By Kim Minji

The World Economic (Davos) Forum has featured on its homepage the Korean boy band Bangtan Boys (BTS) as example of cultural globalization “that no longer goes toward Americanization.”

In a Dec. 18 article titled “Here’s what a Korean boy band can teach us about globalization 4.0,” the site said, “For the readers of America’s TIME Magazine, BTS should be 2018 Person of the Year. After a worldwide online poll, they held onto their early lead to beat candidates like Planet Earth and US President Donald Trump.”

Writer Peter Vanham also asked if the group’s success will mean a more diverse globalization of culture “that no longer coincides with Americanization.”

Held in January in Davos, Switzerland, the forum is an annual gathering of eminent businessmen, politicians, economists and journalists for discussion of economic development.

Vanham mentioned two unique traits behind BTS’s success. The first was the lyrics of the group’s songs being in Korean, which is not even among the world’s top 10 most spoken languages, and the isolation of Korea that earned the country the nickname “Hermit Kingdom.” Yet BTS overcame cultural and language odds to create a global musical sensation.

The second trait was BTS’s “bottom-up success.” Members of the band’s fan club ARMY themselves translated the group’s performances and music videos into a number of languages in playing a major role in BTS’s meteoric rise. “But in other domains too, cultural power players have emerged from elsewhere than America. Asia in particular is rising in cultural influence,” Vanham wrote.

“The fact that singers and bands from the Caribbean and Korea can make the world’s most popular music show that there is nothing inevitable about the Americanization of cultural globalization after all.”

kimmj7725@korea.kr