What is BTS - Bangtan Sonyeondan

Introduction

Bangtan Sonyeondan, popularly known as BTS, is a music band with members from South Korea. The band BTS was formed in 2010, and their first music album was released in 2013. Since then, BTS has achieved great success in the music industry. BTS was initially a South Korea-focused music band, but its popularity has made BTS a global music sensation. Today, admirers of the music of BTS are from all over the world. Music concerts of BTS are held in different countries to give the people a chance to listen to their favorite artists performing live in front of them.

What is BTS?

Bangtan Sonyeondan, or BTS, is an all-boy 7- members music band from South Korea. In recent years, BTS has achieved global success due to its music albums. BTS is another boy band in line with other popular boy music bands such as One Direction, The Beatles, Big Time Rush, Jonas Brothers, NSYNC, etc. But the age of social media has helped the BTS boys achieve unparalleled success in the last few years. BTS boys mainly focused on the Hip Hop genre in the starting years, but they have also started to include some other music genres in their music albums. This idea of including different music genres has helped the BTS connect with a wide range of audiences across the globe.

Members of BTS

BTS has a total of 7- members in the music band. All these 7 artists bring different talents and uniqueness to the band. Below are the names of BTS band members with their stage names:

1. Kim Seokjin (Jin)
2. Min Yoongi (Suga)
3. Jung Hoseok (J-Hope)
4. Kim Namjoon (RM)
5. Park Jimin
6. Kim Taehyung (V)
7. Jeon Jungkook

Currently, Kim Namjoom, stage name RM also known as Rap Monster or RapMon, acts as the bandleader. He is himself a rapper and a writer for the BTS. RM is the only BTS member fluent in English and often translates for the other band members. RM is also the main rapper for the group in the music albums and the live performances of BTS.

Roles of BTS members

1. Kim Seokjin (Jin) - Vocalist
2. Min Yoongi (Suga) - Rapper
3. Jung Hoseok (J-Hope) - Rapper
4. Kim Namjoon (RM) - Leader, Rapper
5. Park Jimin - Vocalist
6. Kim Taehyung (V) - Vocalist
7. Jeon Jungkook - Vocalist

Name of the Band

BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan in South Korea, from where the band originated. “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” is the English translation of Bangtan Sonyeondan. Recently, BTS announced that their brand name would also mean “Beyond The Scene”. This new name was presented as a part of the band’s global brand identity. BTS is famous as Bodan Shonendan in Japan, which also means the same as Bangtan Sonyeondan.

Career of BTS

The success of BTS has not been achieved overnight, and all this success of the band is due to continuous hard work and determination of the BTS members. BTS was first formed around 2010 by the CEO of Big Hit Entertainment, Bang Si-hyuk, who got impressed with the rapping skills of RM. Thus, began the journey of the BTS.

In the starting years, BTS focused on making hip hop music, but then Bang Si-hyuk suggested including different genres in the music albums of the band. Bang Si-hyuk got this inspiration from another famous South Korean band of 90’s Seo Taiji and Boys. Including different genres in the albums helped BTS to connect with a larger group audience.

Debut Album

After a few years of minor success, BTS finally got the chance to debut their music album. BTS released their debut album "2 Kool 4 Skool" in the year 2013. The debut album of BTS was not their biggest hit album. But the debut album still managed to break into the top five on the Gaon Music Chart. Along with the Korean language, BTS also released some of its songs in the Japanese Language. This success of the debut album helped the BTS to organize their music concerts in Korea. The music concerts were highly praised by the critics mainly due to the artistic abilities of the BTS members.

Along with music concerts, BTS got popular from their music videos on social media. Social Media helped the K-Pop band BTS to attract a global audience for their music.

The biggest success of the BTS in the early part of their career came through the album "Skool Luv Affair" which also became the first BTS album to appear on the Billboard’s World Albums Chart. Skool Luv Affair succeeded in achieving the third rank on the Billboard’s World Albums Chart.

Albums of BTS

BTS has made music albums in Korean and has also released several of its albums in Japanese. Along with Japanese, BTS always uses some English in their music albums.

• Dark & Wild (2014)
• Wake Up (2014)
• Wings (2016)
• Youth (2016)
• Love Yourself: Tear (2018)
• Face Yourself (2018)
• Map of the Soul: 7 (2020)
• Be (2020)
• Map of the Soul: 7 - The Journey (2020)

Commercial Success

After gaining the attention of a global audience, BTS also started getting commercial success through their music albums. BTS is not just a music band, but it has developed into a global brand for companies. Puma was the first such company to offer an endorsement to BTS. In 2015, Puma made BTS brand ambassador for South Korea, and then in 2018, BTS expanded to become the global Puma ambassador.

BTS is also the global brand ambassador for Hyundai Motors and has helped Hyundai achieve a great increase in sales in the South Korean market. Moreover, BTS has also recently partnered with another South Korean brand Samsung for many BTS-themed Samsung devices.

BTS Concert Tours

As a part of their global campaign, BTS has organized many concerts in various countries. They have become the first Korean to perform in some countries. Concerts directly tell us about the popularity of an Artist. The concerts of BTS are always sold out, and people enjoy them a lot. Following are the concert tours of the BTS:

• The Red Bullet Tour (2014–2015)
• Wake Up: Open Your Eyes Japan Tour (2015)
• The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage Tour (2015–2016)
• The Wings Tour (2017)
• Love Yourself World Tour (2018–2019)

Social Work by BTS

BTS has also developed a fair image in charitable works. In 2017, BTS collaborated with UNICEF Korea and Japan to launch the "Love Myself Campaign". "Love Myself Campaign" focused on raising awareness about the violence committed against young children in the community. Appreciating the group for their campaign, UNICEF invited BTS for the global ceremony of UNICEF in Tokyo. As a part of the "Love Myself Campaign," RM delivered a speech at the UNICEF ceremony. BTS also raised large funds for the "Love Myself Campaign" through social media.

Inspiration of BTS

BTS has taken inspiration from several Artists and Bands for making their music over the years, and this inspiration is also visible through their music. Members of BTS are known to be very humble, and they have proven that by naming some of their inspirations over the years.

BTS have named Drake, Post Malone, Teiji, and boys Nas, Eminem, Kanye West, Charlie Puth as guides through their music career. One other inspiration is Queen, as cited by the BTS. BTS also gave tribute to their inspiration Queen by recreating a version of Queen’s song during their live performances in London.

Awards and Achievements

BTS has achieved a lot of success over the last few years, and this success has provided them with many awards from the music industries of many countries. Some of the biggest domestic and international awards include Mnet Asian Music Awards, Melon Music Awards, Korean Music Awards, Billboard music awards, MTV Music Awards, etc.

Moreover, BTS has won 5 times the Billboard Award for Top Social Artists. In 2020, BTS also achieved the milestone of becoming the best-selling artist of the South Korean music industry. BTS broke the record of Shin Seung-hun’s 17 million albums. BTS has achievements and awards from all over the world.

BTS became the first band to get a million certifications in Japan for a single song. BTS has achieved multiple certifications from the US, UK, and other European countries as well.

Along with music awards, BTS also has a huge fan following from all over the world. Fan Following has helped BTS to get inducted into the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records. BTS has 33 records in the Guinness Book of World Records, and the most prolific among these records is the Guinness World Record for the most Twitter engagements. Other than the music awards, BTS has also been honored by the President of South Korea himself. BTS was awarded this honor for their contribution towards spreading the Korean Culture and Korean language all over the globe. World Famous Time Magazine named BTS "Entertainer of the Year" in 2020, and Time magazine also described them as the "Princes of Pop".