Kelly Kenakin

61 yo ARMY since 2020 Tae biased OT7 wrecked

[French Army_C | ⊙⊝⊜ @CCjo7949]

Does anyone else do this?

You watch a BTS MV and your brain goes through the full ARMY emotional tax system:

Melting.Laughing. Screaming. Pausing. Rewinding.
Losing your legal identity.

And then, at the exact same time, you’re watching certain moments thinking:

“ARMY is going to lose it over this.”
“Oh, the timeline is NOT surviving that.”
“This tiny 0.7 second moment is about to become everyone’s new personality.”

(Yes, I know we’re not exactly calm about any part of the video, but still)

And then you open the TL and it’s exactly that.

The same screenshots.
The same audible gasp moments.
The same collective collapse in real time.

It feels like when you see something and immediately think of someone in your family.

Like “my sister would love this.”
“My cousin would scream at this.”
“My mom would rewind that part three times.”

Except our family is millions of people around the world and the family group chat is the timeline.

That’s what BTS MVs feel like to me now.

Not just watching them.

Watching them with all of you in my head. 💜🫂💜

[Sara 2.0 @SaraBangtan07]

The World Cup final is our next chance to make a strong case for why ARIRANG deserves AOTY

ARIRANG matters because BTS embraced a deeply Korean symbol of longing, endurance & separation, and in doing so, spoke to the cultural zeitgeist. In a time marked by division, displacement & despair, BTS offered us an example of return

That is the AOTY argument

ARIRANG is a deeply personal, artistic & authentic work of cultural memory answering a core defining longing in all of us: our longing to belong

[Kelly Kenakin @kenakin_k]

BTS 'Hooligan', '2.0' Dance Practice Sketch https://t.co/0skAIgHb2d via @YouTube

[Absent Ma'am @sleepinginsilk]

🚨 All the tracks from Arirang have decreased please stream. Only 9 tracks are charting now and Come Over. Please focus on trying to get back and increasing more.

[K⁷ | 13TS @tksovers]

"SWIM" (89 days) becomes the Fastest Song by a Group to reach 600 Million streams on Spotify, surpassing "Butter" (139 days) !!

[BTS Charts @btschartdata]

BTS (방탄소년단) - ‘Merry Go Round’ Spotify Music VideoㅣOfficial Teaser https://t.co/gaBmAy4P70

[sophie @thvchapters]

namjoon walking toward his members because that’s how they cope with the fact that the merry go round never stops: they stay together.

[Mina⁷ 🇵🇪 Comms open (2/3) @MinaIsLate]

If you can, please do support this eSIMs FESTA project 💜 As a lil thank you, you can get these printable artworks I made. You can also get the already printed version of the sticker sheet on my shop, which profits will go to it. Thank you!

[BTS_official @bts_bighit]

[공지] BTS (방탄소년단) WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’ IN JAKARTA & BULACAN 회차 추가 안내 (+ENG/JPN/CHN)

🔗 https://t.co/kSQAzVmYTh

#방탄소년단 #BTS #BTS_WORLDTOUR_ARIRANG
#BTS_WORLDTOUR_ARIRANG_JAKARTA
#BTS_WORLDTOUR_ARIRANG_BULACAN

[Pop Core @TheePopCore]

BTS' "ARIRANG" becomes the FIRST and ONLY album in history to chart all of its tracks on Billboard Global Excl. US chart for 12 consecutive weeks.

[WeStreamBTS @WeStreamBTS]

I’m BTS first. Always.

Long before I became ARMY, I had strong opinions about how the US industry has treated minorities and marginalized artists.

BTS didn’t create those concerns for me, this is a decades long issue of abuse.

Honestly, one of the reasons I became ARMY was because I knew exactly what BTS would be up against in the U.S. industry.

I knew their talent alone wouldn’t protect them from bias, double standards, or being underestimated.

They would need massive support here and I wanted to be a part of that for them. That support matters.

BTS built their success differently. It wasn’t handed to them by a U.S. label. It wasn’t created by industry connections. It wasn’t some manufactured push.

It was BTS + ARMY.

Our support gives them something most artists never get: the freedom to make their own choices without depending on industry gatekeepers.

So with all the conversations, new categories, and award season drama starting to heat up, my focus stays the same:

Whatever BTS decides to do, I’m with them.

100%.

This is shaping up to be a messy and controversial award season, and more than ever, we need to stay focused, stay united, and keep supporting them the way we always have.

[⁷ @Pk_bts_land]

"Come Over" by BTS remains at #1 on Worldwide iTunes Song Chart for a 5th consecutive day.

[Bangtan Greenhouse⁷ 🌷 @BTSgreenhouse]

Always remember the time we spend together is more important than any award.🌸

(Also this is my IG first reel so be nice, I
I’m btsgreenhouse on there too okay byeeeee this is so embarrassing)

[BIGHIT MUSIC @BIGHIT_MUSIC]

[기사] #방탄소년단 ‘SWIM’ 막강 파워…美 빌보드 ‘핫100’ 12주 연속 진입
https://t.co/vEw37VP0ad

[French Army_C | ⊙⊝⊜ @CCjo7949]

Men who love cats always feel a little safer to me.

There’s something so tender about it.

Not in a loud way.
More in a quiet, patient, “I’ll sit here until you decide I’m safe” kind of way.

Cats don’t perform affection.

They are tiny emotional border control officers.
They do not approve everyone.

They choose you slowly.
They love you on their own terms.

So seeing Yoongi post Tangie with that little collar, that tiny bell and a love song playing over it feels painfully soft.

Because of course he loves a cat.

Of course he understands silent affection.
Of course his love language is probably, “I won’t force you but I’ll stay.”

Tiny black cat. Tiny yellow bell.
Huge cat dad energy. 🐈‍⬛💛

And maybe that’s why we love him so much.

Because Yoongi has always carried love in quiet details.

Not in grand gestures. Not in noise.

Just in presence, softness, patience, and a tiny bell around Tangie’s neck.

[sophie @thvchapters]

“we can’t do anything,” that’s not true. I know it feels frustrating and like it’s not enough, but we can keep supporting this album. stream, focus on am too, recommend it, talk about it, show love in every way you can. even the smallest actions matter more than we think.

[𝐴𝑠ℎ⁷ 🪭 @kthnoir7]

There’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m going to say it directly. I dont care if I get cancelled but this needs to be said.

For years, BTS were told they weren’t big enough, mainstream enough, or "Grammy material." Then they became one of the biggest acts in the world. They broke records, sold out stadiums across continents, topped charts repeatedly, and built a global cultural impact that few artists in history can match.

And when they became too successful to ignore?

The Grammys nominated "Dynamite" and "Butter"—both English-language songs.

Let that sink in.

The songs that got BTS into the major Grammy conversation were the songs that fit most comfortably into the Western industry framework. Yet BTS's discography is filled with critically acclaimed Korean-language music that has had enormous cultural and artistic impact.

Now we have a "Best Asian Pop Music Performance" category.

And before anyone calls that progress, let's ask the obvious question: why does there need to be a separate category at all?

If Asian artists are good enough to dominate global charts, sell millions of records, headline festivals, influence culture worldwide, and compete with every major artist in the industry, then they are good enough for the same categories as everyone else.

Inclusion isn't creating a separate lane after Asian artists prove they can win in the existing ones.

Inclusion is treating them as equals.

That's why BTS's lyrics in "Aliens" hit so hard:

"어쩜 그래 shameless
예의를 차려 we aliens
해는 동쪽에서 risin'
Aliens, aliens"

No matter how successful some artists become, there are still systems and institutions that treat them as perpetual outsiders.
And that's exactly why this conversation matters.
Because when BTS were impossible to ignore, the response shouldn't have been to create another box and place Asian artists inside it. The response should have been to judge them by the same standards as every other artist competing for the biggest awards in music.

ARMYs, we have a mission.

Talk about Arirang everywhere. Put it in AOTY conversations. Put it in ROTY conversations. Write threads. Make edits. Share analyses. Start discussions.

If we believe it deserves those nominations, then let's make enough noise that nobody can pretend it doesn't belong in the room.

They ignored BTS until they couldn't.

Let's make sure they can't ignore Arirang either.

[Dear Moon⁷ 🌛 @DearMoon246]

Love is like a boomerang, you fling it out there to the universe & sometimes it boomerangs right back into your hands but other times it veers off & someone else catches it & passes it on. This happens with @BTS_twt music. It’s SO GOOD, & also filled w/love. People pass it on.💜

[Kelly Kenakin @kenakin_k]

@Miss_Mochi_72 I hope so but I'm afraid it's not that.

[sophie @thvchapters]

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the surprise song segment isn’t meant to be viewed as a performance. it’s a moment between bts and army, a chance to walk down memory lane together.

they’re not trying to put on a perfect show during that part. they’re simply having fun, being themselves, and sharing those memories with us.

so enjoy it for what it is: a special moment.