BTS

BTS

Photo: Courtesy of BigHit Entertainment

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BTS Become First K-Pop Band To Debut At No. 1 On Billboard 200

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The superstar band continues to prove the vitality of K-pop worldwide with their latest North American chart accomplishment
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
May 29, 2018 - 1:38 pm

K-pop septet BTS can add "Billboard top seller" to their list of achievements thanks to their May 18 release Love Yourself: Tear, which entered the Billboard 200 album chart for May 24 at No. 1. This makes BTS the first K-pop band ever and the first foreign-language album in more than 12 years to accomplish this feat.

Driven in part by their enthusiastic BTS Army super fans, traditional album sales reached 100,000, augmented by streaming equivalents for 135,000 adjusted sales units. The previous top K-pop album in the U.S. was BTS' too, when Love Yourself: Her reached No. 7 in October 2017.

For years now, the young men of BTS have crafted personal stories and individual fantasies into alternate storylines that connect through their videos. While dancing, singing and bringing happiness will be enough for some new enthusiasts, inside BTS' music are seeds that can grow U.S. social support on a deeper level.

K-pop's recent success in the U.S. continues to expand. Some of BTS' uniqueness has been their directness addressing depression and hardship, topics that were themselves foreign to Korean idol groups' repertoire, except through metaphor.

"At the very heart of BTS's outstanding dancing and singing is sincerity," President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in said in a statement. "This magical power turns grief into hope and differences into similarity. Each of the seven members sings in a way that is true to himself and the life he wants to live. ... The names of each member — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook — are going to be remembered for a long time. Thank you to BTS for spreading joy across Korea and the world with your great performances."

Looking ahead, Korean pop culture news Soompi.com has reported that BTS' single "Fake Love" entered the about-to-be-announced Billboard Hot 100 at No. 10, an additional goal of the group that has now been achieved.

As fans look forward to the group's June 13 BTS Festa anniversary celebration, there will be so much to celebrate — as well as a new awareness that the world is watching.

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BTS' J-Hope

BTS' J-Hope

Photo: RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

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BTS' J-Hope: Solo Mixtape Charts, Soars With "Airplane"

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'Hope World' mixtape hits the charts while its second single "Airplane" sings of dreams already fulfilled and promises more
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Mar 7, 2018 - 3:57 pm

BTS' J-Hope followed in the footsteps of fellow bandmates RM and Suga by releasing his own mixtape on March 1, Hope World. The Billboard 200 for the week ending March 10 showed it entering at No. 63, and first singles "Daydream" and "Airplane" have been massive YouTube hits.

"Daydream" keeps things light but super catchy, and as J-Hope awakens in the end, the shadow of an imposing airliner crosses his wall. Now we know that shadow was presaging the powerful bounce on "Airplane" which manages to be bumping and luxurious at the same time.

BTS are reportedly cooking up their next album but if their individual mixtapes mean more like Hope World, "champagne on my airplane" will be the least they can expect, separately and together.

For those counting clicks "Daydream" has risen to 26 million views on YouTube since March 1. Posted March 6, "Airplane" has passed 6 million and is heavily trending.

The clicks are following music millions consider infectiously fun, and J-Hope's "Airplane" might have you flying too.

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Zhang Yixing Lay

Lay

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Cross-Pacific Pop: Album Sales Boom For Asian Breakout Solo Artists

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Asian solo projects help redefine bandmembers, such as Lay Zhang, with music that is reaching American album-buyers in a big way
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 30, 2018 - 5:46 pm

We called Lay Zhang a musical diplomat when he was named promotion ambassador for GRAMMY Festival China last April. A Chinese founding member of the Korean-market boy band EXO, Lay's Oct. 19 release, Namanana: 03, has entered new territory for any Mandarin-pop album.

Lay debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 with 23,000 traditional album sales boosted by another 1,000 equivalents from streaming and other digital. The album's 22 tracks are half in Mandarin Chinese and half in English, recreating each of the 11 songs as bilingual.

This success shows that K-pop helps put artists on blast but U.S. album buyers are developing an appetite to go beyond the superficial frame of boy band marketing and fame, also known as "idol groups" in Korea.

The K-pop solo mixtape Hope World by J-Hope from BTS debuted at No. 63 last March on the Billboard 200 and rose from there to No. 38, making him the best-selling K-pop solo artist earlier this year, and Lay's No. 21 is more properly M-pop because of its Mandarin Chinese. That's despite Lay's K-pop roots in EXO.

But meanwhile on Tuesday Oct. 23, J-Hope's BTS bandmate RM delivered a mixtape of his own, titled Mono. With just three days of sales, it debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 for Nov. 3. Traditional album sales were 16,000 plus 5,000 equivalents. Some tracks recall Brian Eno's solo albums, and its subdued and enveloping emotion allows RM's poetics and raps to reach out in a different way. As usual with RM, the word play in English is unexpected and the raps artistic, while his use of Korean, English, or Korean-English together goes wherever he decides to take it.

Terms like "K-pop" or "M-pop" can seem belittling marketing categories, like the term "boy band" or "idol group," but they are useful buckets to compare sales quantities. In general, cross-Pacific pop has had its best album-sales week ever in the U.S. for solo artists, and some tracks even have a Latin feel. However big this new listening culture might grow, it's attracting commercial attention and cash. That's a good sign for any artist who wants to write future chapters in this suspenseful series.

BTS: "Fans Gave Us The Wings That Allowed Us To Be Where We Are"

BTS

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Museum To Host "A Conversation With BTS" In September

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The sold-out September event will be a special opportunity for the group to open up about the meanings in their music and their artistic goals
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Aug 24, 2018 - 5:50 pm

Look out, L.A. Army! On Sept. 11, the GRAMMY Museum will host "A Conversation With BTS," a meaningful sit-down interview with the group and a chance to reflect on BTS' whirlwind year.

The event was announced on Aug. 24, the same day BTS released their follow-up compilation of new and previous tracks titled Love Yourself: Answer. The group's earlier 2018 release Love Yourself: Tear reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 back in May.

Describing the seven young men from Korea as a "superstar global group," the GRAMMY Museum's summary of the evening says, "From their top-notch performances to the way they interact with their fans, BTS has become a global phenomenon since they debuted in June 2013." While the Museum's Clive Davis Theater's intimate auditorium's seating sold out almost immediately, this will provide BTS an ideal platform to explore the music-first topics host and GRAMMY Museum Artistic Director Scott Goldman has raised with hitmakers and legends, such as those heard on his Required Listening podcast.

The conversation will give the group the opportunity to dive beneath the surface of their pop-idol fame, which is the theme of the music video for "Idol" released on Aug. 24, also available in a remix featuring Nicki Minaj.

Love Yourself: Answer encapsulates the BTS journey leading up to it through their albums LY: Her, LY: Tear and the mysterious LY: Wonder which was hinted at by the video for "Euphoria," which is also the first track on their LY: Answer album. If the cross-references seem dense, there are many more where those came from. While BTS cannot escape from their K-pop idol group category, their use of symbolism, self-expressiveness, visuality, and building alternative universes has conveyed intellectual stimulation keeping their loyal Army fans speculating.

"A Conversation With BTS" will give these talented artists a unique opportunity to share more about what matters to them and how life and music have changed since their attention-grabbing arrival on the world scene. Stay tuned for more…

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BTS' Jin

BTS' Jin 

Photo: RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

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BTS Begin 'Love Yourself: Answer' With Jin's "Epiphany"

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In a complex reality where competing self-images are on repeat, Jin leads a comeback in the latest installment in his group's saga
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Aug 9, 2018 - 1:53 pm

The first taste of Love Yourself: Answer went online on Aug. 9, and if you weren't clear that the K-pop champs BTS believe you should love yourself — this message is on repeat. Sometimes fragmented and mysterious, like finding one's identity in a world of choices, this first tip from the monster-crew's latest comeback puts vocalist Jin at the intersection of worlds both real and alternative.

The calla lily and notebook both trace back to highlight reel symbolism that fans like BTS Army love to discuss, but the sense of going backward and forward, through time and through different versions of one's self, jumps out. The issue of being alright on the inside has been one of BTS' recurring themes, presented in many lights. In the septet's band-culture, it's also key to how to be a responsible, caring friend. The lyric speaks to the inner life of connecting to one's shining soul, beautiful even if inadequate, and working outward from that center.

BTS has been the center of attention with Love Yourself: Tear, topping the Billboard 200 earlier this year, and the reincarnation of that album with new songs in Answer is set for release on Aug. 24. As their North American tour approaches, the group is likely to attract a huge focus again, as demonstrated by their recent addition of a stadium date at Citi Field in New York — a first and a coming-of-age for Korean musical entertainers.

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