To continue ignoring the BTS phenomenon was to risk missing something bigger than Beatlemania. The group was everywhere, and everyone seemed to be into them. But, earlier this year, BTS became inescapable.
I absorbed Western critiques of K-pop’s girl and boy bands: that they’re fluffy, manufactured, and exploitative of their members-as if the same weren’t true of New Kids on the Block. When reporting on South Korea, I resisted the expected topics: Korean skin care, plastic surgery, dogmeat, and, yes, K-pop. I’ve long been hesitant to write about BTS.
