy told Intelligencer she’d had her phone confiscated after she “was boiling rice and was too busy on phone and stove burst into flames.”
This led to a series of tweets from her 3DS, WiiU, Minecraft, and most impressively, her LG Smart Refrigerator.
Nothing will ever top this dedication from an internet stan.
1. Orange Shirt Kid Dances With Lady Gaga
The orange shirt kid will never not be my favourite stan moment caught on camera. Why? Because not only was he insanely talented, but Gaga recognised this and brought him right up on stage where he belonged.
The stan, Atticus Lite, is now a concert photographer working in the music industry, proving the fangirl to music industry pipeline lives on once again.
