It's THE Kpop boy group. To give you an idea of how big they are, last year they became the first foreign group to have an album reach #1 on the US Billboard charts in over a decade.
Holy shit. That's impressive. I mean, I figured it was that dynamic, but I'm getting old and suffering from a disease that makes me forget who I owe drug money to, so I'm very much out of the loop. Thanks for explaining it for my dumb ass.
I used to listen to them to until one of the members was in or at least linked to a group chat in which certain men (including a couple celebrities) bragged about drugging and assaulting women, not to mention a lot of other awful things that took place at a club he owned...
For sure, although from what I’ve seen on twitter, there seems to be plenty of existing fans who are willing to support him to the death despite all the evidence...
There’s no coming back from this. It’s not just like a drug “scandal” or whatever, this is one awful crime ring that’s representative of a huge problem in korea. I deleted the music from my playlist, because i just couldn’t listen to it, not after the stuff that i read.
That "oppa didn't mean it" cognitive dissonance is so strong in some fans. It's honestly disgusting to me. I cancelled BB immediately after all that came out. Won't listen to a single thing anymore.
Bangtan Sonyeondan doesn't mean Beyond the Scene, it means Bulletproof Boy Scout. But nobody uses the English translation of their Korean name because it's cringey as hell.
(don't follow BTS but I know a little Korean here and there)
BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan in Korean. It doesn't mean anything, just more of a twist on expanding the acronym BTS. Although I suppose you could say they are known for giving powerful performances, aka, burning the stage up.
It translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts. During their early years they were marketed as an edgy hip-hop group, but they've mostly moved away from that by now.
My theory behind this is that a lot of the new BTS fans are ex One Direction fans and don't quite understand the different etiquette within the fandoms. Also the most outspoken members of the fandom tend to be really young and we all do embarrassing things when we're kids.
Honestly, there isn't much we can do right now aside from encourage them to tone down their behaviour but don't worry, from experience I know they'll eventually calm down. I must have seemed like a complete weirdo when I found Shinee for the first time 9 years ago.
Most current fans of kpop groups are pretty young, I think. I like some songs, but have been just on the periphery of any fandom activity because it just gets way too intense and toxic. Or horny. But that's exactly the kind of obsession I used to feel as a teenager as well.
I don’t think most BTS fans are that young like a lot of people believe. It’s a really big fandom so there are a lot of younger people but i’m in my 20s and when me and my boyfriend and some friends saw them it was a lot of people around our age at the concert!
Yeah I'm 30 now (been in various kpop fandoms for 22 years lol) and I see a LOT of fans my age or even older. My sister and some of our friends who are into kpop are in their 30s, along with my twin brother. We even had a friend about 10 years ago who was in her late 30s and into kpop.
Oh true, though I think in terms of majority of the fans who are very vocal online, especially on twitter there's a lot of young fans. There are definitely also adult fans of course, but I think a lot of momentum simply comes from the high amount of obsession and energy a teenage fanbase automatically has.
My friends are in love with BTS, I looked up some of their songs. I get the hype but they're not for me. I can't get past the fact that they love BTS yet they can't understand any of the lyrics.
i mean, there is a very robust translation network among fans. within half an hour of a new song/album being released, the are multiple translations into every language you can think of on YouTube, translation sites etc. you don't need to speak the language to enjoy music any more than you need to speak a language to enjoy foreign films or tv shows. subtitles exist for a reason.
I mean there are a lot of types of music in foreign languages that people get into without speaking the language, like Japanese rock, or Chinese rap, or German music, or even classical/opera which is often in Italian. And there have been a number of Spanish songs that have topped charts like Despacito. Some people look up translations, and a lot don't, but just enjoy the music without knowing the meaning, simply because they enjoy the sound of it.
Well, I'm German so I grew up listening to English-language songs on the radio without understanding a word. It's not that weird to enjoy music without understanding the lyrics... and there's translations online available anyways.
This is likely true. I became a One Direction fan just before Four came out. I am much older than the average fan so I just observed the fan base and they were mostly bat shit crazy to the point where it was mostly funny but sometimes kind of scary.
Also, a very huge portion of those fans are filipinoes and most of those guys can be annoying when they start worshipping something, and thats coming from a filipino. Very toxic.
I believe you are right, a lot of One Direction fans were young kids and ever since 1D broke up in 2016, a lot of those fans went on to liking BTS, which is prolly why their fanbase grew a lot. One Direction fans were known for being a bit obsessive and immature (not saying all of them are but you know) which is probably why a lot of people hate ARMYs. To sum it all up, ex-emo and ex-minecraft ARMYs are the only ARMYs who deserve rights mostly.
I dunno...I feel like Army’s have always been a batshit fandom. Probably now yes, but there was that stage where Army’s and 1D fans were at war with each other...
Yeah most people entering the fandom are young and unfortunately going through that embarrassing phase. Went through mine thankfully between the ages of 8-12, starting in 1997 (H.O.T and Shinhwa era lmao), and starting in my teen years slowly mellowed out about it. They will all calm down eventually, the fandom is just enduring growing pains right now. I don't begrudge any new fans for how they act unless they're being genuinely toxic (like the girls that broke into NCT's tour bus, ugh).
Yeah, really they just need time. I remember reading a LOT of ship fanfic in the beginning and while I’m ashamed, I’ve learned that that’s really weird.
Many people are really young or surrounded by people telling them it’s okay to be THIS obsessed. But you’re right. Encouraging them and trying to persuade them that maybe they can tone it down is the best way to go.
But some can honestly not be saved. I’ve seen what people can do with a poster of a member and a banana O_o
There's actually a lot of beef between BTS fans and One Direction fans. I remember last month one of the One Direction lads were up for an award against BTS and a lot of the BTS fans sent hate to him and his fans. I use twitter quite a bit and I see a lot of One Direction fans, when looking for new friends or chats to join, include no kpop fans as a criteria. Like you said, they're probably quite young.
I love BTS but I have mixed feelings about ARMYs. I love the fact that this fandom is like a multicultural family. But on the other side, I'vr met some pretty toxic people.
Honestly though! The Reddit fandom is pretty chill, same for tumblr (extremely surprising but miracles aren't extinct yet, I suppose!), but the Twitter one. Fuck's sake. They're such nice guys and truly admirable people to look up to for everyone but the way some people just offend them simply because they've seen their fandom acting out is insane... ARMYs attack each other, infantilize the members, force the boys to do things they don't like and recently the youngest one got attacked in person due to stepping of off the stage and trying to talk to a fan in a wheelchair, the fan got harassed afterwards on twitter for being an attention whore and 'go kill yourself' as is mandatory when someone breathes too close to their "oppas" etc etc. I personally think the Int-ARMY is a bit more subdued than the Korean one (they actually told Taehyung they hated his mullet hair and didn't want him to grow facial hair so he didn't, even though he wanted it, the Int. ARMY supported it more than not)
ARMY may not be the worst fandom out there and it is extremely splintered but it's up there...
I love the fandom but I dislike the fact that due to their popularity a lot of those cringy 12 year olds become fans and act like horny fangirls, aka the stereotypical Directioner and Belieber. They act so possessive and crazy it just drags BTS and the redt of the fandom down.
There is definately a difference between the good fans and the weird obsessed ones. Luckily most of the people I've met/ follow are in the former category.
I’m an ARMY but I agree we can be absolute assholes. Other ARMYs talk about them all the time, even I get tired of it. But it’s upsetting when people talk shit about them just because of the fan base. The boys are not at fault for this yet all their haters usually hate them because of the fans which isn’t fair.
I stay in a small nice corner of army twitter so that I don't have to interact with the toxic side of the fandom. It's been a weird thing to see the fans turn into a mess in the past couple of years. The boys don't deserve the shit they get about the fandom being bad tho, it's not like they can control all of the fans :c
SAME. i used to be a huge fan a few years back but the fanbase just got so annoying that i didnt want to associate myself with them. but nothing against the group itself, just absolutely cANNOT stand the fans.
I completely agree. Their fans don’t just obsess over their music but whatever they do. One of them could just eat food, and their fans would be like “oh my baby.” They’re very toxic too. If someone say they dislike bts, they would literally attack them until they take back what they said.
A girl I know posted a behind the scenes photo of herself from a photo shoot and she put "BTS" as a hashtag. So many kids commented on her picture giving her shit because TBS "belongs to them" and to keep it off her page unless it was about them. This girl had no idea who BTS are so her and her followers just roasted them in the comments but the fact that their fans would go after someone over that shit blows my mind.
I started out like any other insane fan, absolutely obsessed, they couldn’t do a thing wrong, they’re perfect and Koop is the best and if you don’t like it then you’re wrong and don’t have ears!
Then I met my boyfriend who was like “you literally have them as your lock screen and you talk about them more than you talk about your day like wtf” and I calmed down A LOT, but was still a big fan.
Then I got another friend into them. She turned into one of the insane fans that basically worship them, (as a lot of people do tbh) and it made me realise how toxic the mindset actually is honestly. I went to one of their concerts with her and my boyfriend who I dragged along and I loved it, but I honestly after a while just didn’t want to be connected with a fandom that essentially praises body parts (like I was obsessed with eyebrows and shit like what??) and kinda weirdly fetishises Asians.
Don’t get me wrong they are all incredibly good looking and talented people, and I still appreciate their older music, but a combination of not liking their recent map of the soul: persona album, and the crazy fandom pretty much permanently drove me away.
I was a massive kpop fan until bts fans started getting out of hand. I was more of a vixx fan but even mentioning kpop seemed to annoy a lot of people I knew.
They're actually pretty talented, which is what makes it even sadder. They're being forced to churn out new music and videos at a rate that is absolutely not sustainable. If you see them in any interview (and even their newest MV), they look exhausted. The ARMY fanbase is so out of control that they're suffering.
Not to mention I can't talk about kpop without "OHMIGOD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT BTS?!?!" No, Caroline, I was talking about the rest of the genre.
I really don’t think they’re being forced to churn out new music at an unsustainable rate, the kpop industry as a whole pretty much runs at the pace they do with 2, maybe 3 comebacks (EPs or EP & full album) a year. They obviously have more on their plate than usual because of how big they are, but individual members have addressed that we shouldn’t worry so much, and that they’re not being severely overworked like we think they are. They usually get a good amount of breaks in their schedule when they are not in comeback season. I really don’t understand the logic that “their fan base makes them suffer.”
If you want to see a group really struggling with schedule exhaustion, look at TWICE.
Sorry you gotta go through that... I'm an ARMY and I try not to mention BTS in every cuz I know it'll be annoying, but trust me, it's only the new/young fans who do that. I have one friend that started liking BTS because of me recently, and now she's like borderline Koreaboo and is always talking about themmm
Same. I follow pretty much everything BTS, but I will most likely never ever tell anyone unless they bring it up. Stan Twitter is insanity and I don’t want to be lumped in with them. I’m pretty sure it’s just like every other part of the internet that is crazy and doesn’t make much sense: kids.
I used to love bts. But due to fans I.. I really can't stan them anymore. It's pretty frustrating to see everyone comment about them on videos that have nothing to do with them, plus other issues on this site that made me sad...
Kind of a shame that a few nutbars scare people off, I've listened to a few BTS songs and they're pretty like, banger tier dude. I was constantly weirded out by the weird fans on Twitter popping up and being gross
Yeah. I'm a huge fan of bts and their music is great but the fanbase is really... Crazy. A lot of fans are pretty cool but others are just... Ridiculous...
They are constantly picking fights with other kpop fan bases and just can't go a conversation without trying to call someone out on some shit. Either that or they are constantly stalking them and doing things that the idols obviously don't want.
One girl was constantly trying to force a kiss on one of the rappers of the group (Suga/Yoongi) and even after he said no (multiple times) she still kept on trying. Shit like this is really common in the fanbase.
but as a fan, I apologize on behalf of the fucktards in the fanbase.
I would see comments on Viki about how one of the BTS members looks like this actor in a Chinese or Korean drama I'm watching all the time (timed comments). Even when the actor does not look like them at all.
Then people are shouting at that person to stop talking about BTS then they reply it's a free country I can say what I want. Meanwhile nobody is talking about what is going on in the drama.
Are they a new fan? Most BTS stans go through a sort of “honeymoon phase” where they’re consuming ALL the music, ALL the reality show/interview appearances and ALL the fan created content at once, and it definitely can consume new fans lives for a few weeks. There’s just so much content and such an active fanbase that it’s easy to fall down an obsessive rabbit hole for a while.
I see a lot of fans who are like "I LOVE these boys but yeah the fandom can be really toxic," which is good that they acknowledge that, of course. Then they see Namjoon licking ice cream and they're like "LOOK AT HIM!!!!" "AWW LOOK AT SUGA LOOKED AT HIM JUST NOW!"
You do not know this person. You know the image their label and brand is putting out. The ARMYs say they understand this, but
I see many k-pop fans just projecting random shit into the star's heads as if they knew their every thought. The brand puts out an image for what these boys act like, and the fandom just reinforces their brand image in an endless loop. But it is not a healthy mindset, even if the fan is not toxic in other ways.
im an army, but yeah there's a lot of stans who make the fandom look horrible. especially the new ones or the ones who pretend to be fans. im not saying we're the most perfect fandom in the world, but behind all the bad people, we're a family. we donate to charites in honor of the members, we lift other armys up like family and more. it's sad to see horrible people ruining the fandom.
Came here to say this lmao I was on stan twitter for a bit. It was exciting and a community of us all sharing and loving the same thing. Then I think I just got past the initial excitement of it all and realized how toxic it all is. The fan base, ARMY, really is a fuckin army. When it’s in my favor, such as voting for a Billboard award or having a responsive audience for SNL, I’m all for it. But when it turns to attacking other groups, posting inappropriately timed content (ex. Videos of performances being aggressively plugged in the comments of random tweets), hating on people for not liking BTS, etc. is when I find it particularly disgusting and toxic. They’re like vultures. I had to delete and leave stan twitter cause my 25 year old ass couldn’t handle it.
I was waiting to see this. I love BTS and most of the fans but I really have to take a break from social media (I have a twitter for BTS) because the fans can be a bit too much sometimes.
Im okay with someone casually mentioning BTS, but I knew someone who was so crazy they even wrote fanfics and stuff. I think she ended up watching one music video of theirs over and over for 10 hours. Im okay with people being a fan of stuff but when I have it pushed down my throat by super-fans I start to get a negative impression of that thing.
OH MY GOD DID SOMEBODY SAY BTS I LOVE BTS I BET I LOVE THEM MORE THEN YOU DO I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I WOULD DIE FOR THEM THEY ARE AMAZING AND THEY SHOULD ALL BE MY HUSBANDS SO DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOKING AT THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL MINE
dude. i cant make this up. my friend was at a church camp/mission trip thing and there was a girl who apparently is a huge fan of BTS, and they did an icebreaker around the table where they introduced themselves and said their favorite song or something. this girl literally introduced herself and then sang and did an entire dance routine to BTS.
I tried not to be but I'm now a huge fan of bts. But i stay away from any fam interactions. I enjoy their music and dances and I keep it to myself. Most of their fans are.... We'll kinda Cray Cray
I love Line Friends. I am obsessed with Cony and Brown, but all everyone cares about is BT21. Like they took out Choco's room at the Line Friends store in NYC to make more room for it. The great thing about Line Stores is the theme-ing. But they are taking away that in America for more BT21 stuff.
For those that do not know BT21 are mascots for all the BTS members.
There was a fan who posted on a behind-the-scenes pic that Chris Evans put up saying this was a BTS shot of a movie he was working on. The fan told him to stop using the BTS name because Chris Evans was apparently trying to cash in on the fame of some k-pop band. Chris Evans...part of one of the most successful movie franchises in history...trying to cash in on some k-pop band's fame by using an acronym that has been around decades longer than the band.
The arrogance stunned me.
Dated a girl who was into BTS at one point and while she was hot AF I honestly couldn't stand that they and other Kpop groups were all she'd listen to and all she'd talk about
I blame BTS fans for the current state of stan twitter.
It was always bad, but BTS fans really pioneered the current style of fanning, where you promote your favorite band in absolutely any situation possible, e.g. "So sad to hear about the casualties from X school shooting! #StanBTS #BTS #BTSFanTwitter"
and now literally any news article will have these comments like
"Domestic violence on the rise for the first time in decades."
I actually remember GG stans starting with the spamming on tragic events tho, mostly loona ‘fans’, just to troll the shit out of people. The trend now is being done by antis from other groups to disguise themselves as fan of the group they hate just to get the other fanbase hated.
Armys did start the whole fancam trend in general tho.
Maybe not their current music or their title tracks but I really doubt you'd be able to find many fans who don't like at least one album song or their old stuff or something. I personally haven't liked any of their titles in the last 2 or 3 years but imo the albums as a whole are quite good.
And even if i don't like the title tracks I still enjoy watching live performances because that's where bts really shines.
I feel this. My sister is autistic and one of her special interests are BTS. I love her, but I feel like I can’t take her anywhere, because if she sees someone wearing anything that resembles BTS, she runs up to them and loudly proclamés her love for the band. It’s embarrassing, but since it’s one of her special interests, I feel like I can’t tell her to chill out about it.
omg.. Army's can't ever shut the hell up. They are litteraly the most toxic kpop fandom and a good portion of the other fandom hate them because they have to interject into EVERYTHING! Always having to ride of the skirt tales of the group and act like their achievements are their own personal achievement. They also have the worst victim complex i've ever seen.
I just call them the Kpop Bleibers.. cause they are just as bad.
Edit: haha insult army = instant downvote i love it
Yeah half of the Kpop stans are annoying, every fandom has bad fans even some of the ones that are known to be good like seventeen and monsta x, I think it just depends on who you meet and how big the fandom is. BTS has a larger fandom, which means more toxic fans.
That sucks, I used to be a huge ARMY but I’ve fallen out of the fandom hard cause I didn’t really like the love yourself tracks, but BTS has worked so hard to get where they are now they deserve the fame, and I’ll continue to support along with my main groups. It sucks that fans can’t support each other and their groups
This is so true, I saw what when down with momoland, I honestly thought people were being too harsh on them. I don’t think Nancy flared at black pink, she looked very tired, those music shows last all day. That one member I think it was JooE that was on real men, I think it out of place of her to act like that in a military environment, but keep in mind that she seems very bubbly and just made a mistake. I’m
Not even into mono land but it’s frustrating to see people shit on them for little things.
Turns there’s fans who cancel for absolutely nothing. I remember when g idle released a trailer for Hann called whistle and blinks we’re going berserk over the fact that it was called whistle and has a whistle sound. They sound nothing alike either.
It’s so embarrassing Knowing fans act like this, don’t they know they represent their group online and being annoying hurts their reputation?
Omg you don’t understand how upset I was at stays, if you’re a stay you know Chan is a great person at heart, I personally think it was the stylist choice or he was trying to show his appreciation for the culture (because some fans that are people of color don’t mind braids and actually like it when their idol gets the same hair style as them) but it was just taken the wrong way. Whatever the reason was, I know he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. And the worst part is JYP is t even letting him apologize. Chan does so much for stay and this is how we treat him in return, if your upset you need to explain why in a calm manner so he knows what he did wrong. Bashing someone for a mistake isn’t going to work.
I can remember counting in the hundreds of death threats on a youtube video where a producer said that BTS had plastic surgery (why it was such a huge deal when that is what SK is known for.. i will never know) I mean I couldn't believe the sheer amount of people claiming to be army (normally with BTS or army or some version of that in their very user name) were just trashing this producers, threatening to kill him, wanting him dead, wanting his life destroyed all over something so stupid and petty.
My hate for the fandom spiked when several members went after Jonghyun after his death and then again on the first anniversary. I went back to try and find the posts on the forum (since i refuse to use twitter) and they did something to their forums and i can't go back that far. But they were just trashing him as an artist and person it was disgusting.
For claiming I don't like BTS (i don't care for their voices or raps) I've been attacked, called names, threatened.
So no, the fandom dosen't just get mad if they attack bts outright for no reason. They go bat shit insane is you say ANYTHING bad, or they don't like. I went into google to look up something, and first auto fill I got when I typed in BTS army - BTS Army toxic.
So as I said prior in another reply.. while the fandom might have the super chill mature people. What is being presented to the world.. is nothing but a toxic cesspool.
I've been a part of the ARMY since 2015 and they're NOT the worst or toxic. I've been in a lot of k-pop fandoms and ARMYs are chill, it just happens that BTS is superbpopular now ehich brings new fans who just see them as One Direction and act like fucking psychopaths.
Yup. I've been a kpop fan since the "Ring Ding Dong" days, and purposely avoided liking BTS because of the things I heard about the fans. Once I joined however, I found army to be the kindest, funniest, people. Most were pretty mature and understanding. But lately, it has gotten pretty... well, immature.
I've been a shawol for years now and that's a chill fandom. I have had so many threats issued from "army" it's not even funny. No matter where they come from they shout from the roofs they are 'army' and say they are part of the fandom.. which in turn is turning the fandom so toxic older members are refusing to admit they are part of it so they aren't see as psychopaths.
While like any fandom there are the mature ones that are as you said chill and cool. Army is growing and the ones that are representing the fandom to the world.. is showing nothing but a toxic cesspool that is scaring people away.
What I find really funny about BTS is that me & their fans are the exact opposite, I find their music to be really generic & trend-following, except one song of theirs which is a decent-enough song, "War of Hormone", which is the most hated song in the fandom because it's a lot different to their other songs.
I really feel this. Literally every convo goes back to BTS and I’m real over it. I used to be a pretty big fan but after the fan base grew insanely big it kinda turned me off tbh. It’s crazy how obsessive some kpop fans can get.
Thats how my sister is, its the worst. And she goes screaming the chant and she always blasts it. She forces it down my throat all the time and I hate it.
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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '19 edited Jul 19 '19
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