K-pop is a music genre that is quickly gaining a lot of attention from listeners across the globe. One of the bands within this genre is BTS, seven boys from all over South Korea. People from the United States have been giving BTS a lot a praise. From having five sold-out concerts across the US in 2017 to being featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live to soon performing at the American Music Awards.

BTS originated as a small boyband from Seoul, South Korea. Their band name stands for “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which in English translates to “Bulletproof Boyscouts”. Now, however, because of their fame in America, BTS can also stand for “Beyond The Scene”. The seven boys were brought together by their label, Big Hit Entertainment. They debuted back in 2013 and weren’t known much at all at that time. Very soon after, they came to the US, notably Los Angeles, CA, and performed free shows to try to get known. Little did this band know that they would soon become very popular in the states, even winning the 2017 Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist. There is an obvious language barrier, but this didn’t stop them. Luckily, the lead in the band, Kim Namjoon, is fluent in English, which helps them greatly with all the attention they are getting.

The way K-pop bands work is very unconventional when people from the Western Hemisphere look at it. The boys didn’t know each other very well once they became BTS and their ages ranged from 16 to 21. Their label chose the seven boys they wanted to represent the band. In order of oldest to youngest in age, they are: Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Kim Namjoon, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, and Jeon Jungkook. Once they choose the members, they “train” them essentially. Once they finish training, they debut. BTS debuted with the song “No More Dream” from their first album 2 Cool 4 Skool on June 12, 2013. They didn’t gain too many fans during their debut days, but within a span of two years, that quickly changed. At that point, they had released one full studio album, four extended plays, and one single album. While most of their concerts were in Asia and surrounding countries, in 2015, they had five tour dates in North America, two in Australia, and two in South America. BTS started to establish a new role for themselves in the international pop industry. With the release of their EP Wings, notably their single “Blood Sweat & Tears”, they had undoubtedly began to build up steam. 2016 became a big year for them. It began with the rising popularity of the two new singles on their compilation album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever, “Fire” and “Save Me”. As of now, each video has 229 million and 151 million views, respectively. Back to “Blood Sweat and Tears”, this song aided their rise in popularity in the United States.

BTS is only one of the many, many bands in the rising K-pop industry. Asian and Asian-Americans are one of the most prevalent groups in media. BTS is one of the first bands to help break this barrier and show what this genre truly has to offer. With all the love they are gaining internationally, smaller K-pop groups are to surely follow behind closely.