BTS is blowing up everywhere on the internet and dominating the music industry. As a fan myself and someone who knows them well, I wanted to give them a solid review based on a couple things. Take it as biased as you would like, but I am sincerely trying my best to give a completely honest and unbiased review.

1. Music Production – 7/10

It’s basically your typical pop/kpop type of music and I don’t find much to be very special about it. There are sometimes things that I find very unique and amazing about the production, however it’s nothing special when looking at other pop/kpop artists.

2. Lyric Production – 10/10

This is definitely one of their stronger attributes. I don’t know if it’s just natural because they got a member with a 148 IQ or they all have secret majors in poetry, but the lyrics are always so magical and accurately symbolic.

One of their members, Kim Namjoon, has said that one of the other members didn’t know how he wanted to write the song. So doing it for him, he creatively took quotes from said member and wrote them in a way to express what he didn’t know how to express. This fact, that he just so nonchalantly said in a live stream, always seems to creep into mind when ever I am thinking about how genius their lyrics are.

This will always be an aspect of the group that I can say they are not overrated on.

3. Personality/Honesty – 9/10

What I mean by this category is the way they express themselves and how honest they are about this. While they are the most honest band I have ever had the pleasure of being a fan of, it did take them a while to get there. At the beginning of their career, you could try to assume the personality of each of the members, but you would probably find yourself to be wrong. As a fault in the kpop industry, sometimes companies assign a “type” to each member of the group so that you can get a more diverse fan base. However this doesn’t always work and can make some of the members come off as unnatural and fake.

In the beginning, BTS had this same thing going on where they were playing roles as different types of people. Later in their career Jin, the eldest member, comes forward and expresses his frustration of having to act as if he was a colder more serious person than he actually was. Now he goes around telling dad jokes, happy to be himself. Unfortunately, while the point taken wasn’t entirely their fault, it still needs to be addressed.

4. Growth – 11/10

Taking this 100% seriously, they have definitely earned more than 100% of the points on this one. Not only did they go from being nobodies to being worldwide superstars, but they also grew together as people as well. They started in a dying company in an industry that was localized only in eastern Asia. Somehow, through some secret formula, they have reached further than I ever imagined and have brought a whole industry with it. I remember when they got their first Artist of The Year award in Korea and the firs thought I had was “Oh my goodness I am so proud,” however my second thought was, “Well, they’ve reached the ceiling, and the only other direction is down.” I fully expected them to go back to being nobodies or just stay in place, but Big Hit had other plans. They shot through the ceiling and exploded into the sky. When will they slow down? We may never know.

Making up for that lost point in the last category, they have grown more and more as just being people. They have even grown more and more honest than ever, even coming forward and confessing that they have been having problems and even thought about disbandment. Together they have grown and through their series, Burn The Stage, they show how they have grown through both struggles and successes together as a group.

Individually, they have gone through so much change and developments. I would go into more details on each member, however I’m going to leave that up to a different post.

5. Talent – 10/10

To be honest, they aren’t the most talented and amazing at everything *cough cough* Jungkook’s acting *cough*. However, they all bring so many talents and hard work to the table. Because there are so many members and so much talent in each, they all are able to teach the others and help each other when needed. When one needs help pronouncing a lyric in English, they can confidently go to Namjoon knowing it’s pronounced the right way (unless it’s the word “vacuum”). When one needs a little extra help with the dance, they can get solid help from the natural dance teacher Jung Hoseok. With all this in mind, I think that they definitely have the talent of a 10.

6. Fan Base – 8/10

You may have heard that ARMY is the greatest fan base and no other fan base has nicer people in it. Or you may have heard that they are all crazy, chasing and clawing at Jungkook’s shirt anytime he passes in public. Well, as a fan in North America, I can’t speak for everyone, but from what I can tell we are mostly pretty good people. Now yes, we have had a few nutty fans go off and try to tear Taehyung’s shirt off, however the only reason it seems like there are a lot of those is because they are the most posted about. There are many stories about the great things ARMY has done for BTS and they are so underrated. The most to keep in mind is that ARMY is a fan base and EVERY fan base is going to have the crazy insane fans who do stupid things. However I have notices that the ARMYs I have met tend to be more open minded people who take BTS’s messages very seriously.

OVERALL SCORE – 9/10

I definitely recommend BTS. They are fun to watch and listen to. You can connect with them on so many levels and they are so inspiring.

Thank you for tuning into my first real review on here. Please leave your thoughts in the comments!