[Photo by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
SEOUL -- Boy band BTS revealed the reason for not attending the after party of Billboard Music Awards after the seven-member group won the "Top Social Artist" award for being the most influential artist group on social media last month.
"We did not attend the Billboard after party because we wanted to have our own party with fans," J-HOPE, a BTS member, said during an interview with SBS, a Seoul-based TV station, on Sunday. The 24-year-old rapper said: "Every time we achieved something, like winning the top place on music charts, our fans were the first ones to share the good news."
After winning the award, BTS took the top place on Billboard 200, the chart ranking 200 popular songs in the United States, with its latest album "Love Yourself: Tear" last week for the first time in 12 years as a non-English album. The group also entered the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 with "FAKE LOVE".
BTS members chose fan-made social media videos as the reason for the group's success. Every time a new music video is released, fans create video contents translated into many different languages with guides on how to pronounce the lyrics in Korean.
V, a 22-year-old-member, thanked the group's international fan club ARMY for creating BTS videos. "Thanks to ARMY and videos they create, our international fans are able to enjoy our songs without the language barrier and communicate with us," V said.
International fans are known for their performance of singing along with the group in Korean. When asked about how group members felt, Jimin said that fans singing songs in Korean is one of the happiest moments of his life.
BTS also mentioned the concept of songs. Suga, a 25-year-old rapper-songwriter, said he is very interested in the social phenomenon and he wanted to create songs which reflect thoughts and messages of the new generations. "We think we are blessed because there are so many people who tell us that they are encouraged by us and moved by our songs."
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
