Entry #8: BTS introduction: The story of Bangtan (Part 1)

Hello everyone!!!

We meet again! Today, let's find out about an interesting thing!

             We have talked about a lot of things around the K-pop industry in the previous posts. Today, we will take a look at a specific K-pop group and how they work. Are you excited to know more about K-pop? I'm pretty sure that you will be amazed and shocked because of the story of this group; this group is one of the most famous K-pop group recent days. With global fame, these guys are bringing K-pop into a new wave for world music. You may have heard about because of their popularity. They are a global phenomenon, who won the top social artist award at the Billboard 2017, surpassing many global names who have the top following on social media like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Shawn Mendes. Furthermore, they just became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards (AMAs) last year. Do you know who they are?

Yes, they are BTS and they are becoming social influencers in this new world of the social network with their music. Let's find out about their story: From Nobodies To Legend!

"K-pop is not just music, it's a lifestyle!"

1/ Who is BTS?

          This group name is BTS, some people may think that it stands for "Behind the Scene" right? Well, I would not deny it, if you know the story of them, you will think that name fit them completely. But, in fact, BTS is not short for "Behind the Scene"; BTS stands for "Bangtan Sonyeondan" which means "Bulletproof Boys Scouts" or "Beyond The Scene" in English. It has a profound meaning, the meaning of their name is their aspiration; a member of BTS stated that "Bangtan means resistant to bullets, so it means to block out stereotypes, criticism, and expectations that rain on adolescents like bullets to preserve the values and ideals of today's adolescents.".

Sounds cool right?  They also have their fandom named A.R.M.Y, which mean "Adorable Representative MC Of Youth." Also, since they are Bulletproof Boys Scout, they need an ARMY behind to support and fight with them. That's it the meaning of their name and their fandom.

          Just like other K-pop groups, BTS has quite a lot of members; they have 7 members. The oldest was born in 1992 and the youngest was born in 1995, so they are quite young. This may seem obvious but it was confusing for me when I was a new fan to memorize their names and figure out their real names and the stage names.

1. Jin (Kim Seokjin)

- The oldest member, he was born in 1992

- Role: Vocalist and Visual 

2. Suga (Min Yoongi)

- He was born in 1993

- Role: Rapper, Producer

3. J-Hope (Jung Hoseok)

- He was born in 1993

- Role: Main Dancer, Sub Vocalist, Sub Rapper

4. RM - Rap Monster (Kim Namjoon)

- He was born in 1994

- Role: Rapper, Producer.

5. V (Kim Taehyung)

- He was born in 1995

- Role: Vocalist, Visual

6. Jimin (Park Jimin)

- He was born in 1995

- Role: Vocalist, Sub Dancer

7. Jungkook (Jeon Jungkook)

- The youngest, he was born in 1997

- Role: Vocalist, Visual

So basically, although they have many different roles, but in summary BTS has 3 rappers and 4 vocalists. They all are talented guys who can sing, dance and rap. You will be amazed because of their skills.

2. The story of BTS

BTS is under the management of iBigHit, which is a small company, actually, it was one of the smallest and unknown company from the beginning, before BTS became famous. These guys were gathered by iBigHit after being rejected at the 3 big companies (The Big 3: YG, SM, and JYP). The Big 3 have their power, reputation and professional way of working. However, getting into their company to become an idol is extremely difficult for anyone. All trainees will be selected according to their own criteria. You may good at some skills but you may not be chosen because you do not meet the company requirements. It sounds unbelievable, but some of BTS member were rejected by the three big companies. So, after all, they became trainees of iBigHit. After spending a long time practicing, they debuted as BTS members. 

In the beginning, BTS did not get much attention because they came from a small and unknown company. In Korean society, especially in the entertainment industry of Korea, if you come from a small anonymous company, you will be very difficult to succeed, everyone thinks you are just incompetent useless and you just want to imitate the real talented people. In fact, this may be true in some ways. in Korea, there are many more entertainment companies and K-pop groups than you can imagine, these groups from small companies are rarely success and they easily disband after a short time. The singers at these companies usually do not have beautiful looks, and the talent is not so prominent; That is why large companies are often more prominent. Trainees in large companies can dance, sing, and rap at a high level from a young age.

BTS was no exception, they came from a small company and people looked down on them at that time. They were despised by the majority of the public, audiences and the media. But, they never gave up. Although with a small number of fans, they still maintained their activities and produced extremely diverse music products compare to other K-Pop groups. But everything was too hard for the BTS to be able to recognize the talent. It seemed like they almost disband like other groups, but BTS and iBigHit had decided to complete their trilogy before making next decision. Around that time, BigHit had a huge debt and the risk of disbanding BTS was extremely high. They had hit a last gamble. And that was when things change. For the first time ever, BTS's song was in the top 1 of all charts, and the song became popular in the Kpop world by the music and story conveyed in it. 

A miracle happened on May 5, 2017, they won first prize in a music show for the first time. And as I said in the previous post, if a group wins first place in a music show, they have the potential to succeed and become as famous as the groups in The Big 3. After gaining the first success, BTS has gradually gained attention from the media and audiences not only in the country, but also famous in the global Kpop fan community. BTS continued to work relentlessly and continuously to produce music. 

Their music products always contain special things hidden behind lyrics and music videos. This has helped BTS get more and more attention from everywhere. They have won music awards not only in Asia, but also in the West, especially in the United States. In 2017, they overcame many celebrities to win Top Social Artist at the Billboard Awards. Not stopping there, they became the first group to have their debut at the American Music Awards in late 2017. After that event, they became increasingly popular and received collaborative offers from artists all over the world. Their latest album has sold over 2 million copies and has yet to stop. Currently, BTS has more than 9 million subscribers on their YouTube channel and more than 20 million followers on two Twitter accounts. Even well-known American actors and singers have started following them (including John Cena, LOL) and sent them collaboration invitations.

The success of BTS is unbelievable, since a group of musicians from very small companies, they have become the most popular group at the present time. Can not mention that BTS even had their three main talk shows in the America such as: The Ellen Show, The Late Late show and Jimmy Kimmel Concert. They are a big thing now.

I'm so sorry if this post it is too long, but there are a lot of things to talk about BTS. Not only their music, but also their story has tremendous inspirational power. I believe that anyone who knows their story will feel excited and inspired. I would like everyone to listen to BTS music and find out about them. They are really a musical phenomenon that the world is in need of.

Finally, Let's take a moment to watch this clip to understand more about BTS. Next time, I  will explain in depth and have an insight into the music of BTS, which has made their popularity.