BTS pave way for K-pop golden age in US, achieving what Psy and Wonder Girls failed to accomplish
With their ‘Love Yourself: Her’ EP hitting No 7 on the US album chart – the highest ever for a Korean act – boy band BTS are starting something being compared to the 1960s British Invasion of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones
By Kang Hyun-kyung
South Korean boy band BTS are breaking through the glass ceiling of Asian pop in the United States.
Before them, K-pop was depicted in the US as a just a phenomenon that sometimes went viral on the internet and that only enjoyed popularity outside the country. But this is poised to change.
BTS are reaping the fruit of a decade of investment by the “Big Three” Korean entertainment companies – SM Entertainment, JYP and YG – to make the cut in the US mainstream market. Last year, the BTS EP Love Yourself: Her – containing the hit US single Mic Drop – hit No 7 on the US album chart, the highest ever for a Korean act.
Some experts view the success of BTS as a harbinger of a revolutionary cultural change comparable to the “British Invasion” of the 1960s, referring to the success of several British rock ‘n’ roll groups in the US during that time including The Beatles, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones.