You have to keep producing music, to keep doing something. Visibly frustrated, he continued: “I’ve always thought BTS was different from other groups, but the problem with K-pop is that they don’t give you time to mature. But at some point I haven’t been sure what kind of group we are and for me, it was a big deal that I didn’t know.” RM, the group’s leader, was blunt in his assessment of an industry that does not easily permit such reflection: “I started music and became BTS because I had a message for the world. Back then I had something to say but just lacked the skills. Even more striking is their willingness to open up this decision to inevitable public scrutiny. To watch RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook lay it all out, with frank and sometimes tearful honesty, over a dinner table in their once-shared apartment, is to understand just how heavily they have carried the weight of expectation. On 10 June, the group released the anthology album Proof, a three-disc epic that spans their chart-topping singles as well as raw, endearingly youthful early demos.ĭrive has defined BTS, and it’s clear that this change in circumstances is no small decision. They won their first major award in 2015, for the bitterly romantic pop track I Need U, and began a steady climb towards industry domination with introspective, philosophical lyrics and a knack for twisting their hip-hop beginnings into a number of global pop genres. Despite their label’s humble origins, and in a K-pop industry then dominated by the “Big Three” music agencies, BTS set themselves apart from their peers through ferocious performances, a warm yet rebellious spirit, and a deeply tangible love for music backed by the underground hip-hop credentials of several of their members. According to a 2018 report, the seven men are worth more than $3.4bn to the South Korean economy.īut ever since BTS’s debut in 2013, they’ve been over-achievers. They spoke at the United Nations assembly in 2021 after travelling there on diplomatic passports, and earlier this month visited the White House to discuss Asian inclusion and representation with President Biden, as well as the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Their success in the west is just the tip of the iceberg: BTS have also won all four major categories at the Mnet Asian Music awards for three years in a row.īeyond their glittering trophy room (which is now open to the public at the Hybe Insight museum in Seoul), BTS have become figureheads for South Korea on the global stage. Breaking so many records that yesterday the Guinness World Records tweeted, “BTS we’re going to miss you”, the group are the first Grammy-nominated K-pop group, the first to chart a primarily Korean-language single at No 1 in the US, and grossed $33.3m from just four gigs in Los Angeles last year. Over the last two years, the idea of BTS almost became bigger than the seven members themselves.
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