So they’re Bulletproof Boy Scouts, according to the translation – which sounds pretty American to me.

I should’ve never looked up what BTS stands for back when I first saw them performing live on TV on the last day of 2019 for the New Year’s Eve ball drop. The initials for the über popular South Korean boy band stand for Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts (of course). When I hear them now, I can’t get that descriptor out of my head. Nonetheless, I was impressed by the K-pop septet’s performance, and over a year later, their hit single “Dynamite” still lingers on the charts.

So I’m driving down the road, listening to the old-school FM radio, and this song comes on. At first I thought it sounded like upbeat grocery store music. Then, I listened closer….I was struck by the lyrics because they just…didn’t sound right. Like, they weren’t saying the words quite right or something. Then it hit me! They are not English speakers – they are BTS! (Funniest moment: I thought I heard “Shining through the city with a little f*ckin’ song,” when in reality, it’s “Shining through the city with a little funk and soul.”)

A funny thing happened later: After some time passed by, I heard the song again – same radio station, driving the same car. But this time, I found myself engaged, bopping along with the pop-friendly, head-bobbin’ beat. And that is the secret sauce of “Dynamite”! It’s perfect family-friendly listening; a tonic to the crappy, dark world we’ve been living in these past couple years.

And I love these nonsensical lyrics:

Shoes on, get up in the morn’ / Cup of milk, let’s rock and roll
King Kong, kick the drum, rolling on like a Rolling Stone
Sing song when I’m walking home / Jump up to the top, LeBron
Ding dong, call me on my phone / Ice tea and a game of ping pong

I mean, it makes no sense. It reminds me of watching ’80s action movies from Italy…the ones that aren’t dubbed, but feature actors who know English as a second language. And this isn’t a bad thing – I love it! Reminiscent of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” there’s a throwback, 20th-century happiness to “Dynamite” that makes life worth living when you wake up in the morning. Like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future, it’s a leave-your-worries-behind jam, and because of that, BTS has launched into the stratosphere, becoming the biggest artist of all time in South Korea, and superstars in America and beyond as well.

Peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Dynamite” was initially a standalone single but wound up on their album Be, released in late 2020.

Not bad for a gang of seven Bulletproof Boy Scouts.