The secrets behind BTS's success
By David Tizzard
This week, BTS achieved an historic milestone for Korean popular music as it topped the Billboard Hot 100 with its new single “Dynamite,” the first Korean musical act to do so.
It was inevitable, really ― and perhaps in some way overdue. The achievement is testament to the group's hard work, and there's a lot that goes into achieving that success.
My niece shrieks with excitement whenever V or Jimin comes on the screen. Her joy when we watch the group's music videos and various performances is palpable, but the real passion is clearly reserved for the two members of South Korea's septuplet that she currently “stans.”
Observing BTS's popularity and triumphs through the eyes of a young Korean fan is a valuable learning experience. You become more aware of their charisma, their attractiveness, and the hypnotic appeal they have on millions of people around the world as they shuffle their way across bubble-gum colored sets dressed in tailored suits. “Daeri-manjok” (vicarious satisfaction), as they say over here.
One of the main reasons for the group's accomplishments is the members' undeniable ability to perform pop music, either live or through video, to an insanely high level. Go back and watch some Spice Girls, New Kids on the Block, or Backstreet Boys videos and you will likely be struck how simple and rather uninspiring the whole thing looks in comparison.
The bar has well and truly been raised in terms of pure pop performance and while Korea is home to many groups deserving of their own recognition, BTS consistently produces content that is as polished as anything you'll likely see anywhere else in the world right now.
On top of their impeccable choreography and dexterous footwork, they have cultivated and presented to the world humble, hardworking and pure stage personas. Despite the success and millions of screaming and adoring fans, we haven't had any “bigger than Jesus” moments from the group nor do we get any indication that members are tired of the privileged but sheltered life they lead. They remain positive and are forever thanking their fans for the unceasing support they are shown.
These wholesome stage personas have certainly helped them generate worldwide appeal. For while many pop stars' lives and music revolve around sex, drugs and swag, BTS offers fans something completely different. They are gentlemen rather than gangsters, heroes rather than hoodlums, and this more conservative approach has helped them win many admirers in Southeast Asia and beyond.
And, let's be clear, it is a well-crafted persona: their sixth EP released in April last year said as much. Though few non-fans often do, you only have to listen to some of their solo output to understand how different they can be.
While Min Yoon-gi performs as the cherubic Suga in BTS, he switches to the moniker Agust D for his far more idiosyncratic solo work. He courted controversy earlier this year when his track “What Do You Think?” featured a sample of infamous cult leader Jim Jones. Despite that seemingly unintentional cultural slip, what was apparent was the aggressive personality on show in his lyrics and delivery. As Agust D, free from the pink hair and blue sweaters of his pop group, Yoon-gi boasts about his Grammys, swears frequently and throws up the proverbial middle finger in a bashfully unashamed manner to all of his haters over the top of dank hip-hop beats. Away from BTS, these seven men play out their existential journeys to their own soundtrack.
Already more than four decades old, Edward Said's 1978 work “Orientalism” remains relevant, as contemporary research demonstrates that some Westerners still perceive Asians as a “vague, collective mass that robotically imitates the West,” downplaying individualism, assertion and autonomy. But BTS is helping construct and negotiate a new Korean and Asian identity in the 21st century. Of course, the members do not do this alone ― think of Bong Joon-ho, Ang Lee, Son Heung-min, BLACKPINK, Sandra Oh, Constance Wu, Ali Wong and many, many more ― but the septuplet's presence is important.
More broadly, BTS helps place Asians and Asian culture in the spotlight. With underrepresentation a long-standing problem, the group is an important player in changing perceptions and shifting the global conversation about race and ethnicity. The members offer hope of change and signal the potential of what is possible in the 21st century.
For some, BTS represents a platonic Korean ideal type: The best of what the country is and a sign of what it can be. BTS symbolizes the future of a vibrant, autonomous and independent country that has emerged from a war-torn history ravaged by poverty and colonialism. President Moon Jae-in took to Twitter to offer his own congratulations, saying: “It will bring huge consolation to Koreans suffering from the national crisis caused by COVID-19.” These seven gentlemen, however, are more firmly focused on positives and what can be achieved rather than dwelling in the past.
Any story about BTS's success would not be complete without mentioning ARMY. This is one of the more appropriate fan club names, as the members are devoted, passionate and constantly operating online to make sure that the group is well represented.
According to Brandwatch's data analysis of the six-year period between 2013 and 2019, 48 million unique authors mentioned BTS in that time. BTS was referenced 2,199,192,809 times on social media: an average of over a million mentions a day. The official Twitter account has 23.2 million followers and 17 percent of social media traffic about the group comes from the United States, followed by South Korea (13 percent), Indonesia (12 percent) and the Philippines (8 percent).
“Dynamite” has already hit nearly 300 million views on YouTube and is approaching 7 million comments. Last year, the ARMY helped BTS smash the video-streaming platform's records when “Boy with Luv” received over 74 million views in 24 hours. It has nearly a billion views now.
When BBC's Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker interviewed BTS this week she said: “They didn't manage to answer all of my questions, including the one most fans ask ― when are they going to do their military service in South Korea.” As soon as the interview hit Twitter, however, the fans flocked to Bicker's social media page to suggest in no uncertain terms that ARMY never ask or discuss that question and that a taboo had been breached. Interestingly, despite what one normally sees online, most of them did so in a rather courteous and overly polite manner. Just like Fight Club, ARMY have rules and this obviously helps manicure and protect the group's image.
I mean, who wouldn't like an ARMY like that jumping to your defense anytime somebody started talking about you online?
BTS's record label Big Hit Entertainment has also helped this meteoric rise that shows no signs of abating. The company, run by CEO Bang Si-hyuk, announced this week that it will launch on the Korean stock market (KOSPI) next month, selling 7.13 million new shares and seeking to generate up to 962.6 billion won ($812 million). With its apps, intellectual property (IP) expansion and indirect artist involvement, Big Hit Entertainment has given the group a solid platform and, in doing so, restructured the nature of the Korean music industry: turning a once-heralded and unchallenged gate-keeping trio of SM, JYP and YG into a newly vamped “Big 4” (SM, JYP, Big Hit, and CJ E&M).
Finally, I have to finish this piece by mentioning an English songwriter and producer. While BTS is often correctly presented as a group that writes some of its own songs and discusses social issues, “Dynamite” is a piece of funk-styled bubble-gum pop written by David Stewart. In a Cinderella-type moment, Stewart created the song on his laptop in his bedroom at his parents' house.
“Dynamite” was co-written with Jessica Agombar while Johnny Thirkell, who worked on Bruno Mars' “Uptown Funk,” was brought in to handle the horn section. Other than that, David Stewart played all the parts on the song: drums,
,
, synth bass,
, pads, piano,
, programmed horns and programmed strings. He also produced the record. He remarked in an interview with Rolling Stone that: “It's mind boggling to me that something so big can come from something so modest.” From your parents' bedroom to top of the Billboard charts is indeed some achievement.
BTS had been looking to purchase an upbeat English-language track to help reach a wider audience and Stewart's Nile Rodgers-inspired funk guitars and positive lyrics were exactly what was required. Most of us know that this is how much of the pop industry has always worked, but there's something important worth considering here.
If Stewart had released that song himself, where would it have reached on the charts? With the greatest respect to Stewart, it likely wouldn't have charted. Moreover, who else could he have sold it to and it have such immediate and tangible success? You could probably count the number of pop performers on one hand.
BTS has the Midas touch. The members are cool. Their name on anything, be it Coca-Cola, Baskin Robbins, Chilsung Cider, Samsung, Chupa Chups, Starbucks or Fila, brings commercial success and zeitgeist gravitas. If you want something that's in right now, you don't necessarily have to look toward the United States: You can look toward South Korea. It brings the stamp of approval and it sits atop the Billboard Hot 100.
BTS has been knocking on the door of international recognition for a long time and if it was still a matter of debate before, the conversation has well and truly been exploded by the members' latest chart-topping hit. Congratulations to them.
David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University where he teaches Korean Studies. He discusses the week's hottest issues on TBS eFM (101.3FM) on "Life Abroad" live every Thursday from 9:35 a.m. to 10 a.m.