Before the rise of BTS

BEFORE THE RISE OF

CON ENT

NT TS

2 Cool 4 Skhool

Dark & Wild

03 07

Wings

Love Yourself: Tear

Map of the Soul: 7

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The Introduction

BTS might be the most popular boy group the world has ever seen.

With record-setting views for their YouTube music videos and album purchases along with their money-making star power — the group brought in $130 million in 2019 sales from merchandising alone, according to The Hollywood Reporter — the seven-member K-pop group has become a worldwide sensation.

BTS is one of the biggest music sensations in history. Here’s a look back on their meteoric rise to stardom. How the members have transformed the music industry with insight from K-pop and music industry experts. Let’s analyze how can BTS became one of the biggest boy band groups in history.

BTS (Bangtan Boys) Korean: 방탄소년단 RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan is a seven-member South Korean boy band that began formation in 2010 and debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment.

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Their music often carries messages around social issues, which has become part of the group’s musical identity The septet—composed of RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and coproduces much of their own output.

Originally a hip hop group, their musical style has evolved to include a wide range of genres. Their lyrics, often focused on personal and social commentary, touch on the themes of mental health, troubles of schoolage youth, loss, the journey towards loving oneself, and individualism.

The group has released several albums and performed on several world tours.

After debuting in 2013 with their single album 2 Cool 4 Skool, BTS released their first Korean-language studio album, Dark & Wild.

The group’s second Korean studio album, Wings (2016), was their first to sell one million copies in South Korea. By 2017, BTS crossed into the global music market, leading the Korean Wave into the United States and breaking numerous sales records.

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BTS DEBUTED THE BAND’S FIRST EP IN 2013

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TITLE SONG ‘NO MORE DREAM’

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THE 1ST SINGLE ALBUM 2 COOL 4 SKOOL Hip hop group BTS releases debut single 2 COOL 4 SKOOL BTS debut track “No More Dream”!

A fresh new take on 90s hip hop!

A new, bold message from hip hop boyband BTS! “What is your dream”?

Hip hop group BTS has released its debut single 2 COOL 4 SKOOL. While billed as a single, the album boasts an impressive 27-minute runtime.

This is the product of the firm conviction and passion of BTS that hip hop musicians must make their voices heard through their albums.

Each member flexed their musical prowess by taking part in creating the lyrics and music for every song on the album. BTS has repeatedly said that “hip hop is genuine music for telling one’s own story,” and indeed the members rap about their own experiences and emotions. There is no discontinuity between the emotions and lyrics of BTS. The album is a satisfaction in both quality and quantity.

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“The music helped me sympathize with our young generation and also empathize with them. I’d like to create and write more music that represents them.”

J-Hope

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BTS’S FIRST STUDIO ALBUM IN 2016 DARK&WILD

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TITLE SONG ‘DANGER’

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1ST FULL-LENGHTH ALBUM DARK & WILD

In their 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.

The boys are no longer in their school uniforms.

They have become tougher, singing that their love is not to be treated lightly. A year and two months into their debut, BTS made sure that the visuals, performance and all the elements of their first studio album are flawless. Tracks that highlight the different genres of hip hop—South, West, Boom Bap and Trap—provide a clear direction of BTS’ music. The title track “Danger” is a tightlycomposed hybrid hip hop song with a piercing punk-rock guitar sound that features stark rap, a powerful hook and exhilarating shouting.

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“Emotions are so different in every situation and every moment, so I think to agonize every moment is what life is.”

- Suga

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BTS’S SECOND STUDIO ALBUM IN 2016 WINGS TITLE SONG ‘BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS’ 11

2ND FULL-LENGTH ALBUM WINGS Having met their most beautiful moment in life through the ablum series of the same title, BTS now stands before a new door. Set for release on October 10, WINGS contains songs about boys who encounter temptation for the first time and must ponder and agonize in the face of it. As the seven boys experience pain and bliss, they bring forth the image of birds that break out of their shells and try to take flight for the first time.

“Don’t be trapped in someone else’s dream.”

-V

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They became the first Korean group to receive a certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for their single “Mic Drop”, as well as the first Korean act to top the US Billboard 200 chart with their third studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018). BTS also became the fastest group since the Beatles to earn four US number-one albums, doing so in less than two years. Love Yourself: Answer (2018) was the first Korean album certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2020, BTS became the first all-South Korean act to reach number one on the Billboard Global 200 and US Billboard Hot 100 with their single “Dynamite” and remix of “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” and, with the release of “Life Goes On”, became the first group to have two number one debuts on the Hot 100.

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BTS’S THIRD STUDIO ALBUM IN 2018 LOVE YOURSELF: TEAR TITLE SONG ‘FAKE LOVE’ 15

3RD FULL-LENGTH ALBUM LOVE YOURSELF ‘TEAR’

Fake love inevitably leads to loss and separation, For true love can only begin when you learn to love yourself BTS will release LOVE YOURSELF ‘TEAR’, their third studio album on May 18.

BTS’ LOVE YOURSELF series bears the message that loving oneself is the beginning of true love. Whereas the previously unveiled LOVE YOURSELF ‘WONDER’ and LOVE YOURSELF ‘HER’ albums expressed the heartfluttering and tingling moments of love, LOVE YOURSELF ‘TEAR’ album embodies the pain of boys faced with parting.

“If you want to love others, I think you should love yourself first.”

- RM

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Having sold over 20 m Gaon Music Chart, B artist in South Korean best-selling album in S of the Soul: 7. BTS w 45 on Billboard’s Top the 2010s, the only no act on the list. During World Tour, BTS beca first non-English spea and sell out Wembley the record for the sing engagement in Rose B

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million albums on the BTS is the best-selling n history and holds the South Korea with Map was ranked at number Touring Artists of on-English speaking g their Love Yourself ame the first Asian and aking act to headline y Stadium and broke gle highest-grossing Bowl Stadium history.

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BTS’S FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM IN 2020 MAP OF THE SOUL: 7

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TITLE SONG ‘BOY WOTH LUV’

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4TH FULL-LENGTH ALBUM MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 BTS 4th Studio Album “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7”!

A heartfelt story of BTS and their search for their “real selves”

BTS released their fourth studio album “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” on February 21.

Unveiled last year, the MAP OF THE SOUL series contains the honest and heartfelt story of BTS and their journey of discovering their true selves. The first chapter of this story, “MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA”, sang about the world and the joy of love, and the discovery of the self as it is displayed to the world; “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” now turns inward to the shadow within in a candid acknowledgement that it, too, is part of the self.

“MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” looks back on the past seven years of BTS since their debut as seven members of one team. The journey was not always smooth sailing, and there were special travails that they had to endure in their rise as global superstars. Now, understanding that the scars left by those hardships is a part of their real selves, BTS accepts both “the self I want to show” and the “self I want to scorn” to at last tell their own story of finding their “real and complete selves”.

Bridging fine art and popular art through such initiatives as the global art project CONNECT, BTS and the “Black Swan” art film featuring a modern dance interpretation of the early-release track, BTS is poised to show their latest growth as artist through “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7”.

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“Go on your path, even if you live for a day.”

- Jimin

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Featured on Time’s international cover as “Next Generation Leaders”, BTS has also appeared in the magazine’s lists of the 25 most influential people on the internet (2017–2019) and the 100 most influential people in the world (2019), where they were dubbed “Princes of Pop”. Forbes Korea named BTS the most influential celebrities of Korea in 2018 and 2020, and BTS ranked 43rd in the Forbes Celebrity 100 (2019) as one of the world’s top-earning celebrities. They attract one in every 13 foreign tourists that visited South Korea and were cited as one of the key acts in boosting global music sales to $19 billion in 2018.

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BTS music typically includes a message about social issues for fans. Around the time BTS debuted, however, Herman said it was “pretty rare” that groups used their music for explicit social commentary. One fan told Insider that she was drawn to the group’s music that consistently shares messages that collectively come together as an “overarching storyline” that follows the group’s growth as well as her own.

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The group incorporates social commentary on issues local to Korea, includes Korean dialects in their music (their song “Paldogangsan” is literally a rap about Korean regional dialects, dubbed “Saturi”), and wears traditional Korean Hanbok clothing (Suga dressed in Hanbok for the music video of his latest single “Daechwita”).

But not only that, BTS got national attention by BTS commuicate with fans using presence in the age of social media. BTS and other K-pop fans have become a movement unto themselves online. Fans are able to see the tangible impact they can make as consumers and are “empowered” to be proactive about using their social capital as a collective fandom. Therefore, BTS became a artist as the second most consumed genre artist, following Billie Eilish and ahead of Taylor Swift.

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“World Domination wasn’t our plan” If you want to see deeper inside about BTS this book will lead you to know how they can become one of the biggest music sensations.