Biography of BTS (Bangtan Boys)
BTS (Bangtan Boys, also known as Beyond The Scene) is a Korean K-pop (k-pop) group that is popular with young audiences around the world. The team consists of seven handsome guys whose culture and consciousness were shaped by the influence of social networks, with the help of which the boy band “bulletproof scouts” loudly declared itself in 2013.
BTS – Korean pop stars with a worldwide reputation
History of creation
The well-known South Korean entertainment company Big Hit Entertainment approached the creation of the team meticulously and, by the standards of world show business, leisurely. Since 2010, the producers have been scouting candidates, creating a fan cafe along the way long before BTS made their debut in public. Initially, the project was conceived as a duet of RM (Rap Monster, real name Kim Nam Joon) and Iron (he never entered the group, performed in Show Me The Money), but during the casting and auditions, it was decided to change the concept to a boy band with a large number of participants.
RM is the band’s frontman
The formation of the group lasted almost three years, during which the composition was constantly changing, undergoing training. The backbone of BTS was formed only in 2012. Members of BangTan Boys are: Rap Monster (Rap Monster), Jin (Jin), Suga (Suga), J-Hope (J-Hope), V (V), Jungkook (Jungkook), Jimin (Jimin). Unlike his co-stars, Jimin completed his traineeship in just a year, possibly because he was the last to join the group. The rest of the participants were on a three-year probationary period.
Suga (left) and Jin
As trainees (students), the guys themselves composed about a hundred tracks (according to rumors), and six months before the official debut on stage, they became active users of social networks, posted their compositions on YouTube.
J-Hope (left) and V
PR via Twitter and the presentation of songs on the Internet – only part of the campaign invented by the producers. For example, there was also a news channel they invented that actively promoted a parody show starring members of the BangTan Boys.
Jungkook (left) and Jimin
Creativity of BTS is distinguished by the content of the texts, which, according to the press, are written by the guys themselves. Music for them, arrangement and production of numbers are also the work of RM, Suga and J-Hope. It is worth noting that the group sings in both Korean and Japanese.
The main stages of creativity
2013
The guys reworked their debut song “No More Dream” more than twenty times, trying to achieve the ideal. Before the first official performance of the group, clips for the tracks “School of Tears” and “Scout Graduation” appear on the network – this is how the audience got acquainted with future k-pop stars in absentia. Further more. The beginning of the summer was marked by the group’s first single “2COOL4SKOOL”, and then the members of the boy band took the stage in the music show “M!Countdownon”, where they got their first flurry of applause.
BTS at the dawn of their glory
In the fall, the single “Oh, Are You Late, Too?”, better known to fans as “O!RUL8,2”?, went on sale. The result of the debut year for BangTan Boys was the MelOn Music Awards ceremony, where the guys were awarded the “Best Debut of the Year” award.
2014
Billboard’s new mini album ‘SKOOL LUV AFFAIR’, released in winter, climbs to number three on the Billboard chart. Spring was marked by the release of the first single in Japanese “NO MORE DREAM”.
BTS sings in Korean and Japanese
In the summer, the group comes to Russia, where the festival “Bridge to Korea” is held. Here, as judges, the guys evaluate dance competitions, and then they themselves perform in front of a large audience. Then the guys take part in the American music festival KCON and release a full-length album DARK & WILD. A video was created for a song from the album “War of Hormone” in the fall, which added tens of thousands of fans around the world to the group. The end of the year was marked by the tour “2014 BTS Live Trilogy – Episode II: The Red Bullet”, during which the seven “bulletproof scouts” were met by the Philippines and Singapore, Japan and Malaysia, Thailand and native Korea.
2015
In the spring, BTS’s compilation album “THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PART 1” was included in Fuse’s “27 Best Albums of the Year” list. It was the first album by a Korean group to make it there.
In the summer, their Japanese-language single “For You” hits number one on the Oricon charts. This is how the group celebrated their debut in Japan a year earlier. The song “Dope” from the album is gaining more than a million views on YouTube in just 12 hours and takes third place on the main US Billboard chart.
BTS has millions of fans around the world
The guys also remembered this year with a large-scale tour of Australia, Latin America, Malaysia, and the USA. In autumn, it is announced that BTS will represent the sports brand Puma on the international stage. BTS wins the Mnet Asian Music Awards for Best International Performer.
2016
The seven Bulletproofs become the prototype characters for the electronic game Elsword and represent the Korean restaurant chain BBQ Chicken. Nearly 150,000 tickets have been sold for the BangTan Boys concerts on their Asian tour.
Musicians advertised fried chicken
In the fall, a new album in Japanese, YOUTH, goes on sale, which immediately occupies the first positions of the Japanese charts and is sold like hot cakes: 44,000 copies of the album were sold out in just one day.
Youth Album Ranks #1 on South Korean National Chart
Another studio album “WINGS” is making a splash in Korea. The video for the track from the disc “Blood Sweat & Tears” is gaining more than 6 million views on YouTube in 24 hours. The number of copies of the disc is over half a million. For the first time in music history, a Korean album hits the UK Albums Chart.
The end of the year was marked for BTS with the Melon Music Awards for Album of the Year and the Asian Award for Artist of the Year. The band’s producers announce a big tour set for early 2017.
2017
The Korean music service Melon (similar to iTunes) crashed – downloads of the song “Spring Day” were so private. The spring hit sounds throughout South Korea, takes off to the first places of national charts in different parts of the world. Millions of views and enthusiastic responses from fans accompany the guys during the 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour. The premiere of the video for the single “Not Today” is gaining over ten million views in the first day after the release.
Collaborations with other artists
- Boy In Luv – BangTan Boys ft. Block B
- Champion – RM from BTS ft. fall out Boy
- Mama Behind – BangTan Boys ft. GOT7
- The Truth Untold (Gidexen Remix) – BangTan Boys ft. DJ Steve Aoki
Scandals
The members of the K-pop group are young, handsome, talented guys with a reputation as “good boys”, they try to avoid high-profile scandals as much as possible. However, they do happen from time to time.
So, back in 2014, it seemed to Instagram users that in the dorm room where the guys lived, there was a box of condoms on the floor and group member Jin had to explain what kind of object it was. And all because the guy decided to share his lunch photo with fans!
The same photo
For a long time, disputes over the authorship of the songs of two popular groups: BTS and EXO did not subside. The fact is that Jungkook used the phrase “Let’s love” (“let’s love”) in one of the songs, and EXO considered this phrase to be something like their credo.
EXO is a group that had a little conflict with BTS
The song “War of Hormone” was not ignored either, in which the dissatisfied saw misogyny because of the words about high heels and the announcement of a woman as “the best gift” and “a solvable equation for guys”.
Discography
- Dark & Wild (2014)
- Wake Up (2014)
- Wings (2016)
- Youth (2016)
- Face Yourself (2018)
- Love Yourself: Tear (2018)
BTS group now
In 2018, BTS continued to conquer new heights. The BangTan Boys’ social media following is off the charts, with over 10 million followers on Twitter alone. The group topped the Social 50 chart with an all-time record of 57 weeks, surpassing Justin Bieber’s previous record of 56 weeks.
The boys’ new album, LOVE YOURSELF: TEAR, entered the Billboard 200 chart and held the top spot for twelve weeks in the spring.
BangTan Boys are the only ones to be awarded three gold certifications by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the first YouTube diamond button holders.
On August 12, 2019, the record company Big Hit Entertainment, which is the group’s agent, announced that BTS was going on an extended vacation, for how long it will last is not reported.
