analyzing the hollywood reporter’s BTS cover story: what went wrong?

read the thread here: https://twitter.com/tybutdisagree/status/1179414980514500608

a tornado flew around the timeline this morning. for days, ARMY had been awaiting a much-whoopdiedooed cover story by the hollywood reporter of their beloved band, BTS. the traffic was palpable. in the midst of many likes and retweets, there were many fans who noted that they’d have to unblock THR in this one instance, just to read this big piece.

at this point, you might ask why ARMYs had THR blocked in the first place. well…

it’s one thing, though, to review an artist negatively. anthony fantano, the world’s most popular music reviewer, gave map of the soul: persona a similarly unimpressed 5/10. but his review felt less intentionally offputting, only reflecting on his opinion on the music.

compare this with the language used in THR’s review, calling Big Hit, BTS’ label, a “sausage mill,” called their aphorisms “dime-store,” asserted that the work felt “packaged on an assembly line,” tapping into cliches of k-pop’s artistry.