A Quick Intro to BTS

Hi everyone! Per Chris's suggestion from class earlier today, I have linked a few of BTS's most artistic, visually pleasing videos below. A bit of background for people who are curious, BTS stands for "Bangtan Sonyeondan", which roughly translated means "Bulletproof Boy Scouts". Yes, I agree, their name is a bit lame. In America, they've changed the meaning of BTS to "Beyond the Scene". I can't actually tell which one is worse. But bear with me!

There are 7 members, which I will name according to the attached photo going from left to right: RM (Kim Namjoon), J-Hope (Jung Hoseok), Jin (Kim Seokjin), Jungkook (Jeon Jungkook), Jimin (Park Jimin), V (Kim Taehyung), and Suga (Min Yoongi). Their birth names are in the parenthesis with their last name first since that's how Koreans say it. They debuted in 2013 and are now dubbed the biggest boy band in the world due to their many international accomplishments, which no other Kpop band has ever achieved before. Also, they have millions of fans worldwide. And I literally mean millions.

Some of their accomplishments include:
~Winning "Top Social Artist" at the Billboard Music Awards in 2017 and 2018, beating Justin Bieber who previously held the award in 2016.
~Performing at the American Music Awards in 2017
~Performing at the BBMAs in 2018
~2 albums peaking at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart
~Completely selling out a world tour within minutes of tickets going on sale (including a 40,000 capacity stadium show in 20 minutes)
~Breaking multiple YouTube records, including "Most Views in 24 Hours" with 45 million, beating Taylor Swift who previously held the record.
~Winning multiple prestigious Asian music awards
~Being guests on Ellen (2 times), The Late Late Show with James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel, Rockin' New Years Eve, and in the coming week, Good Morning America and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
~Being the first boy band to address the United Nations

So why is this all a big deal? Because 1) no other Korean band has ever received this much popularity in America/internationally before and 2) finally, there is more Asian representation in the entertainment industry and there has been an influx in this throughout 2018.

If you skipped all that and went straight to the videos, here they are (turn on the captions for English subs):

This one is their most recent song called "Idol". It's a song directed to people who've been saying that they're forgetting their Korean roots and are becoming more westernized. The song itself has some elements of traditional Korean music and sayings (in the chorus) mixed in, as well as in the sets, props, and costumes. The music video is a bit extra in terms of colors and aesthetics but there are multiple parts that have a much deeper meaning. The scene that is the most relevant to us in terms of class starts at around 2:03 where V is seen pushing his way through with a line of people on either side of him. The people there are meant to symbolize the crazy mobs of people who follow them everywhere (especially at the airport) and how they have people trying to touch/grab at them all the time. Fun fact: they also released a version of this song with Nicki Minaj.

This one was released in 2017 and is called "DNA". It doesn't have any aspects that relate to my project, but I'm linking it because it's one of their most visually pleasing videos, along with being one of their most difficult choreography pieces. I absolutely love the colors they used in the back drops and in the members's clothes/hair. They had some pretty abstract looking sets in this one. Hopefully it provides a bit of inspiration for project 1.3.

Ok last one I promise. This one is called "Not Today", also released in 2017. This is one of their more "westernized" songs in terms of style so I thought I would throw it in here for some variety.

Hopefully this was a semi-educational (or at least interesting) experience for some of you! Please feel free to ask questions if you're confused about anything. Thanks for reading this far.

~Sherry