Drummer reacts to BTS- Run

[@midzymidzymidzy]

I'm the one who requested this, again, thank you very very much!!! The other person/army pretty much explained everything on why BTS English tracks (American releases) are very different from their Korean songs. Things have never been easy for BTS from the beginning of their career, they came from a small, almost bankrupt company (now the biggest entertainment company in Korea ). They worked their assess off to be where they are now, with no connections, or any dirty tactics to go way up. They faced a lot of criticisms and hardships and continue up to this day. A lot of odds still going up against them, unfortunately, among them: -Stereotypes bout Boybands -Stereotypes bout Kpop music -Being Foreign/Asian -Superficial criticisms on how they look and all those nonsense. (I can literally go on soc media and see people trashing them unprovoked. People are riding on a hate bandwagon against them and this inc. people who have no idea who they are) -Salty fans from other kpop groups who are plainly jealous of their success. Now also include American pop fandoms. -Media downplaying their success, sometimes blunt, sometimes in a passive-aggressive manner. --- I know all artists go through this phase, but the scale of hate BTS is getting is so out of hand. The worse part is the majority of this criticism is either rooted in prejudice/ xenophobia. Or towards their identity, how they look, and things they got no control of. Makes me really angry and sad about how people can be so hateful and ignorant. There's a lot more but this gonna be so long, so sorry for this. ---I love them as a person, but what really draws me into them is their artistry. I love arts, and I'm seeing a lot of gems (at least to my own interpretation) with their work in music, MVs and concepts. Anyways, thank you very much. Thank you!!

[@lambotama]

You're welcome, and I don't mind reading the long comments as long as you have something to say

[@リコ-t9l]

This song, and the whole Young Forever album means so much to this fandom (and is in my opinion one of their best albums) ***However***, this music video in particular wasn't a great choice to pick lol. This music video is the third part to the BTS Universe Storyline where the music doesn't really connect completely to the song. It's definitely not something I recommend looking into since you are very new and can't recognize the boys from one another. It's a very complex and dark story so the music videos for the universe aren't going to make much sense. The reason why they put "bubblegum pop" in America is for a few reasons: 1. For some strange reason none of their other songs are getting radio play or getting nominated, hmmm I wonder why (*cough* not in English *cough*) 2. Their first English track, Dynamite, which could be considered the epitome of a nostalgia pop song was released to lift people up during the pandemic 3. Only one of the members (RM the leader) is fluent in English. Him along with Suga and J-hope are the primary songwriters with the help of other members. It's a lot more difficult to write a poetic song filled with wordplay (as they are known to do) in their third language (All members are fluent in Japanese and have the same great quality with their Japanese songs/lyrics) 4. It's what is expected from them in the west if they want to get noticed. That's why Black Swan, the beautiful song you enjoyed, didn't get a Grammy nomination over Dynamite. The west will only recognize them if they do what is expected of a "boy band" Still I don't want to make you believe that the ARMY(the BTS fandom name) and members themselves don't like these songs. The members chose Butter from dozens of pop tunes because they liked the sound themselves (their usual producers, three of the members and their in-house producers, didn't do anything to the track) Most of their fans first listen are their pop songs and then they dive into their deeper music. Like me with DNA (a typical love song) and you with Butter (a typical synth-pop). While you really didn't enjoy Butter, ARMY recognizes the type of song it is and why this is a style that is truly experimental with the boys. I'm glad your giving your honest and insightful review about the production (RM, Suga, and J-hope are credited with producing many of the groups tracks as well) I'd recommend you watch either 'The most beautiful life goes on: a BTS story' by Asain Theory or 'Introduction to the 7 members of BTS' by Ida S to get more context on both their musical background as a group and as individuals Again thank you for taking the time to look at more of their music!

[@lambotama]

They're definetly way more talented than I was initially led to believe, that's for sure. I blame the bubblegum pop on the American education system. It seems to me like when we took music away from school, except as an elective, the bar for what people like and consider to be good music just started dropping. Idk if music theory and playing instruments are still a core part of Korean education or not, but when these guys are doing their own thing and not trying to make Americans happy, they legitimately kick ass.

[@リコ-t9l]

@@lambotama This view of them is unfortunately echoed in both the West and in Korea. If they make a song that is "too wild, campy, or Korean" (i.e IDOL) it's "too confusing" for western audiences, "they look like dolls/women/gay", "nobody is going to look up the lyrics" when that's clearly not the case. BTS are house ambassadors for Korea and are constantly promoting Korean tourism. However, if they make a song that is "too poppy, produced, or American" (i.e Dynamite and Butter) it's now that they are "selling out", "trying to look and be American", or becoming "too westernized" in Korea and are shunned from the industry. Especially from Kpop fans (their is a big debate whether BTS is even considered kpop) The biggest complaint I personally have with these arguments is that this is all coming from title tracks. No journalists ever try looking at what is actually in their albums. And if someone does, they find themselves listening to more RnB, ballads, edm, and hip-hop tracks that are all in different styles and aren't anything like what they thought. Still they complain about how trying to understand the lyrics is difficult (usually because they make no effort to find accurate translations) and that the Korean language is just gibberish. This is why they never stick to one genre of music, they keep changing their sound and style. Keeping the sound of whatever they themselves like because ultimately they can't please everyone.