East Meets West: BTS fever has hit the UK – but just why are they so iconic?

If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet or a radio recently you’ll know that K-pop is absolutely huge – and there’s no bigger group on the scene than BTS. The bulletproof boy squad were the first Korean pop artists to reach number one on the US album charts, making their album Love Yourself: Tear the first number one record in 12 years in a language other than English.

With an ARMY of fans in the UK and around the world, and their first ever concerts in the UK coming up later this year, Catherine from East Meets West caught up with someone who’s well clued up on the band’s backstory and has a few ideas about what makes them so popular.

Adrian Besely is the author of BTS: Icons of K-pop, a biography of the supergroup which is available on pre-order now. Listen again to the interview to find out why Suga is Adrian’s favourite member of the squad, why the Bangtan boys have such a diverse fan base and how Youtube has changed how people listen to music.

Listen to East Meets West 9-10pm weekdays on Panda Radio. Tweet us something daebak @PandaRadioUK or find us on Facebook.

Lead photo: The legendary squad line up for a group pic at the 2018 Golden Disk Awards. By NewsInStar – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYJ7u0jLYUg, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65497576