“BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star”

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
December 20, 2023

☆☆☆☆

Each episode of the Disney+ docu-series “BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star” ends with the same message: “Special thanks to our biggest voice, ARMY.”

That this series was meant to provide solace for the fandom after RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook enlisted for South Korea’s mandatory military duty — joining Jin, j-hope and Suga, who were already serving — is obvious. But as with just about everything this supergroup septet does, this documentary offers new elements that may surprise even the most ardent fans, while providing optimal comfort. This episodic documentary is the group’s way of saying 화이팅! (which is the defacto Korean word of encouragement.)

This series was also created for an audience beyond ARMY, which isn’t surprising since it’s a Disney production. The subtitles are written to cater to an English-speaking audience, with names listed western style. e.g. Hybe chairman Bang Si-hyuk is listed as Si-hyuk Bang in the subtitles. (For those unfamiliar with Korean names, Bang is his surname.)

The series starts with an intentional quote from group leader RM, which speaks to the thesis of BTS: “We believe in the power of art, that it can help and change the world.”

This series doesn’t have a linear timeline. There is a dreamy effect, flashing forward and backwards, ultimately leading to the present. At each stage, the group members are shown looking incredulous at their burgeoning popularity worldwide, but especially in the United States, which for many groups represents the top of the global market. But it’s also a fickle market that is difficult to break into, especially for a foreign band that sings primarily in Korean.

The public has gotten so used to BTS’ accolades that they’re sometimes taken for granted. But wrap your head around this: They were included on TIME magazine’s influential list and were the first Korean artists to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts and BTS is first group since the Beatles to earn three No. 1 albums in less than a year and … well, those ands are infinitely long at this point.

When asked why BTS is so popular, RM joked, “All the members are so cute and attractive,” before adding more seriously, “The most important thing is music truly transcends languages, nationalities and races, right?”

But then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which ended their plans for a worldwide 2020 tour. Suga talked about how all of this affected his mental health, feeling like maybe he should give up on music because what was the point? As Jungkook said, concerts are “something precious that I’m doing in front of people who are precious to me. That’s why I like it the most.”

j-hope concurred, but also saw the positive when it seemed like there was none: “No matter how depressed I got, nothing changed. Reality didn’t change. In the end, time passes on and life continues. So I had to keep going. I practiced dancing and told myself I had to do something. I worked on music. I lived on.  We were able to use that time to reflect on ourselves.”

Besides creating music and content for ARMY (and themselves) during the pandemic, they also developed ideas for their official solo projects that would roll out in the future.

One of the most telling parts of the documentary is when Bang PD, who had selected all the members of the group, discusses what could have been had his team not opposed his decision to exclude an integral member of BTS. He was immediately impressed by RM’s strong character and depth of knowledge. He felt Suga’s sarcasm and darker side added to the group. j-hope was the personification of diligence and sincerity and had the dance skills he was looking for. Jin was unhumanly good looking, an asset he knew was important for an idol group. Jungkook was so young and nervous, but he could see the potential in the teenager. Same for V, who he affectionately referred to as 애기, because of his then baby-faced looks. But when he got to Jimin, he wasn’t sure.

“Jimin is a very charming person with a lot of talent,” Bang said. “But I was skeptical, because he seemed incomplete. But my team insisted that someone like Jimin needed to be on the team. My hunches aren’t always right, so I accepted him because I believed there was a reason why my team insisted on Jimin. In retrospect, it was a close call thinking about if I had gone against them back then.”

This acknowledgement is a powerful admission that though he is the head of the organization, he doesn’t know everything. Surrounding himself with a team he could trust has been imperative in the growth of BTS.

“To be honest, the other members were the ones who made me want to do this after leaving home in 2012,” Jimin said.

The camaraderie between the seven is depicted throughout the series. It’s Jungkook’s high school graduation on March 3, 2014. Jimin, who’s only two years older, said, “Our little Jungkook.” RM notices how awkward JK looks and said, “He looks so cute standing there. He’s such an adult at home though.” And then he instructs JK to talk to the other students.

This vignette is followed by scenes of the boys throwing j-hope a belated 20th birthday party. As he sobs with happiness (and probably also fatigue from their strenuous dance practices), Jin cheers him up by grabbing his ears.

“In 2013, the Big 3 agencies were more influential than they are now,” said Kang Myung-sSeok, author of the BTS biography “Beyond the Story.” “Hybe wasn’t what it is now. BTS was a small company’s idol group. They debuted in a very tough situation.”

Indeed, even after they won New Artist of the Year at the 2013 Melon Awards, they found themselves in the same situation.

“We thought our lives would change winning an award,” Jin remembered. “But nothing really changed.”

RM added, “We were always being compared to artists from bigger companies and we always felt inferior.” He added that he thought often about all the things they left behind to be in BTS. “We needed to move forward.”

If BTS was a parable, it would be that nothing comes easily. In 2014, they traveled to Los Angeles to relax a bit, but the primary focus was to get better as a group. There is a moment of levity when Jimin, enjoying a delicious meals, said, “I’ll start my diet tomorrow.”

RM laughed and said, “I want to go back to Korea. I don’t want to dance anymore!”

But the stress of it all caused the group to bicker. As V put it, “We were experiecing burnout. There was no way to explain the situation back then. We were frustrated.” They argued with each other and questioned whether this is what they wanted to be doing.

But they channeled their youthful pain into their third mini album, “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1,” which featured their game-changing single “I Need U.”

“I Need U” was one of my picks for Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music:

In the first two years of their career, BTS made rebellious, angsty hip-hop music dedicated to people who felt suffocated by societal expectations. But by becoming more vulnerable on their impeccably composed hit “I Need U,” the septet nabbed their first win on a South Korean music show. The song sees them switching between hope and hopelessness as Suga declares in the intro, “Because of you, I’m broken,” with his bandmates quickly following, “I need you girl/You’re so beautiful.” After the verses build with the desperation of one-sided love, the song explodes into a transcendent dance chorus. Its gentle synth wind instruments almost cruelly convince listeners that everything will be OK. But BTS knows better. —J-H.K.

“Those songs do a good job of showing who we were at that time, so they’re very precious to me,” Jimin said.

As their fame rose, everything BTS did was scrutinized. And the haters infiltrated, spreading rumors about their integrity. These controversies were then repeated in the media, leaving the general public to wonder if this heretofore squeaky clean idol group was actually unethical.

BTS addressed this period in their song “2! 3! (Because We Have More Better Days).” They were tired of denying the accusations and wanted to escape rumors surrounding their success. They also wanted to tell their fans not to worry and that at the count of three, they should all forget about the naysayers.

“There was a negative view of idols in general at the time,” Suga remembered. “Now it’s different and we’re acknowledged for our achievements and performances abroad. But it was agonizing for us back then.”

In the second episode, there is a moment when Bang PD tells the group they’ll be attending the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Suga asked: “Does this mean we won an award? Isn’t that why they invited us?” And then someone pointed out that’s not how it works in the U.S. They may attend, leave without an award, and just enjoy some time sightseeing before returning to Korea.

“We became a hot topic because no one knew who we were,” Jin said. “BTS was unknown.”

Of course, BTS won the the Top Social Artist award that evening. And while they were happy to win, Suga said, “To be honest, I didn’t even know what Top Social Artist meant at the time.”

I interviewed RM for the first time the day after their win. Back then, he went by Rap Monster. He was 22 and bore the responsibility of speaking for the entire group, as the sole fluent English speaker. He told me:

I am more confident with my English now. But it can be tiring, because my brain doesn’t think automatically in English. Actually, I feel quite a bit of pressure for me, because I want to answer correctly. In 2014, I knew my English was not so bad, but I had no confidence in talking directly to an English-speaking reporter. I had to do a short interview with, I think, Reuters from France. I was so nervous. I practiced memorizing three sentences for two hours. But, I think that these kinds of interviews make me develop a lot and that helps me. I like learning. I’ve been studying Japanese for years now, but it’s really hard. It’s definitely the next step for me to learn Japanese. I’m seriously studying it quite hard.

This was also the time period when BTS and Steve Aoki met for the first time to talk about collaborating one day. And it made me think of that NYT K-pop Podcast where the host and his guest belittled the collaboration between those two sets of artists: “No shots to Steve Aoki, it’s not that big of a get. Like out of all of the gets that they’ve gotten, it’s not that big of a get.”

Whether you like this song or not — and, for the record, it’s my favorite BTS collab — it’s undeniable that Aoki understood BTS’ musical sensibilities and worked with them, without dominating their sound.

“BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star” isn’t always easy to watch. Very real issues are discussed, including severe depression that hints at suicidal ideation. But what comes through is that it’s the group’s hope, friendship, humor and love that binds them together.

Airdates: Two 30-minute episodes will release Wednesdays on Disney+ from December 20 through January 10, 2024. This review is based on viewing screeners of the first two episodes. The titles for each episode are:
Ep. 1: The Beginning
Ep. 2: Adolescence
Ep. 3: Pursuit of Happiness
Ep. 4: Disconnected
Ep. 5: Welcome!
Ep. 6: Begin & Again
Ep. 7: Still Purple
Ep. 8: Promise for Tomorrow

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