BTS at 10: how the world-conquering boyband evolved from hip-hop rookies to eclectic icons

“Things change, people change, everything change,” BTS leader RM sang on ‘Change Pt.2’, the squelchy, needling song from his 2022 solo album ‘Indigo’. That record grappled with life’s unpredictabilities and trying to navigate transformation, a natural and necessary part of our existences. Over the last 10 years, BTS have done much the same in their music, evolving over a breadth of sounds, each one adding to and expanding their sonic identity to create – when looked back on – a rich tapestry that’s cut through with musical adventure and curiosity.

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It started with hip-hop. Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE) founder Bang Si-hyuk’s original idea was to form a group around RM, a teen rapper who had been lighting up Korea’s underground scene. Before BTS’ debut, that vision morphed into a melding of hip-hop collective and idol group and, with three rappers and four singers, that’s how the seven-piece started their journey in June 2013. Their M.O. was clear in their very first release – ‘No More Dream’, an insistent track that tackled the pressure put on young people to yearn for the dreams society tells us we should want, from a good education to a respectable job and beyond.

Since the genre’s conception, hip-hop artists have shared observations about their lives and the worlds they live in through their music. In their own songs, BTS followed suit, using their ‘School’ trilogy – 2013’s ‘2 Cool 4 Skool’ and ‘O!RUL8,2?’, and 2014’s ‘Skool Luv Affair’ – to comment on issues affecting their generation, be they crushes on your schoolmates (‘Boy In Luv’) or trying to inspire a rising up against the brutal pressures put on them in pursuit of education (‘N.O.’).

No matter what sound BTS have been dabbling in, that social commentary streak has never been too far away. You can hear it in 2017’s ‘Go Go’ – on the surface, a fun frivolous song, but actually an analysis of modern youth’s almost nihilist hedonism, throwing money away because they don’t see a point in saving it for their future. It’s present in 2015’s ‘Baepsae’, deceptively performed with a truckload of hip thrusts at concerts, but really a critique of socio-economic inequality and attitudes of the older generation. ‘UGH!’, from 2020’s ‘Map Of The Soul: 7’, turned its focus on keyboard warriors spreading bile online. Even in their solo releases, these assessments are part of the group’s DNA – Suga’s ‘Polar Night’ tackles the un-nuanced way in which we often consume the world and opinions that don’t chime with our own.

As BTS’ popularity grew, so did the palette of styles they dipped into. Their 2014 album ‘Dark&Wild’ represented their last full hip-hop record, their next era finding them broadening their horizons. ‘The Most Beautiful Moment In Life’ brought the vocal line more to the fore and introduced tinges of everything from EDM and alt-pop, indie and crisp R&B. In 2016, ‘Wings’ amplified that new sonic diversity further, following down that path for the ‘Love Yourself’ trilogy, which in itself added yet more strings to BTS’ bow – jazzy flourishes, Latin-inspired sounds and tons more. That journey into eclecticism mirrored the trajectory of music consumption in the digital age – where once we came from a place of tribalism, dedicating ourselves to one genre, now we embrace everything and anything that strikes a chord with us.

In 2020, the world shifted on its axis and so too did BTS once again. With pandemic dread clouding the globe, they set out to do what they do best – provide comfort and support through difficult times with their music. To do so, they turned to a sound that could impact the most people possible, big glossy, euphoric pop – and a sparkle of disco. ‘Dynamite’ kicked off what’s now known as their English trilogy, a rush of escapist elation packaged into a pop anthem. Unsurprisingly, it helped them finally get their first Billboard Hot 100 Number One – something they’d been threatening to do for a few releases. ‘Butter’ and ‘Permission To Dance’ followed (with the slightly more subdued ‘BE’ album in between), yet more bright bullets of encouragement, hope and distraction as the situation continued.

In their second chapter – one that finds them prioritising solo activities for the time being – BTS are keeping up that commitment to evolution. That was evident from the first individual release, J-hope’s ‘Jack In The Box’, which saw the rapper shake off the sunny disposition he’s more commonly associated with and experiment with darker, shadowier sounds and ideas. Experiment is the key word here – each solo release so far has felt like each member trying out something new and pushing themselves outside their comfort zones, liberated from some of the pressure of BTS’ success. On ‘Set Me Free Pt.2’, Jimin adopted abrasive autotune – a world away from the soft sweetness of his Soundcloud releases – while RM’s ‘Indigo’ included something equally unexpected in the form of folk song ‘Forg_tful’.

Over the last decade, every time BTS have evolved and moved on to fresh ideas, they’ve never left what they did before behind. Instead, they’ve kept it as a part of them, binding previous endeavours into their DNA, making something inimitably them. “Yesterday’s me is still me,” RM said in his speech at the UN in 2018 and that’s an ethos that thrives in BTS’ music. As the seven members continue to create on their own and, at some point, back together, each new project will likely feed into whatever comes next too. Perhaps, by their 20th anniversary, we’ll be looking back at an even richer and varied back catalogue – and even more powerful future yet to come too.

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