ARMY Fans for The Win

Imagine being at a concert with screaming fans lining up to see their favorite music group perform. Stands are selling shirts and other merch. Finally, it’s the time, you have been waiting for. Lights’ goes dim, and suddenly its go time. The music plays, you can’t help but get excited to watch the performance of a lifetime. Anyone who have been concert know the feeling of waiting for their favorite singer or group to perform. That’s how I felt when I went to my first K-pop concert back in 2019. It was an such exhilarating experience. However, we are not talking about that. We are talking about a growing community that took one boy band over the map. They are called ARMY fans known as Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth. One fandom post put it “Fans will always be together with BTS”.

I came to learn about BTS in 2014. The first song I listened to was Boy In Luv. It was one of my favorite song. I never became an ARMY but it was one of my favorite groups. ARMY fan is one of the most loyal fanbase in the K-pop community.

BTS and their fans did not come to existence until 2013. BTS debuted on June 13, 2013 and a month later, BTS fan club was created by Big Hit Entertainment. I did not discover them until 2014 but wasn’t a fan of them. My favorite group at the time was EXO. BTS became popular here in America back in 2017 after winning their first billboard award and ARMY grew even more. The level of love for BTS is amazing. Before I researched ARMY fans, I was very curious on what made them better than any other K-pop group, why did they love them so much. The more I observed them, the more I understood why they are so passionate about them. That’s why I decided to write about this group.

As I researched deeper, I came to learn about BTS and its ARMY fans. BTS member, Jin, said “It is because ARMY exist that we exist.” I have joined three ARMY communities online that was dedicated to BTS. I learned that ARMY fans not only support BTS in a large way, but they also donate to charities and even support each other. On December 4, 2020, Seokjin birthday, ARMY donated to Swartland community organization Goedgedacht Trust in honor of Seokjin. (The Sunday Independence) After George Floyd death, BTS donated $1 million to the BLM campaign. ARMY fans in 24hrs donated $1 million as well. ARMY fans used social media to take over #WhiteoutWednesday. (CNN Wire)

To help each other, ARMY fans created an ARMY Help Center in 2018. A lot of fans that BTS music has been helpful to them. Danielle Given Acido, a college student in the Philippines, found comfort their music during her darkest days. (The Washington Post) John Cena, appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, admitted that it was the ARMY that helped him to accept and promote self-love. It was the fans that helped him embrace himself and write his book. He’s also a hard-core BTS fan. Through his darkest days, John didn’t consider himself, but it was from BTS hit album Love yourself: Answers helped him as well as ARMY fans. (The Times of India).

Researching ARMY, I learned that they are passionate about BTS. BTS has helped these fans through their hardships. They supported each other even now during the pandemic. BTS music is different than any other mainstream music in our generations and with the support of ARMY, they'll continue to be successful.