BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episodes 1 and 2 are finally out on Disney Plus. The docuseries revolves around the struggle of K-pop boy band BTS, or Bangtan Sonyeondan, to stardom.
Comprising of seven members—RM (group leader), Jin, Jimin, Suga, J-Hope, V, and Junkook—BTS reached global status only a few years ago despite debuting in 2013. In the docuseries, they share their early experiences when they joined a small entertainment company, Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE). The initial years were filled with hard work, late-night rehearsals, and low self-esteem.
In the first two BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episodes, the members mentioned that they wanted to quit the band. Both times, their reason was mental and physical exhaustion.
BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episode 1: How did members overcome the thought of quitting BTS?
BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episode 1 began with the hype around their tour announcement in April 2020. Some of the footage of their fans ARMY’s reactions on getting the concert’s tickets was shown. However, due to COVID-19, the tour was canceled.
Following this, BTS members shared the emptiness they felt during the lockdown period. With RM recalling their early years, the documentary took viewers back to the beginning of BTS. The Bangtan boys were teenagers when they auditioned individually for a boy band. At the time, HYBE was a small entertainment company that wanted to give a platform to hip-hop artists. Somehow, the company ended up with seven boys.
The BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star documentary further showed the members rehearsing day and night. The clips suggested that the members were mentally and physically exhausted.
Suga mentioned that he wanted to run away, while V (Kim Taehyung) stated that he wanted to stop. Jimin said, “Everyone was having a hard time, financially and whatnot, so we had a lot of arguments. Bad situations kept repeating.” Other members also hinted at quitting BTS at some point after their songs didn’t do well and the group didn’t win any awards.
However, the K-pop band managed to overcome their negative thoughts after winning their first award for the album, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life. RM recalled, “After winning the first place, I gained a lot of confidence. So I was able to go strong after that.” Episode 1 ended with V saying, “I don’t think we could’ve filmed something like this if we had given up and just let ourselves consumed with dark thoughts. We also wanted to overcome it.”
BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episode 2: Members share their bittersweet experience post global recognition
BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episode 2 started with the group’s first performance at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul in 2016. The footage from that time featured the BTS members being nervous and excited to perform for a huge crowd. Their fans kept increasing as they connected with the ARMY fanbase through the lyrics of their songs.
In 2016, BTS won the Mnet Asian Music Awards (AMA), which opened doors to the global awards shows. Their next destination was the Billboard Music Awards 2017. Now that they have secured their place globally in the music world, BTS members struggled to decide their next step.
Bang Si-Hyuk, Chairperson of Hybe Corporation, mentioned in episode 2 that he wanted the Bangtan boys to take a break. None of the members came forward and agreed to stop for a while, but each one of them needed to halt.
At the end of BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star episode 2, SUGA said, “No one else knows about it [the exhaustion], except the seven of us. Because of that, everything that had piled up exploded. We really didn’t want to do anything.” The episode also showed footage of tired members sleeping whenever they could.
Jungkook mentioned in his interview that they were constantly running without a destination. The members wanted to quit as they thought they were not meant to handle this wide scale of fame.
Watch BTS sharing more bittersweet experiences on Disney Plus. BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star will return with two new episodes next Wednesday, December 27, 2023.
