BTS, ARMY, and Anti-capitalism: A Relationship in Evolution

Source: Hong Jang Hyun for Wall Street Journal Magazine

At a part-time job, it’s “all for experience”

At school, there’s the teachers

My superiors use violence

In the media they go on about “the generation that’s given up”

j-hope, Baepsae, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt.2

The world is a giant system

In it, either opposition, war, or survival is inserted

Life that we can’t refuse

With dreams as its collateral, the capitalism injects the morphine called ‘hope’

Wealth breeds wealth and tests greed

Agust D (Suga), Strange, D-2

[Lyric Translations: Genius]

Around 2016, the world started to take notice of an underdog Korean idol group called BTS (Full name: Bangtan Sonyeondan). They had debuted in 2013 with little fanfare and were signed to a small, new-ish company called Big Hit that had little clout and even less money. Many had written them off as ridiculous, a little too try-hard, and figured they probably wouldn’t last too long in the competitive idol music industry.

However, BTS managed to beat the odds — overwhelmingly. Their personal charm, work ethic, dedication to artistry, and energetic performances earned them a fiercely loyal and evangelical fanbase. Importantly, their clever, thoughtful lyrics on subjects like mental health, loneliness, capitalism, and the struggle of coming of age in uncertain times won over fans who wouldn’t normally find themselves anywhere near K-Pop. From then on, the world was theirs.

Anti-capitalism (or at least, criticism of the world that exists under capitalism) has always been a part of BTS’ appeal. In an industry that gets derided (sometimes unfairly) for being a late-capitalist hellscape, it was refreshing, even exciting, to hear artists say what a lot of us were secretly thinking but did not yet have the courage to voice. (Keep in mind, Trump was elected in 2016. The world’s Overton window was very different.) BTS’ fandom (ARMY) spans all ages, all demographics, but for the young people among them (myself included), it was comforting to have our struggles named and validated; we were stronger and less alone than we thought we were.

BTS’ purported anti-capitalist stance made a lot of sense then. They were, after all, the underdogs in an industry that had seemingly deemed them too strange and unmarketable to succeed. Particularly unkind netizens at the time left comments about how unattractive the members were, how silly their group name was, and generally made fun of how much they deviated from the standards of industry marketability. Supporting BTS was like giving the middle finger to the people and institutions who seemed to value profit and convention over art and truth.

Needless to say, BTS is no longer in the same position. They have set and broken records many times over. They are the first Korean pop group to truly cross over into the Western music mainstream. The goal is no longer to win their first Korean music show award, but to win a Grammy. The members themselves are millionaires who fly in private jets, dress in designer clothes, and buy expensive furniture. The founder and CEO of Big Hit, Bang Si-Hyuk, is worth around $770 million USD. In the corporate briefing for the second half of 2020 on August 13, Bang PD stated that Big Hit (now Big Hit Labels after several major acquisitions) had netted a $40.2 million USD (47.9 billion KRW) operating profit, at a time when the whole music industry was reeling from the loss of touring money and sponsorships. The company has recently gone public with much fanfare. Locke’s invisible hand has clearly blessed them with its favor.

BTS continues to produce music that seems to critique capitalism, and their fans continue to enjoy hearing these messages in their music. But many of us have to contend with a note of tension in this. Like all successful public figures, BTS (and Big Hit) have leveraged their fandom’s parasocial relationships with them for profit. Fans organize to buy albums, attend concerts, support collaborations and sponsorships, and generally spend money to support BTS in any way they can. It is clear that they are no longer the “victims” of capitalism like they once were, like many of us currently are. They have succeeded by all measurable standards. To their credit, the lyrics have evolved with their circumstances. They no longer speak about barely paid part-time jobs or crushing, outdated expectations from parents and teachers, but about more sophisticated and generalized concepts, like the polarization of society and the limitations on autonomy under a profit-driven system. They don’t pretend to be underdogs anymore, they instead dissect the impact (or lack of impact, in some cases) that wealth and success have had on their psyches. Some fans take their continued critique of late-capitalist society as evidence that they are all hardline leftists (really? all of them?). Others point to their wealth and success as evidence that their anti-capitalist stance in music is insincere, and purely for profit. Still others question whether they really critique capitalism at all, or if they are purely referring to social issues. What, exactly, is the truth?

To answer this, we must first ask ourselves if benefiting from capitalism precludes you from being able to criticize it. My favorite YouTuber, Contrapoints, once said that when she was a struggling grad student, people would tell her she couldn’t criticize capitalism because she was clearly just lazy and jealous of the people who had worked harder than her. Then, after she became a successful YouTuber, people told her she couldn’t criticize capitalism because she had profited from it. As she put it: “If people who are failing under capitalism can’t criticize it because they’re just resentful, and people who are succeeding under capitalism can’t criticize it because they’re hypocrites, then…is anyone allowed to criticize capitalism?”

The truth is, anyone can criticize capitalism, regardless of personal ambitions, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, or any other characteristics. In fact, many people who we might consider to be on the less progressive side (incels, QAnon followers, Steve Bannon, corporate Twitter accounts) often criticize capitalism; it’s just that they don’t necessarily name what they’re critiquing as ‘capitalism’ and they’ve come to very different conclusions about how to fix it. For those ARMY who perceive BTS’ willingness to criticize capitalism as evidence that they have radical leftist politics, it is important to note that criticism of capitalism alone is hardly conclusive in that regard. Fans might be inclined to infer what BTS’ political stances are based on details like charitable donations, inclusive pronoun usage, book recommendations, and song lyrics, but BTS themselves have never made any outright statement about where they stand politically (in terms of voting, candidate endorsements, etc.) Some fans may argue that the members are socially proscribed from openly discussing politics because of Korean cultural conventions (which apply strongly to idols and entertainers) and that these little hints are their way of trying to make their views known. Regardless of what the intention is, the fact remains that these are only hints, not statements.

There is some evidence that BTS and ARMY ideologies may inform each other. Most notably, in conjunction with Big Hit, BTS made a $1 million USD donation to the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020 to support the fight for racial justice in the United States. Prior to this announcement, many American ARMY and allies had been vocally calling for them to make some statement of support for Black Americans and to acknowledge the artistic debt they owe to the Black artists who inspired them. Eagle-eyed fans on Twitter noted that the donation itself seemed to have been timed before ARMY started campaigning for support, although the statement announcing the donation came after. It isn’t completely clear how much ARMY encouragement contributed to their donation, although in a recent interview with Variety, RM states, “We were aware of the fans, the hashtags and their participation… We discussed it very carefully with the company and that’s how this came about.” However, BTS’ decision certainly seems to have influenced ARMY, as we raised an additional $1 million USD in a campaign to match their donation after the announcement. This potential reciprocity is interesting, as it reflects an ongoing, if not symmetrical, dialogue in the relationship between BTS and ARMY.

To be clear, BTS themselves have always denied having any political content in their work or public statements. When prompted, they prefer to label their ideas and actions as humanitarian, rather than as political. In the same Variety interview, where they talk about the BLM donation, their response is purposefully nebulous and falls along those lines. Suga insists (as he usually does) that he doesn’t “want to speak in political terms” and that the group is pursuing “initiatives that any person who wishes to live in a just world would want to pursue.” RM jumps in to add that while they “are not political figures”, he acknowledges that “everything is political eventually.” This addendum, as far as I can tell, is somewhat unprecedented for them, and raises new questions. Who gets to define what is political? What makes one thing political but not another? Is social justice or humanitarian activism necessarily always political? Is a donation to an organization that does explicitly political work (like BLM) a political action in itself? Is there even consensus within BTS about whether their actions are political? Is there a possibility that some members may want to become more overt in their activism in the future? These are important questions that BTS and ARMY will have to continue grappling with as time goes on. There are no easy answers, and any attempt to answer with a blanket statement will likely ignore or fail to address highly relevant intersectional concerns.

The way BTS interacts with capitalism will no doubt continue to evolve over time. Their ever-growing success, sensitivity to the international political climate, and personal circumstances will naturally contribute to that. Our own relationships with capitalism will also evolve as we move through our rapidly changing world. As that happens, our paths will likely converge with BTS’ at some points and diverge at others. Some of the questions that the community is discussing will resolve with time, while some may never get a clear answer. Although we may not always be able to relate to them, the relationship between BTS and ARMY will continue to intersect, influence, and transform in surprising ways.

Written by Connie Lu, @madeinvelvet

References:

1. Lee Y, S Kim, PY Mak. April 9, 2019. “’Hitman’ Worth $770 Million With K-Pop Craze Rocking the Planet”. Bloomberg. <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-09/-hitman-worth-770-million-with-k-pop-craze-rocking-the-planet>
2. Big Hit Labels. April 12, 2020. “Big Hit Corporate Briefing with the Community (2H 2020)”. YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyGF8mFDMeI&ab_channel=BigHitLabels>
3. Kim, S and H Kim. October 14, 2020. “BTS Band Members Make Millions as Big Hit Shares Jump in IPO”. Bloomberg. < https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-15/bts-band-members-make-millions-as-big-hit-shares-surge-in-ipo>
4. Contrapoints. March 31, 2018. “What’s Wrong with Capitalism (Part 2)”. YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR7ryg1w_IQ&ab_channel=ContraPoints>
5. Turak N. June 8, 2020. “K-pop’s BTS donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter, its fan army matched it in a day — and now John Cena’s on board”. CNBC. <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/bts-donated-1-million-to-black-lives-matter-its-fans-matched-it-in-a-day.html>
6. Davis, R. October 2, 2020. “BTS on the Decision to Donate to Black Lives Matter: ‘Prejudice Should Not Be Tolerated’”. Variety. <https://variety.com/2020/music/news/bts-black-lives-matter-donation-1234789434/>