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.

Save Me is a 15-episode webtoon that BigHit released in April 2019. The webtoon was announced on a Twitter account called Smeraldo Books and is currently available for free on the Naver webtoon app and website.  

The HYYH story of the Bangtan Universe features seven main characters, one that takes the name of each BTS member. Even though we’ve got all seven as main characters, the HYYH storyline does focus a bit more on Seokjin’s character as the protagonist. This webtoon follows him and his actions, and he’s the only character we have real insight into here.  

The Smeraldo blog mysteriously appeared before the Love Yourself: HER comeback. It provides background story related to the fictional smeraldo flower, which makes an appearance in the BU.

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.

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

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.

The BU runs parallel to the real BTS and their songs/album releases. While the BU does encompass many of BTS’s releases, there will be releases that aren’t canon to the universe.

Content summary of the HYYH notes.

English translations of the HYYH Notes.

A living document listing all canon content from the BTS Universe.

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.

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.

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.

Several days ago, the news broke that BTS’s appearance on a Japanese music show had been canceled, just hours before the group was set to fly from Korea to Japan. Security and media had already gathered at Korea’s Gimpo airport, preparing for BTS’s departure, but the decision to cancel the TV appearance came before the group could depart.

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.