How BTS became the K-Pop band that conquered the world

K-pop is nothing new.

The modern era of the South Korean popular music scene began to take root in the early 1990s, after decades of Western influence, and has gradually become an industrial complex, with agencies emerging to take underdeveloped talents and turn them into stars, or idols, as they are called in Korea. But nothing has ever been so similar to BTS the seven-member boys group formed in 2010 that, if you have not heard it, take hold of the scary world.

Now, the idea of ​​a boy band supporting pop culture is not new either. From Beatles to NSYNC to One Direction, they've been doing it for years. But for it to be done by singing almost exclusively in a foreign language to the entire Western world? This does not seem simply revolutionary. He is . Period, end of the story.

Since their inception, but especially over the past two years, boys who have become BTS men have broken the boundaries with each step, challenging not only what it means to be an idol. their native Korea, but also the limits of what a non-English speaker can achieve at the international level.

When the South Korean producer Bang Si-hyuk who had written to succeed in the K-pop bands like God and Wonder Girls as part of JYP Entertainment, created in 2005 to form Big Hit Entertainment, he wanted to do things a little differently from the studio culture that was de rigueur at the time. Rather than exercising the enormous amount of control over its signatories – not only in the songs that they sing, but also in the way they express and live their lives – the visionary nicknamed "Hitman" began to create a group that would avoid the rigidity of the presentation industry on a blank slate in favor of sincerity, personality and freedom.

In 2010, he began gathering a group of teenagers for a group called Bulletproof Boy Scouts (or Bangtan Sonyeondan in Korean). The first to join was RM (born Kim Nam Joon, originally known as Rap Monster), de facto leader and spokesman of the group, who met Bang that year. "I was an underground rapper and I was only 16 years old, I was a freshman in high school," said [1949007] TIME of BTS in 2017. "Bang thought I had potential as a rapper and lyricist.

Coming Soon Suga (Min Yoon Gi), J-Hope (Jung Ho Seok), ] of Jung Kook (Jeon Jung Kook), Jin (Kim Seok Jin), Jimin (Park Ji Min) and V: The Series ( Kim Tae Hyung) were added to the mix, each with their different strengths, although all the incredible singers and dancers.I recently discovered a business document dating from [2012,] the year before the creation of BTS, in which we discussed the type of idol group to create, "Bang said in an interview with South Korean newspaper JoongAng. of today's youth heroes looking for it? Not someone who is dogmatically preaching from above. It seems rather that they need a hero who can lend them a hand, even without saying a single word.

To do this, he spared them from the strict contracts and curfews of their predecessors and allowed them to speak openly about celebrity-related tensions in Korea and the tensions of celebrity.

"When we were forming BTS, we decided to create a group that had a positive influence, "continued Bang." After all, idols are idols . An idol that has a negative influence is a false idol. We thought that there should be no glorification of delinquent behavior or tolerance to social injustice in their songs, even if this is only implied. We decided not to do anything like that, even though it looked cool at the time. "

As RM explained to TIME ," We are only a normal group of modestly-born boys who have a lot of pbadion and a dream to be famous … We have a common dream: to write, dance and produce music that reflects our musical background as well as our core values ​​of acceptance, vulnerability and success. "

Their distinct brand, a mixture of this honest vulnerability, this overflowing personality and its undeniable craftsmanship, put them on the superstarom track not immediately after their debut in 2013. But very quickly by the After a year on the Billboard 200 chart, and one year later, their album Wings will be 26th, the highest ever recorded for a K album. It will also become the first artist not to be One of the "Big Three" Korean Entertainment Companies Wins the Artist Award of the Year at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

] Since then, the group has had many more premieres, becoming the first to participate in the American Music Awards, the first Korean artists to win a Billboard Music Award Justin Bieber and [1945] 9006] Selena Gomez in 2017 to win the trophy for the best social artist of the year), won two albums No. 1 of the Billboard 200 in the same year (2018), spoke at of the United Nations General Assembly (to talk about mental health and self-love as part of its Love Myself campaign), sold the Citi Field in New York in a few minutes for the first performance of A Korean act at the American stadium, presented at The Grammys 2019, which teamed with Mattel for an official line of dolls to be released this summer, found themselves in the Guinness Book of Records for their incredibly energetic fanbase known as of ARMY, and will become the first act of K-pop to occur on Saturday Night Live with their Apparition of the episode of April 13

Despite all its successes, life has changed for the septet. They are rarely able to escape to the outside "just to get in", unless they break up into smaller groups, "said Jimin Entertainment Weekly (via a translator) in April. " I mean, look at us, "added RM laughing." Seven boys with dyed hair! It's really too much. "If they want to sneak in to see a movie, it's" always the last or the latest show, "he told the magazine.

Since their inception, they've lived together in group housing – a commonality among pop-pop stars, which was not without challenges at first. "We've been living together for almost eight or nine years," Jimin told EW "At first we had a lot of arguments and conflicts. But we have reached the point where we can communicate without words, just by looking at ourselves and reading the expressions. "

The kind of turmoil that they are causing around the world has seen them compared to the group of boys that started, and while it's a huge compliment, it's not always comfortable." Sometimes it's very embarrbading when someone calls us 21st century Beatles or something like that, "admitted RM," but if they want to call us a group of boys, then we are a group of boys. If they want to call us a group of boys, we are a group. If they want to call us K-pop, then we're nice with K-pop. "

Despite all this success, there is one thing that remains elusive for the record-man, and it's the top 100 singles." They were in the top 10 in 2018 with their song "Fake Love", but they could not climb higher, because the traditional radio broadcast, which is a major element in the decision of this ranking, continues to elude them here in America.

"This will have to be a great song but there is also a whole strategy of going to the end, "said Suga EW ." And then there must be a measure of luck, of course. So, what is important for us is to make good music and good performances and to bring these elements together. "

And although Spanish hits like" Despacito "of 2017 have managed to hit the number 1, BTS is not quite" You know, Latino pop has its own Grammys in America, and it's very different, "said RM." I do not want to compare, but I think it's even more difficult as an Asian. group. "

" A Hot 100 and Grammy nomination, these are our goals, "he continued. But these are just goals: we do not want to change our identity or our authenticity to get number one. For example, if we suddenly sing in full English and change all those other things, then it's not BTS. We will do everything, we will try. But if we could not get number one or number five, that would be fine. "

OK? Maybe. Not likely? Certainly.

The popularity of K-pop only increases the group of girls in America BLACKPINK makes a first with a set Coachella this year – and Halsey badociated with the guys for the single "Boy With Luv" on their new album Card of the Soul: Persona the sky seems to be the limit for the group at the forefront of this recent stage of Hallyu or the Korean wave.

So a Hot 100 No.1 is only a matter of time.