Thread by @JustHere4_BTS

[THREAD] When BTS Ruined the mediaplay party: How one Korean band changed the definition of Kp0p success.

Once upon a time, I became aware of Kp0p (around 2008). This was the heyday of the 2nd gen artists people now try to say made an impact in the West or paved the way.

I was a fan, for a while, before the newness wore off & the underbelly of the industry thoroughly and permanently turned me off.

This was a time, similar to now, when a lot of K-artists were trying to make it in the US. It was an exciting time for Kp0p fans; a few artists charted; some were on TV a couple of times. The Big 3 assured us Kp0p was taking over.

Except, it wasn’t. Kp0p remained as niche as ever. KCon was on TV reports, artists did “world tours,” and some famous people in the US said they liked Kp0p. Sales, however, were not in the big leagues. In fact, they weren’t even in the game at all compared to popular artists.

Sound familiar? There was a lot of noise about concerts and minor awards & how Wal-Mart might carry someone’s album. But somehow there were still no sales to speak of & nothing beyond a few weeks on a chart here and there.

And, from a Kp0p perspective, this was perfectly fine. “Success in the West” from the Big 3 standpoint was literally anything they said it was. One week, it’s a late night TV appearance. Next week, it might be hitting the albums chart. The following week? Opening for a US artist.

The point is, all of this ran completely parallel to actual US mainstream success. The lines never intersected. “Succeeding in the US” as a Kp0p act was largely a participation trophy. Anything any act tried was deemed a success, simply b/c they had tried it overseas.

I say this generously; I say it as a former fan who bought English versions of songs, saw acts live, and, at one time, cheered the supposed rise of Kp0p. But those stubborn lines stayed parallel. Kp0p acts were only successful in the West in context of their own little bubble.

Enter Psy. Psy impacted for real. Psy achieved wild levels of recognition. He did things Kp0p companies had only dreamed of doing.

But he didn’t change the game.

Psy’s global success was so connected to a single, viral song & furthermore, was so tied into humor, that his impact was recognized, but he didn’t change the Kp0p game. There was recognition that what he had done was not applicable to the Kp0p blueprint. He didn’t scare them.

What he did do was shed light on the fact that the parallel line called “Kp0p Western Success” was nothing compared to real impact, but he wasn’t in direct competition with Big 3 groups or beating them at their own game; he was an anomaly they thought would never be matched.

Enter BTS. As has now been publicly proven, BTS began outselling Big 3 companies by 2015. This wasn’t just in SK or Asia. By the end of that year, BTS was beginning a chart incursion that would lead them to the top in the US & many other virtually untouched countries.

By normal Kp0p standards, BTS had “Western Success” by the end of 2015 & early 2016. They were respectably on that parallel line, where others had been before them.

The problem, for their insecure & jealous detractors, is that they didn’t stop at that perfectly normal point.

Through late 2016 & into 2017, BTS built a bridge that had never been built before, between two parallel lines called “Kp0p Western Success” and “Mainstream US Success.” Every record they broke made this bridge longer & stronger.

By end 2017, BTS’s bullies had already tried a litany of tactics to get them to fall off that bridge, but they had failed. With Love Yourself: Her BTS became the first Kp0p act to cross their handmade bridge from “Kp0p Success” and emerge onto the line of “Mainstream US Success.”

This was a tentative foothold on the edge of the line; they were far from fully established. But their insecure detractors began to see their “Kp0p Western Success” line appear more & more ridiculous & less & less relevant as BTS began their journey of actual western relevance.

The rest, of course, is history. BTS did not just step a toe on that real success line; they dominated it. Hand-in-hand with their fans, they began to set records far beyond the Kp0p industry, all-time records and awards noted down in global music history.

So what is the takeaway? Well, here’s the thing. When Kp0p stans claim prior artists made a western impact, they’re talking about the parallel line of “Kp0p Western Success” the Big 3 fed us for years, a line that never intersected with the real thing.

A line of mediaplay & participation trophies without significant sales, longevity, or mainstream awareness. Deals w/US labels were signed; concerts were held; late night shows were visited; movies were made. This line always said real impact was just ahead, but it never happened.

BTS is the fly in the ointment who exposed the difference between mediaplay-driven parallel success & the real thing—the kind that results in competitive sales, pervasive mainstream awareness, and established market longevity.

So did they pave the way? Well, judge for yourself. For over a year, others have been aggressively trying to walk on that bridge BTS created for themselves between the lines of Kp0p Western Success & the real thing.

What they keep finding is that a bridge forged by the combination of genius-level talent and one of the most committed fanbases in history is really only shaped for one set of 14 feet to walk on. And those feet have already crossed—no longer barefoot, wearing shoes called Bangtan

Anyone else who wants to cross is free—to forge a pathway of their own.