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Trivia / BTS

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For trivia related to the BTS Universe, see here.

  • Approval of God:
    • Murray Stein responded very positively to MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA (which heavily references his book Jung's Map of the Soul) and the fandom's Wild Mass Guessing and analysis of the album based on the book.
    • Both Webstar and Young B. (aka. Bianca Bonnie) reacted with excitement to see the success of j-hope's tribute song "Chicken Noodle Soup" and the fandom's response of researching and thanking them both (particularly Bianca Bonnie, who tweeted "I THINK [j-hope] IS AMAZING"). The fact that they were properly credited and paid for the use of the sample probably helped.
    • The members themselves are very happy to see dance covers and dance challenges on their songs, notable examples being them (likely j-hope) liking tweets from the #BASELINECHALLENGE (including the one that started the hashtag) and incorporating the #IDOLCHALLENGE into the second version of the "IDOL" music video. The release of j-hope's "Chicken Noodle Soup" single followed the launch of BTS's Tiktok account, through which they released the #CNSchallenge the same day of the song's release and liked several videos under the tag.
  • Awesome, Dear Boy: Their collaborations with Coldplay and Megan Thee Stallion in particular are this, being motivated by mutual admiration. Megan's case especially stands out, as she had to fight her label in order to be able to release the "Butter" remix featuring her (see Executive Meddling).
  • Black Sheep Hit: Their first #1 hit in the US, "Dynamite", is so far their only fully English single (not counting songs where they appear as featured artists), and it's the only one where no member has writing credits (rap line included), and is thus different from BTS' usual lyricism. According to the members, they liked the demo sent to them so much that they wanted to capture that feeling as much as possible, leaving the original English lyrics untouched (though not for lack of trying - they tried to add Korean lyrics and rap but it didn't work). This decision, however, also helped greatly in gaining US radio support, as a major reason previous BTS singles had lackluster radioplay in the US was the fear that non-English songs would lead listeners to tune out.
  • Breakthrough Hit: It's a bit hard to say, due to their rise being a steady climb in their following releases both locally and internationally: "I NEED U" brought them their first win in a Korean music show, "Dope" was their first viral music video on Youtube (their first music video to gain 100 million views, in fact), and "Blood, Sweat and Tears" was their first #1 hit in Korean charts. As for the US charts, "DNA" was their first to enter the Hot100 chart, "Mic Drop (Steve Aoki remix)" their first to reach top 40, "Fake Love" was the first to reach top 10 (with the album LOVE YOURSELF: Tear also being their first #1 in BB200), "Boy With Luv" reached #8 and was the song with which BTS first performed on Saturday Night Live, "ON" was their first top 5, "Dynamite" was their first #1, "Life Goes On" was their first Korean-language #1, and "Butter" was their first long-running #1. In Japan, "Dynamite" was this through and through as it helped them gain a much larger fanbase there and cemented their place in its music market, with subsequent Japanese releases such as "Film Out" and BTS, THE BEST having a much bigger gap in popularity from their previous Japan-oriented releases.
  • Colbert Bump: Many artists have had their songs shooting to #1 on searched songs in Korea after being recommended by BTS (most often RM). The artists whose songs have either been covered by BTS members, used as the soundtrack in Jungkooks Golden Closet Films, or appeared in BTS videos on Twitter or Vlive (among others) have also seen a sudden spike in searches, streams and/or views.
    • Books referenced by BTS in their work (especially in the BTS Universe) have also gained or re-gained popularity, most notably Demian by Hermann Hesse, Into the Magic Shop Full title  by James R. Doty (which became a best-seller in Korea), and Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction by Murray Stein.
  • Completely Different Title:
    • The original title of The Most Beautiful Moment of Life (both the album series and its intro song) is 花样年华 or 화양연화, which translates to In the Mood For Love. It was translated in English to The Most Beautiful Moment in Life to avoid confusion with the movie of the same name while keeping the thematic meaning of the original.
    • The Korean title for "Boy With Luv" is "작은 것들을 위한 시" or "Poem For The Small Things". This way, the Korean title references the specific meaning of the song (finding love and joy in the small things in a relationship and in life, sub-textually the relationship between BTS and ARMY), while the international title makes it a Call-Back and contrasting sequel (because of Character Development) to the more immature and aggressive "Boy In Luv".
  • Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: It's awfully common in Western media (from news segments to music reviews) to talk about BTS as standard boyband fare solely made to appeal young fans through good looks and Silly Love Songs (when they've made songs about self-reflection, social inequality, the fears behind being an artist, etc.), with the language difference being a major factor/excuse for this. A review from The Guardian in 2018 of LOVE YOURSELF: Tear didn't even talk about the songs themselves because it assumed fans wouldn't care, while Youtube critic Todd in the Shadows admitted that he didn't even look at "Boy With Luv"'s lyrics (even though he put it in his Best Songs of 2019 list) and guessed its reference to "Boy In Luv" meant that they finally "got the girl" pursued in the 2014 single. note 
  • Creator Backlash:
    • BTS (RM especially) have vocally expressed regret several times about decisions made pre-2015, most notably regarding their image, as well as questionable lyrics and comments that revealed ignorance towards race and gender issues. According to recent interviews, RM now makes sure to have his lyrics reviewed by experts in gender studies, and makes a point in studying the genres they delve into in their music.
    • On a less serious note (though still related to the above), RM really regrets the name "Rap Monster" and his hairstyle choices from 2013 and before debuting. When asked what he would say if he met himself from debut-era, he simply responded with:
      RM: Please change your name. Please change your hair.
    • RM admitted that he wasn't thinking straight when he ad-libbed the line "west side 'til I die, gimme the real world man" in "If I Ruled the World", and has expressed regret over it.
  • Creator Breakdown: Certain songs (such as "Tomorrow", written by SUGA during his trainee days) were written while one or more of the members were going through hard times. Their work from 2015 and especially 2016, a time where both the group and their fans had been receiving endless criticism and harassment, is particularly known for generally being Darker and Edgier than their previous work and having some songs (most notably "2!3!", addressed at fans) referencing those hard times. "Always" by RM (released on their Soundcloud) particularly stands out as representative of a time where he was stressed over various incidents in 2015-2016, resulting in dark, defensive lyrics:
    RM: When I wrote the song, I decided not to release [it]. I thought the status described in the lyrics would go forever. So, (I’m) blaming others. Not others, but the world. [...] The reason why I released this song is because I no longer feel like the one (the character) in the lyrics. That’s why I was able to release the song. Many fans felt sad about it. However, by releasing the song, it was like saying bye to myself. To myself who had been sad in 2016 and 2015. That’s how I felt.
    • LOVE YOURSELF: Tears development occurred around the time where (as revealed in late 2018) the members were seriously considering disbanding due to going trough a hard time mentally. Particularly, SUGA talks in episode 6 of the 2020 Weverse series Break The Silence about how "Outro: Tear" was written to the members during that time.
  • Creator Recovery: Contrast the LOVE YOURSELF series (which started in late 2017) with their work in the previous year, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever and WINGS, which are much more melancholic in nature. While the LOVE YOURSELF series was planned since 2016, what happened between late 2016 and LOVE YOURSELF: Her's release (and after that, too) certainly got the members in better moods, with members stating that they're in the process of learning to love themselves as well. Confirmed by RM statements regarding "Always" (see Creator Breakdown above) and his "Artist of the Year" award speech at the 2017 MAMAs below:
    RM: Thank you so much. And I think the words ‘Artist of the Year’ really confirm it. We aren’t sad or in pain anymore. We’re confident and proud!
    • Jimin's "Promise", which he began to write in 2018 during the time period described in Creator Breakdown, was originally going to be a much darker, negative song. After their situation and his feelings improved (particularly after their first Citi Field concert), he decided to make the song comforting, coming up with the word "Promise".
  • Demand Overload: It's surprisingly common for websites to crash upon any major news related to this group coming out, be it new CD releases, the group winning awards or one of their performances.
  • Doing It for the Art: Rather than making catchy songs for the sake of it, their main priority is their music and the message they can convey through it, using it to tell their own stories. They go the extra mile so that their work at large constructs an entire narrative of personal growth drawing from their own experiences, be it through Sequel Songs, Sequel Concept Albums, or a fictional story told through an entire continuity of music videos (the BTS Universe), often planned months, even years in advance.
    • They've gone on record to say that they prefer to remain as true to themselves as possible, rejecting things like making English albums solely to enter the US market. Not that it stops fans from making them chart in paid platforms anyway.
    • There's also a lot of songs they've made for free, including original songs (such as "DDAENG" and "4 o'clock"), covers, rearrangements, and 4 critically acclaimed solo mixtapes, all shared through their official Soundcloud page and made downloadable through Dropbox, Mediafire and Google Drive. The BTS Festa in particular is an anniversary celebration they make for fans that always includes having several new songs released for free.
      • The mixtapes and solo singles are notable for the fact that all are available for free on the aforementioned platforms (with BTS themselves tweeting the free download links), but fans still go out of their way to buy or stream them in paid platforms.
  • Dye Hard: All of them, especially Suga, who went from pink to blonde to mint green and occasionally blue within 2015 and early 2016.
    • A fan has even made a chart showing all the hair colors each member has had since debut.
  • Executive Meddling: Megan Thee Stallion's record label, 1501, initially blocked the remix of "Butter" featuring her from being released, asking for a fee of 100,000 USD for the label (none of it for Megan); this despite concessions from BTS, BIGHIT and BTS' legal team offering (unusually for them) a share in royalties for the label. Only after a document from Megan asking for an emergency ruling against the label (for this and for previous instances of 1501 blocking her releases) was filed and made public on August 24, 2021 (days before the scheduled release), the remix of "Butter" was cleared for release via an emergency order. According to emails cited as evidence in the document, 1501 "did not believe" that the remix "would be good for her career as a recording artist".
  • Fan Community Nickname: ARMY (or BTS ARMY, to avoid confusion with other fandoms named "Army"). Note the all-uppercasenote .
  • Follow the Leader: After BTS' Top Social Artist Billboard Award marked a turning point in their rise to the US mainstream in 2017, several Kpop idols, companies and fandoms started to create Twitter accounts or generally push for more presence in social media and Youtube. To compare, even though BTS was n. 1 in both the 2017 and 2018 lists (a position they've maintained for more than 100 consecutive weeks, and non-consecutively since 2016), only 2 Korean groups other than BTS appeared on the 2017 year-end list, in positions 35 and 41; during 2018, the top 5 in Billboard's weekly Social 50 list always tended to contain 2-3 Korean groups, with the year-end Social 50 list containing 12 Kpop groups aside from BTS, 3 of them on the top 10.
  • God Never Said That: Fans' reliance on social media to get information and translations (plus Archive Panic) has unfortunately led to false rumors becoming widespread. For example:
    • Yes, they struggled a lot. Yes, "Skit: Expectation" mentions that "N.O." didn't do as well as expected. No, they weren't about to disband after "N.O." (in fact, they won a "Rookie Artist of the Year" award that year).
    • Many fans mistakenly believe V was training to be a rapper and J-Hope was going to be a vocalist, only for them to exchange roles after the former turned out to have trouble rapping. This is false, and is even directly contradicted in (most notably) the American Hustle Life reality show and the Burn the Stage mini-series: J-Hope mentions being one of the first members to join and (at the time) the only dancer among several rappers, deciding by himself to try his hand at freestyling.
    • "Expensive Girl" has acquired a Never Live It Down status for RM, with some fans still making fun of it or even recommending it to Youtube reactors... but many of those fans don't know that it's a cover. The original is "Take It Off (Dim the Lights)" by Pharrell Williams.
    • The practice of adding Gag Subs to BTS images for comedic purposes has led to less meme-savvy fans (and fans simply lacking context) misreading and spreading them as actual quotes. For example, the following quote turned out to be believable enough that some fans still believe Jin actually said it, not knowing it's was a Shout-Out joke.
      Jin, apparently: "When Jungkook was born, I was already in kindergarten, which means if we were friends back then, I'd have been hanging out with a baby. I don't know anything about infant care. My god, I could have killed him."
  • Meaningful Release Date: The album MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA was released on April 12th. This is one day after a significant date plot-wise in the BTS Universe and SAVE ME (the later of which ended on April 11th in Korean time), being the date where Seokjin comes back to whenever he travels back in time. April 11th also happens to be the release date of Singin' in the Rain, a film heavily referenced in the title track "Boy With Luv" music video. The music video itself, funnily enough, has a duration of 4:12 minutes.
  • Meme Acknowledgement: The members have said various times that they regularly browse through the comments in their collective Twitter account to see their fans reactions, and that yes, they are very much aware of the memes in their mentions.
    • Someone showed V the edits of BTS members with beards on Fancafe. V responded that he was looking at them with Jimin, and that they were laughing their butts off.
    • Both the #BASELINECHALLENGE and the #IDOLCHALLENGE were acknowledged by BTS (as in, they liked the tweets involved in those challenges, including those that started them). The Nicki Minaj version of the "IDOL" music video includes a compilation made by BigHit of #IDOLCHALLENGE videos, much like Drake with "In My Feelings".
    • The fandom collectively changing their profile images on Twitter to a picture of Jin with sunglasses resulted in this (warning: not recommended for people with trypophobia).
  • Milestone Celebration: MAP OF THE SOUL: 7's name and theme comes from BTS' number of members, but also the years they've spent as BTS, and thus lots of songs reflect about their motivations and their journey.
  • Posthumous Credit: Suga's solo song "Snooze" was recorded as a collaboration with Japanese musician and Yellow Magic Orchestra alum Ryuichi Sakamoto with the intention of paying tribute to the latter's early material. The song ultimately released one month after Sakamoto's death in 2023 and credits him as a featured artist.
  • Production Posse: With the exception of "For You" and "Come Back Home", BTS' music videos are all directed by members of either Lumpens or GDW, with the former ("I NEED U", "Blood Sweat and Tears", "IDOL", J-Hope's "Daydream", the WINGS teasers, among others) tending to get the videos where story and visual storytelling are front and center, and the latter ("Dope", "Mic Drop", "Not Today", "Epilogue: Young Forever", RM's "Do You", J-Hope's "Airplane", the videos for Agust D) generally being more focused on choreography, Rule of Cool, and establishing the group's identity.
  • Promoted Fanboy:
    • The group as a whole could be considered this with "IDOL", which has a version that features one of their influences, Nicki Minaj.
    • So far, Jungkook has managed to get to perform twice with a singer he admired, one with Zion T and another with Charlie Puth. The song "Louder Than Bombs" (where he and the rest of BTS perform) is also co-written by another singer he's been vocal about liking, Troye Sivan.
    • RM has featured in songs with Tiger JK more than once ("Buckubucku" by MFBTY and "Timeless" Drunken Tiger, with a silent cameo in the music video for "Bang Diggy Bang Bang"), and has pretty much been embraced by as an honorary member of Tiger JK' posse, as shown by the art in Drunken Tiger's last album. He was also featured in "Winter Flower", a song collaboration with singer Younha, whose work he has recommended several times.
    • Suga has a similar case as the above with Epik High, one of the groups (if not the group) that first inspired him to become a rapper. He has been featured as a secret guest in "NO THANXXX", was the featured artist in Lee Sora's "Song Request" (written by Epik High member Tablo, who recommended Suga for the song) and worked on composition and arrangement of Epik High's "Eternal Sunshine" from the album Sleepless in ________.
  • The Red Stapler: Brands of clothing and accessories have seen a surge in popularity after being seen being worn by BTS members.
  • Referenced by...: Has it's own page.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Originally, BTS (which at the time had the current members of the rap line plus other members) was supposed to be a strictly hip-hop group, but then the idea morphed into a hip-hop idol group. Several of the members of the original line-up left, though Supreme Boi still remains in BigHit as a producer.
    • Several early demos of songs have been revealed by the members, such as different versions of "Spring Day" and "Fake Love".
    • RM revealed in a Vlive that he thought about making the Trivia song for the "Tear" section of LOVE YOURSELF: Answer (the one that became Suga's "Trivia: Seesaw"), but he wanted to try doing something Lighter and Softer than his usual work, making "Trivia: Love" instead. Had he made "Trivia: Seesaw", he would have focused on wordplay with the word itself and separated it into "see" and "saw", to compare the past and present of a relationship (instead of using the concept of a seesaw as a metaphor for a doomed relationship where neither party wants to be the one to end it, which is what Suga did).
    • The Japanese single album that contains the Japanese versions of "Fake Love" and "Airplane pt. 2" was going to contain an original song called "Bird", written by a Japanese producer. It was scrapped before its release due to demand from Korean fans, due to said producer having controversial ties to Japanese nationalists.
    • As revealed by Jimin in a Vlive (starting around minute 12:40), "Promise" underwent a lot of changes. When he started working on it in 2018, it was going to be a very dark, negative song. However, as his and the members' situation and feelings improved (with talks with friends and the members as well as BTS' first Citi Field concert being major turning points), he came up with the word "Promise" and changed it into a comforting song for himself and for listeners.
    • MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA would have originally been followed by 2 separate albums (MAP OF THE SOUL: SHADOW and MAP OF THE SOUL: EGO, as the fandom had predicted), but unexpected circumstances such as BTS' extended vacation in late 2019 led to delays. As a result, both planned albums where instead fused into one, MAP OF THE SOUL: 7, which includes both concepts (and has 2 singles and comeback trailers for this very reason).
    • As revealed by this official Weverse article (which interviews the leader of BIGHIT MUSIC's A&R Team), the lyrics of the original version of "Permission to Dance" sent by Ed Sheeran were "more like a marriage proposal—more personal, like a love song", and were modified at the request of BTS. Similarly, the first version of "Butter" sent to A&R had "materialistic lyrics often found in American pop music", which was far from the message BTS wanted to convey. The head of A&R was in constant discussion with the members (RM in particular), which resulted in the lyrics going through lots of changes.
  • Word of God: RM semi-regularly does special VLIVES after the release of an album, where he comments each track and reveals behind-the-scenes stories of the creation process, as well as the intentions and meanings behind each song.

Miscellaneous Trivia

  • The order in which the members joined is RM (who joined in 2010), SUGA, j-hope, Jin, Jungkook, V, and Jimin (who joined less than 2 years before BTS' debut).
    • Since the plan before the vocal line joined originally was for BTS to be a hip-hop group (and thus had other members along with the rap line), j-hope was the only dancer among rappers. He, however, decided on his own to try freestyling while learning from the others. This is explained in American Hustle Life as well as the Burn the Stage mini-series.
  • Celebrities who have openly declared themselves as fans include John Cena (who has been particularly vocal about his love for the group since 2018, even going out of his way to talk about BTS and ARMYin US talk shows), No Way Jose (very vocal too, also does reaction videos), Maisie Williams (who took part in the #IDOLCHALLENGE, mentioned going to cinemas to see one of the documentaries and has even had a photoshopped picture of her sitting next to BTS as the header of her Twitter account since December 2019), Lea Salonga, who has made lots of positive tweets, Lizzo, Chloé Zhao, and Simon Pegg.
    • Others such as Murray Stein (Jungian author who has dedicated books to both BTS and ARMY after BTS' MAP OF THE SOUL series), filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (here) and writer Paulo Coelho (here) have continuously expressed respect/support for BTS.

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