KPOP MONTHLY - BTS Special Edition

KPOP MONTHLY BTS Special Edition

Welcome to the first ever BTS Edition of K-Pop Monthly! You’re probably wondering: “Why is it only BTS?” Well, there are a few reasons. First of all, BTS is my ult group. I’ve stanned them since 2018 and and they are the reason I got into K-Pop in the first place. I’m sure a lot of you can say the same. Truthfully, this isn’t the real reason. As you may have read in the February Edition of K-Pop Monthly, BTS announced a set of their Permission To Dance concerts in Las Vegas. Now, I know this doesn’t seem relevant at all, but stay with me. I don’t want to spoil the story ahead, but I’ll just say–I may or may not have attended. So, this special edition of K-Pop Monthly is the full story of my first ever BTS concert and how I got there! Also included is the release of BTS’s anthology album, Proof, various little articles about concert tips and some BTS playlists for different occasions! In conclusion, I hope you enjoy this special edition

K-Pop

And if

haven’t seen BTS yet, have hope because anything is possible!

BTS SPECIAL EDITION

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve liked BTS since 2018. After seeing their Billboard performance of Fake Love, I was in love. Following two crazy years of being in the fandom, in 2020, I got tickets to see BTS perform in Toronto for their Map of the Soul Tour. I was beyond excited and I was the happiest I had ever been. However–we all know what happened in March of 2020…

After over a year of postponements, BTS cancelled the tour in August of 2021. I was hurt, but I knew it was coming. If they had cancelled it as soon as the pandemic hit, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it. But the way it was all spread out made the pain bearable. I cried for a day and picked myself up again, hoping that they would announce another tour. Things were getting better and the world was getting back to some form of normal. But instead, they announced Permission to Dance in LA–and concert number 3 was on my birthday. Yeah, I was devastated, but I was happy they were getting the chance to perform in front of ARMY again as I knew that meant the world to them. Over time, I had gotten over it and my birthday had come quickly.

Before my birthday, I had thrown some hints that I wanted to see MONSTA X in concert. After their Fatal Love album, I started to like them a lot and I really wanted to see them. For my birthday, in my box of presents, was a small envelope with MONSTA X’s logo on the front. I opened it to see MONSTA X tickets for February of 2022 in Toronto. I almost cried–finally, my first K-Pop concert. Once again, I was over the moon. I also got some money for my birthday and decided to buy the live streaming of the December 2nd Permission to Dance show in LA. As I watched the concert that night, I could feel their passion through the screen. It was honestly an amazing performance. In December of 2021, I was hopeful and happy. I was seeing a MONSTA X concert and BTS were starting their own concerts again–hopefully a tour would be coming soon.

January came and COVID cases started to rise in Canada. After winter break, I made the switch to online learning and things got bad. Restrictions returned and concert sizes were capped. I didn’t know what would happen. The complete restriction was only valid until the end of January, but would they completely reopen everything by February 1st? I decided to have hope. Maybe things would work out. However, before I knew it, MONSTA X rescheduled their whole tour and dropped the Toronto date. At this rate, I was completely drained. My hope had disintegrated right in front of my eyes. Somehow, I was even more upset at the cancellation of MONSTA X’s tour. This was perhaps because I wasn’t expecting it and it happened so suddenly. Maybe it was also because I made the mistake of having hope… February was an especially hard month as the concert was supposed to be on the 1st. Suddenly all the things I had missed started to hurt. My 8th grade graduation was cancelled, I had lost my whole first year of high school, I lost the opportunity to see BTS and MONSTA X and my best friends that liked BTS no longer liked them and were barely my friends anymore. At the end of January, with the MONSTA X concert money, I purchased BTS’s ARMY Membership. I was hopeless and upset, so I thought buying one of BTS’s Membership Merch packs would cheer me up. Little did I know, this Membership would change my life…

GetngTickets

As BTS announced their Permission to Dance series was going to Las Vegas, my mom suggested that we sign up for the ARMY Membership Presale for the Las Vegas shows. She claimed it was “just to test it out” for future concerts. So, we signed up and waited to be accepted into the presale. The day before the presale came sooner than expected and we received the acceptance email. Then, it was finally time for the actual presale. The morning of, I texted my mom from school, reminding her that the sale was that night. She then warned me that we weren’t actually going to go as it was “unreasonable” and it was too complicated. I told her I understood, but deep down, I had a single spark of hope. Despite this, I continued my day without thinking of the sale.

6pm rolled around and my heartrate was going through the roof. I tried to keep calm and continued with my math work, which in itself, stressed me out. I came downstairs to see my mom waiting in that dreadful waiting room. I ignored it and told her I didn’t want to see. Being so close but so far made me upset and I didn’t want to cry that day. We ate dinner with the laptop on a table in the other room. After dinner, I sat on the couch and watched some BTS videos per usual while my mom sat in front of the laptop, still waiting. My mom was in the waiting room for an hour and a half before actually getting in. When she finally did get in, she called me to see the seating with her, but I once again told her that I did not want to see it.

However, after some convincing, I caved and decided to take a look. The entire bottom of the stadium was already sold out, leaving only the three hundreds and four hundreds. This blew me away as it was only the ARMY Membership Presale. My mom clicked on some of the seats in the three hundreds section to see the price… $91 USD. Much cheaper than either of us had expected. After accidentally swiping back into the waiting room and luckily getting back into the ticket sale, the unthinkable happened.

My mom turned to me and asked, “do you want to go?” I can still picture the moment as if it were in slow motion. In an emotional overload, with my whole body shaking, I agreed. We quickly selected seats and bought them. I was a crying, sobbing mess, my heart pounding out of my chest. That “you got the tickets” from Ticketmaster only made me cry more. After my tear ducts completely dried up, we realized we had to book a whole trip to Las Vegas. Within an hour, we had a Vegas trip booked for Easter weekend!

That night I could barely sleep, I was still trembling with the enormity of the situation. I was completely dazed by everything as it had all happened so fast. Just a few hours ago, I had been almost in tears over my math homework. Now, that homework no longer mattered. I was seeing BTS in Las Vegas in a month…

Concert tickets are arguably the most stressful part of concerts. However, with the proper techniques, it doesn’t have to be. I am no expert at ticketing, but I have learned quite a bit from my experiences. So, I’ve created a quick list of tips to ease your ticketing

Tips For Getting Enter A Presale

Presales relieve a lot of stress from ticketing. By getting into verified fan presales you have an increased chance at beating scalpers to tickets.

Concert Tickets

4:

Plan Your Seats

Look at a map of the stadium or arena to get an idea of where you want to sit. This way, when you get into the sale, you can quickly choose the area you want without having to scramble to select seats because sometimes, the seats you select will be sold as you’re looking at them!

5: Get In Early

Get into the waiting room at least one hour before the sale starts. If you want really good seats, I would even suggest getting into the waiting room as soon as it opens. The earlier the better and there is really no harm in getting in extra early.

7: Be Patient

6:Use Multiple Devices

Having various devices can increase your chance on getting into the ticket sale early. If you want to go to various days, then use one device per day. It will be too difficult to go into a different days waiting room after buying tickets to one day.

Take some deep breaths while you’re in the waiting room. Watch some music videos or variety shows to make the time go by faster and have hope! You could be seeing your favourite artists soon.

THE WEEK BEFORE THE WEEK BEFORE

The month of March passed quickly with March break and the Permission to Dance concerts in Seoul. I even got the chance to see the movie theatre streaming of the Seoul concert which was like a fun warm up for the in-person concert ahead. The audience in our show were screaming and singing as if it were a real concert which made it so much more enjoyable.

April had approached sooner than I expected. I pushed through the first few weeks of April, trying to complete all the school work I had. Then finally, the week before had arrived. Under normal circumstances, by this time I would have been over the moon excited.

However, there was one thing that was holding both my mom and I back. In order to enter America, we needed a negative COVID-19 test taken a day before we left. When booking the trip, we had high hopes that America would remove the rule. After all, Canada had recently removed the mandate, so we thought America would do the same. It was two weeks before the trip and there was no word about the removal of the rule. Cases in Canada were rising as mask mandates had been removed. So, just to be safe, my mom decided to pull both my brother and I out of school for the entire week before the trip.

Even though we were somewhat settled because we were all staying home, there was still a lingering sense of fear. Regardless of us being out of school, I still had work to do and we still had places to go. On the Monday before, I had to get my braces off which thoroughly stressed me out as my mask would be off. After we had lost so many opportunities, I was so worried that this would be taken too. There were times when my mom and I were so stressed that you could see it in our eyes. If I wasn’t stressed, my mom was stressed. We were overthinking way too much and making ourselves feel symptoms that weren’t really there. At the slightest sneeze, we became absolutely sick with paranoia. We were basically going quarantine stir-crazy because we really wanted to go on this trip! After so many tears, Thursday came and we finally did our test. We stood outside of Shoppers Drug Mart in high winds and waited in the car for 15 minutes before we finally got our results back… Thankfully, they were negative. Just like that, the excitement started to set in…

The bags were packed, the tests were negative and it was finally going to happen.

I was seeing BTS… In two days…

What to Pack for a Kpop Concert Abroad What to Pack for a Kpop Concert Abroad

2. Lightstick

1. Portable Charger

- especially useful for concert day - don’t forget to charge prior to use

- check cords to make sure they connect properly

3. Batteries

- bring lots—it’s better to have more than less - your lightstick will surely die at least once during the concert, so always have them ready

4. Clear Bag

- at most venues, only clear bags are allowed inside, so a clear bag necessary - check the venue’s size requirements prior to purchasing a bag

- definitely a must for any kpop concert - if you can’t get one before the concert, don’t worry because they’ll also be available at the venue - don’t forget to sync it with the venue before the concert starts!

5. Wipes & Hand Sanitizer

- pandemic or not, both of these items are still extremely useful - if there’s no sink around and you need to clean your hands, these will be especially handy - also useful for cleaning surfaces such as your seat

7. Wireless Speaker

6. The Essentials

- don’t forget your basic toiletries like toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap and shampoo

- makes moments like getting ready for the concert so much more fun

TheJourneytoVegas

Friday had finally come and it was time to embark on our crazy journey to Las Vegas. After waking up at eight in the morning, we arrived at the airport by noon and quickly got through security. We were a few hours early, so we waited around the terminal for a while. We hadn’t been to Pearson Airport since March of 2020 and I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. Looking for some snacks and water, we went to one of the nearby convenience stores. Curiously, we checked the magazine section to see if we could snag any BTS magazines. We were actually able to find the Best Businesses HYBE Edition of Time Magazine (the one with Bang PD on the cover). We grabbed some snacks and went to check out. The lady working there looked at our lanyards that my dad had made with BTS’s logo on them. She asked where we were going and we told her we were going for the concert. She then told us about her daughter’s friends that like BTS and she started singing Butter! I was so surprised by this interaction, but little did I know, this was only the beginning of the ARMY sightings…

After the convenience store, we headed to our gate where we waited for boarding. We boarded our first plane of the day by 2:20pm and finally took off at 2:40pm EST. This flight was our longest flight of the whole trip and it was our first flying experience in over two years, so I was initially a bit nervous. However, after taking off, I felt more comfortable and I tried to make the time pass as quickly as I could. My mom and I watched the first episode of Business Proposal, then I started drawing Taehyung and Jungkook from the first two Vegas concerts. We landed in Vancouver at 4pm PST. It was our first time in Vancouver, but we lacked the time to sightsee. We had to quickly make our way through security once again and to our next flight that would be taking us to Sin City. After speeding through security and customs, we made it to the gate and tried to find something to eat. We stopped at another convenience store to see if they had anything we wanted. However, instead of food, we were greeted by something else… A mom ARMY sent my mom a finger heart and my mom sent a finger heart back. Both her daughter and I hadn’t even noticed our moms’ signal until both were laughing. We actually ended up being on the same flight too! They weren’t the only ARMY’s on our flight… More than half of our plane was ARMY. Between the purple masks, BT21 headbands and other merchandise, it was easy to tell that everyone was going for BTS. Even the girl that sat beside us on the plane was ARMY. It was the coolest thing ever and it reminded me of BTS’s impact.

For this much shorter flight, I decided to just continue my Jungkook drawing. However, as we came closer to Vegas, I started to get extremely excited. I put my iPad away and started taking everything in as I looked on to the sea of darkness from the plane window. Everything was setting in now… I was seeing BTS… TOMORROW. This was really happening. After everything, we were here…

As we finally got closer, I could see the strip from my window. I saw Allegiant stadium and I had the most magical feeling. BTS was performing there right now. Tomorrow, I would be there, seeing them. It gave me the most euphoric yet emotional sensation–my eyes were even tearing up a bit. The dazzling hotels were beautifully lit in purple lights, all for BTS. It was years since I had been to Vegas and I had a much greater appreciation for it this time, especially because of the concert. We finally landed in Vegas. After a tiring trip, we got off the plane and set foot on Vegas ground. However… I left my jacket on the plane… After retrieving my jacket thanks to the help of a flight attendant, we made our way through the airport. The Las Vegas airport was so nice and definitely displayed the overall vibe of the city. We took quite a few pictures to mark the beginning of our adventure before heading to the rideshare area. As we walked towards the rideshare garage, we could see the brightly lit Vegas strip close up. Our Uber arrived shortly and we were greeted by a really nice driver. We talked to him about how we were seeing BTS and he gave us some advice on how to navigate the area.

Within a few minutes, we were dropped off at our hotel. We stayed at Virgin Hotels, which was a new resort somewhat off the strip, but close to the stadium. We checked in and looked around in awe as no one was wearing masks, which was initially absurd to us. In Canada, we still had a lot of restrictions and despite the removal of the mask mandate, many people were still cautious. But in America, it was a completely different atmosphere. Personally, I wasn’t too bothered. I put aside the pandemic and accepted the risk we were taking by travelling and honestly, it was so relieving to just forget about it all for a weekend. This weekend wasn’t about the pandemic or the virus–it was all about BTS. After getting our keys, we grabbed a pizza from a restaurant within the hotel and headed up to our room. The hotel was huge and we were walking through this one hallway for eternity. We finally reached our room and opened the door…

The room was so nice. There was a couch, a table and they even had this big door separating the bedroom from the entrance area. However, as I walked towards the desk to put down my bag, I saw something even more shocking… A BTS Las Vegas magazine was sitting on the table, just waiting for us. It was a magazine to tell tourists about what was going on in the city and I assume they were given in all hotel rooms. But what made it special was that it was BTS. Even though we hadn’t gotten one of the BTS themed rooms, our room had that slight touch of BTS all because of the magazine.

We practically swallowed the pizza and got ready for bed. I accidentally picked up a box of almonds for two seconds without knowing that they were metered, meaning if you picked it up for longer than a few seconds, they would charge you for it. I quickly put it down after discovering this and we luckily weren’t charged. After that little scare, I was somewhat suspicious of everything in the room and was extra cautious when picking things up. Besides that, BTS went live and I was watching it thinking, “they’re in this city right now, and I’m seeing them tomorrow.”

After our long journey, we finally got into our bed. Our first night in Las Vegas was coming to a close and our adventure was just beginning. I fell asleep with adrenaline rushing through my veins. I don’t recall any dreams from that night, but I assume that is because I knew that when I woke up, all my dreams would finally become reality.

ThePerfectChillBTSPlaylt

Looking for some chill BTS songs, but haven’t been able to find the perfect playlist? Do not fear, for I have the perfect chill BTS playlist for you! I made this playlist after returning from my trip, but it would have been great for the plane. This playlist is also amazing for relaxing, working and any type of travelling! I would include so many more songs if I could, but to keep this list brief, I have only selected a few. Feel free to add any more songs to the list! Last but not least, I’ve carefully curated this playlist to be listened to in order, so make sure your shuffle is off.

1. Love Maze - Everytime a playlist starts with this song, I know it’s going to be good. The introduction is so calming and the chorus is so sweet. I knew it had to be the first song on this playlist!

2. Paradise - Where Love Maze goes, Paradise goes too. In my brain, these two are packaged deal and they flow into each other so well. Love Yourself: Tear was the home of so many chill songs, Paradise being one of them. Other than So What, this is probably my favourite song from the album.

3. Life Goes On - This one is pretty self explanatory. Life Goes On is one of the most chill BTS songs ever! It also provided so much comfort to ARMYs during the pandemic.

4. Spring Day - I thought Spring Day followed Life Goes On nicely as it is about missing someone, while Life Goes On is about the pandemic and being separated. These two songs really go hand in hand!

5. Stay Alive - I placed this song after Spring Day as I once again feel like the meanings link well.

6. Save Me- I put Save Me after Stay Alive because their meanings connect in a way. Both songs are about asking for saving. Hence, I wanted them to follow each other.

7. Magic Shop - The Magic Shop is supposed to be the saving hand that follows the songs Stay Alive and Save Me. Whenever I’m feeling down, I put on this song and I feel like I’m in that Magic Shop with the boys.

8. Euphoria - Following being saved by the magic shop, we go into Euphoria. You can hear the happiness laced through each word and I think it is a great song to go to when you are feeling down or–well, euphoric!

9. Best of Me - Best of Me has the same upbeat, happy energy that Euphoria has, so it is only fitting that they are back to back.

10. Dimple - Now onto Best of Me’s same album sibling. This song once again gives me the same upbeat vibes as both Best of Me and Euphoria. It’s flirty and the vocals are so soothing. It just had to be on this playlist!

11. Seesaw - I don’t really have any reason for putting this song after Dimple. However, Seesaw is such a chill song that really shows the diversity of Yoongi’s production skills.

12. Mikrokosmos - Another really meaningful song for us. Not only is this song so soothing with its graceful vocals. Every time I hear this song, I feel especially comforted as instead of a magic shop, it’s like being in our own little universe with BTS!

13. Lights - This song has such a sweet meaning. The vocals and even the rap parts are so stunning and something about it is so comforting. Perhaps it’s because BTS really are our lights!

14. Waste It On Me - Waste It On Me could be seen as a hype song but Jungkook’s graceful vocals always calm me down, so I had to put this song on here. Also, Namjoon’s rap is so amazing, I always find myself rapping along.

15. Dream Glow - This song sounds like magic. Something about Jungkook, Seokjin and Jimin’s vocals make this song beautiful. Overall, the whole BTS World album is so chill, which leads us perfectly into our next song.

16. Heartbeat - As Hobi said, this is one of the hidden gems of BTS’s discography. This is another one of the most magical songs I’ve ever heard. It’s beauty really creates such a calming atmosphere when listening.

17. Love is Not Over: Full Length Edition - This is the beginning of the HYYH era segment of this playlist. Between the meaning and the actual vocals and raps, this song is so calming and is the perfect song to introduce the HYYH vibes.

18. Hold Me Tight - Hold Me Tight is really so underrated. It is somewhat sad but at the same time has such a relaxing sound with a beautiful chorus.

19. Autumn Leaves - Yoongi is such an amazing producer and everytime I hear this song I am reminded of just that. Again, this song is straight from the HYYH era and fits the soothing theme of the whole era!

20 Butterfly: Prologue Mix - I really love the Prologue Mix to this song. It really reminds me of the HYYH era theories and storyline.

21. You Never Walk Alone - Although this song is not part of the HYYH era, I really feel like it fits right in. It has such a calming sound and the lyrics are so comforting.

22. Stigma - Now going backwards into Wings, Taehyung’s voice in Stigma is so calming. Between the deep parts of the song and the amazing high notes, this song has everything you need and more.

23. Tokyo - Mono is one of my favourite mixtapes of the tannies because of its comforting ability. Tokyo is the intro on this album and the atmosphere it creates is really peaceful.

24. Seoul - Seoul is my all-time favourite from Mono. It gave me so much inspiration for writing. It has some kind of crazy power that takes you right into a night in Seoul, just like clips included in the music video.

25. Begin - Probably the most underrated of Jungkook’s solos. His voice is so beautiful that I put all three of his album solos on here. Even though the chorus of this song is pretty upbeat, his soothing voice balances the chorus to qualify this song as chill for me.

26. My Time - I just have a strong personal attachment to this song and Jungkook’s voice, so I had to put it on here and I figured it would go best after its older brother, Begin!

27. Let Me Know - Yoongi makes only masterpieces. I feel like no one ever talks about how amazing Let Me Know is. The vocals are stunning and you just have to sing along every time!

28. Don’t Leave Me - Don’t Leave Me is so underrated that I will put it on any playlist I can to give it some promotion. Seokjin’s vocals especially stand out in this song and I’ve always found the lyrics of this song to be comforting.

29. FIlm Out - Recently, my appreciation for this song has been through the roof. You just have to passionately lip sync this every time it plays! It has such a poetic meaning and gives me goosebumps every time. It is really a must for any chill playlist.

30. 2! 3! - From one tear jerking song to the next, I just had to add 2! 3! after Film Out. This song is the queen of comfort as that’s its whole goal. Sit back and relax while BTS washes away your worries in 1, 2, 3!

31. We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal - This song sounds magical no matter how many times you listen to it. I thought it would be especially meaningful to end this playlist on a song that conveys such a beautiful message about BTS and ARMY.

The full playlist can be found on my Spotify!

The Big Day

We woke up at 8am on the day of the concert, got ready and caught an Uber to head to the Miracle Mile Shops. Our hotel was too far from the strip for us to walk, so we ended up taking Ubers everywhere. We arrived at Planet Hollywood and made our way to a restaurant called “Ocean One,” for breakfast. After waiting for a few minutes we got a table and enjoyed our breakfast. We were sitting outside of the main dining area on a little faux balcony and saw so many ARMY’s passing by in BT21 and other BTS merchandise. There were even ARMY younger than me passing by! It was so cute to see smaller kids that liked BTS. After finishing our breakfast, we perused the mall. We bought a few Vegas trinkets for my family at a souvenir shop, but otherwise, we didn’t go into any stores. We figured we should save our money for BTS stuff instead of wasting it on regular things.

Then, the mall started to get flooded with ARMY and I started to get antsy. I really wanted to head to the venue, and my mom had the same idea. So, we caught an Uber and headed back to the hotel where we freshened up and got into our concert outfits while listening to BTS on a portable speaker. At noon, we left the hotel and caught an Uber once again, this time, to Mandalay Bay. After talking with the Uber driver on the first night, we learned that it would be way too difficult to get an Uber directly to or from the stadium. So, we instead planned to take an Uber to Mandalay Bay, which had a bridge that led to the stadium. On our way to Mandalay Bay, we saw some other cars that were blasting music with the passengers inside dancing. Although we couldn’t hear the music, I’m sure they were ARMY.

We arrived at Mandalay Bay and got into the hotel. Luckily, Mandalay Bay had added signs that directed fans to the stadium and to the other BTS related events occurring at the hotel. So, we followed the signs through the casino and towards the right side of the hotel. At the entrance to the bridge, there was a LED sign showing a little video regarding events that were happening for BTS around the city. Everything was already so crazy to me. Coming from a country that doesn’t usually host a lot of BTS events, I was so blown away by everything… and this was only the beginning.

We exited the hotel and went outside where we walked to the bridge. This bridge was insane. It spanned over a large highway and on the other side, you could see the gigantic Allegiant Stadium. The walk across the bridge was somewhat difficult. They had closed it off for traffic, so people could walk on the road, so the real difficulty was cased by the extreme winds that were enhanced because of the bustling highway beneath the bridge. However I wasn’t too bothered. I was too busy being excited for the experience ahead.

Once we finally made it across the bridge, the stadium was right in front of us. I think Allegiant Stadium is probably the coolest stadium I’ve ever seen. It looks so clean while looking somewhat intimidating at the same time. We stopped in front of the stadium to figure out where to go next. The area around the stadium was huge and we weren’t quite sure where we were. So, we quickly opened up Twitter to see the guides the stadium had posted prior to the event. After a few minutes, we gave up as it was way too sunny and windy to even see our phone screens, not to mention we were too impatient and excited. We took a few pictures in front of the stadium before following other ARMYs and eventually ending up at Lot H where the merch booths were. Compared to where we were, Lot H was all the way on the other side of the stadium.

As we finally approached the merch booths, we saw that there was barely a line. Excitedly, we approached the line, grabbed one of the lists and waited. Our turn came and we were greeted with bad news. The merch was sold out. How was that even possible? It was only noon and there was still seven hours until the concert started. What about all the people that were going to arrive after us? Apparently, they did have merchandise. However, all of it was located at booths inside the stadium, which you couldn’t access until the gates opened at 4:30. Either you got your merch from those booths or you returned to the Lot H booths after the concert, which would be chaotic. They were doing this to save merchandise for people who were actually attending the concert as the Lot H booths were also open to the public. So, I bought whatever I could, that being a Yoongi and full group premium photo and some photocards, all of which I had to carry because they were not giving bags. We sadly exited the first merch booth and saw a second booth that was selling the old concert merch and the retro themed merch. We grabbed a list and joined the line to the second booth where we once again waited. This time, we were able to get some merch. I selected a Speak Yourself shirt and a Map of the Soul Tour banner. I wanted to save the majority of my budget for the Permission to Dance merchandise, so I only bought a few items from previous tours.

Exiting the merch area, we headed into the sponsor area, which was rammed with ARMY. All the booths were blasting BTS songs and BT21 headbands could be seen for days. It was like being at home. I was beaming, but completely disoriented at the same time. It was like a festival, all for BTS. The first booth we went to was the Feel the Rhythm Korea booth which was thankfully handing out bags (which came in handy later on) and these large flag-like banners. Next, we went to a TinyTan booth which we thought were selling TinyTan merch. They were actually just advertising new Tamagotchis and some Japanese exclusives. We later overheard that the sponsor booths were not allowed to sell anything. Following the TinyTan booth, we entered this gigantic line for the McDonalds booth which was hosting games and giving out slushies. During the wait, the ARMY in front of us spotted a cute little boy dressed up as Seokjin from Supertuna and gave him a free Butter album. There was also this giant speaker that was blasting BTS songs. When we were beside it, they started playing Louder Than Bombs (which happens to be my favourite BTS song). We also saw billboard ads bought by ARMY that sent love to the members. Anyways, we finally reached the front of the line and played the games. My mom didn’t win anything and I surprisingly got something from the claw machine, but it was not even BTS themed, it was just a Big Mac. We left the booth disappointed and regretted not joining the line for the free slush. But, it was okay because the experience is what mattered. The next booth we went to was the Samsung booth, which was arguably the best. While we were waiting in the other lines, we kept seeing people with gigantic posters. We initially weren’t sure where they were coming from, but we then learned they were from the Samsung booth. All you had to do was look at Samsung’s flip phone and answer a questionnaire to get this beautiful BTS poster. Also, the line was half as long as the McDonalds line!

After getting my stunning poster, we grabbed pretzels and a large lemonade. We had not eaten anything since breakfast and figured we should eat something before getting into the venue. We ate the pretzels on a nearby curb before deciding to join the line to enter the stadium. Just as we were about to enter the line, the staff directed us to this empty line. As we walked through, we noticed that the people in front of us were mysteriously disappearing as they made it to the front of the line. We then realized that the staff had directed us into the overflow line that led into the first line, closest to the stadium gates. This was to control the flow of people entering the first line. Luckily, we were some of the last people to make it into the first line and soon after, the overflow line started to fill up.

While waiting in line, people were going in and out to throw out garbage. This one man in particular entered the line and made his way through the rows. He passed us without a fuss, but as he got to the row in front of us, he said something along the lines of “you look so ridiculous” to one ARMY. He then continued to curse and insult other ARMYs in the line. He mentioned that he “has a 16 year old daughter” but he would “rather die than be here.” I was just watching this crazy man in complete shock. I couldn’t believe that he had the audacity to say these things in an environment where he was largely outnumbered. Not to mention, we are a fandom that should NOT be messed with. Following his outburst, he made his way through the line once again and disappeared for a while. Later on, I saw a woman talking to security about the man. Then, out of nowhere, he started chanting “BTS sucks.” Now this was a grand mistake. Everyone in the line got whiplash and turned to this man like, “how dare you?!” Things quickly got HEATED. The whole line started chanting “GET HIM, GET HIM.” He was walking through the line again and this one lady stopped him and they had a full on argument. She was telling him that he “could not pass” and everyone was cheering her on. We saw the security run past and one of the guards said, “we better get this man out of here before he gets punched.” Eventually, the man was escorted with his daughter and a woman. Everyone clapped and cheered as he left. Honestly, I feel bad for his daughter and I hope she still got to enjoy the concert. Later on, my friend found a video on TikTok of the whole situation, so I can remember it forever.

After the line-butter fiasco and an hour and a half of waiting in line, the gates finally opened at 4:30. We were some of the first people to get in and we quickly ran to the nearest merch booth to join the line. I think we got there just in time as the line grew so quickly that by the time we looked back, we couldn’t even see the end of it. Luckily, we were able to get all the things on my wishlist and more!

7:21pm 6:06pm 7:06pm

Once we got the merch, we entered the stadium, which was already filled with ARMY. We went up about four escalators to get to our seats which were in the three hundreds level. After going to the washroom, we took our seats and I was starting to get really excited. My mom bought some chicken fingers, but I barely ate. I was too excited. My hands and legs were trembling and I thought if I ate any more, I would surely throw up. Everything was hitting me so suddenly. As I looked out onto the stadium, I realized this was really happening. I was finally seeing them in just a mere three hours.

There they were.

They were really right there.

After all these years, all the tears I had shed because I wasn’t able to see them, the time had finally come.

The best night of my life had just begun.

The next segment was the Black Swan segment. They came out and performed Blue and Grey which was so beautiful. Their voices and the whole atmosphere that was created was ethereal. They made their way to the middle of the stage and performed the Black Swan dance break which was so stunning. The amount of coordination was insane. The Black Swan performance itself was so elegant and graceful. Not to mention, Jungkook’s shirt was… well, you know (I’m not Jungkook biased I swear.) and Jimin’s shirt was being held together with a single button. After Black Swan, they talked for a little while before going into Blood Sweat and Tears which was so energetic. I’m so happy I was able to see this song as it’s not always in setlists and it’s one of my favourite titles. Then, it was time for the song that started it all… it was Fake Love. I was the most excited to see this performance as everything about it is amazing. The outfits, the choreography, the story, the vocals and the raps, the whole thing is perfect. Everyone was chanting “fake love” between the chorus and “I don’t know, nan molla,” during Namjoon’s part. I got to see Jungkook’s shirt lift with my own eyes! It was everything I hoped for and more. They exited the stage following the iconic ending hand move and the third VCR began.

They started with ON which was such a hype way to begin. They had so much energy and their performance was amazing to see live. Also, I’m so happy I got to hear Jungkook sing that beautiful bridge and the whole stadium sang it with him! They then went to the sick Fire remix with the fire in the background. This was followed by Dope which was also so hype. Again, I was so happy to see Jungkook sing that bridge. Then, they did their opening ments. Namjoon’s arms were exposed so everyone wouldn’t stop screaming, myself included. Seokjin was going to do his signature blow kiss but Jungkook slapped his hand away and he had to do it again. Jungkook was next and introduced himself as JK. Yoongi was so adorable, the whole stadium screamed the loudest for him. Then J-Hope did his signature, “I’m your hope, you’re my hope I’m…” and I was so happy to be able to scream, “JHOPEEEEE.” Both Jimin and Taehyung looked attractive as always. Following their ments was DNA which I was thrilled to see live. Everyone did the fanchant at the beginning and it was amazing to hear. Jungkook and Taehyung were being cute during their pre-chorus and everyone (again, myself included) was losing their minds. The bridge was also amazing and I tried to do Jimin’s hand shake but my right hand malfunctioned because I was waving my ARMY Bomb too hard. (At one point during the show, I even accidentally hit my mom in the head with it). After DNA, they left the stage and the second VCR started. Everyone sat down and I drank some water. My voice was already hoarse after only 4 songs!

They returned to the stage again, this time in their Life Goes On outfits. They started with Life Goes On. They were all being so cute together, but I actually started tearing up. Them singing Life Goes On in front of my own eyes after the pandemic and all the disappointments really meant a lot to me. I finally felt like we were moving on from the pandemic and I finally made it to see BTS. Following Life Goes On, they sang Boy With Luv which was such a vibe. Everyone was just enjoying themselves and the atmosphere was so great. They took a break to talk a little and Yoongi was being really adorable. Next was Dynamite followed by Butter. The Dynamite to Butter transition is so cool. Not to mention, that Butter dance break is amazing. These two songs were so energetic and everyone was belting the words with the boys and dancing along, especially the guy who sat beside my mom. After Butter, they left the stage again for another outfit switch.

The next segment was the hype segment. They began by asking everyone to refrain from throwing things at them while they went around the stadium on the carts as it was a common occurrence during the last shows. Telepathy was the first song they sang on the carts and it was so crazy to see them closer up, even though they were still quite far away. Taehyung, Jimin, Hoseok and Seokjin were on our side of the stadium first. Taehyung looked so fine that my knees actually felt weak looking at him in person. I had to stop and rest my hands on my knees because it was so bad. Jimin was going under the railings and looking at ARMY’s in the 100 level. Following Telepathy was Wings. Jungkook really rocked the stage, it was hard for me to take my eyes off him because he has such a presence. Yoongi also ate his verse, he growled the whole thing. Hoseok’s interactions with the crowd were so fun. He would say “everybody say yeah!” and then the whole stadium would reply with “yeahhhhh.” The atmosphere was so fun. As they made it back to the main stage, streamers burst everywhere. Taehyung was bolting down the stage, collecting them all on himself as he ran. Then he model walked back to the middle stage and all the members were laughing. They did another ment, declaring that it was their last songs of the night. Namjoon finished the ment by saying something along the lines of “promise you’ll stay with us until the end,” and then they began to sing Stay. Taehyung was lip-syncing Jungkook’s part and they were all giggling. Then, the amazing transition came and So What began. Once again, tears started pooling in my eyes during this segment. So What means so much to me and has helped me so much. It made me feel so sentimental to think that in this very moment, nothing else mattered besides us–BTS and ARMY. They were having a fun time and I was having a fun time and you could really just let go of everything and say “so what” with them. This is also where they used the smoke guns. Next up was Idol which was one of the most hype song of the night. Everyone was jamming and Namjoon said his iconic “put your motherf*cking hands up.” Not to mention, the remix was amazing. After Idol, they left the stage once again.

It was then encore time and all the ARMY Bombs lit up to say “ARMY,” “BTS,” “Las Vegas,” etc. They also showed some posters on screen. Some of which included: “Jungkook, do you want to see my cat,” “Yoongi marry me,” “BTS saved me” (which everyone agreed with), “Best leader Namjoon,” and more. They also showed this little baby who was wearing gigantic headphones and in a baby sling on their dad’s chest. It was an amazing experience to see tens of thousands of people all showing their love for BTS.

The boys came back once again in their encore outfits. Taehyung was wearing THE leather jacket and had a lollipop. My mom even has a video of me screaming, “HE HAS A LOLLIPOP.” It was rather embarrassing, but I have no regrets. Also, Yoongi was adorable in his long sleeve PTD shirt with his long hair. They started by singing Home, which is one of my favourite BTS songs of all time. I was so happy that I got to scream “crazy for myself” with 50,000 people and Taehyung himself. They then sang Anpanman, which happens to be the song that made my mom like BTS. The boys were getting so hyped up while singing this song and it was really adorable. Following Anpanman, they sang Go Go. This is when Taehyung started slapping his butt and Kook was laughing at him. They also started throwing water everywhere and at some point, Taehyung poured water all over himself and his hair was all wet.

Then, the end of the night had approached and they began their ending ments. Jungkook began and he did his whole ment in English and the whole thing was so sweet. Next was Hoseok who thanked Seokjin for all his hard work despite being injured which made Seokjin cutely shy. Taehyung’s ment was quite something. He did the thing where he asked female ARMY to scream then asked male ARMY to scream. However when he was asking, ARMY started screaming to early and he said “relax~.” Yeah I lost my mind. He was really out for me during this show. Then it was Jimin followed by Seokjin. My ARMY Bomb actually died during this part and I was trying to frantically change the batteries and connect it back to the stadium, so I don’t remember much of their speeches. Next up was Yoongi and all the members started saying “Yoongi, marry me,” which prompted Yoongi to talk about the drive through wedding. He was so adorable though and got all shy when he mentioned it. Finally, it was Namjoon’s turn and his speech was so emotional. He talked about their past and how far they have come, he also mentioned how difficult these concerts were for them as the setlists were so tiring, but he said they really wanted to give it their all. He ended by saying how much he loves us and Kook gave him a big hug.

Unfortunately, just like that, the final song of the night had arrived–Permission to Dance. It was such a euphoric moment. Everyone was singing along with them and having the time of their lives. It was such a powerful way to end the night. In all my years fantasizing about seeing them on stage, I always expected to be devastated during the final song. Even when watching their old concert dvds, I would usually skip the last song because it made me sad. But for some reason, I wasn’t upset at all. Instead, I felt an odd sense of fulfillment. I realized that it wasn’t about physically being with them forever, it was about having that special night engraved not only into my memory, but also engraved into my heart for eternity. I knew that even though the night was done, we would still be connected since that fateful May 18th, 2018. I finally got to see them and just because the concert was over didn’t mean it was the end. As the song finished and they said their goodbyes, the boys made their way to the platform and the box started to close down on them. Jungkook kneeled on the ground to see us until it fully closed. With that, the concert ended…

But all of a sudden, a video started playing. Initially, I thought it was just an ending VCR, and didn’t think much of it. It was a flashback of all of BTS’s music video from No More Dream all the way to Butter and Permission to Dance. Then, a logo appears: “We Are Bulletproof.” There was a moment of silence, perhaps rather, confusion. Then…

Following the excitement, everyone left the stadium, which was a complete disaster just because of the volume of ARMY leaving. We went down this staircase that was rammed with hundreds of people. It was so crowded that my mom was worried I was going to pass out. Also, the staircase was never ending. At one point, I looked down the centre and it was like bottom. Luckily, after the slow trek through the staircase, we decided this way was inefficient and we exited at the next door we saw. We ended up at some random area in the stadium and followed the crowd out of the building. We had managed to make it out, but we were greeted by even more people as we made it to the

barely move. Once we finally got onto the bridge to Mandalay Bay, the crowd had dispersed and we made our way to the hotel.

The whole audience goes completely insane. Everyone starts screaming and cheering, myself included. My mom asked what was going on and I replied, “comeback.” They had just announced their comeback at the end of their final Vegas show, like we had been predicting since the LA shows. It was such a surreal moment and I still get goosebumps thinking about how crazy it was.

We got inside Mandalay Bay only to hear Butter playing through the casino. The place was flooded with ARMYs and locals were looking at us probably wondering where we all come from. We went to the bathroom and they started playing Euphoria followed by Don’t Leave Me. I assume the hotel was playing a BTS playlist since the concert had just ended. I was so happy to hear Don’t Leave Me as it’s so underrated as well as Euphoria which is the first BTS song I liked. We left the washrooms and I put on my long sleeve PTD shirt because Yoongi looked so cute in it and I couldn’t resist.

Initially, we had planned on going to go to the Bellagio fountains to see the fountain show. Unfortunately, the show stopped at midnight and the line for the tram was gigantic. There was no way we would make it in time. So instead, we got gelato from a shop in the hotel and relaxed for a bit. We saw dozens of ARMY’s pass by, including the legendary baby and his dad. As we slowly ate our gelato, both my mom and I started to feel really exhausted and we decided to head back to our hotel.

Even getting out of Mandalay Bay was a mess, once again due to the volume of people. We called an Uber and he told us to meet him at the Four Seasons which was directly beside Mandalay Bay. After following his directions, we finally made it to the car and got inside. We told the driver about the concert and he especially got a laugh out of the baby. He dropped us off at our hotel and we made our way to our room.

When we returned we put all our stuff down and took a moment to process everything that had just happened. We emptied out all the merch we got and took a picture before getting into bed and rewatching all the videos my mom had taken. I had initially decided I wouldn’t take any videos as I wanted to enjoy the moment, but my mom insisted and took videos for me so I could fully experience it all. In the end, I was so happy she took those videos because it brings me right back to that amazing night. We also took some time to scroll through Twitter only to see a bunch of impromptu after parties we had somehow missed. By the time we got to bed, it was 2am, meaning the concert day was 18 hours long. Despite the crazy long day, it was the best day of my life. I was still in a daze from seeing the best concert ever and I somehow managed to get to sleep. Still ahead was our exploration of Borahaegas including the BTS Pop-Up and Photo Exhibit at Area 15 and the BTS Bellagio fountain show.

Exploring Borahaegas

I had the worst sleep after the concert. I was rigged on adrenaline and still couldn’t believe I had just seen the boys in person. I woke up at 8am and we had a video call with my dad and my brother. We then got dressed and headed to breakfast at a restaurant inside our hotel. However, my stomach was still messed up from all the adrenaline and I didn’t really eat. After going back to the hotel room, we went to a convenience store within our hotel to grab some snacks as I hadn’t really eaten anything. As we stood in line, I saw this ARMY with an MGM bag. Initially, I assumed it was a merch package as the MGM hotels were offering that to ARMYs staying at their hotels for the concerts. Then, she looked towards me like she wanted to say something. She came closer and I realized the bag was not a merch pack, but was instead filled to the brim with Butter albums. She must have realized I was ARMY as she offered me a free album, explaining that herself and a few others had bought the albums and had just taken out the photocards. I took a Cream version–as that was the version I didn’t have–and I thanked her. I didn’t really care that there was no photocard, it was still a free album and it was so nice of her to just hand it out. I really couldn’t believe the generosity of ARMY.

Following that crazy experience, we headed outside and caught an Uber to Area 15 where the BTS Pop-Up and Photo Exhibition were happening. Prior to our trip, we had heard of the photo exhibition and bought tickets as soon as we could. We wanted to fill up our trip with as many BTS experiences as possible!

We arrived at Area 15 and walked around the gigantic building to the outside lot where the Pop-Up was being held. The Pop-Up had the cutest walk through area with recreations of BTS’s music video sets. In one area they had video screens of the members doing their solo dance in the Butter elevator and some people were doing the dances with the screens! After exiting the exhibit, we made it to the Pop-Up line which wasn’t too long–especially compared to the lines we faced the day before. While we were in line, they announced that they were selling the merch packages from the hotels, which included some older merch that was pretty exclusive. From the Pop-Up, I bought the merch package, a Butter shirt and a BTS Las Vegas sweatshirt.

Next, we headed to the Behind the Stage Photo Exhibition which was rammed with people. All the pictures and the quotes hung on the walls were so amazing. It was the best to see an event like this for BTS. It was such a unique experience for me as not many BTS related events happen in Toronto.

After the exhibition, we walked outside into this little area that had this gigantic screen blasting BTS music videos. We grabbed a Coke from the bar and took a seat, enjoying ourselves in the sun. I opened up the merch package and the lucky draws inside. There were people dancing to music videos and just enjoying the beautiful weather and BTS. After some snacks, we headed into Area 15 to get to our Uber.

Area 15 was really insane. There were so many cool lights and sets inside. It really screamed trendy. We didn’t spend too much time inside as we were focused on doing as many BTS things as we could. After taking a few pictures, we got outside, caught our Uber and headed to the Fashion Show Mall.

When we arrived, we walked around looking for an entrance or any unlocked door before we realized that it was Easter Sunday and the mall was actually closed. So instead, we went into the Wynn and looked around their mall. In Vegas, most of the resorts also have luxury malls inside of them, which I loved. We then headed back to Fashion Show Mall to have lunch at this Italian restaurant my parents always go to called “Maggianos.” In the restaurant, I was dozing off because I was so exhausted, but the food was really good and the waiter was really nice! I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you’re in Vegas.

After our lunch, we walked to the Grand Canal Mall where we saw a bunch of ARMY’s lining up to recreate one of BTS’s pictures. We then went to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace followed by the Bellagio. At the Bellagio, we took a picture under one of the art pieces Hoseok took a picture under. There were also many other beautiful art pieces at the Bellagio. There was just so much to look at! From Bellagio, we took a tram to the Shops at Crystals which is part of the Aria Hotel. We saw some trees inside the mall that looked oddly familiar and realized that these were the trees Hoseok took a picture with. So, we joined the small line and recreated his picture beneath them. Some locals were passing by wondering why there was a huge lineup to take a picture with a tree, which honestly made the whole experience so much funnier. From the mall we went to the actual Aria hotel. This happens to be where Nightclub was. This was the club that was hosting the BTS afterparties that I was unfortunately not allowed to go to as I am We took some pictures in front of the club as all the PTD stuff was still up and they were even playing BTS clips on the video screens.

We stopped at a Starbucks and got some tea because my throat was messed up after all the screaming from the night before. After relaxing for about an hour, we got up and made our way to the Bellagio fountains for the BTS fountain show, which was the last thing on our BTS Las Vegas bucket list.

We arrived at the fountains at around seven o’clock and got a good spot. At seven thirty, smoke started to appear at the base of the fountain and the music started! But… it wasn’t BTS. We looked around in shock as Bad Romance by Lady Gaga played. The show was beautiful, but it wasn’t BTS. The show finished and we were about to leave, assuming they had stopped the BTS set as the concerts were complete. However, the people on the right side of us said “no BTS?!” We joined in and questioned what happened with the show. Then, the people on the left side of us explained that BTS’s set started at eight o’clock. So, we waited for another half and hour and finally, eight o’clock had arrived. The fountain show started and it was so beautiful. It almost made me tear up a little! They played a Butter and Dynamite mix and it was such a great way to send off the best weekend of my life.

After the show was done, we headed back to the Bellagio. On the way, we were stopped by some UK ARMY and they gave us some cute freebies. As we arrived at the Bellagio, we took some pictures in front of the fountain in an attempt to recreate Taehyung’s pictures in front of the fountain. Unfortunately, we were unable to go to the exact location as it was all fenced off and probably a restricted area. Regardless, we did our best to try to make the pictures look similar. We then took a tram to the Park MGM where we caught an Uber back to our hotel.

At the hotel, we got another cup of tea and some snacks before we sadly started packing up our bags while vibing to BTS on our speaker. Once we finished packing, we ended up having a whole suitcase full of merchandise and one that we somehow shoved all our clothes into. With the packing done and the final amazing day of this crazy trip complete, we went to bed and prepared for another long day of travelling ahead.

Las Vegas

One of the most surprisingly fun parts of my trip was recreating BTS’s pictures in the exact spots they took them. Over the years, BTS have taken a lot of pictures in Vegas, thus making a lot of recreation spots for us. If you’re ever in Vegas and want to recreate some of BTS’s pictures, here’s a list of a few spots BTS have visited in their trips to Las Vegas

THE RETURN

We woke up at 5:30am on Monday morning to get ready for our first flight of the day. We caught our Uber at around 6:20am and headed to the Las Vegas airport. After some difficulty checking in, we headed through security. Now, you’re probably wondering, what’s so significant about security that there is more than one sentence of it. Well, that’s because both of our bags got flagged and security opened them up. For my bag, it was the slogan roll. I’m not sure why it got flagged, but for a second, I thought he was about to open it and show my BTS banner to the entire airport. Also, I refused to fold up the glorious Samsung poster, so I rolled it up and carried it. Of course, this meant it had to go through the scanners and it decided to get stuck on the conveyor. Luckily, one of the guards got it out and returned it to me.

After the security fiasco, we waited in the airport for our flight to LA. My mom stood in this ridiculous Starbucks line to get something for us to eat as we hadn’t eaten anything since we woke up. Finally, half an hour later, we got some cakes and made our way to the gate where we sat down to eat. Some other people sat in front of us and all of a sudden, my mom leaned over to me and asked, “isn’t that the guy from the concert?” And yes, it was. Somehow, we had ended up on the same flight as the guy who sat beside us at the concert. In fact, half of our tiny LA flight was people from the concert–you could tell by all the BTS merch. Our boarding time finally came and another unfortunate announcement had approached. All the bags had to be checked as the plane was too small for overhead carry ons. As we walked towards the gate, the lady informed us of this and she took our bags. I didn’t want to let my bag go, especially my merch bag. Knowing connection flights, bags easily get lost. I had heard stories from so many family and friends that I was not about to let this highly valuable merch bag go. Unfortunately, I had no power in the situation and the lady took the bag from me.

Despite everything, the flight to LA was really chill. It was so short that I didn’t really do anything. I was also really looking forward to being in LA air again. The last trip we went on before the pandemic was to LA and it was the best trip of my life–before Vegas obviously. I just looked out the window onto the desert terrain below and the flight was already done. We landed in LAX and the airport was absolutely rammed with people. We already had bad experiences in the LA airport from our last trip. The first time we went to LA, there were so many people and our flight got cancelled. It was also the beginning of the pandemic so we really just wanted to leave. However this time, the experience was much worse as we couldn’t leave the terminal, or we would have to go through security all over again.

The return was the worst part of the entire trip…

So, we decided to get something to eat and joined this gigantic line to get a sub. Half way through the line, they announced they only had ham and turkey, which was fine because that is what we wanted. But, that just shows how busy the airport was. As we were getting our subs, the lady that worked at the sub place asked if we were coming from Vegas as she had seen our PTD shirts. We said yes and she asked us how the concert was. Of course, we said it was amazing and she said that Coachella was going on which is why the airport was busy. After grabbing our subs, we went to this small upper floor which was much quieter than the floor below. We ate and then calmed ourselves down by rewatching our concert videos once again.

From where we were sitting, we could see a whole mess of people around our gate. The Vancouver flight before us was delayed, meaning our flight was even further delayed. To make it worse, due to technical difficulties, we were unable to choose our seats on the flight and we ended up with two seats apart from each other. For me, this was a catastrophe. I would have to sit with someone I didn’t know. As an introverted, shy person, that was terrifying. Luckily, I got seated beside a nice older couple who didn’t say a word to me the whole flight. My mom was seated with two Coachella goers who were probably my age. Anyways, in my peaceful seat, I just continued my Jungkook drawing until we landed.

Landing in Toronto was another disaster, but honestly, the Toronto airport is always a disaster. We landed and got the news that we would have to wait on the plane because the customs hall was too busy–as always. Only people who had connecting flights could leave the plane. This caused some–drama. Some people didn’t understand that they weren’t allowed off the plane and some really rude people were literally arguing with them and laughing at them because they didn’t understand. It was such a mess but we finally got off the plane and entered the chaotic customs hall. If you’ve never been to the Pearson customs hall, be thankful because I swear everytime we go in there it is a mess. They have gigantic machines that are supposed to do the customs quickly. However, the machines either aren’t working or people have no idea how to use them. Both of which slow down the process. We luckily got to a machine and did our customs. We headed through the line and got to the customs officers who were just doing an express version of their usual questions. Thankfully, they didn’t ask us how much money we had spent because we had no receipts and we did not want to admit how much money we had spent on merchandise–after all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

In the end, we made it out of the airport in one piece and stepped outside into Toronto air. As we looked outside, we were greeted by snow… in the middle of April. We were definitely home…

ASentimentalTripConclusion

Once I made it home, I had the opportunity to process everything that had just happened. It was suddenly so overwhelming. As I thanked my parents, I couldn’t hold back my happy and grateful tears. All three of us ended up crying together. This trip meant so much to me and they understood that importance.

So much has happened since I started liking BTS in 2018. Pandemic, missed graduation, beginning of high school, lost friendships, new friendships, lost opportunities. Through it all, the one thing I wanted to do the most was see BTS. Since the very beginning, seeing them in concert was a dream to me. I remember when they were having a show in Hamilton and little 11-year-old me cried and begged my mom to get tickets. I didn’t get tickets that time as I had just started liking them and the concert was far away. I don’t think anyone thought I would still love them four years later. At the time, it was also so hard to get any BTS merchandise anywhere. I painted BTS logos on black t-shirts for my friends and I. I daydreamed of the day I would finally see them and how amazing that day would be. When I got the Map of the Soul tickets, I couldn’t believe it was happening. Then, when the tour got cancelled, I couldn’t believe the opportunity was gone. And now, I finally was able to have that experience–the experience I dreamed of since I was 11. Now, I’m 15 and I can finally say my dreams were fulfilled. It was such a rollercoaster ride, but it really showed me that perseverance and hope can lead to amazing things. All the pain and disappointments were washed away with that one amazing weekend. Firstly, I’m so thankful for my family who made this all possible. I’m so lucky to have parents who are interested in my interests. My parents love BTS almost as much as I do, which I am so grateful for. Secondly, without my family, none of this would have even been possible. I’m forever thankful that they have given me this incredible opportunity. Huge thank you to my mom for being the best travel companion I could ask for enjoying the whole experience just as much as I did. Also, thank you to my Grandma, Grandad, Uncle, Alex, Sarah and the rest of my extended family who have been just as supportive of this crazy vacation. I really can’t explain how grateful I am and how much I love you all. Just know that this all meant so much to me–it was really so much more than a concert. Sincerely, thank you everyone for everything. My life will never be the same (in a good way.)

Finally, to the boys. This was seriously the best concert of my life and I’m so thankful this experience was even possible. You’ve created such a memorable trip for both my mom and I and I genuinely thank you for making the adventure so much fun. If it was any other group, I don’t think it would be even close to as meaningful. I really hope I can see you guys again in the future because your concerts are magical and you are all such great performers. Once again, thank you for this amazing experience. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life!

COMEBACK SEASON BEGINS

After waiting for what felt like years, we finally got an update on the new album on May 4th. The official name and versions for the album were released. The album would be titled Proof, would include 3 all new tracks and would look back on the history of BTS. There were two versions, both of which looked so pretty from the teaser image. On May 7th, we got the album schedule and by the next day, we received the first tracklist. This is when we all lost our minds because Born Singer was on CD 1. I couldn’t believe it and I wasn’t expecting it at all. Born Singer was finally going to be on an album as it deserved to be. Besides Born Singer, CD 1 features all of BTS’s title tracks from debut up until the new title track “Yet to Come.”

The next day, tracklist 2 was revealed. This one completely blew me away. Almost all of my favourite songs were on this CD including Euphoria and Dimple. New song RUN BTS was also on this CD and I had a hunch that it would be an absolute bop. On the 10th, we received the final tracklist which was the biggest shock of all. Prior to it’s release, I was reading through Twitter predictions and saw a bunch of people manifesting demo versions of already existing songs such as Jump, Epiphany and Boy in Luv. I also saw majority of people hoping we would finally get the studio version of Tony Montana with Jimin. I thought all of these guesses were beyond hopeful and I didn’t expect we would get any of these. However, tracklist 3 dropped and right in the very centre, the very first song I saw, was Tony Montana ft. Jimin. The rest of the tracks were exactly as the guesses stated. I couldn’t believe it. We were getting all this unreleased content and it was all exactly what everyone wanted. I was really blown away by ARMY and BTS’s mental connection and just how much they knew what we wanted to hear.

After a week of the “Proof of Inspiration” videos explaining the members song choices, the first concept photos were released on May 27th. I remember sitting in my science class, seeing the Proof concept for the first time and going absolutely mad. They all looked so badass in the concepts as they were really channeling their original hip-hop attitude. Jungkook especially suited this concept and I couldn’t get over how his piercings, tattoos and slicked back hairstyle were displayed in the images.

More images for the “Proof” concept were released the following day and on the 31st, we got our first taste of the “Door” concept, which was the complete opposite of the “Proof” concept. They all looked so princely and ethereal. I couldn’t get over Jimin’s long hair and how much Seokjin suited the concept. More images for this concept were released and finally the first question mark had come.

bts song Association bts song association

With the announcement of BTS’s anthology album, we look back on the amazing history of the boys. While thinking of their previous releases, I started thinking of words that would represent each of BTS’s title tracks. After thinking of a few, I figured it would be fun to make it into a little activity. I’ll choose one word to describe each of BTS’s title tracks, and after, there will be a fill out space for you to write in your choices! Now let’s move on to the list!

NO MORE DREAM: YOUTH

The beginning of BTS’s career is marked with this amazing song that displays BTS’s initial rough hip-hop concept. The lyrics discuss the difficulties youth face when approaching their future. Some of these difficulties include others meddling into future decisions such as post-secondary schooling and career paths. I think this song carries such a strong message to youth and reminds them to stick to their dreams–no one else’s. It also reminds us that even though school is important, it isn’t everything. Most of all, this song is extremely relatable to so many young people facing exactly these problems–which are more common than many think. This song really captures the struggles of youth.

“Disobey the hell of society, grant a special pardon to your dream.” - No More Dream, BTS

N.O: REBELLION

N.O. is pretty clearly about rebelling against authority and living for yourself. In the music video, the boys are seen fighting for their freedom and they finally succeed in their rebellion. In the specific scenario of N.O, the boys are rebelling against the oppression of their dreams. They don’t want to live by anyone else’s dreams or let anyone else choose their future. They want to fight for their own–that being music.

BOY IN LUV: CRUSH

Boy in Luv depicts a first crush scenario in both the lyrics and music video. BTS sings about the whirlwind of emotions that come with a crush as a teenager. The boys experience the power crushes have over oneself and the difficulties that come with it. The school trilogy is ended with love which leads us into the HYYH part of BTS’s storyline.

are you shaking up my heart?” - Boy in Luv, BTS

DANGER: Confusion

I think the boys experience their first bitter taste of love in this song. Their significant other is sending them mixed signals, confusing them and making them question their relationship status. Through the music video, we see the impact this confusion has on the members. They are clearly unhappy and angry with the whole situation as they are seen boxing punching bags and edgily cutting their hair. The lack of clarity in their relationship is causing their frustration and anger as expressed in this song.

“Why

“Are you kidding me? What am I to you?” - Danger, BTS

“Everybody say no! It’s not going to work anymore. Don’t be captured in others dreams” - N.O, BTS

I NEED U:Dependency

Just by the title, it’s easy to tell that this song is about being dependent on someone else. However, without looking at the lyrics, it seems like this is a typical love song. In fact, it is much more complicated than that. The dependency discussed in this song is instead an unwanted dependency. In the verses, the members talk about how much they hate the other person but they continue to circle back to them anyways. Even in the way the members sing the song, you can tell that they are severely dependent on their lover without wanting to be.

“Ineedyou,girl,whydoIneedyouwhenIknowithurtsme?”-INeedU,BTS

RUN: Escape

Run was the song that sparked this whole idea. The music video for this song is so fun and carefree while also being rather dark and grungy. It really captures the essence of youth experiencing the feeling of wanting to run away from everything and just be free. Between the running and partying scenes, we also see scenes of the members struggling. This gives the impression that they are trying to escape from their harsh realities by physically running away as well as partying and living wildly.

“Irun,run,run,Ican’tstop.Run,run,run,Ican’thelpit.ThisisallIcandoanyways.”-Run,BTS

FIRE: Live

Fire is a really fun and youthful song about living life to the fullest. In the music video, the members are seen partying and having a good time with each other. After carefully reading the lyrics, I’ve realized that this song is more meaningful than many might think. The lyrics directly call on people who are upset to just let go for a moment and live life fully. I think it can be really comforting to just forget about everything for a while and have a good time which is exactly what BTS encourages us to do in this song. They just want us to live.

“It’sokaytojustlivebecausewe’restillyoung.”-Fire,BTS

BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS: Temptation

The video, lyrics, choreography and styling of this song all convey this very word. The overall concept of Blood, Sweat and Tears as derived from the lyrics is young boys facing temptation. Even the way the members sing the song gives the impression that they are addicted to the temptation. Namjoon even mentions this word in his narration part prior to the bridge in the music video: “he too was a tempter.” This keyword also follows along with the possible devil theories related to this video. Overall, the existence of this song exudes temptation.

“IcannotworshipanyonebutyouandIknewthegrailwaspoisonedbutIdrankitanyways.”-BloodSweatandTears,BTS

SPRING DAY: Waiting

Of all the songs on the list, this was the most difficult to describe with only one word. Spring Day has such a complex and beautiful meaning that it is really hard to use just one word to cover its entirety. In the end, I chose the word “waiting.” Spring Day is generally about missing someone. The members sing about how they are waiting for a spring day so they can see the other person again. The tiresome waiting is symbolized by the season of winter and the end goal is represented by the beautiful spring day. Overall,

this song is about how difficult missing someone can be and how frustrating waiting for them to return can seem. BTS once again has released this song to comfort us in our waiting. I find this song so meaningful in so many scenarios. For example, during the pandemic, this song was so relevant because we were unable to see anyone and the whole world was trapped in the winter with no clear sight of the spring day ahead. To wrap this one up, BTS did such an amazing job with this song and all its symbolism. No wonder why Spring Day is always high up on music charts!

“HowlongdoIhavetowait,howmanynightsdoIhavetopasstoseeyou? Tomeetyou?”-SpringDay,BTS

DNA: Destiny

Back when I was in sixth grade, I had a friend who saw us watching the DNA music video and after that, she always said, destiny. Ever since, I’ve connected this word to DNA. DNA is such a swoony love song and I think the lyrics are so beautifully written. They perfectly describe the feeling of a destined relationship–when everything seems meant to be. I think is it such a romantic way to describe love and I really adore this song because of it. Not to mention, this somewhat reminds me of how I feel about BTS, especially after the concert. I really think the whole situation was destiny!

“Don’tworrylove,noneofthisisacoincidence.We’retotallydifferentbaby,becausewe’rethetwowhofounddestiny.”-DNA,BTS

FAKE LOVE: Realization

Much like Spring Day, this song was extremely difficult to put into one word as it is so complex. However, I have decided on the word “realization.” By looking at the lyrics of Fake Love, it is clear that the boys are stating how they changed themselves for the person they “loved.” However through this song, they are also realizing the difficulties of love–the pain part of love. They suddenly realize love isn’t always perfect or rather, it isn’t always destiny as they once believed in DNA. Loving someone isn’t always as amazing as the feeling of love itself. This realization of the pain, suffering and heartache that comes with love progresses the Love Yourself story into the Answer segment.

“Iwishlovewasasperfectasloveitself.Iwishallmyweaknessescouldbehidden.I grewaflowerthatcan’tbebloomedinadreamthatcan’t cometrue.”-FakeLove,BTS

IDOL: Confidence

Idol is really all about BTS being confident in themselves. I always consider this song a smack in the face to haters who don’t like them because they are Korean as in the music video, they really embrace their culture through set pieces and outfits. The music video overall is very bold and confident with its bright colours, interesting designs and unique CGI. Finally, the lyrics of this song explain just how little BTS cares about the negative comments people have to share. They often state that it doesn’t matter to them and they will keep on working hard regardless. Haters have nothing on BTS!

“Theypointfingersatme,butIdon’tcareatall.WhateverthereasonforyourcriticismisIknowwhatIam.”-Idol,BTS

BOY WITH LUV: Love

Following the Love Yourself trilogy, BTS emerge as new people who love themselves. With this newfound knowledge, they can finally sing about love properly. I don’t think this song is necessarily about love in a romantic relationship, but being a loving person overall. The members now have love for themselves rather than someone else. With this, they take their love and spread it through this fun, poppy song.

“I’mflyinghighupintheskywiththetwowingsyougaveme backthen,”-BoyWithLuv,BTS

ON: Courage

Every time I think back to ON, I think it was an unintentional foreshadowing of the year we were about to have. It discusses having the courage to take on the pain and knowing that BTS and us, ARMY, have each other's backs. This was especially important during the pandemic, when we were separated for so long. When I’m feeling down or discouraged, I listen to this song and feel so empowered.

“Can’tholdmedown‘causeyouknowI’mafighter.”-ON,BTS

DYNAMITE: Light

Personally, Dynamite was released at a time when I wasn’t feeling the best. The pandemic had been going on for a few months and the isolation was killing me. Then, Dynamite dropped and it was so refreshing to watch a BTS comeback with my friends again, just like old times. Because of this, I’ve always connected Dynamite with happiness or metaphorically, a light in the middle of a dark tunnel. I think this song had the same effect on many people and BTS often stated that Dynamite’s whole goal was to be just that. They wanted to provide some light to ARMY during a difficult time.

“Lifeissweetashoney,yeahthisbeatcha-chinglikemoney.”-Dynamite,BTS

LIFE GOES ON: Hope

The purpose of the entire BE album was to provide comfort to ARMY during the challenging Pandemic. I’ve heard from many people that Life Goes On was really a source of hope and healing to them. For me, hearing this song reminded me that this was not the end and made me feel like things would get better soon. It was also a source of bonding for BTS and ARMY. Once again, they knew how we were feeling and they helped us by showing us they understood and remaining us that there was still hope for the future.

“Likeanechointheforestthedaywillcomebackaroundasifnothinghappened.”-

LifeGoesOn,BTS

BUTTER: Charisma

The first time I heard Butter, I couldn’t believe how true their statements were. For example, when Taehyung said “Hot like summer, yeah I’m making you sweat like that.” The whole song oozes charisma from the flirty lines to the swoon-worthy solo shots, BTS really proves the strength of their charisma through this song. They really are “smooth like butter.”

“WhenIlookinthemirror,I’llmeltyourheartintotwo.Igotthatsuperstarglow.”-Butter,BTS.

PERMISSION TO DANCE: Freedom

This one is pretty straightforward. Permission to Dance, much like Life Goes On and Dynamite, was meant to serve as a comfort to ARMY. This song however, signals the end of the pandemic and returning to the freedom we once had prior to COVID-19. The music video features people taking off their masks and finally dancing together. Freedom is also metaphorically shown through the child letting go of the balloon. Everytime I hear this song, it washes away my worries, freeing me from the restraints they can have on me. This song is the epitome of freedom in all the best ways.

“Wedon’tneedtoworry,‘causewhenwefallweknowhowtoland”-PermissiontoDance,BTS

Now it’s time for your choices! On the next page, allthe songs i have went through are listed. On the line beside the song name, write your word choice and on the lines below, give a brief explanation of why you chose that song.

BTS MusicalHistory Crossword

Use the clues to fillin the corresponding blanks.

ACROSS

3. This song will forever top charts even though it came out in 2016

7. "It was an accident" - Jimin

10. I don't think they'll ever stop bullying Jimin for his dance in this song

14. Released on February 12, 2014

15. You and I best moment is _________

16. On BTS's debut album-currently has two other parts

17. BTS's debut title

21. BTS had a concert series named after this song

23. Jungkook participated in the directing of this music video

24. The song that got BTS their first music show win

25. BTS's first music video to hit 1 billion views

26. BTS's most viewed music video as of 2021 28. "Welcome, first time with BTS?"

DOWN

1. We'll never really know why Taehyung was laughing in that dance practise

2. Yoongi wrote this song's legendary line 4. Title track on BTS's first full length album

5. BTS's first Billboard Top 100 #1 Song

6. We got a special music video of this song for Festa 2020 and we all cried a little

8. BTS performed this song in Grand Central Terminal

9. BTS performed this song on the Billboard Awards in 2018

11. Hello Hello

12. BTS's pre-release single for the album Map of the Soul: 7 13. "Did you see my bag?"

18. "Extra plus ordinary"

19. The title track on BTS's second mini album

20. This song has a remix featuring Lauv 22. Jungkook and Yoongi fought in the music video for this song

26. BTS performed this song in person at the Grammys

27. BTS's dolls are dressed in outfits from this music video

RELEASE

June 10th came sooner than I had expected. After so much preparing and excitement, Thursday the 9th had arrived and I waited excitedly on the couch with my mom. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew whatever would be coming was going to blow me away, as always. After watching various performances and other BTS content, the countdown had begun.

The countdown video included clips from each of BTS’s titles from debut to the present along with concept photos from their respective albums or eras. While this was going on, I was texting one of my ARMY friends as it was his first comeback. The countdown video quickly ended and it was time…

I quickly switched to the music video and it began. Everything was so–amazing. The video was so nostalgic with all its references to past eras and the song was so touching. I was screaming and making a lot of incoherent noises while watching it for the first time. It really brought me back to past comeback experiences. BTS comebacks feel so different from other groups and I just don’t know why. It’s really so much fun and it is always such a crazy day. This comeback was not any different!

Following watching Yet To Come for the first time, I hopped on Spotify to listen to the other tracks, starting with Born Singer. Of course, I had already heard Born Singer, so I moved on to Run BTS. Now, Run BTS completely blew me away. My first thoughts were, “this song is so hot” and “it reminds me of Look Here.” I’m not sure why it gave me Look Here vibes. I guess it has a somewhat sexy sound while also having a lot of rap parts, just like Look Here. I also remember thinking Yoongi’s part was absolutely insane. After Run BTS, I listened to For Youth, which I knew would make me tear up. Upon first listen, both my mom and I agreed that it was basically a love song to ARMY, which I loved. Both RUN BTS and For Youth are currently some of my favourite songs ever, I can’t get enough of them! Once I had heard the b-sides, I watched the Yet to Come music video once more, just to make sure I could absorb everything. I ended up going to sleep at around 12:30.

I woke up the next morning with that excited comeback feeling. I went to school and talked to all my ARMY friends. I had created a plan with the friend I was texting the night before. We were going to ask our homeroom teacher to play the music video on the smartboard for the whole class to see. So, we did it with the help of some of our other friends. In the last ten minutes of class, our teacher kept his promise and played the music video. Earlier in the class, our teacher had seen my lockscreen and for some reason thought it was a baby. I showed him and explained that it was Jungkook. When the music video began and Jungkook appeared on screen, he asked, “is that the baby?” and nodded through laughter. My friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the video, despite some students who were vocal about their displeasure. One student even left the class and said he wouldn’t come back because we had watched a BTS video. However, he didn’t matter and we just ignored him. Our teacher enjoyed himself as well and he kept asking us questions about the video like “why is there a bus in the desert” and “are they lost?” It was such a fun experience and my friends and I had a great time. Our teacher was really the best for that.

After first period, second period flew by quickly and lunch arrived. I checked out of school and said bye to my friends. My dad was picking me up early as he had an appointment later in the day and couldn’t pick me up from school. He also picked me up early so I could go to Sunrise Records and get my Proof album. So, we quickly went home and I got changed before we headed to the mall.

I basically ran to the Sunrise Records and walked to the K-Pop section where the Proof albums were waiting. I was surprised that they weren’t completely sold out, but I was happy nonetheless. I stared at the albums for a second before selecting a Standard Edition and checking out. I waited until I got home and opened the album.

Firstly, I couldn’t believe how heavy the album was–that is, until I opened it to see four booklets. However saved the booklets for later and went straight for the little pouch to see my photocard pull. I opened it to see a Jimin postcard, in which he looked so stunning. Then, I emptied the pouch and saw the photocard set followed by the random card. I turned it over to see–MIN YOONGI. I was basically exploding. This is only the second time I have ever pulled a Yoongi card. For some reason, I have the worst luck with him. I happily took my album upstairs and popped CD 3 into my CD player to listen to the exclusive tracks. While I was listening to it, I flipped through the multiple booklets. CD 3 is so amazing. I think it shows just how much BTS loves us. They released so many unreleased, unedited demos just for us because they knew non-ARMYs wouldn’t appreciate it as much as we would.

Later that evening, my mom ordered pizza and made some cupcakes so we could have a comeback party. In the past, I would always have comeback parties with my friends where we had pizza and screamed over the new songs. However, those friends no longer liked BTS, and I now had no one to celebrate comeback day with–other than my two friends who were unable to come to my house and my family. Because of the circumstances, my mom really wanted to make the day special, and she did! I printed out mini logos and letters and taped them to toothpicks before sticking them into the cupcakes. Within a few minutes, we had Proof cupcakes, pizza and a whole comeback party.

After streaming Yet to Come for hours, the end of the day had come. It was such an amazing day, as all comeback days were. Another comeback had passed, but the future of BTS was still yet to come…

HEARTBREAK AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS

The day of the Festa Dinner arrived and it was just another school day for me. I went to my Careers class and saw that it was live, but I didn’t watch it as I planned to watch it when I got home. I went to my math class and asked my teacher a question about our homework. When I got back to my desk and looked at my phone, I had a text from my mom:

Mom Mom

What is happening?

Me

Hmm wdym?

BTS. Have you seen Twitter??

I quickly hopped on Twitter to see the timeline in complete shreds. Everyone was talking about BTS on break. Hiatus, Hiatus, Hiatus. Usually the word wouldn’t scare me. They’d been on hiatuses before and it was fine. But this time, it was different. People were talking about it like it was an indefinite end. They were saying things like “we’ll be with you forever,” or “we’ll always wait for you.” Why did this feel like the end? My heart was pounding and I started to get choked up. The whole math class, I tried to hold back my tears, not wanting to cry in class like an idiot. I moved on with my day by completely avoiding BTS. I tried to avoid Twitter and anything that would possibly mention the whole situation. When upsetting things like this happen, I tend to just avoid everything I can. Like when Baekhyun enlisted, or when the MONSTA X concert was cancelled, I avoided both because I knew it would hurt too much to listen to them.

Much like the past instances, I couldn’t bring myself to listen to BTS. I knew it would hurt too much and I would end up crying in school. I was heartbroken–shattered. I had been looking forward to seeing them on tour again. But what would happen now? Was this really the end? Was it the beginning of the enlistment era? I couldn’t handle any of it. I got home and barely said a word. My parents already knew and only brought it up once each. They could tell I would completely disintegrate if I heard anything about it. As the day went on, I felt better and somewhat came to terms with the news. It’s okay, it’s just a hiatus, just a break. They’ll have solo albums and then They’ll be back. Right?

The next day however–was worse. I woke up feeling weird about the whole situation. I didn’t know what this next era would be like. I was excited but also worried. I tried to comfort myself by remembering that there are lots of K-Pop groups I love where the members have gone solo. After all, I got into EXO after hearing Baekhyun’s solo album. I felt somewhat better and continued about my day.

I went to have breakfast and the news was on. Suddenly, they started talking about the hiatus and how BTS is “breaking up.” They were talking about them with barely a shred of respect and I couldn’t handle it. I started crying right there. I had to go upstairs and suck in all my tears because I still had school. But, I picked myself up and went.

I felt better until my Careers teacher saw an article on the matter and asked me if I had seen that BTS is going on a break. I tried to explain that they were just going to work on solo things for a while before they returned as a group. He disagreed and didn’t believe me. I tried not to completely go off on him, which proved to be difficult. However, he just didn’t know BTS or the situation at hand. So, I ignored him and moved on. Besides, he was a really cool teacher and I wasn’t going to let this instance tarnish his ranking on my best teachers list.

Throughout the following weeks, I had a slew of people ask me if I heard that BTS was breaking up and I had to continuously explain that THEY WERE NOT. Sometimes, no matter how much I remind people that this is not the end of BTS, they still think they know better and shrug as if I’m wrong. The information from the Festa Dinner was spread in a way that caused so much misunderstanding. Once it made its way to news outlets, the locals were all in a panic and the whole story really wasn’t shared properly.

At the end of the day, the festa dinner is for ARMY and ARMY only. Locals can believe what they want.

After all the chaos, I am looking forward to the next chapter of BTS. Just because they aren’t promoting as a group right now, doesn’t mean we won’t see anything from them. It actually means quite the opposite as we’ll be getting seven times the content as each member starts doing their own thing. Chapter two will be overflowing with content. If anything, Yet to Come is a reminder that BTS will always be 7 and that the best is really yet to come! As Jungkook said, “this is not gonna be the last time, this will never be.”

MY BTS ComfortPlaylist

With the rollercoaster of emotions that emerged following the hiatus announcement, I needed something to take my mind off it all. On my Spotify, I have a playlist for just about anything. In early January 2022, I was going through a really rough time with covid cases rising. When I find myself struggling, I always go back to BTS. So, I made myself a comfort playlist to listen to when I’m down or not feeling the best. This playlist includes sad songs, but also songs that always boost my mood. If you’re ever feeling upset, test out this playlist. Even though it may not fix everything, it can provide at least a sliver of comfort to remind you that you’re never alone. And as Jimin said “Remember, there is a person here in Korea, in the city of Seoul, who understands you.”

CHAPTER 2

We are now in the second chapter of BTS’s story. Honestly, chapter 2 is crazier than any of us could have imagined. In the weeks following the hiatus announcement, we have received so much content from the boys. Starting with Jungkook’s collaboration with Charlie Puth in Left and Right. The song is so adorable and Jungkook graced our ears with his glorious vocals traveling from one ear to the other.

Following Jungkook’s single was Taehyung at the Celine fashion show in Paris. Everything about this Paris excursion was like a dream. He looked so insanely good and his social media updates always made me crazy. I couldn’t even keep a wallpaper for more than a few hours because he kept posting such wallpaper-worthy images! The fashion show itself was such a crazy day. His outfit was stunning and the power he possessed was just crazy. He really has such a superstar aura and he was basically the main character of the show. I was just so happy to see him enjoying himself.

Then, we got the first solo album announcement of chapter two: Jack in the Box by Hoseok. Pre-release track MORE was released on July 1st and I watched it in the car the moment it dropped. I couldn’t believe the change in concepts and the edginess of the song. I especially loved the X-Ray part of the music video. Overall, MORE has such a unique sound and I love how it combines Hip-Hop and Alternative/Rock.

After weeks of teasers and preparation the week of the album release arrived. Pictures of Hoseok’s listening party surfaced and it was so awesome to see BTS interacting with other artists and idols and having a good time. Then, the night before finally came.

I stayed up to watch the MV premiere for “Arson” and I couldn’t believe how amazing the song was. I once again loved the edginess of the video and the song. I was especially happy to see him swear in the song signaling a bit more creative freedom for the boys. The entire Jack in the Box album has such an interesting narrative and Hoseok really used the idea of Pandora’s box to create an entire storyline for himself.

Aside from the music releases, there have been many other interesting events within BTS’s second chapter. By interesting, I mean shirtless. Yes, chapter two seems to also be the shirtless era. Within days of the second chapter, we received the very first of the half naked images. The first culprit being none other than Mr. Park Jimin himself in the latest edition of Weverse magazine. Jimin poses alongside the other members in an open robe with no shirt underneath. Jungkook, Taehyung and Seokjin also have very low cut shirts in this set of images. The magazine is on sale for ARMY Members with the Merch Package as Merch Box #8. I already have mine on order and I can’t wait to see all the

The second culprit of the shirtless era was Taehyung who, out of nowhere, posted a mirror selfie of him with a completely unbuttoned dress shirt. (It may or may not have been my wallpaper for a few weeks.) Followed by Taehyung was Seokjin’s beach picture with a completely exposed back. He used this image to show off his 7 friendship tattoo. Most recently was Taehyung, once again, posting a shirtless collarbone selfie as a birthday gift for ARMY–yeah he’s insane.

Besides being shirtless, releasing music and going to fashion shows, the boys have been pretty busy! Namjoon has posted a plethora of museum images and Namjooning pictures on his Instagram, some of which were taken on his recent trip to Europe. Yoongi performed That That with Psy live for the first time and the crowd went absolutely mad when they saw him. Jungkook went to a Seventeen concert and we even got a picture of him with the members! BTS Island was released on June 28th and even BTS themselves can’t get enough of it as both Namjoon and Jungkook posted pictures of their gameplay. Taehyung and his friend group (Wooga Squad) are having an In The Soop series which will be airing on July 22nd and Hoseok’s Lollapalooza performance is on July 31st. BTS is also scheduled to host a concert in Busan in October for the World Expo and the vocal line is having a collaboration with Benny Blanco and Snoop Dogg. BTS’s second chapter has only just started and so much has already happened. Stay tuned for the rest of BTS’s second chapter as much more is still yet to come!!

ForYouth A message to BTS

To BTS, Thank you.

Two words that can’t really express how I feel after all of this. I had the best time with you in Las Vegas. Not only me, but also my mom. We had so much fun going for a little escape into Borahaegas all for you. It was probably the best weekend I’ll ever have. I can’t even explain in words how much that trip meant to me. It was so crazy to finally see you in person and I hope I can do it again soon. The concert really made me understand the meaning of youth. Thank you for everything you’ve given me. Thank you for always putting a smile on my face. Thank you for being MY youth. Since I was 11, I’ve been by your side, you’ve been by mine. It’s been quite the rollercoaster but I wouldn’t change a second of it. You’ve made my teen years truly amazing and I don’t know where I would be if I never met you back in 2018. I’ve had so many experiences and met so many people because of you and I’m so grateful for it all. You’ve taught me so much about life. You’ve taught me about moving on, letting go and living life to the fullest. You’ve expanded my passions for music, art and writing. You give me inspiration everyday through your music, your videos and your storylines. You never fail to impress me and I am always so honoured to be your fan. You continuously make me proud and I will always root for your success. I’ve experienced so many of your achievements and every time I get so happy to see you achieving your dreams. I remember your first grammy appearance and performance, your first time on Saturday Night Live, your AMA Artist of the Year win, all your Billboard performances and so many more. I know that this is only the beginning and I can’t wait for all the success you will see ahead.

Thank you for being more than just a boy group. Thank you for being so genuine and for never failing to make me smile. You’re really unlike any other group out there. Thank you for proving music’s power and making me realize mypassion for it. All your songs are laced with so much meaning, passion and most of all, love and sincerity. I could really go on and on in this letter and I’m already getting pretty emotional writing it, so I’ll just keep it short and say I love you all and thank you on behalf of everyone who you have touched the hearts of. I’ll always be by your side. “You’re my best friend for the rest of my life. I wish I could turn back time.”

Thank you BTS, for my youth.

Sincerely, Brooklynn D’Mello

Now it’s your turn! Go ahead, write a message to BTS about how much they mean to you.

ToMyYouth:

Final Conclusion

After this whole experience overall, I was really reminded exactly why BTS is still and will always remain my ultimate group. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but something about them always keeps me coming back. They feel like a home. Their music has the power to wash away any worries like no other. They’ve created such an amazing environment through their personalities and their music. I can’t even explain my attachment to them, but I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this unexplainable connection. These three months have been the best I’ve had in a long time and it was all possible because of BTS. I can’t wait for the exciting months ahead and the rest of their second chapter. I know it’s going to be such a fun and crazy time for everyone. Looking back on these whole three months, I can’t believe everything that happened. I can’t believe I saw BTS in one of their last shows as a group prior to the second chapter. I really think it was all destiny. The trip went so smoothly and it was all–perfect–I can’t describe it any other way. It was a dream come true.

I wanted to make this special edition to share my love for BTS and this insane experience I had. It’s also a really great way to remember it all. I documented every second of my trip, knowing that I wanted to make this magazine. I really wanted to share every single detail of this adventure because I thought it would be so interesting to read through the whole experience. Honestly, I didn’t expect this special edition to be so long, but I guess it was a lot to cover. I started working on this on May 6th and I just kept adding more and more as more things happened. Regardless, it was so much fun to make.

I hope you allenjoyed this BTS SpecialEdition of K-Pop Monthly and I thank you allfor joiningme on this story of the trip that changed my life. Keep an eye out for the next edition of K-Pop Monthly for more boy group related information and articles. I try to cover as many boygroups as I can, so if you like other groups as well, K-Pop monthly is for you! Check out the January and February editions now!