Eshani Bora, Guwahati, Assam

Three and a half years ago, I stumbled upon a music video called Blood Sweat & Tears by a K-Pop group called BTS. During that time, I was not in a very good head-space and would surround myself with self-doubt, insecurities, and inferiority complex.

Out of sheer curiosity, after watching ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears;’ I started listening to other songs of BTS randomly, and I found a song called ‘Butterfly‘. I listened to that song for the whole 4:56 minutes, without knowing the meaning behind it. By the end of the song, I found myself in tears. I could not comprehend why and how this happened. A language, I am not known to and the words that I could not understand, made me cry without any reason. I searched for the lyrics and listened to this song on repeat for a countless number of times. 아무것도 생각하지 마, 넌 아무 말도 꺼내지도 마, 그냥 내게 웃어줘 (Don’t think about anything; Don’t speak anything not even a word; just smile for me), these are the first lines of the song which never left my mind from that day onwards!

At present, my respect and love for BTS have landed me to know more about Korean Culture which includes learning the Korean language. A language that made me cry; I made up my mind to learn it. Also, that day I promised myself to never look down on myself again. I started to change. Butterfly was that song which literally had a ‘Butterfly Effect‘ on me. I started becoming more positive day by day. The group members or the seven lights introduced me to ‘화양연화‘ which means the ‘most beautiful moment in life’, and I realized that I have found mine.

BTS has always been authentic and has shown us the real story of their lives. They do not hesitate from showing their vulnerabilities with ARMYs, because it is somewhat similar to what we all face at one point in our life. Songs such as Young Forever, Magic Shop, 2!3!, You Never Walk Alone, Spring Day, Lights, Epiphany, Euphoria, Promise, Love Myself, Mikrokosmos, are nothing but the songs with meaningful and comforting lyrics, that warm your heart and make you fall in love with yourself. I was unable to love myself for a long time because I thought if others loved you that would be sufficient.

I was wrong. Those seven beautiful human beings taught me step by step every day to accept my flaws and get over with the idea of achieving perfection. My pain was not gone entirely but it was definitely reducing. It is still there, but today I can proudly say that I Love Myself. It is somewhat difficult to explain precisely how they touch our hearts unknowingly and change our lives for good. But their songs, their words, their stories, they do heal many of us. What makes them different from others is that we have witnessed their journey from the beginning and have seen them overcome their own struggles, be it their mental health issues, being hard on themselves, extreme dieting, or being misunderstood and accused. They understand their responsibilities as idols and a global celebrity, yet do not hesitate to show us their weaknesses and hardships. ARMY knows that and I need not elaborate this further.BTS is and will remain in our hearts forever. And if anyone asks you why, the answer to it is very simple; ‘we have a promise to never let ourselves be forgotten, we are all stars in the same night sky’. For me, ‘Mikrokosmos’ is the answer to this question.

To the seven shining stars in our sky, I wish they keep shining for a long long time.

I will always be thankful to them for changing my life.

Do share your story with me of being a fan of BTS!