Local folk-pop band Ben&Ben on Friday thanked their fans for being “patient” with them after they changed their initial fandom name as it was already being used by fans of South Korean boy group Highlight.
“Thank you, Liwanag, for being patient with us and going through it all with us. We love you!” the Twitter account of the nine-piece collective reads on Friday afternoon.
The band on their Facebook page said they have “heard” the fans’ suggestions and decided to go through with “Liwanag,” the Filipino equivalent of their previously announced fandom moniker, “Lights.”
“We have heard your suggestions. We want to honor our Filipino heritage. Higit sa lahat, kayo ang Liwanag namin,” they said on the social networking site.
The band explained that they chose the name “Liwanag” after considering the suggestions of their fans and after careful deliberation with their management.
“The initiative also celebrates the community’s unwavering bayanihan spirit and optimism to advocate for meaningful change and unity through music, despite the challenges that the nation is currently facing,” according to a release.
The band, which is known for being highly receptive to their fans, previously announced that they will name their official fan club “Lights.”
It was an initiative to help spread the band’s “message of faith, hope and love” especially amid the ongoing public health crisis.
“We are naming the fandom ‘Lights’ because it reminds us that we can be bearers of hope in these dark times. We can be Lights to others. And we can do so by being united in soaring higher together and working to achieve higher and higher goals,” the band previously said.
However, fans informed them that there is already an existing fandom called “Lights.”
It is the moniker used by fans of the South Korean quartet Highlight, which used to be called Beast.
K-pop fandoms usually have official monikers such as “ARMY” for BTS, “EXO-L” for EXO and “Blink” for BLACKPINK, among others.
Meanwhile, Ben&Ben apologized for the initial fandom name and explained that they chose “Lights” after their song “Limasawa Street,” where “Limasawa” meant “a place of light.”
“We truly did not realize that it may cause trouble being that Ben&Ben is an OPM band from the Philippines. We hold high respect for K-pop culture and K-pop fandoms,” the band wrote on Thursday.