So, you’ve started hearing about K-Pop everywhere. It might seem likeK-Pop has cut its way into Western charts out of nowhere - BTS’s latest album 'Love Yourself: Tear' being the first K-pop artist to reach number one on the US album chart.

This ISN'Tcompletely out of nowhere though, andthey're definitely not the only successful K-Pop act. So, ahead of their upcoming release'Love Yourself: Answer, 'it's time to answer: 'Who are BTS?' and 'How and why has K-Pop got so big across the globe?'.

'SOUNDTRACK THIS PRIMER WITH THE BEST WAY TO GET TO KNOW THEM - THEIR HIT TRACK 'MIC DROP''

But first, why listen to K-Pop, and BTS in particular, at all?

Well -BTS havegot everything you could ever possibly want from a boyband:the style, the personalities, the fandom, the variety in sound from emotional pop to hip-hop to rock - honestly they can do EVERYTHING and absolutely deserve your attention.

K-Pop has been slowly rising in prominence for the last twenty years, but only in the last decade has it taken off internationally to such great heights. The last 10 years especially has seen the meteoric rise of stand out K-Pop acts like BTS and BIGBANG, but this is the first time any has reached the milestone of no. 1 in the US charts.

Within just a month of the release of BTS'svideo for their newsingle ‘FAKE LOVE’ - it has already garnered171 million views, and now that they’re collaborating with massive Western artists like Steve Aoki - it's time for you to open your eyes to the cross-genre, amazingly talented and incredibly fascinating world of K-Pop.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

1) So, What is K-Pop & what makes it different?

K-Pop (ie Korean pop) is a distinct brand of pop music in South Korea, which takes influences from a broad range of worldwide genres. This is as far reaching as Western pop music, hip-hop, rock, R&B, electronic, Latin, experimental, gospel, reggae, folk, country and classical music - but all through a South Korean lens, and sitting atop it’s Korean music roots.

BTS especiallyare an incredibly talented bunch that stand out the most from the history of K-Pop-taking cues from all the aforementionedgenres, andwith members whose specialities range from singing to rapping to dancing, they're able to cover all bases!

K-Pop's reach expands further than just the music though - it's about the fashion, the dancing, the lifestyle of the group members and more. They're the modern all singing, all dancing troupe, and they've trained for years to get here.

In fact, most K-Pop groups all live in the same house to bond and practice, which BTS still choose to do despite their international success!

If you need any more convincing - John Cena himself is a proud fan!

2) Who are BTS?

BTS are a South Korean boy band of 7 members that debuted in 2013, and have been steadily rising in international popularity ever since. By now, they’re internationally HUGE - their latest album 'Love Yourself: Tear'was the first K-Pop album to reach no.1 on the US charts.

Back across the pond, the same album peaked at an impressive no.8 on the UK charts, and with 'WINGS'they were the first K-Pop act to enter the officialUK charts - which just goes to show how international BTS have become.

Their music video for 'Fake Love', which acts as a short film that unveils more of their stories, brought in 260 million views since its' releaseunder 3 months ago -give this one a listenbelow!

3) What does ‘BTS’ mean?

BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan (or 방탄소년단 ), which in English directly translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”, but they picked BTS as the name for English speaking fans, to whom they’ve also been known as the Bangtan Boys. In July 2017 however, they extended the identity of their name to also mean ‘Beyond The Scene’.

BTS are significant in that they stand out from a lot of what K-Pop initially represented. As K-Pop became more of an export, there was a push towards manufactured "idol pop" - which BTS share traits with, but it's their deeper lyrical content and telling of real personal stories which sets them apart to fans. Understanding this is key to understanding the appeal of their high-budget music videos which, aside from the fantastic choreographic and fashion elements, are able to develop their stories further.

4) What's the BTS A.R.M.Y?

If you thought Swifties, Beliebers orZquad were the most devout fandoms - let us introduce you to the A.R.M.Y. It actually stands for "Adorable RepresentativeM.C for Youth", but they have the loyalty to BTS like they were their own personal army.

For instance - Taylor Swift's 2 month twitter mention average is about 728,000 mentions. This is by all means impressive, but at the same time BTS get 36 million. Yup. Now you can see how devoted the fans are!

The fandom is R.E.A.L. There's even separate pages for Korean and International fans, with groups of bilingual fans translating to-the-minute news updates as they come out. BTS-is-life.

5) Where do I get started with their music?

For a group thats only existed since 2013, they have a hefty discography including 6 studio albums, 4 compilation albums and 5 EPs. Their work ethic is unreal and they DON'T stop.

To get started, checkout two of theirrecent tracks'MIC Drop' and 'Fake Love' above, and then have a listen to our introductory selection below:

'DNA' was BTS' US breakthrough track and so we'll start there. When the song debuted it made BTS the first K-Pop group to make the Billboard Hot100 chart. They then even smashed their own record when they dropped the Steve Aoki featuring 'MIC Drop'!

A track from earlier in the group's career - 'Dope' was released in 2015 and for a time was'THE 'classic''initiation song for new BTS recruits. This one's a must!

'Blood Sweat & Tears' is the insanely catchy track from BTS' second studio album'Wings' debuted in2016.

If you're a fan already, it'll be no time before you're working through everything they've made from the beginning of their discography!

6) I need MORE - what else do they do?

You're in luck! The boys of BTS do more than just their extensive work in the group, a number of them have solo careers and their own TV shows.

Suga, the lead rapper,RM, the leader of the group and JHope allhave solo careers that you've got to check out!

On top of that they have a TV shows about them as a band such as 'Run BTS!', but they also have their own shows such as Jin's 'Eat Jin' where fans watch him eat whilst live asking him questions. They have so many shows we can't mention them all, so go check them out!

7) So, how did they reach No.1 on the US album charts?

Well, given all this it's pretty self-explanatory. Between the fantastic and original music& talent they produce, the Beatlemania-esque fandom and their prolific use of social media to encourage fan involvement - we're surprised it took this long!

Cleary, a barrier has been broken and Western audiences have realised how amazing K-Pop, or at least for now BTS, are! Since the Steve Aoki collab, we're SO excited for more collaborations between K-Pop artists and popular Western artists!

8) What's coming next from BTS?

SO, as a new A.R.M.Y recruit you must be dying to know what's coming next for the group, and when will they be dorpping new music. WELL, never fear because they only recently announced that they have a brand-new album coming August 24th.

'Love Yourself: Answer'will be the fourth and final instalment in their'Love Yourself'series of albums - so it's gonna be a big one!

If you just can't wait for the new album and need to pass the time, find out what Jason Derulo said about his rumoured BTS collaboration right HERE!