The whole #BTSisNOTkpop line has been thrown around a lot recently. So is BTS K-Pop or not? I think to answer this, you have to consider what K-Pop actually is--- and what it is not. https://twitter.com/armyssstruggIes/status/1310443830190186496

It has been argued that pop music is really an industry rather than a genre. You can see especially with K-Pop, the industry has a very methodical way of manufacturing and marketing idol groups, but the music that comes from these artists is genre-fluid.

If you accept that K-pop is an industry with a consistent and predictable business model, then BTS fits into that industry definition.

Important to note that K-Pop has had this image of mostly trying to copy Western music. So when BTS got huge in the West, suddenly, ppl felt the need to say they somehow transcended K-Pop.

The root of "BTS isn't K-Pop" is the historical condescension of the West towards K-Pop.

Reminder that Korean pop music has roots in American imperialism- poor musicians in a country devastated by war trying to make a living playing for US troops stationed nearby. The occupation of the US has had a huge influence economically and culturally, for decades.