K-Bops in K-Pop

I promised myself I was going to review Red Velvet’s Perfect Velvet today. I sat down and pulled up the album but as soon as I started typing I realized my hands were already working out the letters “BTS” before I could stop them. So today I’ll be covering BTS’s performance at the AMAs (sorry, Red Velvet, my loves, I’ll get to you on Wednesday).

The Buildup

Let me just say that the AMAs knew what they were doing by saving BTS for second to last. The entire venue was filled with ARMYs–I read on Twitter that there were 4,000 ARMYs out of the 7,000 fans that attended but I have no confirmation of that–and you could definitely tell. They were loud, they were enthusiastic, and they had their fanchants practiced.

Rumors flew about when Desiigner began tweeting BTS before the performance that they were going to do the Mic Drop remix, but, as they said multiple times, the actual televised premiere of the song will be on Ellen.

BTS was early to the red carpet, but on that too the AMAs were smart, saving their interview for later on in the red carpet coverage and playing an introductory clip to BTS just before the actual AMAs began–where they incorrectly referred to Namjoon as “Rap Monster.”

Needless to say, the AMAs knew that the award show had gained new relevancy through BTS and they used that as much as possible. ARMYs were joking on Twitter that it seemed as if all the artists leading up to BTS were their opening acts and given the crowd reaction when they took the stage, it would appear they were right. ARMYs made certain that BTS received the biggest, most energetic response when it was their turn to perform, a true testament to how much we love our boys. I hope the boys were comforted and encouraged hearing how fervently ARMYs were cheering for them and I hope they enjoyed themselves on the AMAs stage.

The Response

One look at Twitter will tell you that people are going crazy over BTS. People who’ve never heard their name and didn’t even know Kpop was a thing are suddenly all up in their mentions looking to find out who’s who and how they can join the movement.

It’s super exciting as an ARMY who has been here for some time to see this growth and to see them get this insane recognition and I’m so thrilled to see the glow in their faces as they do all these things that they dreamed of. I am, however, wary of the new interest. Some new “fans” are only invested in the RTs and getting more followers and some new “friends” of BTS are clearly only trying to mooch off BTS’s fame.

I tell myself that they will all fade. BTS will eventually return to Korea and take a well deserved break and in that downtime, the people with bad intentions will return to their everyday lives and leave the real, incredible new friends and fans behind. So, for all of you frustrated that there are too many fake people around BTS right now, don’t worry! Patience and they will leave.

Final Thoughts

This post has admittedly been a little all-over-the-place but it’s only because I am so proud as an ARMY to see BTS fulfill their dreams time after time. I told myself I wouldn’t get emotional about the AMAs because Western success doesn’t matter and it still very much doesn’t but seeing BTS happy and excited about their future is more than enough to get me in tears. I still remember waking up at the crack of dawn for my first MAMA and seeing them perform and feeling such infinite pride to be able to see such an amazing group at the dawn–no pun intended–of their success. To see them now and knowing that incredible things are still to come is so moving and I can only hope they know how proud I am of them.