"In the middle of the road, the moment you want to give up, shout out even louder: So what?" - Magic Shop, BTS
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REVISIT FROM 2013-2020
DEBUT:
Success is nothing if we don't work for it. And they certainly worked harder than they thought of doing.
On 12th June 2013, BTS's first album was released named "2 Cool 4 Skool", along with the lead single, 'No More Dreams'. Neither of which sold particularly well at the time.
Nevertheless, that single was "spotlighting young people's anxiety in the face of lofty parental expectations, sent shock waves through the K-pop ranks. There was a musical act that wasn't pulling any punches. More specifically, they had a point of view, and they weren't afraid to take on topics that are considered taboo in South Korean society and elsewhere." The album reached the top five on South Korea's Gaon Music Chart. In 2 Cool 4 Skool, BTS employed an old-school hip-hop sound from the 1990s. The album's release was followed by appearances on Korean music shows, which caught the attention of reviewers and viewers gradually.
In September 2013, BTS released the second entry in their "school trilogy": the EP, O!RUL8,2? (Oh! Are you late, too?) is the first extended play). The album was released alongside the single "N.O."
That same month, BTS starred in their own variety show, SBS MTV's Rookie King Channel Bangtan, in which members parodied variety shows such as VJ Special Forces and MasterChef Korea. At the end of the year, BTS was recognized with several New Artist of the Year awards in South Korea.
The last entry in BTS's "school trilogy", the Skool Luv Affair EP, was released in February 2014. The release topped the Gaon Album Chart, and appeared on Billboard's World Albums Chart for the first time, peaking at number three.
Following Skool Luv Affair's release, BTS played at their first fan meeting in Seoul, selecting the name A.R.M.Y. for the fan club.
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FORMATION OF A.R.M.Y
"A.R.M.Y stands for "Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth" and it carries quite some meaning behind it, given that "Army" is associated with the military, body armour, and how those two things are always together. The fandom name basically means that fans will always be together with BTS" RM declared officially naming their fandom on 9th July 2013.
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EARLY CAREER STRUGGLES:
At the beginning of their career, it was not easy for them. They go from street to street asking people to attend their free concert. They didn't lose hope. With a minimum number of fans who attended their concert, they felt overwhelmed. They were ready to work more.
During their N.O. era, however, in 2014, the first time they almost disbanded was due to a lack of funds. They could barely afford to make an M.V.
They keep hoping and praying for working harder each day.
The band has always been under a tremendous amount of pressure from the very beginning. But they were not afraid of it.
It was not a position for them to think correctly, but they decided, still not to give up. They have been pushing their physical & mental limits, and that somewhere ends up hurting them, for a time. But it was all for some time until they reach their destination.
PROGRESS:
BTS experimented with other styles of music besides hip hop in The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1, released in 2015. They wanted to express the beauty and anxiousness of youth and settled on the title, "Hwayangyeonhwa", loosely interpreted to define "youth" metaphorically as "the most beautiful moment in life". The album served as an introduction to their youth trilogy, a triptych of albums dedicated to the struggles of young people.
The single "I Need U" was a top-five hit in South Korea and garnered the group a win on SBS MTV's The Show. The second single "Dope" reached number three on Billboard's World Digital Songs Sales Chart and its music video was viewed over 100 million times on YouTube.
The group began the world tour extension of their Red Bullet Tour in June, titled 2015 Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, visiting cities throughout Asia, Oceania, North America, and Latin America.
They commenced their third concert tour, 2015 BTS LIVE "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage", which began with three sold-out shows in Seoul and was extended to Japan. Slowly, their hard work started finally paying off.
Their compilation album and the finale to their "youth trilogy", The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was released on May 2, 2016. With 300,000 pre-sold copies, it included three new singles: "Epilogue: Young Forever", "Fire", and "Save Me", which debuted in the top three spots on the Billboard World Digital Charts.
In September 2016, they released their second Japanese studio album Youth. The album sold 44,547 on the first day of its release and charted 1st on the Oricon Daily Album Chart. The album was eventually certified Gold with sales of roughly over 100,000 copies in Japan.
Followed one month later in October, by their next studio album Wings, which combined the themes of youth presented in their previous "youth trilogy" with temptation and adversity.
HIT ALBUM:
In February 2017, BTS released the repackaged edition of Wings entitled. The 700,000 pre-orders of it (an increase from the 500,000 pre-orders of Wings) helped break the record for most albums sold in a month in South Korea, as it reached 1.49 million copies at the end of its first month.
The lead single was "Spring Day" and it won Best Song of the Year at the 2017 Melon Music Awards. And that is when everything changed in their lives. The song came to a huge success, giving them the name they finally deserved.
FIRST SUCCESS:
Their second world tour, the 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour, began in February. On the tour, BTS played arenas in the U.S., such as New Jersey's Prudential Center and California's Honda Center. Tickets for the North American leg sold out within hours and two shows were added.
After completing the North American leg, they attended the 24th Billboard Music Awards in May and won Top Social Artist, becoming the first K-pop group to win a Billboard award. BTS fans cast over 300 million votes for the band and broke a six-year winning streak held by Justin Bieber, a performer with 100 million Twitter followers. This caused the international media to focus on the ability of BTS fandom to propel the group to such a victory.
In November 2017, BTS became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards. And even end up winning the Artist of the Year at the 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards in December, winning for the second consecutive year.
They released "DNA" and "Mic Drop" together with a new song "Crystal Snow" as a single album in Japan on December 6, 2017, though the songs were made digitally available elsewhere. It topped the Oricon Chart for the week of its release. It was the only album by a foreign artist to be certified Double Platinum in Japan in 2017.
CRITICISM:
Criticism has always been a part of the entertainment industry correspondingly. Thus it didn't dare to stop at their door too.
They have had many people, including other K-pop groups, say they did not deserve their awards. There have been many persons in the news media who have maligned them. Hip-hop experts accused them of selling out.
There were also a couple of scandals earlier in 2018 where innocent mistakes were blown way out of proportion by the media. One was where Jimin, a Korean, was slammed by Japanese media for wearing a t-shirt bearing an atomic bomb mushroom cloud and commemorating the emancipation of Korea from years of Japanese abuse and oppression. The Japanese media and government came out so aggressively that BTS's appearances on some Japanese TV shows were cancelled.
The pressure on them is unbelievable. But they are the hardest-working young men ever. They still want to give up.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thank you for reading. Please vote for the chapters as well.
In addition, these were all true events, and I have tried to give a few glimpses before we get started with the story. Hope the revision feels like nostalgia to all the ARMIES, just like me.