[K-Artists] BTS

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BTS

Originally Bangtan Sonyeondan / 방탄소년단

aka Bulletproof Boy Scouts.

Tried to change it to mean Beyond The Scene, but didn't really take.

 

Members:

RM (Kim Nam Joon) - mic color - blue    (Leader)

instagram: rkive

 

Jin (Kim Seok Jin) - mic color - pink, though also uses white more recently

instagram: jin

 

Suga (Min Yoon Gi) - mic color - black 

instagram: augstd

 

J-Hope (Jung Ho Seok) - mic color - red 

instagram: uarmyhope  (get it? 'U are my hope' while incorporating army. LOL)

 

V (Kim Tae Hyung)- mic color - green 

instagram: thv

 

Jimin (Park Ji Min) - mic color - gold 

instagram j.m

 

JungKook (Jeon Jung Kook) - mic color - purple 

instagram: abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz   (I know it's a long handle, but it's still cute! LOL)

 

Debut: 2013

Country: South Korea and the World!

Agency: HYBE (formerly Bit Hit Entertaintment)

Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/bts.bighitofficial/?hl=en

Goal: World Domination through their music, 1 heart at a time! Almost there... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JangHaven has no kpop section as yet, but I really, really wanted to post this somewhere. So, I'll make a proper pretty thread with pictures later. But, for now, here is the teaser to their upcoming new song "Dynamite" which drops in 3 days! Screaming while viewing is totally recommended!

 

 

TinyTAN! Even if you're not a BTS fan, this is just the cutest thing. Tiny animated BTS helpers who help bake while performing Mic Drop!

 

 

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It's here! It's here! It's here! Let's all sing along and dance until dawn! Light it up like dynamite! Official MV with subs.

 

 

Ohmygosh! How adorable are they! Doing 70's and 80's moves and rocking those disco threads! And, they're having so much funI I can't stop it with the exclamation points!

 

I love the whole video and can't stop watching, but some notable bits that had me screaming just that bit more! 

0:22 Jimin shooting your heart, of course.

0:34 JK talking about drinking a cup of milk in the morning. The ultimate sexy manchild!

1:03 J-Hope is diamond! I know!

1:12 JK's cheeky smile.

1:23 Jimin's Michael Jackson moves with a trademark flourish but no crotch grab. ROFLOL

1:45 Suga's huge smile

2:06 V being boss in a suit vest.

2:13 Jin's moonwalk

2:19 J-Hope and RM's little Kid n Play

2:58 Jimin jumping on JK's back!

3:42 Tae putting on his glasses with that little look!

 

Shining through the city with a little funk and soul. So, I'mma light it up like dynamite!

[Jane]

I watched the MV about 30 mins after it dropped and I couldn't believe it already had 13 million views!

 

I am loving it! I had it on repeat all the way home and it's just the perfect end-of-summer bop!

 

 

 

[Tofu]

This song is a bop! I've played it a few times. 

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Dynamite captures that disco beat with its insistent melody line that makes it feel familiar with disco grooves from that era, and yet the unexpectedness of its lyrics as well as the vocal stylings, with voice modulators and all, makes it new music, unmistakeably BTS. It's as if it's a song that you should know from your memories and dance to out of some nostalgia.

 

JK talking drinking milk in the mornings before he rock and rolls still cracks me up. Seriously, has there been any pop star who even admits to drinking milk much less sing about it in a song.

 

The best part of this group has always been their sincere love and appreciation for each other and for their fans. Even when the members may be in disagreement about something, it's clear that they feel bad about it and have to try to make it better for their own sakes as well as the group's sake. And, their consistent and profound love and appreciation for their fans make us seem as if they really get us in some way, even if they might not know us individually.

 

To this, I love, love, love JK acting up around JM, and then for JM to jump on JK's back. It's fun and rowdy and what good friends do, especially when they don't have macho hangups. 🙂

 

But also all the other interaction scenes, whether it's RM and Jin having a little fun with Suga between them or V and JK dancing with their arms around each other.

 

Anyway, I find myself humming this song almost every day. And, I'm amazed at the records that this song is breaking thus far.

 

101.1 million views on YT in its first 24 hours

Over 3 million ocncurrent viewers on live when the single actually dropped

 

Looking forward to their performance of this song on the MTV Video Music Awards on August 30. BTS manages to make their live performances, even when it's online, even more fun and compelling than their videos through their adlibs and interactions. I can't even imagine how much more fun this video can get!

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This is BTS reacting to their own Dynamite MV, and it's too funny. Their interactions are light-hearted and teasing as always, but it's also clear how much affection they have for each other and for their song. I do love their reaction videos, and they've progressively become more fun over the years. One thing that I've always admired, they speak very respectfully to each other, even as they demonstrate their fondness. The respectful way they speak to each other seems a natural part of their characters. Even JK, who usually messes about and tries to get away with speaking informally to his hyungs tones it down for this reaction MV.

 

BTS reacting to their Dynamite MV.

 

 

 

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It's cute how with Dynamite being sung in English, BTS is promoting it as a sing-a-long song! So, fits right in with Havenites' love of karaoke. :D

 

 

 

 

Also, new BTS emoijis!

 

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Oh yeah, it's Sunday! And, that means it's the MTV VMA's! 

 

BTS is nominated in 4 categories this year:

Best Group

Best Pop - "ON"

Best K-Pop

Best Choreography - "ON"

 

 

Plus, they're going to be debuting their first performance of "Dynamite"!

 

In 2019, BTS won in Best Group and Best K-Pop, so here is looking to them improving their award stash this year. Their choreo is so fierce, I can't imagine them not taking that. 

 

Though, I'm looking forward to their performance of "Dynamite" the most. The song is so infectious, I find myself frequently humming it now, replacing the "Stay Gold" earworm. 

 

So, hope you all will watch as well! 

 

And, as Jimin has been saying constantly during this pandemic, please stay safe wherever you are. 

 

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Hope you all got to catch the VMA's. BTS won in all 4 of their categories, including Best Pop!

 

Plus, their debut performance of Dynamite! In case you haven't caught, and even if you have, but want to watch again.

 

 

 

[Jane]

@stroppyse It was a great performance, finally to see the dance in all its full glory! And they look sharp! I just watched the video you posted of them reacting to Dynamite too, and Jimin was so cute!

 

Congratulations to BTS for achieving #1 on the Billboard 100! 

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6 hours ago, wallflowersforjane said:

 It was a great performance, finally to see the dance in all its full glory! And they look sharp! I just watched the video you posted of them reacting to Dynamite too, and Jimin was so cute!

 

Totally! The boys seem to be getting more comfortable with these online performances, and also have fun with each other. When JK and Jimin link arms to recreate the spirit of their horsing around in the MV for their mini-duet part, it was so cute. I'm glad you enjoyed it, too.

 

I think for the first online performances, e.g. James Cordon, it was really tough on them since they're performing in their practice room to a camera without any feedback or energy from their fans. I think when the performances were moved to performance spaces, it helped them feel that it was a performance. And, then their PD's found ways to help the guys realize how many people were watching them to help sharpen them further. I was impressed with the huge monitors full of live comments from their fans for the Bang Bang Con Live as well as the rooms of ARMY bombs signifying the fans. They weren't just props, I think they were also to help the guys, and it seems to have worked.

 

Plus, they are so close that they can be each other's feedback.

 

Anyway, the whole song and performance is infectious, high-spirited and fun. I know that there is a lot of serious issues on the table now, especially in my country, and I'm not going to forget that. But, I also need my doses of goodness to keep from falling too deep sometimes.

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Ohmygosh! There is actual legislation in the Korean National Assembly to allow entertainers who have made "great contributions" to delay their enlistments! Jin was supposed to have enlisted some time next year. However, this may mean that he can put it off another 2 years! That would allow BTS a clear path to continued world domination for at at least the foreseeable future.

 

BTS is huge, both for South Korean soft power and for their GDP, but given how controversial anything to do with military enlistments are, I wasn't expecting even a delay in the enlistment age. We'll have to keep a close eye on this one.

 

However, because it's a delay rather than a waiver, I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this. In some ways, it would be good to have Jin just go and do his service and then come back to us.

 

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Park Bo Gum demonstrates that he's a fan of BTS in his new drama Record of Youth! PBG plays Hye Joon, and the following is a scene where HJ goes to a noraebang with his friends where he sings to BTS' "Tomorrow".

 

YT credit: BTS NOONA

 

Translation of the dialogue in the scene:

 

HJ’s friends: Stop it now. Enough already.
HJ: You two ruined a precious moment for me. How often do you have a feel good moment withouth having to think about anything?
HH: He (pointing to JW) has a knack of speaking and interrupting feel good moments.
JW: Do you… have to say everything like that in order to feel good yourself!
HJ: I like BTS songs the best in the world. Since when I’m listening to them, it makes me want to live properly.

 

 

Fans of both BTS and PBG know that they are fans of each other, and that V and PBG are good friends. V and PBG are good enough friends that JK once asked V if he liked him or PBG better.

 

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MAX just dropped a new song "Blueberry Eyes". It has a verse by Suga. And, in the MV, MAX and RL wife lipsync to it!

 

 

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BTS being so amazing as always at the virtual iHeart Festival 2020!

Dynamite, Make It Right, Spring Day, Boy with Luv

 

 

Partly thanks to the power of television editing, the song transitions are really cool.

 

And, Spring Day always just gets to me.

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From a few days ago when BTS performed for America's Got Talent. Since they don't have their ARMY as their audience, they're at least having fun with the sets.

 

 

I think the thing I almost love best about Dynamite is how much fun the guys seem to be having with it. It definitely makes me happier to watch their performances.

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I really love and admire these guys for the love and respect they have for each other, for those around them, and for their fans. This is a speech that the 7 of them gave at the Blue House (cheongwadae), the Korean presidential residence for the first ever Youth Day on September 18, 2020. Video is subtitled already. I thought their speech was thoughtful and emotional.

 

 

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For anyone who missed BTS on NPR's Tiny Desk (Home) Concert Series. They sing their songs to a live band! They sing Dynamite, Save Me, Spring Day. This group just makes me so happy! I love how they want to dance so much as well as sing, and how affectionate they are with each other. Hope others enjoy watching it as much as I do!

 

 

 

Btw, for the non-Americans, NPR stands for National Public Radio. However, it's entirely funded through donations and grants rather than getting any government money or being owned by a corporate entity. Go NPR!

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BTS has actually been able to make a number of virtual appearances during the pandemic. Earlier, their own agency had put together the Bang Bang Con series of footage from previous concerts culminating in Bang Bang Con Live where BTS live-streamed a concert from a set.  They've also had virtual appearances on 2020 Graduation, MTV VMA's, America's Got Talent, iHeart, Tiny Desk and others.

 

And, it's clear that while BTS is not getting the energy of their live fans that motivates them so much, they and their agency are putting a lot of effort into creating sets and tableaux to give the guys a performance feel. Keeping busy and making these efforts seem to have pulled BTS from their funk and low spirits early on when they had to cancel their tour and other engagements so that they are producing new music, new performances and generally seem happier. So happy for them that they are able to do that.

 

One song that they've consistently performed during the pandemic is 'Spring Day,' and it's such a song for these times. Each time they sing it, it both brings moisture to my eyes and reminds me to have a little hope.

 

'Spring Day' references a short story by Ursula K. LeGuin called "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" which is about how a utopian society is dependent on having a single child kept in filth, darkness, and misery forever. Every citizen upon reaching adulthood is told about this condition since it needs to be perpetuated. Most of its citizens accept it and enjoy their wonderful lives, putting the thoughts of the child as far away as they can. Yet some of the citizens walk away from the town to who knows where.

 

RM, who wrote the song, had said that it was thinking about his friends from his school days whom he hadn't seen in a long time that was the inspiration about this song about loss and grief and yearning, but it also ends on a note of hope.

 

At the time it was released, the song felt to be about what we sacrifice as we grow up in order to get what we want, and is that really what we want to do. Now, in these times, as we are forced into sacrifices for the sake of each other, the longing to be with the people we love comes through more keenly, making me teary-eyed every time I hear this song performed.

 

I translated the lyrics to the song 'Spring Day' and put it in the spoiler. I know that there are a number of translated lyrics already, but I didn't quite like them, even though I'm probably just quibbling, so translated them myself anyway.

Spoiler

I want to see you.
Saying it like this makes me miss you more.
I want to see you.
Even looking at a picture of you,
I want to see you.
Time is too cruel.
I hate us.
Seeing each other even once now is so hard for us.

 

It’s just all winter here.
Even in August, it’s winter and
My heart is running all the time,
Alone on the Snowpiercer.
Holding your hand,
Want to go to the other side of the earth.
Want to put an end to this winter.
How much should longing have to fall like snow
To have the day of Spring come,
Friend?

 

Like the tiny dust floating in the air,
Like the tiny dust,
If I were the snow that is in the air,
I could get to you
Just a little bit faster.

(Pre-chorus)
Snowflakes fall down,
You go further away bit by bit.
I miss you (I miss you).
I miss you (I miss you).
How long do I have to wait?
And how many sleepless nights do I have to spend
To see you (to see you)?
To meet you (to meet you)?

 

(Chorus)
Until the cold winter ends,
Until the days of spring return,
Until the flowers blossom,
Please stay there a little longer.
Please stay.

 

Was it you who changed? (Was it you who changed?)
Or was it me who changed? (Or was it me who changed?)
I hate this moment even as it’s flowing by.
It’s just that we’ve changed, yeah.  
Like everyone changes, yeah.

 

Yes, I hate you.
You left me, but
Not a day passed by that I stopped thinking about you.
Honestly, I miss you,
But I’ll erase you now.
Because it hurts less than to blame you.

 

This painful you, I try to blow away,
Like smoke, like white smoke.
Even though I say that I’ll erase you,
Actually, I can’t really let you go yet.

 

(Repeat Pre-chorus)

 

You know it all.
You’re my best friend.
The morning will come again.
Since no darkness, no season
Can last forever.

 

The cherry blossoms will be blooming,
This winter will also be over.
I miss you (I miss you)
I miss you (I miss you)
Wait just a little longer,
Spend just a few more nights,
I’ll go to meet you (I’ll go to meet you)
I’ll go to get you (I’ll go to get you)

 

(Repeat Chorus)

 

 

One other thing about this song as released versus performed. In the release single version, J-Hope sings in the body of the song with JK, but doesn't have a solo. In their performances, though, it's changed so that J-Hope does the first spoken verse part. I love these versions where J-Hope sings the first verse with RM coming in to rap just after him.

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This is an alternate stage cam for their song 'Dynamite' from their Tiny Desk concert which I posted earlier, and what I love about it is that it stays pulled out so that you can see all the guys during the song without any close up shots. So, you get to see exactly how hard it is for them to just sit in their seats to sing. They are all (even normally more laid back Suga!) jumping up to dance or totally grooving in their seats. Okay, so the two dancers, J-Hope and Jimin, have a hard time sitting down, but V and RM are also happy to hop up as the beat moves them. And, JK and Jin are barely in their seats. I adore how much they clearly enjoy performing together, and the little adlibs kill me.

 

Anyway, this video makes me happy.

 

 

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It's a week of BTS on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, y'all!

 

The Teaser - BTS sings Dynamite with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots. Totally hysterical and soooo cute! 

 

 

The Monday Performance - BTS performs "Idol" standing in front of a building which looks a lot like the JangHaven logo. It's actually Gyeongbok Palace. LOL Their choreo is as sharp and synched as ever! And, what does everyone think of JK's man-bun?

 

From the album Love Yourself: Answer [2018]. Total classic.

 

I think Wednesday is going to be the actual interview! Totally loving this!

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BigHit just dropped the teaser poster for the new album "BE"! Pre-orders have already started, as you see.   Can't wait!!!

 

[BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT]

 

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The Tuesday performance - Home! Totally banging and smooth. I didn't even know that was possible.

 

 

From the album Map of the Soul: Persona [2019].

 

I don't think I've seen this song performed before though I've listened to the song on the album. I love it even more after this performance. How adorable are they! 

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The Wednesday performance of Black Swan - emotional and heartbreaking. I love this exploration of what it means to be artists who fear losing their ability and their desire.

 

 

From Map of the Soul: 7 [2019]

 

The Thursday performance of Mikrocosmos - just so much fun!

 

 

From Map of the Soul: Persona and Map of the Soul: 7 [2019]

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Bonus performance of Dynamite at Gyeongbokgoong (Gyeongbok Palace) for Chuseok. Jimin does a deep bow during his solo piece near the end and V finishes with a deep bow. For those new to Korean culture, a deep bow is the most significant sign of respect, traditionally done to parents and other family elders on special occasions.