vox--2020-02-21--America’s presidential primaries, explained

Before Americans even vote on the next president in November , both major political parties have primary elections to decide the nominee .
In 2020 , that process consists of 64 different contests , held on 22 different days from February to June .
And for the past 50 years , this process has started in Iowa , moved to New Hampshire , and then headed to other small states on this slog to the conventions .
How did this become our system ?
We can thank the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention .
Then , only a few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chose the party ’ s presidential nominee .
That year , young Democrats favored anti-war candidates .
But at the convention , the party chose a pro-war candidate : then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey , who wasn ’ t even on a ballot in the primaries .
After those protests , the Democrats — and the Republicans soon after — changed their systems so every state holds a primary .
They wanted the voters to actually have a voice .
Now we have what ’ s called a “ sequential primary system.
” Starting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candidates gets winnowed down to just a few for the rest of the country .
But those first states with the most influence , like Iowa , weren ’ t chosen by the party on purpose .
It was just random .
A disastrous Iowa caucus in 2020 has people questioning this system .
So how could it be better ?
Watch the video above to learn more .
You can find this video and all of Vox ’ s videos on YouTube .
And if you ’ re interested in supporting our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ member of the Vox Video Lab on YouTube .

Before Americans even vote on the next president in November, both major political parties have primary elections to decide the nominee. In 2020, that process consists of 64 different contests, held on 22 different days from February to June.
And for the past 50 years, this process has started in Iowa, moved to New Hampshire, and then headed to other small states on this slog to the conventions. How did this become our system?
We can thank the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Then, only a few states held primaries, and party leaders chose the party’s presidential nominee. That year, young Democrats favored anti-war candidates. But at the convention, the party chose a pro-war candidate: then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who wasn’t even on a ballot in the primaries.
After those protests, the Democrats — and the Republicans soon after — changed their systems so every state holds a primary. They wanted the voters to actually have a voice.
Now we have what’s called a “sequential primary system.” Starting in small states, the number of candidates gets winnowed down to just a few for the rest of the country. But those first states with the most influence, like Iowa, weren’t chosen by the party on purpose. It was just random.
A disastrous Iowa caucus in 2020 has people questioning this system. So how could it be better?
Watch the video above to learn more. You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube. And if you’re interested in supporting our video journalism, you can become a member of the Vox Video Lab on YouTube.


vox--2020-02-21--Sudan just took a step backward on its path to democracy

Sudan appears to have taken a disturbing step backward on its path toward democracy .
On Thursday , Sudanese security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum who were protesting the government ’ s removal of officers and soldiers who ’ d supported the revolution that overthrew the country ’ s longtime dictator , Omar al-Bashir , in April 2019 .
After the coup against al-Bashir , an 11-member Sovereign Council took over in August ; it will first be headed by senior military official Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for 21 months , and then will be chaired by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transitional government is expected to uphold peace and take steps to move the country toward democracy , culminating in elections in 2022 .
But Thursday ’ s retaliation against protesters says something different , calling into question the sincerity of the Sovereign Council .
On Tuesday , the Sudanese armed forces released a statement that includes the names of the officers and soldiers who were to be dismissed .
In response , the Sudanese Professionals Association ( SPA ) , a group that has been an active leader in the revolution against al-Bashir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to protest the discharge of the officers and to demand reform .
The protests were “ against the referral of a Sudanese army officer , 1st Lt. Muhammad Siddiq , who supported the protesters during the first sit-in in front of the army headquarters , ” Abdelrahman Mohamed al-Gasim , the external relations secretary of the Darfur Bar Association , told me .
“ The protesters are demanding that he be returned to the army.
” He added that there are other dismissed troops who also sided with the revolution that he can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the SPA later shared photographs and videos that showed injured protesters and pictures of children who were affected by the tear gas .
Al-Gasim also confirmed those attacks .
“ The police force used excessive force against protesters by firing tear gas intensively and sometimes clubbing , ” he said , speaking to me via direct message on Twitter from Uganda .
The SPA later shared a statement on Facebook condemning the military ’ s violent response to the protesters .
“ The attacks that occurred against the peaceful citizens are completely and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be quiet unless the demands of this procession are fulfilled , ” the statement , which I translated from the original Arabic , read .
The crackdown on demonstrators shows the country is still struggling to move toward democracy On February 11 , Sudan ’ s Sovereign Council signaled that it may be willing to extradite al-Bashir , the ousted dictator , to the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) in the Hague , Netherlands , to face longstanding charges of genocide , crimes against humanity , and war crimes for his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ region that began in 2003 .
Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi , a civilian member of the Sovereign Council , said at a press conference that the council had “ agreed that everyone who had arrest warrants issued against them will appear before the ICC .
I ’ m saying it very clearly.
” Al-Taishi didn ’ t specifically say al-Bashir ’ s name , but it ’ s clear that ’ s who he was talking about .
Al-Taishi emphasized the importance of this step for the democratic future of the country .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heal the wounds with justice itself , ” he said .
“ We can not escape from confronting that.
” But the violent response to the protests on Thursday — and the decision , as activists allege , to force out police and military officers who supported the revolution — challenges the sincerity of those sentiments .
If the new sovereign council is retaliating with violence , how much progress has the country really made since the revolution ?
Is the transitional government just a means to pacify the Sudanese public ?
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not respect the right to protest and freedom of opinion , ” al-Gasim told me .
It is “ a violation of the constitutional government.
” “ The era of domination and dictatorship has passed , and the transitional government must respect its legal obligations based on international covenants , ” he added .
Correction : An earlier version of the story misstated the location of a source .

Sudan appears to have taken a disturbing step backward on its path toward democracy.
On Thursday, Sudanese security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum who were protesting the government’s removal of officers and soldiers who’d supported the revolution that overthrew the country’s longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, in April 2019.
After the coup against al-Bashir, an 11-member Sovereign Council took over in August; it will first be headed by senior military official Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for 21 months, and then will be chaired by a civilian for 18 months.
This 39-month transitional government is expected to uphold peace and take steps to move the country toward democracy, culminating in elections in 2022. But Thursday’s retaliation against protesters says something different, calling into question the sincerity of the Sovereign Council.
On Tuesday, the Sudanese armed forces released a statement that includes the names of the officers and soldiers who were to be dismissed.
In response, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), a group that has been an active leader in the revolution against al-Bashir, called for a demonstration on Thursday to protest the discharge of the officers and to demand reform.
The protests were “against the referral of a Sudanese army officer, 1st Lt. Muhammad Siddiq, who supported the protesters during the first sit-in in front of the army headquarters,” Abdelrahman Mohamed al-Gasim, the external relations secretary of the Darfur Bar Association, told me. “The protesters are demanding that he be returned to the army.”
He added that there are other dismissed troops who also sided with the revolution that he cannot confirm yet.
On Facebook, the SPA later shared photographs and videos that showed injured protesters and pictures of children who were affected by the tear gas.
Al-Gasim also confirmed those attacks. “The police force used excessive force against protesters by firing tear gas intensively and sometimes clubbing,” he said, speaking to me via direct message on Twitter from Uganda.
The SPA later shared a statement on Facebook condemning the military’s violent response to the protesters.
“The attacks that occurred against the peaceful citizens are completely and utterly rejected … the streets won’t be quiet unless the demands of this procession are fulfilled,” the statement, which I translated from the original Arabic, read.
The crackdown on demonstrators shows the country is still struggling to move toward democracy
On February 11, Sudan’s Sovereign Council signaled that it may be willing to extradite al-Bashir, the ousted dictator, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands, to face longstanding charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for his role in the genocide in the Darfur region that began in 2003.
Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a civilian member of the Sovereign Council, said at a press conference that the council had “agreed that everyone who had arrest warrants issued against them will appear before the ICC. I’m saying it very clearly.” Al-Taishi didn’t specifically say al-Bashir’s name, but it’s clear that’s who he was talking about.
Al-Taishi emphasized the importance of this step for the democratic future of the country. “We can only achieve justice if we heal the wounds with justice itself,” he said. “We cannot escape from confronting that.”
But the violent response to the protests on Thursday — and the decision, as activists allege, to force out police and military officers who supported the revolution — challenges the sincerity of those sentiments.
If the new sovereign council is retaliating with violence, how much progress has the country really made since the revolution? Is the transitional government just a means to pacify the Sudanese public?
“This means that the transitional government does not respect the right to protest and freedom of opinion,” al-Gasim told me. It is “a violation of the constitutional government.”
“The era of domination and dictatorship has passed, and the transitional government must respect its legal obligations based on international covenants,” he added.
Correction: An earlier version of the story misstated the location of a source.


vox--2020-02-21--America’s failure in Afghanistan, explained by one village

MUSSAHI DISTRICT , Kabul Province , Afghanistan — A small group of men , and children who quickly grow bored , are standing by the riverside .
All of them are staring at the contraption before them : a small water pump that , despite their best efforts , won ’ t turn on .
A young man tries to set it in motion by pushing at the gear and pulling at the engine , all the while staring at the tube protruding from the lifeless pump .
The water in the river remains still and calm .
The pump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last two decades in Germany , simply will not work .
It ’ s an all too typical story in the Mussahi District of Kabul Province , 30 kilometers ( around 19 miles ) south of the capital itself , where many things have not functioned for some time .
Much like Mussahi ’ s water pump , most of Afghanistan isn ’ t functioning either , at least outside the major cities .
And even if the newly reelected president , Ashraf Ghani , does his best to try to improve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard time holding off the Taliban .
Eighteen years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan , the capital city of Kabul has gone through several transformations .
The city is now dotted with high-rises that fill the skyline , roads that are slowly being paved , and newly renovated monuments of eras gone by .
A small , burgeoning moneyed class is also fueling the slow growth of Western-style coffee shops complete with $ 1 lattes while more than half of the country ’ s population is living on less than $ 1 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ topped off with mansions and fancy wedding halls — secured places and compounds where urban elites display their wealth .
However , only a short drive south of the city lies a different world , one that has been left behind by the years of poverty and war .
Mussahi has been a part of Kabul Province for decades now , but it is one of the districts of the province that is de facto controlled by the Taliban .
This will also not change after the final results of the recent presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ After five months of waiting , current President Ashraf Ghani has been declared the winner while his main opponent , Abdullah Abdullah , rejected the result and said he will form his own “ inclusive government.
” But both Abdullah and Ghani lost in rural places like Mussahi .
During the presidential election campaigns last autumn , while the political elites in the city celebrated their version of Afghan democracy , the people of Mussahi were shut out from the political process entirely .
Nightly Taliban checkpoints meant they could not travel to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during their live televised interviews .
The lack of Army presence meant none of the candidates came to campaign in a district of Kabul .
And on election day , the very real threat of Taliban attack meant the polling stations remained closed .
Mussahi is a prime example of exactly what went wrong in Afghanistan The signs of the US-backed government ’ s failure are written all over Mussahi , and many residents express their dissatisfaction with the nation ’ s leadership .
Many also support the Taliban .
In Mussahi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which was created and trained by the US and its allies after 2001 , are disregarded .
The soldiers know that it is Taliban country and that they may risk their lives entering it .
Few of them appear for Friday prayers , and when they do , they look insecure and nervous .
“ They just want to leave as soon as possible .
They know that nobody wants to see them here , ” says a resident .
The truth is that few , if any , of the soldiers can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bridge that marks the entrance to the district itself .
Several residents I spoke to complained about corrupt local government officials and told me they support the Taliban because , unlike the government officials , the Taliban actually gets things done .
For instance , longstanding family feuds are finally being resolved in Taliban courts .
“ This is [ the Taliban ’ s ] court .
They have the control here , ” said a local who wanted to remain unnamed .
Many rural districts in Afghanistan are already fully controlled by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to various estimates , more than half of the country is contested or controlled by them .
As the recently published “ Afghanistan Papers ” revealed , this reality has largely gone ignored in both Washington and Kabul .
Instead , the US government tried to paint a different picture of the war , one dominated by lies and false facts .
Mussahi is a prime example of exactly what went wrong over the last 18 years .
Washington has poured more than $ 2 trillion into the country over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ aid ” that can be found in Mussahi is a defective German water pump from the 1950s .
“ There has not been any other aid .
We have many problems here , especially with farming .
But as you can see , we have to figure out how this pump works .
It is sad that we remained that backward , but nobody is interested in our cause , ” said Mohammad Azif , a farmer from Mussahi .
Like many other Afghans , Azif hopes that peace talks with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his fellow villagers could solely focus on rebuilding their homes .
“ We can live in poverty but not without peace .
We can not move freely at night .
There is always fighting between the army and the insurgents .
We need a peace deal that serves the interests of all Afghans , ” he underlined .
Mohammad Shaheen , who lives in Kabul but visits Mussahi regularly with his family , believes that the government will continue to be careless about the daily problems of the villagers .
“ This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The presidential palace is 15 kilometers from here , but we have so many problems here in terms of economy and security .
The government does not care , ” he said .
Mussahi may be a stone ’ s throw from the palace , a part of the province both the president and chief executive have resided in for decades , but the people here continue to feel politically helpless .
Rural Afghanistan almost doesn ’ t exist in the minds of many urbanites Mussahi is just one example out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ though rural Afghanistan does not exist in the minds of many urbanites .
Especially in Kabul , political elites have always lived in their own bubble .
This is nothing new : When the British tried to take over Afghanistan in the 19th and 20th centuries , their installed monarchs ruled in Kabul while rural Afghans organized resistance .
When the Soviets invaded the country in 1979 , people in the cities benefited from housing projects and infrastructure , while rural villages were wiped off the map by the Soviet Red Army and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s government has not been able to change this long-standing reality .
Instead , it became part of it and created its very own bubble .
His government largely consists of Westernized technocrats , often with dual citizenships , who sometimes are not able to speak the local languages .
This can be observed in every aspect of life .
In the context of ongoing peace talks with the Taliban , for example , many rural Afghans like those in Mussahi welcome any kind of violence reduction and appear optimistic , while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urban elites fear for their lucrative and powerful positions .
This might also be one of the main reasons why a finished deal has not yet been agreed to , although Washington and the Taliban underlined that their talks are going to come to an end at the end of this month and are signaling that a deal may be signed soon .
However , an upcoming intra-Afghan dialogue among the Taliban , Ghani ’ s government , and other political factions of the country must also be able to build a stable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When Ghani celebrated the 100th anniversary of Afghanistan ’ s independence in the newly renovated Dar-ul-Aman palace in Kabul last August , American airstrikes and night raids conducted by CIA-backed Afghan militias had dramatically increased in the country ’ s rural areas .
At the same time , insurgent violence escalated and large parts of the country were under Taliban control .
Last but not least , Ghani ’ s entire government is dependent on economic and military aid from the US and its allies .
To many Afghans , it appeared more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under such circumstances .
Emran Feroz is a freelance journalist and author and is the founder of Drone Memorial , a virtual memorial for civilian drone strike victims .
Follow him on Twitter @ Emran_Feroz .

MUSSAHI DISTRICT, Kabul Province, Afghanistan — A small group of men, and children who quickly grow bored, are standing by the riverside. All of them are staring at the contraption before them: a small water pump that, despite their best efforts, won’t turn on.
A young man tries to set it in motion by pushing at the gear and pulling at the engine, all the while staring at the tube protruding from the lifeless pump. The water in the river remains still and calm. The pump, sent by a relative who spent the last two decades in Germany, simply will not work.
It’s an all too typical story in the Mussahi District of Kabul Province, 30 kilometers (around 19 miles) south of the capital itself, where many things have not functioned for some time. Much like Mussahi’s water pump, most of Afghanistan isn’t functioning either, at least outside the major cities.
And even if the newly reelected president, Ashraf Ghani, does his best to try to improve things, he’ll have a hard time holding off the Taliban.
Eighteen years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the capital city of Kabul has gone through several transformations. The city is now dotted with high-rises that fill the skyline, roads that are slowly being paved, and newly renovated monuments of eras gone by.
A small, burgeoning moneyed class is also fueling the slow growth of Western-style coffee shops complete with $1 lattes while more than half of the country’s population is living on less than $1 a day. This transformation has been topped off with mansions and fancy wedding halls — secured places and compounds where urban elites display their wealth.
However, only a short drive south of the city lies a different world, one that has been left behind by the years of poverty and war. Mussahi has been a part of Kabul Province for decades now, but it is one of the districts of the province that is de facto controlled by the Taliban.
This will also not change after the final results of the recent presidential elections were released earlier this week. After five months of waiting, current President Ashraf Ghani has been declared the winner while his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, rejected the result and said he will form his own “inclusive government.”
But both Abdullah and Ghani lost in rural places like Mussahi.
During the presidential election campaigns last autumn, while the political elites in the city celebrated their version of Afghan democracy, the people of Mussahi were shut out from the political process entirely.
Nightly Taliban checkpoints meant they could not travel to the capital to address the candidates directly during their live televised interviews. The lack of Army presence meant none of the candidates came to campaign in a district of Kabul.
And on election day, the very real threat of Taliban attack meant the polling stations remained closed.
Mussahi is a prime example of exactly what went wrong in Afghanistan
The signs of the US-backed government’s failure are written all over Mussahi, and many residents express their dissatisfaction with the nation’s leadership. Many also support the Taliban.
In Mussahi, soldiers of the Afghan National Army, which was created and trained by the US and its allies after 2001, are disregarded. The soldiers know that it is Taliban country and that they may risk their lives entering it. Few of them appear for Friday prayers, and when they do, they look insecure and nervous.
“They just want to leave as soon as possible. They know that nobody wants to see them here,” says a resident.
The truth is that few, if any, of the soldiers can make it past their checkpoint on the bridge that marks the entrance to the district itself.
Several residents I spoke to complained about corrupt local government officials and told me they support the Taliban because, unlike the government officials, the Taliban actually gets things done. For instance, longstanding family feuds are finally being resolved in Taliban courts.
“This is [the Taliban’s] court. They have the control here,” said a local who wanted to remain unnamed. Many rural districts in Afghanistan are already fully controlled by or under the influence of the Taliban. According to various estimates, more than half of the country is contested or controlled by them.
As the recently published “Afghanistan Papers” revealed, this reality has largely gone ignored in both Washington and Kabul. Instead, the US government tried to paint a different picture of the war, one dominated by lies and false facts.
Mussahi is a prime example of exactly what went wrong over the last 18 years.
Washington has poured more than $2 trillion into the country over the last 18 years. But the only “aid” that can be found in Mussahi is a defective German water pump from the 1950s.
“There has not been any other aid. We have many problems here, especially with farming. But as you can see, we have to figure out how this pump works. It is sad that we remained that backward, but nobody is interested in our cause,” said Mohammad Azif, a farmer from Mussahi.
Like many other Afghans, Azif hopes that peace talks with the Taliban will be successful so that he and his fellow villagers could solely focus on rebuilding their homes. “We can live in poverty but not without peace. We cannot move freely at night. There is always fighting between the army and the insurgents. We need a peace deal that serves the interests of all Afghans,” he underlined.
Mohammad Shaheen, who lives in Kabul but visits Mussahi regularly with his family, believes that the government will continue to be careless about the daily problems of the villagers. “This is the closest district to the capital. The presidential palace is 15 kilometers from here, but we have so many problems here in terms of economy and security. The government does not care,” he said.
Mussahi may be a stone’s throw from the palace, a part of the province both the president and chief executive have resided in for decades, but the people here continue to feel politically helpless.
Rural Afghanistan almost doesn’t exist in the minds of many urbanites
Mussahi is just one example out of many. Often, it appears as though rural Afghanistan does not exist in the minds of many urbanites. Especially in Kabul, political elites have always lived in their own bubble.
This is nothing new: When the British tried to take over Afghanistan in the 19th and 20th centuries, their installed monarchs ruled in Kabul while rural Afghans organized resistance. When the Soviets invaded the country in 1979, people in the cities benefited from housing projects and infrastructure, while rural villages were wiped off the map by the Soviet Red Army and its Afghan Communist allies.
Ashraf Ghani’s government has not been able to change this long-standing reality. Instead, it became part of it and created its very own bubble. His government largely consists of Westernized technocrats, often with dual citizenships, who sometimes are not able to speak the local languages.
This can be observed in every aspect of life. In the context of ongoing peace talks with the Taliban, for example, many rural Afghans like those in Mussahi welcome any kind of violence reduction and appear optimistic, while large parts of the country’s urban elites fear for their lucrative and powerful positions.
This might also be one of the main reasons why a finished deal has not yet been agreed to, although Washington and the Taliban underlined that their talks are going to come to an end at the end of this month and are signaling that a deal may be signed soon.
However, an upcoming intra-Afghan dialogue among the Taliban, Ghani’s government, and other political factions of the country must also be able to build a stable bridge between rural and urban Afghanistan.
When Ghani celebrated the 100th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence in the newly renovated Dar-ul-Aman palace in Kabul last August, American airstrikes and night raids conducted by CIA-backed Afghan militias had dramatically increased in the country’s rural areas.
At the same time, insurgent violence escalated and large parts of the country were under Taliban control. Last but not least, Ghani’s entire government is dependent on economic and military aid from the US and its allies.
To many Afghans, it appeared more than paradoxical to celebrate an alleged independence under such circumstances.
Emran Feroz is a freelance journalist and author and is the founder of Drone Memorial, a virtual memorial for civilian drone strike victims. Follow him on Twitter @Emran_Feroz.


vox--2020-02-21--BTS, the band that changed K-pop, explained

In 2012 , Rolling Stone published a list of the 10 K-pop bands most likely to make it big in the US .
Achieving significant US fame was a newly attainable , if still distant , milestone for South Korean pop groups thanks to the 2000s ’ tremendous exporting of South Korean culture overseas — a trend known as Hallyu , the Korean Wave .
Rolling Stone ’ s list , which appeared two months before Psy ’ s “ Gangnam Style , ” included groups like Big Bang , Girls ’ Generation , and 2NE1 — the greatest bands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the “ second generation ” of pop groups to emerge during K-pop ’ s rise to international prominence .
It didn ’ t , however , include a group of teenage boys , then-recently assembled through a studio audition process , who were being meticulously polished and prepped for their debut .
On December 22 , 2012 , the group released a number of Soundcloud clips featuring its seven members rapping in Korean and English — including a rap cover of Wham ’ s “ Last Christmas.
” It was hardly the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the band in question — Bangtan Boys , later officially known as BTS — would go on to completely transform the image of all-male boy bands in South Korean music and shatter conceptions of what breakout success looked like for South Korean bands overseas .
BTS ’ s rise to prominence has been so immense over the last few years that the band ’ s new album — arguably its biggest ever — is a major release .
Map of the Soul : 7 is a love letter to BTS ’ s huge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each of the band ’ s seven members .
The album , which marks the band ’ s return after a brief hiatus , features collaborations with the likes of Sia and Troye Sivan .
It ’ s the latest achievement from a band that ’ s spent the last few years smashing one success metric after another , from spending multiple weeks on US charts to making a landmark appearance at the American Music Awards — the first of many American awards-season appearances since , including performing with Lil Nas X at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a truly huge run of milestone accomplishments .
In 2018 , they became the first South Korean band in history to debut an album at No .
1 on the US Billboard 200 chart , as well as the first to have a single land at No .
10 on the Billboard Hot 100 .
The band ’ s third world tour promptly sold out .
They collaborated with the Chainsmokers on their 2018 song “ Best of Me , ” and with Steve Aoki on their December 2017 single remix “ Mic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nicki Minaj , Ed Sheeran , and Halsey .
They made an appearance before the UN and performed in Times Square on Good Morning America .
They even snagged a couple of Guinness World Records for their incredibly engaged fanbase .
They performed in Times Square on New Years Eve two years in a row .
In 2019 , they scored their first Grammy nomination , for Best Recording Package , and presented an award at the ceremony .
That same year , they also became the first Korean band to perform on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the annual Time 100 , along with winning the magazine ’ s reader poll for the second year in a row .
Their profile in the piece was appropriately written by Halsey , who noted : But why was BTS the band that finally broke through the culture barrier overseas to make significant waves in the US ?
The answer lies in a combination of factors , and most of them are about change : the changing nature of K-pop ’ s studio culture and the way “ idols ” are produced ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; changing ranges of acceptable expression in K-pop ; and , above all , the approach BTS has taken to building its fan base and interacting with its fans .
But to understand all this change , we have to back up a few years to understand how K-pop became the regimented industry it is today — and how BTS subverts that regimen .
BTS is the product of an industry insider who wanted to create a new kind of idol K-pop began on April 11 , 1992 , when a hip-hop trio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a talent show on a national South Korean network .
Seo Taiji and Boys were innovators who challenged norms around musical styles , song topics , fashion , and censorship , which was unprecedented for a culture whose musical production had spent the past few decades subjected to strict government oversight .
But it wouldn ’ t last .
In the ’ 90s , three powerhouse music studios began cultivating what would become known as idol groups .
Assembled through auditions and years of grooming within an intense studio culture — the highly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Korean and Japanese music studios — idol groups are polished to perfection , designed to present the very highest standards of beauty , dance , and musicality .
Children who enter these studios spend most of their lives enduring rigorous training to become part of an idol group .
If they ’ re chosen , the studio exerts a huge amount of control , not only over the songs they sing and the way their band is marketed but also over their daily lives .
Idol groups have come to dominate the Korean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toxic and abusive elements of studio culture — as revealed by the recent death by suicide of Shinee artist Kim Jong-hyun .
Studios systematically ironed out most of the personal expression and socially conscious music that Seo Taiji was originally known for — after all , it ’ s hard to express yourself when you ’ re contractually forbidden to have a personal life .
Typically , idols only feel free to open up about their struggles after their studio careers end .
It was within this environment that a man named Bang @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of studio , and to cultivate the band that would become BTS .
A successful songwriter and music producer , Bang was nicknamed “ Hitman ” for writing a string of popular songs , from g.o.d.
’ s “ One Candle ” in 1999 to T-ara ’ s “ Like the First Time ” a decade later .
He worked as an arranger and producer with the studio JYP until 2005 , when he left to form his own Big Hit Entertainment .
But Bang also struggled with his position within the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he confessed to insecurity about his work and said he admired singers who could express their personalities in their music .
This combination of ideas — the honest musical expression of one ’ s creative anxieties — would become a crucial element of BTS .
In 2010 , Bang began to assemble a group of teens for a group he called the Bulletproof Boy Scouts .
This would go on to become Bangtan Boys , then BTS , but the ingredients of their success were inherent in the original name .
Bang intended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ celebration of the kids ’ toughness and ability to withstand the pressures of the world .
But he also wanted the band to be able to be sincere and genuine — not immaculate idols groomed amid studio culture , but real boys who shared their authentic personalities and talents with the world .
This approach is quite different from the normal studio approach to idoldom , wherein idols are trained to be pleasant but mild — to be blank slates upon which viewers can project their fantasies .
By contrast , Bang wanted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ audiences could relate to .
In a 2018 interview with the South Korean newspaper JoongAng , he described how he originally thought of BTS as consisting of gentle , sympathetic idols who could mentor their fans : To create that band , Bang had to shake up the established precedents for how idol groups are treated .
BTS wouldn ’ t have strict contracts and curfews , and they ’ d be allowed to discuss the pressures of stardom .
Their lyrics would be open about the cultural pressure placed on Korean teens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repress their anxieties .
In short , they would be frank , honest , and natural .
How they did it : a consciously authentic style combined with socially conscious messaging “ We came together with a common dream to write , dance and produce music that reflects our musical backgrounds as well as our life values of acceptance , vulnerability and being successful , ” said BTS ’ s leader , RM , in a 2017 interview with Time .
There are six main ways BTS breaks with established precedent for K-pop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : • They frequently write their own songs and lyrics .
• Their lyrics are socially conscious and especially attuned to describing the pressures of modern teen life in South Korea .
• They create and manage most of their own social media presence .
• They aren ’ t signed to “ slave contracts , ” nor do their contracts have the grueling restrictions of other idol groups .
• They tend to focus on marketing entire albums rather than individual singles .
• They talk openly about the struggles and anxieties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extremely polished image at all times .
It should be noted that most of these elements have been present in numerous other recent K-pop groups — most notably Big Bang , which probably influenced BTS more than any other K-pop group .
What Big Hit Entertainment did , however , was to systematize these elements in BTS , and market them hard .
In the earliest videos of the band , from the months before their 2013 debut , the members were styled as young and sweetly innocent , maintaining the common “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups .
When the group officially launched in June 2013 , however , it was with a hard style paying homage to old-school gangster rap .
Their first single , “ No More Dream , ” was an ode to teen apathy , a rebellious rejection of Korean traditionalism .
And it wasn ’ t exactly popular : Early audience reactions included a lot of eye-rolling at what was viewed as a superimposed gangster image that the band hadn ’ t earned .
And while the band was clearly leaning on the confessional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early successors , it all seemed contrived rather than real .
A K-pop commentator who goes by the mononym Stephen ran a weekly podcast , This Week in K-Pop , from 2013 to 2017 , which chronicled new releases in K-pop and inevitably documented the rise of BTS .
But Stephen and his co-hosts were initially skeptical of the band .
“ Now K-pop has faux hip-hop undertones everywhere , ” he said .
“ But in 2013 there wasn ’ t really that much , other than Big Bang .
So when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very in-your-face , ‘ We ’ re hip-hop ’ image , it felt a little silly.
” Stephen pointed out that K-pop in general suffers from this problem .
“ K-pop really likes the look and attitude of hip-hop , but not too much .
It ’ s very surface-level : hip-hop as a culture rather than as a musical genre.
” BTS ’ s climb to success , then , involved the band finding a way to communicate that this confessional image was real .
They did this by mixing their openness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lyrics — and owning their status as an underdog group battling to succeed against other bands who came from established studios with larger budgets .
They spoke openly of the influence of Big Bang , a hip-hop group that ’ s also known for its socially conscious messaging .
And they covered Seo Taiji ’ s ” Come Back Home ” : In essence , they found a way to imbue their musical style with substance .
This led to well-reviewed , pointedly personal works like their three-album series The Most Beautiful Moment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theater [ and ] autobiography.
” Their two most successful singles from this period managed to neatly encompass this new direction .
“ I Need U ” was a refreshing , personalizing step away from hip-hop toward an R & B sound , while “ Dope ” openly celebrated the endless grind of their lives : “ Over half of the day , we drown in work / Even if our youth rots in the studio / Thanks to that , we ’ re closer to success.
” “ Dope ” also drew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a major way : It was the moment South Korea realized that these boys could dance .
“ ‘ Dope ’ is probably my favorite video of all time , ” Stephen said .
“ Focusing on dancing like that — they weren ’ t the only ones doing it , but they were definitely the best ones doing it.
” “ And they alternate , ” he added .
“ They do the big , boisterous , in-your-face dance video .
But they also do those more emotional mini-art-flick type videos.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ better than “ Blood Sweat & Tears , ” the gothic , gorgeous 2016 single that launched them into a new level of international fame .
Colette Bennett is an entertainment reporter and a huge fan of BTS ( she ’ s seen them in concert four times since 2014 ) , but even though she liked their music , it took a while for her to take their message seriously .
“ When The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series started , I saw something , ” she told me .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back and watched their old vlogs .
Up to and after debut , [ these ] skinny kids all crammed in a studio the size of a broom closet .
Just … being honest about how much they poured into what they were doing , humble about being scared and unsure , etc.
” To Bennett , the band ’ s frank discussion of mental health and the expectations placed on Asian teens was revolutionary .
In 2016 , she wrote a profile of the band that argued that they were changing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to image-making .
While watching them on their 2017 “ Wings ” tour , she said , “ there was a moment that really stuck out.
” “ There ’ s a song the three rappers do called Cypher 4 .
The refrain is , ‘ I love , I love , I love myself / I know , I know , I know myself.
’ “ I looked around me at hundreds of people in their 20s cheering every word , and I thought , ‘ My god .
They ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — the ones most inclined to grapple with self-hatred — to start considering what self-love means.
’ ” The BTS ARMY is real , and it is mighty BTS ’ s fans — who collectively gained the nickname ARMY for their well-organized and loyal response to the group — responded to that confessional strategy so well that by 2015 , tickets for the band ’ s sold-out limited US tour were reportedly being scalped for more than $ 10,000 .
Tickets for their current sold-out tour are in high demand , with an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most expensive of the summer .
Stephen told me that it took a while for the hosts of This Week in K-Pop to realize how big BTS had gotten .
“ We always thought the next big group to cross over would be a girl group , somebody like Twice , ” he told me .
“ I don ’ t think it really hit me how big they were until I moved to Korea in 2014 and talked to the children .
Every single person in my school system , from teachers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ students to elementary — everybody knew who BTS was.
” BTS ’ s international fandom was also hard at work making sure the band had a chance to break through .
Throughout 2017 , fans systematically bombarded North American retailers like Walmart , Target , and Amazon with pleas to stock BTS ’ s new albums — and then promptly pushed the albums up the sales charts .
The ARMY was so mighty that by the time BTS made their US television debut at the American Music Awards in 2017 , the audience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : an auditorium ringing with fan chants .
The international BTS fandom has worked to mainstream K-pop as few other factors have .
On Tumblr , the internet ’ s unofficial home for fandom communities , BTS and its members reign supreme , recalling the vast reach of One Direction in its heyday .
In April 2018 , Tumblr decided to stop breaking out K-pop as a separate category in its popular weekly Fandom Metrics , an official Tumblr product that measures the popularity of fandoms and related subtopics across the site .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the account could more accurately reflect the relative popularity of K-pop bands to their Western counterparts .
The first week the categories merged , BTS debuted at No .
1 on the platform , ahead of Beyoncé and Harry Styles .
So who are these guys , anyway ?
Bang ’ s initial idea for BTS was to build not a boy band , but rather a supporting crew around one talented teen : Kim Nam-joon , a.k.a .
RM .
He quickly opted to go the idol group route instead , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out different combinations of members and styles for the boy band to finally emerge .
Most K-pop groups have band members who occupy fixed , noticeable positions within the band : the leader , the public “ face ” of the group , the “ visual , ” whose main role is to be pretty , and so forth .
Not every group has set roles , and most roles change over time .
And because BTS is trying to be less staged than other groups , its roles are a lot blurrier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are a few constants : Born Kim Nam-joon , RM is a 25-year-old rapper and the first member recruited to BTS .
It ’ s not exaggerating to say that the entire band was built around him .
RM first made his name as an underground rapper ; still in his teens , he was frequently spotted spitting verses alongside his friend Zico , who would go on to become the leader of the K-pop group Block B .
After a friend told Bang about the rapping teen , Bang recruited him into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pre-debut nickname “ Rap Monster.
” From there , the idea to form an entire idol group rapidly took shape , and the Monster shortened his stage name to RM .
Jung Hoseok , a.k.a .
J-Hope , sometimes called Hobi , is most frequently described by fans as a ray of sunshine , thanks to his sweet personality .
The 26-year-old is one of the group ’ s main songwriters as well as a frequent choreographer , its lead dancer , and one of its three main rappers .
Since joining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a notable solo debut that landed him in the top 40 on the Billboard 200 .
And have I mentioned his chin could cut glass ?
No single member of BTS is its “ face , ” but the spotlight often belongs to 22-year-old singer and dancer Park Jimin .
Jimin is frequently positioned as the group ’ s lead vocalist .
He ’ s also a part of the group ’ s dance line , for good reason , along with J-Hope , Jungkook , and Taehyung .
The 27-year-old Kim Seokjin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group ’ s oldest member , and as such he frequently occupies a mentorship role within the group ( complete with dad jokes ) .
He ’ s one of the group ’ s main vocalists , and though he ’ s not officially the group ’ s “ visual , ” he seems to have a habit of accidentally going viral for being beautiful .
Depending on when and whom you ask , Jeon Jungkook is either the designated “ face ” of the group , the designated beauty , the designated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centerpiece member , or all of the above .
But there ’ s one role that never changes : At 22 , he ’ s the youngest .
The group often calls him the “ golden maknae , ” a.k.a .
the golden child , because he ’ s a bit of a wunderkind in terms of talent .
In fact , he was in high demand before he settled on joining Big Hit because he looked up to RM .
But he ’ s unquestionably the baby of the group — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yoongi , stage name Suga , is one of the group ’ s three rappers .
At 26 , he ’ s also one of the oldest members , which makes him something of a group dad .
His name comes from his preferred basketball position of shooting guard , but legend has it that Bang chose the name for him because it reflects his “ sugary ” personality — subtle , yet sweet and generous .
The 24-year-old Kim Taehyung chose the stage name “ V ” for victory — but it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ versatile ” : He ’ s one of the vocalists , he worked his way onto the dance line , and he ’ s even tried his hand at rapping .
His playful , quirky personality ( let ’ s call it “ singular ” ) and penchant for stealing the spotlight have made him one of the group ’ s most popular members .
It also probably doesn ’ t hurt that he has chemistry with everything that moves .
Which reminds us : We can ’ t talk about boy bands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a little about shipping .
BTS ’ s popularity lends itself to RPF ( real-person fiction ) shipping among the band members .
And no wonder : The internet is teeming with gigabytes of media in which the members of BTS display zero interpersonal boundaries , are physically affectionate , and generally behave in playful , intimate ways that deconstruct heteronormative masculinity .
Again , they ’ re by no means the first band to do this : Boy bands in both Korea and Japan have spent decades being marketed with homoerotic appeal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can read as transgressive of heteromasculine norms in English-language cultures .
One Direction notoriously followed in the wake of these many groups by practicing a similar transgressive physical intimacy ; in that fandom , Larry Stylinson shippers in particular essentially codified for the ARMY how to micro-analyze body language , onstage and off .
While BTS are experts at teasing homoeroticism in their videos , they ’ re also experts at evading questions of shipping — though in fandom , you can find every ship permutation there is .
But there ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s the relationship between band members and the ARMY itself .
Crucial to the band ’ s success is its members ’ ability to directly communicate their love and affection to fans .
And honestly , grabbing and holding the attention of so many international fans , despite considerable language and cultural barriers to entry into the fandom , is an achievement by itself .
In that respect , BTS may be truly a K-pop revelation .
A lot of this may be hype , but it ’ s important for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not everything about BTS is a phenomenon .
Understanding its rise to the top also means acknowledging that it ’ s not alone in its class : It ’ s succeeded and grown alongside other bands that are also innovating and reaching new levels of international success .
Collectively , this K-pop generation is rapidly changing the conversation and pushing the limits of what K-pop is allowed to be .
“ If you were to be like , ‘ Who ’ s the realest K-pop band , ’ I ’ d be like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ” Stephen said .
“ I personally think you need to be popular first in order to be seen as authentic.
” He pointed out that other recent groups , like AoA , also had to work very hard before achieving rapid success .
“ I think every K-pop group talks about how hard they struggle , ” he said .
“ But when it ’ s a very popular group , it becomes a better story and a better sound bite.
” Still , in the wake of the December suicide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a whole — and BTS in particular — has been vocal about the need for honesty and openness about the pressures of the industry .
Stephen told me there ’ s a real core appeal in what BTS is doing .
“ A lot of their ballads really do sound like they ’ re talking to you and confessing to you , more so than a lot of pop standards , ” he said .
“ And they ’ re definitely among the hardest-working K-pop groups.
” But to Stephen , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isn ’ t about the band ’ s ability to transcend the norms of K-pop ; it ’ s about K-pop ’ s rapid ascension into the mainstream .
“ I ’ m sure there are millions of One Direction fans who thought they were the first of their kind , ” he said .
“ Whereas an older fan might have been like , hello , NSYNC ?
“ I think if you were to ask somebody who was into K-pop during Big Bang ’ s peak , they would be like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But if you ask the newer generation that wasn ’ t familiar with Big Bang , they ’ ve never really experienced that 0-to-100 rise of a group before , until now with BTS .
So it feels new to them .
I think that shows how generational K-pop is , and how far it ’ s come in such a short amount of time.
” And , as Stephen noted , BTS ’ s international success has been landmark , even if it ’ s been built on giant shoulders .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But they definitely raised the bar for K-pop.
” And that validates fans ’ enthusiasm in a major way .
“ And once you have a fan ’ s heart , ” he added , “ you have their loyalty .
”

In 2012, Rolling Stone published a list of the 10 K-pop bands most likely to make it big in the US. Achieving significant US fame was a newly attainable, if still distant, milestone for South Korean pop groups thanks to the 2000s’ tremendous exporting of South Korean culture overseas — a trend known as Hallyu, the Korean Wave. Rolling Stone’s list, which appeared two months before Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” included groups like Big Bang, Girls’ Generation, and 2NE1 — the greatest bands of what’s generally thought of as the “second generation” of pop groups to emerge during K-pop’s rise to international prominence.
It didn’t, however, include a group of teenage boys, then-recently assembled through a studio audition process, who were being meticulously polished and prepped for their debut. On December 22, 2012, the group released a number of Soundcloud clips featuring its seven members rapping in Korean and English — including a rap cover of Wham’s “Last Christmas.”
It was hardly the stuff of attention-getting Korean hip-hop. But the band in question — Bangtan Boys, later officially known as BTS — would go on to completely transform the image of all-male boy bands in South Korean music and shatter conceptions of what breakout success looked like for South Korean bands overseas.
BTS’s rise to prominence has been so immense over the last few years that the band’s latest single, “Butter” — their first since a trio of groundbreaking, historic No. 1 singles in fall 2020 — is a major event.
BTS made headlines in 2020 with the hit single “Dynamite,” which became the first K-pop song in history to debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard “Hot 100” chart.
Having already racked up more than 60 million YouTube views in its first 12 hours online, “Butter” already seems positioned to be an even bigger hit for the band.
These US chart-toppers are huge accomplishments for BTS. The band has spent years building to this point, slowly conquering the American music scene with one milestone after another. Since 2018, when they became the first South Korean band in history to debut an album at No. 1 on the US Billboard chart, they’ve collaborated with major artists like the Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki, Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, and Halsey. They’ve performed everywhere from Good Morning America to Saturday Night Live, from Times Square’s New Year’s Eve concerts to Grand Central Terminal.
In 2020, BTS garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group performance. They’ve even snagged a couple of Guinness World Records for their incredibly engaged fanbase.
So why was BTS the band that finally broke through the culture barrier overseas to make significant waves in the US? The answer lies in a combination of factors, and most of them are about change: the changing nature of K-pop’s studio culture and the way “idols” are produced; changing depictions of masculinity in South Korea; changing ranges of acceptable expression in K-pop; and, above all, the approach BTS has taken to building its fan base and interacting with its fans.
But to understand all this change, we have to back up a few years to understand how K-pop became the regimented industry it is today — and how BTS subverts that regimen.
How did K-pop become a $5 billion global industry? Vox explore K-pop’s elaborate music videos, adoring fans, and killer choreography for our Netflix series Explained. Watch now on Netflix.
BTS is the product of an industry insider who wanted to create a new kind of idol
K-pop began on April 11, 1992, when a hip-hop trio called Seo Taiji and Boys performed in a talent show on a national South Korean network. Seo Taiji and Boys were innovators who challenged norms around musical styles, song topics, fashion, and censorship, which was unprecedented for a culture whose musical production had spent the past few decades subjected to strict government oversight. But it wouldn’t last.
In the ’90s, three powerhouse music studios began cultivating what would become known as idol groups. Assembled through auditions and years of grooming within an intense studio culture — the highly regimented system of idol group production in Korean and Japanese music studios — idol groups are polished to perfection, designed to present the very highest standards of beauty, dance, and musicality. Children who enter these studios spend most of their lives enduring rigorous training to become part of an idol group. If they’re chosen, the studio exerts a huge amount of control, not only over the songs they sing and the way their band is marketed but also over their daily lives.
Idol groups have come to dominate the Korean music industry, but there are well-known toxic and abusive elements to idol life. Over the last decade, the Korean government has taken steps to end the structural exploitation that has been a major part of Korean studio culture. But in the early 2010s when BTS was formed, most studios had a highly regimented, restrictive approach to idol group production. As part of the process, they systematically ironed out most of the personal expression and socially conscious music that Seo Taiji was originally known for — after all, it’s hard to express yourself when you’re contractually forbidden to have a personal life. Even today, idols typically only feel free to open up about their struggles after their studio careers have come to an end.
It was within this environment that a man named Bang Si-hyuk began to quietly build a different kind of studio, and to cultivate the band that would become BTS. A successful songwriter and music producer, Bang was nicknamed “Hitman” for writing a string of popular songs, from g.o.d.’s “One Candle” in 1999 to T-ara’s “Like the First Time” a decade later. He worked as an arranger and producer with the studio JYP until 2005, when he left to form his own Big Hit Entertainment.
But Bang also struggled with his position within the industry. As a studio owner, he confessed to insecurity about his work and said he admired singers who could express their personalities in their music. This combination of ideas — the honest musical expression of one’s creative anxieties — would become a crucial element of BTS.
In 2010, Bang began to assemble a group of teens for a group he called the Bulletproof Boy Scouts. This would go on to become Bangtan Boys, then BTS, but the ingredients of their success were inherent in the original name. Bang intended “bulletproof” to function as a celebration of the kids’ toughness and ability to withstand the pressures of the world. But he also wanted the band to be able to be sincere and genuine — not immaculate idols groomed amid studio culture, but real boys who shared their authentic personalities and talents with the world.
This approach was quite different from the normal studio approach to idoldom, wherein idols are trained to be pleasant but mild — to function as blank slates upon which viewers can project their fantasies. By contrast, Bang wanted BTS to be full of figures that audiences could relate to. In a 2018 interview with the South Korean newspaper JoongAng, he described how he originally thought of BTS as consisting of gentle, sympathetic idols who could mentor their fans:
I recently came across a company document from [2012,] the year before BTS debuted, in which we were debating what kind of idol group to create. It said, ‘What kind of hero is the youth of today looking for? Not someone who dogmatically preaches from above. Rather, it seems like they need a hero who can lend them a shoulder to lean on, even without speaking a single word.
To create that band, Bang had to shake up the established precedents for how idol groups are treated. BTS wouldn’t have strict contracts and curfews, and they’d be allowed to discuss the pressures of stardom. Their lyrics would be open about the cultural pressure placed on Korean teens to excel and do well and to repress their anxieties. In short, they would be frank, honest, and natural.
How they did it: a consciously authentic style combined with socially conscious messaging
“We came together with a common dream to write, dance and produce music that reflects our musical backgrounds as well as our life values of acceptance, vulnerability and being successful,” said BTS’s leader, RM, in a 2017 interview with Time. There are six main ways BTS breaks with established precedent for K-pop boy bands to carry out this mission:
They frequently write their own songs and lyrics. Their lyrics are socially conscious and especially attuned to describing the pressures of modern teen life in South Korea. They create and manage most of their own social media presence. They aren’t signed to “slave contracts,” nor do their contracts have the grueling restrictions of other idol groups. They tend to focus on marketing entire albums rather than individual singles. (This is essentially still true despite their recent string of singles in the US.) They talk openly about the struggles and anxieties of their career instead of presenting an extremely polished image at all times.
It should be noted that most of these elements have been present in numerous other recent K-pop groups — most notably Big Bang, which probably influenced BTS more than any other K-pop group. What Big Hit Entertainment did, however, was systematize these elements in BTS, and market them hard.
In the earliest videos of the band, from the months before their 2013 debut, the members were styled as young and sweetly innocent, maintaining the common “schoolboy” concept of male K-pop idol groups. When the group officially launched in June 2013, however, it was with a hard style paying homage to old-school gangster rap. Their first single, “No More Dream,” was an ode to teen apathy, a rebellious rejection of Korean traditionalism.
And it wasn’t exactly popular: Early audience reactions included a lot of eye-rolling at what was viewed as a superimposed gangster image the band hadn’t earned. And while they were clearly leaning on the confessional lyrical apathy of Seo Taiji and his early successors, it all seemed contrived rather than real.
A K-pop commentator who goes by the mononym Stephen ran a weekly podcast, This Week in K-Pop, from 2013 to 2017, which chronicled new releases in K-pop and inevitably documented the rise of BTS. But Stephen and his co-hosts were initially skeptical of the band. “Now K-pop has faux hip-hop undertones everywhere,” he said. “But in 2013 there wasn’t really that much, other than Big Bang. So when [BTS] came out with this very in-your-face, ‘We’re hip-hop’ image, it felt a little silly.”
Stephen pointed out that K-pop in general suffers from this problem. “K-pop really likes the look and attitude of hip-hop, but not too much. It’s very surface-level: hip-hop as a culture rather than as a musical genre.”
BTS’s climb to success, then, involved the band finding a way to communicate that this confessional image was real. They did this by mixing their openness on social media with blunt and honest lyrics — and owning their status as an underdog group battling to succeed against other bands who came from established studios with larger budgets. They spoke openly of the influence of Big Bang, which was also known for its socially conscious messaging. And they covered Seo Taiji’s ”Come Back Home”:
In essence, they found a way to imbue their musical style with substance. This led to well-reviewed, pointedly personal works like their three-album series The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, which deftly mixed “theater [and] autobiography.”
Their two most successful singles from this period managed to neatly encompass this new direction. “I Need U” (2015) was a refreshing, personalizing step away from hip-hop toward an R&B sound, while “Dope” (2015) openly celebrated the endless grind of their lives: “Over half of the day, we drown in work / Even if our youth rots in the studio / Thanks to that, we’re closer to success.”
“Dope” also drew attention to the band’s talent in a major way: It was the moment South Korea realized that these boys could dance.
“‘Dope’ is probably my favorite video of all time,” Stephen told Vox in 2018. “Focusing on dancing like that — they weren’t the only ones doing it, but they were definitely the best ones doing it.”
“And they alternate,” he added. “They do the big, boisterous, in-your-face dance video. But they also do those more emotional mini-art-flick type videos.” And no BTS art flick is better than “Blood Sweat & Tears,” the gothic, gorgeous 2016 single that launched them into a new level of international fame.
Colette Bennett is an entertainment reporter and a huge fan of BTS — but even though she liked their music, it took a while for her to take their message seriously.
“When The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series started, I saw something,” she says. “And that’s when I went back and watched their old vlogs. Up to and after debut, [these] skinny kids all crammed in a studio the size of a broom closet. Just … being honest about how much they poured into what they were doing, humble about being scared and unsure, etc.”
To Bennett, the band’s frank discussion of mental health and the expectations placed on Asian teens was revolutionary. In 2016, she wrote a profile of the band that argued that they were changing the nature of K-pop through their interpersonal approach to image-making. While watching them on their 2017 “Wings” tour, she said, “there was a moment that really stuck out.”
“There’s a song the three rappers do called Cypher 4. The refrain is, ‘I love, I love, I love myself / I know, I know, I know myself.’
“I looked around me at hundreds of people in their 20s cheering every word, and I thought, ‘My god. They’re using their influence to teach young people — the ones most inclined to grapple with self-hatred — to start considering what self-love means.’”
The BTS ARMY is real, and it is mighty
BTS’s fans — who collectively gained the nickname ARMY for their well-organized and loyal following of the group — responded to that confessional strategy so well that by 2015, tickets for the band’s sold-out limited US tour were reportedly being scalped for more than $10,000. Since then, the band has sold out all of its four subsequent world tours, including a record-breaking 2019 tour that included a landmark concert at the Rose Bowl, and a 2020 tour that ultimately had to be canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stephen told me that it took a while for the hosts of This Week in K-Pop to realize how big BTS had gotten. “We always thought the next big group to cross over would be a girl group, somebody like Twice,” he told me. “I don’t think it really hit me how big they were until I moved to Korea in 2014 and talked to the children. Every single person in my school system, from teachers to high school students to middle school students to elementary — everybody knew who BTS was.”
BTS’s international fandom was also hard at work making sure the band had a chance to break through. Throughout 2017, fans systematically bombarded North American retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon with pleas to stock BTS’s new albums — and then promptly pushed the albums up the sales charts. The ARMY was so mighty that by the time BTS made their US television debut at the American Music Awards in 2017, the audience was treated to a time-honored K-pop spectacle: an auditorium ringing with fan chants.
The international BTS fandom has worked to mainstream K-pop as few other factors have. On Tumblr, the internet’s unofficial home for fandom communities, BTS and its members reign supreme, recalling the vast reach of One Direction in its heyday. In April 2018, Tumblr decided to stop breaking out K-pop as a separate category in its popular weekly Fandom Metrics, an official Tumblr product that measures the popularity of fandoms and related subtopics across the site. By merging K-pop with English-language groups, the account could more accurately reflect the relative popularity of K-pop bands to their Western counterparts.
The first week the categories merged, BTS debuted at No. 1 on the platform, ahead of Beyoncé and Harry Styles.
So who are these guys, anyway?
Bang’s initial idea for BTS was to build not a boy band, but rather a supporting crew around one talented teen: Kim Nam-joon, a.k.a. RM. He quickly opted to go the idol group route instead, and it took nearly three years of trying out different combinations of members and styles for the boy band to finally emerge.
Most K-pop groups have band members who occupy fixed, noticeable positions within the band: the leader, the public “face” of the group; the “visual,” whose main role is to be pretty; and so forth. Not every group has set roles, and most roles change over time. And because BTS is trying to be less staged than other groups, its roles are a lot blurrier than other groups. Still, there are a few constants.
The leader and lead rapper: RM
Born Kim Nam-joon, RM is a 26-year-old rapper and the first member recruited to BTS. It’s not exaggerating to say that the entire band was built around him.
RM first made his name as an underground rapper; still in his teens, he was frequently spotted spitting verses alongside his friend Zico, who would go on to become the leader of the K-pop group Block B. After a friend told Bang about the rapping teen, Bang recruited him into his studio, where fans gave him the pre-debut nickname “Rap Monster.” From there, the idea to form an entire idol group rapidly took shape, and the Monster shortened his stage name to RM.
The dancer/rapper: J-Hope
Jung Hoseok, a.k.a. J-Hope, sometimes called Hobi, is most frequently described by fans as a ray of sunshine, thanks to his sweet personality. The 27-year-old is one of the group’s main songwriters as well as a frequent choreographer, its lead dancer, and one of its three main rappers. (He sings well, too!) Since joining the group, he’s had a notable solo debut that landed him in the top 40 on the Billboard 200. And have I mentioned his chin could cut glass?
The vocalist/dancer: Jimin
No single member of BTS is its “face,” but the spotlight often belongs to 25-year-old singer and dancer Park Jimin. Jimin is frequently positioned as the group’s lead vocalist. He’s also a part of the group’s dance line, for good reason, along with J-Hope, Jungkook, and Taehyung.
The mentor vocalist: Jin
The 28-year-old Kim Seokjin, a.k.a. Jin, is the group’s oldest member, and as such he frequently occupies a mentorship role within the group (complete with dad jokes). He’s one of the group’s main vocalists, and though he’s not officially the group’s “visual,” he seems to have a habit of accidentally going viral for being beautiful.
The prodigy: Jungkook
Depending on when and whom you ask, Jeon Jungkook is either the designated “face” of the group, the designated beauty, the designated main singer, the group’s centerpiece member, or all of the above. But there’s one role that never changes: At 23, he’s the youngest. The group often calls him the “golden maknae,” a.k.a. the golden child, because he’s a bit of a wunderkind in terms of talent. In fact, he was in high demand before he settled on joining Big Hit because he looked up to RM. But he’s unquestionably the baby of the group — and arguably its most popular member.
The rapper: Suga
Min Yoongi, stage name Suga, is one of the group’s three rappers — though it should be noted he, like fellow rappers J-Hope and RM, is also a decent singer. At 28, he’s also one of the oldest members, which makes him something of a group dad. His name comes from his preferred basketball position of shooting guard, but legend has it that Bang chose the name for him because it reflects his “sugary” personality — subtle, yet sweet and generous.
The vocalist/dancer: V
The 25-year-old Kim Taehyung chose the stage name “V” for victory — but it could just as easily stand for “versatile”: He’s one of the vocalists, he worked his way onto the dance line, and he’s even tried his hand at rapping. His playful, quirky personality (let’s call it “singular”) and penchant for stealing the spotlight have made him one of the group’s most popular members. It also probably doesn’t hurt that he has chemistry with everything that moves.
Each of the members of BTS has been hands-on regarding their own careers from the start. As the group has gained more and more power in the entertainment industry, they’ve also each developed their creative and professional sides. By this point in their long careers, every band member has produced, written, or co-written multiple tracks on the group’s albums, and most of them have also worked on independent productions and songs outside of BTS.
For example, rapper Suga has also released two bestselling mixtapes under his alter ego rap handle, Agust D. And vocalist Taehyung co-produced and co-wrote the hit 2020 single “Sweet Night,” released as part of the soundtrack to the popular Korean drama Itaewon Class.
On top of all this, the band members all play a variety of musical instruments, in addition to routinely splitting the duties of dancing, singing, and rapping. They’re an immensely talented group of artists.
But perhaps their biggest asset is their shared ability to directly communicate their love and affection to fans. When the band appeared in the annual Time 100 in 2019, entertainer Halsey wrote their profile, making a point of highlighting BTS’s authenticity:
Outwardly, they are polished and professional, but hours of laughter, secret handshakes and gifts exchanged show those around them that underneath this showstopping, neatly groomed movement are just some guys who love music, one another and their fans.
Stephen told me there’s a real core appeal in what BTS is doing. “A lot of their ballads really do sound like they’re talking to you and confessing to you, more so than a lot of pop standards,” he said.
BTS has pulled off this confessional, one-on-one intimacy all while building an international fanbase, despite considerable language and cultural barriers. And in that respect, BTS has truly become an international revelation.
BTS has made major inroads for other K-pop bands and changed the way we think about international fandom
Understanding BTS’s rise to the top also means acknowledging that they’re not alone in their class: They’ve succeeded and grown alongside other bands that have also been innovating and reaching new levels of international success — like Blackpink, which in 2019 became the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella. Collectively, this K-pop generation is rapidly changing the conversation and pushing the limits of what K-pop is allowed to be.
But BTS has also done more than arguably any other band to expand K-pop’s international reach — as well as the way international media and the music industry are forced to contend with K-pop. After all, as the lyrics to “Butter” note, the band’s “got Army right behind us when we say so” — a major brag, but one that’s clearly accurate. And BTS fans aren’t just making themselves visible to the music industry. They were also at the forefront of the 2020 push to drown out racist hashtags on social media, and both fans and the band itself have condemned anti-Asian racism.
As BTS and their fandom gain more attention, they’re diversifying mainstream music in America at a moment when artists like The Weeknd have called out the recording industry for its gatekeeping. Between the band’s undeniable talent and diligent work ethic and the fandom’s immense influence over charts, sales, and media coverage, the BTS phenomenon is essentially unstoppable.
Moreover, whatever groundbreaking changes come next for K-pop will likely be a direct result of BTS’s influence. Already, American production companies are moving to bring even more aspects of K-pop to the US. For instance, MGM recently partnered with K-pop studio SM Entertainment to bring the K-pop reality competition format to Hollywood.
Even more intriguing: On the back of BTS’s tremendous success, its parent studio BigHit recently renamed to HYBE Entertainment and, in a billion-dollar deal, acquired heavy-hitting manager Scooter Braun’s entire portfolio of clients. That means BTS’s studio now oversees artists like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande. With that potential industry power, and that much fan support at its back, HYBE and BTS could well be poised to shape the music industry in ways hitherto unseen.
And whatever they do next? Will likely be Dynamite.


vox--2020-02-21--Emma’s Anya Taylor-Joy on slapstick, set life, and playing Jane Austen’s iconic character

Anya Taylor-Joy first crossed many people ’ s radars in Robert Eggers ’ s 2015 indie horror film The Witch , in which she played the innocent teenage daughter of a pre-colonial American family who seems to be drawn inexorably toward a mysterious evil force lurking in the woods .
In roles like that , or in films like Split ( 2017 ) and Thoroughbreds ( 2018 ) , she ’ s played complex young women whose stories are hard to boil down .
Now the 23-year-old actress is playing one of the most familiar heroines in English literature : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clever , and rich ” young protagonist of Jane Austen ’ s Emma who flirts with romantic disaster by meddling in other people ’ s affairs .
Taylor-Joy is a great match for the role , which required her to perform with almost slapstick comic timing as well as pull off romantic scenes with The Crown actor Johnny Flynn , who plays Emma ’ s best frenemy and main love interest , Mr. Knightley .
It ’ s a tall order to step into shoes previously worn by stars like Kate Beckinsale ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Emma ) and Gwyneth Paltrow ( in the 1996 theatrical film adaptation ) , but Taylor-Joy was up to the task .
I spoke with her by phone about preparing for the role in the film , how she conceived of Emma , and why working with first-time feature director Autumn de Wilde was such a joy .
Emma Woodhouse is a truly iconic character .
How did you prepare to play her ?
I spent a lot of time living with her in my mind , trying to understand how she saw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first things I came up with was that Emma is in her own movie .
She behaves as if she is the star of her own film , and everything is going to work out the way that she wants it to , which is why it ’ s so devastating and confusing to her when life has its own plans .
Then , as we started filming , because all the clothes were created on my body , I started to get a real sense of her .
And accessories — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coat that has an incredible back , I ’ m going to start delivering my lines over the shoulder because that ’ s the kind of girl Emma is .
Emma wants you to look at the coat .
Emma seems much funnier to me in this adaptation than she has in some others .
How did you develop her sense of comic timing ?
It was my first time doing proper comedy .
So if you like the comic timing , I guess I ’ m really glad it worked out because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go .
That being said , as a cast , we watched [ Howard Hawks ’ s 1938 comedy classic ] Bringing Up Baby , and that was really important for us to be able to understand the level of slapstick that Autumn [ de Wilde ] wanted in our film .
And I think that made us very liberated in our choices , especially in our physical ones .
Is there any particular key to getting that slapstick delivery just right ?
I act and I feel very much in beats .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the right beats when somebody says something .
I wish I could give you all the hints and tricks , but it ’ s a very instinctive feeling for me .
Plus , I imagine your fellow cast members are a big part of it — playing off one another .
Oh , of course .
You have to react to whatever anybody else is giving you , and that ’ s what was so much fun about this film .
I was such a fan of everyone I was getting the chance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you go into work and you get a new sparring partner , you know , and you have to acclimatize to their rhythm and then fight them at their own rhythm , too .
And you got to have Bill Nighy play your father .
If you ’ ve ever met him , you know he ’ s just the most wonderful human being on the planet Earth .
In the dictionary under “ cool cat , ” there is a photograph of Bill Nighy .
That ’ s just the way it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have worked with him and to have been able to share screen time with him , but I ’ m infinitely more fortunate to have him as a friend .
I just adore that man .
Were you familiar with Emma before you started preparing for the role ?
Yes , I read Emma when I was 11 .
I really , really enjoyed it .
I think I was a little bit too young to understand the pure genius of it .
I read it when I was 11 , and then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ completed on this one just so I could have an understanding of the book before .
… I don ’ t like to read the book when you ’ re doing the movie because , at that point , the script becomes , you know , the Bible , so you can only really work off the script .
But prior to the script being finished , yeah , I read the book again .
What did you find yourself thinking of when you re-read the book as an adult ?
It definitely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which it ’ s structured was , at the time , completely novel .
There had never been another book written both from the perspective of the character but also allowing the audience to see the protagonist from another character ’ s perspective .
There were a whole bunch of little things that definitely helped me in my understanding of Emma .
Like there ’ s this tiny , little almost an aside in the book that says , “ With her hair done and the maid sent away , Emma sat down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everything to me .
I was like , “ God , this girl really is in her own movie .
She ’ s so theatrical .
She ’ s now going to play the scene of herself being upset even though there ’ s nobody there to see it.
” That was really helpful to me .
In terms of themes , Jane Austen was a brilliant satirist .
The way in which she delves into human emotions , there ’ s a reason these books have stuck around for such a long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human beings haven ’ t really changed that much .
Our modes of transport have .
But core feelings of jealousy and envy and arrogance and love and beauty , they all remain .
I think the book can be read any time , and you ’ ll always feel and find something that connects to you now in the present .
Watching this film , I found myself thinking about how much of Austen ’ s satire is directed at the boredom of the upper classes .
Everyone just seems very bored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find something to do with the day .
Which seems a little bit like life on set , right ?
Hurry up and wait ?
There ’ s a lot of sitting and waiting around .
That being said , when you ’ re with a group of people that you love so much and they ’ re all so talented — we ended up doing the weirdest things .
We would play , like , charades .
We would make up songs from the perspective of the servants .
We got into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epic — fight about the correct way to eat a Kit Kat .
We would choreograph dances for each other .
We would play hide-and-seek .
We were very entertained .
We were like children at summer camp and then randomly someone would be like , “ Oh , we ’ re filming the scene again , ” and it ’ s like , “ Ah , okay , got ta go do my job .
Bye !
” What was it like being in those settings ?
It must feel a little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oh , absolutely !
Again , that all added to the summer camp feel .
Autumn de Wilde is actually a very successful Emma .
Emma doesn ’ t match-make particularly well , but Autumn “ friend makes ” very , very well .
She brought a whole bunch of people together who became instant friends , and then we would travel around the countryside , from beautiful mountains to beautiful hamlets , and just hang out .
That ’ s what we did .
It was one of the best summers of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had such a good time .
Especially the house that is [ the Woodhouse home ] , Hartfield , Firle Place , which is just outside of Brighton .
I loved living in Brighton .
I loved going to work every day in the same location .
We would all have lunch outside on the lawn .
It was magical .
You ’ ve had a lot of different sorts of roles , from The Witch to Split to Thoroughbreds .
Is there any commonality between the characters you ’ ve played ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sit down and have dinner with me , I don ’ t know if they ’ d get on .
They ’ re all quite different people .
All I can say is I always seem to be playing somebody that aligns with wherever I ’ m at in my own life , with the lesson I need to learn or something like that .
I ’ m not saying that when I was playing Casey [ Cooke , from Glass ] , I was kidnapped on the inside — that wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but I needed the experience , and I needed the catharsis of letting go in that way .
They always seem to end up almost being like a form of therapy to me .
I always grow and learn something from them .
So , from Emma , then — what did you learn from her ?
I went into Emma very anxious .
I had been working back-to-back-to-back for four years , and I was suddenly presented with a whole bunch of actors that I really admired .
I had a bit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much like , “ Oh God , I ’ m supposed to lead this ship , and what if I ’ m not good enough ?
” I tend to forget my accomplishments very quickly .
I have the memory of a goldfish that way .
But I do better with facts , and by the end of Emma , there was an undeniable fact that I had shown up every day , done my best , and I think had done good work .
So I learned how to take stock of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes sense .
That feels appropriate to the character .
She ’ s given all this responsibility as a leader in her community .
Everyone defers to her all the time .
But she ’ s very young and vulnerable and even naïve in a lot of ways .
It seems like a terrifying position to be put in .
It sounds so lame and it sounds so sappy , but the audience is watching Emma ’ s coming of age , and I was experiencing my own coming-of-age story off of that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went in there more of a girl and I left a young woman .

Anya Taylor-Joy first crossed many people’s radars in Robert Eggers’s 2015 indie horror film The Witch, in which she played the innocent teenage daughter of a pre-colonial American family who seems to be drawn inexorably toward a mysterious evil force lurking in the woods. In roles like that, or in films like Split (2017) and Thoroughbreds (2018), she’s played complex young women whose stories are hard to boil down.
Now the 23-year-old actress is playing one of the most familiar heroines in English literature: Emma Woodhouse, the “handsome, clever, and rich” young protagonist of Jane Austen’s Emma who flirts with romantic disaster by meddling in other people’s affairs. Taylor-Joy is a great match for the role, which required her to perform with almost slapstick comic timing as well as pull off romantic scenes with The Crown actor Johnny Flynn, who plays Emma’s best frenemy and main love interest, Mr. Knightley.
It’s a tall order to step into shoes previously worn by stars like Kate Beckinsale (in the 1996 TV movie adaptation of Emma) and Gwyneth Paltrow (in the 1996 theatrical film adaptation), but Taylor-Joy was up to the task. I spoke with her by phone about preparing for the role in the film, how she conceived of Emma, and why working with first-time feature director Autumn de Wilde was such a joy.
Alissa Wilkinson
Emma Woodhouse is a truly iconic character. How did you prepare to play her?
Anya Taylor-Joy
I spent a lot of time living with her in my mind, trying to understand how she saw the world. I think one of the first things I came up with was that Emma is in her own movie. She behaves as if she is the star of her own film, and everything is going to work out the way that she wants it to, which is why it’s so devastating and confusing to her when life has its own plans.
Then, as we started filming, because all the clothes were created on my body, I started to get a real sense of her. And accessories — like if I have a really exceptional coat that has an incredible back, I’m going to start delivering my lines over the shoulder because that’s the kind of girl Emma is. Emma wants you to look at the coat.
Alissa Wilkinson
Emma seems much funnier to me in this adaptation than she has in some others. How did you develop her sense of comic timing?
Anya Taylor-Joy
It was my first time doing proper comedy. So if you like the comic timing, I guess I’m really glad it worked out because I was just giving it a good go.
That being said, as a cast, we watched [Howard Hawks’s 1938 comedy classic] Bringing Up Baby, and that was really important for us to be able to understand the level of slapstick that Autumn [de Wilde] wanted in our film. And I think that made us very liberated in our choices, especially in our physical ones.
Alissa Wilkinson
Is there any particular key to getting that slapstick delivery just right?
Anya Taylor-Joy
I act and I feel very much in beats. I think it’s about hitting the right beats when somebody says something. I wish I could give you all the hints and tricks, but it’s a very instinctive feeling for me.
Alissa Wilkinson
Plus, I imagine your fellow cast members are a big part of it — playing off one another.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Oh, of course. You have to react to whatever anybody else is giving you, and that’s what was so much fun about this film. I was such a fan of everyone I was getting the chance to work with. So every day you go into work and you get a new sparring partner, you know, and you have to acclimatize to their rhythm and then fight them at their own rhythm, too.
Alissa Wilkinson
And you got to have Bill Nighy play your father.
Anya Taylor-Joy
If you’ve ever met him, you know he’s just the most wonderful human being on the planet Earth. In the dictionary under “cool cat,” there is a photograph of Bill Nighy. That’s just the way it goes. I am so fortunate to have worked with him and to have been able to share screen time with him, but I’m infinitely more fortunate to have him as a friend. I just adore that man.
Alissa Wilkinson
Were you familiar with Emma before you started preparing for the role?
Anya Taylor-Joy
Yes, I read Emma when I was 11. I really, really enjoyed it. I think I was a little bit too young to understand the pure genius of it. I read it when I was 11, and then I re-read it before the script was completed on this one just so I could have an understanding of the book before. … I don’t like to read the book when you’re doing the movie because, at that point, the script becomes, you know, the Bible, so you can only really work off the script. But prior to the script being finished, yeah, I read the book again.
Alissa Wilkinson
What did you find yourself thinking of when you re-read the book as an adult?
Anya Taylor-Joy
It definitely rewards re-reading, because the way in which it’s structured was, at the time, completely novel. There had never been another book written both from the perspective of the character but also allowing the audience to see the protagonist from another character’s perspective.
There were a whole bunch of little things that definitely helped me in my understanding of Emma. Like there’s this tiny, little almost an aside in the book that says, “With her hair done and the maid sent away, Emma sat down to be miserable.” That just meant everything to me. I was like, “God, this girl really is in her own movie. She’s so theatrical. She’s now going to play the scene of herself being upset even though there’s nobody there to see it.” That was really helpful to me.
In terms of themes, Jane Austen was a brilliant satirist. The way in which she delves into human emotions, there’s a reason these books have stuck around for such a long time, and it’s that human beings haven’t really changed that much. Our modes of transport have. But core feelings of jealousy and envy and arrogance and love and beauty, they all remain. I think the book can be read any time, and you’ll always feel and find something that connects to you now in the present.
Alissa Wilkinson
Watching this film, I found myself thinking about how much of Austen’s satire is directed at the boredom of the upper classes. Everyone just seems very bored all the time, just trying to find something to do with the day. Which seems a little bit like life on set, right? Hurry up and wait?
Anya Taylor-Joy
There’s a lot of sitting and waiting around. That being said, when you’re with a group of people that you love so much and they’re all so talented — we ended up doing the weirdest things. We would play, like, charades. We would make up songs from the perspective of the servants. We got into an epic — but, like, epic — fight about the correct way to eat a Kit Kat. We would choreograph dances for each other. We would play hide-and-seek. We were very entertained. We were like children at summer camp and then randomly someone would be like, “Oh, we’re filming the scene again,” and it’s like, “Ah, okay, gotta go do my job. Bye!”
Alissa Wilkinson
What was it like being in those settings? It must feel a little like you’re playing dress-up.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Oh, absolutely! Again, that all added to the summer camp feel. Autumn de Wilde is actually a very successful Emma. Emma doesn’t match-make particularly well, but Autumn “friend makes” very, very well. She brought a whole bunch of people together who became instant friends, and then we would travel around the countryside, from beautiful mountains to beautiful hamlets, and just hang out. That’s what we did. It was one of the best summers of my life, really. We just had such a good time. Especially the house that is [the Woodhouse home], Hartfield, Firle Place, which is just outside of Brighton. I loved living in Brighton. I loved going to work every day in the same location. We would all have lunch outside on the lawn. It was magical.
Alissa Wilkinson
You’ve had a lot of different sorts of roles, from The Witch to Split to Thoroughbreds. Is there any commonality between the characters you’ve played?
Anya Taylor-Joy
If I asked all of my characters to sit down and have dinner with me, I don’t know if they’d get on. They’re all quite different people. All I can say is I always seem to be playing somebody that aligns with wherever I’m at in my own life, with the lesson I need to learn or something like that. I’m not saying that when I was playing Casey [Cooke, from Glass], I was kidnapped on the inside — that wasn’t what was going on — but I needed the experience, and I needed the catharsis of letting go in that way. They always seem to end up almost being like a form of therapy to me. I always grow and learn something from them.
Alissa Wilkinson
So, from Emma, then — what did you learn from her?
Anya Taylor-Joy
I went into Emma very anxious. I had been working back-to-back-to-back for four years, and I was suddenly presented with a whole bunch of actors that I really admired. I had a bit of imposter syndrome. I felt very much like, “Oh God, I’m supposed to lead this ship, and what if I’m not good enough?” I tend to forget my accomplishments very quickly. I have the memory of a goldfish that way.
But I do better with facts, and by the end of Emma, there was an undeniable fact that I had shown up every day, done my best, and I think had done good work. So I learned how to take stock of my accomplishments from Emma, if that makes sense.
Alissa Wilkinson
That feels appropriate to the character. She’s given all this responsibility as a leader in her community. Everyone defers to her all the time. But she’s very young and vulnerable and even naïve in a lot of ways. It seems like a terrifying position to be put in.
Anya Taylor-Joy
It sounds so lame and it sounds so sappy, but the audience is watching Emma’s coming of age, and I was experiencing my own coming-of-age story off of that set. I definitely feel like I went in there more of a girl and I left a young woman.
Emma opened in theaters on February 21.