The Beginnings of the World’s Biggest Boy Band | A Video Essay

I thought it would be a good idea to revisit BTS’ discography (because of course it is). And now that they’re not making music together for quite a while, I might actually have enough time to go through all of their albums before they come back and give me more to analyze (probably not tho). I’d love to go through each one of their eras and discuss them with you, and of course, we’ll have to start at the beginning. 00:00 Intro 00:32 The Foundation of the World’s Biggest Band 02:57 What Went Into Their Debut 06:00 2 Cool 4 Skool 17:09 O!RUL8,2? 25:57 Skool Luv Affair 35:26 Conclusion: The Groundwork of Their Success THE TOPIC OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ARMYs are really good at pretending BTS are perfect angels who never did something wrong, but that is just untrue, obviously. In their debut era, they have repeatedly appropriated Black culture. Mistakes have definitely been made and it’s necessary to talk about them. However, I don’t think it is my place to talk about it, so I encourage you to educate yourself and then form an opinion on that matter. Here are some links to videos that educate on cultural appropriation in general, Black culture in Kpop, the mistakes BTS have done regarding racism, appropriation, colorism etc., that voice Black opinions on that matter: A list of every scandal BTS has had: “BTS Racism, Cultural Appropriation, Colorism & Cultural Insensitivity | Kpop History & Black Culture”:    • BTS Racism, Cultural Appropriation, Colori...   “Being a black kpop fan: Culture appropriation, “but namjoon”, SM doesn’t pay black writers, etc.”    • Video   Somewhat unrelated but very interesting video on “ON” and cultural appreciation vs. appropriation: “BTS, 'ON', and Cultural Appreciation | BTS Analysis”    • BTS, 'ON', and Cultural Appreciation | BTS...   Here are three discussions of Namjoon’s mistakes in particular, because he has been the one member with the most controversies: A very well-made video essay including different perspectives about the “but Namjoon” debate: “The Punching Bag of K-pop: RM (Kim Namjoon) ft. briczennie and My Subscribers!”:    • The Punching Bag of K-pop: RM (Kim Namjoon...   A blog post about RM’s mistakes and growth: https://btsxlami.tumblr.com/post/1617... Another post about RM’s allegations of racism, misogyny etc. and how he changed:   / rm_owning_up_to_mistakes   SOURCES Playlist “Research Package: Skool Trilogy” (with all videos from that era, as well as videos I used for research):    • Research Package: Skool Trilogy   Bang PD Interviews: https://kpopherald.koreaherald.com/vi... https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/... https://www.soompi.com/article/110430... RM Interview 2017 https://time.com/4833807/rap-monster-... RM Interview 2015 about the line “Westside til I die” https://www.asianjunkie.com/2015/03/2... How BTS was formed (not super reliable it seems tho): https://seoulspace.com/how-was-bts-fo... The translation of lyrics I used are a personally modified version of translations from primarily Doolset Lyrics (https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/) and Genius.com (https://genius.com/artists/Bts). PICTURES FROM UNSPLASH WITH THANKS TO MChe Lee Unseen Studio RAMSHA ASAD sean Kong Siora Photography Noita Digital Thomas T Thanh Tran CREDITS FOR THE INSTRUMENTAL TRACKS I USED (don't have enough space left to put links to the videos): Tomorrow, JUMP, Spine Breaker, Where You From by Senem Spine Breaker Piano Cover by Ats Magic Shop Just One Day Piano Cover by Smyang Piano Coffee Piano Cover by piano wings Attack on Bangtan, Cypher Pt. 1, Paldogangsan by Make_It_Instrumental Outro: Love in Skool by Underground instrumentals No More Dream by NoraebangKPOP Boy in Luv, Just One Day by Shekespearinator Intro: 2 Cool 4 Skool by FlowLchen N.O by MissSuga We On by rw bon If I Ruled the World by Nhuwie.0403 #bts #kpop #videoessay