BTS feeling more respected in US
Loud and happy screams erupt from the seven-member pop stars BTS when they hear they have notched their first
No. 1 hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Dream,” yells member RM. “It still doesn’t feel real,” adds SUGA, speaking in Korean through a translator. “We’re really happy.”
“Dynamite,” the group’s first all-English song, debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. music charts last week, making BTS the first Korean pop act to top the chart.
Getting their first charttopping track seemed inevitable for the K-pop boy band. They’ve had four albums top Billboard’s 200 albums chart, they’ve achieved Top 10 successes on the Hot 100 with “Boy With Luv,” “On” and “Fake Love,” and in just minutes, they’ve sold out U.S. football stadiums that some pop stars need to join forces to perform at.
And even at U.S. awards shows, they’ve gone from winning honors like “top social artist” to being named best group and best pop act, beating out Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, Jonas Brothers and others.
When asked if BTS felt like they’ve begun to earn more respect from the U.S., RM said: “We definitely feel that.”
“I think in the perspective of culture, I think it’s really important to be familiar. So first, we think that for many Americans (they were) not familiar with (us) — we look different, we (sing) different, we got some different choreography, music videos, like everything, even lifestyle. But I think as time goes by, we’re doing these shows and songs and concerts and awards, I think quite a lot of people in the American music market is getting, like, kind of close (to us),” he said. “I think it’s very good, and that’s what we wanted actually.”
It could also be time for BTS’ first Grammy nomination.
“When we see (Western) artists get nominated for Grammys, they would go: ‘Yeah! Yeah!’ ” said j-hope, throwing a small punch in the air.
“Like Travis Scott,” he continued. “The nomination is meaningful to even (famous) people like that, and to imagine that we could be nominated for Grammy, again, it would be such an honor and a great feeling.”
Nominees for the 2021 Grammy Awards will be announced later this year. The show doesn’t have a K-pop category, and while there is a best world music album award, there isn’t a song category for world and international music. Those songs, then, would compete for best pop duo/ group performance — a highly competitive award.
But the success of “Dynamite” could explode into a Grammy nomination for BTS. “The sheer thought of a nomination is thrilling,” said j-hope.
“I mean, we hope. We hope so,” said RM. “No one knows about the Grammys, but we’re just doing our best.”
The group, which includes Jin, V, Jimin and Jung Kook, says its members are busy recording a new album. They feel they have grown in the seven years they’ve been a group.
“We’ve matured musically, as well as in the way we think. We’ve also developed a higher sense of responsibility. This has refined us, and these developments are really being reflected in our music and our dance,” j-hope said.
Sept. 8 birthdays: Ventriloquist Willie Tyler is 80. Actor Alan Feinstein is 79. Singer Aimee Mann is 60. Singer Neko Case is 50. Actor David Arquette is 49. TV host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery is 48. Actor Larenz Tate is 45. Singer Pink is 41. Actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas is 39. Rapper Wiz Khalifa is 33. Actor Gaten Matarazzo is 18.