BTS: Icons of K-Pop

by Adrian Besley

Seven good-looking boys—Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook—who can dance as well as they can sing, are tearing up the global music charts. Nothing new? Think again. BTS, who rose to fame in their native South Korea in 2013 and who sing almost entirely in Korean, are now an international sensation. Over the last three years, K-pop has steadily garnered a huge following among social-media-savvy teen girls. And with their clean-cut good looks, fabulously choreographed and perfectly executed dance moves, and catchy blend of pop, soft hip hop and r&b, BTS are leading the advance. They were recently profiled in US Vogue,  the first K-pop band to be granted such an honor; they won the 2017 Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist, beating Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez; they were listed by Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016, and their fanbase has ballooned since then; they were named in Time magazine's "Top 25 Most Influential People on the Internet 2017;" and they've recently embarked on a sold-out tour across the globe. Extensively researched, and written in an upbeat and accessible style, this book interweaves the success stories of each of the boys with how the band got together, while documenting their amazing rise to fame in Southeast Asia, and then the world. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Biography, Asia

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2018

About the author

Adrian Besley is a freelance writer and former copywriter for the BBC. He is the author of many non-fiction titles, including EXO: K-Pop Superstars, Blackpink: K-Pop's No.1 Girl Group and the forthcoming Billie Eilish: From e-girl to icon, as well as 5 Seconds of Summer Confidential and a series of top-selling YouTube books, including YouTube World Records.

Reviews

[Kristen Peppercorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't really tell me anything I already didn't know from watching BTS on YouTube and VLive and I did find a few small factual errors, but overall, if you didn't know anything about BTS, this is a pretty good guide. I liked the overall positive attitude that sprung from the pages in the writing.

[Elias D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan for about a year now. Anyway, I learnt some things that I never knew before, but most of it I already knew. I love the fact that the Author included BTS memes. That made this book a WHOLE lot better. I’d definitely recommend it for fresh ARMYs, or anyone who wants to learn a little more about BTS.

[Gaby🎀 · Rating 5 out of 5]

best book i have ever read! i recommend it to new army’s. great book if i could rate it more than five stars i would. i love this book but not as much as i love them. especially it has rap monster from 2013. his hottest phase. 🕶😩I also really loved world wide handsome, you know. 😘🐟August Daddy😩Taehyung😩❤️Hobi🍓JK😩 Jimin😩😍 I also really loved the pictures, it has some of the best picture. they did do some of them dirty, but that’s okay. I still love them.💜 In overall this book is 10/10, 5/5,♾/♾, best book i have ever read!!💜💜

[Siti · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of great info particularly for newbie ARMYs. Pair this read with Burn The Stage: The Movie and you get a good sense of the band, touted as The Beatles of 21st century by BBC.

This is the first BTS-related book I have completed, and it definitely is not going to be the last. Even if you are not a fan, the book provides a glimpse of what the deal is the band all about.

[Nesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well put together and of really nice quality. Literally covers everything from early predebut days to the love yourself album series. It also has memes and little inside jokes that only army's would know so you really feel the love. I was worried it would skip over the bad stuff and it kinda did but at least it was all mentioned, like talking about Namjoons anxiety, jimins body issue problems and all the hate they received early on. Like it's there but like, one sentence. It really focuses on how amazing they are which is great! I also really like how it goes through each song on each album, and also talks about some of the lyrics and the meaning behind them. I diddnt learn that much cause I already knew most things but still lovely to read and have proudly on my shelf :)

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

We learn in this book that we can be what we want when we work hard for it. BTS worked hard for being in a kpop group. When they worked hard we find that they made it super far. WE should make sure we work hard so we can go as far aas BTS someday in our own way.
likes: shows the progess and shows nickname
dislikes: none

[Mengzhen Markland · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone just getting into BTS, this is the perfect book. I loved how detailed it was and how much information they provided, even including memes and other useful things. This is a perfect introduction to BTS and I love how it gives videos to look at, websites to visit and more.

[BTS]

The best book of BTS. I am a ARMY and i really love BTS

[Emma]

Army.

[Sanskar Kakkar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not good researches and too ignorant writing so that bts are the best and also many grammatical mistakes

[SAADIA · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE BTS ,thats why i wanted to read this book.And this book seems to be quite amazing.

[kutingtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Forever loves, Bangtan Seonyondan 💜💜💜

[Mădă · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute biography.
As an ARMY since 2014, it is truly a very good biography, even if it is unnoficial.
It just amazing.
I remember all those moments, I see them in front of myself while reading this book and I just can't TT.TT I have a lot of memories with our efforts ( ARMY) in helping BTS achieve all their goals and dreams. It was hard for ourselves as for them back then, in 2014...
Reading this book and remembering when we've got rejected by some popular radio channel in Romania just because they were Asians and their music is not suitable for Romania's music industry and popular opinion...
And many more
I purple this book,
It helps in remembering things for a veteran ARMY
💜

[Julia Wróbel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dla początkujących ARMY jak ja idealna

[Nina Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this book is very good and it tells me all the facts about bts and i love how the author included bts memes which makes it whole lot better also teaches me Korea which i am very interested to learn. it also tell me the story about them about how they got famous and what theyve been through to be famous.

[Sakura]

I don't love, i purple this book💜

Lo orgullosa que me siento de los chicos y de mi por ser ARMY después de leer este libro.

Me encantó que aunque contiene detalles técnicos sobre los miembros y su carrera, también contiene muchísimos chistes locales que le daban un toque muy especial.

Enserio amé este libro con todo mi corazón.

[Axelle]

I read this for the Reading Rush, but I will not rate it since its an unofficial biography (and I didn't learn many new things lol), I already know they are kings and icons^^
And I think its better for people that don't know much about them and are interested in discovering more.

[Farahjmrn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for new fans. It’s a quick light read that summarises the journey of BTS and small intros of the members.

[Itzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book.

[Jungkook21]

BTS: Icons of K-Pop

[Princess prempeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE BTS

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nie wiem po jakiego grzyba ją kupiłam, ale zawsze to jedna książka więcej na półce 🤷‍♀️

[Neža · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
A well witten book about BTS from 2010 to 2018. Sadly it didn't teach me anything new. And I even consider some of the information boring.

[⺌N★na୨୧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kompletnie nic się nie dowiedziałam nowego stąd, a autor zwraca trochę zbyt dużo uwagi na nieważne szczegóły (tak samo jak w książce o BLACKPINK). Nie polecam

[Mariana Pinzón · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

[María]

No sé si habrá otros libros mejores o peores, pero a mí, para empezar me ha venido genial <3

[adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I´m not maximally pleased. Plus points are pictures (but there could be more of them). Author translated most of the english and korean names to czech (I read that version). Yeah, it´s fine for some people who are not good in these skills. In the end of the book you can find dictionary. You get an interesting informations,but if you are ,,real,, ARMY, you won´t get some new info. Minus points are that the book was just about some informations (and that was boring and nothing special for me) and I had to force myself to read it to be done with it. Interesting, but I wouldn´t read it again.

[tomorrowneverc4me · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das war tuff in 2019

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plutôt bien documenté mais j'ai eu l'impression de lire un mélange entre une page wikipédia et les vidéos "guide to BTS" qu'on peut trouver sur youtube. Les recherches restent assez peu approfondi, mais sont suffisante.
Un des plus gros problème pour moi est du côté de l'auteur (et peut être aussi du traducteur) iel veut faire une biographie sérieuse avec beaucoup de faits et événement mais y ajoutent des réflexions gênantes et des mêmes pour plaire aux fans (si je vois encore une fois le "Jimin you got no jams" je brûle le livre, l'auteur.e l'a placé au moins une demi douzaine de fois). D'ailleurs je pense qu'iel considère les army comme des ados et probablement même des gamines, et voilà que je parle de leur abdo et de leur physique, et certaines réflexion laisse penser que les army regardent certaines vidéo juste pour leur "sourires craquant" ou leur coupe de cheveux. Enlever entièrement la dimension visuelle du groupe serait une erreur puisque c'est bien de la kpop mais ça devient lourd et on a juste l'impression qu'iel nous invite à voir des compils de leur abdo sur youtube.
Vraiment une grosse impression d'avoir lu une biographie fait par un baby army qui est encore trop influencé par les vidéos drôles sur youtube pour connaître réellement les caractères des sept membres. Et j'en retiens juste qu'ils sont beaux et drôle.
D'ailleurs iel passent en vitesse grand v les difficultés du groupe et des membres et perpétue certains clichés.

Bref j'ai survécu jusqu'à chapitre 17 a voire si j'arriverai à le finir mais la chose a retenir c'est qu'il vaut mieux faire ses propres recherches: c'est moins cher et moins lourd

[Anushree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first 4 star read of the year. I am deducting one star simply as I feel the book could have had a little more details and photos! It was a great read for a beginner ARMY, as fans and stans of the K Pop group are called. I loved reading about the humble beginnings of the boys, their sheer hard work, their rise to the top and their current standings! I especially enjoyed the chapters dedicated to each member, stating their profiles including their interesting nicknames! I read them first!
Another good thing about this book was that reading the chapters in any order didn't diminish from my reading experience. It is an additional benefit for any non fictional book. This book covered everything very chronologically and it helped me map their journey in a systematic manner. The supplementary information of which "Bangtan Bombs" to watch helped enhance the reading experience. I sat with my phone when reading, so as to immediately watch those videos. It made me understand the content much better and I am thankful for such a wel written and researched book, for I am a better ARMY because of it.
Go read even if you have been a fan from day one!