#bts 1 on bb hot 100

[seoul-bros]

Jikook Week 39 Complete (03/09 - 10/09/2024)

Their 39th week in the military is now complete and it's time to celebrate this milestone with a look back at this week in 2020.

It was full on Dynamite era. JK posted the picture below on 03/09......

......and on the 08/09 BTS found out the song was spending a second week at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 and there response was this......

S: Number 1! Number 1 for 2 weeks!(x2) JH: Billboard! Number 1 on Billboard for 2 weeks! RM: 2 weeks! S: Number 1 for 2 weeks! (x2) JM: ARMY! (X2)

Cr. Bangtan Translations

BTS were knocking down walls and making history to coin a phrase 😼BTS were paving the way.

Season 1 of In the Soop was in full swing and Ep. 3 and 4 were released on 02/09 and 10/09 respectively.

Ep. 3 includes the famous pancake flipping incident..........

.....as well as the creation of the theme tune to the series.

In Ep. 4 Jimin & J-Hope painted shoes and V & JK sang karaoke.

Finally this week, Jikook's September FILA promo photos were published. Look at them! So sassy, so fine!

Post Date: 10/09/2024

[jimin-bangtan]

Jimin Breaks Glass Ceiling?

Does this explain BigHit's underwhelming excitement for Jimin's achievements?

So according to this article (excerpt below), BTS was led to be concerned that if any one of them were to hit Hot100 #1 and appear to be more popular than the other members, the band would be in danger of disbanding? They were told that historically this was how it worked? So does this explain the overall under-reaction to JMs Hot100 #1 and other achievements and perhaps explain JKs quick & sudden motivation to action? So JM, instead of being happy, was concerned because he was led to believe that he might be the cause of a disbandment problem? (Maybe causing the decision to not show the celebratory cakes?) Then JK either a) wanted to take the "heat" off JM for being labeled the 'cause of a possible disbandment' and/or b) JK was now free to hit as high as he could because the glass ceiling had been broken? JK, who had been struggling over his album up until then, may have been worried & demotivated by the belief that if he put something out and it was a hit, he would have been labeled the cause of the possible disbandment?  Sooo, since the group ended up re-signing contracts instead of disbanding, it turns out that JM (with BTS) actually paved the way - even if unintentionally - and JK was now free to act? So according to PDogg, JM did, in fact, “end KPop” with the release of his album? Am I reading this right? 🤔🙂💜

~ See my Jimin's Production Diary Documentary & As Information Unfolds posts for more thoughts on this.

Excerpt from article:

Immediately after the news of BTS's voluntary military enlistment became known, there were concerns that the members' individual activities, a first for the music industry, could become a variable. This is because in the case of existing groups, there were many cases where the appearance of an unusually popular member led to the disbandment of the group. There was even concrete talk that BTS might disband if a member reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 through solo activities.It actually happened. In April 2023, Jimin ranked first on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Like Crazy’. This is the first record for a K-pop solo artist. And in July, Jungkook also topped the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Seven’.Now that two members have reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, is there a real risk of disbandment? The reality was the exact opposite of concerns. On September 20, 2023, Hive [Hybe] announced, “We have completed the board of directors’ resolution regarding the renewal of the exclusive contracts of the seven members of Big Hit Music’s artist BTS.”

UPDATE: In regard to PDogg’s claim that Jimin's album would "end KPop", Jimin became the first ever Korean soloist to have an album (his first!) to make the BillBoard200 end-of-year list [#193]. He earned a total of 13 rankings on various Billboard year-end charts, giving him the highest number of credits on those lists ever for a KPop artist in a single year (his favorite number 13 → 13 year-end entries for Park Jimin in 2023). Like Crazy achieved one billion streams on Spotify a year after charting #1 on the Billboard Hot100 chart, being 1 of only 2 K-soloists to ever achieve that.

[nikonladyz4]

Jimin is the first bts member

to win a deasang

to win he TMA Popularity award

to top bb hot 100 at #1

to sell 1 million albums on day 1

to top Spotify global charts at #1

to top bb artist 100 at #1

to have most played song in Sound Cloud history

And only artist in World to have six (6) songs with an ALL KILL on ITunes

[in2u-4asec]

A first for me doing this 🙃

frustrated with all the lies and bs of everyone ☠️

that new york times article is not a coincidence. Nor is the timing of the documentary in cinemas shown in many places in the world. They are clearly making a campaign for the grammys for their golden boy.

and this made me laugh because we know that they will go to hell first than admit that their idol is favored by bsh and his solo career was orchestrated by sb. with all the label’s resources backing him up, how can he not achieve success?

Sacrifice? All the other members sacrificed their solo careers too given their military service 💁 these people doesn’t understand or most likely disregarding everything that had jk got a nomination or grammy win last year, he would not be at the military right now and would be on constant tours around the world.

and the other members solo career and their brand? All up in the air. These discussions are always met with scathing replies and abuse because many doesn’t want to admit that their OT7 or nothing bs is just like that, a big BS.

when jimin got that bb hot 100 #1, it was said that it would put the bts brand at stake so they had to counter measure it by making jk be another one to have it. If that is their logic, then what happened to the other members? Why weren’t they given the same support as jk to even out the playing field for all of them?

many will die first than admit that jk’s solo career has been in the works for years. they have been positioning him to be the breakout star in the band. Will it be jk and his fellow bts members as his back up dancers in the future? Fans are all convinced that the members are all ok with this, as if they don’t care about their own solo careers. Then care to explain the difference in promotion with Namjoon’s indigo and rpwp? He clearly negotiated with hybe for that promotion. And i will reiterate it again and again, the fandom has been failing NJ since the beginning and they are taking their anger out on jimin and his fans. Jhope’s difference in promotion with his first and second album is also noticeable.

i want to see how hobi and jin will promote their works since time is on their side. But will hybe be using their resources for them like they did with jk? The answer is as clear as no. With hybe’s financial situation right now, they can’t afford to do so. Or the better answer is, would bsh do it because he wants to? Hell, no.

i actually am glad that jin made friends with coldplay. They could and probably would help him to get more audience. Let’s see how it will play out for him.

Can’t wait for BTS to comeback. It will be interesting to see if it will be as like before or not. the army fandom? Nah. They are the maknae’s fandom, not already but they have been since the beginning they just don’t want to admit it hence they keep on gaslighting themselves 😂 I’ve mentioned before during the start of their solo career that each member should have their own fans and nobody listened because of the ot7 bs and solos are losers and they are not army. Well, look at it now. Who is the one with a thriving solo fandom that is putting in the works for their artist even if the odds are againts them? You know the answer.

[informalmajesty]

Jimin is not being sabotaged by his own label

This tag used to be (mostly) fun and now all I see are large text posts pitting Jimin and JK against each other and, look, it’s not as complicated as many of you are making it out to be, nor is there some grand conspiracy to *checks notes* pit JK and Jimin against each other or *keeps checking notes* a SPECIFIC vendetta against ONLY Jimin, their artist who *scrolls scrolls scrolls through notes* went number 1 on Billboard.

So here is a large text post on the woes of American capitalism (yes. Really).

Here’s the reality

Billboard DID Sabotage Jimin

Let’s get the big sabotage that did happen out of the way — BILLBOARD (and friends. Will circle back to this) ARE RACIST SNAKES AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN.

Billboard has a history of keeping Black artists off of the pop charts. One example, R&B was largely created as a separate chart to move a category of Black artists from the Hot 100 pop charts. It was a big deal—as (1) example—when Boyz II Men crossed over to the pop charts multiple times.

And then what happened? The American music industry caught up and started cranking out white boy bands that wrote and performed R&B but. Funny. Somehow it was now considered JUST pop on the H100 POP charts. They weren’t pushed immediately to R&B and had to work their way over.

This was considered R&B for the R&B charts that was a “crossover”

And this was considered mainstream pop that needed no crossover.

Yeah, Billboard have always been racist snakes.

So flash forward to 2023. We know they tried HARD to keep BTS from the H100. Going into Proof, BB limited digitals, reduced the weight on sales and upped weight on radio. Why? American music labels can control radio. They cannot control sales and it’s legally far more messy for them to do so.

But then. JIMIN happened.

ARMY got Jimin to H100 #1 with the rule change and the American music industry lost their collective shit.

Why do I say COLLECTIVE and not just Billboard? Well.

This is so essential to the punch line of this rant.

American capitalism only cares about its friends.

What does that mean?

I work in Silicon Valley. You want to know why there is a major diversity problem in Silicon Valley? Yes. There is explicit and obscene misogyny and racism, but the biggest problem is less explicit albeit just as systemic.

White men tend to hang out and befriend other white men already in their “circle.” When some rich person or VC firm’s buddy is like “hey I need money for this thing” they are like “yes, of course, buddy, here you go!!” And they get tons of cash without having to prove anything.

I will not say the startup I worked at but it’s valuation was in the billions and their funding was in the billions with NO product built yet. How they got those billions? A well known stunt performer was besties with the then CEO of a major major tech company and he said “hey bestie give my friend over here hundreds of millions of dollars.” And then this startup got hundreds of millions of dollars. Was there due diligence done? Absolutely. But would the CEO of a major tech company give a crap if his best dude didn’t vouch for the startup? No.

Humans are extremely relationally driven. Merit is basically bullshit. Merit is so so rarely considered in anything. Who are you friends with? That’s how most things are done.

So, Billboard has a lot of friends. Those friends are in major record labels. And those friends only care about making as much money as possible while retaining the status quo.

What goes against all of that? A group of non-white, non-American men that they make very little money from because their label is completely seated in a different country.

So when Like Crazy—a solo record by a Korean artist under a Korean label with a Korean songwriting team—comes in and dethrones FLOWERS, Columbia Records’ darling for the year (no hate to Miley or the song, it’s solid, love Miley), oh my god were they SEEING SOME RED.

The MONEY they PAID to see Flowers on top of radio, of playlisting, of cultural consciousness and a NON AMERICAN NON WHITE MAN just dethroned that.

My GUESS (I don’t know, also keep in mind BTS didn’t seem to have the friendliest exit from the Columbia distribution deal) is that Billboard’s BFFs at Columbia threw a fit. And Billboard responded by saying “of course, bestie, we’ll remove the problem.”

And there goes 100k sales in the next week. Deleted. Gone.

Who is going to call them on that? Hybe could propose an investigation, sure, but here’s the thing — it’s not illegal. Billboard didn’t break any law. It’s THEIR completely made up chart that they can change at any time depending on what labels want (this is how Wall Street works too, btw). Everything is made up to appease the same 50 white men. Bleak but true. Music industry is far from the exception.

Okay so moving forward — now we have Jungkook’s Seven coming out. And Billboard a week before release finally decides to tell us the rule they CREATED BECAUSE OF JIMIN (it’s a shitty rule of course but damn Jimin’s power)—D2C sales no longer count.

Jungkoook makes it to #1 anyway because ARMY is freaking amazing AND yes. Yes, Jungkook got more US promotion, help on Spotify, general promo, radio etc than Jimin.

BUT THIS DID NOT HAPPEN BECAUSE BIG HIT FAVORS JUNGKOOK AND SABOTAGED JIMIN

Remember — everything is determined by rich men in power and who they are friends with.

What did Jungkook do? He went to an American producer who is besties with Scooter Braun (Andrew Watt has worked with several of Scooter’s artists including Justin Bieber, namely on Peaches) who has power to contact his besties at Spotify and wherever else.

And what does going to an American producer unlock for Jungkook? A pop track highly likely to do well in America. So then what does Bang PD do? Recognize that because the dude is a billionaire and he likes money and he says (and we know he said this) “this is going to be a hit.” And there you go, you have the Seven marketing campaign that Like Crazy didn’t quite get.

This isn’t “oh my god BigHit / Hybe hates Jimin.” This is “Jungkoook took an easier, more commercial route.”

If Jimin wants to go get a song like Seven….he can go get a song from an American producer who is friends with the right people.

Instead he wanted to work on a personal project with Korean producers and it’s amazing and beautiful and also went number one and was also a huge success.

And Jungkook wanted this really great and incredibly commercial pop song.

Both are valid. Both are going to unlock different resources for the artist. And both Jimin and JK know this. They chose what they chose. That’s it. End of story.

As for Seven v LC album stock— stock is highly likely determined by basic predictive analytics models (exponential smoothing, maaybe a regression, maybe even something as simple as moving avg idk). LC was a sizable increase from Astronaut and other BTS singles. So then Seven likely adjusted to that increase. Again. That’s it guys. That’s literally it.

So can we please have the tag back and stop pitting JK and Jimin against each other and respect that Jimin chose to do a more artistic, personal project while JK (at least for now) did not?

If you want to be mad at something, be mad at American wealthy white men and their friends.

[secretcheesecakecowboy]

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now. I'm a baby ARMY, for about a year now. While this fandom is great and I see the love for the boys, not everyone is truly OT7. If this Fandom and so-called ARMY are truly OT7, then all the boys should have gotten the number 1 spot on BB Hot 100, and they would have all gotten their 1 billion stream plaques, but they hadn't. It's obvious there are favorites, and you can clearly tell who "fans" love. I get it. Not all the music the boys put out is to everyone's liking, but where's the support? Honestly, I see ARMY going so hard for JMs release, but the same love wasn't there for RMs release, from what I saw. Personally, RMs album is much more interesting and well put together. I listen to his album twice a day, sometimes more.

The point is that it makes me sad seeing "fans" pushing so hard for some but not the others. Seeing "fans" trash others for their favs. Like Taehyung said, BTS consists of 7 boys. Please love ALL of them, but just some. Get them all the accolades they so deserve.

Maybe this is why I stick with taekook because they bring me joy, like genuine joy. I don't like to see the boys getting hate from their own "fans." I don't like seeing some getting much more attention and love than the others. It's not right. If it's going to be this bangtan shit for life, then show love and support to all of them. I know my page is all taekook, but in real life, I support them all. I buy, I stream, I support.

[roo-bastmoon]

Jimin needs your help

Puppykitties, Jimin is up for an award. He worked for ten straight months on FACE. He earned the highest first week sales record. He made history as the first Korean soloist to capture BB Hot 100 #1.

This award show is three days before his birthday and it's very likely he will attend. As a show of ARMY's love and appreciation, we shouldn't let him leave empty handed.

I'm going to walk you through how you can help under the cut.

A few things to know:

We have less than five days. Voting stops at 6pm KST 10/02 (5am EST).

Voting resets every day at noon EST.

One email account = one vote per day.

Gmail lets you make an unlimited number of free email accounts. (Hint: I have 10 gmail "fandom personas" I use for buying, streaming, and voting.)

You go to this link HERE.

Go ahead and select your device settings so that it auto translates to English.

Go to LOGIN. Create an identity using one of your Google email accounts. It will ask you for a name, birthdate, country, and phone number. I like to use things I can easily remember and that are in the right area code for where my computer is set up.

Once you have created an identity for this site (it remembers you later), you go ahead and scroll all the way down to select JIMIN and then NO.

You say no because you are not trying to get a ticket to the award show--you just want to quickly get through the vote.

It will ask you if you are sure because you can only vote once per day. Click you are sure, and you can scroll up to see CURRENT STATUS if you're curious to see how Jimin's doing in the poll.

Then you LOGOUT and repeat these steps for each gmail account you have. You do this every day until the clock runs out.

At this moment in time, Jimin is right behind Lim Youngwoong with a 5% gap. (For perspective, we made up a 10% gap just today, but it requires everyone to PUSH.)

You know those lovely Korean ajumas love them some Lim Youngwoong, and he seems like a straight-up decent fella, but our Jimin deserves to be recognized for his hard work on his first solo project. The ajumas are currently asleep, but they will wake up around 9pm EST and start voting again, and they take it Real Serious.

We need every ARMY to make at least five accounts (ten is better) and vote for Jimin once a day for the next five days. BTS should always win fan-voted awards.

Side Note: I recognize there was some controversy because during the first two rounds of this survey, Yoongi fans had voted him in the lead. Then yesterday, haters started dragging Jimin to hell and back in the award site comments and on Twitter. That, of course, was a rallying cry for Jimin fans. You can love or hate Jimin solos, but you have to acknowledge they are organized and dedicated.

Now Jimin is in the lead, and ARMY must pivot from voting for Yoongi to voting for Jimin, if they wish to follow the "vote for whoever is in the lead" guideline. Splitting the votes will assure the ajumas win. I'm not going to argue with you if your conscience dictates you vote differently. It's YOUR vote; that is your private business.

But I believe that no amount of distaste for fans should overshadow your love for a member. And of all the BTS members, Jimin is the only one who has never won an end-of-the-year award, and he will likely be in service the next time the opportunity comes up, so I hope we can all row together and get this race won.

I wish you best of luck, ARMY. Let's get it!

Love, Roo

[not-goldy]

Not your followers thinking Jimin doesn't need to be big star also. Are they even sane ??? EACH AND EVERY MEMBER IN BTS IS AMBITIOUS AF, ESPECIALLY JM. But unlike JK, JM is not airhead to keep on saying he want to be next big thing, want to be seen as this het fuckboy who only sings about sex to be seen as mature, want to be one and only kpop star to do so bla bla bla all while not lifting a pen to write songs, won't have streams and sales without a 938397328 versions and all that mediaplay from company. Or atleast the bare minimum hold a mic properly and talk/sing without fidgeting and embarrassing yourself. How you gonna dominate western market without even communication skills lmao.. those times when he used to stand in shade of RM is gone lol. Jk's big project DREAMERS debuted under bubbling 100 while JM gave that YG company their 1st hot 100 entry by a collab. So saying JK is this and that while we are not seeing results organically is dumb af. Golden maknae because he sing and dance some white man's songs which company already bought success for ? Oh there's 100 other artists who sings and dance way better than him. He can't hold 5 mins on stage if he's doing a dance battle with Jimin lol.

What company doing to members IS INJUSTICE AF.. especially Jimin who fucking proved he can also be the 'next big thing'. But they conveniently sweep him under rug so his shine won't affect their industry plant launch. Or why can't they support him too ???? Is it that difficult ? JK didn't do a shit and got everything. I BET HE WONT DEBUT NO.1 FOR SEVEN NOR GET ALL THOSE RECORDS IF IT WAS NOT THE PUSH FROM SCOOTS. BE FR. Go and check his BB points to see how payola impacted his chart. It would've been a -48 like 3D on second week too. While what we asked for Jimin was the deserved support in 2nd week for a song which fucking went no.1 with fans support and artist impact alone. It's NOT secretly wishing JK's treatment for JM, but asking what he fucking deserves. Literally any company will give the extra promos for his in 2nd week but not hybe who's on a mission to sell themselves to somehow establish JK in west 😬

And don't say JM will chose me over JK. Did I said I want JM to chose me ????? THIS IS HIS CAREER HE WORKED HARD FOR NOT A FUCKASS RELATIONSHIP. Even if you look at their relationship also, it's the same lol. JM keep on giving and giving him his everything while JK sit back and enjoy Jimin while not even bothering to post a simple bday wish or go and meet him even after him begging a 100 times.

YOU CANT CALL OTHERS JK ANTIS BECAUSE THEY SEE TRUTH AND SAY IT OUT LOUD. Ask him to play fairly like a man 1st, then we will see who's the real winner here ?

DAMN IF PSYCHO WAS A PERSON

IF HE'S WINNING DOES IT MATTER HOW HE'S WINNING???? DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS WORK IN THIS WORLD OR ARE YOU ONE OF THE DELULUS WHO THINK HARD WORK IS EVERYTHING?

You are crazy if you think money, connections, power, politics, privilege and luck play zero role in making a star. Please find other 2 yr olds and hug them, don't bring this shit to the adult table its embarrassing.

I'm embarrassed for you.

Scoot---- okay, MA'AM A PUSH IS A PUSH WHETHER IT'S FROM SCOOBY-DOO OR THE DEVIL

TAKE YOUR WEIRD MORAL COMPASS AND CHICKEN CHANGE ETHICS TO SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY GIVES A FUCK

READ MY LIPS

Go weep somewhere else.

You gonna come on the internet and bitch complain bout how the entertainment industry is not fair WELL BOO HOO CRY ME A RIVER YOU LOSER.

And make sure you come with a costume next time so we know the circus from whence you came Missy Clowniot.

You give PJMs a bad name you ASS HAT

You sound like those whiny kpop losers who complain BTS has privilege and connections and power and their lame loser favs don't- as if power and connections are things you throw on people's laps.

If Hard work is all it takes BTS WOULD HAVE SEVERAL GRAMMYS YOU DUMBASS.

And the fact you out here farting yourself in the name of Park Jimin irks me so much. Here's the truth you want so bad, YOU SUCK. And you making Jimin out to be pathetic too damn.

Now I know it's not Park Jimin you out here acting like he's inferior and a victim and a loser who needs the bar to be lowered and for people to choose him love him play fair and nice before he can win. Child THE AUDACITY.

YOU DON'T THINK DO YOU??

I know he's not the one you fucking dragging through the mud indirectly with these brain dead waste of breathe rants.

PLEASE STOP JIMIN DON'T NEED A FAN LIKE YOU.

YOU ARE EMBARRASSING HIM.

The nerve and audacity for you to even compare him to- WELL ANY ONE I'M ABOUT TO PUT HANDS ON YOU FOR THAT.

I WILL SMACK THE SHIT OUT OF YOU FOR THIS FOR REAL.

It's the lack of intelligence and you not taking a hint and you not knowing when to stop- FUCK IT LET'S GET NASTY THEN.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND I IS I CAN'T PUT ANY ONE ON A PEDESTAL ABOVE PARK JIMIN ENOUGH TO VICTIMIZE HIM THE WAY YOU DO.

HE'S IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN PLEASE LEAVE HIM ALONE HE IS NOT COMPETING WITH NO FUCKING ONE

HAVE SOME FUCKING CLASS AND TACT

OR GO OVER THERE WHERE THE OTHER PJMs OF YOUR CALIBRE ARE

IF JIMIN SEES THIS HE WILL THROW UP AND I'M GONNA WIPE HIS VOMIT WITH YOUR FACE YOU RAGGEDY ASS

NEVER EVER EVOOOOORRR COMPARE PARK BIG DADDY JIMIN TO ANY ONE LET ALONE HIS SWEET HEART

NO ONE IS ON HIS LEVEL AND NO ONE WILL EVER BE.

ALSO JIKOOK ARE A FUCKING POWER COUPLE THE FUCK!

IF JUNGKOOK'S POWER MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE

GO SIT OVER THERE

[eclipseaotters]

I really just can’t contain myself and I just have to let this out.

Don’t you think it’s amazing that the ONLY two K-soloists that have topped the Billboard Hot 100 are dating?

I really can’t contain my head around it. We’ve given them a lot of nicknames to celebrate how they’re a power couple—ace duo, Busan’s pride/princes/kings, main pop boy and it boy. Usually, it comes up when they, as a unit, are highlighted in front of everyone. For instance:

My absolute favorite: Black Swan Jikook

The Flying Yoga Run BTS episode

Topping Brand Reputation rankings as #1 and #2

Topping the charts as #1 and #2

I always feel a great amount of pride when stuff like this happens. It reinforces what an actual power couple they are. But god, this Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 achievement takes it to the next level.

I’ve seen dozens of posts and tweets today celebrating not just Jungkook, but Jimin too. And I know, I know, we’ve never really needed all that external validation, but it FEELS SO NICE, doesn’t it? To see non-Jikookers, non-fans, the media just keep repeating how Jimin and Jungkook are the only Korean soloists who’ve reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Do you see how hot this is?

And—at least for us over here—they just happen to date each other? Do you see how fucking special that is? It’s one thing for Koreans to celebrate two Korean idols topping the Hot 100. It’s another thing for ARMYs to celebrate two idols belonging in BTS topping the Hot 100. It’s another thing for Busan residents to celebrate two idols from their city topping the Hot 100.

It’s another thing for Jikookers to celebrate that 2/2 of their ship are the only two K-soloists that have topped the Billboard Hot 100.

And as if that’s not enough, Jimin just had to post Jungkook’s achievement on his IG. And Jimin’s dad just had to hold a surprise event today.

Jimin posting isn’t unlike the other posts he’s made for the members. That’s not a Jikook-only event. It’s the fact that BB Hot 100 No. 1 Artist Park Jimin posted about BB Hot 100 No. 1 Artist Jungkook. Doesn’t that give you goosebumps? It’s worth reporting!

I know it looks like I’m inflating Billboard Hot 100 a little too much. But we know something like this means a lot to them. And I definitely think it means a lot more that both of them achieved it.

Imagine them just casually saying good night to each other last night, while cuddling.

“Good night, No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 artist.”

“Good night to you too, No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 artist.”

Because they are.

And all we can do is imagine, because obviously, that’s not the kind of thing they’d share with us. And that’s the best part, you know? They get to be in their bubble and celebrate by themselves, the way they were in their bubble in NYC/CT.

Except now they’re two No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 artists. And they’re probably just eating cake or boxing or doing something familiar—and normal—together right now. They’ll celebrate, and then they’ll just be.

We can all argue our asses off here. And they won’t care. And their akgaes and antis can keep blaming either half of Jikook for sabotage or favoritism, and Jikook won’t care.

[I do believe Jimin was wronged in the grand scheme of things, but Jeon “You know I’m-hyung’s fan” Jungkook is NOT to be blamed.]

Jikook will be in their protective bubble, doing their own thing the way they did in Tokyo, in NYC, in Connecticut, the way they always do in Korea. It’s a BTS thing and a Jikook thing.

They don’t owe us photo dumps, and GCFs, and lives, and Weverse posts, and confirmations of relationships.

It reminds me of AO3 writer unconscious’ description of Jikook in her canon compliant Taemin/Kai fic “this love isn’t crazy” (yeah, it’s not Jikook-centric, and I’m not even a Taekai shipper nor a stan of either, but the description stuck with me).

Here’s an excerpt, from Taemin’s POV:

“Bye, Yoongi,” Jeongguk says. He walks backward, tugging Jimin along, and offers Taemin a small smile over Jimin’s head. “Bye, Taemin-hyung.”

There’s an ease to the way they touch each other: familiarity and laughter as Jeongguk wrestles a bedroom door open with his back to it and falls inside with Jimin nearly on top of him.

Taemin’s not that much older than them, really, but watching them he suddenly he feels older. It’s a deep ache, affection and longing and something else—something in between nostalgia and envy. Was this something he could’ve had? (He said no.) It seems impossible. What Jeongguk and Jimin have is bottled lightning, like everything else Bangtan touches: impossibly lucky, impossibly successful. It depends on that strange insularity Bangtan survives in. They’re in their own world, most of the time, working endlessly but also detached from the larger industry; they have a defensive bubble around them, so their personal defenses aren’t so severe.

Not to discredit BTS or Jikook, but I do think there’s a level of luck that played into it all at the start. Or fate. Maybe they were all fated to meet, but they definitely worked hard to get results consistently.

But maybe, as in Serendipity, all this is no coincidence? I mean, this one gave me goosebumps.

As if it isn’t crazy enough that Hirai Saya looks so much like Jungkook, she just had to be born on the exact same day and year as Jimin? What?

I don’t know where I’m getting at. I just have so much love for Jikook and so much pride for what they’ve achieved on their own and together.

I cannot believe I just went from Billboard Hot 100 to Hirai Saya. Anyway, stream Seven and Like Crazy!

[main-serendipity-sky]

✨These 2 weeks in Jimin news✨

Where has time gone? 😭

•Bb end of year charts were released and Jimin is Bb history maker:

An album that he wanted to give us for free achieved all this. Things feel different when they come from the heart.

•Spotify wrapped...wrapped up too and showed us that Jimin is still a fan favorite. How many of us had our top artists as Jimin and some of the following: BTS, Kodak Black, NLE Choppa, Taeyang, or Jvke? Who would have thought?!

We also found out that:

-Jimin is the most consumed artist in South Korea

-Like Crazy is in the top 50 most streamed songs on Spotify.

-Antis and locals still stream Like Crazy

-If you are looking into a streaming service, consider Tidal.

•This picture of Jimin I found in this thread:

•We were flying high until BH announced the enlistment process of Jimin, Jk, Nam, and Tae. It's coming too soon. But Jimin will have Jk and they will be there for each other...and Jin!

•Jimin and Jk traveled to Japan to record more of their traveling show.

During this trip, Jimin started 3 global trends:

-Using Dior ☆'s as bag charms

-Standing next to a Dior Jimin ad and posing

- Eating at CoCo's in Jiminesque fashion

•PTD content was released and we got lots of Jimin.

He is always so thankful to the fans!

You can watch it here but shhh!

•Jimin's btb!

•Jimin won Best Male Artist at MAMA. More awards should have been his. Like Best Dancer, Album of the Year, Song of the Year...you get it...

The people at the Tokyo Dome are Jimin lovers too because:

Read through the replies! So many people were excited and Tetris shared that excitement with us!

And after BTS was awarded the Bonsang, Jimin came to weverse to thank fans for their support to the group:

•Jimin lost the AAA award, Millions Top 10, and Bonsang because army and karmy didn't vote for him due to Jimin antis running fanbases and people following them. But we will continue supporting him even more so he can have the recognition he deserves.

•Like Crazy was "officially" certified RIAA Platinum in the US. Actually, it reached this status in August and it is one of two songs by a Ksoloist to achieve this.

He is also the first and only Asian solo artist in history to achieve:

🇨🇦 Music Canada Gold Certification

🇯🇵 RIAJ Platinum Certification

🇺🇸 RIAA Platinum Certification

🇺🇸 Hot 100 #1

Cr.

•This clip of one of my favorite BTS songs, No More Dream, where it's focused on Jimin's perfect and precise dancing.

•Jimin posting on weverse for Jin's birthday. He misses his hyung.

•Jimin being a puppykitty.

•Don't forget this magazine is coming soon...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by men's uno HK (@mensunohk)

We are in December. Where is our Jimin!?

•This beautiful Jimin

And that's it for now. Hopefully we get some more Jimin soon so our news can be even better!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Sorry in advance for this long ask.

So I've noticed with kpop that most of them just go with whatever the hype or narrative fed to them is. This includes the fans or even the groups themselves.

No matter how annoying ARMYs are, I actually feel they do this slightly less than the core kpop stans because so many armys start off as locals but still within the BTS nexus also we have so many dumb narratives that just get baked into the fandom. VMin being soulmates, Jungkook being the golden maknae, Bighit being 'different' from other KPop labels, Jimin being the king of fanservice, Namjoon and Yoongi being the best at rap (so presumably over Hobi) - all this is just bs with little basis in reality. Within kpop, things are even worse imo - literally sometimes it feels like they don't listen to songs, they just decide whether things are good based on concepts or vibes or some superficial crap like that.

Anyway, so the Jungkook is the golden maknae thing, the one who will breakout narrative has been pushed for ages. The reality is that the entire maknae line is somewhat recognised among the GP and pretty popular overall. If Like Crazy had the same push as Seven, it would have done the same or better. But for better or worse, JK is the chosen one. And the reason JK acts so bratty is because he knows this too. At his core I don't think JK is a bad guy but being positioned as "the one" for years and then being actively told so by 🛴 and Bang PD now has just fueled his negative traits. The latent bratty and cocky vibes just went up exponentially during the seven promo.

I also think JK got the gist of what fans were saying about his interviews and BB Hot #1 acceptance from last week and perhaps about the preferential treatment because this week he's been doing a lot of damage control. Oh I'm so surprised I won Mnet, omg you guys I /never/ expected to win Inkigayo. He acted so weird for BB #1 but suddenly he's back to good ol' humble Jungkook. Suddenly Jimin's commenting on his lives. Tae's coming to visit him at the music show. Look how happy the members are for his success everyone. Meanwhile JK does multiple lives almost everyday this week. Seems like he's going overdrive cleaning up all the missteps from last week.

Jimin is starting to piss me tf off as well. Who keeps laughing while they are getting whipped and humiliated? A fool. He wasn't always like this but I think Bighit's harsh contract and the other members gaslighting him with fake concern and love have trapped Jimin into this zombie puppet state. I just wish he leaves Bighit. They don't care about him. They care about their chosen golden maknae and he knows it but he stays there like a fool. The mistreatment has been going on for a long time so he could have left years ago before Bighit became this powerful Hybe but he chose to spend his time drinking and being unmotivated. Although I also think its the company's fault for not motivating him. Maybe he has PTSD that Hybe is using to manipulate his behavior, in addition to his harsh contract, and that's why he played along with JK on lives to do fanservice.

***

How odd. Did you actually mean to send this ask to me? Because the way this is written reads exactly like how I'd expect a solo stan to think. And you can't possibly have sent this to me, expecting me to take you seriously.

Anyway, I'm not sure what's happened in the last week for me to be receiving the barrage of weird asks I've been getting. Did one of you suddenly stumble on my blog and send it around a GC or something? Jung Kook got #1 on the Billboard Hot100 last week but it's not like it was unexpected. I mean, I did say shortly after Jimin's achievement in early April that others in the maknae-line will possibly achieve a Hot 100 too, and that was before we knew Seven was coming, that it was an English release that would get the PET treatment, that D2C sales were banned and Hybe America got involved meaning it would get even more support. So, that can't be the reason y'all are this animated. Really, nothing unexpected has happened so I don't understand why y'all are so agitated you've taken a liking to my inbox recently.

Anon, I have nothing to tell you except that if you had any self-awareness, you'd realize what's happening to you and take a clean break away from everything k-pop for a good long while. Not even just BTS, cause this, especially that last paragraph, all reads like it was written by someone who has gotten completely sucked in. And you need to get out.

[aricastmblr]

Jimin y sus productores con su pastel por su no.1 Billboard Hot100

Team FACE

Jimin's Production Diary Commentary

weverseofficial X 26Oct 2023

"Jimin's Production Diary" The commentary is now on #Weverse! Smeraldo Garden Marching Band (SGMB) shares their impressions of the documentray and behind-the-scenes of the [FACE] album!

watch weverse.onelink.me/qt3S/vf432r4r

#Jimin #Production_Diary #BTS

jimin con productores con pastel festejando su no. 1 de likecrazy en hot 100 de Billboard

[fromtenthousandfeet]

I don’t disagree with most of what you said in your last post, and for the most part blame Bang PD and Hybe for everything leading up to where we are now. The only thing I don’t really understand is that it’s been proven that MHJ was trying to make it so that they were more independent from Hybe and thus Hybe would not actually gain from New Jeans success. Ador/MHJ/NJ’s clearly were not on board for bringing in more for Hybe to ease BTS’s burden, so why give them that credit? From what I can tell, if they had it their way BTS would not benefit from them doing well at all. Criticize Hybe as much as you want, and I’ll be there nodding my head, but I can’t get on board with this narrative that excludes Hybe from being a big reason why new jeans is as successful as they are, or that mhj is more than just another self-obsessed millionaire. The disrespect towards BTS that’s been shown through this whole situation by both Hybe and MHJ really shouldn’t be ignored by anyone who has spent any amount of time or brain space supporting them, and I really hope if nothing else the PJMs that have been cheering this on because they rightly hate Hybe remember that Jimin is part of the group that has been disrespected. You don’t need to cape for any of these people, none of them deserve it.

Anon,

Thanks for your message and thanks for being respectful with your criticism of MHJ. As a woman, I've really struggled with the lazy ad-hominem attacks BTS fans have used against MHJ rather than focusing on actual potential wrong doing on her part. Enough with pedo this and shaman that.

Fundamentally, HYBE owns an 80% stake in Ador. Since Ador is not a publicly traded company, there is no mechanism for outside investors to buy stock/invest in the company. There is absolutely no way whatsoever for MHJ to remove Ador from underneath HYBE. And because HYBE owns 80% equity, they receive 80% of Ador's revenue. The only way MHJ/Ador could hurt HYBE would be to intentionally lose money, which they haven't done. What they have done is build a solid product and brand that continues to be noticed and lauded by the media (Forbes, Billboard, etc.), music critics, creatives, and of course, fans. Also, the ROI on NewJeans is really impressive (see my next post).

In terms of wanting to be independent from HYBE, I suspect Bang PD promised Min Hee Jin autonomy at her label. She probably assumed that she could use her creative vision to create her own group and likely didn't expect she would be plagiarized by other labels under the HYBE Labels umbrella. Complaining about your boss sabotaging your success seems pretty legit and normal to me. BTS fans are quick to say she's made these allegations up, but folks, we've already seen this exact playbook after Jimin's success. BigHit "borrowed" Jimin's visual concepts for Jungkook's Seven almost verbatim. But copying his clothes and photography style is nothing compared to the lengths they went to not only reproduce Jimin's #1 on the BB Hot 100, but also to surpass and devalue all of his accomplishments with that crappy song that wasn't even written in house. BigHit/HYBE damaged Jimin's artistry and his brand value. Sorry, but that's unforgiveable in my humble opinion.

I personally don't see how the conflict between MJH and BSH has hurt BTS. If anything, it's galvanized an increasingly fractured fandom around a common enemy. The conflict has benefited RM the most as the fandom sprung into action in order to "protect" BTS from the witch. Simply look at the lackluster response to Hobi's Neuron and Teahyung's Fri(end)s compared to the response to RM's new album and singles. The fandom has obviously been losing momentum the longer the boys are away and now they have a new reason to be reinvigorated.

In the end, I'm happy to agree to disagree. This blog isn't serious. My opinions are my own and of course I could be completely wrong. Also, I'm not ARMY, I'm just a casual fan who is fascinated by both BTS' international success and the devotion of their die-hard fandom. That said, I think Jimin has the potential to be hugely successful as a solo artist and I hope it happens. It's been a strange and sad journey to watch his own company sabotage him in order to protect Bang PD's ego and artificially inflate Scooter Braun's value to the company.

[juliapark13]

I genuinely cried bc of these things that jm have to go through all from the debut days but especially after what he faced with his debut album, but today its on whole another level, like good for y'all jkkrs and army but as a jm solo who never dragged other members and even streamed some songs for them, this is heartbreaking but one thing I don't understand is why y'all shade rapline especially yg for Jimin's short and disturbed promo time but not jk for immediately flying to the US with bangpd after jm's BB hit 100 #1 and recorded something and posed for 'history in the making' photos with bangpd and scooter braun, is it just because y'all think he's jm's boyfriend or is there something else that supports this favouritism like it's clear that jm's sabotaged by the company because they want jk to be the one to be the breakout star of BTS but jm disrupted by topping the hot 100 and not to support yg when they know that yg is in no way competition with jm as they released in different genres and they're both different in their popularity levels. Lastly I'm not against your beleifs about their relationship or anything I just don't understand not holding up jk to the standards y'all hold up other members when it comes to the sabotage situation of jm because the one who's going to benefit the most from it is going to be jk, so just a genuine doubt..

I genuinely cried too. After every single sabotage. The most heartbreaking thing to see was that false biggest free fall. I weren’t able to get over everything that happened and I won’t be able to.

I didn’t shade rapline, I said it’s only company’s fault, not any member’s fault. I don’t want other members to get sabotaged or to get less promotion so it would be fair. It just shouldn’t be about priviliges. Everyone should get proper promotion. The unfair thing is that JM was robbed and we can’t turn back time, so it will stay like this.

I didn’t understand how Yoongi could get 100+ days of promotion while Jimin got only 9. Since their albums happened to overlap, they could promote both at the same time. Moreover after JM made history. Normal company celebrates huge success of their artists.

I believe in that company are people who can’t stand to see Jimin’s success and they are jealous of his achievements. They were mad after he was No1 for sure.

And to answer your question about JK. JK is my 2nd bias since the beginning, I loved him before I even thought they are in a relationship and his songs are my 2nd favourite, so I’m happy for his success and I’m excited for his album. It’s not his fault company wants him to be their star.

And if JK gets radio? I will be happy for him, but it will be extremely unfair towards Jimin, so at the same time it will make me very sad.

At the end of the day I only hope JM will be even more successful despite everything and every person who wants to put him down, so they all can be even more jealous. He deserves the best in life. There aren’t a lot of people like him.

[bangtanpurplearchive]

BTS 방탄소년단 August 2023

August 2023 part 1

1st August - 5th August 2023

Jin -  317 days (10 months  12 days - 45 weeks 2 days ) until discharge from military (221213 - 240612)

JHope -  444 days (1 year  2 months 17 days - 14  months  17 days - 63 weeks 3 days ) until discharge from military (230418 - 241017)

August

1 August

 Instagram: Big Hit (1) RM (1), (2.) (3). Weverse: JK (1).(2) (3). (4). (5) (6). (7). (8). Jimin  (1) Jin (1) Tae (1).

230802 SEVEN #9 BB Hot 100 (1). SEVEN #1 BB Global 200  (1). SEVEN #1 BB Global 200 excl US  (1).

230801 | Yoongi x Samsung Mobile (1). 

230801 | JHope x Louis Vuitton (1). (2).

230801 | Tablo (1). Peakboy (2). Audacy (3).

230801 | Tae Weverse live  (1).

2 August

 Instagram: Yoongi 1.

230802 SEVEN #9 BB Hot Trending Songs (1). 

230802 | BTS won Seoul Music Awards "July World Trend Artist". (1). Tae won the July Fan Choice of the Year (2). 

230802 | Jimin x Tiffany and Co  (1). (2) Esquire (1). (2).

230802 | Jungkook "Seven (feat. Latto)" #Seven4thWin on Show Champion (1). (2).

230802 | Guinness World Records (1). (2). (3)

Jimin : ▪️ Fastest K-pop soloist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify- 393 days - 230522  (1)

▪️ Most streamed track on SoundCloud -  330,000,000 total number -  230617  (1)

▪️ Most streamed track on SoundCloud in 24 hours -  8,500,000 total number - 181231 (1)

Jungkook: ▪️ The most streamed track on Spotify Charts in one week (male)   - Seven with 89,748,171 streams (1)

▪️ Fastest time for a music track to reach 100 million streams on Spotify (male) (1)

230802 | Japan Fanclub BTS CORNER Wallpaper #26 - Jin (1)

3 August

 Instagram: RM 1 Weverse:  Tae (1) Tik Tok JK (1) (trans)

230803 |JK SEVEN MCountdown SEVEN 5th win - M!Countdown triple crown #Seven5thWin (1).

230803 SEVEN #2 - BB Top Selling Song (1)

230803 |  슈취타 EP.16 TEASER (ft Hwang Minhyun)  (1). (2).

230803 | [EPISODE] Jung Kook’s Calvin Klein Commercial Shoot Sketch - BTS (방탄소년단)  (1). (2). 

230803 | Samsung mobile Yoongi  (1). JHope (2).

230803 | 정국 - Seven (feat. Latto) - Sky Cam (1) . 정국 - Seven (feat. Latto) - One Take Cam (1) You tube shorts (1).

230803 |  Tae Weverse live (1)

230803 |  JK weverse live (1).

230803 |  BT21 (1)

4 August SUGA - Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ THE FINAL KSPO DOME Day 1

Twitter: Big Hit (1).  Instagram:  RM (1), (2)  Weverse: JK (1), (2). (3).

230804 | SUGA -  Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ THE FINAL KSPO DOME Day 1 (special guest JK)  (1), (2). (3). Ft JK (4).

230804 | Jimin Tiffany and Co - Elle Singapore instagram (1). 

230804 | Jimmy Fallon instagram story  (1). 

230804 | SBS official photos JK SEVEN - inkigayo stage (1). (2).

230804 | BT21 (1)

230804 | JK Weverse live (1) Yoongi’s comments (1). Tik Tok live.

5 August SUGA - Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ THE FINAL KSPO DOME Day 2

Twitter: Big Hit (1), Instagram: RM (1), (2). (3).

230805 | SUGA | Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ THE FINAL KSPO DOME  Day 2   (1). (2).(3). (4) Tony Montana (1). Jimin - Like Crazy (1) Jimin’s speech (1) Jimin Full (1)

230805 | Arrival - RM (BTS), Incheon International Airport (1). (2). 

230805 |  "Seven (ft. Latto)" by JUNGKOOK won  its 1st win on Music Core #Seven6thWin (1). (2).

[xcziel]

this has been sitting in my drafts as a response to some ideas that were circulating online a week or two ago due to that bang sihyuk interview, and it's clumsily worded but i still feel like it's a valid take so i'm just posting anyway. i'm not a music professional or connected to the industry, so if i'm far wrong just ignore this random post. i just get frustrated that for all the talk of strategy etc. everyone seems to act like bts (and by extension jk) are an established *western* act while either still promoting like a kpop act in sk schedule-wise or like a beyonce/tswift level act (which ... yeah duh) with vast u.s. name recognition (not so much) - and then wondering what's not clicking

idk about this "crisis" but i know one thing has struck me about the kpop and sk press and kpop stans in general

i touched on it back when i was talking in my tags about like crazy getting traction in the us

and what i meant was that those involved in kpop are too blinded by the industry cycle and too used to that cycle's accelerated evaluation by stans and press alike

like no one in the us who is not already a fan is waiting on the day of release to listen stream and buy. it is NOT like sk with weekly shows, several comebacks per year, etc etc

and most especially it's not this thing of: create song, choreo, mv, do a spate of music shows, see what hits if anything, maybe leverage concert dates if it does - but if not then done! next concept! move on and keep it moving - got to fill those music shows and if you don't constantly have new pieces to show you could lose attention and traction

but the general public in the u.s. is NOT socialized to all tune in to check out what's new at a certain time each week or whatever

only some check the charts and even that is mostly just to see where their personal fave is

what gp recognition goes by is repetition (that's one reason why radio is weighted so heavily in ratings- not fairly, but it's true): have we heard a song before? was it in the car on the way? was it in the club? was it in the music in the background at a store, at a party, on a friend's playlist?

when americans say they heard a song "everywhere" it means literally you could not escape it - and for that kind of feeling or environment to exist, it has to happen over *t i m e*

true, yes, sometimes a song takes off and gallops out of control like a wildfire catching but that is the exception not something that can be planned for or marketed into existence

and once you are a big enough name and have enough fans (us population @ 330 million so ... a lot more fans than it take to equal the same percentage of sales in sk ... so only a sliver of a percentage of that can mean a #1 bb hot 100) you CAN get that immediate-drop chart push

but most of the time, u.s. artists need to build up name recognition with the folks who wouldn't know a music chart if it popped up in their excel spreadsheets. that's why you get youtube reactors or even music business professionals months after release going oh i didn't know they even had an album/track/mv out

the larger a group, the longer it takes for things to disseminate past the early adopters and the media who watch them and the industry (nobody wants to be left behind, so journalists/talking heads are always like pets when you walk into the kitchen: heads on swivels in case it turns out relevant, and will write things just to be on top of a possible trend)

and this is where, i think, after watching hybe and its american arm try their push on jk, the kpop focalists are veering astray in their plans and projections: not seeing immediate huge success (or not *sustained* huge success) they think there is some kind of crisis rather than understanding that a u.s. or even just western gp fandom cannot be a top-down thing - it will take time

bts are huge (and yes a triumph for bts IS NOT and SHOULD not be lumped in as "a win" for kpop in general as has been pointed out is too often the case) but in the first days of jk's album release, *2 months* after seven had debuted, the huge nationwide retailer where i work couldn't even get his name spelled correctly in the point-of-sale database, so

the u.s. music industry is a big machine and busy on its own, many listeners only stay in their own bubbles and don't pay attention to anything outside that, because just keeping up with the output of one scene or genre can take as much effort as watching the kpop industry as a whole

to break wide you need to be either insanely ubiquitous and not just on social media (which runs the risk of people getting sick of you just as fast) or you need the slower groundswell of people going from "oh *that's* them? i heard of them but i didn't know that was their song" to "omg that's my song!! turn it up!"

there's just too much out there today to catch people's attention and the media cycle turns ever faster - used to, a song could be out and getting steady radio play and it still wouldn't hit the consciousness of the national public for like 3 or 4 months sometimes. sometimes it could take a year or more.

so this thing of short promotion periods for kpop acts - even bts! - is just not viable as a way to attract a wide gp following in the states. being on late night tv shows is a good step, but since the advent of streaming the influence of shows like that has waned considerably since the days of ed sullivan or johnny carson.

jk's run of promoting *was* the right kind of thing to do in fact - it simply should have been much more spread out over time. you can see all his album collab artists have things coming out *now* ... and there's no way to really take advantage of that with the curtailed promo.

and yes, obviously jk did get probably the second longest promo period of all of bts chapter 2 solos efforts (i think yg's tour ran longer?) and it was cut off for very valid reason! but!

i think bangpd et al. taking the fact that they couldn't make jk a household name in the u.s. nor nab him a grammy nom (nor any other kpop groups) within the 5-6 months of their fairly blatant push for us recognition as indicating a "crisis" is just not looking at the long game.

they didn't get all the accolades right away, so it seems they've decided 'that didn't work we need to make some big changes' instead of continuing what they'd been doing in support of the artists

it's this attitude of welp they didn't give us a grammy we were entitled to even though it's the first time we played ball in this particular way, so now we're worried bc we don't know how to shop kpop beyond people who aren't primed for it

like, they are looking at the business of it, and likely accurately, but not at the audience itself

it's not that the observations bang is making are wrong i just think he is basing them off premature information - songs in the u.s. DO benefit from purchase power, but they ALSO rely a lot on word of mouth. not for charts positions necessarily, but for longterm growth, support, and more importantly demand, you cannot beat a fandom that grows on its own.

the paid promotions at the end of the day serve the same purpose as bts's early days vlogs in the current western music climate - getting the artist and songs in front of as many eyes and ears as possible. but then you have to allow time for that wave to spread - and the bigger the pond, the more time it may take