There are very few places in the world that BTS has not dominated, they even have been compared to the Beatles!

But, if you are not familiar with this K-pop band, we are not here to shame you but give you more information. Whether you are first learning about BTS or are a member of ARMY, we hope you enjoy this post! 

BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT

Before diving into BTS, we feel like it is equally important to briefly introduce the company that made BTS possible, which is Big Hit Entertainment. We love that their mission is to "Music & Artist for Healing."

Big Hit Entertainment was established back in 2005 by CEO/Founder Bang Si Hyuk. It is rapidly growing, and acquiring many other record labels like Source Music, Belift Lab, Pledis Entertainment, and KOZ Entertainment. 

The company even went public in October 2020!

Due to it's rising scale, Big Hit Headquarters is now set to relocate to a new building in Yongsan. They have to accommodate 900+ employees somehow right? 

There are three active artists currently being managed by Big Hit Entertainment which are Lee Hyun (soloist), Tomorrow X Together (TXT), and of course, BTS.

Bangtan Sonyeondan (BTS)
방탄소년단

Now, to introduce Kpop boy band Bangtan Sonyeondan or better known as BTS! 

They're made up of seven members (RM, Jin, SUGA, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook) and they debuted in June 13, 2013. 

Of course, we cannot introduce BTS without mentioning the official BTS fandom, ARMY. ARMY stands for "Adorable M.C. for Youth." 

They were initially to be a hip hop group, but they now evolved to other genres like pop, R&B, EDM, Ballad, etc!  

The typical units of this band splits between a rap line (RM, SUGA, and J-Hope), and vocal line (Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook).

But there has been crossovers, and they have recently branched out to unique units to include members from both lines.

When they first debuted they were ridiculed a lot because of their name and written off. But we are so happy to see that they have achieved great success despite this hardship!

The number of awards BTS has won in the Asian Music Industry is astounding! In 2020 alone, BTS took home EIGHT awards from the Mnet Music Awards (MAMA). If we were to list all the awards BTS has won, this blog would never end. 

Not only has BTS dominated in the Asian music industry, but they have started to become a common name in the United States. 

They've won awards at the American Music Awards (AMA), Billboard Music Awards (BMA), MTV Music Awards (VMA), and are the first Kpop group to be nominated for a Grammy! 

One that is particularly noteworthy award is that they were the youngest recipients of South Korea's Hwagwan Orders Of Cultural Merit on October 24th, 2018. 

This is mean to recognize "outstanding meritorious services in the fields of culture and art in the interest of promoting the national culture and national development."

A contributing reason for BTS's widespread success could be because they've utilized a lot of different media sources to increase exposure.

They've participated in many shows/programs in Korea like Running Man, Idol Party, etc. 

They even filmed a number of their own shows such as RUN BTS (2015-ongoing), Bon Voyage (2016-2019), and BTS in the Soop (2020) where you can watch them play games, travel, and eat!   

They also filmed a couple docu-series like Burn The Stage (2018), Bring The Soul (2019), and Break The Silence (2020) that gives insight to their lives while on tour!

They even have their own social media platform for their fan base called Weverse. Before Weverse BTS was extremely active on Twitter (@BTS_twt), so much that they were award Billboard Top Social Artist four years in a row (as of 2020).

Along with the Korean shows BTS has appeared on shows internationally, like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (BTS week), The Late Late Show with James Corden Carpool Karaoke, and The Graham Norton Show and Britain's Got Talent in the UK. 

One charm of BTS is their message to youth breaking free of societal norms, and the true fulfillment of expressing yourself.

As part of the Love Yourself era they partnered with UNICEF's end violence program and even delivered a speech for the UN General Assembly in 2018.  

They've also donated to many causes such as education, mental health, Black Lives Matter, and in the recent pandemic they donated to support out of work concert venue employees. 

Let's now dive into the individuals that make up International Pop-K Sensation Sunshine Rainbow Traditional Transfer USB Hub Shrimp BTS.

RM
Kim Nam Joon (김남준)

Birthday: September 12, 1994

Hometown: Ilsan, South Korea

Role: Leader, Rap Line 

RM now stands for Real Me, previously Rap Monster. RM started in the underground rap scene. Then in 2009 he was invited by Bang Si Hyuk to join Big Hit right on the spot. 

On top of RM's role as BTS leader, he is also very well accomplished in song-writing and producing. RM is active in writing and producing songs that the band releases. 

He has released two solo mix tapes, RM (2015), and Mono (2018). 

RM has collaborated with many other artists, both Korean and American, such as Younha, Warren G, HONNE, etc.  

RM is also known for being smart. While in school, he took university entrance exams and scored in the top 1% in the nation for language, math, social studies, and English. He has also appeared on a Korean variety show Problematic Man (2015). 

When it comes to interviews in English, RM seems to be the band's main spokesperson. But how RM learned English is amazing. 

His mother actually bought him the season set of American sitcom Friends. RM's study method was to watch it multiple times, once with Korean subtitles, then with English subtitles, then without any subtitles. 

However, it seem like even the seemingly perfect have flaws.

He is nicknamed "God of Destruction" because he is prone to accidents such as breaking things, or losing large scale items like his passport, and many pairs of AirPods. 

JIN
Kim Seok Jin (김석진)

Birthday: December 4, 1992

Hometown: Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Role: Vocal line, Oldest member (맏형)

Jin is the oldest member of BTS. He graduated from Konkuk University in 2017 with a degree in art and acting. Despite not having a background in music, Jin was still recruited by Big Hit on the street!  

He was the first of the vocal line to be added to BTS. He contributes to the writing, composing, and producing of songs for the band. He has even released two solo songs "Tonight" (2019), and most recently "Abyss" (2020). 

Jin is a talented MC, he's appeared as the co-host for Korean music program such as Music Bank and Inkigayo. He even hosted his brother's wedding! 

One of Jin's most famous nicknames is "Worldwide Handsome" due to his striking visuals and wide shoulders.

Jin seems to be the most vocal of his hobbies of fishing (usually brings SUGA with him), and playing computer games (Maple Story).

In the early days of BTS, Jin would do most of the cooking for his fellow members! Isn't that so sweet? 

Jin even did mukbang-like shows called Eat Jin, where he would talk about various subjects over a meal with ARMY.

Sometimes other members, most commonly Jimin and Jungkook would visit as guests. 

SUGA
Min Yoon Gi(민윤기)

Birthday: March 9, 1993

Hometown: Daegu, South Korea

Role: Rap line, Producer 

SUGA was the second member of BTS to be cast. He started writing rap lyrics at a young age and always wanted to be a music producer. 

When SUGA was in high school he was talented at basketball, so much that SUGA is the shortened version of his basketball position as shooting guard. 

SUGA can also serve as a shortened version of sugar because his fair-skin and sweet smile. 

SUGA's alias is Agust D, which is DT, which stands for his hometown, Daegu Town and SUGA backwards. 

His talents in songwriting, composing and producing is a huge asset to the band. SUGA is credited for many songs released by BTS. 

SUGA also released two solo mix tapes, Agust D (2016), and most recently D-2 (2020). 

He is a sought after for collaborations. He has created songs with many other artists, from both Korea and the U.S, such as MAX, IU (Lee Ji Eun), Lee So Ra, Epik High, Heize, Halsey, etc.

Recently SUGA has surgery for a linger shoulder issue from when he was in a car accident from years ago.

In recent programs released by BTS, SUGA has taken on the role of cooking for the other members. He is a good chef! 

J-HOPE
Jung Ho Seok (정호석) 

Birthday: February 18, 1994

Hometown: Gwangju, South Korea

Role: Rap line, Dancer 

J-hope was the third member to be cast for BTS, and the final member for the rap line. His also is talented writing rap lyrics and composing songs for BTS.

However, J-hope's background is primarily in dancing, he has won national awards. So he helps a lot with the choreography for BTS.

J-Hope's name came about by J-Hope's desire to be the hope for fans and BTS. He even has a whole introduction bit, "I'm your hope, you're my home, I'm J-Hope!"

He has produced one mix tape called Hope World (2018). He also released a solo song "Chicken Noodle Soup" in collaboration with Becky G. 

This song went viral for it's dance challenge on TikTok, some of members (Jimin, V, Jungkook) even participated as part of this challenge. 

However not everything was smooth sailing for J-hope. When things were especially hard, he left the band before their debut. This left Jungkook in tears, and RM stepped up as leader to convince J-Hope to return.

We are so glad J-hope did return, because we could not imagine BTS without him!

J-Hope is a very animated member of BTS and seems to be a ray of sunshine for everyone! 

JIMIN
Park Ji Min (박지민) 

Birthday: October 13, 1995

Hometown: Busan, South Korea

Role: Vocal line, Dancer 

Like J-Hope, Jimin's background is in dance. However, Jimin's style was more contemporary and artistic. His modern dance instructor was the one to convince him to audition for an entertainment company! 

Jimin was one of the later members to join BTS. He also contributes greatly to the band's songs with song-writing and composing. Jimin is a powerful vocal, able to hit a lot of the band's really high notes. 

He has even released his own solo song "Promise" (2018). He accredits help from RM especially with the English lyrics. The cover photo for his song was taken by V!  

He has also had some hosting experience as MC for Show! Music Core, and M Countdown. 

Jimin is known to be every kind and thoughtful towards others. But he also thinks of himself as a perfectionist and seems to be really hard on himself if he makes mistakes at a concert. 

Jimin's nickname is mochi due to his soft appearance and fair-skin. It recently became a joke with James Corden that Jimin is baby mochi, while James is papa mochi! 

He is also often made fun of a lot by his fellow members for running late, there is even a clip of RM saying that Jimin is now a verb for being late. 

He is very close with V as part of the 95 line which is the same year they were born. They even have many stories of them as school boys together. 

V
Kim Tae Hyung (김태형)

Birthday: December 30, 1995

Hometown: Daegu, South Korea

Role: Vocal line, Dancer

V was the last member of BTS to be revealed. But, he plays a large role in creating the lyrics and melodies for the band's songs. He auditioned for Big Hit in Daegu and became a trainee. 

His stage name came about as a representation of victory. V is very charismatic on stage with a wide range of facial expressions. 

V was interested in music at an early age, he started off learning the saxophone, then progressed into vocals. His deep and soulful voice is unique and healing. 

He has also released a number of his own songs such as "4 o'clock" with RM (2017), "Scenery" (2019), "Winter Bear" (2019), and produced an OST for Itaewon Class called "Sweet Night" (2020).  

His OST for Itaewon Class was so sweet, especially V's considering his close friendship with actor Park Seo Joon! He became close with Park Seo Joon when V acted in Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth (2016-2017)

V also has an alias, Vante, which he uses for visual arts like photography, and painting. He has mentioned that his favorite painter is Vincent Van Gogh. 

V also coined the term "I purple you (보라해)" back in 2016 at a fan-meeting. Since purple is the last color of the rainbow, it is to symbolize long-lasting trust and love.

This has become a trademark and phrase for BTS/UNICEF's anti-bullying campaign.   

JUNGKOOK
Jeon Jung Kook (전정국)

Birthday: September 1, 1997

Hometown: Busan, South Korea

Role: Main vocal, Dancer, Youngest member (막내)

Jungkook wanted to be a vocalist from a young age after seeing G-Dragon's performance of "Heartbreaker".  He auditioned for a talent show Superstar K, but unfortunately he was not selected (maybe actually fortunately because now he is a part of BTS).  

Jungkook contributes to the song-writing and melodies for the band's songs. He has mentioned many times he would like to produce his own mix tape, but that it would take an extremely long time.

Instead, he has released many covers of songs by Charlie Puth, Justin Bieber, and Lauv! 

Jungkook even performed the song "We don't talk anymore" with Charlie Puth onstage at MBC x Genie Music Awards. 

Jungkook has also competed in South Korea's program King of Masked Singer in 2016. 

In the early days of BTS, RM introduced Jungkook as the "golden maknae" because of Jungkook's talents in singing, rapping, and dancing. 

Since then Jungkook has proved his talents in many other facets like photography, filming, and exercise!

He has even created his own image called GCF/GCP which stands for Golden Closets Film or Photography, respectively.

Jungkook even debuted as a director for their recent song "Life Goes On" music video!  

Jungkook has also mentioned that he seems to be a sought after member (understandable) since the others would often cry out "JK!" 

We hope you enjoyed this profile of BTS and the members! We hope you enjoy their music, and message as much as we do!