I completely agree. Every artist has been inspired and shaped by the artists who came before them. There would be no BTS without BIGBANG. There would be no BIGBANG without the groups who came before them. Its a collective effort, so many groups have contributed to the success of KPop and people should acknowledge that.

BTS may be having incredible success but without the artists that came before them it wouldnt have been possible.

When folks say this generation's K-pop Artists have "paved the way" for K-Pop, it also sort of feels like us K-Pop fans who have been around for several generations of K-Pop have been forgotten too. Does anyone remember the old days when finding English subtitles or translations to Korean songs was impossible? We managed, but we worked really HARD to provide/get them.

Also difficult was trying to get YouTube and other Western entities to take K-Pop even seriously. We were the generation who literally invented "streaming parties." We helped Korean artists get their albums on iTunes--serving as the conduit by which iTunes became aware there was a "market" for K-Pop albums on their platform. At one point, I remember contacting iTunes when they released a K-Pop album too soon, because they got the time zone wrong. LOL.

We had some HUGE fights on our hands back in the day all over the place. You think it takes a long time to get an album from Korea these days? Oh boy. We were just excited to be able to FIND them and be able to BUY. We didn't care HOW LONG it took to get them. Period.

I could go on and on, but when you say that someone "paved the way," that means they started with "dirt" roads and actually "paved" them. That's what "paved the way" literally means. I beg you, just please don't forget about us "old" K-Pop fans either. We worked hard in so many ways--I just can't...