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Finding happiness in a time of great strife and suffering can be next to impossible, but the upbeat track with light, catchy lyrics and a music video full of joyous Bangtan members has helped ease the pain of many around the world. It’s not a panacea, but it doesn’t have to be. The onus is not on BTS to bear the weight of the world’s suffering, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to help, in the ways they know best.

With this mindset, they created MOTS: Persona both as an album about fans and an album about acknowledging the persona and all the good that came with it. With “Interlude: Shadow” and “Black Swan,” BTS continues this introspective theme by looking within and expressing some of the darker emotions there. So far, the MOTS series has told BTS’s own stories, rather than the more generalized stories of previous releases. Though previous releases of course contained some elements of themselves, their decision to look within and structure a series around developing the self is granting us a more intimate look at their personal narratives.

In “Interlude: Shadow,” Yoongi doesn’t try to hide his shadow but rather embraces it and acknowledges that it’s a part of him. This was one of the main points of Jung’s individuation process—you can’t be rid of your shadow or other unconscious elements, but you can work to integrate them into your whole self and become more harmonious within.

Lyrically, “Spring Day” is wonderfully poetic, and the tone of its lyrics matches the tone of the song so well. Both are delicately sentimental and melancholy, but at the same time instill in the listener a sense of hope and peace.

With its beautiful lyrics and multifaceted sound, it’s no wonder “Spring Day” has been so successful.

BTS fanfiction has grown exponentially since 2013. With over 100,000 fics live on just one fanfic website (AO3), there’s a lot to look at. Here, I take a look at how the number of BTS fics has changed over time, since 2013.

The BTS Universe is special because it extends its storytelling beyond just a music video, or even a series of videos, enabling fans to actively engage and solidifying the fans’ attachment to the series, the characters, and the members of BTS themselves.

The idea for this new series in which I examine some of BTS’s songs came to me while thinking about literary analysis and how oftentimes students of English/literature are asked to perform “a close read.” A close reading of a text is an analysis in which the writer reads and analyzes only what is available in the given text. No outside influences are taken into account; it’s just a close analysis of what we’re given on the page.

RM’s new intro track “Persona” for BTS’s upcoming album Map of the Soul: Persona looks a lot like a throwback to the group’s earlier School trilogy, but this time with a bit of a Jungian twist.

BTS’s history with Kingsman concepts since 2015.

BTS has once again ended up on the receiving end of shameful, racist commentary from an ignorant Western media personality.

Two recent articles in mainstream media have severely missed the mark — but this will come as no surprise to most BTS fans.

Both the MMA and MAMA wins are a satisfying way to close out the year, for both BTS and ARMY. BTS’s year isn’t over yet, but we all have a lot to look back on and reflect upon as we move into the new year and the upcoming album.

ARMYs harnessed their negative feelings and channeled that power into an effort that brings BTS the glory, awards or not. This is demonstrative of what a large fandom can do to make its voices heard, and is a much better strategy than raging on Twitter. So if you’re irritated at last night’s outcome, consider lifting BTS up instead of tearing others down, and #BuyPersonaOniTunes.

I’m conducting a fan survey to help provide additional context to my research project. My project wil be presented at the BTS Global Interdisciplinary Conference in London this coming January.

It’s true! There will soon be an entire conference dedicated to BTS.

There’s not much that can be done to change how Western media covers K-Pop—it’s going to take time, and probably a lot of it. The best I can do is continue to write and hope that my words and words of others in the fandom will slowly chip away at the preconceived narrative in place.

On June 19, BTS’s fandom found itself amidst controversy on Twitter. Those who are active in the fandom know this is nothing new; we’re used to watching fights with other fandoms, news outlets, and even internal fanwars. While a lot of the fighting and arguing that takes place online isn’t important — and is only carried out by a small fraction of the fandom — yesterday’s battle was a different beast.

Dr. Jiyoung Lee’s book BTS, Art Revolution: BTS Meets Deleuze is an important work for BTS, ARMY, and global pop culture in general.

Following the cinematic release of BTS’s Burn the Stage documentary, a film version of their Love Yourself concert saw a limited release on January 26, 2019. The film played in theaters across the U.S. (as well as many other countries) in regular theaters as well as some Screen X theaters, where the 270-degree screen upped the immersive quality of the experience. Regardless of what type of theater the film is viewed in, watching BTS’s concert on the big screen is an enveloping, moving experience.

Never in a lifetime did I dream that I’d be sitting at my local theater watching a documentary-style film on a Korean artist. 10 years ago, when I first became interested in Korean music and culture, anything Korean-related was hard to come by in most places in the U.S., outside of large Korean-American communities. In my smaller city, there wasn’t even a Korean restaurant or grocery store. K-Pop concerts came to us only once in a while, and when they did, it was only to New York City and Los Angeles. Needless to say, times have definitely changed.

BTS is the only artist I have seen live more than once. Quite frankly, they’re probably the only artist I’d bother even going to live shows for anymore, because once you’ve seen a BTS concert, nearly everything else pales in comparison.