There is a musical war at home between the in-house teens – the daughter who has become a BTS fan in recent times influenced by her friends’ craze for the Korean pop group and the son who swears by the EDM (electronic dance music) genre and Dutch music producer Martin Garrix. So he spends much of his time making music. I let him, thinking I should not belittle the works of a future A.R. Rahman or Resul Pookutty.
Like many boys, the EDM fan pooh-poohs the Korean music and says the singers sound constipated, especially while belting out high-pitched numbers. My doubts were initially more basic – are they girls or clones – but I am beginning to like their music. The girl teen labels us racist for our unwillingness to appreciate East Asian musicians.
I am baffled by the fascination among young girls for BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan or Bangtan Boys) and everything (south) Korean. That includes Korean drama on Netflix, Korean language, Korean food and a South Korea trip in the distant future.
The seven-member boy band has a cult following among teens and tweens, be it in India or in the UAE, like Harry Potter in his heydays. So each girl has what they call a “bias” or a favourite singer – my teen has decided on Jimin while her best friends have picked on Jungkook and Suga. Jimin, she says, is kind going by his videos though Jungkook is reportedly the most popular of the seven. Suga, she feels, makes “savage” jokes while Jin is sassy and funny. When a teen says savage, it doesn’t mean wild or untamed but highly witty. To be a true-blue fan, one has to love the entire team – J-Hope, Jin, RM, and V complete the BTS septet. Except for Jimin and Jungkook, the rest have adopted stage names.
Shops selling BTS merchandise, which apparently are overpriced outside Korea, have sprouted in malls and online souqs. One strange accessory or item on the wishlist of a BTS fan is an army bomb or a BTS official light stick, which is a concert lamp that looks like a small torch. Each fan holding a light bomb at a concert is a star, and the whole auditorium becomes a star-lit sky when fans jam to the music. The BTS galaxy is reportedly the biggest while the fandoms of all-girl band BlackPink and boy band EXO are also very huge. BTS fans are called ARMY (Adorable Representative MC for Youth, where MC stands for master of ceremonies), while BlackPink fans are called Blink, enlightens the in-house fan. And language is no barrier for a die-hard fan to learn the BTS fan chant, which involves reciting the band members’ real names in a particular order.
For a 15-year-old girl like Ariell, the appeal of BTS is not just “their music, synchronised dance moves, but their personalities and constant communication with fans; personality-wise, they are funny, witty, thoughtful and great people”. Saniya, another young fan, vouches that BTS taught her “to love herself instead of loving others first, to continue living, and become a strong and self-confident person”. Most importantly, they aver, some have been cured of depression by the songs! Riza, who maintains a BTS fanpage, affirms that BTS songs have deep meanings, and motivates people to not give up on life. “Whenever I am sad, it is BTS that makes me happy,” she affirms.
Like the original Pied Piper of the fables, there is a Pied Piper song from BTS that analyses the mass following: “Follow the sound of the flute, follow this song/ It may be a little dangerous but I’m very sweet/ I’m here to save you, I’m here to ruin you…” The pop band is smart enough to tell the crazed fanbase, “Let’s stop looking and start studying for the exams/ Your parents and boss hate me….”
So the parent in me prays aloud that she will get over her addiction in a few years. She concurs it could be a possibility since BTS may disband – their seven-year contract with Big Hit Entertainment should end in 2025 – or members will have to leave for the mandatory military conscription in South Korea, whichever is earlier.
The naysayers whisper they could be older men who have embraced plastic surgery and Botox to look young. Haters can hate but BTS topped the Billboard charts in September with their first all-English song Dynamite, dismisses the teen with the magnificent BTS obsession.
Tailpiece: Much to the delight of BTS fans in the UAE, multiple billboards across the Dubai Mall will feature posters wishing BTS singer Park Jimin a happy birthday from October 9 to 13.
