World Domination: BTS and Army Alliance

Spring break sizzles for Sin City residents as BTS officially announced their four day concert events in Las Vegas, NV,  hosting their Permission to Dance concerts in the newly constructed Allegiant Stadium.  On March , tickets for the four-night residency dropped at 3 p.m. pacific time, successfully selling out within a few hours. The concerts will be hosted on dates, April 8-April 9 and April 15-April 16, and fans who missed out can still attend a live-stream event at MGM.

In the Korean-pop music industry, the Bangtan boys, or better known as BTS, debuted under Big Hit Entertainment, globally captivating fans since June 13, 2013.

The South Korean boy band consists of seven members:

• Their leader- Kim Namjoon (RM), rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer
• Jeon Jungkook (JK), vocalist and choreographer
• Min Yoongi (Suga/ Agust D), rapper, songwriter, and producer
• Kim Taehyung (V), vocalist
• Park Jimin, vocalist and choreographer
• Kim Seok-Jin (Jin/Mr. WorldWide Handsome), vocalist
• Jung Ho-seok (J-Hope), rapper and singer

BTS’ official fanclub name, ARMY, stands for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth. Fans fortunate enough to attend a concert know the exhilaration, as rows of light sticks (ARMY bombs) wave in the air, expressing a deep love and devotion to the group.

BTS currently owns nine studio albums, six complicated albums, and six extended plays. Accumulating a total of 21 albums produced, and with some re-produced in Japanese.

BTS’ single “Butter” broke records for most views for a premiere video on YouTube; streaming about 108.2 million viewers within 24 hours on May 21, 2021. “Butter” broke YouTube’s last record, also obtained by BTS from one of their previous singles “Dynamite”; with over 101.1 million views within 24 hours. They now hold both first and second place on YouTube’s All-Time Top 24 Hour Music Debuts.

Winning is a common occurrence for the group, and so far BTS obtains a gross of 637 nominations and 442 winning awards, including: MAMAs, the Grammys, and the American Music Awards (AMAs).

In the past, BTS appeared on American talk-shows such as The Ellen Show and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Show, during their trips in the United States. On a guest appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, in a carpool karaoke segment, Jimin and Corden both jokingly refer to each other as “Baby Mochi” and “Papa Mochi”; creating memorable moments for ARMY to endlessly replay on YouTube.

Back in October 2017, BTS collabed with Line Friends and officially launched their BT21 characters. Each chibi character represents a member of the group: Shooky (Yoongi), Kooky (Jungkook), Koya (Namjoon), Chimmy (Jimin), Tata (Taehyung), RJ (Jin), and Mang (Ho-seok). Line Friends and BTS even launched a character to represent ARMY, Van.

To ARMYs who may not be aware, BTS will possibly release another album this year to begin their new chapter.  “I’m your hope, you’re my hope, I’m J-hope” and there is hope that ARMY will be given a 2022 album release.