BTS, also known as Bangtan Soyeondan and Beyond the Scene had a long journey to get to where they are today. They have reached the greatest amount of success within the last few years. The boy-band currently has the largest fan base called "Army" who love and adore the seven members of the group. Unlike most Korean Pop groups, they were able to reach a wide amount of success overseas and have sold out concerts all around the world. However, the members constantly remind their fans of how grateful they are for their fans who have continued to help them thrive and become people who they have only dreamed to be. Let's take a look back at their road to success:
2010: RM (Rap Monster) joined the group. Before he signed with Big Hit Entertainment, he was an underground rapper. Later on, the CEO of Big Hit Entertainment got in contact with Suga who was working as an underground producer at the time. Towards the end of the year, J-Hope was introduced to the group after he did not make the cut for his audition to JYP.
2011: In the beginning of the year, Jungkook (Maknae or youngest member of the group) joined Big Hit Entertainment after he was cut from Superstar K (popular Korean singing contest). Jungkook was of high-value of many entertainment companies and was notably scouted by 7 different agencies. In the same year, Jin joined after and became a trainee. He was first signed into acting but was later changed to singing. He is known to have been scouted by SM Entertainment (one of the big three entertainment agencies in Korea) but thought that someone was trying to scam him and decided to never contact them. V or Taehyun was the sixth member to be added into the group but was introduced last to the public. He unintentionally auditioned for the group after following his friend to the audition.
In 2012, the last member of the group joined the agency and it was Jimin. Before joining the group, he was part of a dance academy and was a very talented contemporary dancer. Although most of the members were introduced by this year, there were member changes before the group was finalized with these 7 members. At the end of the year, Big Hit Entertainment decided to release a YouTube series called BangTan TV which later became their YouTube Channel for BTS. On December 17, RM was shown in a video where he did a cover of American Rapper Kanye West and his song. The following day, the group opened their first Twitter account and introduced themselves on their first post.
In 2013, the group started to release vlogs of each member expressing their feelings and thoughts. Their fan base began to increase and people thought that they were really relatable and genuine. Throughout the year, the released small clips of the boys having fun and working on their pre-debut. On May 2013, they released their first single called 2 Cool 4 Skool. The group also released 2 mini albums called "O!RUL8,2?" and "Skool Luv Affair." They became known for their lyrics and artistry through this single because it expressed how children should live their own dreams instead of following someone else's. On June 2, the first member of the group was publicized and it was V. Next came Jungkook, Jin, and Jimin. On June 4, the last members of the group was released: J-Hope, Suga, and RM. On June 12, they released their first title track "No More Dream." The following day, the group had their first performance on Mnet where they performed No More Dream and We Are Bulletproof pt.2.
