![]() ![]() Kim says that today, fans are able to see the tangible impact they can make as consumers and are "empowered" to be proactive about using their social capital as a collective fandom.įor example, Jiye Kim said that she had already made several contributions to organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement after seeing many of her fellow BTS fans share messages of solidarity and support. Ju Oak Kim told Insider that fans are no longer passive consumers of their artists' work. K-pop fans also said they reserved thousands of tickets for President Donald Trump's rally in Oklahoma before not showing up ( rows of seats remained empty at the rally though it's unclear if the viral campaign by K-pop fans was the reason why). Most recently, BTS fans have received national attention for their viral digital activism such as matching the K-pop group's $1 million donation to the Black Lives Matter movement. K-pop fans said they reserved thousands of tickets for Trump's rally in Oklahoma before not showing up.īTS and other K-pop fans have become a movement unto themselves online. Many other K-pop groups such as BLACKPINK also have official fan clubs that support them. "A strong alliance between the artists and the fans is a fundamental part of K-pop fandom culture," Ju Oak Kim, an Assistant Professor of Communication at Texas A&M International University, told Insider. "I translate not for BTS, but my fellow fans who through BTS find a sense of comfort or joy," Kim told Insider. She says she's forged many friendships from interacting with other fans through social media and feels that volunteering her time to translate content is a way of giving back to the community. Jiye Kim teaches at a high school in Sydney, Australia, during the day but volunteers her time - sometimes up to 15 hours a day around an album release - to translate BTS content in English for fans around the world. The fan club, called "A.R.M.Y.," is short for "Adorable M.C. for Youth."Īround a year after BTS debuted in 2013, their official fan club came together. ![]() While Korean heritage is an important part of the group's musical identity, Jiye Kim told Insider that for fans, it's been an "uphill battle" to see coverage from people who understand Asian and Korean culture. ![]() "Now, I think they see it as a responsibility - they're the largest K-pop group right now, and they're not going to hide their Korean identity. "In the beginning, BTS embraced their Korean identity, because they wanted to share narratives that were authentic to them, as Korean citizens," Youngdae Kim told Insider. The group incorporates social commentary on issues local to Korea, includes Korean dialects in their music (their song "Paldogangsan" is literally a rap about Korean regional dialects, dubbed "Saturi"), and wears traditional Korean Hanbok clothing (Suga dressed in Hanbok for the music video of his latest single "Daechwita"). Youngdae Kim told Insider that BTS's music is centered around their identity as Korean artists, which he says was rarely seen in the industry previously. "I'm able to grow alongside them."īTS performs "Idol" at "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in September 2018. "A lot of their songs are interlinked with each other, so their lyrics aren't in a vacuum," Jiye Kim, a fan of BTS who is well known in the BTS fandom community for her English translations of BTS content, told Insider. One fan told Insider that she was drawn to the group's music that consistently shares messages that collectively come together as an "overarching storyline" that follows the group's growth as well as her own. ![]() grappled with social issues in Korea.Īround the time BTS debuted, however, Herman said it was "pretty rare" that groups used their music for explicit social commentary. Herman said that she believed BTS's music delved into K-pop's "early roots" where idol groups like H.O.T. "The whole company's philosophy is to make music that matters," Tamar Herman, a Billboard K-pop correspondent, told Insider. BTS performs in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea.īTS music typically includes a message about social issues for fans. ![]()
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