#caribbeanarmy

A short interview with the BTS Caribbean army struggle tweets’ account on Twitter, | 17th October, 2021 -

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1. Hello, would you like to introduce yourself to anyone who maybe reading this? -

Hey, This is Caribbean Armys Struggle Tweets, an acc ran by two female BTS armys.

2. Where did you get the idea to make a ‘Caribbean army struggles’ account? -

When we made this account, struggle tweet accounts were very popular but we never saw any being done for the Caribbean armys so we decided to create one to join in on the fun.

3. What is the purpose of this account? -

The purpose of this account is to find and repost struggles (jokes) made by armys who live in the Caribbean to brighten up our followers' day.

4. What do you expect for people to take from this account? -

We just want you guys to have a moment to smile or laugh when you see our posts, that's all.

5. How do you think Caribbean armys are seen within the BTS fandom? - 

Caribbean armys generally aren't really exposed to the Fandom as a whole, and there may be stigmas around us wherein we come from third world countries BUT we are pretty lit and I hope we can be more recognized.

6. Any last words whilst before you go on to keep on struggling? -

Our final words to end this would be to "keep struggling" but at the same time remember to hydrate, smile and have fun.

Have a laugh about the struggles of being a Caribbean army - [https://mobile.twitter.com/search q=%23strugglesofacaribbeanarmy&src=typeahead_click}

Joshua Regrello is a digital content creator, Musician and a Steel-Pannist. However, within the local K-pop fandom within Trinidad and Tobago he is known for playing requested ‘Steelpan K-pop covers’ via  the social  media app 'TIK TOK’ and another fun fact is that the 'Steelpan’ is widely known to be the national instrument of Trinidad & Tobago. It can also be heard on BTS’, J-hope’s, 'Hopeworld’ mixtape from the song called ‘P.O.P. pt1.’ also known as 'Pop of peace’.

On the podcast 'All things artsy Caribbean alike’ Regrello, shares as both a steel-pannist and musician he is inspired by every artist out there. However, in regards to K-pop, he said when he discovered it, he was quite amazed even though not being completely knowledgeable about the industry itself. He described the music videos as a whole other world.

Regrello, notes that when preparing for song covers he either learns it by ear or by melody. He recognizes it can either be easy to learn rather difficult to learn in terms of the style of the music. For example, he cites Indian songs are rather hard to learn thus not being familiar to listening to it. But also clarifies that the vocals or instruments have slides in it and describes that one note can either have fifteen slides in it which can be rather hard to play on the steel pan.

Regrello, further cited that some of the K-pop covers were sorta of difficult for him to learn, he shares that 'Likey’ by K-pop girl group Twice was a difficult for him to learn in terms of the structure of the song and was not something that he was familiar with.

Furthermore, he touches on being touched by the BTS Army with his cover of BTS’s first English single called 'Dynamite’ and describes it being his best received Tweet on Twitter. 

Sourced; Dynamite Cover posted on Twitter by Joshua Regrello -

[https://twitter.com/JoshuaRegrello/status/1304971108647677952?s=20]

He highlights when he makes covers he usually shares it based on the fan base groups online of that particular artist's song he is covering.

He also recalls the day, when he shared his 'Dynamite steelpan cover' describing that after a day or two that the video gained traction. He noted that he was quite amazed that people liked the cover so much that they were promoting it so well as well sharing it around multiple times within both their respectable fan spaces and personal accounts.

He highlighted it was such an amazing thing to see as well as being impressed with the local ‘BTS ARMY’ fan pages supporting the video as well.

If you would like to listen to the [FULL] segment in regards with Joshua’s digital content creating, his start up on playing the Steel pan as well as going back to the day where he recalls being touched by the BTS Army. -

Podcast segment with Joshua Regrello -

[ - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SMLIp9XrZhBPNVLONLH7L?si=8h7aNtrTQ9CxZO5DJNFUyw&dl_branch=1]

Also, a cool and fun fact about Joshua is that he is also known for his 'samples in soca' videos on Tik Tok as well as on Twitter, it was also picked up by the local television channel known as 'CNC 3'.  

If you don’t know it, Soca is a genre of music from Trinidad & Tobago invented in the 1970s by Lord Shorty who said it was a way to bring both African and East Indians together describing it as a ‘Dougla Riddim’ 

So what is K- pop, firstly it is also known as Korean pop which compromises as a genre of popular music in South Korea which began in the year of 1992 with Seo Taji and boys.

K-pop is described as industry catering for all elements of music entertainment  which includes not only solely the music itself but also from the fashion, the beauty, the sharp cutting in-sync dance moves, an intriguing and well executed storyline to follow along with its well-crafted visually pleasing aesthetically cinematic music videos that attracts many afar, near, close and wide. It is known that K-pop acts are scouted by music agencies from a young age and are trained.

According to the 2019 aritcle in the ‘Economic India Times’ in terms of K-pop that Korean entertainment companies are not afraid to make blunders which has allow them to help implement multiple experiments with various kinds of genres of products to continue to fuel the creative arts. For example: they will incorporate various genres together into one song.

However, specifically there isn’t an ideal exact date when K-pop came to the shores of the Caribbean, but rather by the help of technology, word of mouth or someone who has visited South Korea. Or, given to the fact that the Caribbean is embedded richly with history and culture maybe there is a direct ancestral connection somewhere there.

Who is BTS? - known by their popular acronym ‘BTS’ overseas, they are Bangtan Sonyeondan [방탄소년단], a seventh member super group hailing from South Korea. The members consist of RM, Jin, Suga, J-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook that began formation in 2010 and debuted in 2013. Originally they started as a hip hop group but further down the years they began experimenting other styles and genres of music such as Hip- Hop, Trap, Disco Pop, EDM, Rock, Jazz, R&B, Reggae, Classical along with its traditional Korean music and so on. 

They were rather from a small entertainment company known as ‘Big Hit Entertainment’ company which rebranded in 2021 to ‘Big Hit Music’ by its parent company now known as ‘Hybe Labels’. The founder of the company, Bang Shi-Hyuk also known as ‘Hit Man Bang’ had a rather specific vision for a group that would make an impact and a difference within the Korean music industry, followed by a motto 'Music and Artists for Healing', which appeared on every BTS music video as intros from [2015 to 2020].

With this vision it expressed a key importance of true storytelling without being afraid to address topics that may be controversial. However with BTS’ catalogue of music they touched on a variety of topics with the likes of South Korea’s youth; the educational system, class struggles and generational conflict within South Korea, mental illness, learning to love one’s self and feminism just to name a few.

To also dive in a little bit more on their lyrical themes and music videos it draws references from Literature, Greek mythology, Psychology and Pop Culture along with an alternative universe storyline that makes fans just fish-hooked for more.

The Caribbean also known as the West Indies is swarmed by a colonial past stemming from; indigenous populations, indentured labour, slavery and ruling colonial high powered nations. 

So you can call the ‘BTS Caribbean ARMY’ either Caribbean ARMY which is more frequently used by Caribbean ARMYs themselves than ‘West Indian ARMY’ which is not always really frequently used.

To find the Caribbean on a worldwide map it is located at the southeast, Gulf of Mexico to the North American mainland to the east of Central America, and to the north of South America. Many of the Caribbean islands can be put into two larger groups such as the Greater Antilles of the north, and the Lesser Antilles in the southeast. The Greater and Lesser Antilles, together with the Lucayan Archipelago, make up an island region sometimes called the West Indies.

Languages spoken in the Caribbean are based on the region such as the Spanish speaking Caribbean such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The French speaking Caribbean such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and Haiti. The Dutch speaking Caribbean such as Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The English speaking Caribbean such as Anguilla, Antigua & Barmuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bahamas, Montserrat, US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Cayman Islands, Guyana and the British Virgin Islands.  

Figure 1, shows a highlighted satellite map of the Caribbean, image via Google