All About Bangtan Boys

BTS HISTORY

Pre-debut

BTS's first members were recruited through Big Hit's "Hit it" auditions in 2010 and 2011. The original lineup went through several changes before the final group of members was established in 2012. Half a year prior to debut, the members began building their name and creating a relationship with fans through Twitter, video blogs, fancafe posts and by releasing various song covers via YouTube and SoundCloud.

Before debuting in 2013, Rap Monster was already performing as an underground rapper and had released several tracks informally, including a collaboration with Zico. Jin had been a film arts student at Konkuk University before being streetcast for auditions, while Suga was an underground rapper in Daegu. J-Hope, who was part of a street dance team named NEURON, was active in the underground dancing scene, participating in various battles and competitions. Before joining Big Hit, Jimin entered Busan High School of Arts as the top student in modern dance, but later transferred to Korea Arts High School with V, who auditioned in Daegu. Jungkook was cast by seven agencies after leaving auditions for Superstar K, but eventually chose Big Hit, reportedly after watching fellow member Rap Monster rap.

2013–2014: Debut with 2 Cool 4 Skool, O!RUL8, 2?, Skool Luv Affair and Dark & Wild

The first album of BTS's "school trilogy" series and their debut single album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, was released on June 13, 2013 with the lead single "No More Dream". Their debut album won them several "New Artist of the Year" awards, including those at the 2013 MelOn Music Awards and Golden Disk Awards and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards. On September 11, BTS released their first mini-album, O!RUL8,2?, which consisted of 10 tracks.

They also starred in their own variety show, SBS-MTV's Rookie King Channel Bangtan. The premise of the show was based on a fake broadcast station, "Channel Bangtan", through which the members parodied variety shows such as VJ Special Forces and MasterChef Korea. Rookie King Channel Bangtan premiered its eight-episode run on September 3, 2013.

The third part of the "school trilogy", their second mini-album Skool Luv Affair, was released on February 12, 2014. BTS promoted the album's title track "Boy in Luv (상남자)", releasing its music video on February 11. The album peaked at number 3 on Billboard's World Albums Chart. BTS then came back with "Just One Day (하루만)", with its music video released on April 6.

On March 7, Big Hit Entertainment announced that BTS were to release their Japanese debut single album, consisting of the Japanese versions of their current songs. The album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, was released on April 23; their first single was a Japanese version of "No More Dream".

On June 14, BTS took part in the Bridge to Korea festival in Russia, an event that aimed to promote tourism between the two countries. There, they became judges of a K-pop cover dance competition and later performed on stage in front of 10,000 spectators. The group also attended KCON in Los Angeles alongside Girls' Generation and other artists on August 10, 2014.

On August 19, BTS released the music video for their comeback single "Danger" from their first full album, Dark & Wild, which sold over 109,098 copies. They made a comeback with "War of Hormone (호르몬 전쟁)", a track from Dark & Wild. Its music video was released on October 21, 2014.