BTS creates another K-pop history and made it onto Time's future leaders list
SEOUL: Global superstars BTS not only added another feather to their cap but created another milestone in K-pop history by becoming the first Korean act to win at the 2018 American Music Awards (AMAs) on Tuesday, local time.
BTS won the Favorite Social Artist award, defeating big-name artists such as Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Shawn Mendes at the AMAs, which took place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
BTS, however, was not able to accept the award in person because they were in London preparing for a performance on Tuesday at the O2 Arena.
However, the band sent a video to the AMAs and thanked its fan club, ARMY.
“We are very happy and thankful for receiving the Favorite Social Artist award,” BTS leader Kim Nam-joon also known as RM - said in the video. “We are sorry that we were not able to participate in the ceremony. We thank our fan base ARMY for all the love and support, leading us to receive this special award.”
The award came after BTS topped the Social Artist Award charts at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards in May.
The American Music Awards are the world's biggest annual awards ceremony that honours the most influential acts based on fan votes.
The nominees are selected by their degree of interaction with fans, tracked and measured by Billboard.
BTS is currently on a “Love Yourself” world tour, visiting seven countries through next February.
The group performed two nights this week, Tuesday and Wednesday, at London's O2 Arena.
Member Jungkook, whose heel was injured just hours before the first concert, was seated and unable to perform the choreography with the other members.
Celebrating the septet's groundbreaking success, a documentary movie entitled “Burn The State: The Movie” is set to be released on Nov. 15 in CGV, the largest multiplex cinema chain in Korea.
The movie, which will feature the members' journey, struggles and behind-the-scenes stories on tour, follows the “BTS: Burn The Stage” series released in March of this year through its YouTube Red page, BANGTANTV.
BTS's agency Big Hit Entertainment also announced four additional Asia concert destinations to the world tour on Wednesday.
According to the agency, the band will be in Taiwan on Dec. 8-9, Singapore on Jan. 19, Hong Kong on March 20-21 and Bangkok on April 6.
In separate news, BTS has made it onto the 2018 “Next Generation Leaders” list from Time Magazine.
Time Magazine recently posted an article titled “How BTS Is Taking Over the World” along with a video containing excerpts of their interview. In the video, the group's leader, Kim Nam-joon — also known as RM — talks about how proud the group is of their country.
“As a Korean, we love our country and we're proud of our country so much. And it's just an honour to be called an ambassador of Korean K-pop,” he said in English in the video.
Suga then added in Korean, “Those from my parents' or my grandparents' generation, even more so than those from our generation, are very proud of us. They love seeing us on the news. And so for me, it's enjoyable to see my father proud of things like that.”
Time annually chooses a variety of young people in different industries to highlight their achievements in changing the world.
Along with BTS's article and video, Time Magazine also released an image of the cover of the international edition of the magazine featuring the septet. The magazine is set to be released on Oct. 22.