When someone tells me BTS have “westernised”

1st Official Post

    External Content twitter.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    External Content twitter.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    Also reminder that

    External Content twitter.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    The last tweet is

    "when someone says they miss the old bts"

    :eyes:


    In my experience it takes only one song, or two songs that are different in a significant way from everything else for people to say an artist has changed

    Just gotta carry on enjoying what you like, change isn't a bad thing if you like the change

    Change in context here refers to them becoming “westernized “ the term some people have been running up since BTS released English songs. The last tweet obv refers to ppl who whine about missing their Korean music when they constantly do release them and it’s always readily available for listen.

    Basically summarizes everything I want to say


    External Content twitter.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Thank goodness they've changed because there's nothing more dull than an artist who stops innovating, growing, and experimenting. I don't want the same thing over and over again. I might not like every change an artist makes but I do want them to try new things and not become stagnant.

    Quote from musicqueen

    Basically summarizes everything I want to say


    External Content twitter.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Yes this 🙏🏽🙏🏽

  • BRIYANI

    Changed the title of the thread from “When someone tells me BTS have “changed”” to “When someone tells me BTS have “westernised””.
  • AllKill VIP
    • Official Post

    All artists change and grow. There's no shame in that. People use "change" as a point of criticism, but chances are their own favorites have changed as well.


    They still had their Korean releases last year and they will continue to do so.


    As for westernization, I get anxious about all groups in general trying to be "westernized, as it's difficult to pull off. At the end of the day, though, it's music that is meant for our enjoyment and entertainment. No point in getting too worked up over it. The "old sound" is still there for us to revisit; it's not going anywhere.


    I think people need to lighten up and remember the newer English releases have a positive message. It's hard to hate on that.

    I agree with most of your points but I just don’t really like the term westernized for various reasons. One the whole kpop thing is based on Western pop music from the beginning. That’s how it at least started. With that said, groups release music in Korean, Japanese and English as a standard now. In each languages, their reach is for different markets. No one tells them they have become too Japanese oriented when they have hit Japanese songs. Why does this only apply for English songs?

    Quote from ohpuhlease

    Change in context here refers to them becoming “westernized “ the term some people have been running up since BTS released English songs. The last tweet obv refers to ppl who whine about missing their Korean music when they constantly do release them and it’s always readily available for listen.

    Yeah I gathered it was about English singles.

    They're an active group, they'll be judged on their most recent releases

    and their biggest hits over time.

    My point was change is what you make of it, I get why people don't like certain changes and I also get why some people do like them. That includes promoted English language singles.

    If we look at the trojan horse image, the "westernised songs" are the ruse and the real killing part are the Korean songs. So the change there is a tactic that surprises and then entices people.


    And yes, that's what I was referring to? People saying they miss the old bts meaning they miss older bts music.


    Quote from musicqueen

    Basically summarizes everything I want to say


    External Content twitter.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    I agree that they won't be making the music they made 5 years ago, they wouldn't make a Wings again (unless they decide to do a throw back style album) and that's perfectly natural.

    5 years is a long time in kpop years.


    The thing she said about Asian Fetishisation missed the mark though imo. It's a big claim she made and she didn't explain it.

    I think many people were complaining about PTD being sung in an English language and not Korean while never criticising them for releasing Japanese music. Might be that?

    Sorry to say what is this shit of being westernized? BTS has one of most diverse discographies with pop, hiphop, retro , electronic etc. every genre is integrated in it


    I understand , sometimes it is hit and miss for some. But that doesn't mean they are westernized ( if they want BTS to make meme kpop songs, spare me). People know nothing about music here lol.

    Quote from Queeeenie

    The thing she said about Asian Fetishisation missed the mark though imo. It's a big claim she made and she didn't explain it.

    She did explain it tho? If you go on twitter (and some people on akp too actually), there is a huge discourse about the 3 songs in English. NOT because of how it sounds but solely because of English. And people are saying exactly what she said, they are singing in English and losing their Korean identity blah blah.

    If the problem was with bts singing in a different language, the same energy would be seen for film out but it was not. People were literally praising it left and right. So the problem is clearly them singing in English. And it points to the deeper problem of Asian fetisization. But you can only see the problem if you want to so🤷‍♀️

  • AllKill VIP

    Is it a bad thing?

    Clearly their sound is different from what kpop group do

    Their song recently sound more like western artists are doing lately

    And it's been months dince they release something in Korean, all their latest release were in english which prove that their focus switch to western country

    They also only perform on american show and no longer on korean show


    They are obviously acting more like a western artist in their sound and promo than a kpop artist


    So yes i do think they are now westernize

    And i don't see any argument who could really prove that they aren't recently


    Being a kpop group westernize doesn't mean they are no longer korean so i don't see why them being westernize now is a problem for some people


    And them having a diverse discography in the past in koreans doesn't mean that they can't become westernize if they change their new sound

    Just like a kpop group even if they have a diverse choregraphy can switch from cute to sexy sound

    It's the same, maybe bts wasn't before but their recent release and promo prove that they are going for this westernize thing

    They have gone the western route and its okay because they've clearly mentioned their ambitions of a grammy. By western route, I dont mean the english songs but doing english chat shows and not being as prominent on k-media.

    All things said and done, they've gone global and it is something that they wanted themselves.


    Maybe global is a better word than westernized.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login