The globalization of K-pop has spawned an inbound flow of tourists and shoppers to the country. As Korean popular culture functions as a window through which audiences come to know Korea, specific places have emerged as sites through which K-culture can be experienced. Beyond conventional tourist destinations, these sites are related to K-pop idols, such as music video shooting locations, cafés and restaurants that idols frequented, locales used as the background of album cover photos, shops that sell celebrity merchandise, K-pop agency buildings, even ordinary parks and bookstores that K-pop stars visited. Thus, “K-pop pilgrimage” has emerged as a new tourism trend, and Korean local governments and the tourist industry are busy creating, discovering, identifying, and publicizing K-pop-associated places. This chapter presents a detailed ethnography of K-pop tourism by ARMY, BTS’s fandom, and discusses how local municipalities and tourism agencies, which have discovered the market power of ARMY, actively promote BTS-themed destinations via social media. By combining the two analyses, this chapter examines the ways K-pop consumption is extended into urban places, thereby reconfiguring the tourist and urban landscapes in Korea.

With their Billboard chart-topping albums and sold-out stadium concerts around the globe, BTS today is the biggest success story of international K-pop. The unprecedented success of BTS challenges the understanding and study of K-pop, as it simultaneously reinforces previously existing perspectives while demanding several new ones. This chapter traces the career of BTS, surveying the historical implications of their rise to the dramatic change in the landscape of music consumption in the era of new media. Rather than depending on music industry insiders or media gatekeepers, the pop stars of the internet era form a strong and direct connection with their fans. ARMY, BTS’s global fandom, is emblematic of this change. ARMY fans do not merely buy albums or generate publicity for their stars; they open new fronts in the discourse and creative derivative work centered around BTS, further fueling the group’s worldwide success. In the US mainstream pop music market dominated by US and UK acts, these shifts in defining BTS’s success demand reconsideration of the future possibilities of Asian stars.

The global success of BTS demonstrates that their artistry and message have captured the attention of many. Similarly, their fandom, ARMY, has received attention for its ability to organize around social justice causes. While BTS and ARMY are pushing against and connecting across borders that often seem impermeable, this work does not happen with ease. How do people in a fandom that spans the globe both organize and educate within this fandom community? This chapter examines fandom through a case study. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests called attention to violence and racism against Black people after the murder of George Floyd. There were concerted efforts within the ARMY fandom to raise money and awareness for BLM. Many of these efforts began before BTS and their company announced support for BLM. It is important to recognize the fandom’s public-facing, collective work, and it is equally important to recognize the effort required to educate within the community about this and other social justice issues. This chapter identifies, tracks, and analyzes attempts being made in the fandom to educate and discuss race and racism around BLM by sharing stories of personal experience with racism, hashtags meant to encourage solidarity, and visual art.