Bruno Mars K-Pop timeline had a BTS-sized gap, and fans weren’t letting it slide
Bruno Mars has never been a stranger to bold creative statements, but his latest comments on K-pop have detonated a full-blown fandom clash. In a new interview, the superstar praised Blackpink’s Rosé and her record-breaking hit ‘APT’, calling it something he had “never seen before.” But a single comparison—linking ‘APT.’ only to the cultural shockwave of Gangnam Style—ignited fury among ARMY, who felt that Mars had glossed over, if not outright erased, a decade of BTS’ global impact.
The quote that set everything off: “No one says it, but I feel like Rosie is the first time we’ve seen this. The last time we’ve seen something to this effect was ‘Gangnam Style.’” Mars went on to describe PSY’s 2012 juggernaut as a watershed moment, praising its Korean-language dominance and its global sweep. Then, turning to Rosé, he added, “With ‘APT.,’ I’ve never seen this before… Rosie is this Korean girl that introduced this thing to people who don’t know about it, including myself,” he told Billboard.
ARMY hits back
Within hours, ‘Bruno Mars’ was trending for all the wrong reasons.
One fan wrote: “Bruno Mars acting like he did something for K-pop while constantly discrediting BTS… he’s so wrong for trying to erase BTS’ impact on the industry.”
Another pointed out the contradiction: “His partner in music even played with BTS in Yet to Come live. BTS were on Billboard multiple times, even at No. 1 many times. Bruno Mars, are you serious?”
The argument was simple: Even if Mars intended to praise Rosé, bypassing BTS’ unprecedented American chart presence felt dismissive. The group’s historic run—nine No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, multiple No. 1 albums, sold-out stadium tours, UN appearances, and a Grammy nomination—cannot be neatly skipped over in a sentence equating 2012 and 2024 as the only major global K-pop breakouts.
Others, however, urged calm. “Blocking Bruno Mars because he praised someone he’s working with and is friends with? Please go outside and meet people,” one user wrote. Another added that Mars was clearly crediting Rosé’s artistry, noting, “He keeps saying it’s Rosie’s voice, her vision… he gives credit where it’s due.”
But why the sensitivity?
To understand the backlash, it’s crucial to remember the scale of BTS’ rise.
Across their 12-year career, BTS had shattered every expectation for non-English pop acts in the U.S. and worldwide. Their achievements include:
Billboard and Global Chart milestones
- Nine No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, more than any K-pop act in history.
- Multiple No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, including Map of the Soul: 7 and BE.
- The first K-pop act to debut a single at No. 1 on the Hot 100 (Dynamite), followed by Life Goes On, Butter, and Permission to Dance.
Industry recognition
- BTS became the first Korean act to receive a Grammy nomination in a major category, nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
- TIME’s Entertainer of the Year and multiple American Music Award Artist of the Year wins.
Cultural impact
- Sold-out global stadium tours, including multiple U.S. stadiums rarely booked by international acts.
- Speeches at the United Nations, partnerships with UNICEF, and global ambassadorship roles.
- A fanbase-driven grassroots rise that redefined what international pop success could look like.
To many ARMY, hearing Mars imply that global K-pop penetration jumped straight from Gangnam Style to Rosé felt like an erasure of all this—you cannot tell the story of Korean music’s global ascent without mentioning BTS.
The APT phenomenon
None of this, however, takes away from the fact that Rosé’s “APT.” is a legitimate landmark.
Released in October 2024, the Bruno Mars-produced single exploded into a full-scale global sensation. By early 2025, the song’s list of accomplishments was staggering:
Record-breaking achievements
- The first No. 1 by a K-pop act on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart.
- An extraordinary 19-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
- A dominant year-end performer, topping both the Global Excl. U.S. and Global 200 year-end charts.
- Nearly 4.9 billion official on-demand global streams (Luminate, as of Nov. 27, 2025).
- Song of the Year at the 2025 MTV VMAs — the first time a K-pop act has won the award.
- Three Grammy nominations, including Record and Song of the Year, making Rosé the first lead K-pop artist to enter the Grammys’ main six categories.
How it compares to Gangnam Style
PSY’s “Gangnam Style” remains a cultural lightning bolt:
- It became the first video in history to reach 1 billion views on YouTube in 2012.
- It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for seven weeks.
- It introduced millions outside Asia to Korean pop culture, setting the stage for the global industry of today.
Bruno Mars’ comparison wasn’t about genre dominance but about witnessing lightning in a bottle: a Korean-language, culturally specific work becoming a global soundtrack.
So was Bruno erasing BTS—or just speaking narrowly?
The debate hinges on interpretation. Mars was clearly speaking about his personal experience of discovering Rosé’s work and the magic of watching audiences react to APT in real time. He was not giving a historical lecture on 12 years of K-pop milestones.
But the frustration is valid. When someone of Mars’ stature frames the arc of Korean pop’s global rise as “Gangnam Style — and now Rosé,” it inadvertently sidelines BTS, the group that transformed the industry’s global perception more than any act before them.
For fans, it wasn’t malice; it was omission. And omission stings.
A story bigger than one quote
In reality, the success of K-pop is not a single straight line.
It is PSY’s viral spark.
It is BTS’ decade-long triumph.
And now, it is Rosé’s unprecedented solo triumph making history on its own terms.
APT is a major moment in K-pop history—one that deserves celebration.
But so does the path paved by the artists who came before, especially BTS, whose presence reshaped the global music landscape and made Rosé’s success not just possible, but inevitable. Bruno Mars may have touched a nerve, but the bigger story is this: K-pop isn’t defined by one breakthrough every decade. It thrives because each new milestone stands on the foundation of the last.
And right now, that story is still being written.