You might be wondering, who the heck is BTS? What is that? Behind the Scenes?
Well, you might have heard a lot of buzz around this name during the American Music Awards (AMAs) that happened on the third weekend of November. There was a lot of hype surrounding them because their performance at the AMAs would be their American television debut, although they had quite a few performances and concerts in America already. Check out their incredible performance below!
Even before the AMAs, and basically the reason why they were invited to perform at the AMAs, was their nomination at the Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) this past summer. They had become the first Kpop group to win an award (this Gangnam styled Kpop artist was the first to win a BBMA, by the way).
In addition, they've already made appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Ellen Show this month and will soon be on James Corden.
Whether you have never heard of this group or you are already familiar with BTS or are even an ARMY, come along this journey to admire BTS' conquest of the world.
BTS is essentially a Kpop boy group with 7 members focusing on a wide range of genres but with a focus in hip-hop. If you need an introduction to Kpop, be warned, it is a very dangerous and addictive territory. But here ya go.
BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan or 방탄소년단 in Korean. The name translates to Bulletproof Boys but recently, they announced that another meaning to their name is Beyond the Scene for their English-speaking fans. Not unlike how Lady Gaga fans are called Little Monsters or how Justin Bieber fans are Beliebers, fans of BTS also have a unique name: A.R.M.Y standing for Adorable Representative MC for Youth. Yep...not cringe at all...
One of the reasons that people are interested in BTS is because of their music, and I can say the same for myself. Let's take a look at their discography.
BTS first debuted in 2013 with a strong hip-hop influenced song.
If you had listened to Kpop prior to 2013, the most popular songs would sound very different from BTS' style. Just take a listen to Big Bang's Fantastic Baby or Girls' Generation's Paparazzi . They have a very "Kpop feel" to them, while BTS had already made some headlines being the first stated "K-hip-hop boy group"; essentially a fusion of the Kpop style with hip-hop influences. This sort of mix of the two genres, Kpop and hip-hop has been a trend up until now, where a lot of Kpop groups release songs with more of a hip-hop and Western feel. So arguably, BTS was one of the first groups, if not the first to declare themselves to be "hip-hop" focused and contribute to this movement. Although they started out very strongly in the hip-hop genre, BTS has grown a lot since 2013 and now their music encompasses R&B, pop, electronic, etc. in addition to hip-hop.
Music/Lyrics
What also makes their music distinguishable are the concepts and meaning behind music videos and songs. Even from the beginning, their lyrics were packed with social criticism, such as how youth are pressured into becoming study machines instead of pursuing their own dreams in their song N.O. They continued this path of giving voice to people their age (20s), throughout their songs such as in the music video of I NEED U, where some members represented mental illnesses. In fact, starting from I NEED U which was released in 2014, BTS' style and popularity began to sky-rocket.
For example, I NEED U was a part of another trilogy called The Most Beautiful Moment in Life and the music video, as well as lyrics for their title songs, were based on the book, Demian by Herman Hesse. The book's themes are similar to what BTS had always been singing and rapping about: the trials and tribulations of the youth, and going through self-realization and growth.
Their fame overseas is even shown through their recent collaborations with a few American artists such as the Chainsmokers for Best of Me, Desiigner and Steve Aoki for a remix of their song Mic Drop.
Filmography
Also, not only do their music and lyrics standout, their music videos are literally shot like movies. Seriously. Just take a look at Spring Day, which BTS recently won an award Best Music Video for at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (also won Artist of the Year for 2 years in a row...no biggie right?).
<h2>Choreography </h2>You're probably wondering,
Choreography
You're probably wondering, BTS has amazing music videos, music, and now dancing?? What are they not good at?? I wonder that too. In fact, dancing is one of the biggest, if not biggest prowess that BTS has, in my opinion. Part of this is not only the talent and hardworking of the boys but they also have really talented people backing them up. For example, Keone Madrid, an American choreographer who also created a dance for Justin Bieber's Love Yourself music video, choreographed a few dances for BTS.Personality
Last but not least, what makes BTS so attractive is their personality. They are not afraid to let go and just be themselves.
One trait of BTS that I especially love is their humbleness. In several interview and award acceptance speeches, they never forget to show their gratitude towards their fans. Here is a well-put-together and thoughtful English interview led by Zach Sang.
Probably the strongest contributor towards BTS' popularity around their world is their use of social media. They are very active on Twitter, to the point where they earned a spot in the Guinness World Record Book of 2018 for most Twitter engagement.
They also have a vlogging series called Bangtan Bombs (unfortunately only in Korean) where you can see the BTS (ha) of their music videos, their daily shenanigans, etc. They also do live streams on the Korean app VLive. Due to their frequent activity on social media, it makes fans feel as if they personally know them and therefore support them ever more vigorously.
One of my favorite Bangtan Bombs is this one! It might be a little weird for people who are never to BTS but...hey, you can get a good idea of how weird they are.
A point, but which is rather obvious I feel, is that all of them are extremely good-looking. I'm not subjective at all. Nope. To end, here is a video of BTS on the red carpet at the BBMAs to admire the visuals of BTS at the BBMAs!
