Previously on BTS (December 9th-15th): A Rollercoaster Ride

This week has been a wild ride for BTS and ARMY fandom. We were spoiled more than usual and it must have been very overwhelming for the fans, especially college students who may have been busy with semester exams. So those who have missed out on BTS related news this week, here’s a roundup (not really a roundup but more like briefly talking about some events which were important for positive or negative reasons).

On 9th Dec, BTS and BigHit Entertainment (their music label) got into some trouble (which they didn’t cause). On Korean TV channel JTBC during a news report titled “Thought it might have changed because of Hallyu- endless conflicts between agencies and artists, why?” reporters Choi Sooyeon and Lee Hojin sensationalized and exaggerated some issues related to BTS and BigHit. Without fact-checking, they shared footage that was considered trespassing at the music label’s building and recording inside the building. While the JTBC initial news report included the illegal footage, they took it down. However, after a while they reuploaded it to their YouTube Channel. The company released a statement on 10th Dec regarding this matter in detail. This saga has left ARMYs (Korean and International) outraged, which led to hashtags #JTBC_정식사과해 (JTBC_ProperlyApologize), #JTBC아웃 (JTBC Out), #JTBC_보이콧 (JTBC_Boycott) #JTBC_뉴스룸_사과해‬ (JTBC_NewsRoom_Apologize) being trended on Twitter. As of now, JTBC hasn’t apologized to BigHit Entertainment.

On a lighter note, ARMYs were spoiled over the next few days with news regarding BTS’s records and achievements (some were quite unexpected). The one which shocked ARMYs, was from acclaimed Korean director Bong Joon-Ho, whose film “Parasite” recently got three Golden Globe nominations including Best Director and BTS in their song Spring Day, mentioned his movie Snowpiercer. On 10th Dec at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the director said that he loved BTS’ appearance on his show, leaving Fallon a little flustered because he’s a huge fan of the group. On Naver’s music platform VIBE, BTS was declared 2019’s Best Artist, since they took the top list in all frequently played songs, artists and albums list. On Twitter’s ‘This Happened in 2019’ list, Jungkook having fun dancing to Billie Elish’s “bad guy” tweet topped the Most Retweeted Tweets worldwide and BTS were the Top Musicians on Twitter worldwide (Most Discussed categories).

We also heard directly from Big Hit this week when they said the rumors of BTS’ comeback in mid-February next year will be revealed when it’s confirmed.

BTS have completed day 1 of their fanmeeting in Osaka, which was livestreamed officially on Japanese website TheLIVE; only those fans were allowed to watch it if they have bought the ticket from Weply. Before and after the fanmeeting, fans were blessed with photos taken in New Zealand by V and some selcas by Jimin, Jin and Suga. On 14th Dec Korean Standard Time, ARMYs were blessed with not one, but three VLives by Suga, RM and V. Suga’s Vlive was about his collaboration with Halsey on the song “SUGA’s Interlude” for her album Manic, which entered Billboard’s Digital Song Sales at #41 on 10th Dec. He also talked to ARMYs by answering their questions about general stuff. RM and V’s solo Vlives were conversational in nature, with the latter especially talking about how fans invading their space makes them uncomfortable every time they travel by airplanes.

BTS’ Map of the Soul Persona album re-entered Billboard 200 Chart at No. 193, which shows that ARMYs just can’t wait for BTS to release their new album anytime soon. The group also entered the Google search list of People on the Red Carpet 2019. On 11th Dec, a global seminar sponsored by BigHit Entertainment titled “KPop beyond BTS” took place at Yonsei University where academics from around the world in their presentations talked about the global success of BTS and K-Pop in general. The final day of Osaka fanmeeting has wrapped up successfully (15th Dec).

Other News

The song Make it Right has reached a new peak at #31 on US Pop radio (11th Dec).

Love Yourself: Her has surpassed 900 Million streams on Spotify (11th Dec.).

FAKE LOVE has received 1x Platinum certifications for surpassing 2.5 million downloads.

What a week, huh ARMY? Roller coaster indeed. Purple you!

Written by: Anugya

Edited by: Marcie

Design by: Leslie

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