BTS, BTS' second English song, 'Butter', was selected as the longest-running song in 2021, maintaining the top spot on the Billboard [1] 'Hot 100' chart this week!!!
(Clap Clap Clap)
Last week, BTS' 'Butter' hit the follow-up song 'Permission to dance' and retaken the number one spot on the Billboard 'Hot 100' chart.
As a result, BTS will perform 'butter' 9 times in total until June, July, and the first week of August 2021, 'permission to dance' in the middle, a total of 10 times, and topped Billboard's 'Hot 100' in 2021. It's literally hitting the summer of the year.
[1] Billboard is a music magazine founded in New York in 1894, and has been making charts by counting popular music rankings since July 1940.
In particular, the 'Hot 100' chart, which started in August 1958, is an index that shows the flow of popular music not only in the United States but also around the world, as it has been compiled by combining album sales and the number of radio broadcasts.
[How is communication that transcends countries, generations, and races possible?]
BTS at the BTS Wembley performance (2019)/ Photo provided by Hong Seok-kyung, professor of journalism and information at Seoul National University
How were these results possible?
SDF (SBS D Forum), SBS's representative knowledge sharing project, communicates with ARMYs, who are fans around the world, across countries, generations, and races. I was curious about their world, a community that grows together.
Perhaps differently from before after Corona 19, but in our society, which is doomed to live together as a community, the 'new rules of the game' they show could be a good role model, giving implications.
* This article was introduced in the 'SDF Diary', a newsletter sent every Wednesday morning. The SDF diary is written by members of the SBS Press Headquarters Future Team who are preparing for the SBS D Forum. We look ahead to the topics that our society should be interested in, and deliver meaningful new perspectives or attempts. ▶ Go to SDF Diary Subscription |
[Meet Professor Hong Seok-kyung, an expert recognized by ARMYs!]
I asked who the academic experts around me could turn to for help with these questions. They advised me to meet with Professor Hong Seok-kyung of Seoul National University's Department of Journalism and Information Sciences.
Professor Seok-Kyung Hong is an authority on popular culture research, known for his research on Hallyu since 2013. In particular, he is famous for conducting industry-university collaboration research with Big Hit Entertainment (now Hive) in 2018, and meeting and researching overseas ARMYs in person for three years. The research contents were published in a book called 'On the BTS Road' at the end of last year.
The professor said that as a pop culture researcher, as a researcher of popular culture, he would try to answer an interview as long as time permits, in the context of a huge phenomenon called 'BTS', but in the broadcasting industry, he is known to be a difficult person to interview. So, after reading the book thoroughly, I carefully selected the questions based on the content I had been pondering while preparing for the SBS D Forum. Fortunately, after reading the questionnaire, they readily agreed to the interview, so I was able to meet the professor non-face-to-face on the 28th of last month.
Q. Professor, thank you for accepting this interview even though you are on vacation.
Professor, I wonder how you first became interested in BTS.
: As a person who studies popular culture, I am interested in important phenomena that change the rules of the game.
After attending the University of Bordeaux in France from 2000 to 2013, I came to Seoul National University in the spring semester of 2013.
But when I was in France, it was around 2009. I was going to downtown Bordeaux to give a lecture, and at a high school, I happened to see K-pop graffiti drawn on a desk.
At that time, I was doing research on K-drama, what is this?
I wanted
I used the photo I took at that time as the cover of a book I was doing at the time, <Korean Wave in the Age of Globalization and Digital Culture>.
And in the summer of 2012, just before returning to Korea, Psy's 'Gangnam Style' swept the world.
So, the last chapter of the book <Korean Wave in the Age of Globalization and Digital Culture> is about K-Pop.
I learned that the Korean wave after K-drama would be K-pop.
Traces of K-pop graffiti on the desk of a high school in Bordeaux, France (2009) / Photo provided by Professor Hong Seok-kyung
After that, I came back to Korea, starting with BTS's 'In the Mood for Love' album, 'What is this?'
You keep coming across things you want to do.
The music video is unusual, and I want to know what the story is.
Then, as a phenomenon, I felt that it had real meaning with the 'Wings' album.
I thought, 'Oh, these people are entering global popular culture,' and from then on, I wrote a column and started research on industry-university cooperation in earnest.
In a way, I was fortunate to be able to connect with BTS a little earlier than others.
[Law of a new game to learn from BTS 1]
Direct communication (the party nature)
Q. I became interested in BTS because, unlike other artists, it was impressive that each member directly communicated with their fans through social media. When I checked on Twitter Korea, it was reported that the first tweet that BTS members started communicating with their fans was on December 18, 2012. You have been communicating directly with your fans for nearly 10 years. How do you view BTS in terms of 'relationship' and 'communication'?
: At that time (entertainment companies) did all the use of social media. But other big entertainment companies were very controlling. Because I was thinking about public image, this can go out, this cannot go out, and I naturally feel it because I control it in this way. 'That's not the artist's voice'. It may be a voice, but I couldn't help but think, 'This came through someone else', but BTS wasn't like that.
When I come out with ‘Hip-Hop’ in front of the idol, I want to speak with my own voice.
These people composed with their own voices, wrote lyrics, and became the subject of communication.
So in BTS, there is an Underdog [2] story.
We wouldn't know if they weren't talking about it.
Memories of being anxious while listening to people say things like "I was cut off while waiting today" on social media every day, "You're not a large agency, so you won't be able to debut or show up." These are the people I talked to.
Now, a very different culture from K-pop, where artists are encouraged to participate in album production, has become a principle.
BTS is changing the culture.
The first tweet where BTS members communicated directly with their fans (December 18, 2012)/ Courtesy of Twitter Korea
[2] Underdog refers to a team or player with a low chance of winning, and the 'underdog effect' refers to the psychology of cheering and wanting to support the weak who are inferior in competition.
[Law of a new game learned from BTS 2]
'Value community' connected through the message
Q. There are aspects of the technology that made 'globalization' possible, and there are parts where the agency gave 'autonomy' so that you can have your own voice, but nevertheless, what do you think is the reason why BTS was able to move people around the world differently from other K-pop? me?
: BTS grew up within the media environment and geopolitical environment of K-Pop, so the visual and visual characteristics of BTS are K-Pop's visual characteristics. These are dynamic movements, moving in and out of frames created by television, and directing that emphasizes movement. When BTS performed in the United States and appeared on American television, the dynamism was lost and the fun was lost because Americans were filming it. As it came to light, I realized that I was like, 'Ah, the various principles of Korean broadcasting entertainment have come together to form a unique K-pop culture'.
Nevertheless, the most different part of BTS from other K-pop is the “message”. These people have made a valuable message, trans media [3] over the years. So, there is a unique world created by combining the storytelling shown through the music video, their identity as a team member, and the stories of seven individuals as natural persons. It’s not just continuous, but these people’s values (projected), the artists’ activities, and the fan club ARMY’s various activities under these people’s names are all connected with the message, so no other group can follow this. Not only can we not follow other K-pop artists, there is no other group on the planet. It's a unique part of BTS.
[3] Transmedia refers to a phenomenon that crosses the boundaries between media, and 'transmedia storytelling' refers to a technology that delivers a story or experience of a story through various platforms and forms.
From BTS' BTS, A Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa ON STAGE: PROLOGUE music video (2015) / Source: Big Hit Music
There is such a thing as 'the politics of no message'.
The world isn't fair and there are a lot of problems, and it's very conservative to tell people that there's nothing wrong with them, they're just having fun and being good.
The lack of a message is already politically involved.
But BTS puts other values in, and they keep talking about messages, solidarity, and that this is possible.
American hip-hop usually started in a very difficult environment, so successful hip-hop artists have no choice but to brag about their changed reality, right?
But BTS looked into the problem inside themselves.
'Love Yourself' is exactly that.
We may not be able to change this difficult situation, but let's find a way to love ourselves even in this situation, and take the process of saving ourselves as a fandom experience.
Until the 'Map of the Soul' album...
Going deeper, I thought it was really clever.
[The beginning of BTS World - Why we had to protect the waste pool at Seoul National University!]
Q. Speaking of the world view of BTS, I heard that the professor recently stopped the demolition of the Seoul National University waste pool.
There are many people who see the beginning of BTS World as “The Most Beautiful Flower,” but the background of the music video for “The Most Beautiful Flower” was the Seoul National University waste pool, right?
Please tell me about the protection of the waste pool.
: I was looking at a video taken by the students of the video club in the past, and there is a place where a ghost appears.
So when I asked where it was, they said it was the school's waste pool.
However, the place appeared in the music video for 'The Most Beautiful Love'.
It's a very large 50 meter outdoor swimming pool that has been around since the 1970s.
It is said that there were only two individuals in Seoul at the time.
At that time, it was difficult to fill a large swimming pool because water was expensive, so it was filled with water coming down from the mountainside.
As a result, it was cold, so there was a strange swimming pool that was only used for one month in August a year.
Then, as the number of swimming pools increased, citizens did not come, and Seoul National University students used it a little at the time, but in the late 1980s, the water was drained and discarded like this.
Graffiti came in because it was desolate, and because it was photogenic, it became a secret space where photographers sneaked in and took concept photos.
And I'm in the class of 81, and when tear gas demonstrations were often held at the Gwanak campus, it was also one of the places students go to when they run away to the mountains.
There is also a dam on it.
However, it was very sad that the situation became dangerous and the school decided to demolish it.
Seoul National University waste pool wall (2021) / Photo provided by Professor Hong Seok-kyung
So I wanted to make that part long in my book to let people know that this place is worthwhile.
So I purposely went to take pictures, and then in April of this year I heard that they were really destroying it.
So, I interviewed the student newspaper, contacted the headquarters and told the president through the professor who was in charge of our department at the time, and the president personally visited and decided that 'this place is not a place to just get rid of', so the demolition was stopped.
Three walls have been broken, but fortunately one wall remains.
When we made this space a cultural place where we could shoot music videos and take pictures with the ARMYs, it has been talked about up to now.
Seoul National University waste pool wall (2021) / Photo provided by Professor Hong Seok-kyung
I also see the place where BTS' message begins in earnest as 'Hwayangyeonhwa', and the place where it started is this Seoul National University waste pool.
But as time passed, it seemed that the fans came and painted over it.
So the position of the picture seems to have moved slightly, yes.
That in itself is history.
The fact that he painted on it is unchanging, so this is a really interesting layered, layered trace (by BTS and ARMYs).
Q. You mentioned that the BTS phenomenon is a 'flow against the dominant music distribution environment', which is different from the existing top-down popular culture. What made it possible?
: First of all, the special culture brought by K-pop is the power of a fandom that is different from the way the American record industry has worked. I'll show you right now. You change the billboard. In the music industry right now, albums are out of business. Because more and more people listen to music, right? But for K-pop fans, an album is a kind of object. Everyone who doesn't have a CD player buys an album. The album became the target of investment that reveals my fandom. Even though I can listen to all the music for free, I buy dozens of copies. From outside the fandom, this may be something that doesn't make sense. That part is far beyond the principles of the existing record industry and music industry, and as a result, the power is being transferred to the fans.
The American record industry also sells albums, so I came to think of K-pop as important.
So, the music industry is changing now not by top-down, but by power coming from the bottom up, and what makes BTS more special is that it tells a story through albums, and puts a message in the album.
However, as a young man living in this era, telling his own story, it contains stories about the ego that has become very small due to the neoliberal competitive society, and the process of finding self-esteem that can love the person who has become too small.
As BTS represents the universal voice of the times, if the existing K-pop fandom is a community of any affection or taste, becoming a BTS fan army adds 'value' to it, so doing hard work is also meaningful in real life. It's about doing what you're doing.
Nevertheless, it takes courage for adults to call themselves 'army' because they become one of their identity, so 'Boundary Polishing', which thinks that they should define the right attitude of the fandom or create and refine the fandom culture by themselves. [4] is sometimes done.
He also directed a master's thesis on this topic.
[4] Boundary Policing literally means strategic and policy work to set boundaries, and the process of establishing the identity of a specific fandom culture by defining what is acceptable and what cannot be tolerated by the fandom. means
[Law of a new game learned from BTS 3]
Win-win relationship for each other
Q. In your book, you said that the basic energy that moves the fandom is 'selfless affection'.
I think that it is a precious experience in itself, and I am interested from the perspective of 'community' because I think that it is special to create a culture for a better world in solidarity with different races, different countries, and different generations.
: As Korean society is rapidly changing now, what we are feeling is the 'disintegration of the family'.
In Korea, family ties are now loosening up, and individualism has developed in the West, which has already been somewhat digested, but it is not difficult for people in an individualistic society.
Countless depressions, calling for a strong individual, but a family you can depend on is weakening, undisclosed and lonely.
It seems that Korea is going in the direction of not getting married at all, and to put it all in one word, it is the 'dissolution of the primary group'.
Whether it's my family, my family, or my village, this isn't something I don't need, it's just gone, and people started to feel something that could replace it (in the relationship between BTS and ARMY and between ARMYs), so I became this strong. .
BTS BTS Paris Arena performance (2018) / Photo provided by Professor Hong Seok-kyung
Where can I confirm that this isn't just online, it's in 'concert', a case of seeing faces offline.
So the concert becomes a festival.
You don't have to do that, but the reason we stand in line for 3 days 2 nights is because we meet each other, so it's really good.
Even when we see each other for the first time, we don't know how time goes by and we feel so much in unity and love each other to death.
Not only do these people's faces brighten, but they ask, "Where am I traveling?"
Then "Yes?"
"Where do I live" and "Where shall we meet" come and go.
So these people say, "I have friends all over the world now."
Interview with overseas ARMYs during the BTS Wembley performance/Photo provided by Professor Hong Seok-kyung
And if you look at the comments under YouTube, they say, "BTS saved me in the most difficult and difficult times." That salvation is not only the BTS song, but also the members sharing their difficult experiences, and the ARMYs who say, "I am now." It's so hard, I might be alive tomorrow." Then there is a part where we save that person by commenting on each other.
There, the adults I interviewed highly value 'growth as a team'.
The 'warmth of community?
Community power?'
I think these things are strengthening between BTS and ARMY.
[New game rule 4 to learn from BTS]
'Locality' as a solidarity factor
Q. As 'locality' becomes more important after Corona, I think that the universal value of locality is much more impressive. After listening to the professor's explanation, could it be that BTS started out in a place that was not the main part of popular culture and showed a new kind of innovation?
: I think that locality is revealed as an element of 'solidarity' rather than 'innovation'. What's so impressive is that all BTS members speak a dialect. I don't hide my dialect. Other idols try to use the Seoul language early, and try to reduce the locality, but RM doesn't even go to the UN and say, 'I'm from Ilsan', don't you? Looking at it, I thought, 'Oh, this is not a message someone wrote,' and I thought that only RM could do it. Moments like this are everywhere in BTS.
So when they say, 'I know you're having a hard time', there is a history of revealing their experiences as they are, so when these people talk, it feels real.
It made a difference, and you listen to these people.
In the video, these people model for luxury brands and earn billions of money, but after performing, they are very modest, carrying cup noodles and eating them.
Recently, there is a video taken while on vacation during the corona period, and it comes out that they are eating together.
In the meantime, turn over the lid of the large pot, cook fried rice on it, and eat the sticky rice, saying, “This is the best nurungji”, and a group of people scraping it together with spoons.
That's 2020.
That's how it looks (without change) after all the successes have been achieved.
You can't say that scenes like that were set up by the company to do it that way.
Such a natural look really warms my heart, and those people are genuine.
When we tell people we understand those in need, when we say thank you, we make people feel what we are saying.
[Law of a new game learned from BTS 5] A
leader is a person who creates a 'message' and puts it into practice!
Q. The value of BTS, 'I am who I am', 'it's okay to have no dreams', and 'Let's love ourselves no matter what shape we are' has been emphasized in our society. It's a very different message from what I've been claiming. In such a difficult time, raising each other's self-esteem, guiding each other, working hard to be good together, and telling us to cherish until the end, I think that these are the kind of leaders we really need in this era. I'm curious how you see it in the frame of 'Leader'.
: As mentioned earlier, in a situation where the primary group was weakened, beings who cared for and nurtured each other appeared, and rather than the individual BTS being special, it is important that ordinary individuals gathered and succeeded as a team. Still, in the leadership part, I can't really talk about RM, and he's excellent in English and in all his abilities. But what this person is good at is getting behind. If you look closely, at first, when you are doing an interview or something like that, you think that you have to answer well, so you do it a lot, but later you fall back. It's very difficult. BTS's leadership is definitely RM's, and it can't be seen as the leadership of the entire fandom, but I think the unique position he has is definitely maintained.
Among the 4th generation idols these days, there are groups who have fans like friends and have come down to almost the same level.
But (as a group), the part that is different from other idols is that BTS has a clear status as a creator because they create a message and put it into practice.
Songs such as 'Dope' and 'Not Today' are songs that foreign fans have just flocked to BTS, but there are parts that have been recognized as a producer of messages criticizing the neoliberal competition.
I'm really excited to see what kind of organization they will show when they come across a truly global important issue like the climate crisis.
BTS BTS Wembley performance at the time (2019 nip)/ Photo provided by Professor Hong Seok-kyung
Q. BTS seems to be breaking the stereotypes of 'what hip-hop should be like', 'what men should be like', or 'how should Asians be'.
: One of the most theoretically important aspects of the BTS phenomenon is related to 'gender'. In K-pop, I didn't create an image that didn't exist in the case of female idols. Even if there are strong older sisters, there are more in America, right? However, there is no image of male idols in Korea. Not in the West. The dominant masculinity of the West, a man must be a strong individual, be able to lead in difficult situations, be able to get through it, have a long beard, have some muscle, must not show emotions and so on... But finally (alternative) beautiful men appeared.
But that doesn't mean that women objectify these men. Show some support, solidarity, love for this man as a whole. And men, too, have wanted to make themselves beautiful, but they have the freedom to do things that they have never been able to do for fear of “why are you like a woman”? So people of all gender identities feel free in K-pop culture. Even if you are a heterosexual man, your identity may not fit perfectly with your strong masculinity. I'm emotional, tearful, and hate to stand in front, but I've always lived under the pressure to fit in with a strong dominant masculinity. Also, in the West, men tend to view them as homosexuals, even if they have a little touch with their friends. But if you watch BTS, they sleep together, eat together, but they are heterosexual, they are friends, I'm not criticized.
In fact, young people these days have both masculinity and femininity in me, a more feminine woman, a man, a more masculine woman or man, so much more freedom.
Each country is relatively different, and I don't actively express myself in order not to shock others, but my gender identity has become much more liberal than in the past.
So there are more male fans who like male idols.
These things are happening right now.
In particular, men in the West are breaking down walls of oppression by seeing various possibilities for expressing their gender identity while watching K-pop idols like BTS.
In terms of cultural studies, I think it is very meaningful.
BTS BTS appeared on NBC's Jimmy Fallon Show (2021)/ Source: Big Hit Music
Professor Hong Seok-kyung said that during the pandemic, BTS released lyrics from 'Dynamite' to their recent 'Butter' album in English as a service to communicate with more people.
It must have been the culmination of global sign language in the last released song 'Permission to Dance'.
During the interview with Professor Hong Seok-kyung, I selected the BTS phenomenon as five new game rules from the perspective of how to live together differently as a 'community', which is the interest of <SBS D Forum>.
BTS is giving us the strength to endure difficult times by finding the common ground that anyone can dance anywhere, even in situations of social distancing, rather than seeing strangers, fears, and conflicts amid so many differences such as race, country, and generation!
Maybe we can find the wisdom of living in the present together from them.
* This article was introduced in the 'SDF Diary', a newsletter sent every Wednesday morning. The SDF diary is written by members of the SBS Press Headquarters Future Team who are preparing for the SBS D Forum. We look ahead to the topics that our society should be interested in, and deliver meaningful new perspectives or attempts. ▶ Go to SDF Diary Subscription |