We analyze four online concerts by K-pop group BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 to the present) from the view of participant observation. The pandemic served as a catalyst for the evolution of these concerts. BTS set new records for revenue generated by a single online concert in June 2020, only to beat their own record in October 2020, and again in June 2021. While BTS delivered high-quality online concerts to its fans, known as ARMY, these concerts highlighted the challenges to both audience members and performers despite the use of “virtual reality” technologies. We argue that BTS’s online concerts represent a new type of concert production and consumption that expands the accessibility of performances to fans all over the world, and also enabled new forms of interactions between artists and audience members. However, these concerts inadvertently highlighted the importance of in-person interaction between fans and performers as K-pop relies heavily not only on cheering and banners that support artists, but also on light sticks, fan chants, and other activities.
“I Need U”: Audience Participation in BTS’s Online Concerts During COVID-19
Wonseok Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology (emphasis on ethnomusicology). His academic interests are popular music, globalization, transnationalism, and musical identity. His dissertation project, titled K-Pop Resounding: Korean Popular Music beyond Koreanness, focuses on how the meaning of “K” in “K-pop” is (re)interpreted by individuals, how K-pop resounds beyond Koreanness, and eventually what makes “K-pop” K-pop.
Grace Kao is IBM Professor of Sociology at Yale University, where she also serves as professor of ethnicity, race, & migration (by Courtesy), faculty director of education studies, and director of CERSI. Her research focuses on racial, ethnic, and immigrant differences in educational outcomes and transition to adulthood; interracial friendships and romantic relationships; dating and marriage in S. Korea; and sociology of music, especially K-Pop and the Hallyu.
Both authors have made equal contributions to this work.
Wonseok Lee, Grace Kao; “I Need U”: Audience Participation in BTS’s Online Concerts During COVID-19. Journal of Popular Music Studies 1 March 2023; 35 (1): 46–66. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2023.35.1.46
Download citation file:
University of California Press