BTS’ Explosive “Dynamite” Reveals a Limit to American Acceptance
The K-pop group’s massively successful single continues the story of Asian assimilation in the U.S.
The xenophobic violence that rose with the coronavirus outbreak wasn’t enough to stop Asian entertainers from breaking barriers in 2020. From Awkwafina’s historical Golden Globes win to Parasite’s widely applauded Oscars domination, the year began as a celebration of Asian — especially Korean — culture. And as we began holing up in our homes and putting on our masks, K-pop group BTS continued its chart-climbing success, ultimately debuting at №1 with “Dynamite.”
But “Dynamite” — BTS’ first all-English song — presents the question of whether Korea’s boy bands and girl groups will always need to succumb to a Westernized fate to reach the top, or if talent is enough for them to achieve an unrelenting spotlight.
The rise of K-pop in the United States
Hallyu, better known as the “Korean Wave,” isn’t a new phenomenon. The term refers to the rise of South Korean pop culture around the world, which began as early as the 1990s in East Asia.
It’s easy to see why K-pop has resonated with the world. The “genre” — or rather, segment of the music industry — is inherently manufactured to create breakout stars. Idols, as members of K-pop groups are called, are beautiful, insanely talented and trained to perfection since adolescence. K-pop also has roots in Western music and style (sometimes toeing the line between innovation and appropriation of Black culture), so there’s a sense of familiarity to latch onto for anyone who has been touched by Hollywood.
But only in recent years has K-pop begun to make and remain in mainstream headlines in the U.S. — largely thanks to BTS.
While K-pop has broken into the Hot 100 before, starting with Wonder Girls’ “Nobody” in 2008, no artist had achieved as much visibility as BTS gained with its 2017 Billboard Music Awards acceptance in 2017. Even then, their win was met with confusion and backlash.
But since then, BTS has worked its way toward becoming a household name. Their 2020 achievements in America include appearances on late-night talk shows — with an unprecedented week’s worth of publicity on the “Tonight Show”— and the biggest album release of the year so far. They performed at the Grammys (though more so to support Lil Nas X). Their single “On” debuted at №4 (with almost no radio play).
Then came “Dynamite,” the single that launched BTS to №1, with plenty of radio play to boot.
“Dynamite” is assimilation
The story of Asian assimilation in America is an age-old tale. There’s a persistent expectation for Asian immigrants to shed their identities — or pen their cultures in little Chinatowns across the country — and take on model minority skins instead. As children of immigrants, we receive English names on our birth certificates and are raised to fall into line for our safety.
As K-pop further migrates into the United States, it successfully breaks barriers, but fails to make assimilation history. “Dynamite” is the purest example of this.
Written with all-English lyrics by two white British songwriters, “Dynamite” is the result of upbeat tunes and simplistic lyrics that are already proven to work in the West. If there was any significant input from Korean songwriters — for example, the members of the group itself, who once said that if they sang in full English, then “that’s not BTS”— it’s not apparent.
As Vox writer Aja Romano puts it, “‘Dynamite’ is a collection of disjointed clichés that are trolling Americans.” The opening verse refers to King Kong, LeBron James, iced tea and milk for practically no reason — except perhaps to position BTS as an oxymoronic all-American Korean band.
And listeners in the United States ate it all up. “Dynamite” gained the radio play BTS needed to complete its formula for American success.
“Dynamite” sheds light on the existence of Korean musicians, without actually giving Korean music the stage. It shows that American acceptance for Asians is only heightened when they contribute to a desired image — and that we’re a long way from a true breakthrough in escaping xenophobia.
When “Dynamite” reached №1 instead of bigger, bolder and more complex hits from the band, it showed that native languages can’t just be pushed away from the choruses. Maximizing success requires artists to leave beautiful Asian languages — all too foreign to gain the spotlight unlike the more familiar, Latin-based Spanish in “Despacito”— in their home countries and replace them with English instead.
We can do better
It’s fair to say that the American acceptance of Asians in entertainment has drastically improved over the years, but the standard of assimilation runs deep. Not only do listeners expect English lyrics — however incohesive — but K-pop group manufacturers themselves seem to encourage their factory-finished artists to give in to Western demand, too. It’s an incredibly profitable market, after all. And Big Hit Entertainment (BTS’ label) is definitely ready to make their uncoincidentally timed stock market debut go “cha-ching like money” (to quote the wise lyrics of “Dynamite”).
Undoubtedly, it’s exciting to have a part of Asian culture celebrated as widely and heavily as BTS and “Dynamite.” Time will tell if America’s attention span will help BTS continue its longevity in the industry. But the fact that language, depth and even the characteristic extravagance of many K-pop hits must be removed to climb charts is a sad look at how deeply our culture is impacted by xenophobia.
The BTS fan base (or A.R.M.Y.) will undoubtedly support their talented sergeants till the end — as they should — but let’s not pretend that “Dynamite” is a major breakthrough in American acceptance of anything but the model minority.
If Asian artists (including Asian-American artists) must assimilate before they can reach major milestones, what does that say about how progressive our country really is?
