Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS

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Similarly, other members, before their solo projects, explored what their solo voices would sound like within BTS and the album born out of that was Map of the Soul: 7. Jungkook, the youngest member of the group, explored what it meant “to live in the real world” when he first joined BTS at their trainee dorms. RM/Kim Namjoon became a natural team leader being the oldest trainee (in terms of the time he spent training at Big Hit). The struggles, apart from personal and related to their performance and talent, were also philosophical: do we pursue happiness or give it all up in pursuit of a higher goal?

It was the first time I felt that “so many people are listening to our songs” and it was thrilling. I also thought, “This is what we made music for.”” As the world is gripped by the Barbenheimmer fever, guess what BTS ARMYs, the fandom of the K-Pop boy band, BTS (Beyond the Scene/Bangtan Sonyeondan) are doing. They are curled up with an excellent book that is a historical account, a pop culture treatise, a translation, and, most importantly, an anecdotal history of BTS titled Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS. Until June 2023, if you came across a BTS song, liked it and wondered, hmm, I wonder what their names are, you were sure to fall down an internet rabbit hole of what can only be described as venturing into wonderland. here’s the thing about books like this⸺we don’t really get to have a critical opinion on them, because it’s simply someone else’s life, and what right do any of us have to speak on people who have already gone through endless hardships? so, no, I don’t personally have a lot to tell you about this wonderful book besides for the fact that it’s a masterpiece, but the members themselves have a lot to say: Most of the issues in this book boil down to the fact that it reads like an article, which is not surprising, given that the author is mostly a journalist. Though the comic-y and adjective-wrought writing style isn't something I'd enjoy even in an article, it becomes overbearing and too noticeable in a longer form, which it is clearly not meant for. Way too dramatic from the start in its vocabulary, it's constantly drainingly high-energy and doesn't leave space for the actual high points to shine. The article-ness is exacerbated by the previously mentioned number dropping and song descriptions. The book would have benefited from heavy editing and as it is, could have gotten the message across in half the length or less. BTS, an acronym of “Bangtan Sonyeondan” or “Beyond the Scene,” is a boy band from South Korea that debuted on June 13, 2013. The members of BTS are RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook. They have been embraced the world over, transcending nations, races, languages, gender, and generations for their music, their passionate performances, and their close connections to their fans. They are always seeking new ways to repay the love they receive through their music.

For most actors, musicians and celebrities, these fan meets happen all over East and Southeast Asia (South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand) and even in Dubai and Australia. For BTS, the fandom may be an extension of their existence. Time and again the band has called on ARMYs for support, whether for their music, or the charities or causes that BTS supports. Any donations made by them are quite often collectively matched by the fans. As J-Hope mentions in the book about BTS’s United Nations invitation, “Because I’m an extremely ordinary person. Just a Gwangju native, with a very ordinary upbringing, so much so that all this took a while for me to accept.” Not that we were doing it for the money necessarily, but I wonder if we should’ve at least been paid enough to buy a meal, and a lot of times we weren’t paid even that.” When people kept asking us when we were debuting, to a trainee that’s really... that question is like a knife to the heart.”

i don’t really think i can review a biography tbh but i really loved this book, i’m so proud of them and i’m so glad they chose to share the story of their journey to us, i love them so much <3 We really had almost no days off. So, at the time, I wondered whether it was right for a person to live life as exhausted as this.” When we get lots of awards like that... it got ridiculous. Because we’d said only the things we thought we could never achieve, and then we achieved all of them. I think it’s strange.”I try not to think about those times if I can help it. Because ultimately, we’re the ones who won and ended it.”

I had such a great time reading this! It was wonderful to hear the members’ perspectives on the different ups and downs they’ve had as a group. There’s also a big emphasis on explaining their thought process behind different songs and their lyrics, which I really appreciated. The book isn’t all celebratory, it definitely does touch on moments of other people in the industry being disrespectful towards them, targeted hate campaigns, and also moments where BTS made mistakes, but that doesn’t overwhelm the story. They also go in depth with explaining how overwhelming their international success became and why they almost decided to disband at the beginning of 2018. Dreams actually come true, that's crazy. I still can't believe it, an actual book written by bangtan themselves along with that Weverse Magazine journalist ahhh we're always eating good in this borahouse god bless! I think it's no surprise to anyone that I finished this in one sitting, not even leaving my room to eat or drink water. No one cared... you could be eliminated after any of the tests they would put us through time to time, which was scary.” edit 16/7/23: look, i love my boys, but i know for a straight fact that they are not that colour... please stop whitewashing them my lord, they match the paper😭I think I grew a lot, in a lot of ways. The members didn’t teach me specific things, but I can see them in the way I talk and act. SUGA’s thoughts, RM’s words, Jimin’s actions, V’s unique style, Jin’s cheerfulness, j-hope’s optimisim... things like that all came into me one by one.” Apart from those who loved and supported us, everyone else felt like an enemy. We were really worried about how much criticism we’d get if we put even a foot out of line.” There was a strong sense of being rewarded. That we’d done something together as a group⸺I was overwhelmed by that feeling, I think.” I was worrying my head off as to whether I could continue my life as a trainee. It was really hard for me, the act of living itself.”