BTS’ 1st US TV performance was actually filmed March 2017 & they were rly worried bc the stage was tiny🥺In talks w the show BTS’ team said what mattered was what BTS wanted & BTS had to decide. BTS agreed to perform in the space but wld review, approve AND cld edit out anything+
So a couple things:
- Commonly spread info is that Nov 2017 AMAs were BTS’ US TV debut. *Technically* it wasn’t.
BTS filmed The Secret Show for JBTV in Chicago in Mar 2017 (it broadcast (only on a handful of stations) in June 2017). The 2017 AMAs *were* BTS’ US national TV debut+
- Was reminded of this often overlooked fact since the tl brought up ⤵️ pic bcoz of how much seating BTS has at the AMAs w “they’ll still squish together” & “ottoman on coffee table!” etc😂
- so the reason, at least for the ottoman, is bc they’d cleared space in the hotel room +
that night to mark out the size of the JBTV stage area & go over choreo and formations with Mr Son to figure out if they could do it, and then decide what they’d do. ⤴️ pic was them listening to manager Hobeom’s report of his discussions with the show, after they’d worked on it +
- In 2018, the chief photographer for JBTV Music Television shared a little of the experience:
“Lots and lots of professionalism and pageantry throughout. Amazing how they could accomplish all their unique dance moves on our intricate stage, in full suits and hard heeled
shoes. +
“BTS can size up any stage…fast & accommodate accordingly…They’re fun to work w & have an innocence abt them that doesn't seem forced or fake. I get why they're the biggest boyband in the world. Dazzling group displays, plus they can push thru any language barrier, no problem”+
- Why some think these 7 men don’t have, or haven’t had, decision power, control, input, etc of their appearance, performances, broadcasts etc is…odd.
BTS care, monitor, work hard and negotiate their wants. Yes, they agree to compromise in circumstances…they are professionals.+
- similarly, we learned in late 2017 that BTS & their team consulted w the AMAs production re audience camera cuts during the performance. Yes, some ppl were disappointed it wasn’t constant on BTS’ stage for broadcast, BUT something they wanted was to show the diversity of fans +
Anyway. I didn’t intend to do a thread right now, so I’ll just end this with links for those who haven’t seen The BTS Secret Show
Full show:
Official clips:
• • •
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force a refresh
I’m excited! Tablo confirmed he and Namjoon *do* use the Icarus myth in Don’t Stop the Rain in the album preview blurb🤓 and now he shared Epik High’s 2008 instrumental track “Icarus Walks”, which is a cool but kinda disturbing track. In myth, Icarus flew too high, too close to+
the sun and he fell to his death. “Icarus Walks” opens with what sounds like Icarus picking up his body & slowly walking…after the fall. It’s the sounds of broken wet flesh & bone moving forward over stone (in a cave? back in tower prison?) then instrumentation takes over. It’s+
a transitional track to the next song (“낙화”) the theme of which was ‘never give up on your dream’
The write up for “Don’t Stop the Rain” says Tablo & RM explore the trauma of childhood and disillusionment after adulthood in a story reminiscent of Icarus’ journey. The track has+
🤓moment (feels like an age I’ve publicly commented on business stuff)
The FTC designation of HYBE as a “conglomerate” is regulatory (based on assets value). It’s a system set up yrs ago to impose restrictions, trying to curb concentration of power to some mega co’s (chaebols) +
(ineffectively, arguably). It went from 32 companies when first introduced to now 83. It’s also a designation and regulatory/disclosure requirement that’s unique to Korea, and there aren’t equivalent regulations in the US, Europe, Japan etc.
The extra restrictions are criticized+
on lots of grounds, including that the 5tr won threshold for conglomerate designation is basically out of touch (been unchanged for decades).
In Feb 2024, the FTC announced it’d look into changing that threshold - to make it based on assets that equal a certain % of Korea’s GDP +
I saw a twt earlier asking about the symbol on Hobi’s arm but then the tl refreshed 🤷♀️
So, for a ‘the more you know’, the one on his arm is the insignia for his division: 36th infantry. The one on his hat is the coat of arms/seal of the Republic of Korea Army (obviously) +
The patch on the pocket of his shirt is rank (private first class rn)
The patch on his backpack is also for his division, as the 36th infantry is the Baekho unit - aka the white tigers.
조교 denotes him as an assistant instructor (with Republic of Korea Army ROKA below) +
The patch above his rank on his chest is also “Republic of Korea Army” (we’ve seen this one before (in full) in his May pics). Now, above that is another patch (with the sword) which also denotes him as an assistant instructor (조교)
TBR has a comprehensive summary wrap up article on the end of the Jamboree:
“The Jamboree Sh*tshow”
with the scathing subheading:
“The embarrassing mismanagement of the World Scout Jamboree ended with one of the most disgraceful K-pop concerts in history”+
https://t.co/XzoGnoauMvblueroofpolitics.com/post/tbr-weekl…
“The Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s missteps, big and small, in attempting to wrap up the Jamboree…show how a country once admired for its Winter Olympics in 2018 and its hyper-efficient public-health response to [the p*ndemic] could fail so miserably just a few years later +
“At each turn, the administration’s actions were marked by incompetence, pathological short-sightedness, and an authoritarian urge to command, culminating in what will be remembered as one of the most disgraceful episodes in K-pop history.
+
I caught up with a non-ARMY friend today and made her watch Seven (she’s in film and TV). Her plot interpretation (after watching x2):
👀🤔
👤 the woman is annoyed at herself for not being able to resist him / stop having thoughts about being with him as she goes about her life +
The guy she’s fighting/that’s following her in the MV is just in her head; he’s not real. “He” represents her desire for him/her lover (irl) and for his 7-day a week promised loving, which she’s trying to deny herself, yet she can’t stop thinking about +
(he’s in her head, seducing, promising (like the song stuck in our head)). She rejects her desire (ie “him”) getting mad, fighting it, repeatedly. But, since she can’t stop wanting him, “he” keeps showing up/coming back even as she goes about even routine daily things: commuting+
“ARMY translators, they hold up the sky, frankly. They have been so instrumental in making BTS accessible to ARMY all around the world…BTS listens to their fans a lot…so it is essential for them to know what ARMY is thinking and for ARMY to know what BTS is thinking and +
“a huge part of this has been ARMY translators doing the work in between and mostly uncompensated. There is a really big built up work of ARMY, of like BTS terms and all of that and we [professional translators of Beyond the Story] would reference it. +
“We would have to make our own decisions as translators, and not everyone is going to agree w every decision we made…but the ARMY translators were a huge help. They also created this culture of translation around BTS…ARMY now have a v sophisticated understanding of literary +