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The New Canon of Music

  • McKayla Roberts
  • Aug 2, 2023
  • 10 min read

Updated: Dec 14, 2024

Maybe you caught a glance of them dancing to Dolly Parton’s performance of Jolene at the 2019 Grammy Awards? Perhaps you saw them performing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live? You might have even picked up a copy of TIME magazine in 2018 to see the seven Korean men on the cover looking down at you. No matter where you live or who you are, it is only a matter of time before you become very familiar with the letters BTS, if you haven’t already. The K-pop boy group is breaking down the doors of the music industry and forcing their way in, followed (and sometimes even led) by their extensive and passionate fan-base called ARMY.

BTS stands as an acronym for 방탄소년단 (pronounced as “Bangtan Sonyeondan”) which translates to English as “Bulletproof Boys Scouts.” While commonly known by their full name at home in Seoul, South Korea, they are known globally as BTS. The group debuted in 2013 after being formed by BigHit Entertainment and consists of seven members, each of whom play an important role in the group’s flawless dynamic. The leader of the group, Kim Namjoon, goes by the stage name “RM” and works as one of the lead rappers, producers, and songwriters. The “rap line” is completed by members Suga and J-Hope who lend their talents in production as well. The vocalists of the group are members Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who also work on production and songwriting and/or serve as the lead dancers of the group.

Under the control of BigHit’s CEO Bang Si-hyuk, lovingly nicknamed “Hitman Bang,” the group started off as trainees and were molded into K-pop idols. As in typical practice of the Korean entertainment industry, celebrities are created rather than discovered, usually in hopes that these “idols” serve as a model of perfection that society can look up to. While BTS was no different in terms of conception, this is just about one of the only ways that they stay true to the typical K-pop stereotypes. An anomaly in their respective field, BTS ultimately became revered for their deviation to the standards of K-pop. Their fresh, unique approach to music ended up being the main reason they have attracted countless fans, the number of which is still climbing.

The BTS fanbase is called ARMY, which stands for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth. This name was chosen by fans to represent the main message of BTS which is a continuous “Reflection of Youth.” Different from your typical boy band fans, the BTS ARMY consists of all genders, all races, all ages, and all nationalities. They work together, connecting with one another mostly online, to promote BTS and their message. Beyond just supporting the boys and their music, they raise money for BTS’ UNICEF fund, provide support and assistance to one another, and host events and activities for all ARMYs to be a part of. ARMYs are fiercely passionate, a phrase which I use as the highest compliment, working hard to achieve goals that make BTS and other ARMYs proud. It can be difficult to place a counter on the number of fans that this group has, but there is no doubt that BTS has plenty.

To begin to describe this K-pop group’s popularity, I would need to start at some of their mind-boggling achievements that have been accomplished due to their demand. In 2018, tickets to BTS’ concerts in New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, and California went on sale and sold out in literally minutes (Kelly). All stops in their worldwide tour sold out as well and they ended up adding a show at Citi Field in New York, making them the first Korean group to ever perform at a stadium in the United States. After clear success from the “Love Yourself” tour, BTS announced a new United States stadium tour that would take place throughout the month of May. With stadium capacities of up to 90,000 seats, BTS sold out all the show dates in about two hours for each and ended up adding additional dates, which ultimately sold out in mere hours as well (Herman).

The demand to see these boys live aside, fans are still desperate to get their hands on hard copies of new albums even in an age almost completely saturated by streaming services. In 2018, BTS set a personal record for highest amount of stock pre-orders for the album titled “Love Yourself: Answer,” with about 1,511,910 records sold. In just five days after announcing their 2019 album, “Map of the Soul: Persona”, BTS broke their record by almost double, with 2,685,030 pre-orders. The final count before the album released last Friday, May 12th, was approximately 3.6 million stock pre-orders. It is important to note that this giant leap did not happen between years like most artists, but between the course of less than six months (Cha). Another achievement that this group has conquered in a short amount of time is their overwhelming popularity on YouTube. With multiple channels, including one where they post behind the scenes of their daily life, the most viewed videos are obviously their music videos. Increasing views on YouTube is just one way that the BTS ARMY works to show their support for BTS and most recently they were awarded the title of “Most Viewed Video in 24 Hours” with the music video for “Boy with Luv.” This song reached 78 million views in the first 24 hours, beating the previous record of 56.7 million views.

As is typical to a celebrity of the 21st century, BTS has been pushed into global popularity due to their calculated use of social media. With a Twitter following of 19.2 million, the K-pop septuplet is able to reach a lot of fans through this medium. It is safe to say that BTS gets plenty of media coverage, considering they are the most tweeted about subject in history and last year achieved the goal of most liked Tweet of all time, with member J-Hope’s rendition of Drake’s “In My Feelings” challenge (Lacy). Twitter is the boys’ only form of personal social media and they all share one account, leading to a lot of excitement when one of them posts a life update or even better, a selfie. The anticipation that they have managed to create online through social media as well as their talent which carries them above almost anyone in the industry, BTS has taken complete advantage of technology today.

Speaking of technology, social media is not the only way that BTS capitalizes on connecting with their fans online. Musicians at the core, BTS posts songs on free platforms such as SoundCloud in order to give back to their fans. Fan interaction is important to BTS as exemplified in one of their most recent as well as most unique uses of technology with their creation of the game ARMYPEDIA. This was a completely virtual game where players were challenged to find and scan QR codes that were placed in locations all around the world, such as subway stations in Seoul, billboards in New York, and buses in London (Benjamin). This worldwide project encouraged ARMYs all across the world to work together and complete the puzzle, serving as both a team building exercise for BTS fans and an exciting start to the debut of their most recent comeback.

Innovation does not seem to be a problem for BTS’ company, BigHit, and ARMYPEDIA was just a small example of the way that they set themselves apart from everyone else in the industry. Perhaps the most innovative aspect of BTS is where it arguably should be – the music. When the group debuted in 2013, they started an era that they named the “Reflection of Youth” and all their albums since have been a part of the on-going series. Embedded in the songs, the music videos, and written notes, there is an entire universe that BigHit has created called “Bangtan Universe.” This universe follows the story of seven boys who are all friends but after a tragic accident, they lose each other. Each boy has his own trials and tribulations, played by the members of BTS and called by the same names. It is a genius marketing strategy engineered by BigHit in order to entertain and excite BTS fans. If the idea of the “Bangtan Universe” is confusing, it’s not surprising because many fans feel the same way. ARMY spends hours talking about theories that complete the story line and putting the pieces together from small little hints left in music videos. Although this universe is controlled by the company, when it comes to the music itself, that is all left up to Bangtan. Since their inception, BTS was allowed creative control over the subject matter of their songs – an idea that was almost completely unheard of during the time in K-pop. BigHit CEO Hitman Bang saw the importance of treating his artists as exactly that – artists, and it has paid off ten-fold in the long run. The BTS members write about love, mental health, social/political issues, family, brotherhood, youth, pretty much anything that people their age can relate to. Many fans praise this aspect of BTS’ music as the most influential, that they are honest and relatable even in a language half the fan base can’t understand.

Historically, K-pop was not an industry that allowed their idols any artistic freedom. Before BTS’ success sky-rocketed, the K-pop music industry was controlled by three huge entertainment companies: JYP, SM, and YG. These large companies pumped out idol groups, working the members to an almost unhealthy level and paying them only a small percent of the profits. This was standard practice in Korea, but BigHit, as a small company, pledged to treat their artists differently and the results speak for themselves. BTS was unique at the time, getting paid half of the profits (instead of a measly 5-10%) and had complete control over the content they were creating (Williamson). The American music industry clearly does not work this same way, leading to the negative K-pop stereotypes that exist in the West.

When the hit video “Gangnam Style” took over popular culture in the States, it gave anyone who was not familiar with K-pop a taste of the over-saturated, dance filled, exaggerated genre. For some people, “Gangnam Style” is the only exposure to K-pop they have had, but BTS is on their way to change that. Considering that BTS represents what K-pop actually is, promoting Korean culture, they will be a much better representative of the genre and pave the way for other K-pop groups to break into the Western industry (Hyun-kyung).

BTS has already had a huge influence on society and culture in the western world as it is. From Billboard recognition to celebrity friends and collaborations, BTS is opening the eyes of the American music industry which in turn gives the chance for other K-pop groups to be globally successful as well. First acknowledged by Billboard in 2017, when they won Top Social Artist after beating Justin Bieber, BTS has gone on to be nominated for this award for the third time in a row as well as a Billboard-voted award for Top Group/Duo. Without BTS’ initial win in 2017, K-pop groups EXO and GOT7 would not have cracked into the scene in 2019 and been nominated for Top Social Artist as well. BTS has also led the way for other K-pop group’s collaborations with Western artists, starting with their close relationship to producer Steve Aoki. Aoki saw their talent in 2017, remixing their song “Mic Drop” and collaborating with them multiple times since (Kelley). BTS has also had collaborations with Halsey and Ed Sheeran and rumored works in progress with Zedd, Shawn Mendes, and even Dolly Parton (Herman). Other western celebrities have followed the K-pop phenomenon, such as Dua Lipa collaborating with girl group Blackpink and Ellie Goulding’s recent release featuring K-pop group Red Velvet.

BTS has not just been recognized by award shows and celebrities for their talent, but also by leaders of world corporations such as TIME magazine where they were named “Next Generation Leaders”, the Grammy Recording Academy, the South Korean government who honored them with the “Order of Cultural Merit” award, and by the United Nations for their work with UNICEF promoting self-love. BTS spoke at the UN in 2018, delivering a speech about “speaking yourself”, encouraging the youth to stand up for themselves no matter what their cause is. At home, BTS is recognized throughout the country and considered to be a source of pride for Koreans. With unbeatable success at Korean award shows, BTS has won about fifteen grand prizes (called “daesangs”) in the year 2018 alone, including Artist of the Year for the third year in a row (Herman). Not stopping until they have reached every area of the world, they have partnered with numerous corporations, a few of which being the Cola-Cola ambassadors for the World Cup in 2018, a collaboration on a line of plush toys and animated stickers with Line Friends, being the face of the new Hyundai Palisade car, a shoe line with Puma, a skincare line with VT Cosmetics, and a BTS themed phone with the company LG. They have broken into almost every market, proving to be able to move all merchandise that they touch.

There is a reason that BTS has grown the way they have and the answer is all in the fans. The K-pop craze is at full force with fans all across the globe and it is the connections that they make with other people in real life and on the Internet that has allowed this boy band to travel from South Korea all the way to the United States. The love that these fans have for the members of BTS mirror almost perfectly to the reason fans were attracted to the Beatles in the early 1960s. Foreign accents, unique features that verge on feminine, rebellious music, innovative styles, and a sense of community have driven the BTS ARMY into a force that rivals Beatlemania. Swarming airports, selling out stadiums, spreading the news about a boy group all the way from Korea – this is how ARMY is going to convince the rest of the world to love BTS as much as they do (Chang & Park). BTS will definitely become part of the canon of music and I won’t be the first to say- it’s about time.

Works Cited

A, S. “BTS Sets A New Record For Most Awards Won In One Year At The 2018 Melon

Benjamin, Jeff. “How BTS Gathered Over Half A Million Fans For Digital Record Project

Cha, E. “BTS Achieves Record-Breaking Number Of Stock Pre-Orders For ‘Map Of The

Soul: Persona.’” Soompi, Soompi, 19 Mar. 2019,

Chang, WoongJo, and Shin-Eui Park. "The FANDOM of HALLYU, a TRIBE In the

DIGITAL NETWORK ERA: The Case of ARMY of BTS." Kritika Kultura, 2019, pp. 260 - 287.

Herman, Tamar. “BTS' Historic Citi Field Show Brings Positivity, Promise to

Return.” Billboard, 9 Oct. 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/news/bts/8478619/bts-historic-citi-field-show-brings-positivity-promise-to-return.

Herman, Tamar. “BTS Awarded Order of Cultural Merit by South Korean

Herman, Tamar. “BTS Sell Out 'Love Yourself: Speak Yourself' Stadium Dates in England,

France & U.S.” Billboard, 1 Mar. 2019,

yourself-tour-dates.

Herman, Tamar. “Here's Just About Everything BTS Did in 2018.” Billboard, 1 Jan. 2019,

Herman, Tamar. “9 Artists Who Have Expressed Interest in Working with BTS.” Billboard,

Hyun-kyung, Kang. “BTS Pave Way for K-Pop Golden Age in US, Doing What Psy

Kelley, Caitlin. “Steve Aoki on Collaborating With 'Geniuses' BTS: 'They're So Creative on

Kelly, Emma. “BTS Have Officially Sold out Every Show on Their Love Yourself World

sold-every-show-love-world-tour-7598900/.

Lacy, Lisa. “Here Are the 10 Most Popular Tweets of 2018.” – Adweek, Adweek, 28 Dec.

Williamson, Lucy. “The Dark Side of South Korean Pop Music.” BBC News, BBC, 15 June

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