[EAI Working Paper] The Story of BTS's Global Appeal: Boundary-Setting and Boundary-Crossing by Global Artist BTS

Editor's Note

The East Asia Institute (EAI) launched the 'BTS Appeal Theory' research team in September 2019 to analyze the BTS phenomenon from sociological, communication, and international political perspectives. BTS and the global digital network they have created are presenting a new paradigm to the international community, which has been divided by existing national, racial, and linguistic boundaries. BTS's achievements, including winning three awards at the American Music Awards, two awards at the Billboard Music Awards, a nomination for the 2020 Grammy Awards, and topping the Billboard main single chart 'Hot 100' with 'Dynamite' and 'Life Goes On,' have reached a level previously unimaginable for Korean popular culture. The BTS phenomenon thus offers crucial insights into South Korea's soft power and its appeal, demonstrating the potential for Korea to become a wellspring of new civilization in the 21st century. Ahead of the publication of the book "The Story of BTS's Global Appeal," we are releasing the first working paper series, "Global Artist BTS and Macro Environmental Changes," as follows.

This study identifies the source of BTS's appeal in their differentiation from typical K-pop idols, establishing themselves as artists with authenticity. Based on newspaper articles about BTS, we analyzed the factors contributing to the formation of BTS's appeal within the context of macro environmental changes, using the cultural diamond model from the sociology of art, in terms of production, text, distribution, consumption, and society.

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In September 2020, when the world was in a state of melancholy due to COVID-19, BTS's new song 'Dynamite' reached number one on the Billboard main single chart, making it the first time for a Korean song to achieve this feat. This marked another milestone in the history of K-pop, and indeed, world popular music. The numerous 'firsts' for Korea since their debut in 2013, such as winning at the Billboard and American Music Awards, delivering a speech at the UN General Assembly, gracing the cover of TIME magazine, and receiving a Grammy nomination; the many titles bestowed upon them, including the Beatles of the 21st century, the milestone of the millennial generation, and next-generation leaders; and their global fandom, ARMY, all serve as indicators that authenticate why their success story is a 'BTS phenomenon' that warrants socio-cultural analysis. And perhaps, we are witnessing their developmental trajectory, moving beyond the 'BTS phenomenon' towards a 'BTS myth.''Topping the 'HOT 100' chart, they once again made a mark on K-Pop, and by extension, the history of global popular music. The numerous 'firsts' for Korea achieved by BTS since their debut in 2013, such as conquering the Billboard and American Music Awards, delivering a speech at the UN General Assembly, gracing the cover of 《TIME》, and receiving a Grammy nomination, along with the many titles bestowed upon them—such as the 21st-century Beatles, a milestone for the millennial generation, and next-generation leaders—and their global fandom ARMY (hereinafter referred to as 'ARMY'), all serve as indicators certifying why their success story must be analyzed socio-culturally as the 'BTS Phenomenon.' And perhaps, we are witnessing their developmental trajectory, moving beyond the 'BTS Phenomenon' and heading towards a 'BTS Myth.'

The BTS Success Myth: From a "Gold Spoon" Idol from a Small Korean Agency to a Global Artist

We were just a small agency's idol, that was our second name.

We were frequently cut from broadcasts,

filling in for someone else was our dream.

Some said we wouldn't make it because the company was too small.

- From BTS's 2017 album 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever'

Since the mid-1990s, the explosive popularity of Korean popular culture in Asia has been termed 'Hallyu' (the Korean Wave), and it has gradually expanded its regional and cultural reach. This has also given rise to Hallyu stars with a strong overseas fanbase comparable to their domestic one. K-pop is no exception. Traditionally, K-pop artists achieved success within the Korean music industry with the support of major entertainment agencies, and then expanded their reach into Asia based on that popularity. However, BTS first gained recognition in the U.S. market, which has the highest entry barriers, and used this as a springboard to increase their recognition in the Korean market and strengthen and expand their domestic fandom. Furthermore, their agency was not one of the Big 3 (SM, JYP, YG), the major K-pop agencies with existing organizations and information about the U.S. market, but rather Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE), a nascent agency. The cultural industry, including the entertainment business, is a field where predicting consumer desires is most difficult. In all genres, from music to film and drama, research consistently concludes that it is difficult to predict which works will become massive hits and which will quietly disappear. Investors, seeking some return, tend to replicate the formulas of successful works. The global popularity of BTS today is all the more special and appealing because it has overturned the established formulas of Hallyu and K-pop. How did BTS, from an unknown new agency, manage to break away from the conventional formula and captivate the U.S. market, the birthplace and heart of popular music, and subsequently the entire world?

This paper is an attempt to find an explanation for this phenomenon. As a first step, we will analyze domestic and international news articles discussing the reasons for BTS's global popularity and organize the factors contributing to BTS's success within the sociological framework of the 'cultural diamond.' Considering that the greatest strength of journalism is its ability to provide insightful analyses and vivid data on social phenomena more quickly than academia, we deemed this an appropriate research subject and plan, given that academic discussions on BTS have not yet been sufficiently developed. For the analysis of domestic newspapers, we selected Chosun Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo, and JoongAng Ilbo. For U.S. newspapers, we selected USA Today, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. The domestic and international articles analyzed are a total of 78 articles (43 domestic and 35 U.S.) published between January 1, 2017, and October 15, 2020, during which BTS gained significant attention in the U.S. following the success of their second full album 'WINGS,' winning the Top Social Artist award at the Billboard Music Awards, and experiencing a rapid expansion of their domestic and international fandom. For both domestic and U.S. newspapers, we searched using the keywords "BTS" and "Bangtan Sonyeondan" and included articles where BTS or Bangtan Sonyeondan appeared in the headline, or where the headline did not mention them but the article discussed relevant content and included an analysis of success factors by the author or an expert. By examining the success factors of BTS, sporadically analyzed in journalism, within a sociological framework that enables a multifaceted and comprehensive understanding of cultural phenomena, we aim to construct an analytical and systematic perspective on the 'BTS phenomenon,' which has been called a syndrome. The next step will focus on the socio-cultural shift from Western high culture-centric elitism to cultural democracy that emphasizes cultural diversity, which has been operating at the base of the BTS success myth but was not covered in newspaper articles. Then, within the flow of change, we will examine BTS's trajectory in establishing differentiation from other K-pop idols and soaring to become a global artist from a socio-cultural perspective of challenging existing cultural hierarchies through boundary-crossing. For data, we will extensively utilize newspaper articles collected in the first step, BTS song lyrics, and books related to BTS, including fan books, to cautiously define the appeal of BTS.

■ Author: Choi Saet-byeol_Professor of Sociology at Ewha Womans University. Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of 'Culture and Society,' a journal published by the Korean Sociological Association, and has also served on the editorial boards of major academic journals such as 'Korean Journal of Sociology,' 'Social Science Research Review,' 'Journal of Cultural Economics,' and 'Journal of Leisure Studies.' Her research interests include cultural sociology, sociology of art, popular culture studies, and cultural arts policy. She is currently conducting research on cultural capital and symbolic boundaries in Korean society, generational culture studies, and Korean cultural policy. Her major books and translated works include 'Chronicles of Korean Generations Viewed Through Cultural Sociology: A Self-Portrait of Intergenerational Cultural Experiences and Conflicts' (2018 Sejong Book Award for Academic Excellence - formerly awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; selected as one of the Top 50 Outstanding Research Achievements by the National Research Foundation of Korea in 2019; Commendation from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education), 'An Invitation to Cultural Sociology: From Art to Sociology' (2004), 'Contemporary Culture Theory: Contemporary Japanese Society as Seen by a Cultural Sociologist' (2004), 'Cultural Analysis: Peter Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas' (2003), 'Manga! A Sociological Reading' (2009, co-authored), and 'Sociology of Art: From Fine Arts to Popular Arts' (2010, co-translated). Her major papers include 'A Survey on the Symbolic Hierarchy of Korean Culture: What is High Culture in Korean Society?' (2014), 'Does Cultural Capital Exist in Korean Society?' (2006), 'An Unequal Future: Youth's 'Dreams' Become Status Symbols' (2020, co-authored), 'Anything but Gugak and Trot: Symbolic Exclusion and Musical Dislike in South Korea' (2020, co-authored), and 'A Cultural Map of South Korea, 2011' (2017, co-authored), among approximately 90 other books, translations, and papers.

■ Responsible for and Edited by: Jeon Ju-hyun, EAI Research Fellow

Inquiries: +82-2-2277-1683 (ext. 204) jhjun@eai.or.kr

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