BTS, With Sincerity
We want to spend all of our time writing about BTS. They make us stop and think about art and our own beliefs so often. That’s the simple explanation for why we created this blog. We also want to keep a record of how BTS’s artistry is interpreted through our personal ARMY perspective. Imagine someone a hundred years from now writing about BTS — they need opportunities to see what we see, unfiltered by the gaze of media tropes which judge both BTS and ARMY. The connections between BTS and ARMY and artistry are so intricately woven — why would we allow this story to be told only by others? We are here to elevate their artistry.
A few notes about us: Kim is a nature, geography, photography, and music lover who has found joy and freedom of expression in writing about BTS since she discovered them in early 2022. She is based in the U.S. and works as a professor, teaching about climate justice. Andreina is a music and art lover whose deepest joy is writing about the things she loves. Originally from South America and located in Canada, Andreina’s background is in film and literature. She works as a researcher and freelance writer. Her sister introduced her to BTS in 2022, and she’s been writing about BTS ever since.
While we are slowly learning Korean, neither of us is Korean or understands Korean, so we rely on wonderful ARMY translators. Although this website is not part of an academic research project, we take the attribution of sources seriously and will cite them appropriately. We’ll also add relevant links to our essays so you can sidetrack and go even deeper down the rabbit hole.
Because we want to be both here on this journey with BTS and ARMY and there for the future as a part of the historical record, we are mindful of how we tell our stories. Because of this, ARMY might see a few things here that make you want to give us side-eye. Rarely do ARMY refer to BTS by their stage names. But how many people in the future will readily know who our Sunshine is? Yoongles? 🐨? You get what we mean. So, you’ll see their stage names in these essays. We’ll save the loving nomenclature for our Twitter accounts: @seeuinttukseom and @BTSwSincerity. You can also find us on Bluesky using @BTSwithSincerity.bsky.social and @seeuinttukseom.bsky.social.
Please be kind and patient as we explore how our ambitions for this new blog come together. We promise to always follow BTS in how they lead with sincerity and intentionality– for this reason, we chose to launch the website on July 9, 2024, on the 11th anniversary of when BTS and ARMY established their connection. We’ll also follow their example of ruthless self-editing so that our essays are short and to the point because we know you’ve got some videos to watch and lyrics to analyze. We are excited because we’ve already written hundreds of essays in our heads, and now we’ve found a way to share them with you.
Apobangpo,
Andreina and Kim
