K-POP CENTRAL: A GUIDE TO BTS

A Guide To BTS

CONTENTS

4-7

All About BTS

Here we discuss a little back ground history to the world famous Korean group, BTS.

8-9 BTS

Interview Here we discuss “What ARMY means to BTS”.

10-11

Shopping

List of some BTS albums that are exclsively on Werverse.

All About BTS

BTS Aka. Bangtan Sonyeo ndan (Korean: “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” or “Bangtan Boys”), also called Beyond the Scene, is a South Korean K-pop (Korean pop music) band that shot to interna tional stardom in 2013. The band consist of seven members, Kim Seok-Jin (JIN); b. December 4, 1992, Anyang, South Korea), Min Yoon-Gi (SUGA);b. March 9, 1993, Buk-gu,South Korea). Jung Ho-Seok(J-HOPE); b. Febru ary 18, 1994, Kwangju,South Korea),Kim Nam-Joon(RM); b. September 12, 1994, Ilsan,South Korea),Park Ji-Min( JIMIN); b. October 13, 1995, Busan,South Korea),Kim Tae-Hyung (V); b. December 30, 1995, Taegu,South Korea), and Jungkook (JK); b. Sep tember 1, 1997, Busan,South Korea).

BTS has a devoted following (fans called themselves

ARMY [“Adorable Represen tative MC for Youth”]).The band has broken numerous records on YouTube—like for the most views of a music video within 24 hours of its release, for such singles as “Boy with Luv” (2019), “Dy namite” (2020), and “Butter” (2021).

BTS was formed by Bang SiHyuk, a successful songwriter and music producer who es tablished his own studio, Big Hit Entertainment, in 2005. In 2010 he began to assemble talent for a group he was call ing the Bangtan Sonyeondan, which would later become BTS. The members—the first of whom was RM, an under ground rapper in Seoul— were selected for their singing, rapping, and dancing skills. The band’s first releas es were three EP (extended play) records in the School se-

ries, including 2 Cool 4 Skool (2013), O!RUL8,2? (2013), and Skool Luv Affair (2014). BTS’s first full-length album, Dark & Wild, appeared in 2014. The band’s popularity grew with each recording, and, after releasing The Most Beau tiful Moment in Life, Part 1 and Part 2 (both 2015), BTS began its first world tour. With momentum from the tour, Life, Part 2 rose to num ber one on six internation al music charts. The album Wings (2016) continued that success, becoming the first of the group’s albums to debut on both the Canadian Hot

100 and the Billboard 200 charts. BTS later rereleased the songs from Wings with four additional singles un der the title You Never Walk Alone (2017). At the Billboard Music Awards presentation in 2017, BTS won the Top Social Art ist Award, which had been voted on by fans. The band then won the award each year through 2021, beating such performers as Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. Meanwhile, the group re leased another EP, Love Yourself: Her, in 2017. The record ing debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number seven,

an unprecedented 101.1 million views on YouTube in 24 hours. BTS was nominated for a Grammy Award for best pop duo or group performance for the song and performed it at the 2021 awards show. The single was included on the al bum Be (2020). Meanwhile, BTS also made several Japanese studio albums, including Wake Up (2014), Face Your self (2018), and Map of the Soul: 7—The Journey (2020). In 2021 BTS released their second English-language sin gle, “Butter,” which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100. Its accompanying video once again beat the band’s previous record, reaching approx imately 113 million views on YouTube in one day. BTS per formed “Butter” at the 2022 Grammy Awards, where the song was nominated for best pop duo or group perfor mance. In 2018 BTS released a YouTube documentary series, Burn the Stage, about its 2017 world tour. An extended

movie version (2018) later appeared in various countries. Other documentaries of BTS tours included Bring the Soul: The Movie (2019) and Break the Silence: The Movie (2020). In 2019 BTS became the first South Korean musical group to perform on the American comedy and variety television show Saturday Night Live. Later that year a BTS-themed game, BTS World, was re leased for mobile devices, along with an album of the game’s soundtrack. The members of BTS were involved with several philan thropic organizations. In 2017 they teamed with UNICEF to launch the Love Myself cam paign, which raised funds to support social programs fighting violence against children and teens. In 2021 South Korean Pres. Moon Jae-In ap pointed the members of BTS as special presidential envoys for future generations and culture. As such, the band members took turns giving

a speech ahead of the annual United Nations General As sembly meeting of world lead ers in New York, New York, and showed a video of themselves performing their latest single, “Permission to Dance,” which had been shot in the UN Gen eral Assembly Building’s icon ic Assembly Hall and on the grounds nearby. BTS encouraged the world’s youth to be come a beacon of change amid the COVID-19 pandemic and urged people to get vaccinated. In 2022 the band met with U.S. Pres. Joe Biden to discuss the recent rise of violence against Asian Americans in the Unit ed States. Also in 2022 BTS released Proof, an anthology album that included the new single “Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment).” Shortly afterward the band announced a hiatus, suggesting that they planned to pursue solo proj ects.

BTS INTERVIEW

What Does “Army” Mean To BTS?

WHAT DOES “ARMY” MEAN TO V?

V used the word “life.” He impressed the others when he said, “I think I’ve been given this life under the name of V. and its all thanks to ARMY”

WHAT DOES “ARMY” MEAN TO JIMIN?

Jimin said, “We say this among ourselves a lot as well, but I think our fans are our everything. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to come this far, wouldn’t have been able to per form, and wouldn’t have been able to do the things we want to.” He expressed their grat itude to their fans and said, “I think they’re the people that have risen together with us.”

WHAT DOES “ARMY” MEAN TO JIN?

“I am the moon and ARMY is my earth”. “Everyone knows that ARMY and I are in separable like Earth and the Moon”.

WHAT DOES “AMRY” MEAN TO J-HOPE?

“Army is my hope. Army is my achilles tendon. They give me strength. They are the driving force that helps me move. I purple you Army.”

WHAT DOES “ARMY” MEAN TO RM?

“Army, we started together from the bottom and made the possible from what we thought was impossible. We love you guys so much.

WHAT DOES “ARMY” MEAN TO JK?

To me, ARMY are like cogwheels. Even if one cogwheeel is missing a clock doesn’t work. So they are like my driving force.

ARMY

WHAT DOES “ARMY” MEAN TO SUGA?

To me, AMRY and I are eternal life partners. They made us BTS. They are the reason we made it.

BTS released the new anthology album Proof on June 10, 11 months after their latest single CD Butter. Proof is the core of BTS’ history. The new three-CD album introduces three new tracks, one in each CD: “Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)”, “Run BTS” and “For Youth”, each in different genres con veying their own messages.

The album comprises 48 tracks total, from the great est hit songs, and solo/sub-unit tracks selected by each member, unreleased tracks to special tracks.

BTS DARK & WILD is BTS’s first studio album. in a year and two months, BTS sings about love gone awry in DARK & WILD. They warn the girl who acts like she doesn’t love them not to test their love anymore.

Most Popular Full-Length Album

BTS BUTTER includes the shimmering sum mer song “Butter” as well as “Permission to Dance” that will get your heart pumping and dance again. The instrumental versions of each are also part of the tracklist.

$26.50+

$25.90+

BTS’ LOVE YOURSELF series bears the mes sage that loving oneself is the beginning of true love. Fake love inevitably leads to loss and separa tion, For true love can only begin when you learn to love yourself.

How to say BTS

WHAT’S A FANCHANT?

If you’ve gone to a BTS concert, (or stumbled upon a fan cam of the idols,) chances are, you’ve heard fans screaming along as the boys performed. This is what’s referred to as a “fan chant” by members of the K-pop community, and they normally take place during the beginning of, typically, upbeat songs.

WHERE DOES THE FANCHANT HAPPEN?

At the start of songs like “DNA,” “Idol,” “Boy With Luv,” and “Save Me,” fans chant the names of the members, in the order: “Kim Namjoon! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok! Park Jimin! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jungkook! BTS!”

Depending on the song, the fan chants vary in their placement and their words. Usually, the name of the group “BTS” is shouted throughout the song.

WHO IS KIM-NAMJOON?

KimNam-joon, better known by his stage name RM, formerly known as Rap Monster, is a South Korean rapper-songwriter and record producer under Big Hit Music. He has the positions of leader and rapper in the Korean music group, BTS. RM was born on September 12, 1994, in Dongjak-gu, South Korea, and grew up in Ilsan-gu, where his family moved when he was four or five. He is the elder of two sib lings and has a younger sister.

HOW DID HE END UP WITH BTS?

RM trained with Big Hit Entertainment for four years until of fered a spot in BTS. He always loved the idea of prodcing music and went to chase his dreams. RM largely learned English by watching Friends with his mother. And is now the main spokeperson / leader of BTS.

RM’S SOLO PROJECTS

Apart from BTS, RM has worked on several of his own projects.

As a solo artist, he had released his first mixtape RM, on March 20, 2015 and his second mixtape Mono, on October 23, 2018. He will make his official solo de but with his first studio album Indigo on December 2, 2022.

“I worked hard on it for the past 4 years … It will be very different from my past projects,” he previ ously wrote on Weverse, adding that a lot of “fun friends” were in volved.

The full list of Indigo collaborators includes Epik High’s Tablo, folk singer Kim Sawol, Cherry Filter’s Jo Yujin, offonoff’s Colde, and “Coming of Age Ceremony” singer Park Jiyoon. Paul Blan co and Mahalia also feature on a track produced by the English duo HONNE.

WHO IS KIM-SEOKJIN?

Kim Seok-jin, better known by his stage name Jin, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer under Big Hit Music. He has the positions of vocalist and visual in Korean music group, BTS. Jin was born on December 4, 1992, in Gwa cheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. His family consists of his mother, father, and older brother.

HOW DID HE END UP WITH BTS?

.Jin was scouted by Big Hit Entertainment for his looks while walking down the street, exiting a bus. At the time, Jin was studying acting and had no background in music. But decided to give music a try and loved it. He trained with Big Hit Entertainment for about one years until finally go ing into BTS, where he’s referred as Mr.World-Wide-Handsome.

JIN’S SOLO PROJECTS

Apart fiom BTS, Jin has done sev eral solo projects. As a solo artist, he has released three self-com-

posed digital singles, “(Tonight)” in 2019, “Abyss” in 2020 and “(Super Tuna)” in 2021. He then made his official solo debut with his first single album “The Astronaut” on October 28, 2022.

Released on October 28th, 1pm KST(11am EST), the single al bum entitled The Astronaut is the first official single and album for Jin. The Astronaut single was later confirmed that Jin’s single to be released was a song gifted to him by Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay. Chris later invited Jin to fly to Argentina on the release date of his solo single to perform The Astronaut during Coldplay’s “MUSIC of the SPHERES Tour”.

WHO IS MIN-YOONGI?

Min Yoon-gi, better known by his stage names SUGA and Agust D is a South Korean rapper-songwrit er and record producer under Big Hit Music. He has the position of rapper in the Korean music group, BTS. Min Yoon-gi was born on March 9, 1993, in Daegu, South Korea, the younger of two sons.

HOW DID SUGA JOIN BTS?

As a child, Suga was very fond of music and began producing his own music by age 13. By the age of 17. was working a parttime job at a recording studio. Originally joining the company Big Hit Entainiment to become a music producer, Suga trained for three years alongside members J-hope and RM to eventually become a member of BTS.

SUGA’S SOLO PROJRCTS

Suga has done several of his own solo projects and produced music alongside other artist. He released a free self-titled mixtape via SoundCloud on August 15, 2016. Fuse TV rated it one of the top 20 mixtapes of 2016. In 2017, SUGA composed the song “Wine”

for singer Suran, whom he had previously worked with for a single on his mixtape. The re cord peaked at #2 on the Gaon Digital Chart and won best Soul/R&B track of the year at the Melon Music Awards on December 2, 2017. SUGA also received the “Hot Trend Award” for his work on the track. In January 2019, SUGA provided a rap feature on Lee So-ra’s single “Song Request”. The track was co-written by SUGA and Tablo of Epik High, who also produced the track. On May 6, 2020, IU released the digital single “Eight” featuring and produced by SUGA. The song debuted at number one on both the Gaon Digital Chart and Billboard World Digital Songs chart. SUGA released his sec ond mixtape, D-2 (the contin uation to Agust D), together with the music video for its lead single “Daechwita” on May 22, 2020 which peaked at #76 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. .

WHO IS JUNG-HOSEOK?

Jung Ho-seok, better known by his stage name J-hope, is a South Korean rapper-songwriter and record producer under Big Hit Music. He has the positions of rapper and main dancer in the Korean music group, BTS. Jung Ho-seok was born on February 18, 1994, in Gwangju, South Korea, where he lived with his parents and older sister.

HOW DID HE JOIN BTS?

Before debuting with BTS, he was part of the underground dance team Neuron. j-hope had been relatively well-known for his skills in dance prior to his debut; he won various lo cal prizes for dance, including placing first in a national dance competition in 2008. His skills in dance eventual ly led him to gain interest in singing and rapping, helping motivate him to audition as an idol trainee.He trained as a trainee for three year until becoming a member in BTS.

J-HOPE’S SOLO PROJECTS

As a solo artist, he had released

his first mixtape Hope World, on March 2, 2018. In 2019, j-hope released a free collaboration single, “Chicken Noodle Soup”, on September 27, featuring American singer, Becky G. The track debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100, with 9.7 million streams and 11,000 down loads for the week ending Oc tober 4, making j-hope the first member of BTS to chart on the Hot 100 as a solo artist outside of the group, He then made his official solo debut with his first studio album Jack In The Box on July 15, 2022.

J-Hope also closed out the main stage at Lollapalooza 2022, becoming the first South Korean artist to ever perform.

WHO IS PARK-JIMIN?

Park Ji-min, better known by his stage name Jimin, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer under Big Hit Music. He has the positions of vocalist and dancer in the Kore an group,BTS. Jimin was born on October 13, 1995 in Geumjeong District, Busan, South Korea. His immediate family includes moth er, father, and a younger brother.

HOW DID JIMIN JOIN BTS?

As a child, Jimin loved to dance an when he got older, Jimin studied contemporary dance at Busan High School of Arts and was a top student in the modern dance department. After a teach er suggested he audition with an entertainment company, it led him to Big Hit Entertainment. Jimin was a trained at Big Hit for one year as a trainee until offered a postion in Korean group, BTS.

JIMIN’S SOLO PROJECTS

Besdies BTS, Jimin has done several solo pojects. In 2014, Jimin collaborated with fellow BTS member and vocalist Jung Kook on a song called “Christmas Day”,

a Korean rendition of Justin Bie ber’s“Mistletoe”—the Korean lyrics were written by Jimin himself. The two collaborated again in 2017 for a cover of American singer Charlie Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore” (2016), with Jimin singing the parts of Selena did. On December 30, 2018, Jimin released his first solo song outside of BTS releases, “Prom ise”, for free on BTS’ SoundCloud page. On January 3, 2019, the platform announced that “Promise” had surpassed the record for the biggest 24hour debut ever. On December 24, 2020, Jimin released his second solo effort “Christmas Love”, a song about his child hood memories of the holidays. In 2022, jimin, along with members V, Jin and Jungkook featured in song Bad Deci sions, along side with Ben ny Blanco & Snoop Dogg.

WHO IS KIM-TAEHYUNG?

KimTae-hyung,better known by his stage name V, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, re cord producer and actor under Big Hit Music. He has the positions of vocalist, dancer and vi sual in the Korean group,BTS. V was born Kim Tae-hyung on December 30, 1995 in Daegu, South Korea, and grew up in Geochang County. He is the eldest of three children.

HOW DID V JOIN BTS?

When Taehyung was young he always knew he wanted to become a perfessional singer. He began taking saxophone lessons in early middle school as a means of pursuing the career. Tae didn’t intend to audition himself and was only there to support his friend, but a team member at Big Entertainment saw him and en couraged him to audition. After he called his father for permis sion, Tae auditioned on the spot and became the only person from Daegu that day to make it to the next round. He trained for two years with Big Hit.

V’S SOLO PROJECTS

Before starting his solo music de but, Tae his acting debut under his birth name on 2016 with the drama(Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth). Not so long after, he has released two self-composed unofficial songs, “(Scenery)” and “Winter Bear” in 2019. In 2020, V participated in a song titled “Sweet Night” for the soundtrack of the JTBC drama Itaewon Class which was released on March 13, 2020. Produced, written and sung by V, the indie pop song is entirely in English. On December 25, 2020, Tae also released a solo track titled “Snow Flower” fea turing Peakboy. In Dec. of 2021, Tae released a OST, “Christmas Tree” for Netflix K-drama se ries, Our Beloved Summer. His song “Christmas Tree” debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart.

WHO IS JEON-JUNGKOOK?

Jeon Jungkook, better known by his stage name Jung Kook or JK, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer under Big Hit Music. He has the posi tions of center, vocalist, dancer, visual and maknae in the Korean group,BTS. Jung-kook was born on September 1, 1997, in Busan, South Korea. His family consists of his parents and an elder brother.

HOW DID JK JOIN BTS?

Jung Kook initially had dreams of becoming a badminton player when he was young, but after see ing G-Dragon perform “Heart breaker” on television, it influ enced him to want to become a singer. In 2011, Jung Kook auditioned for the South Korean talent show Superstar K during its audi tions in Daegu. Though he was not selected, he received casting offers from seven entertainment companies. He eventually chose to become a trainee under Big Hit Entertainment after seeing RM, now his fellow band member and leader in BTS, perform. JK was the youngest member of

the group, with only being 13 in middle school. He trained with Big Hit for one year until finally going to the group,BTS.

JK’S SOLO PROJECTS

Other than BTS, JK has worked on several solo proj ects. JK released two self-pro duced unofficial songs, “Still With You” in 2020 and “My You” in 2022. Apart from this he also has done calabs with others. On November 6, 2018, Jung Kook performed “We Don’t Talk Anymore” with original singer Charlie Puth in a special collaboration stage during the MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards. The song was one he had previously covered twice, solo and with fel low BTS member Jimin. On November 20 local time, Jung kook took the stage at Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium to premiere his new single “Dreamers,” his contribution to the official FIFA World Cup soundtrack.

I Purple You

What is “ I purple you”?

WHO STARTED “I PURPLE YOU”?

BTS member, Kim-Taehyung (aka) V, started the saying “ I purple you”.

WHY “I PURPLE YOU” ?

“At the time ARMY had covered their ARMY bombs with purple fabric so the lights looked purple. That’s when I suddenly thought of it. Let’s say there’s a rainbow and that rainbow represents youth or life. Since the last color is purple, I implied that we should cherish, trust, rely on, and love each other until the end. I didn’t think it would have become such a big deal and now it has become something for us and army to say to each other. It’s the best and it sounds so nice. It is like our “I love you”.

- Kim Taehyung

“I purple you

you “ - BTS

BTS Official Lightstick