Reasons Why You Should Love Each BTS Member As I Do

I know you're rolling your eyes, but this is the last one.  

Tomorrow I leave for Chicago.  So after this trip, I'll make sure to show you the photos and tell you all that we did over the weekend.  I'm sure it'll be fun and we'll have a lot of laughs.  And my phone will hate me from all the pictures.

So the reason I'm going to Chicago is to attend the BTS concert.  The concert is at Soldier Field (where the Bears play) and I'm sure it will be a blast.  Part of why I love BTS so much is because of the personalities of each member.  They're all very different and unique and talented in their own ways, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about them as individuals based on what I know.  You can never REALLY know a celebrity, I am aware of that, but they do make some aspects of their lives public, after all.  And what they do show us is often charming and fun! So here we go.

1.  RM.

This is RM.  He's the leader of the group. He's the leader partially because he was the first member to join, and also because he's very good at working with people. He works as a kind of liaison between the company and the members, and helps solve problems and end arguments between everyone.   RM stands for Real Me.  It used to stand for Rap Monster (I know, I know), but he grew out of that name - he chose it when he was just a kid, after all.  His real name is Kim Namjoon, but sometimes they call him Joon or Joonie. He's a rapper but he can also sing if he wants to.  He's the primary lyricist of the group.  He's very good with words, and is the one that speaks the best English. He's very smart (has an IQ of 148), but he's also very clumsy.  One of his nicknames is "The God Of Destruction" because he breaks a lot of stuff.  He has a funny little habit of hunting for crabs when they're on location.

He reads a lot, and often what he's reading will be incorporated into the themes they use. He was the one who read Damien by Hermann Hesse, and the one who's been reading a lot of psychology and philosophy books lately.

2.  Jin.

Here we have Jin.  His full name is Kim Seokjin, and he's the oldest one of the group.  He was born in 1992, so that makes me feel old.  ANYWAY.  He's a singer, and unfortunately he is not one of the main singers (I think he needs more lines). But, he is prominently featured in their music videos as he was training to be an actor when he was discovered by BigHit.  In fact, he was just walking off a bus and someone saw him and said, "We need that guy!".  He never had any training in singing or dancing, and had to learn it all from scratch - and now he's doing pretty well.

Age hierarchy is a big deal in Korea, so whoever is the oldest is usually the one in charge.  But Jin doesn't act like some jerk bossing everyone around. He's actually very funny and loves to tell dad jokes, some of which I get and some I don't because, you know, Korean puns. He is considered "the visual" of the group, aka the best looking one.  He is very handsome after all, and the members joke a lot with him about how broad his shoulders are. And the fact is, he finds that incredibly hilarious.  He's given himself the nickname "World Wide Handsome" because he thinks it's so funny.  He'll pretend to be super arrogant as a joke. But really, he's also pretty shy - sometimes you can see when he's "bragging" that his ears get really red because he's embarrassed to be the center of attention. One thing he is sensitive about are his hands.  He has a condition called "Swan Neck Dysmorphia" .  Basically when you look at your fingers, they're straight, but his curve.  It's something he's self conscious about so he tries not to show it much. He plays the guitar and is learning a bit of piano, and he has contributed to songwriting for the group. He loves to cook but doesn't do it much anymore.  He has a web series on Vlive called "Eat Jin" where he just eats food and talks about it to the audience.  One thing that cracks me up about Jin is his laugh.  People compare it to the noise a windshield wiper makes.

So funny.  He startles Really Easily and is considered one of the two "scaredy cats" of the group. Another thing that I love about Jin is his love of animals.  He loves dogs, cats, everything.  He had a dog for a long time that died of old age, and he also had some sugar gliders there for a while.  But, small animals like that are hard to take care of, and one of them recently died and he was very upset about it.

Poor Jin.  But he couldn't help it, he wasn't there - his Mom takes care of his pets while he's away.  His other sugar glider is doing fine.  Jin is my favorite, by the way. I love them all, but I love Seokjin just a liiiitle bit more.  Jin has some passable English skills, but he's kinda ashamed of his English because he feels like it should be better since he spent time abroad in school.

3.  Suga.

Suga is a rapper in the group.  His real name is Min Yoongi. He's very good at what he does, and can come up with a lot of different wordplay and such at a very quick pace. He's more interested in the production side of music, and has actually produced music for other artists and won awards for doing it. He ends up spending a lot of his time doing that and often neglects his sleep for it. He's one of those dudes who I think understands more English than he speaks.  He's definitely able to communicate if he needs to.  He comes across as kind of cold, but he can be really funny, too.  He has been very open about his struggles with depression and social anxiety, in the hopes talking about it can help others deal with it.  He plays the piano and has done since he was a kid. He's got an adorable little poodle dog called Min Holly.  His fans compare him a lot to a cat because he can seem a bit grumpy, so one of his nicknames is "Lil Meow Meow".  The internet, what can I tell ya.

4. J-Hope. 

J-Hope is a rapper and a dancer.  The group considers him the dance leader.  He used to street dance in his hometown and won several awards for it. He helps the others learn the choreography. His real name is Jung Hoseok but sometimes they call him Hobi.  J-Hope is a very bright and cheery person.  Sure, he has his off days, but for the most part he is very cheerful and smiley.  He had no training as a singer or rapper before he joined the group, all he knew how to do in entertainment was dance. But he learned how to rap (Suga taught him, and J-Hope taught Suga dance) and he has a very nice singing voice.  Often they'll do something called "hidden vocals" where the main singer is mixed high up in the track, and underneath they'll have another singer in a lower register singing along in harmony.  A lot of the time, the "hidden vocals" are often voiced by J-Hope. J-Hope is very conscious about fashion and loves expensive, high end clothing and accessories. But at the same time, he can also just wear some sweats and a bucket hat and be happy.  J-Hope can be Very Loud and extra, but he's really just a big goofball who is the biggest scaredy cat.

J-Hope has become a more prolific producer as of late, and like Suga, mostly writes his own verses.

5.  Jimin. 

That's our Park Jimin.  He's a singer and a dancer.  He actually attended a performing arts school and was top in his class in contemporary dance.  He learned to sing from training with the group.  The group loves Jimin but they do like to make fun of him as he is the shortest member (and he's not that short, he's 5 ft 8).  Jimin is very dedicated to his singing and dancing and really is a perfectionist. He's very hard on himself, and if one thing goes wrong in a performance, he thinks he ruined the whole thing.

Jimin also has been open with the fact that he's struggled with eating disorders over the years.  At one point a few years ago, Jimin would eat one meal every ten days, go to the gym every day, and do the normal dance practices and concerts.  He collapsed several times because of it, and the others tried to encourage him to eat, but he was convinced he was fat because his cheeks are a little chubby sometimes. Poor guy, he's so hard on himself.  I worry sometimes about Jimin, that he's pushing himself to work through injuries too much or that he's not taking care of himself.

Jimin is a very affectionate person, and is almost always the first to respond if one of the others are in trouble or sad or upset by anything. He's very flexible and an amazing dancer, but he is also one of the clumsiest dudes in the group.

The best part of that video is at 2:50, where Jimin literally kicks himself in the head. Such a cutie.  He tries so hard in everything he does.  Of his many nicknames, I prefer Chim Chim, which is one he was given on one of their reality series. Fun fact: he says he can't see when he laughs because his eyes close. He's got a cute little habit of doubling over when he laughs, and if he's Really laughing, sometimes there's a little squeak.  Jimin has written a few songs and has contributed to some of the most important musical moments, including coming up with hook melody for "Blood Sweat and Tears".

6.  V.

V is a stage name, of course.  He says it stands for Victory.  His real name is Kim Taehyung. He's primarily a singer, but he's become a very good dancer.  He has a very deep speaking voice and has a very big range as a singer, going from a baritone to a high tenor, I think I read somewhere it was three octaves. And he might not have even been in entertainment, because his family were all farmers.  He came to the audition for BigHit with his friend just for moral support, not to audition.  The staff insisted that he try out, and he was the only one accepted that day.  For a while, V was a "secret member" before they first debuted because BigHit was worried that other, bigger companies would try to buy V away from their small company when they saw his cute looks and heard his voice. He's a little weird but very charming. But such a good singer.

He has an adorable little Pomeranian named Yeontan, who he brings with him when they're working in Korea. His parents take care of Tannie when V has to go abroad. But seriously, that dog is probably just as popular as some of the members with the fans. He likes drawing and photography a lot and really loves art in general.  He plays a little bit of piano and has written a few songs for the group, but mostly contributes melodies and a line of lyrics here or there. Sometimes fans call him "alien" because of his strangeness, but I prefer the nickname "TaeTae".  He's also done some acting, appearing in a television show called Hwarang.

7.  Jungkook. 

Where to begin with Jungkook. He's the youngest of the group, which in the age hierarchy thing, makes him the one that gets a little bit babied every now and then.  It's called the "maknae". The group often calls him JK, Kookie, or the Golden Maknae, because he's very talented.  He's the lead singer and one of the top dancers in the group.  He came to join the group at a very young age, about 13 or so.  He appeared on a show similar to  American Idol at that time, and was eliminated.  But, after he left the show, seven companies contacted him to get him to join with them.  He turned down all the big companies and went with BigHit because he thought Namjoon looked cool. He was very shy at first, but now he's... really not.

I have a bit of a theory about Kook.  He joined the group at a very young age and left home.  He was attending a performing arts school in Seoul that turned out to be a little bit shady (making the kids attend parties with adults and alcohol, making the kids perform at parties outside of school where the school would get paid but the kids wouldn't). He didn't go very often to school as it was anyway.  So I don't think that JK is dumb by any means..... but I do think he's badly educated.  And I think he overcompensates for that with what he can control, namely his physicality. That's just my opinion, though.  He's also very big into making videos and editing them himself, I could see him possibly directing something someday, but for right now he's only a baby (21 years old).  He is absolutely fearless and will try everything and anything, especially if it makes the others laugh. He's the one that's trying hardest to learn English, because he wants to help RM when they do interviews in Europe and America. His fans often call him a "bunny" because of the way he smiles.

So you see, they're all very cute, charming, talented dudes who deserve all the love and success in the world.  Don't you think? Anyway, I'll see them this weekend, no big deal or anything.

Bangtanily yours,
Behka