(The video to their 2016 track “Blood Sweat & Tears” is, if not the only music video in history to feature both a coordinated dance routine and a quote from the Hermann Hesse novel Demian, certainly the only one to have been watched more than half a billion times.)īut for as dense as the band’s mythology can get, their presence remains simple, clear, and uplifting. More than just developing a brand, BTS crafted a rich, reference-heavy alternate universe that invoked things like Jungian psychoanalysis and Nietzschean philosophy-not your most bankable teen-pop references. The official name of their fans (the ARMY), is an acronym for “Adorable Representative MC for Youth.” But the subtext is clear: These are people willing to fight for what they believe.įormed in 2010 by K-pop impresario Bang Si-hyuk, the group-V, j-hope, RM, Jin, Jimin, Jungkook, and SUGA-swiftly became not only one of the biggest groups in South Korea (and eventually the best-selling artists in the country’s history), but an emblem for K-pop’s migration into mainstream global pop-a feat made even more impressive by the fact that the band sings almost entirely in Korean. But they also represent the power of pop music-simple, catchy pop music-as a force for social transformation, touching on subjects-mental health, LGBTQ identity, class inequity-taboo not just in their native South Korea but in the sunshine-and-rainbows world of mass-market culture generally. Yes, they have cool haircuts and their outfits always match in an interesting way. Calling BTS a boy band is a little like calling a computer a typewriter with a screen.