Hey! Hallie here!
Yes, this is coming after Taehyung celebrated his birthday in Korea as well as after we celebrated it here in the US, but really, Taehyung owns pretty much the whole latter half of December. So, Happy Birthday Taehyung! Taehyung has been my bias wrecker for quite a while now and the amount of times he both comforts and inspires me is sometimes surprising. Taehyung can seem both very silly and very intimidating at the same time, and yet he’s also very wise and genuine. He has this amazing mix of traits that’s unique and easy to get drawn in by. As it’s the end of the year 2021, I though I would use this post to look back at some of my favorite Taehyung moments that occurred this year to highlight all of those things we love about him. Let’s get started!
“Tata Mic”:
There was no way I was going to skip over this one. “Tata Mic” is perhaps the main quote from Taehyung that ARMY is determined to take into 2022. Half the signs I saw at the ‘Permission to Dance’ concert had this painted on them. For context, we saw this adorable statement in the behind the scenes for BTS’s 2021 FESTA photoshoot. During rest periods on site at the photoshoot, the staff decided to give the members the opportunity to win prizes. The prizes were left to the side of the room, but the only way for the members to get these prizes was to randomly draw slips of paper with the prizes written on them. When Taehyung and Hoseok (J-Hope) were sent up to win some prizes, Hobi was satisfied to play by the rules. Taehyung, on the other hand, was unhappy with his draws. So he went to scope out the prizes available, drew another slip of paper, and told the staff it read “Tata Mic”. Not only was this said in the most adorable voice ever, but his cute head tilt betrayed his ruse. The skeptical staff asked for the slip of paper to confirm that it said “Tata Mic”, only for Tae to promptly shove the piece of paper in his mouth. The whole situation was made even funnier by Hobi having already fairly won his own Mang microphone, which Tae was not-so-subtly staring at. Eventually the staff gave in and very nicely gifted Tae his “Tata Mic”. And thus, the adorably horrible liar and his request for a cute microphone was made into a widely spread meme. As was the only right thing to do.
Peakboy’s “GYOPO HAIRSTYLE”:
This music video included multiple celebrity cameos from Peakboy’s friends, but certainly one of the best was Taehyung’s cameo in the video. Taehyung was dressed in a gorgeously vibrant purple suit with a black bowtie and slicked back hair to play the part of the butler. In the video he gets a glorious reveal, where we first only see his legs as he ascends a flight of stairs before the camera focuses on him as he emerges onto the balcony. He uses the vibrant blue cocktail in his hand to toast the camera, recreating the famous ‘The Great Gatsby’ meme. He then hands it to Peakboy and makes a hilarious and cute annoyed expression when Peakboy shakes the content out of the glass. It’s a small cameo, but it’s also a really fun one.
Tae and Beards:
If you had told me last year that Tae would make a huge impression this year by sporting a fake beard on not one occasion, but two separate occasions, I would not have believed you. And yet here we are. The first occurred during the 2021 MUSTER ‘SOWOOZOO’ concert. This concert had many incredible moments, but one of the best moments occurred during the first concert day when the members surprised us with an OT7 performance of “Daechwita”. Taehyung, who has often expressed his desire to be part of the rap line, excellently performed his rap verse while wearing a fake beard. He was even tied up moments before to be “executed” by Namjoon while Namjoon completed his verse. I can’t tell you how hard I laughed when I first saw it, but honestly, I appreciate how willing to be out there he is just to get a laugh. Although, his raised eyebrow throughout his verse was very intimidating. The next occasion occurred during episode 145 of ‘Run BTS!’. This episodes was one of three parts in the “BTS Village” series, in which the members are each given a character or role and are dropped into an immersive area in order to decide whom among them are spies. Taehyung was given a warrior character, which he decided must come complete with a beard. And he proceeded to play the character to its fullest extent. He spoke in a deep voice, gave the staff following him new names so they could play the role of his servants, and requested the staff announce his entrance whenever he arrived to discuss clues with the other members. He even sacrificed himself to help Jungkook escape from the staff dressed as the royal army. Unfortunately, the beard fell off so many times that he asked Jimin to take it off for him. But that was no concern of Tae’s, who spent a good portion of the rest of his time rousing up the suspicions of other members by simply petting a cat. Poor Tae.
Solo Work:
This year we got a new solo song from Taehyung as part of the soundtrack of a new K-Drama. The K-Drama, ‘Our Beloved Summer’, was fortunate enough to get Tae’s gorgeous vocals in the song “Christmas Tree”. As you would expect from a K-Drama, it’s a cute love song. But more than that, it’s a calming song that feels comforting and nostalgic in a way. Tae has proved his capability of nailing songs like this when he sang “Sweet Night” for ‘Itaewon Class’. It’s one of my favorite songs of his and his deep, soothing voice is perfectly suited for it. This song is no different. His deep notes are just as awe-inducing as his high ones, which he shows off primarily in the chorus for “Christmas Tree”. It all fits incredibly well with the expression in the lyrics of the confusion and wholeness felt when falling in love. It also is sung in both English and Korean, which fit seamlessly together. This is one of my new favorites among his solo songs. Taehyung also gave us a glimpse of a song he was working on years ago that he never finished. He showed ARMYs this song on his Instagram with a video of him driving in a car while singing along to it. It’s another slower song with a very wistful feel to it, and some of the deeper notes in it are intensely satisfying. It’s also another English love song, and I’m beginning to feel that Taehyung is too well suited to love songs. He’s going to kill us all with his romantic lyrics and beautiful voice.
The ‘Permission to Dance’ Concert:
This one is especially important to me because I was able to attend day 4 of this concert. Taehyung was excellent this day. His voice was perfect, he was having tons of fun, and he made us all laugh. This day he didn’t dress up in a ‘Squid Game’ costume, but he did decide to mess up the audience waving their ARMY bombs and yelled at Jimin for being too revealing when his shirt began to droop too far down. He also decided to dance with some of the girls at the back of the stage during a few songs, prompting ARMY to joke about how comfy he was getting back there. Overall he was energetic and so fun to see live. But, as it was the last day of the concert, he was also very emotional. While I was crying during “Mikrokosmos”, I could see that he was too as he looked around the arena and tried to memorize as many faces as possible. No eye was dry during his Ending Ment, where he was too emotional to deliver what he wanted to say in English although he had practiced it. He talked about how difficult it had been for him the last few years and how he had even wondered whether ARMY would still be there by the end of it. But he also expressed how thankful he is for ARMY and how much he looks forward to upcoming concerts now that they’ve finally been able to do an in-person concert. I hope that he gets many, many more experiences interacting with ARMY in the very near future.
There are so many amazing moments I could have mentioned here. This year BTS gave us some incredible content and Taehyung was so notable in all of it. From his continued love of jazz, to his new art style, to all of his outfits in all of the magazine pieces that BTS did this year. My life has been so much brighter since I found BTS and Taehyung along with it. I hope he had an amazing birthday and I hope he has many more down the line. Happy Birthday Taehyung and Happy New Year everyone!
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 