I am someone who has always had music around me in some form or another, and my taste has always been pretty eclectic.

I live on a small farm in rural South Australia, so ramping up the volume hasn’t been an issue with any neighbours.

COVID-19 Lockdown in 2020 changed a lot of things for many people. For me, I realised sometime after lockdown, I had just stopped listening to music. It wasn’t conscious, it just happened. I also realise now that as a consequence, my emotions were numbed down.

In October last year (2024) I started watching the K-Drama Red Swan, with Rain as the male lead. This led me to searching out Rain as a performer – and good old Facebook algorithms did the rest. A lot of other K-Pop artists and groups then started to appear in my feeds – one of which, of course, was BTS. The first clip I ever saw was Boy With Luv, and this was the start of my interest in all things BTS. BTS brought me back to music.

I have always found with an artist/group, there are a couple of songs that you like, and the rest just don’t do it for you. I haven’t had this experience with BTS. There’s been something about all of their music, that I have heard so far, that has resonated with me on some level or another – and who would have thought at 67 I’d be into Rap??!!

I play BTS music pretty much every day – even if I am out in the paddock, or doing stables at night, my phone is in the back pocket of my jeans streaming BTS. The first time I played BTS music around my horses, we had a bit of a ‘what-the-hell-I’m-outta-here!’ moment, but it’s now part of their routine. I work from home mostly (in HR) and if I find I need a bit of a boost in the afternoon, I put the phone on in the background. My ringtone is Boy With Luv – sometimes when it rings, I let it go just to hear the music🤣.

I have several ‘go to’ songs/clips that I use – for example, if I need a laugh I go to the Otsukare clip, it never ever fails; or one of the Crosswalk clips. If I need an energy lift, I’m spoilt for choice with so many others to choose from. I also seem to have snippets of songs looping in my head most of the time, totally random. There are a few clips I find incredibly emotional – and usually end up in tears – the main one being the 2019 Wembley concert where ARMY sang Young Forever. This would have to be one of the most heartfelt things I’ve ever seen and still affects me just thinking about it.

I love that we have been able to get a glimpse of the guys’ journey behind the scenes, how they interact with each other, staff etc, their travels, antics, messing around, and of course, their concerts and the incredible relationship that exists between BTS and ARMY. It has only been a small glimpse, but I am grateful that I have been able to experience this.

There is so much I admire and respect in these guys. Their humbleness and gratitude towards others, and especially their fans. The talents they individually bring to the group – they are all incredibly talented individually, and when they come together the result is simply mind blowing. And, their dancing and choreography continually amazes me, it is so sharp and on point.

I love they aren’t afraid to show their emotions to the world, and their playfulness and antics towards each other both on/off stage. (I so admire RM as a leader as I am sure, at times in the early days, it was like trying to ‘herd cats’, to coin a phrase!).

But it’s not just about the music, it’s about the social messages they deliver, raising peoples’ awareness about so much, and inspiring change. I am also in awe of their philanthropy – as individuals they all support a number of causes, as well as being some of the first to donate when disasters strike.

I’m excited to see what BTS post military service will look like – they will have gained another level of maturity and life experiences to build on, which I am sure will flow into their music. We are already seeing it with J-Hope and Jin. The next 12 months is going to be amazing and probably be a bit of a roller coaster! I really hope their first concert back together is also virtual so we can all participate and experience their return in real time. Might need a few boxes of tissues!