Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
In this essay, writer Jae-Ha Kim celebrates BTS’s 10th anniversary as a group by looking at the dreams they achieved on behalf of the Korean diaspora. They rose to the top and took us with them.
In the final moments of the concert, the cameras seem to multiply, his cadence intensifies, the lights flash like paparazzi light bulbs. On the giant screen, surveillance-style footage captures him at a dozen different angles. It’s all fury and flame and breathless swagger; Suga can dance, Agust D prefers to stalk. And the last image we see is Min Yoongi, his retreating back, the house lights already up, a person at the very end of it all.
“It’s my dream to travel around the world and play with local musicians playing their traditional instruments,” Suga says in his documentary Suga: Road to D-Day. “It’s my dream to record them and make music based on that.” But he has trepidation, too. “I worry that I won’t have anything to talk about,” Suga says. “I have fears that I have no more dreams to follow.”
“j-hope IN THE BOX” is told in a non linear way, starting in Seoul 52 days before j-hope’s performance at Lollapalooza, where he made history as the festival’s first Korean headliner — a feat that even he found surprising. The lead up to the concert — which fans dubbed Hobipalooza — depicts the pain the rapper took to ensure that his debut as BTS’ first solo artist would be nothing short of perfection.
A year ago, Tablo wasn’t sure there would be another Epik High album. Now the Korean hip-hop star is ready to talk about it all — from their new EP, ‘Strawberry,’ to the trauma he faced from an online troll campaign, to his next collaboration with BTS’ RM. My exclusive interview for Rolling Stone.
The 79 Best K-Pop Songs of 2022, according to 79 journalists and pop culture writers … including me! My pick of the year? Jin’s “The Astronaut,” which preceded the BTS member’s military enlistment on Tuesday (December 13).
BTS’ Kim Seok-jin announced today that he is preparing to enlist in the Korean military, which is required of all able-bodied Korean males. There are exceptions for athletes, classical musicians, and some academics. So why didn’t the Korean government exempt BTS, whose global achievements are unparalleled?
These are some of the tweets that people I’ve interviewed have sent … and also some feedback from readers.
Boy bands generally don’t get a lot of respect from journalists regardless of what language they speak. But if BTS was a white boy band singing in English, I’m positive their songs would get more attention and radio play.
I’m most grateful that Asian American children today have pop culture role models who look like them. It’s so important for children to see themselves represented. When I was my son’s age, there were no famous artists in the U.S. who were talented, young, handsome, great role models AND Korean! I’m so happy that he has BTS to listen to, laugh with and look up to.
Did luck and timing play a part in BTS’ success. It’s important to remember that luck isn’t just something that happens while you’re sitting around doing nothing. As Jungkook said in an episode of “Burn the Stage,” “We’ve been lucky, but we worked hard for that luck.”
BTS will appear for two consecutive nights on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” They last visited the talk show in September 2020.
BTS approaches their music as art, because that’s what they want to create – something beautiful and meaningful that withstands the test of time.
BTS has the Midas touch when it comes to making hit records. “Butter” is their fourth chart topper (in less than nine months) to hit No. 1!
I never paid that much attention to McDonald’s previous celebrity collaborations (Travis Scott, J. Balvin). But when the hamburger chain announced that its latest celeb partnership would be with BTS, it made me happy. I know it’s easy to trash talk fast food. And while fast food usually is something we reserve for road trips, I will buy it on occasion for my son as a treat, just as my parents did for me.
In this essay, writer Jae-Ha Kim examines BTS’s recent statement calling attention to anti-Asian racism. Content warning for discussions of racism and use of a quoted slur.
Let’s get real. BTS doesn’t need to do much promotion these days. But knowing that their fans are missing them big time, the septet have gifted ARMY with a special talk show called “Let’s BTS.”
In this op-ed, writer Jae-Ha Kim unpacks the racist comments of German radio host Matthias Matuschik towards Korean band BTS in the larger context of the rise in violence toward Asian people globally. Content warning for discussions of racism and use of a quoted slur.
Teen Vogue asked 49 journalists to write about the best K-pop moments of 2020. I wrote about how BTS’ No. 1 hit single “Life Goes On” brought the Korean language to the forefront.
By refusing to allow naysayers to define who they are or who they should be, BTS have remained true to themselves. And with their latest collection of songs, they are encouraging their fans to also just … BE.