BTS has certainly been a hot topic in the media recently, with their debut anniversary passing earlier this month and a misconstrued translation that sent the entire world of media into a panic. As a person that has been immersed in the BTS world for seven years, it’s almost surreal to watch the western media coverage of the group, especially knowing their past and where exactly they came from. 

BTS as we know them began to form back in 2010, starting with BigHit Entertainment/HYBE CEO Bang Sihyuk meeting RM and wanting to form a hip-hop group around him. At the time, RM was a well-known rapper in the underground scene under the name Runch Randa. SUGA and j-hope also had strong presences in the underground scene, in rap and dance specifically. The debut was delayed to June 2013 after a decision to format them as more of a traditional idol group, and leading up to the official debut of the members (minus V, who was the last revealed and a secret member) began to gain some attention on social media.

Debut EP 2 Cool 4 Skool and title track “No More Dream” didn’t last long on the charts, but in the future, it would be a rather critical release because the song had a very different feel than most debuts at the time. The song expressed the strong anxiety and pressure that students face in today’s society, which isn’t something K-Pop traditionally touched on at the time. Nowadays some may say it was cringe, and even if you agree with that sentiment, it remains true that this set the stage for their musical career and the message that skyrocketed the group into stardom. From the start, it was also a mark that the members would participate in the composition of their own music, which was not yet as common a practice as it is today, especially when it came to the debut.

In addition, they promoted “We Are Bulletproof Pt 2” off of their debut album as well, but it did not chart at all. The second EP O!RUL8,2? was slated to release in September 2013, the second entry in the “School Trilogy.” Title track “N.O” doubled down on the rebellion messaging, despite the lack of traction on it in the first release. 

In February 2014, the finale of the “School Trilogy” was released in the mini-album Skool Luv Affair. Unlike the previous releases, this album shot to the top of the Gaon Weekly Album Chart and gave the group their first appearance on Billboard World Albums Chart, peaking at No. 3. “Boy In Luv” is regarded by many as the release that first introduced them to the group. It also marked their first break into the U.S. market.

After “Boy In Luv” promotions, “Just One Day” was promoted in April and also had its own music video release. In addition, a special edition short-run repackage was released for Skool Luv Affair, which included two new songs: “Miss Right” and “I Like It (Slow Jam Remix).”

With the success of Skool Luv Affair and “Boy In Luv,” BTS would make their first official appearance in the U.S. via a free concert in West Hollywood, which was held after they shot their second reality show American Hustle Life. They would also make their first KCON appearance at KCON LA 2014.

While in the U.S., they also recorded the title “Danger” for their first full album Dark & Wild, which was released in August 2014. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Gaon Album Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard U.S. World Albums Chart. This release attained the group their first award at the Golden Disc Awards, the “Album Division” award. “Danger” was followed by promotions for the second single “War of Hormone” before the boys embarked on their first worldwide tour, the 2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet. During this time they would also debut their first Japanese studio album Wake Up.

Many would consider 2015 the year of commercial success for the group. With a new trilogy expressing the beauty and melancholy of youth, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series was born. Part one featured the title track “I Need U,” which was the title that got the group their first music show win on The Show, and would go on to achieve five other music show wins. Immediately after release, the title became the top trending search term on Korean portal sites and ranked at No. 1 on various real-time charts, such as Genie and Soribada. The music video garnered one million views in 16 hours, with follow-up single “Dope” breaking that record in 15 hours. “Dope” was also the first music video to surpass 100 million views on YouTube from a group not in the big three at the time. These are only just a few of the accolades the group received on this album.

November 2015 brought The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 2 on the scene, with another wave of great success on the music charts, including their first entry onto the Billboard 200 Chart. “Run” also became the group’s first single to debut at the top spot of MelOn’s real-time digital chart. 

The final entry of the trilogy, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Young Forever, released in May 2016, combined the two previous albums along with three new singles. This album is what won the group their first major award, the “Album of the Year” award from the 2016 MelOn Music Awards. BTS also was focusing more on international promotions, with a headline appearance at both U.S. KCON stops that year, along with appearances at KCON Paris and KCON Abu Dhabi.

With the conclusion of the "Youth Trilogy," there was a lot of anticipation on what direction BTS would go after finally breaking into commercial success both in Korea and internationally. No one was prepared for the release of the album Wings, which showed a more mature aesthetic from the group. “Blood Sweat & Tears” became the group’s first all-kill and Wings was their first million-seller album, racking up a total of 1.5 million purchases and becoming the best-selling album in Gaon Album Chart history that year.

In early 2017, repackage album You Never Walk Alone was released with the lead single “Spring Day,” and along with it came a worldwide stadium tour. This tour was in such high demand at the time that additional shows were added, which was a huge deal for the group since very few K-Pop acts before them had solo stadium tours within the U.S. Expansion into the mainstream western market began this year as well, as BTS went on to win the “Top Social Artist” at the Billboard Music Awards, breaking the six-year streak artist Justin Bieber had on the award.

One project from BTS (a personal favorite) seems to always get swept to the side when discussing the group’s history. On July 5, 2017, BTS released a remake of Seo Taiji’s iconic 1995 song “Come Back Home.” The project was part of the celebration of Seo Taiji’s twenty-fifth anniversary project Time: Traveler, and is a beautiful homage to the original. Not only was it a project for one of the true pioneers of the Korean music industry, but the song encompassed the same themes BTS became known for.

In September 2017, the first entry in the Love Yourself series was released with Love Yourself: Her. Currently sitting at 1.4 billion views on YouTube, this comeback is considered the real break into the western music market, as the group began to collaborate with more western artists on their releases, such as the Steve Aoki remix of “Mic Drop.” The album marked BTS’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat only PSY had managed before them with “Gangnam Style.” They also became the first K-Pop group to perform on an American music show, performing “DNA” at the American Music Awards, and later in the year won “Artist of the Year” at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, making it the second year in a row they won that award and becoming the first act to win two consecutive years.

The second installment of Love Yourself, Love Yourself: Tear, took a sharply dark turn in terms of storytelling. While “DNA” had some of the cliche themes we see in boy bands, “Fake Love” showed the darker side of that coin. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it the first No. 1 album for the group in the U.S. This album was also the first for the group that was nominated for a GRAMMY, in the category of “Best Recording Packaging.”

The finale in the Love Yourself trilogy, Love Yourself: Answer, was released in August 2018. At this point, there are so many awards and record-breaks associated with the group that they can’t be listed. Both the album and lead single “Idol” achieved platinum certifications in the U.S., and an even bigger scale stadium tour began in this year as well.

Map of the Soul was the next saga to come in 2019, with Map of the Soul: Persona releasing in April via the title track “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey. The album sold more than 3.2 million copies in Korea in less than a month, making it the best-selling album ever in Korea. With more collaborations with western artists and another stadium show under their belt, 2019 was a year of unimaginable growth not just in Korea and the U.S, but in all worldwide markets.

The second Map of the Soul installment, Map of the Soul: 7, was released in March 2020, with the single “Black Swan” released early in January. Much like the previous Love Yourself series, Map of the Soul: 7 and lead title “Black Swan” switched from the bubblegum lovesick boys back to the darker side of the coin. Looking back today on the lyrics of “Black Swan,” it seems almost as if this was intended to be a pinnacle moment in which the group would take a bit of a step back. After attaining unimaginable success, the lyrics hinted at an emptiness in their music and performance, and the fear that came along with it. Maybe all that fame and success really isn’t as fulfilling as we perceive it to be?

The official album release was supported by the title track “ON,” which not musically, but lyrically, had the old-school BTS grit to it. Where “Black Swan” left a somewhat somber and hopeless message, “ON” flipped the script and reclaimed the power they’ve always held as artists and as people. With a looming pandemic, it almost felt like a motivational song.

Of course, the pandemic derailed just about everything for everyone. The next stadium tour was indefinitely postponed (and eventually canceled), and plans for musical releases halted. It is believed that the Map of the Soul saga was initially supposed to continue before the pandemic struck, but we will never know for sure about that. Instead, on August 12 we got an all-English single release in “Dynamite,” which took the western world by storm. This is the single that put BTS on the map for a lot of American pop fans.

It feels majorly overlooked, but in November of 2020, the group released BE, an album composed by the members during the lockdown and was meant to bring comfort to everyone during the roughest times of the pandemic. The members had heavy involvement in all aspects of the creation of this album, from production to visual design.

The push in the American market continued into 2021, with single releases “Butter” and “Permission to Dance.” “Butter” was nominated for a GRAMMY for “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance,” but did not win. This time in their musical career was a bit strange, as there was a whole faction of new fans that joined the frays, while older fans often felt disconnected from BTS and their music because it felt like it had lost the meaning that their music always held. It felt surface-level, and a simple attempt at gaining popularity, or more likely a shot at finally winning a GRAMMY. Maybe that’s just my personal opinion, but it’s a sentiment I’ve heard from a number of different people.

Earlier this month, the group released their anthology album Proof. Many reconnected with their love and admiration for the group through this release, and the new songs added felt like they had reconnected with their roots on the importance of messaging in their music. Despite that, it’s glaringly apparent that the music video for “Yet To Come” is not getting as many views as previous English single releases, though we don’t believe streams are the most important part of this release. 

During their Festa celebration, BTS came on and spoke candidly about their feelings and shared with fans that they would be shifting focus to solo activities for the time being. Many media outlets (often unfamiliar with the structure of K-Pop groups this far into their career) frantically released articles either claiming a group hiatus or disbandment. So many flew off the handle that HYBE’s stock plummeted, resulting in 1.7 billion market losses in the company stock. This caused HYBE to issue a statement of clarification. 

The media backlash shined a light on a fundamental misunderstanding that the western media has of K-Pop as a whole, and just how much journalism these days makes gross over assertions without much proof in order to gain clicks. Whether or not it is truly a hiatus for BTS, it does not signal a disbandment. Many veteran K-Pop groups take the time to explore their solo careers before later coming back for full group releases and activities (see 2PM, BIGBANG, EXO, etc). Military enlistment tends to be the catalyst for these sorts of things, and it’s most likely one of the triggers for this turn in their career as well. That said, I am particularly disgusted by how media outlets handled the news to the point that stocks even tanked over a rumor.

As a person that found herself alongside BTS back in 2015 and has felt I have grown as a person alongside them, their music has always meant so much to me. It’s been hard to watch them shift focus from such important relatable topics to bubblegum pop English singles. It’s understandable from the perspective of trying to reach the peak of winning a GRAMMY, but let’s all be honest with ourselves, the GRAMMYs are rigged just like every other award system. It should not be considered the pinnacle of a musical career.

BTS’s growth is something no one could predict. The reason they grew so much is that their messaging and music have been authentic and brought comfort to millions, and that is what makes for such an unforgettable artist. We know they’re destined for great things, even as solo artists. This is not the end for BTS, and the media should stop portraying it as that.

Edited by Vivian N.