It was maybe a year ago now that I fell down into the hole that I lovingly refer to as KPOP hell. Now I just have to say that objectively, and as confirmed by my roommate, I’m not that bad. I just have a nice appreciation for the genre and I may be a tad obsessed with BTS. They make good music, they’re great dancers, and they are adorable human beings. Not to mention they aren’t lacking in the looks department but I’m not here to get into that.
Somehow, I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to have front row seat tickets to see BTS at the Staples Center in LA on September 8th, 2018, and quite honestly I can die happy now. Now I understand that there are some uninformed members of society so I will give y’all some basic information that will make it easier to understand who I’m talking about.
This is BTS:
BTS is a 7-membered world famous KPOP Idol group. Personally, as I said before, I discovered them about a year ago when they kept popping up on my tumblr feed. I could say more but I’m trying to keep this somewhat short and sweet. To simply put it: BTS are legends. You might have seen them performing “DNA” on the 2017 American Music Awards or performing “FAKE LOVE” on the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. You also might have heard of their collaborations with artists such as Steve Aoki and Nicki Minaj. They have not only won multiple awards since their debut in 2013, but they have also broken multiple records. Most recently, they have out-ranked Taylor Swift with the “biggest music video debut in YouTube history” (https://twitter.com/YouTube/status/1034242023451185152 ) .
For reference:
(From left to right: J-Hope, Jin, V, RM, Suga, Jimin, Jungkook)
I was very excited for the concert, yet I was also a bit nervous because I don’t speak Korean. Also it is no fun to go to a concert alone so of course I just had to drag my roomate along with me. Before going to the concert, all she knew about BTS was a couple of their songs and some random facts that I threw out about each member during the week prior to the concert.
The concert started at 6:00pm (which to me seems like a slightly odd time to start a concert but whatever). So my roommate and I decided that we would go and get dinner before and then head over to the Staples Center. After we finding parking and going through security (my roommate was a tiny bit peeved because they wouldn’t let her keep her pepper spray) we finally sat down in our seats at about 5:45pm.
When we walked to our seats the room was loud, ARMYs (the name of BTS fans) were singing along and swaying their light-sticks to the beat of the music video on the screen. We arrived at our seats to find signs that said “We’ll only heart you for eternity,” and that asked us to hold them up at a certain point later on in the concert as a gift for BTS. A quick thing that I should explain here is that each KPOP group has a set light-stick, which is basically a high-tech light stick that pulses different colors of light depending on the song that is playing. The light-stick for BTS is dubbed the ‘ARMY Bomb.’ Unfortunately, I decided not to buy one because I personally didn’t see a need for one and they were quite expensive, but I promise that doesn’t mean I don’t love them any less.
Finally, at 6:06pm, the boom of the base vibrated the arena and the screams began. The opening sequence consisted of a super cool video and amazing special effects. But then the screens at the front of the stage started separating and everyone’s ARMY Bombs turned red.
The beat was speeding up and we knew BTS was coming soon. And finally, after a flourish of fireworks, BTS came up from under the stage in stylish outfits, and the music for their latest hit “IDOL” began.
In KPOP concerts there are no show openers, so it was just BTS the whole time, which I definitely had no problem with. Also, another thing to note about KPOP concerts is that almost all the dances that are seen in music videos are performed live in concert. When I first got into KPOP I thought that this was really cool because to me, watching people dance is so much more entertaining than watching people just stand there. It shows how much effort they put in to their performance. And I don’t know if you have ever watched a BTS video, but their dances are INTENSE. So it was really amazing to see them dancing live. Also this concert was LONG (not that I’m complaining) but my best estimate of the length of the concert was probably around 2 hours and 45 minutes, which is a lot longer than any other concert I’ve been to.
After the first song they all introduced themselves and then RM, the only member fluent in English, asked us all to be respectful of one another. And then they jumped right into the next song. The whole concert was segmented by short 5-minute videos that would portray the ‘theme’ for the next segment. Most of these segments contained both solo songs and group performances.
One thing that I like about BTS is that they (RM, Suga, and J-Hope especially) are heavily involved in the process of writing and producing their own music, which sets them apart from the ‘factory-produced’ stereotype that comes along with the KPOP industry. Because of this artistic freedom, BTS use their influence to talk about sensitive topics such as mental health and society in their music. They also explore a lot of different genres including latin, rap, soul, R&B, alternative, pop, etc. There was definitely no shortage of entertainment.
And I wasn’t the only person to have fun. My roommate found herself “pleasantly surprised.” She told me it was way better than she was expecting and that she loved and admired the passion with which they were dancing. She told me that her favorite member was Jimin and that she’d definitely go again to see BTS.
Although we may not speak the same language, it is still easy to enjoy the music and to feel the emotions that they are trying to portray through their dance movements. Not to mention that BTS were ADORABLE and I wanted to put them in my pockets and take them home (not in a creepy way).
Another thing to note about the concert was that it was LOUD. Now I’ve been to my fair share of concerts and I thought that One Direction was the loudest it was ever going to get, but obviously I now stand corrected. Also, the crowd was very diverse in race and age, which was something that surprised both me and my roomate.
Honestly, I don’t have any other word to describe this experience other than amazing. I was sad when it came time for the encore, because I didn’t want it to be over. But I also felt both amused and endeared as I watched the members thank us in English (don’t tell anyone but I saw a teleprompter… but its so sweet that they’re trying).
Aside the fact from that I love BTS, I am very appreciative of the fact that I got to go to a KPOP concert. It was definitely a different experience than any other concert that I’ve been to. But looking beyond the fact that it was long, loud, and in Korean, thanks to that KPOP concert I was able to see that music is truly a universal language.
So I guess I’d like to end this by saying thank you to BTS. I had a great time.