BTS are changing the world, here’s how
BTS, Korea’s largest music export, have been breaking records and turning heads since April with the release of their highly anticipated album “Map of the Soul: Persona”. On May 2nd they took home two Billboard Music Awards; one for top social artist which they have won three consecutive years in a row, and another for best duo/group. There are seven members, interestingly the same amount as tracks on their album; and horcruxes made by Lord Voldemort. Just like he-who-must-not-be-named, BTS are fast becoming a household name in the West. This is in equal parts due to their immeasurable talent, ridiculous good looks, unending hard work, and of course, their all-powerful fan group, aptly named, ARMY.
Regardless of whether or not you like K-pop, there will come a time when BTS make you start to question your allegiances to your: partner; music taste; culture, and; sexuality. No one is immune to the long arm of mass culture; especially when it’s attached to a singing, rapping, dancing group that dishes out lingering eye contact like a period drama.
On the one hand, BTS represent positive traits of intelligence, beauty, talent, hard work, honesty, humility and loyalty. They are seven human representations of South Korea as a nation. Fans across cultural divides and around the world look up to them and aim to model their lives off their beloved idols. On the…
