The Colors of BTS

I have always encountered stories of how Armies discovered BTS at a low point in their lives and found comfort in their songs and the message they sent out; however, I discovered BTS earlier than when I became ARMY.

I discovered BTS when they performed Fake Love at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. It was evening and I had completed washing the dishes and was rushing to watch the repeat of BBMA’s because it would have been the last repeat of it. Then they were announced that they were performing. During their performance, I was amazed at the armies who sang along (I didn’t know they were called ARMY at that time) because I thought they understood what they were singing whilst I didn’t. And that’s that with my first encounter of BTS. A few days later, I watched their music video of ‘Boy With Love’ featuring Halsey; to be honest, Halsey was the reason I watched their music video as I was a big fan of hers. This is embarrassing but if you had asked me back then what I remember of the video, I would have answered “lots of colors and a guy with blue hair”. Despite that, I became a fan of ‘Boy With Love’ and also ‘Dream Glow’ featuring Charli XCX when I heard it on the radio.

I officially became an ARMY on October 2020 and by then they had released their album BE. Before that, I was slowly losing hope in music as nothing satisfied me. Such music that advocated for ‘party all night, sleep all day’, artists bragging about their wealth, and music that had swear words in them from start to end did not appeal to me anymore. It may seem envious of me when I say I don’t want to listen to artists bragging about their wealth but hear me out; there was a certain time when I tolerated it however, a lot of artists were doing it and it lost its appeal. One would think: it’s time to stop listening to international music and focus on national music which is fine. A tiny problem with that for me. Artists from my country adopted the same thing of bragging about their wealth, party all night, sleep all day with a touch of mentioning alcohol brands in their music.

When I first listened to BE, it was my first time listening to their music that had no features from popular artists as it seemed I would only listen to their music with that condition. Hearing a different sound for the first time was a relief because I had told myself that I would no longer listen to any more music if I didn’t like this album. BE provided me with that comfort I never thought I needed with the Covid-19 pandemic. And then I wanted to know their names and their story. From there, it was a journey of falling in love with BTS and their message through their discography; a journey of loving yourself despite your flaws.

I love how different BTS is from other artists. Whenever I would watch award shows, I can’t remember ever seeing an artist thank their fans first. I have a deep appreciation for that. I also have a deep appreciation for ARMY who stuck by BTS through their good times, bad times, and even worse times; the love they showed our boys, keeping them grounded and humble until baby Armies were able to meet them and appreciate their music as well and also compiling all sorts videos of the Tannies throughout their debut years up until these recent years and posting them on YouTube for anyone who is eager to learn about BTS.