In 2022, when South Korean band BTS announced a hiatus, three major things happened. One, their fans, who are called ARMY, had an emotional breakdown. Two, shares of their management company, HYBE, shed a quarter of their value, with the stock falling to its lowest level since the company went public two years earlier. Three, the seven members started mapping out individual projects before being due for their military service.
So far, BTS members Jimin, RM, J-Hope, Jin, SUGA and Jung Kook have released their individual music projects and also taken them offline through performances. V is the only BTS member yet to come out with an individual music project, so far. Reports indicate he may come up with his project in the second half of the year. Jin and J-Hope are currently in military service.
But why exactly is Jung Kook making headlines across the globe? We will explain.
Who is Jung Kook?
Jung Kook is the youngest member of BTS, and has been grabbing eyeballs after the release of his latest single, ‘Seven’. He collaborated with American rapper Latto for the piece and featured South Korean actress Han So-hee in the music video. ‘Seven’ went live on July 14.
His marketing strategies for ‘Seven’ were Gen-Z approved. A few days before ‘Seven’ went live Jung Kook released two old tunes ‘Still With You’ and ‘My You’ on music streaming platforms. These two songs were primarily on SoundCloud and weren’t aggressively promoted by the artist or his talent company.
At a time when companies around the world are betting big on content marketing, 25-year-old Jung Kook, earned several days of headlines by just repurposing old content. So much so, that the tunes have reached the Billboard charts. It created nostalgia among his fandom (ARMY), increased the recall value of his work into the minds of millions, and created anticipation around his new song
What records did he break?
‘Seven’ has broken several records for Jung Kook. It’s the first K-pop act to hold the number one spot on Spotify’s global. According to the music streaming company’s latest chart), it was streamed 15,995,378 times on ‘Daily Top Song Global’.
In India, too, the song ranks in the top 10 of the trending songs on the app. The song also took the number one spot on the iTunes Top Song chart in 106 regions around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and France
Economics of BTS
According to several reports, the boy band brought in one in every 13 tourists who visited South Korea in 2017. The band’s YouTube channel alone, which is the 20th largest in the world, can generate up to $2 million a month. By 2020, the group was contributing $3.5 billion annually to the nation’s economy, according to the Hyundai Research Institute. The band’s commercial success has also lined the pockets of its members. Collectively, BTS had a net worth of $50 million by 2020, according to Forbes.
Recently, Jung Kook became the face of Calvin Klein. The others have their own tieups. SUGA has collaborated with Maison Valentino; Jimin has endorsed Dior and Tiffany and Co; J-Hope has promoted Louis Vuitton; and V has worked closely with Celine Boy for projects. BTS’s leader RM has attended Bottega Veneta’s fashion show.