In early Might, rumors swirled on social media a couple of mysterious guide. Its title wouldn’t be introduced till June 13, however it was slated for worldwide publication on July 9, with an preliminary print run of 1 million copies. Media protection targeted on fan hypothesis that the writer was Taylor Swift, a idea that drove a wave of preorders of the still-unnamed undertaking. Nonetheless, a few of us instantly deduced that the guide was really in regards to the South Korean pop group BTS. The largest clue was that the announcement and launch dates have been every a serious anniversary for the band—10 years since its debut and the naming of its huge fan base, ARMY, respectively.
And certainly, inside days the writer, Flatiron Books, confirmed to The New York Occasions that the 544-page guide was titled Past the Story: 10-Yr File of BTS. It was written by the South Korean journalist Myeongseok Kang (and translated into English by Anton Hur, Slin Jung, and Clare Richards), based mostly on intensive interviews with the group’s seven members. However I nonetheless had questions, each as a fan and a cultural critic who has written my very own guide about BTS. How candid would the members be? Would the guide communicate largely to diehards like me, or wouldn’t it handle to seize the character of stratospheric fame for normal readers? After a decade of the group’s existence, how far would Past the Story transcend the … effectively, you already know.
Because it seems, the guide is much less a conventional memoir or private biography than a meticulous accounting of how BTS was born and have become a worldwide juggernaut beneath the once-tiny file label Large Hit (now the huge leisure firm Hybe). For anybody who’s ever heard “Butter” on the radio and puzzled over the group’s ascent in America, Past the Story has solutions: It’s a captivating, sophisticated, and at-times anxiety-inducing chronicle of fan-driven world domination—in addition to a extremely accessible useful resource for newer devotees.
Many ARMYs first find out about BTS’s lengthy, bumpy historical past in a piecemeal method—by means of fan-made YouTube movies, official documentaries, livestreams, memes, and Twitter threads. Now this historical past is obtainable in an unguarded, complete bundle, narrated by Kang. Even for longtime lovers, seeing BTS’s profession laid out so intentionally is staggering. Kang covers each album, tour, and massive awards present up till mid-2022, proper earlier than BTS introduced that the members would quickly be specializing in solo tasks and getting ready for his or her obligatory army service. The guide doesn’t delve into their lives outdoors their job, which is unsurprising, provided that the members are extraordinarily protecting of their private relationships and identified for working nonstop. However Kang nonetheless manages to layer an emotional historical past on prime of the skilled one. By considering their evolution as artists, BTS’s members additionally give readers a transparent sense of how the crucible of fame pressured them to develop as human beings.
Past the Story is split into seven sections that hint the key eras of the group’s rise. Many readers will know the place the story ultimately goes—a number of No. 1 Billboard Scorching 100 hits, Grammy nominations, numerous historic firsts, a number of United Nations Normal Meeting appearances, a White Home go to—however suspense nonetheless infuses the early chapters. Kang conveys the depth and savvy of BTS’s chief, Kim Namjoon (stage title RM), who was recruited as a teen by the mastermind producer Bang Si-hyuk to type a hip-hop group with the man underground rapper and aspiring composer Min Yoongi (Suga) and the extremely revered avenue dancer Jung Hoseok (J-Hope). Ultimately Bang, wanting BTS to be extra of a conventional idol group, introduced in 4 vocalists: the unflappable eldest, Kim Seokjin (Jin); the perfectionist Park Jimin (Jimin); the versatile Kim Taehyung (V); and the golden maknae (or multitalented youngest), Jeon Jungkook (Jungkook).
After they first meet, they expertise the everyday persona clashes of any new group: The clear freaks balk on the soiled dishes within the sink and sweaty garments on the ground. The hip-hop aficionados maintain fixed classes to show the novices about rap music. Everybody, no matter dance expertise, practices the powerful choreography till they’re completely in sync—all whereas they’re on strict diets. (ARMY can be happy to know that Kang devotes a number of pages to the notorious mandu incident.) “The extra you look again on BTS’s preparation for his or her debut, the extra stunning it’s that none of them give up within the course of,” Kang writes. Even after that 2013 entrance, the members described experiencing isolation and going through mockery from lots of their friends at larger, extra financially profitable firms. So tough have been BTS’s first two years that when a Large Hit staffer informs the label’s vice chairman, “One thing’s occurring. Uh … they’re getting increasingly more followers,” the second lands like a surprising twist.
Within the first half of the guide, Kang supplies context in regards to the broader Ok-pop world, displaying simply what number of guidelines BTS broke to distinguish itself from its friends and predecessors. The members filmed vlogs providing followers an unpolished take a look at their lives, even typically criticizing Bang or the corporate instantly—a “full rejection of style norms in Korea’s idol business,” Kang writes. Of the unusually darkish realism of 2015’s single “I Want U,” he observes, “Inside the Korean idol business, experimenting like this was no completely different from deliberately attempting to break your self.”
As a fan, I used to be astonished that the BTS members appeared to go a very long time with out realizing why their very own supporters appreciated them a lot. Even after they have been confused by their recognition, they expressed deep gratitude to the individuals who boosted them. Jimin tells Kang, “Even now, I do not forget that one row subsequent to the published cameras throughout our first efficiency,” referring to the handful of followers who confirmed as much as cheer them on as rookies. For ARMYs, this evidently real humility is a part of what makes them so interesting—they’ve by no means behaved as if success was an inevitable consequence of their expertise or laborious work. Of “Dynamite” topping the Billboard Scorching 100, Suga talks about not eager to bask within the achievement: “I spotted it might be wiser to get again right down to Earth as rapidly as attainable. There was no should be floating within the air like that.”
Past the Story immerses the reader in how bewildering this complete development course of was from BTS’s perspective. Excessive highs (showing on the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards, in addition to main speak exhibits) are juxtaposed with profound lows (overwork, unrelenting melancholy, an growing lack of privateness). The members open up in regards to the stress of turning into big within the U.S., a completely unfamiliar market, when six of the seven didn’t communicate English. J-Hope recollects berating himself for not having the ability to grasp the language as rapidly as intricate dance strikes: “Every time, within the lodge room I assumed to myself, ‘Oh, so I suppose that is all I quantity to.’” As soon as they started to regulate to the worldwide nature of their fame, the pandemic arrived. They have been pressured to desert their plans and experiment as soon as once more by releasing their first English-language single, “Dynamite,” whose success shocked RM: “The fandom should’ve craved it greater than we’d thought,” he mentioned.
Not till this later a part of BTS’s profession, Kang writes, did the members transition from doing issues for “the sake of outdoor approval or to show themselves” to turning inward and “attempting to succeed in a degree of excellence the place they might really feel happy with their outcomes.” Readers can admire how their inside development has been nearly inseparable from their creative growth. Jungkook, who joined Large Hit in center faculty, talks about studying tips on how to acknowledge his personal feelings for the primary time and “unleash” them in music. V displays on rising older and going by means of an “adolescence of the thoughts,” earlier than realizing that he’s the form of musician who can write solely when genuinely impressed. Jin talks about abandoning his obsessive worrying to the purpose of “residing with none thought in any respect,” which allowed extra “psychological area” to maintain his work.
For followers, there’s one thing comforting about how a lot of this story we already know, and one thing satisfying about lastly seeing it put down formally in phrases. To me, this familiarity is a reminder of how susceptible BTS’s members have been from the start, even when the chance of self-revelation was excessive. Kang doesn’t contact on what lies forward. The band’s future chapters have but to be written, however this survey tells a whole story. It’s a doc capturing the way it feels to go from aspiring musician to worldwide famous person, and what it takes to take action.
By BTS and Myeongseok Kang
By Lenika Cruz
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