Or I may have appreciated this better if I hadn’t already consumed 10 hours of Bangtan content every day for 3 months, at the peak of my fanhood. I loved how they subverted my expectations of the things that a boy group would discuss in their songs. Otherwise, BTS remains a multimedia endeavor that now has an official book that seamlessly blends into their overall oeuvre.

The text takes readers from the trainee days to the Grammy stage, tackling all albums and many ideas behind the multimedia storytelling that is the BTS universe. After taking their first step into the world on June 13, 2013, BTS will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut in June 2023. The quotes are where this book sometimes finds direction, but still the topics are often left too soon: RM's thoughts on the misogyny scandal, their relationships to the labels 'artist' and 'idol', SUGA's ever-changing relationship to music or the anxiety he mentions multiple times. Complete with a timeline of all major milestones, Beyond the Story is a remarkable archive -truly everything about BTS in one volume.

So being that I love books, I always hoped that one day we’d get an official book discussing their career and journey as a band.

Published in celebration of BTS's 10th Anniversary, stories that go beyond what you already know about BTS, including unreleased photos, QR codes of videos, and all album information. They have been embraced the world over, transcending nations, races, languages, gender, and generations for their music, their passionate performances, and their close connections to their fans.This is an artist that constantly ekes out plenty of audiovisual content, and to me the challenge of a book is to prove the necessity of this written medium, when BTS have already bared their souls before in multiple documentaries, movies, vlives, youtube livestreams, etc. Let's not kid ourselves: This oral history was put together by the editor-in-chief of Weverse Magazine and officially published through the gates of HYBE, so it won't pull a Bob Woodward and expose the cruel inner workings of the K-Pop industry, or take a turn and suddenly talk about the personal lives behind the personas of the members, or go full postcolonial studies on the marketing of Korean culture - it's not what the book aims to do. When the book inevitably jumps into some new marker of success the reader absolutely has to know about, I'm often left wondering why this wasn't focused on more. In the decade since their global debut in 2013, BTS have broken world records, earned Grammy nominations, gained international recognition for their self-produced music and unmissable performances, and amassed millions of fans globally (a.

I’ve followed BTS since late 2017 and as such, few ‘revelations’ are new - still, I appreciate the effort to insert novel detail (or novel retellings of old details) for an old-timer like me. The bulk of the 500+ pages of text is spent recounting their accomplishments number by number and going through the albums song by song (yet skipping classics like Pied Piper). I'm more than willing to wait for them and I promise to be there for them and cheer louder than any person on earth when they all eventually come back to us. It seems to get uncomfortable at the thought of any hardship that can't be framed as a heroic struggle (like actual human flaws) and wraps most things up with a pretty bow in the space of a few paragraphs. I won't sugarcoat it, reading some parts was very painful and I'm so proud of who these seven people have become despite all that was thrown at them and how much they are willingly changing the way things are done in the music industry in South Korea and also in the world in general.

There are still many barriers that need to be broken and BTS haven’t peaked yet so let’s please keep working together to reach new heights.

It was nice getting to hear their thoughts about their craft and more details about the times the book is recounting through their eyes. From being bullied, receiving death threats, plagiarism accusation, chart manipulation accusations and many more, BTS persevered nonetheless even when giving up would have been easier. The love that BTS has for writing music, producing it and performing is well documented in the book. There’s also a big emphasis on explaining their thought process behind different songs and their lyrics, which I really appreciated.

I'm so glad these seven people have each other and as Jimin himself says at the end of the book I'm so glad they are the people they are. I figured I'd be able to have a variety of experiences if I were an idol and an actor at the same time. I still can't believe it, an actual book written by bangtan themselves along with that Weverse Magazine journalist ahhh we're always eating good in this borahouse god bless!