K-pop star Rap Monster of BTS is breaking genre’s squeaky-clean mould, and fans can’t get enough
Having joined the supergroup as a teenager, Kim Nam-joon has quickly become one of the most well-known faces in the industry. We look back at his rise to global fame
Clean-cut, immaculately dressed, singing innocent lyrics and performing perfectly choreographed dance routines, most K-pop idols follow a very specific formula in an industry where success is often engineered.
But lately, a few male idols appear to have broken the mould, such as G-Dragon from Big Bang and Jay Park, formerly of 2PM. It now seems that Rap Monster, or RM (as he renamed himself last year), of the world-conquering group BTS, could also be joining this breakaway list.
RM, whose real name is Kim Nam-joon, is the 23-year-old leader and main rapper fronting the seven-member group, who have been called “the world’s most popular and the biggest band in the world” by American media.
Thanks to the group’s global fan base, known as the BTS Army, who rally hard and vote with their wallets, BTS have become one of the top-selling Korean outfits worldwide, having sold an estimated 5 million albums since their 2013 debut.
BTS’ latest release, Face Yourself, a Japanese studio album featuring RM rapping and singing in English, Korean and Japanese, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart. They are also currently No. 2 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart.
