A shocking dinner party for fans of BTS
Lesson summary
Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff, JR is the producer, and you are listening to Plain English, the best place to upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. This is lesson number 484, so that means JR has uploaded the full lesson content to PlainEnglish.com/484.
Coming up today: BTS is a South Korean pop band with worldwide hits in both Korean and English. They’ve won accolades around the world, performed at the Grammy Awards, addressed the United Nations General Assembly, and visited the White House. Every year, the seven band members have an anniversary dinner, streamed live online to all their fans. And this year, they shocked their fans with talk of a “temporary break.”
In the second half of today’s lesson, I’ll show you how to use the term “loom over.” And we have a quote of the week. Let’s get started.
BTS ‘taking a break’ to make room for individual projects
BTS, the most popular band in the world, shocked its fans with some big news at the group’s anniversary dinner celebration. You might be thinking of a big gala dinner , with lots of fans and other celebrities in attendance , everyone dressed in tuxedos . This dinner was just the seven of them, dressed casually. What made it special is that it was live streamed on YouTube, like previous annual dinners that came before.
The seven members were seated at a long, wooden dining table, all more or less facing the cameras . Behind them was a constellation of purple, pink and white balloons . They start the dinner by pouring champagne and other drinks; then, they begin to serve themselves and, yes, eat on camera. They dig into steaming noodles , crab meat , and clams .
If you didn’t know what was coming next, the first few minutes of dinner table conversation would have seemed innocent enough . They chat about their interests, their busy schedules , their preferred drinks; one even mentions English lessons. But if you were paying attention , you would have noticed the occasional worrying comment : one band member says he doesn’t have enough time to eat or sleep. Another says he is working on a song.
After some more friendly banter , the band member Suga, seated on the far left as you look at the table, turns half-serious . He mentions it is the band’s ninth anniversary and that there is something they wanted to say. He talks about how the band had to cancel its world tour due to the outbreak of COVID-19. There is some nervous talk about their work during COVID. Several minutes of inside jokes follow.
But then Suga gets serious again, and says, “We’re going into a hiatus now.” Then, one unthinkable line after another comes across the stream: “The group has definitely changed.” Then, “We have to accept that we’ve changed.” Then, “I didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore.”
To fans watching the stream, this must have sounded like a breakup conversation . “I don’t know what kind of story I should tell now,” Suga says. “I always thought BTS was different from other groups.” The blows keep coming . “There’s no time for growth .” Then: “I’ve changed as a human over the past ten years.” Then something nobody wants to hear from someone they love, band or otherwise: “I need to think and have some alone time.”
The speech goes on like this for 40 minutes. Suga discloses that the band will be working on individual projects. In his words, the band will be “ showing off our individual colors.” He says that the whole worlds knows BTS, but so few people know individual members.
Then, the band decides to do individual toasts to end the dinner. And some sad lines come out during the toasts too. One member said, “I was happy most of the time, but I’ve had a lot of painful moments, too.” Another said he hopes the fans would give them their blessing .
On social media, they did. BTS fans call themselves the Army and they were broadly supportive . One fan said he wanted to just give them a hug . Another said that the name BTS will stay with the Army “like a tattoo that doesn’t disappear.”
The traditional media, however, were quick to pounce on the word “hiatus.” There appeared to be a misunderstanding , possibly based on the translation of the live stream. The Western media interpreted “hiatus” as a breakup, where the band would not do anything together. However, the group intended to communicate that they probably will still work on group projects, but that they would have time to pursue individual projects, too.
The band’s manager clarified that they would be taking a temporary break. They changed the English translation on the video from the word “hiatus” to “temporary break.”
As if that’s not enough, there’s another question looming over the band. In South Korea, all men have to serve two years in the military ; they have to enter by the time they’re 30. The oldest member of the band is turning 30 this year.
Doing things their own way
I didn’t watch the whole dinner party, but it was interesting. You can definitely see that they do things their own way. One criticism of K-Pop is that it seems very formulaic , very scripted . And to a certain extent BTS has followed the script. But they also have a much more personal connection with their fans and you can tell in the dinner that they are very authentic , even as they’ve become the most popular band in the world.
For more on how South Korea has influenced culture , check out Lesson 261 .
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