Ann Liu has loved K-pop for nearly two decades, growing up with the genre before she was a small-business owner and a mom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Liu said her love for K-pop shifted after seeing the debut of BTS. Their music wasn\u2019t like most K-pop groups. The band touched on mental health struggles, injustice and loving oneself through struggles. The beats that supported their lyrics gave off a hip-hop sound, rather than a regular pop anthem, and mixed English into the tracks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though it\u2019s a completely different language that no one really understands, there\u2019s that connection,\u201d Liu said. \u201cEveryone kind of relates to what BTS\u2019s message is in terms of mental health and love and all sorts of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relatable nature of the K-pop group brought thousands worldwide to Arlington on Aug. 15 and 16, turning AT&T Stadium and the Entertainment District into a swarm of BTS fans \u2014 or ARMY, as they call themselves.<\/p>\n
![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_BTSArlington-3-1024x683.jpg\")
Alianys Esparra, left, and Carelisse Nieves, BTS fans from Puerto Rico, wear keychains housing their bias Jin and Jimin for the BTS World Tour Arirang on Aug. 15, 2026, in Arlington. A bias is a fan\u2019s favorite member in a group. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_BTSArlington-9-1024x683.jpg\")
Allison Dumas, a BTS fan from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, trades freebies with Thalia Lira from Jasper, Texas, during the \u201cInto the Boraverse\u201d event ahead of the BTS World Tour Arirang on Aug. 15, 2026, in Arlington. Dumas created over 200 keychains with a 3D-printed BTS logo to give away. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
With all group members having completed their mandatory South Korean military service, fans were more than prepared to reunite with the internationally beloved group, and with each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What are freebies?<\/strong><\/p>\n Fans who have never attended a K-pop concert may find it surprising if other fans walk up to hand off a gift. Don\u2019t worry, there is no need to pay for these small gifts or even give anything in exchange \u2014 hence the \u201cfreebies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ann Liu, the owner of Little Lilly Sushi and a lifelong BTS fan, describes freebie swaps as \u201cadult trick-or-treating.\u201d She said the tradition, which initially began in Korea, allows fans to connect through a small gesture. Fans may not be able to buy merchandise or even attend the show, but they can still be part of the concert experience through freebie meetups so they won\u2019t go home empty-handed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou give it to other fans to be like, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re kind of in this together,\u2019 and share the love,\u201d Liu said. \u201cSimilar to Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras Tour, when (fans) started handing out the friendship bracelets; it\u2019s pretty much the same thing as that, except the K-pop fans go a little bit crazier.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Freebies can be anything from small photo cards featuring a member of the K-pop group to intricate charms, stickers, keychains or a concert supply kit with earplugs or breath mints.<\/p>\n Fans wrapped around Choctaw Stadium to purchase early BTS merchandise before the show in 100-degree weather, carrying umbrellas and small fans as the sun beat down on them. Others posed at photo ops scattered around the stadium or made their way to the Texas Live! \u201cInto the Boraverse\u201d event.<\/p>\n There, Rocio Villegas, co-host and owner of Owl Craft Events, quickly passed out handmade freebies of 3D-printed photocards and lenticular cupsleeves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Villegas organized the \u201cInto the Boraverse\u201d event with her friends from Dead Hook Designs and Bangtan Beads, whom she connected with because of their mutual BTS admiration.<\/p>\n The small-business owner said she discovered BTS during a difficult time in her life after her mother had died. The band\u2019s music, paired with the community that BTS fans built, made Villegas want to connect with others who needed support.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI only had my two friends who liked BTS, and I was like, no, like there\u2019s got to be more ARMY,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cOnce you translate the lyrics, they really do speak to people. There are a lot of ARMY who have been helped because of those lyrics. The songs are so upbeat. \u2026 It just gives you that serotonin you need to feel better about the day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For Stephen Faught and his family, their K-pop love stretches generations. His wife, Brittany, smiled as daughter Olivia busted out the choreographed number of the BTS song \u201c2.0.\u201d His mom, Dody Faught, 71, and youngest daughter, Leia, cheered on 10-year-old Olivia behind the camera. All five Faughts wore matching white T-shirts with the song name \u201cSwim\u201d inscribed in cursive blue letters.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Stephen\u2019s father died, he said his mother coped with the loss of her husband of 40 years through K-pop. She stumbled upon BTS during the pandemic and quickly looped the rest of the family into her newest obsession.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s got a really deep connection with it. She calls herself Silver ARMY, even though she\u2019s young at heart,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how much she knows about BTS; she got us all into it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Olivia and Leia said they didn\u2019t hesitate to lean into their \u201cNana\u2019s\u201d adoration for the group. Six-year-old Leia memorized fan chants to prepare for the show, and Olivia was able to mix her love of dance with the music, learning the choreography for her favorite songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christina Jarvis and Lorrie Elizarraraz walked toward the Texas Live! event, smiling widely as they stopped to take photos or to swap freebies.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two wore matching beige straw sun hats, with a large drawing of bees attached to the top, bright red shirts with \u201cNew Hunny\u201d printed on the front and their bias\u2019 name printed in big yellow letters on the back. They sported a large cylindrical skirt made of a burlap material, meant to resemble a honey pot, hoisted up by yellow overall straps. The two were inspired by a lyric in the song \u201c2.0,\u201d in which the group sings the words \u201cnew honey,\u201d and decided to do a literal interpretation of the lyric.\u00a0<\/p>\n What is a “bias” and a “bias wrecker” ?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have ever been a fan of a boy or girl band, you definitely have a favorite member. Maybe it was Harry Styles from One Direction, or Scary Spice from the Spice Girls; you definitely were \u201cbias\u201ded about one member.\u00a0<\/p>\n K-pop fans refer to their favorite members as their \u201cbias,\u201d and typically show up to their concerts repping their favorite member and eager to see them perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, some fans have what they call a \u201cbias wrecker,\u201d meaning the one person in the group that didn\u2019t make the cut as their bias, but is close to \u201cwrecking,\u201d or infiltrating that number one spot.<\/p>\n \u201cJungkook is definitely my bias, but I think V is my wrecker. \u2026 I\u2019ve been getting wrecked lately,\u201d BTS fan Jordan Allen said, breaking into a laugh with her friend, Haley Mercadel. \u201cThey\u2019re like up there, but they\u2019re not like up, up there, you know? But they could take that spot at any given moment,\u201d Mercadel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jarvis and Elizarraraz met while attending BTS member J-Hope\u2019s solo tour, \u201cHope On The Stage,\u201d in San Antonio in 2025, and have been close since. The two shared that the fan connection and kindness are what they feel helps ARMY stand out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone\u2019s having a hard time, we support them. If they\u2019re having a great time, we celebrate them,\u201d Jarvis said. \u201cShe retired from the Air Force after 29 years of service, and I got to watch it virtually. I was on camera, and I had made a (heart) sign, and I said \u2018Borahae!\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Waiting in line along Choctaw Stadium, BTS fans Haley Mercadel and Jordan Allen watched as others walked by in different outfits. The two said that besides seeing their \u201cbias\u201d perform onstage, they were most looking forward to seeing fan outfits, something for which they know ARMY goes all out. <\/p>\n The two friends wore matching \u201cDebut BTS\u201d outfits, in black shorts and a jersey with their bias\u2019 name printed on the back.<\/p>\n \u201cEven between us two, we pretty much have the same outfit on, but it\u2019s different ways of interpreting the outfit,\u201d Allen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The friends drove six hours from Louisiana to experience the show for both days, and fought tooth and nail to get tickets. They shared that because BTS\u2019s lyrics touch on struggles as well as celebrations, they felt it allows for the fan base to expand to nearly everyone and create a space for people to connect on shared experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I\u2019m a fan of more Western artists, Beyonc\u00e9, Rihanna, and all of those. But I just think it\u2019s something more special about just being in a fandom where everybody is just accepted,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThere\u2019s not really a standard when it comes down to an ARMY. That’s something that I really do appreciate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/08\/17\/bts-army-marches-by-the-thousands-to-take-over-att-stadium-for-concert\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Arlington Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=735621&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/08\/17\/bts-army-marches-by-the-thousands-to-take-over-att-stadium-for-concert\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Bianca Rodriguez-Mora, Arlington Report August 17, 2026 Ann Liu has loved K-pop for nearly two decades, growing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1008003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5138],"tags":[11765,5229,7948,7371,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1008002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-arlingtonreport","tag-america","tag-arlington","tag-fort-worth","tag-fortworth","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117114869724155940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1008002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1008003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1008002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1008002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1008002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_BTSArlington-6-1024x683.jpg\")
Rocio Villegas, owner of Owl Craft Events, hands out freebies during her \u201cInto the Boraverse\u201d event at Texas Live! ahead of the BTS World Tour Arirang on Aug. 15, 2026, in Arlington. Freebies included a holographic reusable cupsleeve and 3D-printed card. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_BTSArlington-13-683x1024.jpg\")
From left: Slidell, Louisiana, residents Stephen Faught, Olivia Faught, Leia Faught, Brittany Faught and Dody Faught wear matching \u201cSwim\u201d shirts during the \u201cInto the Boraverse\u201d event ahead of the BTS World Tour Arirang on Aug. 15, 2026, in Arlington. Dody found BTS after losing her husband in 2019, giving her something to connect with. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report) <\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_BTSArlington-1-1024x683.jpg\")
BTS fans Christina Jarvis from Austin, left, and Lorrie Elizarraraz from Decatur, dress up as \u201cNew Hunny\u201d pots for the BTS World Tour Arirang on Aug. 15, 2026, in Arlington. The costumes are references to BTS lyrics. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_BTSArlington-2-1024x683.jpg\")
BTS fans Haley Mercadal from New Orleans, Louisiana, left, and Jordan Allen from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, dress up inspired by BTS\u2019s debut era for the World Tour Arirang on Aug. 15, 2026, in Arlington. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report) <\/p>\n