Their songs echo the harsh truth we casually shun away in this unhealthy rat-race for wealth and power.
BTS stands for “Bangtan Sonyeondan,” which translates roughly to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” that is a strong reference to ‘Resilience.’ This band is not meant to be pleasant rather break the cloud of misconceptions this generation is enticed into.
While music is a source of escapism, it has a strong history of representing cultural and political struggles across the world. For instance, the 1939 classic, ‘Strange Fruit’ by Billie Holiday is a protest song and became the voice of of racism, cruelty, pain and the endless suffering endured by millions in the U.S.
74 years later, rapper Kanye West made an ode to Billie Holiday in his album, Yeezus. BTS who looks up to Kanye West and many other big names within the music industry, exploits their artistic freedom to highlight recurring stereotypes that are conveniently ignored.
The soft-faced men of BTS strive to break the deeply ingrained cultural appropriation against Koreans. Their music is empathetic towards the Korean standards of gaining personal independence which is genuinely rooted in the West but needs immense groundwork within the Korean culture. They openly address mental health issues, LGBTQ+ struggles and the misogyny against women. The septet’s child-like innocence is appealing to the human-eye but their songs are a global anthem tackling real-world adversities.
Music, in any genre is a safe space for each one of us. We confide within the realms of lyrics to seek answers for what we miss in the real world. These musicians become our inspirational drive to help mould our life. BTS has the weight of responsibility to shape millions of throbbing fans or better known as the ‘ARMY’ or ‘Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth’. The reason this acronym is capitalised is to emphasise on the notion that army is meant to become the shield for its people and in this context, BTS ARMY is to its band. This undying love for a boy-band is not an overnight infatuation due to mere looks.
The history of music industry is layers of singing opinions as lyrics and using instruments to depict harrowing stages of human actions. The famous Jimi Hendrix who changed the way one perceived the sounds of a guitar is a fine example that music is never one thing, it always comes with multi-layers to decipher.
His legacy as ‘Guitar God’ accounts to amplifying his electric guitar’s vibrato bar to sound like fighter jets, artillery, ambulance sirens and riots on the streets. He incorporated these sounds in the 3 minute, 46 second of the U.S national anthem, an ambiguous piece of music, yet distorted to oppose the U.S involvement in the Vietnam war causing immense loss to humanity. In the words of New York pop critic Al Aronowitz, “It was the most electrifying moment of Woodstock, and it was probably the single greatest moment of the ’60s. You finally heard what that song was about, that you can love your country, but hate the government.”
In a similar fashion, BTS never shies away from taking a stand. BTS’ ‘Go Go’ from the album ‘Love Youself: Her’ released in 2017 which is a direct criticism to the younger generation recklessly wasting money and justifying it by associating it to the phrase, ‘YOLO’.
One of its members, Suga, rapper and songwriter addressed this socially conscious lyrics and quoted, “It isn’t a BTS album if there isn’t a track criticising society.”
Another song by Suga himself, is titled ‘The Last’, a song predominantly focusing on the increasing mental health issues which is tossed away as a myth. Suga blends his own personal experiences to help re-direct our thought process to coming in terms with mental health and reaching out to psychiatric help in times of depression, OCD or social phobia that can make one fragile.
In a world where everything is digital, voicing an opinion for a noble cause is long gone, anonymity has become the new face. Raising awareness to trending topics and remaining oblivious to burning issues, has become the new era of digital. BTS reinstates socially unconscious people to speak up and not spiral down in the whirlpool of selfishness. The song , ‘Am I wrong’ released in 2016 has a key lyric worth re-visiting, “If what you see on the news is nothing to you… you’re not normal.”
This brings me back to their first ever song that came out in 2013, “No More Dream” is a motivational track pushing youngsters to follow their passion over satisfying the demands of a judgemental society. The song criticises the South Korean culture of education that forces kids in their kindergarten to attend special classes to land a seat at prestigious colleges in the future. This BTS song breaks the wheel of madness i.e., the society’s expectation of success. J-Hope’s rap, (also a strong rapper in BTS) stands out due to the lyrics, “rebel against a hellish society,” which condemns the rigidity in Korea’s education system.
The world that is today, has stepped into the realms of evil. The biggest evil we tend to overlook is the one within ourselves. In a world filled with catastrophic events, enervating the vigour within us, BTS appears as an advocate for revolution. I believe that BTS’ adrenaline-fuelled lyrics have the potential to become a world-wide phenomena uplifting the morale of people that are distorted by the struggles in the world. Despite submitting to this struggle, BTS raises a banner of hope through their songs to destroy that inner evil and emerge as a rejuvenating force within the wrecking parts of the world that we constitute today.
Once again, BTS is anything beyond just a boy-band. BTS is the rising sensation.
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