The Big Seven

SERIN THANKAM SAM

Being the world’s biggest global phenomenon is no small feat. Just a few years ago, it was difficult to imagine a boy-band from a small country in Asia, who sings in a completely unfamiliar language, would inherit the throne previously held by the likes of Michael Jackson , Backstreet Boys and One Direction, all of them singing in one of the most common languages, English.

Young adults, teenage boys and girls, even for kids, BTS aka Bangtan Sonyeondan which translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts,is an inspiration. A group of seven young men, grabbing attention all over the world. A closer look at BTS’s music and message shows that even calling BTS a “boy band” may be an understatement.

The term boy band is product of western pop music history and carries with it a certain set of assumptions. The term was used to denote a pop act made up of good-looking young men, performing music created by an imperious producer. Their target audience was teenage girls, toward whom the boy band’s music and messaging would be directed.

The lyrics were usually saccharine, and the songs were about entering into, or exiting from, a romantic relationship with a young woman. Typically, music from boy bands was rarely adventurous, and consisted of easy and predictable bubblegum pop tunes.

Like other boy bands and K-pop idol acts, BTS is a group of good-looking young men performing music that leans heavily on visual aesthetics. But that is where the similarities end, as many of the common assumptions about boy bands are inapplicable to BTS. Unlike the previous boy bands , BTS operates on a different model that allows them to reach a larger range of audience.

When Bang Si Hyuk started Big Hit Entertainment in 2005, he faced a challenge especially from the three established record companies of South Korea- SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG entertainment- which formed in the late 1990’s.

To dominate South Korea’s ultra- competitive, 4.7 million dollar K-Pop industry, a start-up like Big Hit had to do something different to break through.

That is where the social media comes into play. The internet- social media in particular – has played an enormous part in the success of the group and the members completely agree with that. Big-Hit knew it well and they launched BTS social media strategy well before-hand their debut in 2013. Especially at a time when social media was just there for namesake.

Interestingly, BTS were one of the first K-Pop groups on Twitter. BTS used internet-influencer- level social media activities to turn their professional, onstage personas into something more relatable. They probably did so without realising it themselves.

It is not just clever planning and marketing by the parent company and good music has contributed to group’s meteoric rise. The credit also belongs to one of the world’s most powerful fandoms called Army.The Army fan is a huge global force. Even the Big Hit agrees that BTS success come from putting the fans at the centre of its business model. It is also important to note that BTS and their relationship with ARMY is hugely personal.

The world is trying to process BTS’s sudden rise. They emerged out of the blue and became a huge success. That is why their emergence is likened to the Beatles. Their success can’t be pinned down to one factor. Timing, clever marketing, relatability and a powerful fandom, fuelled their success.

Now BTS is one of the music industries’ most interesting case studies.