ARMY Magazine - Monthly Issues ARMY Magazine ISSUE NO.7 - JUNE 2019 | Page 32

Once again this year, BTS gave us an
amazing performance at the 2019 Billboard
Music Awards (BBMAs), partnering with
Halsey to perform the single off their latest
album, Map of the Soul: Persona. As per
usual, we were treated to a visual and au-
ditory feast of splashy stage costumes, a
shining set and of course, the music collab-
oration of the year. This year’s event was not
only notable for BTS’s stage performance,
but also because it was the first year they
were nominated in a non-fan oriented cat-
egory. This signals a significant change in
BTS’s world stage presence and percep-
tion.
Justin Bieber. What was notable, however,
was the fact that they were not recognized
for their music, instead for their massive and
unique engagement with fans all over the
world. In 2018 they were nominated and
won again for the TSA, which was the same
year they made their BBMAs performance
debut with Fake Love. This performance
brought another new fan base to BTS and
cemented them as a significant force even
outside the Korean entertainment world.
The BBMAs helped put BTS on the map
for people who otherwise may not have been
aware of them or their message. In an era
where social media and streaming have be-
BTS’ BBMAs story didn’t begin this come an integral measure of success, the
year, but in 2017 when they were first nom- BBMAs helped to quantify and explain BTS
inated in the Top Social Artist (TSA) catego- to those who weren’t as aware.
ry. Following a concerted effort by ARMY,
Of course, BTS was nominated and won
they won in the social media category by a
the Top Social Artist award again this year
landslide, taking the prize from reigning TSA,
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