[Source] http://entertain.naver.com/read?oid=047&aid=0002170908

[Translator’s Note: I saw this article floating on twitter and thought it’d be super important to translate for i-armies. Sometimes it feels like BTS doesn’t get enough love in Korean media and also that their music is only for teens but this highlights that they are making headways into gaining popularity in Korean media and within older generations!]



[Split open and listen to K-pop] BTS who has earned worldwide fame has grown with splendid performance and SNS as the groundwork



[Oh My News Writer: Kim Sang-hwa, Editor: Oh Su-Mi]



‘Split open and listen to K-pop’ is a corner where we serve a variety of stories about popular music in Korea. We deliver reviews for popular works, industry trends, and other various content. <Editor’s Note>



▲ This past year BTS gone past Korea and solidified their place as a group that has fanatically excited the world.

ⓒ BigHit Entertainment



The hottest name this year in domestic pop is BTS. Even in their infancy during their debut (June 2013 debut) they were known for their unusual name more than their music. Although they slowly gained fame, compared to preexisting groups it seemed that they were lacking to shape up to definitively become a top trend.



However, with releasing their hit songs 'I Need U’, 'Run’, etc in 2015 as a starting point, they started a march towards fame without hesitation that can only be described with the expression 'to sprint without brakes’. And now they’ve risen to become a group that is acknowledged on the world stage.

And yet with all that the older generation, especially for the middle-aged and elderly generation who find keeping up with the daily changes and flow of music overwhelming, their awareness of BTS is, as ever, unfamiliar. The content below will explain why BTS has gotten popular and gained fame, and serve as a short guide for the middle-aged and elderly generation who have yet to realize the reason for their fame. For passionate fans, the content will be insufficient b far. It’s also difficult to capture everything about them in one article so we ask for your understanding ahead of time.

BTS’s Fame that is Adults Are Unacquainted With



▲ As ever, the popularity and even name of BTS is unfamiliar to the older generations.

ⓒ BigHit Entertainment

The landscape of music in 2017 is completely different than that of 10-20 years ago, with the 1st generation of idols with groups such as H.O.T., Sechkies, S.E.S., and Finkl, and the 2nd generation with DBSK, SS501, etc. Even with selling hundreds of thousands of albums their aren’t many in the older generation who know the names of these groups. Generating all their profit from fandoms, the 21st century music market focuses their activities mainly on targeting passionate consumers. The need to appeal to older generations has rather faded.



Starting with the main consumers of the idol market, teens (people aged 10-19), the difference in temperature of popularity amongst younger generations and older generations can only feel vast. At least for mothers whose children like BTS the situation is a bit better. BTS has gathered their fandom via communicating through Youtube, VLive, and other SNS platforms. They also don’t appear on variety shows that can help make BTS feel more familiar to older generations due to their busy overseas schedules. This is one of the reasons why the older generation might be unacquainted with BTS.

Bang Shi-Hyuk’s first idea was not an idol group but a hiphop group



▲ Compared to today, in their debut days BTS made strong music incorporating gangster rap amongst other genres.

ⓒ BigHit Entertainment

Nobody could have predicted that BTS would rise to the position they are at now five years ago when they debuted in 2013. Bang Shi-hyuk CEO (BigHit Entertainment, songwriter), who produced BTS also was one of these people.

As a popular songwriter of JYP, Bang Shi-hyuk entered the music industry through winning 'Yu Jae-Ha’s Music Contest’. Compared to a considerable number of songwriters who have pushed for lyricism such as Cho Kyu-Chan, Go Chan-Yong, and Yu Hee-Yul, Bang Shi-Hyuk solidified his position in trendy pop and dnace music. This was a bit of an peculiar path. Alhtough he did create many songs like Baek Ji-Young’s representative track 'Like Being Hit by a Bullet’.

Bang Shi-Hyuk’s original idea was not to create an idol group, but a hip hop group with many members like N.W.A. or Wu-Tang Clan. We can suppose that he was able to come up with an unconventional concept because he’s lived a music life that was different from others.

Although he made contact with rapper Beenzino and the winner of Show Me the Money 4 produced by Mnet, rapper Basick, he wasn’t able to bring his idea to fruition. The team frame was created with Rap Monster (currently active under the moniker RM) at the center and while preparing for debut, the team’s direction and members changed.



'Strong’ music when they debuted… the success of <The Most Beautiful Moment in Life> series (HYYH) that showed flexibility



▲ Popular songwriter Bang Shi-hyuk. He is the origin of BTS.

ⓒ BigHit Entertainment

If you examine their 2013 debut single, <2 Cool 4 Skool>’s title track 'No More Dream’ to the 2014 mini 2nd album <Skool Luv Affair>’s 'Boy in Luv’ that is used in various audition programs as a competition song, the tracks are quite different than BTS’s music today.

Simply put, this is because with so-called 'strong’ hip-hop music, they set forth a front, with H.O.T.’s 'Downfall of the Warrior’ or Seo Taiji and the Boys’s 'Come Back Home’ coming to mind. Even today, hip-hop is a main genre in BTS’s music. But if you consider that today BTS evenly accomodates EDM and trendy pop sounds, their sound has changed significantly since their beginning. This (their sound in the beginning) played a part in setting them apart from teams that appeared at a similar time and also helped grow their fandom. However, it seemed that this 'strong concept’ was also a impediment to building their popularity. During this process, the success of the <The Most Beautiful Moment in Life> series that started in 2015 was their turning point.

BTS’s I Need U Dance Practice: https://youtu.be/hvUZb9NT7EY

These works sung of the youth of an anxious era and highlighted BTS’s features. With a flexible melody that was hard to find in their earlier work, the HYYH series was the ignition that secured their fandom.

Part 1’s title track 'I Need U’ created a large sensation that led to not only boy groups but many girl groups to cover the track, and Part 2’s 'Run’ with its components of rock music attempted many musical variations. Their perfectly in sync choreography and extravagant performance that is now their trademark was also a large component of their popularity as well.

In 2015, 2 years after their debut, BTS achieved first place at a music program and sold 520,000 copies of <The Most Beautiful Moment in Life> part 1 and part 2 placing their names among the ranks of popular idol groups.



Past the domestic stage to the world stage



With the settlement of the <The Most Beautiful Moment in Life> series with <The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Young Forever> and their second full album <Wings> BTS combined their success to win a daesang at the year end music awards. Up until this point, there isn’t much difference from other popular idol groups.

However, as if they were thoroughly well-known, BTS has raised a great sensation in the overseas markets and have launched them to be 'world stars’. Of course as in the past and as it is today, overseas tours and other activities earning foreign profit falls under the category of normal activity but BTS has acquired fans from a larger range and has achieved a differentiated success.



BTS’s FIRE Dance Practice: https://youtu.be/sWuYspuN6U8

Videos of BTS’s brilliant performances have propagated through the work via Youtube and other SNS platforms. BTS’s videos lack nothing in capturing the hearts of the public in the American pop market which hasn’t seen another boy group emerge after One Direction.

In 2017 with their special album <You Never Walk Alone> and <LOVE YOURSELF 承 'Her’> which sold as many as 1,400,000 copies domestically, and having won an award at the Billboard Music Awards, having performed at the American Music Awards, having appeared on three popular talk shows on public American TV networks, and with plans to appear on a New Year’s special show (Dick Clark’s Rocking Eve) BTS is paving their own path that no one has walked on before.



Their success factor… what they have yet to show us infinite



▲ On the 5th, Billboard reported that BTS’s 'Mic Drop’ (Steve Aoki remix) will rank 28th on the Billboard Hot100 and have the highest rank as a k-pop group in history.

ⓒ BigHit Entertainment



[I] will shortly organize the last five years of BTS’s path. To be honest, with all this it may still not be enough for the older generations to understand why BTS is so popular and is the top trend. Then, it might be helpful to hear from Bang Shi-Hyuk CEO, who created BTS, on why they have succeeded.

On the 30th of last month, MAMA held their 2017 Professional Awards in a hotel in Hong Kong. On that day, Bang Shi-Hyuk gave the keynote speech on 'BTS’s success and their coexistence with the Western Music Market’, and I have condensed the speech into three points.

“Coexistence between mainstream culture and alternative culture”

“Coexistence between traditional media and new media”

“Coexistence of a fandom that transcends ethnicities and countries”

It is true that Psy’s 'Gangnam Style’ in 2012 raised a larger sensation. Through this song the potential to raise k-pop, that was the exclusive property of k-pop enthusiasts, to the mainstream showed promise, but unfortunately did not sustain strength. This is because it was not built on the foundation of a loyal fandom.

BTS, on the other hand, has shown potential over the past two years that built on a strong fandom, they could rise to mainstream culture. This statement is made with the optimistic meaning that BTS will not simply stay put at where they are today.



BTS’s DNA Dance Practice: https://youtu.be/GEIU_7v40Dw

As of late, it has been a while since it is absolutely important to communicate and promote on SNS platforms and the internet. BTS, too, is active in using such platforms and has succeeded in raising a reaction that is greater than with other groups. This has caused others who don’t know about BTS to also have interest. Also, as this is a shift from promotion that happened primarily through mass media to promotion that focuses on the artist individually, this is a subject that is worth paying attention to. Through this method, the formation of a diverse fandom is something that BTS can be proud of and is also the groundwork their popularity.

Unlike preceding (sunbae) groups that have gained popularity in mainly China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and other Asian regions, BTS’s fandom is encompassed of fans from all over the world, including the U.S., Europe, and South America. Through the medium of music, they have shown us the coexistence of a fandom that transcends ethnicities and countries. Just in time, BTS’s single 'Mic Drop’ (Steve Aoki Remix) has placed 28th on the Billboard Hot100 Single chart as the highest placing k-pop group in history.

For these seven young men who have yet to show us more, the results they have produced up to now will not be the peak of BTS, but a starting point for yet another type of success.

Copyright © Oh My News (citizen reporter), distribution and redistribution without notice is not allowed

Extra text | This post has also appeared on Kim Sang-hwa’s personal blog (http://blog.naver.com/jazzkid) Oh My News allows duplicate distribution since the author wrote it by his or herself.





[Comments]







true****

They have started to dig into the 30-40s middle-aged to elderly segment at an alarming pace. The distribution of different age groups on the comments on BTS articles is proof. There are many auntie and uncle fans like myself who are sorry we recognized them so late

myma****

Congrats to Bangtan and Bang Shi-hyuk~ When I see things like this it highlights that not only are the artists important, but the planning ability of a supportive company is also important. To compare with another group, in Gukkasten’s case with the best vocal ability of Ha Hyun-Woo and with music that would sit well overseas, without the planning of their company it seems they just fade away. I’m personally a bit sad…

gjgo****

I hope that they continue with the same belief and faith as in the beginning. Bang CEO, Bangtan, and Armies let’s be together forever!!!!!!