A beginner’s guide to K-pop and BTS ahead of the LEGO Ideas set

LEGO Ideas’ latest set, based on BTS, is almost here, and we’ve got a beginner’s guide to the band and K-pop with everything you need to know. 

While not everyone may be familiar with them, BTS have a huge presence online thanks in no small part to their fans, an online community who managed to get JBBrickFanatic’s project to 10,000 supporters exactly one month after it was submitted to the platform. 

You need only look at the teaser for the LEGO Ideas set on Twitter to get a glimpse of the band’s online popularity as it’s now the LEGO Group’s most-liked tweet by far. However, all of this might not mean much to someone unfamiliar with BTS, their popularity and K-pop in general. 

To get you ready for the upcoming LEGO Ideas set, here’s a beginner’s guide to K-pop and BTS. 

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What is K-pop? 

Starting with K-pop itself, K-pop is short for Korean popular music – mainstream music that originated in South Korea. It includes an array of music genres from rock and hip-hop to electronic. For BTS, their music falls under many of the various genres that make up K-pop.

Is K-pop popular? 

With hundreds of K-pop bands, not all of them have managed to reach and maintain a worldwide presence but those that have managed to have utilised the internet to expand their influence and fanbase. Looking at YouTube, some of the most-viewed K-pop videos include Gangnam Style by Psy at 4.6 billion views, DDU-DU DDU-DU by Blackpink at two billion views and BTS’ Dynamite at 1.6 billion views, the latter of which inspired the project behind the LEGO Ideas set. 

The YouTube views alone suggest a good amount of popularity for K-pop music. However, online communities surrounding K-pop groups have played a crucial role in the growth of K-pop too.  

On TikTok, it was revealed that the number of videos with K-pop content tripled to more than 97 million in September 2021 compared to 33.5 million in 2019. Of that total, 92.8% of these videos were made outside Korea with Indonesia leading the charge at 16.4%, followed by the Philippines at 13.5% and the United States at 8.7%. With that data, suffice it to say there is a decent online fan community for K-pop in general. 

Who are BTS? 

BTS are one of the many K-pop bands performing at this time with seven members under Big Hit Entertainment. These include Jin, Suga, j-hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook. The band started small domestically but has gone on to win 483 awards out of 692 nominations worldwide. They’re also one of two artists to sell half a million copies of an album in the US with Map of the Soul: 7. The other artist and album was Taylor Swift’s Folklore. 

As noted, their Dynamite music video is one of the most popular K-pop videos in terms of views on YouTube, their LEGO teaser tweet is the most-liked tweet from the LEGO Group ever and it only took one month for the Ideas project to reach 10,000 supporters. Their fan base, who are nicknamed the ARMY, appears to have plenty of passion for BTS and its members. 

Why are they getting a LEGO set? 

With their rising popularity, a LEGO set based on the band may have been inevitable, and VIDIYO has already parodied K-pop with the K-Pawp faction. However, that’s not necessarily why BTS are getting a LEGO set. 

On April 17, 2021, JBBrickFanatic submitted the BTS ‘Dynamite’ LEGO Ideas project to the platform and exactly one month later, it reached 10,000 supporters and passed into the second 2021 review. Rejecting 33 projects, the BTS project is one of two projects approved from the second 2021 review phase with the other being 21338 A-Frame Cabin

As with any LEGO Ideas project that reaches a review round, the BTS submission was judged by the LEGO Ideas panel to determine whether or not it is suitable for a LEGO set compared to other projects in the round.  

Now, we’re less than one day away from the reveal of the LEGO Ideas BTS set. Stay tuned to Brick Fanatics for the reveal of the anticipated model on February 16, 2023, at 5am UK time. 

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