170424 BTS = The 'Dirt Spoon Rebellion'?
(* T/N: “Dirt spoon” is often used in Korean as a contrast to the saying, “born with a silver spoon in mouth.” Because BTS was not from a big entertainment company (like most popular groups), they are said to be leading a “rebellion” where smaller companies can succeed.)
After debuting in June 2013, this group is now nearing their fourth anniversary. Just two years after winning Rookie of the Year, they placed first in a music awards show, and went on to win the grand prize at an End of the Year Awards one year later. Now, Korea seems to be too small a country for them as they dominate overseas tours. They are also being dubbed as “Billboard’s favorite K-Pop Group.” This is BTS, a group writing a true success story.
BTS is part of Bighit Entertainment. A medium-sized entertainment company founded by producer Bang Si-Hyuk. Although its scale falls short in terms of other big companies, he was able to lead BTS into massive success, and now leads Korea’s K-Pop industry. We’ve interviewed Bang Si-Hyuk, the leader of this “Dirt Spoon Rebellion.” We were able to hear his thoughts, reason for success, and future plans for BTS.
Q: I’ll get straight to the point. What do you think is the reason for BTS’s huge success?
Bang SiHyuk: To be honest, I’m not sure. But after listening to fans and reporters, the performances, musical trends they followed, and the inclusion of personal stories in their music were the main reasons. They were able to sympathize with youths all over the world. Their active online presence on social networking sites also seem to be bringing BTS closer to their fans.
Q: Didn’t you also lead the trend in multi-part albums with the School trilogy and HYYH duology?
A: Lots of older groups did series albums in the past, I guess you can say BTS brought the trend back. But as much as it can seem planned by the company, we don’t rely on a spark (of idea) to lead these album series. We just make sure BTS gets to tell their own stories in their albums. That might be the reason why BTS has so many series albums: putting everything into one long album can be too much at once. It wasn’t special planning- it just happened to happen this way.
Q: Could you say that BTS’s initial concepts changed since their debut?
A: That depends on the way you look at it. Idols rely a lot on concepts and planning, and if you look at it from a musical perspective, BTS did produce in a lot of different genres (“colors”). A lot of people say it’s different, or BTS ‘changed,’ but in the company, no one uses the words “change” or “transformation.” BTS’s original goal of telling stories of teenagers and young adults hasn’t changed. The members simply go with the musical trend and popular rhythms in their age group. Some fans might say they’ve left behind the “original concept,” but for the most part, fans know that they’ve never strayed from their original concept. Since debut, BTS has been telling the stories of themselves and their generation: the good, bad, and ugly parts included. We never think about what kind of “concepts” to do next.
Q: The members seem quite active in making music (i.e. publishing mixtapes, collaborating with other artists).
A: I prefer leaving them to make music freely. I don’t interfere with BTS in terms of making music. The company can help them in making high-quality and finished songs, but I don’t believe in trying to change their musical direction. Each member’s personal preferences are most important. Before anything comes to me, the members would’ve already edited their music with the producers, so the only thing I really listen for is the finished quality of the songs (whether they’re fit for public consumption). There are also a lot of collaboration requests coming in but I don’t touch them at all. There’s only one rule with those: if the artist contacts BTS and they work well together (musically), then they can work together. The company has never really requested a collaboration with someone else for the “bigger picture.”
Q: The members of BTS seem to be very active on social media.
A: We leave that up to the members. This also isn’t part of a marketing scheme. It’s just that the company doesn’t really restrict members from doing anything. All I ask is that the members use one account, as a team, and they opened a group account even before debuting. The members understand that it’s a group account, and enjoy using it. They all like the fandom culture and seem to be running it well on their own. The members all create so much content by themselves that it’s hard to post them all.
Q: BTS has a huge international fandom, but it’s interesting to see that none of the members are from overseas.
A: Actually, I wasn’t expecting such a huge international fandom for BTS. When BTS first launched, I tried to keep the “traditions” of a K-Pop idol group. Instead of relying solely on the music, I paid attention to the performance and even the music videos. I guess the troubles teenagers/youth face are the same worldwide, which is why they’re able to sympathize even with international fans. Using YouTube also makes it much easier to communicate with fans overseas. Some fans also try to get more people to like BTS by translating posts and circulating them. I’m very thankful. There was something very interesting that I saw recently- in Estonia, a country near the Baltic Sea, a dance studio added a 'BTS Dance Class.’ It was very cool to see.
Q: How was the recent tour in North and South America?
A: It exceeded my expectations. I knew we were popular in the US, but I wasn’t expecting such a response from South American fans. The explosion of ticket sales when tour dates were announced was incredible, and seeing the fandom spread from South America to the North and to LA was even more incredible to see. I guess BTS really is popular (laughs). I feel like the only reason we’re able to be this popular is because another K-Pop star and company came before us. And because of it, we feel a responsibility to open the same path (into Western culture) for others.
Q: How do you feel about BTS being called the “dirt spoon”?
A: It’s definitely not a term we started using first. Some people might think we use this term (in marketing) to set ourselves apart from the rest of the industry, but I don’t like people seeing it that way. To make it clear, we don’t want that kind of marketing at all. “Dirt spoon” isn’t a term we can deny or dislike, because it’s true that BTS became hugely popular despite coming from a company with no special worth (as a brand). Because we started with no assets and succeeded, in a way, the term “dirt spoon” is understandable, but I hope people don’t misunderstand that we use the term as a marketing tool.
Q: I heard about the one thing BTS doesn’t have- rumors of conflict.
A: It’s a given, seeing that there is no real disharmony between the members. They all love each other to death. Of course, because there are seven males, there will be an occasional fight, but they were taught to solve conflicts on their own. Each member has learned this 100% by themselves. They all get along so well that it’s interesting how there are no major conflicts at all. Maybe this is the secret in running the long run, like Shinhwa.
Q: You must know that as the number of fans increase, so do the number of antis.
A: I think there’s a reasonable level at which we can accept them. But if they attack us with rumors that are not true or attack members’ characters, it’s something beyond just being an anti-fan. We’ve already reported incidents to the police. It’s an unforgivable thing to do. The culture of lying and bringing others down behind anonymity (online) is unacceptable. However, people are free to express their own opinions freely, because the internet is equal and anonymous. But we can’t sit back and watch people attack the members. We’re starting to deal with these issues one by one, even though they take up time and resources. Above anything else, the members are severely affected by these antis- they’re still young. They do get hurt, especially when people spread false rumors regarding the production of music and other contents. Our only pride is in the music and contents we’ve produced with sincerity since debuting. We’ve reached a limit on the acceptance of these antis, and we will start to take action against these antis.
source: naver
trans cr: sophia @ bangtan tumblr
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