By Honorary Reporter Alaa Atef Ebada from Egypt
Photos = Liam McEwan's official Instagram account

To mark the 10th anniversary of the debut of K-pop sensation BTS, I held an email interview on June 3 with Liam McEwan, a New Zealand entertainment reporter and host based in Los Angeles known for interviewing celebrities, especially the K-pop boy band.

Liam McEwan (center) on May 22, 2017, poses for a photo with BTS backstage at the Billboard Music Awards (BMA) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas; the group won its first BMA at the event.

Liam McEwan, a BTS fan said the group changed his life and improved his professional skills. He started working in radio in New Zealand at age 13 and became a huge fan of BTS after meeting its members in 2017. He has held nearly annual meetings with the members whenever they visit the U.S. or release a new song, and has also interviewed other K-pop acts and covered them in America such as TXT, Enhypen, Got7, P1Harmony and GFriend.

"I knew about the existence of K-pop as a music genre, but I didn't have the opportunity to do a deep dive into K-pop as a culture and art before meeting BTS," he said.

On how he became a BTS fan, he said, "In 2017, BTS' media team about reached out to me about interviewing the band at the Billboard Music Awards; it was their first big U.S. awards show. I hadn't heard of them at the time, but they really interested me, so I took the interview on happily and soon after became a fan."

"A few days later, I had another interview set up with them at their Airbnb. For that one, I had time to research and do a deep dive into their career thus far. I was instantly fascinated."

Liam McEwan in November 2021 attends BTS' concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles as part of the group's "Permission to Dance" tour.

Recalling his interviews with BTS over the last five years, he said, "I'd say our 2018 interview for the 'Love Yourself: Tear' album is my favorite interview with celebrities. It was personally one of my favorite eras from the group as a fan, and they were riding high off their well-deserved growing success in the USA. I think the energy can be felt in the interview clearly."

"BTS -- they are great guys. In the over five years that I've known them, they have remained the same guys no matter how famous and successful they have become. That is one of the things I really admire about them, their humility."

On his popularity among BTS fans, McEwen said being a fan helped him conduct better interviews with the group because he knows what fans want to know. "It's an honor. I think it's because I'm a fan myself. I'm able to find that middle ground between an informative interview for new fans as well as a well-informed interview for long-term fans," he added.

"I've never been to Korea, though I would love to soon. Through my work, I've been lucky to make a lot of friends that work in the industry over there. I've also got a lot of friends who are K-pop fans, and they've introduced me to Korean foods and further culture that I loved."

This collage of photos shows Liam McEwan's meetings with BTS since 2017.

msjeon22@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things.