BTS, Queen and the Rise of K-Pop
K-Pop group "BTS" released a video teaser for their latest English single "Butter" in a crossover with rock band Queen, and it immediately went viral racking up 35 Million views on YouTube.
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K-Pop boy band BTS dropped a teaser video for their latest single “Butter” due to be released this weekend, which is only their second song in English, after the #1 rated Dynamite.
Watch the teaser below:
Yes, they were definitely inspired by the 80’s hit “Another One Bites The Dust” by rock band Queen as they synchronized their head tilts to the beat.
The teaser is now the fastest music video to reach one million likes on YouTube and has more than 34 million views already in less than a day.
“Queen” showed their support for the new teaser just one hour after it was released with this tweet:
The hashtag #anotheronebitesthedust was trending on Twitter in no time, as fans of BTS, popularly known as ARMY, were quick to react to this unexpected crossover.
A throwback video of BTS’ member and songwriter Kim Seok-Jin, also known by his stage name ‘Jin’ went viral where he did the famous Freddie Mercury vocals routine at a BTS concert at the Wembley Stadium, London in 2019.
It has certainly been exciting to watch as the support between the fans from different genres came together to rejoice and celebrate the late rock icon, Freddie Mercury.
K-pop has taken the world by a storm off late and is becoming one of the biggest media influences on Pop culture across the globe. BTS themselves have a lot to be credited for the same, with their numbers speaking for themselves:
9 studio albums with over 20 million physical copies sold.
The combined net worth of all members estimated at $100 million as of 2021.
Their album '“BE” landed in the top 10 charts across 14 countries.
More than 15 billion streams on Spotify and 5.5 billion views on YouTube.
18 Guinness World Records broken till date.
The craziest stat?
In 2019, the act was reportedly worth 0.3% of South Korea’s GDP, contributing some $4.65 billion to the country’s economy 🤯
To fully grasp the hold it has on the western culture we look at the accomplishments of BTS in the western industry-
In their 8 years as a band, BTS took home Teen Choice Awards, MTV VMAs, Radio Disney Music Awards, iHeart Radio Music Awards, and American Music Awards, among many others.
BTS also partnered with one of the world’s biggest fast-food chains, McDonald’s this year. They announced the “BTS Meal” which was met with the tremendous support of fans across all social media platforms.
The meal is set to be released on 27th May 2021.
Apart from this, BTS has multi-million endorsement deals with major brands such as Louis Vitton, Samsung, Hyundai, Fila, and Baskin Robbins among many other local Korean brands as well.
With billions of views, YouTube has played a very significant role in making the K-Pop genre global. The entire genre holds more than 10 billion views on the platform as of 2021.
You would think that the language barrier between countries would discourage people from listening to Korean music but the world has welcomed the industry with open arms.
K-Pop was first recognized globally with Korean artist PSY releasing his viral lead single “Gangnam Style” in 2012 which has now landed 3 billion views.
Years later, the Korean entertainment industry stands as a global giant not only in Music but also in Films and TV shows. With Academy Award-winning film “Parasite” and TV shows (referred to as K-dramas) like “Itaewon Class” and “Mr. Sunshine” on Netflix, South Korea has become a power player in the global entertainment industry.
This has played a big part in the rise of the Korean entertainment industry as the tremendous talent of Music groups, Filmmakers, and Artists is getting recognition on a global scale. The camaraderie shared by this community across the world is something that the industry needs right now. The genre continues to thrive and break records with millions of people supporting them!
It is well deserved because let’s be honest, it is not easy to move like that and sing at the same time 😅
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