Bangtan on

One year after Bangtan Sonyeondan aka BTS became the first act ever to hit 100 mn YouTube views in 24 hours with their song Dynamite, three fans explain their love

Humility is key 

Rucha (Tanvi) Thakoor, 24, illustrator
I came across BTS in 2016 when the ‘fandom’, if you can call it that, wasn’t big in India. The K-pop craze was just starting out. But the people in it were really accepting. My first reaction to things anyway is not to find faults unless there is something really problematic, like racism. Otherwise, I am open to any genre. And when people ask about the language barrier, they forget about translations. BTS’s music is intricate if you get into it. Their philanthropy is also unparalleled. If you get into the fandom, you’ll also see that their humble quality is still there.

Dark days are over 

Tanishkaa Sem, 23, banking professional
I found BTS in 2017, when I was going through a really tough time in life. I had lost my father and felt like I had no happiness left. I didn’t know what to do and [that’s when] I stumbled upon Dope [a BTS hit]. It seemed at first like pretty boys who can sing and dance well. I fell into that rabbit hole. But they brought a lot of happiness to me. They got me out of the dark place I was in. There are some lyrics that hit home. They are also so humble. You don’t feel like they have any sort of ego. They look like they love what they do, and that’s why we love what they do, too. It shows.  

It’s all in the mind 

Lea Menezes, 27, psychologist
My dad is a music collector, and I am used to listening to music in different languages. BTS speaks to my profession. When people talk about mental health issues, they address subjects like depression and anxiety. They don’t talk about burn-out, low confidence or epilepsy. But BTS has a character in their narrative that has seizures [born out of epilepsy]. They address these minute details [about mental health] in their music. They have a storyline about domestic abuse. When you listen to their music, it’s like going through a journey. I didn’t even realise that I don’t understand the language when I first heard them.

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