Six years ago, they were a relatively unknown group in South Korea. Here's how BTS became the biggest boyband in the world.
Beatlemania, the intense fan frenzy directed towards the fab foursome, was gripping America and the group's performance at the Ed Sullivan Theater was punctuated by fervent screaming from the studio audience.In May 2019, over 55 years later, another band of foreigners played the same theater. The visual similarities were striking -- and intentional.
BTS were one of the first K-pop groups on Twitter, says Michelle Cho, a professor of East Asian Studies at University of Toronto. The band also posted vlogs on YouTube and shared the minutiae of their lives on Korean livestreaming platforms AfreecaTV and V Live. In one clip, singer Jungkook makes instant ramen in a modest kitchen. Using tongs, he pulls a noodle to his mouth."It's perfect," he says. In the past 10 months, that V Live clip has been viewed over 7.6 million times.
— 방탄소년단 May 16, 2019 Of course, it's easy to be cynical about the authenticity of the image they present online. BTS are closely managed and never mention their romantic lives. But the clips have created a kind of intimacy between BTS and their fans that other K-pop groups have since tried to imitate. "They don't distance themselves that much from their fans," says David Kim, who runs YouTube channel DKDKTV where he analyzes K-pop.
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