Bangtan Remixed

Patty Ahn is Associate Teaching Professor of Communication at the University of California, San Diego.Michelle Cho is Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies and Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto.Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez is Professor of Ethnic Studies and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.Rani Neutill is Affiliate Faculty of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College and Lecturer of English at Tufts University.Mimi Thi Nguyen is Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.Yutian Wong is Professor of Theatre and Dance at San Francisco State University.

“Painted with both passion and erudition, Bangtan Remixed presents a complex portrait of a band that challenged and changed the rules of popular music today.” - Suk-Young Kim, author of (K-Pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance) “Equal parts fan letter, manifesto, and critical research essay, Bangtan Remixed is a work of care and collectivity. Assembled by an impressive squad of queer and feminist scholars and writers who are also unabashed ARMY, the book helps us listen and think differently about BTS by starting from the radical premise that the best music writing can (and should!) be prompted by deep feeling and pleasure. As this reader and its contributors ask us to do, to take BTS seriously is to also reckon with the afterlives of war and empire; the changing landscape of pop music; and the people and places we imagine produce musical aesthetics, business models, and knowledge that matters.” - Christine Bacareza Balance, author of (Tropical Renditions: Making Musical Scene in Filipino America) "For readers undaunted by this combination of fandom and academia, Bangtan Remixed will be a rewarding experience, and for outsiders to the world of K-pop, it serves as a reminder of how much popular music has changed in terms of how it is produced and consumed in an interconnected world." - John A Riley (Asian Review of Books) "Bangtan Remixed is a diverse collection of perspectives that has clearly been compiled with great care. Its well-written and concise chapters will serve as a valuable source and engaging read for those passionate about BTS, both personally and academically." - Megan Moon (Asian Studies Review) "A welcome exploration of the K-pop band BTS and its fan group, ARMY. . . . It will be of considerable interest to people interested in K-pop, the Korean wave, popular culture, pop music, and, perhaps most importantly, fandom. Recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals." - T. R. Tangherlini (Choice)

• Note on Terminology and Romanization  xiAcknowledgments  xiiiIntroduction. On Bangtan Remixed: A Critical BTS Reader / Patty Ahn, Michelle Cho, Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez, Rani Neutill, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Yutian Wong  1I. “You Can Call Me Artist, You Can Call Me IDOL!”: Contexts, Genealogies, and Aesthetics of Performance  291. Tradition, Transition, and Trends: Contextualizing BTS’s Gugak-Inspired Performance of “IDOL”; / Wonseok Lee  332. Hustlin’ until Dope: How BTS Rap Line Cultivated Their Hip-Hop Identities / Nykeah Parham3. “Life Goes On”: Social and Musical Space in BTS’s Midpandemic Album BE / Stefania Piccialli  574. Blood, Sweat, and Tears: BTS, Bruegel, and the Baroque / Marci Kwon  685. Martha and the Swans: BTS, “Black Swan,” and Cold War Dance History / Yutian Wong  79II. “Mikrokosmos”: The Universe of BTS  916. The Platformization of K-Pop: From Weverse to NFTs / Dal Yong Jin  957. Under the Same Sky: Synchronicity in BTS Media, Online and Offline / Despina Kakoudaki  1078. Bridging the Senses: Medium and Materiality from Music Videos to Graphic Lyrics / Andrew Ty  1209. Sweet Chili and Cajun: Tasting the Power of Language with the BTS McDonald’s Meal / Melody Lynch-Kimery  13310. Fragmentary Redemptions: ARMY, RPF, and the AU at the Heart of the Bangtan Universe / Regina Yung Lee  14411. “Black Guy Reacts to BTS for the First Time”:  Provocations from a Black ARMY / Jheanelle Brown  15712. “Your Story Becomes Our Universe”: Fan Edits, Shitposts, and the BTS Database / Jaclyn Zhou  16913. Jung Kook’s Button, or the GIF That Keeps on Giving / Mimi Thi Nguyen  180III. “Not Today”: Geopolitics and Activism  19114. Empire Goes On: Transpacific Circuits of Care Work / Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez  19515. Like a Criminal Undercover: Love, Hate, and the Performance of Inclusion / Rachel Kuo  20616. Recoding the Bot: ARMY and Digital Transgression / Andrea L. Acosta  22117. Break the Structure: BTS ARMY Digital Activism and State Surveillance in Indonesia’s Omnibus Law Protest / Karlina Octaviany  22918. From Purple to Pink: The Filipino ARMY for Leni and the Fight for Good Governance / Allison Anne Gray Atis, Noel Sajid I. Murad, and Hannah Ruth L. Sison  24119. “Yoongi, Can You Hear Me?”: Demanding Justice for #Melisa and ARMY Activism in Turkey / Alptekin Keskin and Mutlu Binark  25420. “Spring Day”: Nostalgia, Pop Mediation, and Public Mourning / Michelle Cho  264Interlude. “Magic Shop”: So Show Me, I’ll Show You (My Fanart)  279IV. “You Never Walk Alone”: Fandom and Community21. The Skinship Diaries / Sara Murphy  28922. “Gender DOES NOT Exist Outside of Patriarchy”: Flower Boys, Gender Envy, and the Radical Possibilities of JIMIN GENDER / S. Heijin Lee  29923. Permission to Desire / Rani Neutill  31324. Fifty Shades of Butter: Consensual Nonconsent in BTS Fan Fiction / Raymond San Diego  32225. Bangtan Scholars and the Ethics of Care / Courtney Lazore  33526. Sincerely Yours, ARMY: Exploring Fandom as Curatorial Methodology / Sophia Cai  34527. The Digital ARMY-Ummah: Faith and Community among Muslim BTS Fans / Mariam Elba  35728. “Let Us Light Up the Night”: BTS and Abolitionist Possibilities at the End of the World / UyenThi Tran Myhre  368Outro. For Youth / Patty Ahn, Michelle Cho, Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez, Rani Neutill, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Yutian Wong  379Bangtan Glossary  385Contributors  389Index  399