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Photo courtesy of a BTS concert
THE
BTS EFFECT Ju ne 13 2020
$10. 10
Seven Superstars By: Monica Moilanen
Photo credits to BigHit Entertainment
BTS, also known as Beyond the Scene and Bangtan Sonyeondan, is a seven member Korean boy band. They originated from South Korea, and they were formed under a company named Big Hit Entertainment. In 2017, they were first introduced in America. Then, in 2018, they gained a bunch of popularity as the fanbase grew enormously. They earned thirteen awards in 2018 in Asia alone. Recently, in 2019, they have won their first American music award related to their composition after a couple of years of earning the Top Social Artist award from Billboard Music Awards. Their popularity has reached to the point that almost everyone has heard the name BTS before. But, people do not realize the amount of hard work that BTS had done in order for them to achieve this immense amount of success.
Photo courtesy of BTS
On June 13, 2013, BTS had their official debut with their first album release named 2 Kool for Skool. They uploaded their first music video on that day called No More Dream which became their main song in the album. The song is about how the listener should stay away from societal expectations and follow his or her own dream. This single was mainly focused on the critiques of the current education system and the modern South Korean societal culture. In this album, they also released two songs, We are Bulletproof Pt. 2 and I Like It. BTS did not have a lot of fans when they debuted. At this time, their fanbase was small. Also, Big Hit Entertainment did not become a successful company yet. In 2013, they struggled with money usage. For example, BTS stated that they had to share their manager’s van in order to transport to any location.
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On September 11, 2013, BTS released their second album named ‘O!RUL8,2?’ This name stands for ‘Oh! Are You Late, Too?’ Their main track was called N.O., and a music video about the song was uploaded to YouTube. This song connects to their other main single, No More Dream, as it has the same theme of challenging the authority and societal expectations. Other tracks that are in the album are Intro: O!RUL8,2?, We On, If I Ruled the World, Coffee, Cypher Pt. 1, Attack on Bangtan, Paldogangsan, and Outro: Luv in Skool. Around this time, BigHit Entertainment was considering disbanding BTS. But, the CEO of BigHit Entertainment, Bang Sihyuk, made the decision to keep BTS and continue their music. By the end of 2013, they received their first award in their career which was the ‘Best New Artist’ award. It gave hope to BTS and BigHit Entertainment for the future.
Photo courtesy of BTS
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Photo courtesy of BTS
On February 12, 2014, BTS posted their third album called ‘Skool Luv Affair.’ They released their next music video called ‘Boy in Luv’ which became their title track in the album. The song expresses a tough version of a confession; the lyrics show how the main character has feelings but does not know how to show them. Thus, there is a hardcore vibe to the song. On April 9, a song from their album, Just One Day, had its music video. Other songs that were in the album are Intro: Skool Luv Affair, Where Did You Come From?, Tomorrow, BTS Cypher Pt. 2: Triptych, Spine Breaker, Jump, and Outro: Purpose. There was a repackage of the album called ‘Skool Luv Affair: Special Edition’ which included Miss Right and an I Like It remix.
On August 19, 2014, BTS shared their fourth album named Dark and Wild. The title track, Danger, was mainly promoted as the song got its music video. Danger is about how the main character is suffering from a toxic relationship. The lyrics mention how the character and the love interest were perfect together, but they are now close to breaking up. This theme of love hurts people shows on the album cover as it says, “Warning! Love hurts. It causes anger, jealousy, obsession, why don’t you love me back?” The songs that are in the album are Intro: What am I to You?, War of Hormone, Hip Hop Phile, Let Me Know, Rain, BTS Cypher, Pt 3: Killer (feat. Supreme Boi), Could You Turn Off Your Cell Phone?, Embarrassed, 24/7 = Heaven, Look Here, Second Grade, and Outro: Does It Make Sense?
Photo courtesy of BTS
Photo courtesy of BTS
On October 10, 2016, BTS released their eighth album named ‘WINGS.’ Their title track of their album was called ‘Blood Sweat and Tears.’ This song mentions the theme of temptation, and the lyrics talk about how willing they are to sacrifice everything for what they desire. Other songs that are in this album are Intro: Boy Meets Evil, Begin, Lie, Stigma, First Love, Reflection, MAMA, Awake, Lost, BTS Cypher 4, Am I Wrong?, 21st Century Girls, 2! 3!, and Interlude: WINGS. At the end of 2016, BTS won their first ‘Best Artist’ award at the MNET Asian Music Awards. This award made BTS feel proud about themselves as they continue to strive for success.
On February 13, 2017, BTS broadcasted their ninth album ‘You Never Walk Alone.’ They also released a music video for one of their main tracks, Spring Day. This album has the same tracklist from the WINGS album, but they included a few more songs. The other songs are Not Today, Outro: Wings, and A Supplementary Story: You Never Walk Alone. On February 20, 2017, BTS uploaded another music video that was for Not Today, making Not Today the other main track of the album. Around that time, they had been nominated in an American music award show for the first time. Billboard Music Awards nominated BTS for Top Social Artist, and they Photo courtesy of BTS won the award by a landslide. This caused Americans to be exposed to K-Pop and BTS, making them more popular and famous. On September 18, 2017, BTS revealed their most popular album trilogy ‘Love Yourself’ and released ‘L usic video to their main track, DNA. This song is about the concept of fate and love. BTS states that their love for the love interest is encoded into their DNA, and they are destined to be together forever. The other songs in the album are Serendipity, Dimple, Mic Drop, Go Go, Sea, and Outro: Her. During this time, they had their debut performance in America. They performed DNA at the American Music Awards. On New Year’s Eve, they performed DNA and the Steve Aoki remix of Mic Drop. These performances in America became a key step into their career, and by the end of 2017, BTS became a Photo courtesy of BTS international boy band. 5
On May 18, 2018, BTS showed their eleventh album ‘Love Yourself: Tear’ in part of the ‘Love Yourself’ trilogy. The title track from their album is named ‘FAKE LOVE.’ This single expresses how harmful relationships can be and how detrimental it can affect the people that are in them. Other songs in the album are Intro: Singularity, The Truth Untold featuring Steve Aoki, 134340, Paradise, Love Maze, Magic Shop, Airplane Pt. 2, Anpanman, So What, and Outro: Tear. Instead of showing their first Fake Love performance in Korea, they decide to perform in America at the Billboard Music Awards. They were recognized as one of the best performances at Photo courtesy of BTS Billboard, and they received the Top Social Artist award for the second year. On August 24, 2018, BTS finished the last part of their Love Yourself series as they published their twelfth album ‘Love Yourself: Answer.’ Their main single of the album is named ‘IDOL.’ In their title track, they stated how they will own the label ‘idol’ and continue loving themselves. In South Korea, the name ‘idol’ could be used as a derogatory term. K-Pop idols get make fun of from working under an entertainment company, wearing makeup, and more. BTS states that people “can’t stop me (them) loving myself (themselves)” as they will not listen to the negativity. This album is a repackage of the previous two albums, Love Yourself: Her and Love Yourself: Tear, along with the addition of new Photo courtesy of BTS songs such as Euphoria, Trivia: Love, Trivia: Seesaw, Trivia: Just Dance, I’m Fine, and Answer: Love Myself. On April 12, 2019, BTS released their most recent album and their thirteenth album called ‘Map of The Soul: Persona.’Their main song is called ‘Boy With Luv,’ and the song features a popular American female artist, Halsey. This song contrasts with their past song ‘Boy in Luv’ as it has an upbeat tone and softer singing. The single talks about how the love interest is ‘making me (them) into a boy with luv’ as they confess their admiration for the love interest. The album and Boy With Luv have collectively reached many records such as the most watched music video in twenty four hours, top 10 Billboard for four consecutive weeks, . Shortly after the album release, they won Top Duo / Group award from Billboard Music Awards.
Photo courtesy of BTS
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The Visual Jokester By: Monica Moilanen
Kim Seokjin, also known by his stage name Jin, is the oldest member of BTS. He is labelled as the ‘visual’ of the group. The term ‘visual’ in the K-Pop industry means the person who has the most stunning appearance and is the most model worthy of the group. Many people have admitted that they have been intimidated by his looks. It does not help that he has a habit of winking which makes people get flustered. But, despite his serious front, Seokjin is mostly characterized as the most hilarious member of the group. Surprisingly, he is one of the main jokesters of BTS. He is famous for his dad jokes that he would state oftenly. Also, his laugh is considered as the most popular laugh out of BTS. Fans classify his laugh as a ‘windshield wiper’ as it resembles someone wiping the window with a cloth. Seokjin is one of the big moodmakers of the group, so his funny personality and his dad jokes help make the other members feel better.
List of Seokjin jokes “We are living in a bubble. Unbelieva-bubble.” “What is it called when God gives birth to a baby? Newborn” (God has a similar pronunciation as newborn in Korean) “What do you call a cow going up the stairs? Goosebumps” (Goosebumps shares a similar pronunciation of the phase ‘cow going up’ in Korean) “What do you call a raw duck? Tornado” (Tornado sounds like duck sashimi in Korean) “What did the dog say to the wall? Wol wol” “What does a cow laugh sound like? Moo-ha-ha-ha-ha”
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A Rapper’s Dream By: Monica Moilanen
Photo courtesy of BTS
Yoongi’s Studio
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Photo courtesy of BTS
Min Yoongi, also known by his stage name Suga, is the main producer and lyricist along with Namjoon and Hoseok. He has a huge passion for music as he states that he usually makes one song per day. When he was a teenager, he faced difficult issues. His family was poor, and he admitted that he had to decide between a bus ticket or dinner to spend on every night. When he revealed that he wanted to make music for a living, his parents did not support his dream. So, he was mostly alone before his debut. But, he continued working for his dream. On August 2016, he released his first solo work. It was his first mixtape called ‘Agust D’ after his stage name for his solo career, ‘Agust D.’ Afterwards, he collaborated with many artists. One popular collaboration is with Suran who is in the photo on the bottom right corner. Suran starred in his song, ‘So Far Away,’ in his mixtape, and Yoongi produced the song, ‘WINE,’ for Suran. At the Melon Music Awards in 2017, Yoongi won the Producer of the Year Award. Despite the difficulties he faced, he is now a highly recognized music artist and producer.
Photo courtesy of Melon Music Awards
Become an ARMY and buy
ARMY Bomb Ver 3 Light Up The Stage! It changes colors! It has different light settings! It comes with 7 BTS photocards! Photo courtesy of a BTS concert
By: Monica Photo credits to J-Hope ID
Jung Hoseok, also known by his stage name J-Hope, is one of the two main dancers of BTS. He is also considered the dance captain of the group as he is the one that guides BTS through practicing the choreographies. There was a series of difficult dance moves to an intense choreography that BTS memorized in a few hours, but Hoseok had the dance moves down in ten minutes. When he was little, he wanted to be a dancer. His mother had to hold two different jobs in order to gain enough money for dance classes. Her hard work paid off as Hoseok learned how to dance. Later, he joined an underground dance team named Neuron. When he became a trainee at BigHit entertainment, his dancing was redefined. His dancing style is hip hop based as he loves ‘popping.’ Popping is a style of street dance where the dancer contracts or relaxes their
Photo credits to Adonis and cglassend
muscles to have an illusionof a ‘pop.’
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Photo courtesy to M
Park Jimin is the other main dancer and the lead singer of BTS. His graceful dancing has been valued highly in the fanbase along with his soft singing. Before his debut with the other members, he attended dance classes. His passion for dancing began in middle school as he attended Just Dance Academy. Then, he studied in the
Photo credits to Off The Deep End
a Moilanen
Busan High School of Arts to become a dancer. His instructor at the school suggested that he should become an idol which made Jimin sign up with BigHit Entertainment and join BTS. According to the media, his dancing style resembles a contemporary style. Unlike Hoseok, his movements are more gentle and graceful. But, his dancing tells a story through the visually beautiful dance moves. At 2016 MAMA, he danced with a blindfold and expressed the story of tempetation with Photo credits to Miningful Moment
MEDIHEALXBTS
Hoseok.
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Scenic Singer By: Monica Moilanen Kim Taehyung, also known by his stage name V, is the lead singer and one of the main photographers of BTS. His photography style, stated by fans, is minimalistic yet aesthetically pleasing to look at. Most of the time, his photos are set on a grayscale which means that the photos are in black and white.
photo credits to Taehyung
photo credits to Taehyung
In January 2019, Taehyung released his first solo song that was not related to BTS. His song was named ‘Scenery.’ The song is about how his love interest is his scenery, and he wants to make the love interest his. It has beautiful, ballad like background music along with his deep, sultry voice singing the lyrics. Due to his passion of photography, he decided to add a reference of photography in his song. The reference is the sound effects that the fans heard when listening to the song. These sound effects, from what fans noticed, come from a camera. For example, a camera shutter was implemented into the music.
photo credits to Taehyung
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photo credits to Taehyung
photo credits to Taehyung
Filmmaker Maknae By: Monica Moilanen
Photo courtesy to BangtanTV
GCF in Osaka
Photo courtesy to BangtanTV
GCF in USA
GCF in Newark Photo courtesy to BangtanTV
GCF in Saipan
Photo courtesy to BangtanTV
GCF 3J @2018 MMA Practice
Photo courtesy to BangtanTV Photo courtesy to Soompi
GCF in Tokyo
Jeon Jeongguk, also known as Jungkook, is the creator of a filmmaking Youtube account, GCF. GCF stands for Golden Closet Films. Golden comes from Jeongguk’s nickname ‘Golden Maknae’ where he is the best at everything, and he is the Maknae or the youngest member of the group. Jeongguk has shown his love for photography and film for some time. On November 8, 2017, he uploaded his first GCF film on BangtanTV which was “GCF in Tokyo.” By today, he has released six films that he edited and captured. Five of them involve him and BTS traveling. For example, GCF in USA was taken place in the United States when they went to the Billboard Awards. At the end of 2018, Hoseok, Jimin, and Jeongguk performed a performance at the Melon Music Awards that expressed their South Korean culture. After their performance, Jeongguk uploaded a short film of them practicing for the dance. You could find these videos that are listed on the left on YouTube under BangtanTV.
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Interview with ARMYs! By: Monica Moilanen An interview was conducted with fans of BTS known as ARMYs. They were asked about current topics concerning about BTS. Lately, BTS is considered as international stars instead of a Korean boy band. ARMYs are extremely happy with how BTS are getting recognition on a worldwide scale. “I’m glad that they are getting the recognition they deserve,” Jimena replied to the topic. “They don’t fail to show us how humble they are which will only allow them to succeed more in life.” Fans have also shared their gratitude with how Americans are accepting BTS into their home and music. “Their impact is incredible that they have hit so hard in America,” Sybella noted in response. “Only one member can speak fluent english, yet they are admired for speaking their main language, which most of us don't understand.” Many people who do not listen to K-Pop heard of BTS before because of how popular they are. But, their impressions and thoughts on BTS are positive. Carol, a high school photography student, admired their music videos. She likes how the choreographies and the music videos are pieced together beautifully. Elsa, a high school student who plays two instruments, stated how BTS’s music sounds cohesive and clean. But, as BTS becomes more popular, the negativity from people who dislike them increase. People began to perceptualize that the fanbase is only consisted of crazy, teenager girls. Many label ARMYs with the stereotype that they are completely obsessed with BTS to the point that everything revolves around them. “Fandoms are always seen as a stereotype,” Bobbi, a long time fan of BTS, stated in response to this topic. “This goes for people fans of anything: if you like sports, then you’re a middle aged man screaming at players. If you like video games, you’re an unhygienic teen boy. Stereotyping is a natural part of humanity where we categorize based on first impressions, media, and word of mouth.” ARMYs revealed that BTS has affected them in a benefical way. “There have been quite a few times when I have been sad and just nothing has been able to pick me up,” Natalia admitted. “Being able to listen to a couple of their songs has helped me through those hard times.” With their huge message on loving yourself, BTS has helped people to love themselves for who they are. “They have taught me how important it is (loving myself) which changed my perspective of myself,” Keeli claimed.
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Memorable Answers to the Interview What is a moment related to BTS that you will never forget? “A moment that I’ll never forget was when the album, Love Yourself: Answer, came out. When I got into BTS, I was in a pretty bad place mentally and found a small haven in their songs. I remember when the intro song came out, I cried. It hit me so hard and made me realize a lot, with lyrics like “i’m the one i should love in this world.” It was around this time I began to accept myself and try to get better, and it’s been working. That’s the kind of impact this event had on me.” -Sybella Why did you decide to become a fan of BTS? “I never decided to become a fan of BTS. Over time, it happened without me even realizing it. I began to recognize the qualities in them that my friend admired. On a side note, they are all handsome and work hard to make their fans proud.” -Rachel “I really like the variety and how they seem to take any genre in their music.” -Natalia What has BTS done that inspired you? Something BTS has done that inspired me is that if you love something, you will chase after that dream. They went through the toughest times, and that made me realize that if you want something, there’s no easy way out. You either defeat all of the obstacles, or you let all of the obstacles defeat you. -Jimena What is your favorite song from BTS? My favorite song by BTS is Butterfly. Their voices in this song are incredibly soothing and beautiful. As a choir kid, what usually stands out to me first in a song is the singer's voice. In butterfly, they all utilize their voices in an entrancing way. -Rachel Why do you think that ARMYs are so dedicated into being fans of BTS? To understand into why ARMY is so dedicated you would have to first look into the Korean idol industry. K-Pop is appealing to so many because each group/solo artist comes in a neat wrapped package of visuals, including styling, make-up, and natural appeal, tight choreography, and stunning music videos. Popular K-Pop groups also make comebacks more often than Western artists drawing fan’s who want more content. Besides music, idol groups and solo artists often video live and chat with fans on VLIVE. Entertainment companies also usually put out their own variety shows. KPOP idols are often also active on social media, mainly Instagram and Twitter. This instant gratification of having your idols at your fingertips, often everyday with new content, makes fans emotionally invested in these idols. -Bobbi What do you hope that BTS does in the future? “For the future, I want BTS to be more free. Like dating and being able to walk around without people noticing. And rest! Jesus they need lots of it.” -Keeli
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Vinyl T-shirt and Direct to Garment T-Shirt