If you’ve been following along with this series dedicated to sharing the personal narratives of how ARMYs became fans of BTS, you will appreciate how diverse those stories are — as diverse as the ARMYs who shared them. Whether they described their experiences as ‘falling down the BTS rabbit-hole’ or finding BTS when they needed them most, everyone spoke of how much richer their lives are now with BTS. So this month’s blog is a little different from previous postings. This month we’ll focus more on the ‘why’ rather than the ‘who.’
Embrace Yourself
Why is it important for us, as ARMYs, to tell our stories? What purpose does it serve? Since their debut days, BTS have shared their stories with us in a variety of ways. Through their music, interviews, and live-streaming, they’ve revealed many of their struggles and joys, achievements and losses, hopes, and fears. Remember when RM spoke of his faults and mistakes “making up the brightest constellation” of his life as part of his infamous 2018 UN speech? Those words are a poignant reminder that we, too, have our own constellations, but it’s up to us to embrace those as hard as we can.
Allowing their rawness and vulnerability to shine as much as their polished and professional selves is one of the keystones of who BTS are as artists and an important factor in their ability to connect with people on a global scale, fans, and non-fans alike. Whether they are in front of the cameras, backstage, or performing live for their fans, BTS understands the significance and necessity of authenticity, integrity, and sincerity in all that they do.
Love Yourself
From the moment they debuted, BTS has openly critiqued societal injustices that impact youth. After all, that is their mainstay as 방탄소년단 aka Bulletproof Boy Scouts. But as the members have grown in age and experience, so too have their lyrical messages. After spending the early part of their career highlighting what was wrong with society, they went one step further and began to offer up a way to overcome those wrongs. Not through any grand gestures, but rather, through the simple act of loving oneself. Yet during one of BTS’ 2018 concert ending ments, RM readily admitted that even he fully didn’t know how to love himself, telling ARMYs (and reminding himself) that “it is our mission to define our way to love ourselves.”
In past blogs from our “ARMYs Tell Us Who You Are” series, we’ve shared many stories of how, after finding BTS, ARMYs started to learn about the importance of loving themselves. Indian ARMY Anindita shared how BTS showed her the way to self-healing, self-love, and self-care while ARMY member Blacksoang from Indonesia spoke of how her journey began simply by finding happiness. Linda from America told us that BTS “nudged her out of her own brokenness” by helping her to find hope again, whereas another US ARMY member spoke of how BTS’ messages of comfort, love, and support helped her to stand on her own (without feeling lonely) after experiencing significant losses in her life.
BTS and ARMY have shown us that there are countless ways of loving ourselves. However, it is Jin’s epiphanous lyrics that really highlight that nothing will change until we experience for ourselves, that life-changing moment of realization — “I’m the one I should love in this world, the shining me, the precious soul of mine.”
Speak Yourself
“No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin color, your gender identity, just speak yourself. Find your name and find your voice, by speaking yourself.” Iconic, right!
For us here at Borasaek Vision, a simple, yet meaningful series like “ARMYs Tell Us Who You Are” is our way of honoring these words. Providing a platform for ARMYs to speak themselves, for their words, their voices, and their lived experiences to shine through is one contribution we can make to ensure that others are not telling our stories for us. Also, we’d like to reiterate that there is more than ONE way to speak yourself. Blogging is one medium of expression, but certainly not the only form. There are also poetry, short stories, and art pieces, such as those hosted by Dream Glow Mag; supplemental stories, academic research articles, creative collections, and conference presentations from our literary colleagues at The R3 Journal; and essays, short stories, and books championed by Wallea Eaglehawk and her team from Revolutionaries / Bulletproof.
Additionally, there are podcasts, documentaries, videos, dances, and ARMY-composed/ performed music. The myriad of opportunities available to ARMYs is phenomenal, yet also in keeping with the diversity of who we are as ARMYs. With so many fans in the ARMY fandom, there need to be multiple forms of expression. As for us here at Borasaek Vision: we may not be the largest fan-based magazine, the flashiest, or the first and that’s okay — everything we produce is done to the best of our ability, with due diligence and care. Everyone starts somewhere, and just like the members of BTS, our team of dedicated ARMYs are a collective of hard-working, talented, and caring people from across the globe who have chosen to “walk the Borasaek road with BTS - with love and trust, until the end.” All that is needed now is for ARMYs to find a form of expression that resonates with them, and give it go.
DISCLAIMER: We do not own any audio & visual content in this video except for the editing. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS. No copyright infringement intended.
Written By: Shelley
Edit By: Clare
Checked By: Aury