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They wear make up. Yes they do.
They sing falsetto. Yeah, they do.
They lip sync. Ditto.
Only teenage girls like them.
Not true. I just spent three hours in a packed movie theatre, laughing, singing, and bonding with complete strangers. We are ARMY. We are BTS fans. And yes, we were mostly female. But of all descriptions, and with nothing in common except the music and the Bangtan Seven. Me, for example. Fifty four, graying, and with a body that can no longer jump even when Suga or RM exhort me to. I plan to make up with both arms up in the air (even if that frozen shoulder will punish me tomorrow) and singing along to all the songs.
I went alone because…you know… they’re just pretty boys, and they use auto tune, and really, it’s all artificial hype . Even: you’ve gone over to the dark side, from rock to ‘this kpop rubbish?’ Matters of the musical heart are not to be explained. As the young ones say, IYKYK.
I sit next to a group of five teenagers. They’re all egging each other on to be the one to sit next to the weird Aunty with short hair. Maybe I’m giving off my usual vibes, but no one wants to be the one. Anyway, after a short delay, the blank screen lights up and we can now hear the livestream from Goyang. It’s as if a heart starts beating again. One girl digs out a packet full of tiny hand made bracelets – she’s made enough for almost everyone in the theatre. Others are distributing photographs of the band. Everywhere, people are taking selfies with giggling strangers, starting fan chants and exchanging the latest news on the concert tour. We are about to watch the second concert of the Arirang World Tour livestreamed from Goyang…
The teenager next to me and I are suddenly best friends. We start with small smiles, then I thank her for the bracelet, she offers me water when a coughing fit comes on, and there’s no looking back. She loudly informs her friends that Aunty is an ARMY over Forty, they all lean over and say hi shyly and oh! here we go!!
The mood keeps building. The crowd of 40,000 in the stadium start the chant, we (four million plus) virtual watchers pick it up and as the cameras zoom in on people’s faces, they sometimes look straight at us, smile, bow, nod and wave, as if to say “Here we are, holding space for ARMY around the world”.
Then a masked figure runs on to the 360° stage, carrying a red torch, the sound of knives clashing and we’re off – Watch this, watch this beat goin’ Hooligan!! The surge of energy could take the roof off of this venerable old movie theatre.
As RM says, we’re older. The boys are all over thirty now, still silly, still honest about autotune and back up recorded vocals. But they’re also giving off a different vibe – more thoughtful, sometimes introspective – and I would be lying if I didn’t say this – way hotter than ever before. So yes, the dancing is saved for only a few numbers, but there is no drop in the energy from Hooligan all the way Into the Sun.
Suga smiles his gummy smile, rapping hard, looking so happy. Jimin is on fire, looking like some Viking god, if Viking Gods could dance. JK and V never disappoint with their Angel/Devil voices and antics. RM and Jin hold the boys together as always, leader and Hyung. And J-Hope! That man is a revelation. He is forever after the bridge between the vocal line and the rap line. That’s undeniable and there’s no going back for him…
Around half way through the concert, the boys take a break and it’s time for ARMY to show off their banners…most have thoughtfully written translations from the Korean so that International ARMY can give worldwide roars of approval as the cameras pick up each banner: We Stayed! We are here for those of you who can’t be here! Keep Swimming!
The concert ends with no encores – they have entertained us for two and a half hours, given their all and then they’re done. It’s all very polite and respectful. The fans in the stadium seem very happy with what they’ve gotten to hear and experience. We, of course, are ecstatic to have been a part of it all. There are a last few fan chants and everyone is hugging and promising to meet next Saturday for the next live stream.
Arirang is the second album release since I started listening to BTS…but it feels like for this one, I’m more appreciative of what they do. I felt it the first time I watched them on YouTube and for the most part, it’s been validated again and again. The pretty faces? The jewellery and the make up? That’s only the outer face of what it really is: BTS songs and lyrics are as far from hyper masculinity as you can get. They don’t taunt their female listeners with sexual violence or gaslighting. When ARMY pulled up the rapline for objectionable lyrics early in the day, they went back, got educated and showed that they heard the message. They talk about self respect and loving yourself, putting yourself first. They’re honest about failure and struggle. Their physical and musical identities are fluid: pop and rap, masculine and feminine, and all points in between.
I see why their fan base is mostly young girls – besides the first impression of androgynous beauty, the next one is of reassurance – there is a complete absence of toxic or threatening behaviour. They’re telling young people it’s OK to fail, it’s OK to get up again after a fall, keep going, keep swimming.
I am a rocker, always have been. Pop music had its space and time in my musical journey but my bias was always the hard rocking bands of the seventies and the eighties. I spent most of the last thirty odd years lost in their music because I couldn’t relate to the music of the nineties and thereafter, especially hip hop and rap.
So BTS was the most unlikely band to join my lexicon of Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Scorpions and Rainbow. These guys danced and they cleaned up good. Rappers who weren’t shy about sharing their skincare routine, singers who cooked and kept house – in short, everything my music heroes weren’t. Maybe I was looking to reconnect with the present after spending too many years in the past. But even as I smiled at their silliness and their willingness to lay it all out on the line – their hopes and dreams, their fluid sense of identity and confidence in rising above failure – I admired them for taking a chance with international fans.
K-pop culture comes with a reputation for exploitation and a certain portrayal of cutesy innocence that can be implausible to those of us who grew old (and not always wise) on a steady dose of rock music and its accompanying tropes of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.
BTS managed to turn it all upside down. Instead of innocence alone, they offered honesty. Instead of simply writing catchy pop tunes, they came in rapping hard and writing lyrics that meant something real. They spoke about their personal issues in real time with their fans, erasing that fourth wall again and again. They invited their fans into private worlds, mealtimes and even family moments. What they did was to create a community way back in 2013 – once it was just the seven of them and a few Korean fans, now it is the same seven and a world of fans. Today, I was there, a part of this music community. This cynical, jaded, angry woman had an emo moment or two, I can tell you.
As I watched the recording of the livestream again last evening, I finally got what older ARMY have always said: this band is worth it. I stumbled upon their music by serendipity in 2019, when I was struggling. I had almost stopped listening to music when these guys dropped their sound in my life. Suga’s Snooze, Pied Piper, Run Bulletproof, Black Swan, IDOL, even the very bubblegum trio of Permission to Dance, Dynamite and Butter – these songs helped me find my way back to all kinds of music, not just their own unique sound. Last week, I was at my first Def Leppard concert, and Scorpions are heading my way end of this month. But today was all about my kpop bias – BTS!! They’re sharing space in my music world with the other rock greats and they’re holding their own.
OT7, Apobangpo, Borahae!! 💜