Global K-pop stars, BTS, are back with their new album, ARIRANG, and the girls need to know more! Luckily, I have been listening to BTS since 2015, and I can teach all of the necessary basics you need to know before you buy your tickets to their world tour! Buckle up and read carefully for a lesson on BTS.
Debut
First order of business! BTS’ debut was on June 13th, 2013, where they released their single “No More Dream” from their first album 2 Cool 4 Skool. Their first album contains 7 songs with other hits like “We Are Bulletproof Pt. 2″ and “Like”. Just this year, 2 Cool 4 Skool reached over 700 million streams before they released their newest hits. BTS has 4 vocalists and 3 rappers, each has their own stage names, which I will teach everyone!
Rappers
As I previously mentioned, BTS has 7 members, 3 of which are rappers:
The group’s rappers are RM, Suga, and J-Hope. RM, the leader, was previously named Rap Monster, but throughout the years he ended up shortening it to RM. Suga’s name came from his love for basketball, quite literally being his own shortened version of shooting guard. Suga also has his own solo rapper name, Agust D, which is Suga backwards and DT added to stand for his hometown. J-Hope’s name partially came from his own, Jung Hoseok. He included the first initial from his last name and added hope to show a source of positivity.
Vocalists
BTS also has 4 of their own vocalists:
The group’s vocals come from Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. Jin is the oldest member of BTS and the sub-vocalist of the group! His name is a shortened version of his first name, Seokjin. Jimin is not only the lead vocalist, but also a main dancer in the group! He went to a ballet school and is extremely talented. Jimin uses his own name Park Jimin! V is an another sub-vocalist, his real name is Kim Taehyung. His stage name stands for victory so he decided on V! The final vocalist is Jungkook, who is the maknae (youngest) of BTS. He uses his own first name and has many positions in BTS, including main vocals and lead dancer!
ARIRANG
ARIRANG was just released on March 20th, and the album is focused on BTS’ South Korean culture. The title track for their new album is called SWIM, a track about moving forward through obstacles even when times are hard. A lot of their tracks on this new album had underlying meanings! One of their side tracks, No. 29, is seen as a silent song, but if you listen carefully in the beginning, it’s actually the ringing of a bell! This bell is the Sacred Bell of Great King Seangdeok. This track is exactly 1 minute and 37 seconds long, which is the exact amount of time it takes for the bell’s ring to fully fade out. The purpose of this track is to immortalize the ring of the bell from their culture!
Like what you’ve heard so far? give their newest album a listen!
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