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How To Write BTS In Korean

Are you ready to learn how to write BTS in Korean? It’s not as difficult as you might think! If you’re a fan of K-pop or a member of the BTS army, you probably already know that BTS stands for B ang T an  S onyeondan which means ‘Bulletproof Boy Scouts’. But do you know how to write BTS in Korean characters? If not, we’ll show you how! We’ll also show you how to write the BTS members’ names in Korean and some related Korean sentences so you’ll be able to talk about K-pop and show off your BTS knowledge to all your friends. Let’s get started!

BTS in Korean characters is 비티에스 [bi-ti-e-seu] which is short for 방탄 소년단 [bang-tan so-nyeon-dan]. 방탄 소년단 is pronounced as B ang T an  S onyeondan. As you can see, the letter  B  from BTS comes from the word  방  [ B ang] (to defend), the letter  T  comes from  탄  [ T an] (Bullet), and the letter  S  comes from the word  소년단  [ S o-nyeon-dan] (boy group).

How To Write The BTS Members’ Names In Korean

The seven members of BTS are Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook. Let’s look at how to write their BTS member names in Korean characters (Hangeul) and their real names in Korean (full names/birth names).

Jin’s name in Korean characters is 진 [jin]. Jin is his stage name. Jin’s real name in Korean is 김석진 [gim-seok-jin].

Suga’s name in Korean characters is 슈가 [su-ga]. Suga is his stage name. Suga’s real name in Korean is 민윤기 [min-yun-gi].

J-Hope’s name in Korean characters is 제이홉 [je-i-hop]. J-Hope is his stage name. J-Hope’s real name in Korean is 정호석 [jeong-ho-seok].

RM’s name in Korean characters is 랩몬스터 [ram-mon-seu-teo]. RM is short for ‘Rap Monster’ which is his stage name. RM’s real name in Korean is 김남준 [gim-nam-jun].

Jimin’s name in Korean characters is 지민 [ji-min]. Jimin is his stage name. Jimin’s real name is 박지민 [bak-ji-min].

V’s name in Korean is 뷔 [bwi]. V is his stage name. V’s real name in Korean is 김태형 [gim-tae-hyeong].

Jung Kook’s name in Korean is 정국 [jeong-guk]. Jung Kook is his stage name. Jung Kook’s real name in Korean is 전정국 [jeon-jeong-guk].

Example Sentences

Now that you know how to write BTS in Korean and how to write the BTS members’ names in Korean, let’s look at some example sentences you can use when talking about your favorite K-pop band.

Related Lessons

Thanks for reading. Before you go, be sure to check out these related lessons to learn more about the Korean language.

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BTS, the band that changed K-pop, explained

The keys to BTS’s success: emotional resonance, sincerity, and an ARMY of fans.

by Aja Romano

In 2012, Rolling Stone published a list of the 10 K-pop bands most likely to make it big in the US. Achieving significant US fame was a newly attainable, if still distant, milestone for South Korean pop groups thanks to the 2000s’ tremendous exporting of South Korean culture overseas — a trend known as Hallyu, the Korean Wave. Rolling Stone’s list, which appeared two months before Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” included groups like Big Bang, Girls’ Generation, and 2NE1 — the greatest bands of what’s generally thought of as the “second generation” of pop groups to emerge during K-pop’s rise to international prominence.

It didn’t, however, include a group of teenage boys, then-recently assembled through a studio audition process, who were being meticulously polished and prepped for their debut. On December 22, 2012, the group released a number of Soundcloud clips featuring its seven members rapping in Korean and English — including a rap cover of Wham’s “Last Christmas.”

It was hardly the stuff of attention-getting Korean hip-hop. But the band in question — Bangtan Boys, later officially known as BTS — would go on to completely transform the image of all-male boy bands in South Korean music and shatter conceptions of what breakout success looked like for South Korean bands overseas.

• How K-pop became a global phenomenon

BTS’s rise to prominence has been so immense over the last few years that the band’s latest single, “Butter” — their first since a trio of groundbreaking, historic No. 1 singles in fall 2020 — is a major event.

BTS made headlines in 2020 with the hit single “ Dynamite ,” which became the first K-pop song in history to debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard “Hot 100” chart.

Having already racked up more than 60 million YouTube views in its first 12 hours online, “Butter” already seems positioned to be an even bigger hit for the band.

• With “Dynamite,” BTS beat the US music industry at its own cheap game

These US chart-toppers are huge accomplishments for BTS. The band has spent years building to this point, slowly conquering the American music scene with one milestone after another. Since 2018, when they became the first South Korean band in history to debut an album at No. 1 on the US Billboard chart , they’ve collaborated with major artists like the Chainsmokers , Steve Aoki , Nicki Minaj , Ed Sheeran , and Halsey . They’ve performed everywhere from Good Morning America to Saturday Night Live , from Times Square’s New Year’s Eve concerts to Grand Central Terminal .

In 2020, BTS garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group performance. They’ve even snagged a couple of Guinness World Records for their incredibly engaged fanbase .

So why was BTS the band that finally broke through the culture barrier overseas to make significant waves in the US? The answer lies in a combination of factors, and most of them are about change: the changing nature of K-pop’s studio culture and the way “idols” are produced; changing depictions of masculinity in South Korea; changing ranges of acceptable expression in K-pop; and, above all, the approach BTS has taken to building its fan base and interacting with its fans.

But to understand all this change, we have to back up a few years to understand how K-pop became the regimented industry it is today — and how BTS subverts that regimen.

How did K-pop become a $5 billion global industry?

Vox explore K-pop’s elaborate music videos, adoring fans, and killer choreography for our Netflix series Explained .

Watch now on Netflix.

BTS is the product of an industry insider who wanted to create a new kind of idol

K-pop began on April 11, 1992, when a hip-hop trio called Seo Taiji and Boys performed in a talent show on a national South Korean network. Seo Taiji and Boys were innovators who challenged norms around musical styles, song topics, fashion, and censorship, which was unprecedented for a culture whose musical production had spent the past few decades subjected to strict government oversight. But it wouldn’t last.

In the ’90s, three powerhouse music studios began cultivating what would become known as idol groups. Assembled through auditions and years of grooming within an intense studio culture — the highly regimented system of idol group production in Korean and Japanese music studios — idol groups are polished to perfection, designed to present the very highest standards of beauty, dance, and musicality. Children who enter these studios spend most of their lives enduring rigorous training to become part of an idol group. If they’re chosen, the studio exerts a huge amount of control, not only over the songs they sing and the way their band is marketed but also over their daily lives .

Idol groups have come to dominate the Korean music industry, but there are well-known toxic and abusive elements to idol life. Over the last decade, the Korean government has taken steps to end the structural exploitation that has been a major part of Korean studio culture. But in the early 2010s when BTS was formed, most studios had a highly regimented, restrictive approach to idol group production. As part of the process, they systematically ironed out most of the personal expression and socially conscious music that Seo Taiji was originally known for — after all, it’s hard to express yourself when you’re contractually forbidden to have a personal life. Even today, idols typically only feel free to open up about their struggles after their studio careers have come to an end .

It was within this environment that a man named Bang Si-hyuk began to quietly build a different kind of studio, and to cultivate the band that would become BTS. A successful songwriter and music producer, Bang was nicknamed “Hitman” for writing a string of popular songs, from g.o.d.’s “One Candle” in 1999 to T-ara’s “Like the First Time” a decade later. He worked as an arranger and producer with the studio JYP until 2005, when he left to form his own Big Hit Entertainment.

But Bang also struggled with his position within the industry. As a studio owner, he confessed to insecurity about his work and said he admired singers who could express their personalities in their music. This combination of ideas — the honest musical expression of one’s creative anxieties — would become a crucial element of BTS.

In 2010, Bang began to assemble a group of teens for a group he called the Bulletproof Boy Scouts. This would go on to become Bangtan Boys, then BTS, but the ingredients of their success were inherent in the original name. Bang intended “bulletproof” to function as a celebration of the kids’ toughness and ability to withstand the pressures of the world. But he also wanted the band to be able to be sincere and genuine — not immaculate idols groomed amid studio culture, but real boys who shared their authentic personalities and talents with the world.

This approach was quite different from the normal studio approach to idoldom, wherein idols are trained to be pleasant but mild — to function as blank slates upon which viewers can project their fantasies. By contrast, Bang wanted BTS to be full of figures that audiences could relate to. In a 2018 interview with the South Korean newspaper JoongAng, he described how he originally thought of BTS as consisting of gentle, sympathetic idols who could mentor their fans:

I recently came across a company document from [2012,] the year before BTS debuted, in which we were debating what kind of idol group to create. It said, ‘What kind of hero is the youth of today looking for? Not someone who dogmatically preaches from above. Rather, it seems like they need a hero who can lend them a shoulder to lean on, even without speaking a single word.

To create that band, Bang had to shake up the established precedents for how idol groups are treated. BTS wouldn’t have strict contracts and curfews, and they’d be allowed to discuss the pressures of stardom. Their lyrics would be open about the cultural pressure placed on Korean teens to excel and do well and to repress their anxieties. In short, they would be frank, honest, and natural.

How they did it: a consciously authentic style combined with socially conscious messaging

“We came together with a common dream to write, dance and produce music that reflects our musical backgrounds as well as our life values of acceptance, vulnerability and being successful,” said BTS’s leader, RM, in a 2017 interview with Time . There are six main ways BTS breaks with established precedent for K-pop boy bands to carry out this mission:

• They frequently write their own songs and lyrics.
• Their lyrics are socially conscious and especially attuned to describing the pressures of modern teen life in South Korea.
• They create and manage most of their own social media presence.
• They aren’t signed to “slave contracts,” nor do their contracts have the grueling restrictions of other idol groups.
• They tend to focus on marketing entire albums rather than individual singles. (This is essentially still true despite their recent string of singles in the US.)
• They talk openly about the struggles and anxieties of their career instead of presenting an extremely polished image at all times.

It should be noted that most of these elements have been present in numerous other recent K-pop groups — most notably Big Bang, which probably influenced BTS more than any other K-pop group. What Big Hit Entertainment did, however, was systematize these elements in BTS, and market them hard.

In the earliest videos of the band, from the months before their 2013 debut, the members were styled as young and sweetly innocent , maintaining the common “schoolboy” concept of male K-pop idol groups. When the group officially launched in June 2013, however, it was with a hard style paying homage to old-school gangster rap. Their first single, “No More Dream,” was an ode to teen apathy, a rebellious rejection of Korean traditionalism.

And it wasn’t exactly popular: Early audience reactions included a lot of eye-rolling at what was viewed as a superimposed gangster image the band hadn’t earned. And while they were clearly leaning on the confessional lyrical apathy of Seo Taiji and his early successors, it all seemed contrived rather than real.

A K-pop commentator who goes by the mononym Stephen ran a weekly podcast, This Week in K-Pop , from 2013 to 2017, which chronicled new releases in K-pop and inevitably documented the rise of BTS. But Stephen and his co-hosts were initially skeptical of the band. “Now K-pop has faux hip-hop undertones everywhere,” he said. “But in 2013 there wasn’t really that much, other than Big Bang. So when [BTS] came out with this very in-your-face, ‘We’re hip-hop’ image, it felt a little silly.”

Stephen pointed out that K-pop in general suffers from this problem. “K-pop really likes the look and attitude of hip-hop, but not too much . It’s very surface-level: hip-hop as a culture rather than as a musical genre.”

BTS’s climb to success, then, involved the band finding a way to communicate that this confessional image was real. They did this by mixing their openness on social media with blunt and honest lyrics — and owning their status as an underdog group battling to succeed against other bands who came from established studios with larger budgets. They spoke openly of the influence of Big Bang, which was also known for its socially conscious messaging. And they covered Seo Taiji’s ”Come Back Home”:

In essence, they found a way to imbue their musical style with substance. This led to well-reviewed, pointedly personal works like their three-album series The Most Beautiful Moment in Life , which deftly mixed “theater [and] autobiography.”

Their two most successful singles from this period managed to neatly encompass this new direction. “ I Need U ” (2015) was a refreshing, personalizing step away from hip-hop toward an R&B sound, while “ Dope ” (2015) openly celebrated the endless grind of their lives: “Over half of the day, we drown in work / Even if our youth rots in the studio / Thanks to that, we’re closer to success.”

“Dope” also drew attention to the band’s talent in a major way: It was the moment South Korea realized that these boys could dance.

“‘Dope’ is probably my favorite video of all time,” Stephen told Vox in 2018. “Focusing on dancing like that — they weren’t the only ones doing it, but they were definitely the best ones doing it.”

“And they alternate,” he added. “They do the big, boisterous, in-your-face dance video. But they also do those more emotional mini-art-flick type videos.” And no BTS art flick is better than “Blood Sweat & Tears,” the gothic, gorgeous 2016 single that launched them into a new level of international fame.

Colette Bennett is an entertainment reporter and a huge fan of BTS — but even though she liked their music, it took a while for her to take their message seriously.

“When The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series started, I saw something,” she says. “And that’s when I went back and watched their old vlogs. Up to and after debut, [these] skinny kids all crammed in a studio the size of a broom closet. Just … being honest about how much they poured into what they were doing, humble about being scared and unsure, etc.”

To Bennett, the band’s frank discussion of mental health and the expectations placed on Asian teens was revolutionary. In 2016, she wrote a profile of the band that argued that they were changing the nature of K-pop through their interpersonal approach to image-making. While watching them on their 2017 “Wings” tour, she said, “there was a moment that really stuck out.”

“There’s a song the three rappers do called Cypher 4 . The refrain is, ‘I love, I love, I love myself / I know, I know, I know myself.’

“I looked around me at hundreds of people in their 20s cheering every word, and I thought, ‘My god. They’re using their influence to teach young people — the ones most inclined to grapple with self-hatred — to start considering what self-love means.’”

The BTS ARMY is real, and it is mighty

BTS’s fans — who collectively gained the nickname ARMY for their well-organized and loyal following of the group — responded to that confessional strategy so well that by 2015, tickets for the band’s sold-out limited US tour were reportedly being scalped for more than $10,000 . Since then, the band has sold out all of its four subsequent world tours , including a record-breaking 2019 tour that included a landmark concert at the Rose Bowl, and a 2020 tour that ultimately had to be canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stephen told me that it took a while for the hosts of This Week in K-Pop to realize how big BTS had gotten. “We always thought the next big group to cross over would be a girl group, somebody like Twice ,” he told me. “I don’t think it really hit me how big they were until I moved to Korea in 2014 and talked to the children. Every single person in my school system, from teachers to high school students to middle school students to elementary — everybody knew who BTS was.”

• The big business of BTS, the K-pop band that’s changed music

BTS’s international fandom was also hard at work making sure the band had a chance to break through. Throughout 2017, fans systematically bombarded North American retailers like Walmart , Target , and Amazon with pleas to stock BTS’s new albums — and then promptly pushed the albums up the sales charts . The ARMY was so mighty that by the time BTS made their US television debut at the American Music Awards in 2017, the audience was treated to a time-honored K-pop spectacle: an auditorium ringing with fan chants .

The international BTS fandom has worked to mainstream K-pop as few other factors have. On Tumblr, the internet’s unofficial home for fandom communities, BTS and its members reign supreme, recalling the vast reach of One Direction in its heyday. In April 2018, Tumblr decided to stop breaking out K-pop as a separate category in its popular weekly Fandom Metrics, an official Tumblr product that measures the popularity of fandoms and related subtopics across the site. By merging K-pop with English-language groups, the account could more accurately reflect the relative popularity of K-pop bands to their Western counterparts.

The first week the categories merged, BTS debuted at No. 1 on the platform, ahead of Beyoncé and Harry Styles.

So who are these guys, anyway?

Bang’s initial idea for BTS was to build not a boy band, but rather a supporting crew around one talented teen: Kim Nam-joon, a.k.a. RM. He quickly opted to go the idol group route instead, and it took nearly three years of trying out different combinations of members and styles for the boy band to finally emerge.

Most K-pop groups have band members who occupy fixed, noticeable positions within the band: the leader, the public “face” of the group; the “visual,” whose main role is to be pretty; and so forth. Not every group has set roles, and most roles change over time. And because BTS is trying to be less staged than other groups, its roles are a lot blurrier than other groups. Still, there are a few constants.

The leader and lead rapper: RM

Born Kim Nam-joon, RM is a 26-year-old rapper and the first member recruited to BTS. It’s not exaggerating to say that the entire band was built around him.

RM first made his name as an underground rapper; still in his teens, he was frequently spotted spitting verses alongside his friend Zico, who would go on to become the leader of the K-pop group Block B. After a friend told Bang about the rapping teen, Bang recruited him into his studio, where fans gave him the pre-debut nickname “Rap Monster.” From there, the idea to form an entire idol group rapidly took shape, and the Monster shortened his stage name to RM.

The dancer/rapper: J-Hope

Jung Hoseok, a.k.a. J-Hope, sometimes called Hobi, is most frequently described by fans as a ray of sunshine, thanks to his sweet personality. The 27-year-old is one of the group’s main songwriters as well as a frequent choreographer, its lead dancer, and one of its three main rappers. (He sings well, too!) Since joining the group, he’s had a notable solo debut that landed him in the top 40 on the Billboard 200. And have I mentioned his chin could cut glass ?

The vocalist/dancer: Jimin

No single member of BTS is its “face,” but the spotlight often belongs to 25-year-old singer and dancer Park Jimin. Jimin is frequently positioned as the group’s lead vocalist. He’s also a part of the group’s dance line, for good reason , along with J-Hope, Jungkook, and Taehyung.

The mentor vocalist: Jin

The 28-year-old Kim Seokjin, a.k.a. Jin, is the group’s oldest member, and as such he frequently occupies a mentorship role within the group (complete with dad jokes). He’s one of the group’s main vocalists, and though he’s not officially the group’s “visual,” he seems to have a habit of accidentally going viral for being beautiful.

The prodigy: Jungkook

Depending on when and whom you ask, Jeon Jungkook is either the designated “face” of the group, the designated beauty, the designated main singer, the group’s centerpiece member, or all of the above. But there’s one role that never changes: At 23, he’s the youngest. The group often calls him the “golden maknae,” a.k.a. the golden child, because he’s a bit of a wunderkind in terms of talent. In fact, he was in high demand before he settled on joining Big Hit because he looked up to RM. But he’s unquestionably the baby of the group — and arguably its most popular member.

The rapper: Suga

Min Yoongi, stage name Suga, is one of the group’s three rappers — though it should be noted he, like fellow rappers J-Hope and RM, is also a decent singer. At 28, he’s also one of the oldest members, which makes him something of a group dad. His name comes from his preferred basketball position of shooting guard, but legend has it that Bang chose the name for him because it reflects his “sugary” personality — subtle, yet sweet and generous .

The vocalist/dancer: V

The 25-year-old Kim Taehyung chose the stage name “V” for victory — but it could just as easily stand for “versatile”: He’s one of the vocalists, he worked his way onto the dance line, and he’s even tried his hand at rapping. His playful, quirky personality (let’s call it “singular” ) and penchant for stealing the spotlight have made him one of the group’s most popular members. It also probably doesn’t hurt that he has chemistry with everything that moves.

Each of the members of BTS has been hands-on regarding their own careers from the start. As the group has gained more and more power in the entertainment industry, they’ve also each developed their creative and professional sides. By this point in their long careers, every band member has produced, written, or co-written multiple tracks on the group’s albums, and most of them have also worked on independent productions and songs outside of BTS.

For example, rapper Suga has also released two bestselling mixtapes under his alter ego rap handle, Agust D . And vocalist Taehyung co-produced and co-wrote the hit 2020 single “ Sweet Night, ” released as part of the soundtrack to the popular Korean drama Itaewon Class .

On top of all this, the band members all play a variety of musical instruments, in addition to routinely splitting the duties of dancing, singing, and rapping. They’re an immensely talented group of artists.

But perhaps their biggest asset is their shared ability to directly communicate their love and affection to fans. When the band appeared in the annual Time 100 in 2019, entertainer Halsey wrote their profile, making a point of highlighting BTS’s authenticity:

Outwardly, they are polished and professional, but hours of laughter, secret handshakes and gifts exchanged show those around them that underneath this showstopping, neatly groomed movement are just some guys who love music, one another and their fans.

Stephen told me there’s a real core appeal in what BTS is doing. “A lot of their ballads really do sound like they’re talking to you and confessing to you, more so than a lot of pop standards,” he said.

BTS has pulled off this confessional, one-on-one intimacy all while building an international fanbase, despite considerable language and cultural barriers. And in that respect, BTS has truly become an international revelation.

BTS has made major inroads for other K-pop bands and changed the way we think about international fandom

Understanding BTS’s rise to the top also means acknowledging that they’re not alone in their class: They’ve succeeded and grown alongside other bands that have also been innovating and reaching new levels of international success — like Blackpink, which in 2019 became the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella . Collectively, this K-pop generation is rapidly changing the conversation and pushing the limits of what K-pop is allowed to be.

But BTS has also done more than arguably any other band to expand K-pop’s international reach — as well as the way international media and the music industry are forced to contend with K-pop. After all, as the lyrics to “Butter” note , the band’s “got Army right behind us when we say so” — a major brag, but one that’s clearly accurate. And BTS fans aren’t just making themselves visible to the music industry. They were also at the forefront of the 2020 push to drown out racist hashtags on social media, and both fans and the band itself have condemned anti-Asian racism .

As BTS and their fandom gain more attention, they’re diversifying mainstream music in America at a moment when artists like The Weeknd have called out the recording industry for its gatekeeping . Between the band’s undeniable talent and diligent work ethic and the fandom’s immense influence over charts, sales, and media coverage, the BTS phenomenon is essentially unstoppable.

Moreover, whatever groundbreaking changes come next for K-pop will likely be a direct result of BTS’s influence. Already, American production companies are moving to bring even more aspects of K-pop to the US. For instance, MGM recently partnered with K-pop studio SM Entertainment to bring the K-pop reality competition format to Hollywood.

Even more intriguing: On the back of BTS’s tremendous success, its parent studio BigHit recently renamed to HYBE Entertainment and, in a billion-dollar deal , acquired heavy-hitting manager Scooter Braun ’s entire portfolio of clients. That means BTS’s studio now oversees artists like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande. With that potential industry power, and that much fan support at its back, HYBE and BTS could well be poised to shape the music industry in ways hitherto unseen.

And whatever they do next? Will likely be Dynamite.

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As BTS’s Reach Expands, an Army of Dedicated K-Pop Translators Grows

The fans who devote their time to interpreting lyrics, tweets and interviews for listeners who don’t speak Korean are hard-working, passionate and unpaid.

By P. Claire Dodson

In June, the Korean pop group BTS observed its sixth anniversary with an annual celebration called Festa — 10 days of new interviews, behind-the-scenes clips, choreography videos and the release of its member Jin’s first solo song, “Tonight.” The group also held its fifth “Muster” fan gathering, continued its Love Yourself: Speak Yourself tour and released a new mobile game .

But the boy band’s seven members weren’t the only ones with hectic schedules. A network of dedicated volunteer translators also got to work churning out content for the fandom known as the BTS Army.

BTS isn’t the only K-pop group with a linguistic battalion to translate Korean into other languages — fellow stars like Blackpink , Red Velvet and NCT have teams on the task, as well — but its scale is massive, with a legion of translators on Twitter whose followings range from tens of thousands into the low millions. (This weekend, several K-pop fandoms will converge in New York at KCON, a gathering of fans and artists, for panels and performances.)

While Korean-to-English translators on Reddit, YouTube, Tumblr and Instagram are numerous, around a dozen Twitter accounts are the primary resources for English-speaking BTS listeners. That includes solo accounts like @doolsetbangtan (115,000 followers), @btstranslation7 (280,000) and @doyou_bangtan (139,000), as well as larger organizations under one umbrella, like Bangtan Translations, known as @bts_trans , (1.48 million), which has been around since BTS’s debut and boasts 16 staff members, according to its website . In between are handfuls of midsize teams, like @peachboy_0613 (337,000) and @SPOTLIGHTBTS (240,000). All of them work for free.

Many of these translators got involved because they noticed incorrect or incomplete English transcripts online, but also because they saw an opportunity to participate in the rise of a group they wanted to see succeed.

At the first BTS concert the 20-something fan Jiye Kim (who posts as @doyou_bangtan) attended, she saw the band wanted “the concert to be a way for us to share in our joys and pain, just as humans walking alongside each other,” she said in a phone interview. She left the show thinking, “I’m really happy that I exist in this world and these people do too.”

Each translator account has different areas of expertise and interest. Bangtan Translations is one of the largest, posting comprehensive, authoritative interpretations of lyrics, tweets and long videos. The six-person Peachboy team does social media posts, lyrics and letters from the subscription-based Fancafe platform. Spotlight, which has four members, has a special knack for live interpreting. For in-depth looks at lyrics, @doolsetbangtan and @doyou_bangtan offer heavily contextualized, almost academic deep dives.

Translating for one of K-pop’s biggest groups comes with pressures. The sheer amount of content requires some discernment, even as a growing English-speaking market demands more, and wants it faster. Some translators have experienced burnout, especially those working alone at the mercy of an incredibly active and devoted fan base. The person behind the popular account @cafe_army shared a letter to followers on June 27 announcing an “indefinite rest” to focus on their personal life, which had been “compromised” by so much time translating. Others can relate: Kim averages more than a thousand phone notifications a day. Katie H., who runs @doolsetbangtan, took a short break last year after realizing she felt “guilty” when she didn’t have time to translate everything.

“People think we’re machines,” said Rachel, whose Korean name is Yejin, about her work helping run @SPOTLIGHTBTS as a busy 20-year-old college student in the United States. She said Twitter fans will tell her, “I don’t know how you balance your life with all of this.”

Time isn’t the only stressor. The translators are keenly aware of the power they wield in conveying the message of BTS to an English-speaking audience. “Our account is not a tiny account,” Rachel said. “There’s actually a lot of people seeing this stuff.”

Errors are a danger, especially when words are retranslated from English into other languages. So is omission. Kim, whose lyric translation work stands out as especially poetic, once spent time carefully translating the BTS members V and RM’s 2018 Festa song “4 O’Clock” because she loved it so much.

“But then there’s a contrast of, why did you write all these beautiful words for V but you didn’t when Jimin or Jin wrote theirs?” she said, referring to other members of the group. “I recognize that by not speaking about the others, it feels as if V is a better lyricist, or is more in control of his emotions and he can show that through song.”

Fan translators don’t have the opportunity to ask BTS or the songwriters the group works with about the intent of a given track, instead inferring context from interviews and past lyrics. Korean also comes with its own particularities, idioms and references. (The BTS song “Ddaeng” uses the title word in at least six different ways over four minutes.)

Janet Hong, a literary translator based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said she has grappled with the inevitable contradictions built into transferring words and their meaning from one language to another.

“I’m often surprised when people think there is only one way a work can be translated into a language, as if each work comes with perfect, identical equivalents in different languages,” she said. “Literary translation is a creative act.”

If it’s creative, it’s also collaborative. The Peachboy translator ChanHee Jeong, 18, said she appreciates her partner Camila on days when she “just can’t Korean.” Both Kim and Katie H. noted that the translator landscape has shifted from competitive to communal — the two became friends in real life after bonding over the language of BTS on Reddit. Now they see each other as valuable sounding boards for trickier lyrics, and as support systems for dealing with a stan culture that can be militant.

Fans, meanwhile, appreciate the reassurance that comes from having a variety of interpretations to choose from. Myla Adjin, 18, the creator of the popular BTS fan account @cosmosdior, is just beginning to learn Korean. She looks at multiple accounts for translations, then adds her own perspective based on her knowledge of the group. “I’m not set on one, like they’re definitely right,” Adjin said. “I try to get everyone’s point of view before I make a final decision.”

Ultimately, all the hours translators put in to heighten the experience of BTS for non-Korean-speaking fans are a chance to celebrate what they see as a positive force in pop music today.

Kim, who works as a high school teacher when she’s not running @doyou_bangtan, grew up in Australia raised by Korean parents. She remembers being surrounded by classmates who would ask if her Korean food was Chinese.

Now, it’s common for her to cite BTS in classes and be met with fan chants, or to have her white students sing the chorus of “Boy With Luv” to her in the hallway. “I held a very big desire from when I was young for Korea to be more well known, simply because I’m Korean,” Kim said. “You want the things that you are and the things that you love to be recognized by other people.”

An earlier version of this article described incorrectly Janet Hong’s translation work. She has done work for the Center for the Art of Translation, she is not employed by the center.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [email protected] . Learn more

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BANGTAN BOYS (BTS) - PART OF SOUTH KOREA'S CULTURAL DIPLOMACY AND SOFT POWER STRATEGY

2022, Romanian Review of Political Sciences and International Relations

This article (a research part of the dissertation with the same name, 2021) aims to demonstrate how a musical group, created specifically for the South Korean cultural industries, becomes a true representative of the state to which it belongs, both culturally and diplomatically, through their global popularity. South Korea benefits directly from the attractiveness of BTS group members (RM, Jin, Suga, J-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook), actively recognizing their cultural and diplomatic contribution, in line with its own national public diplomacy strategy-to win the hearts and minds of the people and to make South Korea a country with reaffirmed and reliable potential. We will follow, above all, this recognition of the merits of the activities of the seven members as cultural diplomats, starting from a key moment-the group's speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2018.

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With the steady rise in global popularity of the Korean music group BTS, the South Korean government and surrounding industries have swiftly begun utilizing their image and international recognition for specific nation branding purposes. While K-pop soft power strategies are not novel to the South Korean state, what is new is the rapid speed at which BTS have become a beacon for South Korean culture, language, and symbolism in the international arena. However, few scholarly works have sought to investigate the role fans have played in this heightened position for the group as state representatives, with minimal research conducted into the work fans do within the framework of ARMY fan culture. This paper will thus aim to fill the gap in scholarship on ARMY as an organized labour network, focusing on the role fans play as labourers in online spaces that work to promote, disseminate, and cultivate wider recognition for BTS as artists. Through the conjunct engagement of a political economy framework and theories of participatory culture, this paper will explore the manner through which the free labour of ARMY, premised on affect, has constructed the fandom as active agents of soft power alongside BTS themselves.

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How to Write BTS in Korean [ARMY Guide]

Welcome fellow fan! If you have found your way to this page, it’s probably because you love BTS and want to learn how to write their names so that you can properly stan BTS. Well, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, you will learn how to write all of BTS members’ stage names and real names, as well as other useful phrases to write or say when stanning BTS. 

How to Write BTS

Okay, the first thing you got to know is how to write the band name BTS in Korea. BTS stands for 방탄 소년탄 ( B ang T an S o-nyeon-tan). 

As I’m sure you know, this means “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” in English. Here is BTS enlarged, so that you can practice writing it. 

How to Write BTS Member’s Names

Let’s start with the dancing legend Jimin. Jimin is his stage name and Park Jimin is his real name. Jimin is written 지민 and Park Jimin is 박지민 Members and fans use the nicknames 모치(Mochi) and 지민이(Jiminie).

• 지민 – Jimin
• 박지민 – Park Jimin
• 모치 – Mochi
• 지민이 – Jiminie

Kim Taehyung is V’s real name and V is his stage name. V is written as 뷔 and is pronounced ‘bwi’. V’s real name is written as 김태형. 

V also has a few nicknames that members and fans like to call him. His nicknames are all variations of his real name, 태(Tae), 태태(Tae Tae), and 태형이(Taehyungie). 

뷔 – V

• 태형 – Taehyung
• 김태형 – Kim Taehyung
• 태 – Tae
• 태태 – Tae Tae
• 태형이 – Taehyungie

J-hope is the stage name of Jeong Hoseok. Jeong Hoseok is written as 정호석. J-hope is written as 제이홉. J-hope has two nicknames 호비(hobi) and 석이(seokie). 

• 제이홉 – J-hope
• 호석 – Hoseok
• 정호석 – Jeong Hoseok
• 호비 – Hobi
• 석이 – seokie

RM goes by a few different names. Previously he was known as Rap Monster in Korean, which is spelled as 랩 몬스터. RM’s real name is Kim Namjoon, which is written as 김남준. He also goes by the nicknames 준(Joon), 준이(Joonie), and 남준이(namjoonie).

• 랩 몬스터 – Rap Monster
• 남준 – Namjoon
• 김남준 – Kim Namjoon
• 준 – Joon
• 준이 – Joonie
• 남준이 – Namjoonie

Jungkook goes by his real name. His full name is Jeon Jungkook, which is written as 전정국. His nicknames are 국(Kook), 국이(Kookie), 정국이(Jungkookie), 구(Koo), 구구(KooKoo), and 노추(Nochu).

• 정국 – Jungkook
• 전정국 – Jeon Jungkook
• 국 – Kook
• 국이 – Kookie
• 정국이 – Jungkookie
• 구 – Koo
• 구구 – KooKoo
• 노추 – Nochoo

Suga’s stage name is written as 슈가. His real name is 민윤기 (Min Yoongi). He has the nickname 민천제(Min Genius) in Korean. 

• 슈가 – Suga
• 윤기 – Yoongi
• 민윤기 – Min Yoongi
• 민천제제 – Min Genius

Jin’s stage name comes from his real name 김석진 (Kim Seokjin). His stage name is spelled 진 (jin). He also has the nicknames 진이 (Jinnie) and 석진이 (Seokjinnie). 

• 진 – Jin
• 석진 – Seokjin
• 김석진 – Kim Seokjin
• 진이 – Jinie
• 석진이 – Seokjinie

Other Useful Words to Know When Talking About BTS

Don’t stop at BTS’s names. Learn how to talk about things related to BTS. Below is a list of words that you might use in a conversation about BTS. Read through them and practice the example sentences. Maybe even try memorizing a few to use next time you are with friends. 

공연 – Concert

Have you been to a BTS concert or are you planning on going to one? You can use this word to talk about the concert. Here is an example of how you might use this word. 

• 나 친구랑 BTS 공연에 갔어
• (Na chin-gu-rang BTS gong-yeon-eh kass-eo)
• I went to a BTS concert with my friend

데뷔 – Debut

This word can be used with anything related to BTS’s debut. Here is an example.

• BTS 의 데뷔곡은 No More Dream 이였어
• (BTS-eh de-bwi-gok-eun No More Dream ee-yeoss-eo)
• BTS’s Debut song was No More Dream

가수 – Singer/Artist

Who is your favorite artist? Now you can answer this question in Korean. 

• 내 제일 좋아하는 가수는 BTS이야.
• (nae je-il jo-a-ha-neun ka-soo-neun BTS-ee-ya)
• My favorite artist is BTS

춤 – Dance

You can’t leave out dance when you talk about BTS. Try using the sentence next time you talk about BTS in Korean. 

• BTS 은 춤을 추고 노래도 불러
• (BTS-eun choom-eul choo-go no-rae-do bool-reo)
• BTS dances and sings. 

아미 – Army

State your allegiance to BTS with this sentence.

• (nan ah-mi-ya)
• I am an army

사랑해 – I love you

These next two phrases you can use when you go to a BTS concert. You can yell these expressions out to BTS or your bias.

•  BTS 사랑해!
• (BTS sa-rang-hae)
• BTS I love you!

화이팅 – good luck/you can do it

This can be used at a concert too, or just with friends. 화이팅 is an expression used to wish someone luck or to encourage them in a hard situation. You might say it to a friend who is about to do a presentation or to BTS while they are preparing for their next comeback. 

(BTS hwa-ee-ting)

BTS you can do it!

Phrases to Use When Talking About BTS

When you meet with fellow armys. They might ask you who your bias is, what your favorite BTS song is, or what your favorite album is. 

Here you will learn how to answer these questions in Korean. Read the explanations below!

My favorite member is…

How do you say who your favorite member is? You say 나는 (member) 제일 좋아해. Lets break this apart. 나는 means ‘I’, 제일 means ‘the most’ and 좋아해 means ‘like’. If you want to say, ‘ㅑ I like Suga the most’, you would say…

• 나는 슈가 제일 좋아해
• (na-neun shyu-ga je-il jo-ah-hae)
• I like Suga the most
• 나는 제이홉 제일 좋아해
• (na-neun je-ee-hob je-il jo-ah-hae)
• I like J-hope the most

My favorite song is…

You can say this in Korean with this expression, 나는 (song title) 제일 좋아해. You will notice that the sentence structure is almost exactly the same as the previous expression. To use this sentence, just plug in your favorite song. 

• 나는 봄날 제일 좋아해
• (na-neun bom-nal je-il jo-ah-hae)
• I like Spring Day the most
• 나는 Life Goes On 제일 좋아해
• (na-neun Life Goes On je-il jo-ah-hae)
• I like Life Goes On the most

My favorite album is…

This is said using the expression 나는 (album title) 제일 좋아해. 

• 나는 Map of the Soul: 7 제일 좋아해
• (na-neun Map of the Soul:7 je-il jo-ah-hae)
• I like Map of the Soul: 7 the most.
• 나는 Be 제일 좋아해해
• (na-neun Be je-il jo-ah-hae)
• I like Be the most

And that concludes this blog. You now know how to write ‘BTS’, all of the BTS members names and their nicknames in Korea. 

You also learned words and phrases related to BTS. Now you should be able to have simple conversations with friends about BTS in Korean. 

Thank you for sticking with this blog to the end. Remember to practice all that you learned! Good luck with your language studies!

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Learn Korean with BTS: What is BTS Singing About?

As you know, K-pop is the hot new trend in music, and BTS is the boy band that dominates the Korean pop scene.

If you're learning Korean and love K-pop, you'll be delighted to hear that BTS can actually help you learn the language.

Today, we'll discuss all things BTS and explain how listening to BTS lyrics can help you to learn Korean faster. Language learning just got a lot more fun!

Before we dive into BTS lyrics, we’ll have a quick look at the Korean language itself and how BTS fits into modern Korean society.

The Korean Language: An Introduction

Korean is spoken by around 80 million people natively, mostly in Korea. It is the official language of both North and South Korea, although some vocabulary differences have arisen over the past 74 years of separation.

The South Korean writing system is called Hangul. This script uses 24 simple letters, called jamo , and 27 complex letters, which are made from the basic ones.

You can learn the Korean alphabet with online videos, language-learning apps, or formal Korean lessons. It was designed to be easy to understand so it is accessible to all people.

Check out this simple guide to the Hangul alphabet .

There are also a lot of great online resources to help you learn Korean speaking and listening skills. These include Pimsleur, Duolingo and Lingopie. The former two are Korean learning apps, while the latter is a streaming service that offers a lot of great Korean content.

By watching movies and TV shows in Korean on Lingopie , you can pick up new words and grammar points naturally through exposure. This is a fun and organic way to learn Korean.

Now, let's start learning Korean with BTS.

Who Is BTS?

BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band whose music incorporates hip-hop and pop elements. The band is made up of seven members, each of whom is encouraged to express his own personality, rather than becoming just a part of the ensemble with no individuality.

The boy band was formed in 2010 and is represented by Big Hit Entertainment. In 2013, BTS released its debut single album, 2 Cool 4 Skool . Since then, the band has sold over 30 million albums, making them the best-selling South Korean artist of all time.

In 2018, the BTS members became the youngest recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit from the President of South Korea. They earned this honor for their contributions to spreading Korean culture and language to other countries around the world.

The band also releases Japanese-language songs, so if you are learning Japanese, listening to these songs is great practice.

In 2022, BTS announced its decision to take a break from writing and performing to allow its members time to complete their mandatory army service. They are expected to make a comeback following their time in the Korean army.

How to Learn Korean with BTS

BTS has been recognized as a great resource for Korean learning, and there are several ways that you can use this band to learn Korean.

Korean pop fans can learn Korean with BTS songs by reading the lyrics as they listen and by singing along. This will help with reading and listening skills, as well as with pronunciation and fluency.

Learning while having fun is essential, so choose songs that you love and listen to them often so that the words, sentence structure, and tones are familiar to you and are retained in your long-term memory.

Moreover, you can learn a lot about Korean culture and society from BTS videos. Note the fashion choices, the relationships depicted in the videos, and any buildings, modes of transport, cuisine, or other clues about Korean daily life.

The Bangtan Boys Book Package

There is even a BTS book that was designed for language learners. You can buy the Korean with BTS book online and work through it with other K-pop fans.

Practice Korean with the Bangtan Boys' book package and gain access to a lot of colorful study notes, phrasebooks of common Korean greetings and sayings, grammar and vocabulary resources, and a "speaking pen" that instructs you on proper pronunciation.

When you tap the speaking pen on a word, it will say the Korean word aloud so you can practice the pronunciation. It will also say the meaning of the word in English, Japanese or Spanish to help you understand.

Get your book package and speaking pen from a secure site that provides international shipping and delivery, and start learning Korean today!

What is BTS Singing About?

The boy band covers a range of profound themes in its songs, from mental health and the trials and tribulations of school-age youth to the idea of coming of age and feelings of loss.

They also sing about the important journey toward self-love, the power of individualism, and the consequences of fame and recognition. Learning Korean by listening to BTS exposes you to useful everyday words and phrases, but also poetic and deep concepts and language.

BTS's discography and adjacent works also reference literature, philosophy, and big psychological concepts.

Through their music, videos, books, short movies, and mobile games, BTS have actually created an alternate universe storyline. This storyline follows the seven members in an alternate reality and explores their anxieties and uncertainties about their futures.

The Lyrics: 6 Great BTS Songs

Now, it's time to address what BTS is actually singing about! Once you know the context of the songs, you can learn Korean smarter and faster. So, let's dive into the meaning of some of your favorite songs by BTS.

1. Life Goes On

One of BTS's most popular songs of 2020 was the consoling and soothing alternative hip-hop, synth-pop song 'Life Goes On'. This song was a reaction to the pandemic and offered words of hope and encouragement to K-pop listeners during this tough time.

Study Korean pronunciation and useful vocabulary with this beautiful song. What's more, you can get an insight into life during the pandemic in Korea with the video for 'Life Goes On'.

This song is definitely a fan-favorite, as BTS address their fanbase, known as the ARMY, directly in the lyrics. The band was saddened by the pandemic and the resultant need to distance themselves from their fans.

In 'Stay', this sadness is explored, as is their desire to be reunited. The song has a hopeful and positive outlook and looks forward to a bright future.

Loyal members of the ARMY can listen to 'Stay' to feel connected to their favorite band, but it is also a valuable learning tool, as the song features a lot of everyday language related to the weather, body parts, and relationships.

3. Fly To My Room

In 'Fly To My Room', BTS allow their listeners into their personal lives and their profound feelings about quarantine and isolation.

They sing "it’s so frustrating, it’s driving me crazy/Feel like it’s still day one/Somebody turn back the clock/The entire year got stolen,” referencing how meaningless time seemed during isolation.

The song expresses the bang members' desire to have someone fly to their rooms and ease the monotony of quarantine. Use this song to learn Korean words and phrases that you can use to describe your own quarantine journey.

4. Dis-Ease

This song is about letting go of stress, which is a message that can be applied to all walks of life, though, again, it was Covid-inspired. The band suddenly found itself with a lot of canceled shows, free time, and not enough work to do.

This led them to feel uneasy, so they wrote about their need to let go and relax. They go so far as to say "I think I should work till my body breaks", but in the end, they need to "throw away the fear".

Once again, this song deals with poignant themes but leaves listeners feeling hopeful and empowered. Listen to 'Dis-Ease' to learn Korean phrases related to stress, work, relaxing, and letting go.

5. Yet To Come

Now, let's look at the powerful lyrics of 'Yet To Come', the lead single of their anthology album Proof . In this song, the band reflects on its success and fame and explores the complex emotions that come with such stardom.

The lyrics explore the idea that they are the best K-pop band, saying "that uncomfortable title we were given one day/We are still abashed by being called the best".

However, the BTS members also look forward to the future and appreciate the journey they have been on together.

Finally, we will leave you with a hopelessly romantic hit. 'DNA' is about two people who belong together to the point that it is written in their DNA.

The lyric "The DNA in my blood vessels tell me/ That it's you I was looking all over for" is both moving and beautiful. This is a pure expression of young, passionate love.

Now that you've dipped your toes into the lyrics and meanings behind BTS hits, you can start to listen to the Korean words and begin to decipher them. Beginners can use side-by-side English and Korean lyrics to help their comprehension.

FAQs: Learning Korean with K-Pop

Can you learn korean with bts.

Yes, you can learn Korean with BTS. Listen to your favorite BTS songs over and over for repetitive practice, sing along for pronunciation and fluency practice, and look up lyrics when you cannot make them out.

You can also write down any useful or interesting words and phrases in BTS songs and create flashcards or vocab lists to study from. Finally, don't forget the BTS book package!

Where can I find resources online to learn Korean?

There are many online resources for Korean learning, such as the learn Korean with BTS book package, BTS songs and music videos, lyric websites, and BTS short movies.

Moreover, you can use a language-learning app or website, such as Pimsleur or Lingopie .

Beginners and intermediate learners can also watch TikTok videos and Instagram reels made by native Korean people to help them pick up basic greetings and common sayings.

How can I optimize my Korean learning journey?

Try to keep up with your Korean learning journey by turning up every day for at least 30 minutes of study time.

This can be formal study, such as working through a language app or textbook, or simply listening to Korean music and watching Korean TV. Any exposure to level-appropriate content is good.

If you're feeling brave, you could even write a fan letter to the BTS members using the Korean script!

How can I learn Korean skills fast?

One way to learn Korean with music fast is with BTS and any other K-pop you love. Moreover, watching Korean TV shows and movies will provide similar high-quality immersive exposure to the language.

Or, you can find a language exchange partner. Look online or in the local community for someone who speaks fluent Korean and loves the same stuff you do - such as BTS! Talking with a native Korean speaker allows you to pick up colloquialisms, slang, and useful vocab related to your interests. They can also provide instant feedback for your speaking.

Learn Korean with BTS and other fans of K-pop for a fun, fulfilling, and enjoyable learning experience.

Summing Up: Learning Korean with BTS

Now you know how to learn Korean with BTS and why listening to music and watching videos are fantastic language-learning approaches.

By immersing yourself in Korean content, you expose yourself to vocabulary, culture, proper pronunciation, sentence structure, and other important grammar rules .

This exposure is natural, so you develop language skills organically, in a way that doesn't even feel like learning.

When you learn Korean with BTS, you also become part of a huge worldwide community of fans with whom you can talk to practice your Korean.

If you want to learn Korean, don't forget to check out Lingopie. Beginners and advanced learners alike can benefit from exposure to high-quality Korean-language content.

Lorena Macedo

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• Entertainment

SOUTH KOREA:  The South Korean boy band BTS has taken the world by storm in recent years, captivating fans with their catchy music, mesmerising performances, and relatable message of self-love and acceptance. However, their impact extends far beyond music, as BTS has catalysed language learning and cultural exploration among fans worldwide. This article will explore how BTS’s music has contributed to the global interest in Korean language and culture.

BTS’s music and videos have significantly introduced fans to the Korean language and culture. With their lyrics often including Korean phrases and expressions, fans can pick up on the language by listening and singing to their music. 

Additionally, the group has released several songs incorporating other languages, such as English, Spanish, and Japanese, further diversifying their global appeal.

In addition to their music, the boy band has also used their platform to promote Korean culture and language through various interviews, TV appearances, and social media posts. They have encouraged fans to explore Korean culture and even recommended books and movies to help fans better understand Korean history and society.

Moreover, the Korean boy band music videos have become a popular tool for language learning, as they often feature captions in both Korean and English. Fans can watch the videos while following along with the lyrics, helping them to improve their reading and listening comprehension skills.

BTS’s impact on language learning has been significant, with fans worldwide taking Korean language courses and seeking Korean language exchange programs. 

The Korean Language Institute at Seoul National University reported a 13% increase in international students in 2018, which they attributed partly to the popularity of Korean pop culture, including BTS.

Moreover, the Korean boy band’s impact on language learning has gone beyond just learning Korean. Fans have also been inspired to learn other languages and explore different cultures, as BTS has shown that music and culture can bring people together and transcend borders.

In conclusion, BTS’s impact on language learning and cultural exploration has been significant, with their music and message inspiring fans worldwide to learn Korean and explore Korean culture. As the group breaks down barriers and promotes unity and understanding, their impact on language learning will continue to grow.

Also Read: BTS Famed Jimin Announces the Release Date of His Debut Solo Album ‘Face’

Editor-in-Chief at Transcontinental Times, Computer Science Graduate, PG diploma in Journalism and Mass communication. Ishita is a youth activist for PETA India, President of Girlup IWO, and a linguaphile. She covers fashion and lifestyle, politics, UN initiatives, sports, and diversity.

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K-Pop Sensation BTS Transcends Language Barriers in the United States

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Korean pop group BTS (방탄소년단) made history on November 3 rd when their song “Life Goes On” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. “Life Goes On” is the first song sung predominantly in a foreign language to debut at No. 1 in the chart’s 62-year history, and only the third foreign-language song that has topped the chart since 1996. The group’s accomplishments span beyond the Hot 100 — BTS earned a ‘ Billboard All-Kill ’, reaching No. 1 on all major Billboard charts, with their new album Be simultaneously debuting at the top of the Billboard 200.

Their record-breaking week is one of many achievements in the group’s storied foray into the American market. BTS recently became the first K-pop act to receive a Grammy nomination , and is currently in contention for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 63 rd Grammy Awards. If the band wins the award, it will become the first South Korean artist to win at all three major US music award shows, following a string of victories at the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.

Thanks to the band’s unprecedented success, BTS plays a key role in boosting cross-cultural exchange between the United States and ROK. The group has capitalized on its popularity to promote Korean culture, serving as ambassadors for tourism to Seoul, and launching the ‘ Learn Korean with BTS ’ initiative earlier this year. Their efforts have reaped significant dividends. The Korea Foundation’s 2019 Hallyu White Paper notes that BTS singlehandedly drove substantial amounts of tourism to the country. The white paper cites a report by the Hyundai Research Institute, which found that a 1% increase in recognition for BTS is correlated with 0.45% growth in foreign tourism. Many of these visitors are US citizens; the United States is the fourth-largest source of tourism to South Korea, with the number of American visitors exceeding one million for the first time in 2019.

The group’s contributions to US-Korea relations have not gone unrecognized. This year, the Korea Society awarded them the Van Fleet Award in honor of their impact on cultural ties. US Ambassador to South Korea, Harry Harris, and State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus both tweeted to acknowledge BTS’s support for bilateral relations.

On the other side, South Korea responded to the group’s accomplishments by amending a longstanding law regarding military conscription . Notable K-pop artists are now able to defer enlistment by two years, until age 30. The law passed on December 2 nd —just two days before BTS’s eldest member, Kim Seok-jin, would have been required to enlist.

BTS’s success is buoyed by hallyu , or the ‘Korean wave’ of rising interest in South Korean culture. Along with fellow acts such as BLACKPINK and Girls’ Generation , popular K-dramas, and Academy Award-winning film Parasite , the group is bringing South Korea’s soft power to new heights. In fact, hallyu is so influential that the Foreign Ministry-affiliated Korea Foundation deemed it a critical asset of the country’s public diplomacy .

Nonetheless, it is impossible to overstate BTS’s impact. Their record-setting Billboard achievements prove that music can transcend language barriers. The group’s universal messages of hope, humanity, and love resonate deeply with the US-ROK relationship, which continues to grow through cultural and economic ties . Meanwhile, BTS will continue paving the way for the hallyu wave. Michelle Huang is a Research Intern with the Young Professionals Program at the East-West Center in Washington. She is a final-year undergraduate studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford.