7 great reasons to love BTS

This seven-member South Korean group was founded back in 2013, but has only recently begun to gain public attention outside of the k-pop scene.

You may have met BTS on the Trending tab on YouTube and on the first lines of the iTunes charts - yes, in Russia tooBlack Swan by @BTS_twt has achieved # 1 in 88 countries on iTunes. Have Twitter account groups of almost 24 million followers (this is 8.5 million more than Beyoncé), and the platform itself BTS fans have captured for a long time and regularly display their hashtags in the world top for a variety of occasions. American wrestler John Cena, Matthew McConaughey, Ed Sheeran and many other celebrities have publicly confessed their love for the boy band.

“The fluke has grown into something beautiful. I got to know a new part of the culture, and it's amazing, "- 13-time WWE champion humbly admits

Let's talk about why a group of seven South Korean guys became a global phenomenon and won the hearts of millions of people around the world - and can win yours too.

1. Genre variety

Pop, rock, R&B and soul, ballad, trap, EDM, many varieties of hip-hop - name the genre, and among the vast discography of BTS you will find songs to your liking. Except perhaps for some screamo and power metal, over the seven years of its existence, the group has affected almost all trendy musical styles.

Great examples of this music lover's exuberance are the albums Wings: You Never Walk Alone (2017) and Love Yourself: Answer (2018).

From languid neosoul to fiery hip-hop - yes, these are songs from one album

So once you get to know BTS, you can indulge in nostalgia for a bygone youth under Butterfly and yearn for unhappy love under The Truth Untold. And also throwing parties with Dionysus, raising morale before the interview with Fire and dissolving haters on the Internet under Cypher 4. (In general, there are four compositions called Cypher. Check it out if you love hip-hop with a powerful beat and aggressive readings.)

2. Deep lyrics

Not a single boy band in the world is complete without simple songs about first dates, roses, tears and others romantic twists and turns. But BTS and their producers took the bold step of writing songs about social inequality and mental illness, glass ceiling and conspicuous consumption culture. And also about what success means and what its achievement is worth.

Starting with the debut single 2 Cool 4 Skool and subsequent releases O! RUL8,2? and Skool Luv Affair, BTS's lyrics often bring up the topic of pressure on teenagers from parents and society. In South Korea, in an atmosphere of strong competition at school, university, and then at work, you have to become the best - or you will become nobody. But guys who have experienced the same pressure on their own skins say there must be another way: it is unfair to require a titmouse to fly as high as a crane.

In later albums, the themes of growing up, finding oneself and finding self-love become central. For example, in Fake Love, the lyrical hero dissolves so much into the object of his affection that he loses himself and becomes a faceless doll. The story continues in Epiphany: “Over time, I stopped coping with the storm in my soul, and behind the laughing mask my true face appeared. I am the one I have to love in this world. "

Of course, if you are not a connoisseur of Korean, a natural question arises about the language. But enthusiasts have long ago translated all the texts for us into Russian, you can find them in the thematic communities in the social network "VKontakte".

3. Impressive choreography

With enough practice, any group of seven people will be able to synchronously repeat even complex dance moves. To become a single organism and physically embody music, convey emotions and tell a story in this synergy is a completely different matter. And BTS does it in every performance.

Distant 2013, powerful choreography for N.O. - songs from the first mini-album

There are only a couple of participants in the group with significant dance background - J-Hope Jung Hope, winner of the national street dance competition, and Park Jimin, who studied contemporary choreography at the Busan School of the Arts. However, in BTS there is no distinction of "These are the dancers, and this is everyone else behind." In the performance, each participant manages to show individuality, and as a result, magic is born.

Spring Day is a story about the loss of a loved one and about the consolation that will come sooner or later

The group's performances are usually the responsibility of the permanent chief choreographer Son Songyk. BTS also collaborates with other professionals and studios, including Keon Madrid, Riehata, Quick Style Dance Crew and The Lab Creative Studio. The latter presented the band's fans with an unbridled orgy to Dionysus - a song about love for art and wine.

4. Active social position

K ‑ pop ‑ industry deliberately separates himself from politics and sells sweet fantasies regardless of the social climate. BTS are rare artists who go beyond that and inspire change. In addition to acute problems in the songs, the group's work carries universal values: sincerity, self-care and those who are near, respect for differences and striving for unity, because creativity does not know geographical boundaries.

In 2017, BTS teamed up with UNICEF to launchBTS supports #ENDviolence the #LoveMyself campaign, which is dedicated to protecting children and adolescents from violence. The group and its agency Big Hit Entertainment donated and donated 3% of the physical sales of their Love Yourself albums.

I would like to ask all of you: what is your name? What excites you and what makes your heart beat faster? Tell your story. I want to hear your voices and your beliefs. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are from, what your skin color or gender identity is, just speak up. Find your name and your voice.

BTS leader Kim Namjoon at the UN meeting in cooperation with UNICEF

Best of all, this message - not to be afraid to express yourself and to care for others - does not remain empty preaching. BTS's fandom - ARMY - is coordinated through social media and independently runs charity events for the members' birthdays, important dates for the group, or just like that. New projects appear every month. For example, in December 2019, BTS Jimin's fans donatedArticle on Korean news portal Naver "BTS Jimin's Fans Donate to Children With Leukemia" 10,130,000 won (~ 542,000 rubles) to the Korea Children's Leukemia Foundation. And in January this year, fans of the group paid for over 36,000 breakfasts for disadvantaged children to celebrate BTS's appearance on the James Corden Show.

The donations are still coming in from generous BTS fans. Now totalling 36,271 breakfasts & wrap around support 💜 Thank you so much @BTS_twt@OneInAnArmy#BTSArmy#BTSxCorden#FuelforLearninghttps://t.co/6K8L6asInW

- Magic Breakfast (@magic_breakfast) January 30, 2020

5. Captivating complex concepts

Those who like to look for deep meanings and build pop-cultural theories, do not pass by.

To begin with, some of BTS's albums are thematically related, and these themes consistently continue each other. I would especially like to highlight three of them.

If you're into fictional social dramas, check out The Most Beautiful Moment in Life trilogy, which launched in 2015. The videos for I Need U and Run, as well as the cinematic videos 화양연화 on stage: prologue and Highlight Reel, tell the story of seven teenagers with serious problems. Someone is forced to endure an abusive father, another has problems with mental health and drug addiction, and some live in a van because of dire poverty. To heighten the intensity of the drama, a time travel motif has been added to the story in a futile attempt to save friends.

A web comic was also released for this universe called Save me and a whole artistic book (all of this is available in the English version).

For fans of dark aesthetics and decadence, there is Wings, the release of which was accompanied by mini-films. This concept is closely related to the story from the previous trilogy, but it is presented through metaphors. For example, a hero who committed paricide appears in the form of a fallen angel (according to another version, the mythological Icarus). There are tons of symbols and references to world culture, and especially "Demian" by Hermann Hesse, a novel about growing up and finding oneself.

Finally, last year the album Map of the Soul: Persona was released, based on Carl Gustav Jung's concept of the structure of the human psyche. At the end of February, a continuation is expected - the release of an album called Map of the Soul: 7, and there are already three clips in which presents the key concepts of Jung's analytical psychology - Person, Shadow and Ego - in the embodiment of the participants BTS.

6. Respect for the native culture

Despite the frequent questions from Western journalists, "Are you planning to release an English-language album?", BTS remain true to their roots and continue to perform songs on Korean.

Perhaps the most striking expression of BTS's love for their language is Paldogangsan, or Satoori Rap, meaning "rap in a dialect." In this song, RM, Suga and J-Hope recite their verses in the dialects of their native provinces - Gyeonggi, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla. In the text, the guys lively argue about which of the regions of South Korea has the most delicious food and the coolest guys live, and it sounds very funny.

The praise of the homeland continues in the fiery Ma City

In addition to language, artists pay tribute to other aspects of their country's culture. For example, at the 2018 MMA Awards, three contestants dressed in hanbok. Traditional korean costume and presented three styles of folk dance - with drums, fans and masks.

7. Successful collaborations with world artists

BTS's collaboration with Western musicians also takes many different forms. Nicki Minaj read rap- a verse in one of the versions of the song IDOL, and singer Halsey appeared in Boy With Luv, sang the chorus and even became the eighth participant in the dance.

DJ and producer Steve Aoki boasts a very productive collaboration with BTS. In 2018, he invited the guys to record his composition Waste It On Me. It became the first completely English-language song that the band members performed.

This is the third collaboration between BTS and Aoki: the first was a fiery remix of Mic Drop, followed by The Truth Untold, a sad and tender ballad, completely atypical for a person who, as a rule, ignites dance floor.

A very important event for the group was their performance at the Grammy Awards in 2020 - albeit not with their own song, but together with rapper Lil Nas X under his last year's hit Old Town Road. And so unobtrusively, BTS became the first Korean artist (if not the first boy band at all) to perform on this stage.

Historic 40 seconds on the Grammy stage

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Album Map of the Soul: 7 is out very soon - February 21st. Don't miss it if you are interested in at least some of the points mentioned above - the new release will surely contain the expectedly good content and a couple more surprises.

And if nothing really caught on - well, at least, you have become a little better at understanding teenage girls. And John Cenu.