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In recent years, Korean pop superstars BTS have hit some milestones that listeners of earlier iconic acts will recognize. Elvis took time off from music for military service and when he returned, fans flocked back. The Beatles drew millions of fans to their shows and set chart-busting records. In 2022, BTS visited the White House to share an important social message; Elvis and members of the Fab Four also made their own stops there.
But only BTS can claim its own ARMY. The group’s fans are truly legion. The band dubbed its fandom ARMY, which stands for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth. Not unlike a military unit, it’s a massive group of people, motivated, well-organized and loyal, but in this case, “armed” with light-sticks, handmade trinkets, stickers and other merch, and plenty of BTS knowledge to share.Â
On hiatus since 2022 so that its seven members could complete required South Korean military service, BTS is now touring internationally behind its 10th studio album “Arirang.” On May 16-17 and 19, BTS ARMY will amass at Stanford Stadium for three concerts by the K-pop group. The shows sold out after tickets were announced in January.
BTS is the first group since The Beatles to have three number one albums in a single year, but finding an audience came about differently than in The Beatles’ heyday.
Although she says there were a number of factors over the decades post World War II that helped position K-pop and Korean culture in general for worldwide fandom, Dafna Zur, associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University, credits YouTube in part for K-pop’s exponential growth in popularity.
The online platform came along just in time to be a boon to a new model of entertainment companies that emerged in Korea in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.Â
“Entertainment conglomerates like (SM Entertainment), YG and JYP follow this sort of Hollywood model of everything under one roof: the training, the production, just all of the aspects that go into producing these sorts of talents in house,” Zur said.
As conglomerates were becoming more common, the rise of YouTube made it easier for the music and its charismatic performers to reach a global audience.
“This is sort of a perfect storm of entrepreneurial, brilliant business, but also the visionaries that saw the potential of really hard-working talent in Korea, and then this platform that made it possible for things to go viral, and also for fans to take ownership of their own fandom as well. I think that’s sort of how we go from (K-pop) being a kind of niche thing that starts to spread, really in an organic way,” she said.Â
Formed in 2013, BTS came from one of the smaller conglomerates, originally known as Big Hit Entertainment and now called HYBE.
“But BTS really, I think it’s once in a lifetime. It does feel like really an outlier, in terms of a group that was from a lesser known company. It didn’t have massive resources behind it. This scrappy group, they were underdogs, really, and (became famous) just by sort of the sheer force of their personalities, their chemistry and brilliant company strategy,” Zur said.
“It’s this combination of this tried-and-true formula of success that was learned over many years with the incredible sort of timing of the internet, social media and also the savvy of knowing how to use that. These groups that emerged really were able to shine as individuals too, not just as a group,” she said.
That also made it easier for BTS the group to temporarily step out of the spotlight when needed. The group’s members, Jung Kook, V, Jimin, Suga, RM, Jin and j-hope, took turns completing military service, ensuring fans could still catch solo projects by members even with the band on break.  Â
“​​They all stood out as individuals, and they have their own individual careers too. There was always activity. They were always doing things. They were always collaborating, developing their own discographies, their own performances. So (the members of BTS) maintained a presence and that was how they stayed in touch with their fan base,” Zur said.
Also the understanding that it was a break, not a breakup, kept fans excited for BTS’ return.
“There was such a strong sense of loyalty already on the ground. The fans were patient and (BTS) is very, very good about presenting themselves to fans in a sincere way. The sort of fan engagement that they do is really so exemplary. Fans really feel that they’re seen, they’re heard, that they’re appreciated. It comes from a really sincere place, I think,” Zur said.
That fan loyalty and connection speaks to San Mateo resident Sabrina Le, who will be seeing the band live for the first time at Stanford. In 2021 a friend gave her an “intensive” four-hour introduction to BTS’ music one afternoon and she quickly became a fan.Â
“Their songs are just so soulful, and they have all such unique personalities, and each of them is really good at their specialty, like Suga and j-hope and RM are amazing rappers. V and Jimin are such good dancers. I personally love Jimin’s voice the most, and I like j-hope’s rapping the most,” Le said.
Although she admits to a soft spot for V, “It’s so hard to also pick which favorite you have, because they’re all just so likable. And even in all the interviews that they do, they’re all so unironically funny, and their songs are really catchy. Even if you don’t know Korean, even if you are not really into K-pop, there’s gonna be a song where you’re like, ‘Okay, this is a banger.'”
Songs on “Arirang” draw on hip-hop, with elements of R&B and soul, while previous outings have leaned more into pop and rock, but BTS’ music spans a lot of styles and influences. The group, which sings in both English and Korean, has also collaborated with artists such Halsey, The Chainsmokers, DJ and producer Steve Aoki and Coldplay, another marquee name that played two dates at Stanford Stadium last year.
World Cup organizers FIFA announced on May 14 that BTS will perform at the halftime show for the final game, along with Shakira and Madonna. The final will take place July 19 in New Jersey.
Le cited the band’s recent appearance on the online talk show “Hot Ones” as a good example that highlights members’ unique humor and personalities.
“Their NPR Tiny Desk performance still lives rent-free in my head,” she added.
In fact, the September 2020 performance broke a YouTube viewership record for most views in a day, according to NPR.
Although Zur points out that she hasn’t done demographic research, she has noticed, anecdotally, a growing interest in Korean culture and language as part of her work, such as the Korean language classes she has taught for 20 years at a summer program based in Minnesota.
“This is a K-12 full Korean immersion summer camp called the Korean Language Village. I really started to see the change in audience from around 2010, where I started to get more and more K-pop fans coming to in to learn Korean,” she said.
At the BTS show, Le is looking forward to hearing the surprise songs — tracks that aren’t part of the official setlist — and is hoping they’ll play one of her favorites, “Pied Piper” from their 2017 album “Love Yourself: Her.” In addition to songs from “Arirang,” the band will likely play hits such as “Butter,” “Dynamite” and possibly “Permission to Dance.”
As a fandom, ARMY offers plenty of opportunities to engage and learn more about the music and the band, she said.
“If you aren’t familiar with BTS or aren’t familiar with an album, there are so many pages and so many places where you can just (find out) ‘where did this song originate?’ You’ll get a three-paragraph essay on where the song came from and what motivated them to make it.”
Le plans to buy a Bluetooth-enabled light-stick — official band merchandise that gives audiences an immersive experience, displaying lights and messages that coordinate with songs. But fans also create a lot of their own merch, as well.
“Fans spend a lot of their own time and money creating stuff for each other. And they share. They give each other gifts. They decorate and personalize all the merchandise. So there are ways that people can participate, individually,” Zur said.
She predicted that crowds heading to the shows will be sporting lots of purple — a BTS signature color — and bringing with them “a tremendous amount of joy.”
BTS performs May 16-17 and 19 at Stanford Stadium. The shows are sold out. For more information, visit gostanford.com/bts. Read more coverage about the show.
