I know this is basically a week overdue that’s partially why I debated on if I should continue and finish it as I originally planned. Now, this is kind of old news, but this is history we’re talking about. (Plus, my excuse for why this post is late is that I’ve been watching my thirteen-months-old nephew for basically the entire month of May while his parents were out of the country. Single mothers out there I commend you because it was a struggle and you all truly impress me) Regardless of excuses, we have to discuss history.
Sunday, 21 of May, the month-long social media whirlwind surrounding the Billboard Music Awards: Top Social Artist came to a conclusion. A.R.M.Ys (members of BTS’ fandom) and other fans of the Kpop community worked together to secure BTS’ victory with a record-breaking total of over 300 million votes. This was not only record-breaking for Kpop, considering that BTS was the first artist in the Kpop genre to be nominated and also to win this specific BBMA (if any), but also record-breaking for the BBMAs in general.
The Voting
Now, I have been heavily invested in voting for BTS as well as monitoring the voting situation myself and I can promise that just when I thought it was getting boring, something would happen to spark up interest again. There is never a dull moment in the world of Kpop especially, as an American stanning Kpop (people just think you’re crazy. Granted… it can seem that way, but I prefer to say that Kpop fans are just extremely dedicated.) Thanks to the dedication of ARMYs and other Kpop fandoms, who wanted to see the recognition of Kpop, BTS was invited to attend the BBMAs and then ultimately took the award home with them back to South Korea.
The Determination
It was through the determination of fans that BTS was invited to the BBMAs. I would consider myself to be an ARMY (I have other groups I really like too. I may make a post about that later), but even I started to feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer force of presence that ARMYs and a few non-ARMYs (I know there were other 
Kpop fandoms who pitched in to help see Kpop succeed. I’ve been on those aminos.) had across Twitter. I was also very impressed and proud to see what unity among the fandoms could do. Such as, break servers and leave a clear gap between first and second place. Three-hundred million votes are completely insane to even comprehend. Every person who voted could vote up to two-hundred times (100 on Twitter and an addition 100 on the BBMAs’ website) 300,000,000/200 is still 1,500,000. If we divide that number by the twenty-one days that BBMA voting was open, 1,500,000/21 we end up with 74,428.571 that means at least seventy-four thousand four hundred and twenty-nine people voted every day. Bear in mind not everyone is going to do the max amount of voting every single day (I know there were days I forgot because after dealing with my nephew all day I just wanted to go to bed most nights) so there were probably a lot more people who voted for BTS during the BBMAs. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what does.
Leaving a Mark
BTS arrived in Las Vegas for the BBMAs on May 19, and just as anyone who has fallen into the black hole that is Kpop and its fandoms know, they left their mark on the people they met. Laura Marano (also known as Aly from the Disney Channel show Austin and Aly) learned some of the boys’ choreography (where she was dubbed the eighth member of BTS) and later interviewed them on the magenta carpet. In a short youtube video, Marano shares her experience (which may have involved her accidentally hitting one of them) and her overall opinion of the members. 
Kim Seok Jin reminded all of us why he is the visual of the group as he traded in the title ‘car door guy’ for ‘the third one from the left’; in fact, it drew so much attention that ‘the third one from the left was even brought up during interviews that BTS had following the BBMAs. “The third one from the left took over Twitter (and you better believe some ARMYs had fun with that). And of course, BTS met a lot of other artists, but it really seemed like The Chain Smokers and Halsey got to be real close with BTS during the short time span. Halsey even bought them churros and BTS gave her some authentic Korean snacks. The Chainsmokers may have formed the closest bond with the boys (though this is just speculation) the group took some very cute, goofy pictures, the Chain smokers both followed BTS and tweeted hints about a possible collab (maybe as early as this summer), they tweeted their congratulations to BTS on winning Top Social Artist, and even the Billboards official Twitter noted how BTS seemed to form a friendship with both the Chain smokers and Halsey.
However, BTS’ phot-up with America (and some worldwide) artists and personalities didn’t stop with Halsey and the Chainsmokers. Camila Cabello, Steve Aoki, internet personality Logan Paul, radio presenters Liam McEwan, Dean McCarthy, actor/producer Aj Gibson, host/producer Cassie DiLaura, and the Dick Clark Parent Company President Mike Mahan can all be added alongside Laura Marano, Halsey, and the Chainsmokers as people BTS spent time rubbing elbows with at the BBMAs.
Tension
Considering the fact that BTS beat out names like Justin Bieber (who has won top social artist every year since 2011), Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, and Shawn Mendez, there were a lot of spectators who weren’t too pleased
with the results. Many people upset that their favorite artists had been beaten by ‘newbie, no-name foreigners’ and some were upset that the Kpop fandom had taken over Twitter on Sunday. Since I’m home from university for the summer, my mother the unfortunate soul who got to overhear my opinion on the subject. I find it funny that to these people who are complaining thought that just because this was their first time ever hearing about
BTS thought that they were brand new to the music scene. I believe my exact words in my fit of rage was, “some people get so offended about a situation without educating themselves on any details.” Firstly, BTS officially debut June 13, 2013, and because this is Kpop that the members we in training prior to that from a period between one and three years. that also means that they have had a music career longer than Halsey (2014), Charlie Puth (2015), Sam Hunt (2014), and Fifth Harmony (2015), and they officially
debuted around the same time as Travis Scott (2013) and Lorde (2013). Next month BTS celebrates it’s four-year anniversary since it’s debut so I wouldn’t say that they are no-name newbies who came out of nowhere unless you want to say that about all these other artists. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how upset these other people were about their favorite artist winning or not, what actually matters is that BTS won Top Social Artist ‘fair and square’. And, the fact that some of these people feel the need to call out racial slurs or just be plain petty about
the situation is uncalled for and pitiful. Am I happy BTS won, yes. Would I have been sad if they had lost, yes; however, I would not have started criticizing whoever won and I would have been just as happy if another Kpop group had been nominated and won the BBMA. I also would have thought that is was just as uncalled for if ARMY started criticizing the fact that Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendez are both Canadian, that Selena Gomez’s father is Mexican, and that Arian Grande is part Italian… the BBMAs is a worldwide award show so every artist in every genre has a chance to be nominated and win.
*My favorite video of someone responding to people’s comments about BTS’s win*
these are some the elements of a zealous passion-filled performance. No matter what kind of performer or genre of music a musician performs, the most important thing is to make a connection with the fans, make them feel important and make any event an experience that fans can’t forget.
It is more likely that we will find stories about our favorite artist 
venturing out to the clubs with his/her latest fling, throwing a party for whatever holiday is closest or being captured in the middle of his/her latest scandal, plastered across the tabloids or sliding across our news feeds. And while our loyalty may belong to our favorite musician/ group, the effort that they’re willing to invest into practice, fan events and performances the stronger our loyalty will remain.
Unlike most 
Although scandal in the world of Korean entertainment isn’t impossible and does occasionally happen it is very rare that it makes it to the public. Kpop idols may occasionally be seen at clubs, but the chances of anyone finding them in a club under improper or disreputable circumstances are about as likely as seeing a real-life unicorn trotting across your bedroom in the next five minutes. They are called Idols for a reason.
Idols are expected to have the most
respectable and professional behavior while in public while working and while speaking to fans; in fact, often times cameras may capture members of a group reminding each other not to curse because they care being recorded live. The companies that sign these idols expect not only for them to maintain spotless reputations, they expect strong vocals,
An “average” training period for trainees is between 2 to 4 years, but it can be several more years or as short as a few months. Jo Kwon, who’s a member of the JYP group 2AM, was a trainee for
Seoul. Considering most of these same people were singing along to PSY’s “Gangnam Style” it seems a little funny that they are so insulted by K-fans participating in something that’s not in English. People don’t seem to understand that just because learning other languages, especially ones like Korean, Thai, or Vietnamese, aren’t stressed in our school systems, it doesn’t mean that learning foreign languages isn’t stressed in other countries. According to the
The same thing applies with Kpop and Kdramas. Firstly, there is, in most fans’ opinions, the obvious comeback of subtitles and translations. There are multiple sites dedicated to
and some Kpop idols may only be half Korean and some aren’t Korean at all, so they spend time learning Korean. For example, the Kpop group 
A foreign fan may not understand any part of the language, but they can see the context clues in music videos, the passionate expressions on performers’ faces, and most of all they can really feel the emotion a performer is singing with. “I Really Didn’t Know” is known as a classic because of the sad love story it tells dating back to when China invaded South Korea, and lovers could only call each other with a whistle. The song tells the story from the perspective of a woman whose lover has either been called off to war or died in the war, yet she can still hear the sound of whistling because she never thought he would leave her (perhaps permanently in death), “[she] honestly, really didn’t know.” This song was
Riding the Korean wave 