We all know I like K-pop. No reason to re-hash, so shall we go ahead and move along?
With BTS being featured on the AMAs recently, several friends of mine have reached out to see if 1) I have listened to the boys previously and 2) if I had other recommendations for them.
The answer to both questions is “yes.”
So I stumbled across the boys a couple of years ago, and I frankly like their sound. It’s a bit different from other K-pop bands, and I can see so many fight scenes to it. (Yes, this is an important qualifier to a lot of music I listen to, not just Korean – could I – or rather, my character – fight to it?)
There’s seven members to their band, and they are great big dorks, the lot of them.
- Rap Monster – or “RM” – is the leader of the band, and the person the entire band was built around. Literally. The entertainment agency wanted to create a band around this man. He writes the majority of the music, and is the lead rapper. He’s the face of the group, and acts as interpreter when they go to English speaking countries. Get this, he taught himself English, by watching Friends of all things. He’s fantastic, and pushes himself very hard, and holds himself (and all of them) to high standards.
- Jin is one of the oldest members, and a vocalist. He’s the self-proclaimed “visual” of the group, but my favorite part of Jin? He specializes in dad-jokes. Yep, they have dad-jokes in Korea, too. He’s pretty, he knows it, and he’s soooo full of cheese. Like, seriously milks it. It’s fantastic!
- J-Hope is one of the leader dancers as well as a rapper. This is the person you are most likely to notice in interviews, etc. Not because he’s super pretty (he’s not), but he is there. He may not understand the language or be able to speak it, but he will make sure everyone knows how he feels by acting it out quite dramatically.
- Suga is another rapper and another dancer. Wait, they all dance, don’t they?? (and pretty well on point, too!). He’s the ‘scary one’ of the group – the one person none of the other members want to mess with because they know in their heart of hearts he will suffocate them in their sleep. He seems like he’s half asleep most of the time, and he’s generally pretty quiet. Unless he wants to be heard. So basically, he’s a cat. When asked in one interview (after the American Billboard Awards) what everyone’s favorite pickup lines are, he stared right at the camera and said “You ever hear of BTS…?”
- Jimin is a vocalist and dancer. He’s also the shortest one in the group (next shortest is Suga). Why is this important? BECAUSE NO ONE LET’S HIM FORGET IT. Watch some of the videos they have on their channel sometime and some of the behind the scenes – you will end up hearing at least one (likely more) short joke. So one of my fav videos, Jimin learned this jacket flip thing. Basically, while he’s dancing, he lets his jacket slip off his shoulder, flashing skin, and then he’ll do a fast flick of his shoulder, and the jacket is back in place. He has this down to an art form, and ever since Blood, Sweat, and Tears, he does it in EVERY SINGLE VIDEO. You can’t let a skill like that go to waste, afterall.
- V is spectacular, and likely one of my favorites. He’s the only one I’m aware of that’s been in any shows/movies as of yet (and he was only in one so far). In the videos and on stage, he seems dead serious. He has SPECTACULAR facial expressions, and is certainly a bad ass…. Until he speaks, interacts with other members, or does ANYTHING. Then he transforms into this great big dorky puppy. He has a serious case of ADOS (Attention Deficient OH SHINY!), and is definitely on the ‘weird’ side. Yep. He’s someone I’d hang with.
- Jungkook is not only one of the prettiest and a lead singer, he’s also the youngest. Please do NOT let that sweet face fool you! He’s like my son’s age. (Who am I kidding – they all are). He’s pretty shy, all told, and almost didn’t make it into the band because of how quiet he is. He’s a sweet kid, but being the maknae (youngest), I’ve also seen some evil there…. You know those short jokes I talked about before? A lost of those come from this chap right here.
All told, these are great guys, and their dancing is seriously on point. They are good. But you don’t care about the details, do you? You just want the MUSIC!! Well, here ya go! Some of my favorites:
- Dope
- Bulletproof
- Boy In Luv
- War of Hormones
- NO
- Blood, Sweat & Tears (seriously one of my favorites!!)
- Fire
- Not Today
- DNA (this is the one they performed at the AMAs)
- Mic Drop
They have a whole ton more, but these are just some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!
See, now I could imagine a certain someone enjoying the juxtaposition of fighting with Postmodern Jukebox on.. School dance in the background, and a few rooms over with the music just audible as shenanigans occur.
And going a fair step away from K-Pop, have you dabbled a toe in the waters of Two Steps From Hell before?
Oddly, a LOT of the music I like, I can put fight scenes too. Part of why I like them so much!! Their Blood, Sweat, and Tears strongly inspired a non-fighty short, though (In Your Dreams). By and large, I enjoy their music (and I’m super stoked they are getting more attention).
I have NOT heard of Two Steps, though!! I will give them a listen! I’m always looking for new music!