[ad_1]
NEW YORK (AP) – The seven-member BTS pop stars erupted in unison with loud, happy screams when they learned that they had reached their first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart of all genres.
“DREAM,” yells band member RM. “It still doesn’t feel real,” adds SUGA, speaking Korean through a translator. “We are very happy”.
“Dynamite,” the group’s first fully English song, debuted at number one on the US music charts this week, making BTS the first Korean pop act to top the chart. The upbeat song even supplanted “WAP,” the thunderous hit by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, to claim the number one spot.
“I never expected it,” RM told The Associated Press of the win over “WAP” in first place. “Never! It’s like the song of the year.”
But getting their first track to the top of the charts seemed inevitable for the K-pop boy band, which has continued to find great success in the United States in recent years. They’ve had four albums topping the Billboard 200 album chart, hit the Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 with “Boy With Luv,” “On,” and “Fake Love.” sold-out US soccer stadiums where pop stars need to join forces to perform.
And even at US award shows, they’ve gone from winning honors as “best social artist” to being named best group and best pop act, beating out Maroon 5, Imagine Dragons, twenty-one pilots, Jonas Brothers and others. At the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, they won all four awards for which they were nominated.
When asked if BTS, who released their debut single in 2013, felt like they had started to earn more respect from the US, RM said, “We definitely feel that.”
“I think from a culture perspective, I think it is very important to be familiar. First, we thought … that for a lot of Americans (they) weren’t familiar with (us) – we look different, (we sing) different, we have some choreography, music videos, like everything, even the lifestyle. But I think as time goes by, we’re doing these shows, songs, concerts and awards, I think a lot of people in the American music market are getting a little closer (to us), ”he said. “I think it’s very good and that’s what we really wanted.”
It could also be the time for BTS’s first Grammy nomination.
“When we see (Western) artists… get nominated for the Grammy Awards, they would say, ‘Yes! Yes! ”Said j-hope, getting up from her chair and throwing a small punch into the air.
“Like Travis Scott,” he continued. “The nomination is meaningful even for (famous) people like that and to imagine that we could be nominated for the Grammys, again, it would be a great honor and a great feeling.”
Nominees for the 2021 Grammy Awards will be announced later this year. The show does not have a K-pop category, and while there is an award for best world music album, there is no song category for world and international music. Those songs, then, would compete for best pop duo / group performance, a highly competitive award reserved for greatest hits or collaborations with super popular artists.
But the success of “Dynamite” could explode into a Grammy nomination for BTS.
“The very idea of a nomination is exciting,” said j-hope.
“I mean, we wait. We hope so, ”RM said. “Nobody knows about the Grammys … but we are doing our best.”
Although “Dynamite” has charted new territory for BTS, the song was not even supposed to be released, RM explained. BTS had plans to do a tour, but that changed due to the coronavirus: “The pandemic wiped out everything.”
So they recorded “Dynamite” to give their staunch fans, the BTS Army, “hope, positive energy,” RM said.
“And we think it really touched their hearts.”
The group, which includes Jin, V, Jimin, and Jung Kook, say they are busy recording a new album. They feel that they have grown in the seven years that they have been a musical group.
“We have matured musically, as well as in our way of thinking. We have also developed a greater sense of responsibility. This has refined us and these developments are really being reflected in our music and dance, ”said j-hope.
The band members are between 23 and 27 years old, and the youngest of the clan, Jung Kook, celebrated his birthday this week with special news.
“I got the news of our No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart on my birthday, so it really was one celebration after another,” he said. “It was incredible.”
