K-pop band BTS makes a breakthrough in the US
South Korean boy band performs hit tracks at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
When South Korean boy band BTSmade an appearance at the “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” it wasn’t just a cherry on the cake of what has been the group’s biggest year in their career so far. The occasion also underscored the K-pop act’s successful crossover to the US mainstream market – a rare occurrence among its peers.
The group racked up accolades last year. Among the most noteworthy of those has been becoming the first K-pop group to crack the top 40 on the benchmark Billboard Hot 100 chart with their track MIC Drop, featuring rapper Desiigner and remixed by US DJ Steve Aoki.
The song, which features a line about winning so many trophies the group “can’t even count ‘em”, isn’t just hot air: BTS is the first South Korean act to reach 10 million followers on Twitter, the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards, and the first South Korean group to win a Billboard Music Award.
When the group travelled stateside last month, US fans staked out Los Angeles International Airport in anticipation of their arrival and recited coordinated fan chants – audience-participation phrases that fans echo during songs – both in English and the group’s native Korean during their performance at the AMAs. Some burst into tears upon seeing their idols break out into song and dance on stage.
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres likened the group’s reception on her talk show to the Beatlemania of the 1960s.
The group, which debuted in 2013, is an established name back in South Korea, with a total of four albums and five EPs under their belt.
“There’s a flash of visibility for those not really following K-pop, [but] the group has cultivated intense fan engagement since 2013,” says Michelle Cho, Korea Foundation assistant professor at the East Asian Studies department in McGill University.
Kings of social media