From Medium: 2017, the year of BTS

This opinion piece was originally published by Luke Waltham on Medium. You can read the original piece here.

2017: The Year of BTS

This has been an extremely successful year for BTS and it’s ultimately a sign of great things to come!

2017 has been an exceptional year for music. We have seen great albums, artists and tracks released and new records being broken by various individuals and groups. One of these groups, which as an ARMY, I’m really excited and happy about, is BTS. BTS and their ARMY fan base/family has grown phenomenally. In fact, BTS will be leaving 2017 with many achievements such as breaking records, taking the music industry to new heights and eliminating many barriers of language and division through the power of their music and personalities. Their success this year is a clear indication of the great things we can expect in the future!

These are only a few highlights of some of BTS’s major success this year. I encourage you to join the ARMY family to experience and celebrate all the great achievements that BTS, Big Hit and ARMYs have achieved and will continue to achieve!

The Wings Tour

After 2016’s Wings album and absolute success on the charts, BTS launched their Wings Tour, which will finish on the 10th December 2017. This is the 3rd and final chapter of their live performance tour trilogy. Throughout the year, their tour performances have been loved and enjoyed by thousands of ARMYs in various cities, towns and countries around the world. Not only were all of their shows sold out so quickly when they were announced, but various ARMYs kept requesting that they sell more tickets. In addition to this, top music companies, news corporations and organisations such as the Grammys reported about BTS’s brilliant performances. Members of BTS, including RM himself, have hinted at the possibility of more tours and performances that will be taking place in 2018. We can only hope and wait, in excitement, for those official announcements.

Winning the Social Artist Award at the Billboard Music Awards

BTS’s ARMY family is a massive one which continues to grow everyday. It was no surprise that these incredible men were nominated for the Social Artist Award by Billboard considering how big ARMY, their fandom, is and how much influence they have worldwide. Their appearance at the Billboard Music Awards made many Western media groups and celebrities curious and consequently, they started talking about BTS. In fact, it was at this point where many individuals wanted to collaborate and work with BTS after realizing how successful, talented and loved they are. When BTS actually won the Social Artist Award and went on stage to collect their award, RM’s acceptance speech and BTS’s overall appearance left the West and all viewers in awe. Thus, many individuals became ARMYs from that point and became extremely interested in BTS, who they are and their utmost excellence.

Love Yourself Her Mini Album

Another moment of success for BTS this year was the release of their mini album, Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’. It was an important part of this year because it allowed the members to grow, learn and express themselves, and at the same time, influence and inspire ARMYs too. An interesting, yet vital part of the album, which was emphasized, is that the album is predominantly gender neutral in order to promote an inclusive message of loving others, loving ourselves and spreading a message of unity, love and hope around the world. Many ARMYs praised the album and loved the meaning of the album and the tracks as they have done for previous albums. What I love about BTS and what fellow ARMYs love about them too, is that they complement Big Hit’s slogan of being “artists and music for healing” since they include societal and personal issues into their music in order to produce absolute masterpieces. Their mini album has been extremely successful, especially in Asian music markets. The album also debuted on the Billboard Hot 200 and has been increasing recently since BTS’s last takeover (or visit) of the USA. The track “Best of Me” was a collaboration with the Chainsmokers. Their single “DNA”, has been dominating multiple charts and the music video broke records such as being the fastest K-Pop group music video to reach 100 million views in the shortest period of time.

BTS and UNICEF launch the #EndViolence #LoveMyself Campaign

A pertinent part of BTS’s success this year which should not be ignored whatsoever is their collaboration with UNICEF. Their campaign, known as #EndViolence #LoveMyself, is an addition to UNICEF’s global #EndViolence campaign. The campaign aims to create and spread awareness about the injustices and violation of human rights against children that is taking place around the world. UNICEF already works as hard as they can with limited resources to stop ongoing violence against children. Thus, BTS’s assistance with #LoveMyself is going to be so important since the UN organisation needs as many funds as possible to make a difference. BTS will be donating 3% of the sales they make towards the campaign and all the money they make from selling the #LoveMyself merchandise in their official store will also go towards campaign. Just recently, Bang Shi Hyuk, the CEO of Big Hit Entertainment announced that he will be donating the presidential commendation award prize money that he received to the #EndViolence #LoveMyself campaign. You can also donate to the #EndViolence campaign by donating to UNICEF.

BTS’s Takeover of the USA

Perhaps one of the most historical moments for BTS this year was when they dominated Western media for weeks when they arrived in the USA in November. Before that even took place, BTS was trending worldwide when the American Music Awards announced that they will be performing. When BTS arrived in the USA, the Western media and journalists were completely taken aback at how many fans (ARMYs) were at the airport, welcoming BTS to the United States. In fact, Ellen DeGeneres even compared their arrival to the States to that of the Beatles who were considered the most popular band in their age. For the next two weeks, BTS made appearances on 3 of the most popular talk shows in the West: The Late Late Show with James Corden, the Jimmy Kimmel Show and the Ellen Show. In addition to this, countless radio shows and interviewers requested to interview BTS whilst they were in the USA such as Liam McEwan, Zach Sang and The Morning Mess. Finally, the AMAs happened. All ARMYs, including myself, were so happy, excited and proud of BTS. So many interviewers and celebrities on the red carpet expressed how they were looking forward to watching BTS’s performance. BTS trended worldwide again and their performance was outstanding, exceptional and dynamite! They definitely snatched new ARMYs and have raised the bar for performances!

BTS breaks a Guinness World Record

A magnificent moment, which highlighted how dedication and size of the ARMY family, was when Guinness World Records announced on social media that BTS broke the record for receiving the most Twitter engagements. This is a sign of BTS’s influence and the impact they have on so many people around the world. It truly is a great moment because it shows how many people are promoting their message of love, hope and acceptance around the world.

The MIC Drop Remix and its success on the charts

BTS once again dominated the news and the charts when their long awaited collaboration with Steve Aoki and Desiigner finally dropped. The MIC Drop Remix’s music video was also released at the same time as the track and it broke the Youtube record for being the most liked music video in 24 hours. The MIC Drop Remix reached number 1 on 60 countries’ iTunes charts. In fact, the MIC Drop Remix has done exceptionally well on many charts which BTS hasn’t chartered very high on before such as the UK. It became their first single to reach number 1 on iTunes in the USA and it was a first for Steve Aoki too. The song has successfully entered the Billboard Hot 100, with it’s entry week position being number 28. You can purchase or stream the MIC Drop Remix on iTunes, the Play Store, Youtube and Spotify.

BTS wins big at MAMAs and MMAs

After dominating the USA, BTS returned home to rest before taking the stages of the Mnet Asian Music Awards and Melon Music Awards which both honor, celebrate and award Asian artists. Both of their performances at MAMAs and MMAs were absolutely outstanding and were praised by fans, celebrities and critics who watched the awards shows. In addition to these auspicious moments, BTS also left both award shows with multiple awards including daesangs. Despite the controversy around Mnet deleting ARMYs votes for BTS and other shady activities, BTS walked away winning Artist of the Year, Best Music Video and Best Asian Style at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, and PDogg, BTS’s producer, received the Best Producer award. At the Melon Music Awards, BTS won Best Song of the Year, Best Music Video Award and the Global Artist Award. The Global Artist Award was brought back especially for BTS since they have become global sensations and are dominating worldwide.

Collaborating with Seoul City

The most recent news which once again highlights BTS’s continuous success is that Seoul City has selected them to be in their collaboration with promoting Seoul. As a result, BTS made a song to assist the promotion called “With Seoul”. However, when the City of Seoul released the track for free on their website, too many ARMYs visited the site at once which crashed their website.The song has now been posted on Youtube so that all ARMYs can listen to the song and stream it. This release is at the same time as the release of Crystal Snow, a Japanese track by BTS as well which can be purchased off of iTunes.

Verdict

There is no doubt that 2017 has been the year of BTS! They have doubled in followers on all of their social media platforms within a year and have doubled in success too! They are global sensations who have created their own lane, not only being the underdogs in South Korea since they’re not part of the Big 3, but they have also been able to establish a movement of love, hope and change with the music they produce and the way they are. The fact of the matter is that BTS’s dreams and goals are being achieved and they are celebrating these moments with ARMYs too. They have become a highly demanded, highly praised and highly celebrated group who will continue to dominate and excel in everything they do. 2018 is going to be another year for BTS and we will be here celebrating, sharing and loving every moment of it.