By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
When my wife Vicki announced that we were going to see a music group called BTS at a K-pop concert in Las Vegas, I realized I had a steep learning curve ahead of me. My first question was: BTS…exactly what does that mean?
I guessed initially that it was an acronym for “Baffle the Seniors.”
I was baffled by BTS. As a senior citizen now at age 65, I’d stopped listening to music radio many years earlier.
On those rare occasions when I stumbled upon the Grammys award show while channel surfing, I did not recognize most of the songs. I didn’t know many of the artists either!
My wife was way ahead of me on BTS.
She had watched a television reality show called “Pop Star Academy,” about the formation of a female K-pop group called KATSEYE. Then our five year old grandson convinced her to watch the smash hit animated film “KPop Demon Hunters.”
She was hooked.
My typical diet of news shows and podcasts, however, never featured K-pop or BTS. I had to figure out what it was, and who they were, almost from scratch.
K-pop burst onto the global scene in the 1990s when South Korean artists fused together a number of different genres from Western music. I did not pay a lot of attention then either, but I do recall that one of the first big hits was a 2012 song (and viral music video/dance) called “Gangnam Style” by a singer named Psy.
My crash course on BTS got a bit more complex from there, so I started to think that BTS just might mean “Bewilder the Seniors.”
The band’s name is an acronym for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan (방탄소년단), but it also means Bulletproof Boy Scouts or the Bangtan Boys. Formed in 2010, the group includes seven young men (Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook) who are the same age as my adult children but have millions of adoring fans everywhere.
How in the world did that happen? Apparently, with lots of hard work, the right producers, a little bit of luck, and a clever mix of pop, dance, and rap styles.
Ugh…rap! I next worried that BTS was a rap group designed to “Bore the Seniors” or “Bother the Seniors.”
I have never really understood what rappers are saying. Here’s a confession…Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl show soared right over my head.
When I am able to hear rap lyrics, they all seem profane. Or about unpleasant topics I really don’t want to know about.
I soon learned, however, that the Bangtan Boys also sing…and they do so about less controversial things like “Butter” and “Dynamite”. Both are catchy little tunes that seem to span generational musical tastes. Even my two year old grandson loves both songs.
At this point in my K-pop analysis, however, BTS meant “Beleaguer the Seniors.”
I knew who they were but only knew one or two of their songs and had little insight into the extensive BTS culture and language. I turned to my law partner Nate Thomas and his wife Jinna Lee Thomas for help.
With teenage daughters and cultural connections to Korea, they knew all about the group. They told me about the BTS fanbase called ARMY (“Adorable Representative MC for Youth”).
Nate and Jinna even helped us get tickets for the 2026 BTS comeback tour called “Arirang.” It was scheduled to launch after all the individual band members completed their mandatory military service in South Korea between 2022 and 2025.
To prepare for the upcoming concert, I downloaded the Arirang concert playlist. Vicki and I also watched a new documentary about the group as well as their first 2026 return concert, set in historic Gwanghwamun Square in front of the Gyeongbokgung (“great blessings”) Palace, a former royal residence established in 1395.
As I learned more, I became a bit nervous that BTS might meant “Bug the Seniors.”
Vicki, Nate, and Jinna said the stadium noise would be so loud that we should wear ear plugs. That sounded unpleasant and uncomfortable, especially for an old guy like me who never puts stuff in his ears.
I also worried BTS could mean “Banish the Seniors.”
When we saw Barry Manilow perform in Salt Lake City a few years ago, we were the youngest people there. Fans using walkers and groupies in wheelchairs surrounded us.
I feared the opposite be true with BTS in 2026. Would ARMY wonder where our walkers were? Would we feel out of place? Would we be the oldest people there?
Well, we were some of the oldest people there, but it all turned out OK. The Arirang Tour is in part a tribute to the old, to the ancient, to the classic elements of South Korean history.
“Arirang” (아리랑) is a traditional Korean folk song and the unofficial national anthem of Korea. The 600-year-old song represents the shared identity, resilience, and emotional history of the Korean people. BTS uses it in one of its new songs.
BTW, our BTS show in Las Vegas was fantastic.
We had super seats, the ear plugs did not hurt, I was familiar with most of the music (thanks Spotify!), I lost my wallet but some kind/honest BTS fan turned it in so I got it all back intact, and the teenage girls behind me who screamed the whole time were endearing instead of annoying.
The stadium crowd’s enthusiasm was good natured and even infectious, like partying with 65,000 of your new best friends. Most importantly, Vicki had a great time.
By the end of the whole process, I had a much better idea of what BTS really means.
Now I’m pretty sure it’s “Bedazzle the Seniors.”
*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Paraclete Press published his book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, in August 2021. The League of Utah Writers chose it as the best non-fiction book of 2022. Mike’s new holiday novel, tentatively titled “The Merry Matchmaker Monks,” will be published in time for Christmas 2026.
