BTS THE NEW KINGS OF POP: A WORLDWIDE SENSATION
- fatemaadly
- Feb 2, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 8, 2020
Hailing from South Korea, BTS is now the biggest Asian act in history and the biggest boy group in the world at the moment as they keep topping charts, breaking records and creating new ones. This seven-member boy group, which was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, is now a global sensation.
BTS are a K-pop (Korean pop) boy group made up of seven members in their 20s namely, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook who come from all over South Korea, uniting in one group under the name BTS or “Bangtan Sonyeondan,” which means “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” in English. These seven boys debuted under the agency “Big Hit” on June 13, 2013, with the hip-hop song “No More Dream.” Their CEO Bang Si-hyuk created this group of youngsters to withstand social pressures and serve as a voice for the younger generation.
Since they debuted, BTS has slowly yet steadily been climbing towards their current superstar status seven years ago under a small label and entered the American market in 2017, when they won the Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist of the year. Now, they are a group recognized by the greatest Korean figure, the Korean president Moon Jae for their huge global impact. He listed BTS as one of the major reasons to why people from all over the world are fascinated by the Korean culture. He also labeled them as “Korea’s pride” as they have an annual impact of $4.75 billion on the South Korean economy, making them as powerful as Korea’s top-grossing companies like Samsung, Hyundai, and Kia.
The Bangtan Boys’ popularity continues to reach new heights even though their career has soared just a few years ago. However, their prosperity was neither a coincident nor an overnight success. They are a group that came from the bottom and climb their way up to success. During their early debut days, the Korean media didn’t pay BTS any attention and completely outlooked their achievements. The K-pop industry was monopolized by major companies, namely The Big Three; SM, JYP, and YG. Coming from a small unknown company, Korean netizens (internet users) used to be called BTS ‘dirt spoons,’ which is an insult for those who lack wealth. Accordingly, BTS used to get cut off broadcast simply because they were from an unknown company who have no stronghold in the industry. After their early debut days, BTS did not have it easy either. Not only was their agency suffering financially but so were they. All the seven boys had to share one small dorm with one bathroom and never had enough money to eat healthy food, hire sets, actors, makeup artists, etc. Their managers had to act in their music videos and used their cars for production because the company did not have enough budget to hire actors.
Them as humans were also going through a lot of hardships. The members have been suffering from constant cyberbullying coming from netizens (internet users). J-hope and RM for instance used to be viewed as “too ugly” to be idols and Jimin was constantly fat-shammed for having a chubby face. They were heavily criticized for being “different” from the unrealistic Korean beauty standards. In addition, when BTS finally gained a little popularity, they sold around 140 thousand album copies of their album “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt.1.” Netizens then jumped to the conclusion and were convinced that it was due to sajaegi. Sajaegi is a Korean term that means the illegal behavior done by a company wherein they buy their artist’s album to boost their sales. So BTS and their agency Big Hit were accused of such action since no one believed that such a small group like BTS from an unknown company could sell thousands of albums. Even throughout their whole career, BTS has never taken a single break from the constant hate directed towards them. They were also accused of plagiarism several times and bulk-buying albums to count towards charts. Yet, these claims were groundless and were never proven to be right till this day.
However, all of that neither put out their flame of passion nor stopped them from perusing their dream, they continued to work hard following their motto “Never give up on a dream that you’ve been chasing almost your whole life.”
BTS now has a massive run of milestone accomplishments full of firsts. BTS is the first Asian artist to top Billboard 200 and the first Korean act to chart on Billboard 100 as well. Not to mention, they are the first K-pop group to be nominated and to win 3 times in a row at the BBMAs as well as the only Korean act to win Top duo/group at the BBMAs. One of their most prominent achievement is they are the bestselling Korean act in history with approximately 20 million album sales. Their latest album “Map of The Soul: 7” is the bestselling album in 2020 globally with about 5.4 million album sales. It is also worth mentioning that they are the only Asian artist to sell out a whole stadium tour in four different continents. Last but not least, BTS was the first Korean act to make it to the Grammys, making it hard for anyone not to admire BTS especially that their success has come without them ever making English-language songs, breaking the language barrier between them and their fans across the globe. Even Parasite director “Bong Joon Ho” acknowledges BTS’ huge success as he stated at the Golden Globes that “BTS has 3,000 times the amount of power and influence that I have. I think Korea produces a lot of great artists because we’re very emotionally dynamic people.”
However, people who are not familiar with BTS don’t know the group’s secret behind their phenomenal success. BTS’ success goes down to their meaningful music, unique lyricism and uplifting messaging along with their captivating stage presence and well-defined choreographies which helped them become a dominating force in the music industry globally and domestically. They have managed to assemble a global audience comprised of people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities and BTS' ability to draw people with relatable concepts is what makes them appealing.
When it comes to their music, BTS is quite popular for their socially conscious songs that focus on common issues like bullying, mental health, and social pressures that young generations experience. Suga of BTS stated at a Billboard interview in March 2017 that it’s very essential nowadays to address these issues since no one seems to openly discuss it, saying "I think it's way more important to make music with those issues because I think it's important to encourage people to fight for those issues and, through the music, have a resolution for those issues." They were even recognized by the Korean minister of culture, Park Yang Woo for their music and he shared his opinion in an interview about the reason behind BTS worldwide popularity stating how the group’s message truly speaks to today’s young generation which is why, according to Park Yang Woo, so many people “can relate to them and like them”. He added that the messages in their songs are another prominent reason why BTS is admired by many people saying “there is the message in the songs. For example, the Love Yourself series offers a message of hope and courage for overcoming the anxieties and confusion experienced by teenagers and young adults.”
However, BTS was not just praised for being good artists but admired for being great human beings as well. In November 2017, BTS started the Love Myself campaign which is an anti-violence movement held in partnership with UNICEF. Such movement aims to promote compassion in order to end violence against children and eradicate bullying in schools. The initiative has raised over $2 million (about £1.64 million) since its launch where the money donated is based on direct donations and 3 % of the group’s income from their own album sales.
Even though BTS paved their own way to success without any external influence, they never stop thanking their fans for making them achieve their dream. They never took their fans for granted and never failed to let them know how much they are grateful to them. One of their unforgettable quotes is “We BTS would have never been able to shine without our fans”.
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