The Scoop WINTER 2017-2018 | Page 9

Year-end music awards of 2016 were the time where BTS begin to sweep every single ceremony, both big and small, with hopes express from ARMYs and as well as BTS themselves for wanting to receive the Daesang (Grand Prize) - antis disagree. Antis constantly laugh over the group's leader, RM, because he shares, “We want to win the DaeSang.” Claiming that it would be a “joke” of the year for BTS winning the DaeSang, nonetheless, BTS shut all the hater's mouth, receiving the Daesang (Grand Prize) that they deserve. However, antis disagree and disrespect BTS, by calling a “give-away award.”Once again, BTS won six Daesang within two years and became the first non-SM entertainment artist to win Daesang at the Golden Disk Award in the past ten years. Back in May of last year, BTS was nominated for “Top Social Artist” at the Billboard Music Award, as the first Korean group to do so. With cheers and applause, the haters groan from the bottom, saying that they will not be able to win against popular American artists like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and Shawn Mendes. Despite this, they won. These are just a few examples of what haters can do to BTS.

BTS never forgets those who have pushed them and even writes songs dedicated to the fans, to thanks their enthusiastic love of the band (or tells their fans to “... stop watching, and study/ Your parents and bosses hate me,” through the band’s song “Pied Piper,” that criticized the toxic fan culture and urge their fans to pursue their own dream and a joyful reminder to ARMY that a boy band isn’t life forever.)

BTSXSOCIALMEDIA

Everything revolves around social media nowadays, and BTS is on top of it. BTS uses social media to communicate with their fans and as well as sharing photos of their personal life. The members also share behind the scenes of their music productions, and as well as trivial details about their lives such as their Kakao chat conversations. Unlike other bands, where there are separate accounts for each member. BTS shares a single account in each platform, which conveniently consolidates everything into one place for fans. Such strategies are working - as BTS gains the title of the most tweeted about artist in 2017.BTS also use the high popularity of their social media to promote social issues, or campaigns. As of recent, BTS had been promoting the Love Myself campaign, to support the #ENDviolence campaign aimed at ensuring children and teenagers lead safe and healthy lives without fear of violence.

"This is a stop but just a pause in your life for a brake."

Many have attributed the high popularity of the K-pop boy band BTS to its clever use of social media, but the group said its sincerity and quality were more integral to its success. RM stated, "...We started off as a hip-hop crew, and Bang PDim believed we needed someone to spread light to the hidden truths. We were rappers who were capable of doing so." He continued, "...I think the keyword to BTS' success is 'sincerity and talent.' But many people focus only on how we communicated a lot via social media. What's more important is that as singers, we believe the quality of our music and performance needs to be good no matter what. We fulfilled that, and the messages and sincerity we wanted to share added to the consistent communication we had (on social media) Our label gave us freedom, and as players, we took on high risks and paid back with a high return. The effort of the agency and the artist was (equally) half-half, and I believe we are an ideal model for a partnership between an agency and artist."

Ben Wu

"When tomorrow comes, the bright light will shine so don't worry."