K-Pop Group’s Official Account Surprises Netizens By Using Tone Indicator
ZEROBASEONE attended The 2025 Golden Disc Awards (also known as The 39th Golden Disc Awards), which is an award ceremony held on January 4–5, 2025, at the Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka, Japan. They were among the “Best Album” winners for You Had Me At Hello.
_𝗭𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗙𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗦
🏆 GOLDEN DISC AWARDS BEST ALBUM
ZB1이 이렇게 시상식 나갈 때마다
손에 상 들고 돌아오면 마음이 힘들다(positive)#ZEROBASEONE #ZB1 #제로베이스원#골든디스크어워즈 #2025GDA #GoldenDiscAward #GoldenDisc pic.twitter.com/375uKq1gzl— ZEROBASEONE (@ZB1_official) January 7, 2025
Whenever ZB1 goes to an awards ceremony and comes back holding a trophy, it’s tough on my heart. (positive)
— @ZB1_official
ZEROBASEONE shared a post via X (formerly Twitter) after the ceremony. Many ZEROSEs (fans) reacted with congratulations.
Yet others couldn’t help but clown the group, noting that the group included a tone indicator in their post.
every time i see you guys with a trophy in your hand i fall to the ground and cry (positive)
— ☘︎ (@tyunchaez) January 7, 2025
congratulations jebewon! (positive)
— natasha 🌹🐬 (@fanalidei) January 7, 2025
Gyuvin… did you write the caption? 👀🩵
— andiee ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚⋅₊˚. ☽ 김지웅 🦋 (@chibii_is_me) January 7, 2025
A tone indicator (also known as a tone tag) is not uncommon on the internet, but it isn’t the norm for celebrities’ official social media accounts to use it. Its purpose is to explicitly communicate the intention or vibe of a phrase that could possibly be misinterpreted. In ZEROBASEONE’s case, they used the phrase “it’s tough on my heart,” which could sound negative, so “positive” was added at the end.
While some netizens were surprised to see the group’s official account use a tone indicator, others were aware that tone indicators had become a meme or slang in Korea.
It's a Korean meme/text thing. You'll see a lot of fans writing stuff like 미친놈 (positive), crazy guy (positive), to say their bias performed super well
— Mono⁰-¹❣️〰️❣️🌸 (@Monoghost_H) January 7, 2025
I learnt about this meme because of a shorts I saw on yt. The creator taught me that, after I had commented thinking that they wrote it to assure interfans of its positive tone. (There was a time whr some fans took translations at face value w/o understanding the tone used.)
— Dniee💜⁷ (@Dniee_AA) January 7, 2025
it’s a korean slang. le sserafim also used “michin (positive)” for their crazy comeback
— ✨️ (@jjanguhani) January 7, 2025
ZEROBASEONE member Gyuvin often uses tone indicators when messaging with fans, which is why some ZEROSEs suspect he wrote this caption.
it’s actually quite common 😭😭 gyuvin does this in plus chat a lot bcs of the meme
— ada ༯ 오늘만 ily (@qbingsu) January 7, 2025
