Throughout this post there are 8 links for you to explore, they're a slightly different colour than the rest of the text. I've always wanted to make a sort of playlist for anyone curious about BTS and why they have such a large fanbase. Well here goes... 💜
#1. Sincerity and authenticity is everything in this weird time we live in. Here are three examples of how sincerity and authenticity runs through EVERY part of BTS' journey:
BTS ending ment in 2017 -- Wings Tour, Seoul
BTS "ending ments" are their final individual speeches at the end of all of their concerts. All seven members open up about how they feel at this particular moment. This one is a proper cry-fest but it doesn't feel cringey at all, these boys don't know what cringe is... they colour everything in sincere human emotions and thus this moment is completely overwhelming (especially if you know the members well).
Billboard Hot100 - phone call with Bang PD (their boss), 2020
BTS reached two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot100 chart for their smash-hit Dynamite in 2020. In this clip they're calling their boss (and executive producer) Bang Shi-Hyuk to share the news with him. They've always shared their excitement and celebration of big musical achievements with ARMY, and these are always moments where we really get to see how much all of this means to each of them. And as a bonus element we get to hear and experience Bang PD's excitement here as well!
Coldplay + BTS "my universe" documentary (in 2021)
If you love Coldplay and are merely curious about BTS, this is a great watch. They collaborated on the hugely successful single "My Universe" in 2021, where Chris Martin came to Seoul to actually be with the boys as they recorded the track. The boys aren't really superstars in this short documentary, they're just normal lads having fun making a song with their idol.
#2. Walking alongside like-minded and kind people, that are also my age, makes life more bearable:
Namjoon talking about his upcoming UN speech in 2018 -- self-recorded log
Now, I don't regularly go around making big speeches the way these guys have done. But the way Namjoon is able to talk about his unusual job in such a normal human tone, has always fascinated me. Him and his brothers have done so many unusual things in their lives already, but they somehow always manage to normalize these experiences by breaking them down into smaller simplere activities (like meeting someone you admire or being nervous before doing something big and meaningful), thus making it relatable for those of us who would never encounter them ourselves. If you break it all down, they are just a bunch of guys doing their absolute best in a cut-throat industry.. And the fact that they're my age always gets me thinking about my own thoughts and actions.. They bring their values into everything that they do and their kindness towards absolutely everyone always has me floored. Remember when they helped that American interviewer off the floor when he fell? Or when Jin offered to take the microphones from that Korean journalist at Hobi's discharge? Or the amount of times Namjoon has corrected American interviewers when they've asked about "crazy fan experiences," with a simple "we don't consider them crazy" ?
Livestream Post-The Grammy's 2022 -- taking about their night + losing the award
The boys have always had a habit of going live after every big american award show: American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, The Grammys ... Sometimes (possible every time?) they have been invited to after-parties for all celebrity attendees. But as far as I know they only went along once, and seemed to regret it. Instead they'd go back to their hotel and do a livestream with ARMY, where in they talk honestly and unfiltered about their night however many trophies they brought back. When they lost the award at the Grammy's in 2022 (second time around) they admitted to being disappointed. They really wanted it (the same thing happened the year prior, despite it being their first nomination). They've always been vocal about wanting and aiming for that specific award, and so when they were thiiis close - no wonder the disappointment hit hard, and possibly even harder the second time around. Moments like these encouages so many of us ARMYs to always choose authenticity over masking as someone else or to suppress negative emotions when they come up, just because they seem improper in the moment.
Yoongi being nervous about an album release in 2017 -- self-recorded log
Yoongi has mentioned a couple of times how truly nervous he gets right before they release an album. And this is one of those times.. Just by looking at his facial expression, you can tell that he isn't our average calm-exuding Yoongi here. Along with being an excellent rapper and perfomer, he's a producer and song-writer at his core - so being this nervous about a release he's worked tirelessly on is not that strange. What I love about this log, is that he chooses to share those thoughts and emotions with us. We know Yoongi to be fairly private about his emotions as he's experiencing them. We rarely see him get visibly emotional at concerts like other members, though of course there are exceptions - when he made a deep bow to his parents on stage in 2016/2017 (?) and more recently when he burst into tears performing Snooze on his solo tour in 2023 - but they are few and far between. Usually he prefers to tells us about his inner thoughts and emotions after they've happened in a retrospective and reflective manner. This he excells at though! He's incredible at putting all his emotions into context and perspective, so that ARMY and others may benefit from his experiences. His talkshow Suchwita is a perfect example of that.
#3. Being part of the purple ocean means that you are part of something MUCH much bigger than yourself. THIS is the something bigger and abstract, that you can hold onto, which will fuel your life with hope and remind you of human kindness and human beauty:
How the purple colour started -- 2! 3! performance in 2016 + talking segment
"BORAHAE" or "I Purple You" are infamous BTS/ARMY phrases. Purple is not a BTS brand identity thing, it's not even officially part of their logo. The bangtantv-youtube channel didn't change their profile picture to purple till 2023, I believe. So it really isn't a pre-established BTS-thing. It came to be in 2016 when this linked concert happened and ARMY had wrapped their lightsticks (ARMY bombs) with purple paper turning the light from white to purple during one particular song. All members were surprised by this gesture, and Taehyung started talking about the meaning of purple - and how it's the colour at the end of the rainbow and thus it's meaning could be that we will love and support each other till the end. To this day I don't know whether he'd read that somewhere or whether he just thought of it in that moment, but knowing Taehyung it's probably the latter. I still don't know how the phrases came to be ? Whether that was ARMY online or the members coining that....? But the purple colour caught on and now it's our love language to each other. Whenever concerts happen now the colour of the lightsticks always go to purple during extra emotional songs - and ARMY tend to wear purple clothes for concerts, the purple heart emoji can also be seen anywhere BTS shows up. It has sort of taken a life of its own.
The purple ocean in 2021 - first concert post-COVID
This is a fancam which I hope doesn't randomly get taken down or deleted.. If it does though it won't be too hard to find another example of the purple ocean on display at concerts. The songs in this video are We Are Bulletproof: the Eternal + Answer: Love Myself, these are both songs dedicated to ARMY though the latter one holds a bigger message that goes beyond our purple love. As you can see the lightsticks immediately turn purple and thus the purple ocean-effect is on display. The first song was released in 2020 during festa (BTS' birthday celebration festival) in June. The first part of their team name "bangtan" literally translates to "bulletproof" and they've made songs with that word in the title earlier in their carrier. Here though it is not used to establish their identity as the 7, but to convey that with ARMY they go beyond being just 7 boys - and in that meeting the "eternal" happens. It's a big emotional song that (obviously) hits hardest if you identity as ARMY. The purple ocean-effect also tends to happen during any Spring Day performances as well as Epilog: Young Forever + the ever-growing list of ARMY-songs that has been written since. If I haven't mentioned it yet, well then I probably should now: We are a VERY spoiled and loved fandom. And we never ever take that for granted, though you may have noticed that greed and selfishness also exists in our global family.
💜💜💜
