BTS and Public Health

Published 03/23/2023 in Scholar Travel Stipend

Written by Mariko Rooks | 03/23/2023

My trip to Korea provided me with invaluable experiences to continue my MPH thesis research for publication. This research uses interdisciplinary health intervention model creation to explore how BTS, their parent company HYBE, and their fandom known as ARMY have developed one of the largest digitally-delivered health interventions to mitigate mental health outcomes induced by the early COVID-19 pandemic.

As discussed in my thesis, a hallmark of BTS’ music is the group’s focus on ameliorating negative health outcomes for youth worldwide. BTS and ARMY engage in three major modalities of public health interventions across music, digital media content, and social media interaction: (1) awareness of mental health issues driven by personal experience-sharing, (2) actual health-based interventions through music, and (3) societal commentary and critique of systemic injustice.

In doing so, the group has truly aligned with the Milken Institute’s mission statement of “develop[ing] blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues,” from racism and governmental corruption to the negative mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In doing so, the group has promoted healthier mental (self-love, acceptance, successfully coping with anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation) and physical (masking, social distancing) behaviors and ideologies amongst a 500,000+ member fanbase. BTS fans, known as ARMY (plural ARMYs), have developed both lasting public health-focused organizations and campaign efforts aligning with these e????orts. ARMYs regularly organize short-term fundraisers that contribute to bettering health outcomes across the globe, from helping individuals recover from surgery to replanting an entire coral reef to funding supplies for an entire hospital. In addition to this practice, which can be found across multiple fandoms, ARMY also maintains a global organization whose sole purpose is to regularly engage the fandom in charitable fundraising. Often, these campaigns are centered around important events in the fandom such as member birthdays.

Over the course of my time in Korea, I attended several in-person exhibitions produced by BTS and their parent company HYBE during 2020-2021 that educate the public on this interventionist musical approach. The most helpful of these was the HYBE Insight museum exhibit, wherein the company illustrates how their slogan “We Believe in Music” impacts their artists’ creative processes and outcomes. Originally maintaining the health-focused model of “Music and Artists for Healing,” HYBE expanded their holdings significantly during 2020-21, went public on the stock market, and acquired Ithaca Holdings (the agency that manages Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande). I was mildly concerned that the original focus of the company was being shifted, but visiting HYBE helped me better understand that the company’s current public vision focuses on the broader transformative potential of music itself. I’d argue that HYBE’s motto can really be translated into “We Believe in [the Power of] Music [to do ____],” which solves some contradictions I was struggling with in my work.

The most profound part of this trip was in being able to truly embody the context and geographic/locational positionality of BTS’ health-focused discography. Actually walking the paths in Ttukseom Park that rapper RM writes about in his song Reflection, which discusses self-hatred and anxiety, riding the buses used as synecdoche for economic inequality and concentrated wealth in the song 치리사일사팔, and simply visiting sites integral to Korea’s independence movement from colonial Japan gave me profound moments of reflection and understanding, even as I recognize my continued positionality as an outsider when it comes to Korean heritage and diaspora. I was also able to see the impact of BTS on South Korea’s population and economy firsthand, meeting and chatting with many Korean fans about the impact the group has had on their lives, attending BTS celebration events that support local businesses, and seeing firsthand the influx of tourism dollars poured into commemorative BTS sites (e.g. the group’s old dormitory and studio, BTS-themed cafes, etc).

In an unexpected bonus, I was also able to attend what was likely BTS’ last concert until 2025. “Yet to Come: Busan'' was an incredible event that drove home many of the points I made in my original thesis. The concert setlist was classically BTS: there were songs designed to comfort and brig joy to listeners (Epilogue: Young Forever, For Youth, Dynamite, Butter) songs about mental health and suicide prevention (0:00, Butterfly), and songs that robustly criticized the government and oppressive systems (Mic Drop, Cypher Pt. 3, UGH! Spring Day, Dope, Ma City), all immaculately choreographed and performed. Additionally, the concert added significant context to the last two and a half years when the group announced their plans to enlist in the military (mandatory for all Korean men) directly thereafter. This ended a five year wave of uncertainty wherein the South Korean government was unable to make any sort of decision about exemption for the group that has earned South Korea $23 trillion dollars over the past 10 years. This concert truly represented BTS having the last word in all things enlistment-related, and saying a meaningful farewell to their fans in their home country.

Through their music and digital media engagement, BTS and ARMY have truly advance[d] inventive, effective ways of helping people help themselves and those around them lead productive and satisfying lives.” This impact is particularly notable given the dual domination of Western artists in the music industry and Western health ideologies, structures, and companies in the realm of public and global health. Visiting Korea and seeing firsthand the roots of this global phenomenon was an experience that I don’t think could ever be replicated, or even fully articulated in words. If college has taught me one thing, it’s the importance of context. As I was taught in several classes, colonialism and capitalism package care and community as goods and services that are decoupled from their sites and conditions of production for mass consumption; this is particularly true for music in the age of streaming and TikTok sound stardom. Visiting Korea allowed me to subvert this decoupling of goods and context in my study of BTS, a deeply meaningful experience I’ll remember forever. I am deeply grateful to the Milken Scholars Program for facilitating this trip, which featured quite literally once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for me to continue my research and further my personal growth as a world citizen and leader.