Reviews

Burn the Stage: The Rise of BTS and Korean Boy Bands by Marc Shapiro

alice_sherwood12's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

kalynau's review

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4.0

This book is an interesting look at why it is that BTS managed to become such a phenomena both in South Korea and around the world. Shapiro examines the foundation of Big Hit Entertainment and how its philosophies around creativity helped to create the cradle in which BTS was formed. This book is great for both fans of BTS and those who are just curious about “that Korean band” they keep hearing about. It covers the individual members and how they came to be a part of BTS and what it is that they bring to the table in order to create the phenomena that BTS has become. I definitely recommend this book for any fans of K-Pop (and BTS in particular) as well as for the casually curious.

lucyp21's review

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3.0

I requested this book from Netgalley because the only thing I knew about Bts was that they were a Korean pop group and they had been first for something to do with performing in America. Really, this book which goes back to basics, was perfect for me.

This is ultimately a very quick read and quite surface level. The book talked about each member of the group and how they came to BTS and then it looked at how the group came together. In the second half, the author runs us through BTS' schedule, especially the tours they did and the awards all over the world.

I found the first half a lot more interesting than the second half since it talks about the members and the group itself, while the second half is more numbers and facts, all of which start to blend together a little. It also doesn't look at their social media and how it had an effect on their success.

This book is almost relentlessly positive, not just about the band themselves but the company as well. It mentions some controversy but it quickly skates on to something else and it never talks about how BTS faltered with their rise to the top. I don't know whether they did massively or not, but they would have had setbacks and it would have been good to have seen more of that.

It is informative up to a point and gave me a basic overview of exactly why BTS are so big, especially in America. I would recommend this to someone who wants just to know, surface level, what is going on with this group but for someone who is a bigger fan of the group, I probably would look around for something a little more in depth.

3 stars
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