BTS: Blood, Sweat & Tears

by Tamar Herman

A beautifully illustrated exploration of the music, inspiration and cultural influence of BTS – K-pop’s global superstars!

“The Beatles for the 21st Century” – BBC

BTS have exploded onto the global music scene with their distinctive brand of music, impressive choreography, and socially conscious lyrics. With multiple chart-topping albums and record-breaking music videos under their belts, these seven-men—RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jin, V, Jimin, and Jungkook—are an unstoppable force and an international phenomenon.

In Blood, Sweat & Tears , K-pop columnist Tamar Herman explores the group’s origins, meteoric rise, wide-ranging activism, and close-knit relationship with their fans. With full color photos, spotlights on each member, and a play-by-play of their discography, this book is a celebration of all things BTS and a must-have for fans worldwide!

Genres: Nonfiction

312 pages, Paperback

Published August 11, 2020

Reviews

[Samansa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must admit that upon further investigation and personal research I am left with a somewhat sour taste on my palate learning about this soon to be released book.

As an unofficial book of the worldwide phenomena known as BTS you would expect there to be a factual history of this group of seven men and how they came to be the worldwide sensation they are today.

I researched into the author and I can say that upon learning about her track record in relation to her biased reporting and her aggressive opinion of BTS I would not even gift this book to people in need of toilet paper during this pandemic.

Seeing her past public tweets and past stories written for various publications this author has proven herself to be one to use the name BTS to generate a false buzz about her work and promote herself as an expert.

After listening to her interview with a South Korean podcast about how she personally is sick of BTS and how she is looking forward to new groups pushing them off the top (so to speak) I can’t help but question her motivations for this book.

Is she really writing a book as a factual biography? Or will it be as I suspect given her personal track record a book full of bias, made up connections and ways to belittle this successful septet?

If you are a new fan to BTS and wish to learn more about them I would recommend you learn from real fans and ignore the money grab of people who have proven to be nothing but selfish in their pursuit of glory by standing on the success of others.

[MicMicBungee · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARMY PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK OR SUPPORT IT IN ANY WAY OR GIVE THE AUTHOR ANY ENGAGEMENT.
Tamar Herman has time and time again show herself to be a descipable clout-chasing BTS anti. Most experienced Armys know this but if you are new, you may be fooled into getting this book. Trust me, you don't want to read any trash written by this woman who has thrown BTS under the bus time and time again but continues to use them for clout and now for money.
This is just SOME of the receipts of her treatment of them over the years:
https://twitter.com/rlovesnamjoon/sta...
She said everyone is fed up of BTS but now has written a book to profit off them:
"People are exhausted for getting so much exposure to BTS, I do feel like we need some fresh faces in the industry" - Danny (DKDTV)
"Alot of people are frustrated that there havent been any popular bgs since BTS, its all been BTS" - Tamar

[emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

This “book” if it can be called that, is a pathetic attempt to exploit the global fame of BTS, a band with excellent music that strives to promote self-love and empower the youth to speak up. The author of this book has been exposed for mocking and demeaning BTS. This publication is an attempt by the author to get BTS’s global fanbase to purchase a poorly-written analysis for profit when ARMY intellectuals, researchers, and creatives produce content of a higher caliber and quality for no cost. Aside from the twisted motivations of the author, the book is lacking significantly in terms of graphic design, competent writing, and overall research. It’s a waste of your money. Support fan productions instead of money-grabbing pathetic ploys like Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

[Guillermina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just as trashy and ill researched as one would expect from this author.

[Sparfire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Please ARMY, for the sake of true journalism regarding BTS, do not purchase this book, thank you

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tamar Herman is a well respected pop culture journalist who has been covering kpop for nearly a decade, writing for Forbes, Billboard, MTV, Teen Vogue, South China Morning Post and more. I know that she is a long-time fan of BTS. This book, however, is written with a strong degree of journalist distance and seems aimed at an audience unfamiliar, at least less familiar, with BTS. I picked it up hoping for something a little more personal, more emotional, written for ARMY. Instead I got a very competent and solid overview of the timeline of BTS's career and summaries of every song in their entire discography through MOTS:7. This was helpful for me when I was working on a personal project of listening to every BTS song in chronological order to make my ultimate playlist of favorite songs. But there were some chapters of this book which felt like reading a long Wikipedia entry. One highlight was an interview with Dr. Murray Stein, author of Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction which was one of the inspirations for the MOTS albums. I do wish that Herman had included some of her own experiences or memories from interviewing BTS and watching their concerts, but I suppose I will have to find that type of content in a different book.

[思莹 · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i could rate this zero stars i would, another example of a white person overstepping and exploiting a poc act/culture for profit

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although controversial, this book is great! Tamar has said somewhat critical things about BTS before, but that does not mean she isn’t a fan - not every band is perfect (and in fact, likely none are). This book is very informative about BTS’s journey.

The negative comments on here clearly have not actually read the book!

[Beebee · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of time. This author clearly is delusional. I wish I could give this book negative star ratings. Herman is definitely neither an objective writer nor a reliable one.

[kutingtin · Rating 2 out of 5]

while i did learn about most of the old songs and how and why they were written, the rest are things I already knew.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried really hard to give this UNOFFICIAL documentation of BTS' history a chance. I have followed BTS career since debut and its been such a beautiful story of blood, sweat, and tears, and it deserves to be told from their point of view. The author has had a sordid history with the group, and its fanbase, ARMY due to disrespect, poor judgment, and darn near xenophobic tendencies. Over the years she has judged their artistic process, the relationship with their management company BigHit Entertainment, and has stated that the band's fame is unearned and handed to them by an obsessed fandom which couldn't be farther from the truth. Do NOT buy this UNOFFICIAL and fictional account of BTS. They deserve better, and as a reader, so do you!

[Bel · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a book about such a phenomenal pop group, this is the driest book imaginable. The book is so text heavy and it feels like you are reading the work from someone trying to write a thesis based on web content copied from Wikipedia. There are not many pictures. It is not fun to read and is an obvious attempt to get money from fans who will buy anything about BTS. Definitely skip, there are way better options available.

[Rosanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow I got lucky and Barnes and Noble sent me the preordered book earlier than the release date! Very well-written, thorough and overall great book for BTS fans.

[Linnéa · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author has written and published an unofficial book about BTS in order to profit off her hatred against BTS. Do not support this foul attempt.

Instead, I highly recommend the official BTS approved book called BEYOND THE STORY: 10 Year Record of BTS. It's a New York Times #1 Best Seller!

[Christie_TALe03 · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was bad.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

giving 1 star out of spite. i have not read it.

[Fire71 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hi I'm your friendship

[Nanoussa · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est un bon panorama sur la carrière et les choix artistiques du groupe BTS. Un très beau livre avec de belles photos.

[Lily Lil · Rating 1 out of 5]

My expectations were low but I’m still disappointed

[emmmnnio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Soy army pero este libro simplemente no.

[Jagan]

Good 👍.