BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan (Korean: 방탄소년단;)
which translates literally to 'Bulletproof Boy Scouts'. which translates literally to 'Bulletproof Boy Scouts'.
According to member J-Hope, the name signifies the group's desire "to block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets".
In Japan, they are known as Bōdan Shōnendan .In July 2017, BTS announced that their name would also stand for "Beyond the Scene" as part of their new brand identity.
This extended the meaning of their name to encompass the idea of growth "from a boy to an adult who opens the doors that are facing forward".
BTS (Korean: 방탄소년단; RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan; lit. Bulletproof Boy Scouts), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010.
The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material.
Originally a hip hop group, they expanded their musical style to incorporate a wide range of genres.
Their lyrics have focused on subjects including mental health, the troubles of school-age youth and coming of age, loss, the journey towards self-love, individualism, and the consequences of fame and recognition.
Their discography and adjacent work has also referenced literature, philosophy and psychology, and includes an alternate universe storyline.
BTS debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment with the single album 2 Cool 4 Skool. BTS released their first Korean and Japanese-language studio albums, Dark & Wild and Wake Up respectively, in 2014.
The group's second Korean studio album, Wings (2016), was their first to sell one million copies in South Korea. By 2017, BTS had crossed into the global music market and led the Korean Wave into the United States.
Becoming the first Korean ensemble to receive a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for their single "Mic Drop", as well as the first act from South Korea to top the Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018).
In 2020, BTS became one of the few groups since the Beatles (in 1966 to 1968) to chart four US number-one albums in less than two years, with Love Yourself: Answer (2018) becoming the first Korean album certified Platinum by the RIAA; in the same year.
They also became the first all-South Korean act to reach number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200 with their Grammy-nominated single "Dynamite". Follow-up releases "Savage Love", "Life Goes On", "Butter", and "Permission to Dance" made them the fastest act to earn four US number-one singles since Justin Timberlake in 2006.
As of 2023, BTS is the best-selling musical act in South Korean history according to the Circle Chart, having sold in excess of 40 million albums.[2] Their studio album Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) is the third best-selling album of all time in South Korea, as well as the first in the country to surpass both four and five million registered sales.
They are the first non-English-speaking and Asian act to sell out concerts at Wembley Stadium and the Rose Bowl (Love Yourself World Tour, 2019), and were named the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) Global Recording Artist of the Year for both 2020 and 2021.
The group's accolades include multiple American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and nominations for five Grammy Awards. Outside of music, they have addressed three sessions of the United Nations General Assembly and partnered with UNICEF in 2017 to establish the Love Myself anti-violence campaign.
Featured on Time's international cover as "Next Generation Leaders" and dubbed the "Princes of Pop", BTS has also appeared on Time's lists of the 25 most influential people on the internet (2017 to 2019) and the 100 most influential people in the world (2019), and in 2018 became the youngest recipients of the South Korean Order of Cultural Merit for their contributions in spreading the Korean culture and language.
On June 14, 2022, the group announced a scheduled pause in group activities to enable the members to complete their 18 months of mandatory South Korean military service, with a reunion planned for 2025.
Jin, the oldest member, enlisted on December 13, 2022; the others followed 2023. And they also going to serve their country now.
BTS held their 'Yet To Come' in Busan concert on October 15, 2023 to promote the city of Busan for the World Expo 2030. The concert will be coming to cinemas for a limited time starting February 1, 2023.
BTS in 2013 performing at the Incheon Music Center
BTS was formed in 2010, after Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk wanted to form a hip hop group around RM (Kim Nam-joon),
an underground rapper well known on the music scene in Seoul. At the time, physical album sales were on the decline and digital
revenues were not yet high enough to compensate. Seeing a need for diversified income streams, Bang decided to form an idol
group instead, because of the potential for live concert performances and passionate support from fans of such groups.
Many trainees refused to become part of an idol group, but J-Hope, RM, and Suga remained. Bang chose to vary from the usual,
highly regimented idol groups and create one where the members would be individuals rather than an ensemble and free to express themselves.
Auditions were held in 2010 with plans to launch the following year. The band members lived together, practicing up to 15 hours a day, and first performed before a small crowd of industry insiders in 2013.
More specifically, they had a point of view, and they weren't afraid to take on topics that are considered taboo in South Korean society and elsewhere."The album reached the top five on South Korea's Gaon Music Chart.
In 2 Cool 4 Skool, BTS employed an old-school hip-hop sound from the 1990s.The album's release was followed by appearances on Korean music shows, which caught the attention of reviewers and viewers.
In September 2013, BTS released the second entry in their "school trilogy": the EP, O!RUL8,2?. The album was released alongside the single "N.O."Similarly to 2 Cool 4 Skool,
the new release had a theme of students feeling under pressure and needing to sacrifice their dreams and aspirations.According to scholar Kyung Hyun Kim,
many of BTS's earlier works such as "N.O." and "No More Dreams" were "expressions of rebellion against the establishment that tapped into Korean teenagers'
frustrations with the country's educational system" and, he stated, helped them build a fan base among young people in North America and Europe.[27] That same month,
BTS starred in their own variety show, SBS MTV's Rookie King Channel Bangtan, in which members parodied variety shows such as VJ Special Forces and MasterChef Korea.[28] At the end of the year, BTS was recognized with several New Artist of the Year awards in South Korea.
BTS experimented with other styles of music besides hip-hop in The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1, released in 2015.
BTS wanted to express the beauty and anxiousness of youth and settled on the title of "花樣年華" (Korean: 화양연화; RR: Hwayangyeonhwa),
loosely interpreted to define "youth" metaphorically as "the most beautiful moment in life".
The album served as an introduction to their youth trilogy, a triptych of albums dedicated to the struggles of young people.
The single "I Need U" was a top-five hit in South Korea and garnered the group a win on SBS MTV's The Show.
The second single "Dope (Korean: 쩔어; RR: Jjeoreo)" reached number three on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart and its music video was viewed over 100 million times on YouTube.
The group began the world tour extension of their Red Bullet Tour in June, titled 2015 Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, visiting cities throughout Asia, Oceania, North America, and Latin America.
"For You", in Japanese, was released together with Japanese versions of "War of Hormone" and "Let Me Know" on June 17, 2015, and immediately topped Oricon's daily chart.BTS performing at KCON France in Paris on June 2, 2016
In November, BTS commenced their third concert tour, 2015 BTS LIVE "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage", which began with three sold-out shows in Seoul, and was extended to Japan.
Thematically, the EP focused more on the serious and speculative aspects of youth, touching on the pursuit of success, loneliness, affection for their origins, and the suffering of the younger generation due to unfavorable conditions in current society.
The album topped the weekly Gaon Album and Billboard World Albums charts.It also marked their first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart,making it for one week at number 171, and eight of the tracks appeared on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart.
Their compilation album and the finale to their "youth trilogy", The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was released on May 2, 2016.
BTS won major awards at the Golden Disc and Seoul Music Awards in January 2018.
In March, the group premiered an eight-episode documentary titled Burn the Stage that offered a behind-the-scenes look at their 2017 Wings Tour, exclusively on YouTube Premium.
Their third Japanese studio album, Face Yourself, was released on April 4, 2018 and quickly reached the top 5 of the U.S. iTunes Albums chart.
A nine-minute short film, titled Euphoria: Theme of "Love Yourself: Wonder" and featuring the song "Euphoria", followed the next day as a prelude to the group's third Korean-language studio album, Love Yourself: Tear.
BTS promoted Tear's May 18, 2018, release with an appearance at the 25th Billboard Music Awards two days later,[117] where they made their initial BBMA performance with their single, "Fake Love".
The group also won Top Social Artist for a second consecutive time.The album coincided with the "轉" or "turn" of the series, touching on the tortuous enlightenment of loving without being loved, the pains and sorrows of separation, and providing encouragement to those without dreams.
BTS at their press conference for Love Yourself: Tear on May 24, 2018 Love Yourself: Tear debuted at number one its first week on the Billboard 200, becoming BTS's first number-one album in the US and the first K-pop album to top the US albums chart.
It also became BTS's first top-10 release in Britain, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Chart."Fake Love" became BTS's top-10 single on the Hot 100, the first time a song sung mostly in a language other than English had debuted in the top 10.
BTS released their compilation album Love Yourself: Answer in August, 2018.[126] The album was supported by the single "Idol" and its alternative digital release featuring Nicki Minaj.
Love Yourself: Answer sold over 1.9 million copies on the Gaon Album Chart in August 2018.The album became BTS's second number-one on the Billboard 200 and led to their highest US sales week in the country to that point with 185,000 album equivalent units.
BTS performing "Butter" at the 49th American Music Awards on November 21, 2021
On March 4, 2021, the IFPI named BTS its Global Recording Artist of the Year for 2020, the first Asian and first non-English speaking act to top the ranking.
BTS occupied three spots in the Global Album Sales Chart of 2020, with Map of the Soul: 7 at number one, Be (Deluxe Edition) at number two, and Map of the Soul: 7 The Journey at number eight.
On the newly launched Global Album All Format Chart, Map of the Soul: 7 claimed first place and Be (Deluxe Edition) claimed fourth.
On March 14, 2021, BTS performed "Dynamite" at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the first Korean nominee to perform, though they did not win the award.
On April 1, BTS released "Film Out", the first single from their then-upcoming Japanese compilation album, BTS, the Best.
BTS held a two-day online streaming event on their YouTube channel beginning April 17, titled Bang Bang Con 21, and aired three of their previous in-person concerts.
On May 21, BTS released their second English-language single, "Butter".
It debuted at number one on the Hot 100—their fourth number one in nine months—making them the quickest act to achieve four chart-toppers since Justin Timberlake in 2006, and the fastest group since the Jackson 5 in 1970.
Their next English-language single, "Permission to Dance", was released on July 9.
It became BTS's eighth number-one on the Digital Songs chart, extending their record as the group with the most number-one entrie"Butter" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.