Highlights from a Clubhouse Conversation with Youngdae Kim
*a simple summary of a 1hr conversation and based on my notes so all errors are mine!
Q: about the Korean media/general public's perception or inability to understand the BTS phenomenon?
Y: There are many layers to this +

Y: One is there are still many people who simply do not know about BTS. Yes, that may include people who are simply apathetic/uninterested but mostly people who don't know bc if you only live/work in Korea, it's difficult to experience the global aspect and truly understand +

Y: the significance of the artists' global accomplishments. The reason why I was able to is bc I lived in the US for a long time. So since the Korean media, which includes the writers and editors, is in Korea, it's hard for them to really express something they've never really +

Y: witnessed/felt firsthand. Another layer is even now, people don't take Kpop, more specifically idol music which includes BTS here, seriously. There are still prejudices against BTS for that reason as well. So imo, though they congratulate them, some still have their +

Y: preconceived notions about how idols are manufactured etc, so there's still an element of them not wanting to acknowledge their accomplishments. And that's why people don't really look into BTS' music or what they're about. One last layer is something I mentioned on Dasvweda +

(here's the link: ) that BTS didn't rise to this position in a traditional way and they kind of bypassed all the traditional institutions like mainstream media. So they didn't get any help from any sort of system that made them into superstars. Instead +

if you think about it, they got there bc of their fans, and not just the fans from Korea, but from fans all over the world. So it was actually a very unique phenomenon. From the perspective of the media/critics, we really couldn't say much about it [bc they didn't have a role].