Can BTS be next Beatles?
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By Jung Hae-myoung
Can BTS be compared to the Beatles in the 1960s?
Lifelong Beatles fans would consider such a comparison a dishonor, but for ARMY fans, BTS members are so great that no other “musicians” come close, regardless of the decades-long legacy.
Despite these polarizing perceptions, some say there are parallels between the two. They claim what the South Korean superstar band has done in the global music scene is something akin to the Beatles-triggered cultural phenomenon in the 1960s, dubbed the “British Invasion.” Back then, a swarm of British bands mesmerized young Americans.
Although it's difficult to answer whether BTS today is as influential or will be as enduring as the Beatles have been, there are several points that one can consider to make an assessment about the two very different groups.
What the Beatles had that BTS does not have, and what BTS has that the Beatles didn't have back in the 1960s ― these are questions that can be answered.
Fandom
Before BTS, many K-pop groups strived to enter the mainstream U.S. market for several years, starting from JYP Entertainment's Wonder Girls and SM's SHINEE, Girls' Generation and EXO. PSY had a big hit with his witty 2012 “Gangnam Style” music video which made him a global star, albeit a short-lived one.
BTS is a game changer in K-pop history, achieving what no other K-pop group has been able to do.
Their success stands on their huge worldwide fandom. While the Beatles created Beatlemania, BTS has ARMY, a truly international fandom.
But it is no exaggeration to say social media brought BTS closer to its fans. History might have turned out different if Twitter had existed in the 1960s when the Beatles arrived in the States.
“BTS' success cannot be said to have occurred without the presence of ARMY,” Mimyo, a Korean idol columnist wrote. “The introduction that marked the presence of BTS at the American Music Awards was 'ARMY, It's happening.' ARMY members are loosely connected, but as a group they are passionate because of their solidarity with their idols in BTS. They share the same platform online called Twitter,” she added.
According to Next Big Sound, BTS fans on Twitter have greatly exceeded the number of current Beatles followers, with 36.79 million tweets mentioning BTS while the Beatles had 23,331.
However, Twitter demographics do not necessarily mean they are consumated as artists. Popularity is one of the factors that can assess musicians' cultural impact on other countries. It is also equally important to see how a style of music percolates in other countries' cultures.
In terms of accolades, BTS has a long way to go, compared to the Beatles. The British band had 21 songs that topped the Billboard Chart, whereas BTS has only just placed a foot on the rung.
It should be noted, however, that the Beatles achieved this over their 10 active years as a group after starting out performing in small, seedy venues. The members of BTS had years of auditioning and training before debuting in 2013, and the group's time in the global music spotlight has ― so far ― been much shorter than that of the Beatles.
Only this week, music by the Beatles was streamed 550,485,535 times in total while BTS' newest music remained at 1,426,773. This shows BTS has a “denser” popularity from specific members, while the Beatles ― although not releasing new music ― still enjoy enduring popularity.
Lyrics
Audiences also need to consider that unlike other K-pop groups, BTS started as a hip-hop group.
Rather than praising or lamenting love or relationships, BTS addresses social issues in its lyrics, such as problems at school, individuality and even the taboo topic of mental health.
“For a long time, K-pop groups did not offer much realism as BTS do. From 2009 to 2015, they usually sang about love, sadness, friendship and emotions as such. However, BTS talks about the hardship and struggles in life that are much more realistic to young people in front of the wall,” Tamar Herman, a Billboard columnist said.
BTS' lyrics appealed to global fans because they are based on personal experience.
Before they rose to global stardom, there was little to distinguish them from other unknown K-pop groups. Their agency, Big Hit, was sort of a startup whose influence and networks couldn't be comparable to the Big 3 ― namely, SM, JYP and YG. Due to its humble beginnings, BTS struggled to grab attention from fans.
“In BTS' HYYH trilogy, for example, their story reflects what young people all around the world are going through. They watch other singers winning awards from their 17-square-foot practice room on a third-floor building in Nonhyeon-dong. They are always trapped in a stinky studio and endlessly running away from reality because they have no choice in front of love and despair,” Mimyo said.
This is what set BTS and the Beatles on a parallel track, singing about those who face absurdity in the world. During the mid-1960s, the Beatles started to make more controversial and thought-provoking lyrics, singing about world peace, and condemning the Vietnam War and politics.
Now the subjects have changed to unemployment, discrimination, failure and identity. The people of this century can relate to BTS' lyrics, and even more so if they hear about their own struggles and how they rose from the bottom to the top in the competitive world of show business.
K-pop's big step forward
However, most of the time the legacy of K-pop groups and their international feats are praised more in Korea than globally. PSY rocketed up the ladder as a “world star,” but has failed to reproduce the lightning in a bottle.
“People should realize BTS has won no actual awards except the one in the Social Media sector. Their artistic talents have not yet reached the point where U.S. citizens are fully aware of them. If they win the best new artists award at the Grammys, it would be a great turning point to prove their achievement,” Herman noted.
Critics point to language as another obstacle to their fame, as for the Beatles there was no language barrier to entering the U.S. market.
“Audiences who can speak Korean in the U.S. are largely restricted. RM can speak English among BTS members, but as a group they are redundant in their interviews. The language barrier is an important issue,” Herman said.
Whether K-pop can become a phenomenon like the British Invasion remains uncertain. Going back to questioning the cultural impact of BTS, critics agree it is premature to decide whether BTS can be the Beatles of the 21st century, not to say K-pop being the next British Invasion.
“The audience of K-Con, a K-pop concert initiated by CJ Group, dramatically increased from 20,000 to 80,000 after BTS became famous in the States. The demographics of the audience is widely distributed, different in race, nationality and socio-economic class,” said Kim Young-dae, a music connoisseur who has watched the rise and fall of K-pop while living in the U.S. for a decade. “Even white middle-class children buy plane tickets to go to BTS concerts.”
However, Kim noted that BTS fans should be separated from the general K-pop fans. “The number of K-con attendees increased because people went to see BTS, not because they love K-pop,” he said.
The K-pop industry has developed and peaked with “boys with love,” but should move forward not blinded by love.