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BTS makes an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” with American actress Emma Stone.

Some questions are truly difficult to answer. Here’s one such poser: “Where should I start if I want to discover BTS?”

It’s like asking someone to recommend just a small handful of the world’s best restaurants — a number that continues growing at this very moment — without regard for the genre of cuisine.

Examples of BTS-related content now number in the hundreds of millions. Like an expanding universe, they just keep growing.

The reason I use the “universe” analogy is because the key BTS content is being produced on a platform titled “Weverse,” a name that combines “we” with “universe.” With tens of millions of active subscribers, tens of millions of new pieces of content are emerging every month like new stars in that universe.

For this column, I’ll be recommending beginner’s videos for ordinary readers, as opposed to the people involved in active fan base activities on Weverse. I actually really envy the people who have yet to take that first BTS dive — the same way that you enjoy a friend with pockets full of still-unwrapped treats.

BTS perform at the 2018 Billboard Music Award.

To start with, I recommend listening to all the lead singles and watching the associated music videos. The easiest way to do that is to watch the videos while you read “BTS” search results on Namuwiki, an online encyclopedia that is open for anyone to edit.

Once you’ve taken in the Namuwiki explanation and the videos for the big hits, the next step is to watch some movies. The 2018 release “Burn the Stage” documents BTS’ development, while the 2019 film “Love Yourself” shows a Seoul performance from the group’s tour of 20 world cities.

“Bring the Soul,” a documentary released the same year, offers an essential guide for gaining a deeper understanding of BTS. There’s also a documentary series bearing the same name.

Finally, the film “Break the Silence” captures the history of BTS’ global conquest through a tour of stadiums with capacities in the tens of thousands in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Sao Paulo, London, Paris and Osaka.

The group’s awards show performances are also must-sees. They’ve won so many awards that it’s hard to single any of them out. But if I have to, there are three I would name: I recommend watching the “DNA” performance from the 2017 Billboard Music Awards — capturing the historic moment when BTS landed in the US — followed by the “Fake Love” performance at the 2018 event.

After naming some of the world’s greatest pop stars, emcee Kelly Clarkson called on BTS, unleashing a roar of applause that filled the arena and stunned the stars who were present. It’s a moment that never fails to send a chill down my spine.

I’d also recommend the performance of “Idol” at the Melon Music Awards in 2018. How could that concert be explained in words? I don’t want to cheapen its impact with trite phrases about “a meeting of East and West” or “harmonizing tradition and innovation.”

In terms of television, BTS has appeared on all the major talk shows in Korea and the US, which is the center of the pop industry, so you have plenty of options.

BTS’ web serie “Run BTS”

My recommendation would be the 2019 episode of SNL in which Emma Stone, herself a member of BTS’ Army fanbase, can’t keep her emotions under control. The teaser shows this celebrity so excited about meeting BTS in person that she’s about to burst into tears. I’m very fond of that teaser, along with the full episode and related videos.

A must-see video is BTS’ cover of the Coldplay classic “Fix You” during an episode of MTV Unplugged. There’s a thrilling moment in the second half of the performance when BTS member Jin (Kim Seok-jin) jumps into a high register. You might call it catharsis for the 21st century.

Each of the BTS members has such distinct personalities that every appearance on entertainment shows leaves the audience in stitches. But I’d urge you to check out the videos in “Run BTS,” a show produced by the group.

For better or worse (mostly better!), there’s way too much BTS media for me to mention all of it in this article. If any readers have a list of must-see BTS media, please share it in the comments.

While writing this article, I heard the news that BTS’ new single “Butter” ranked first on the Billboard “Hot 100” singles chart for the fourth week in a row.

It seems like every move that BTS makes nowadays is being recorded. Despite all the records they’ve set and the things they’ve accomplished, they don’t show any signs of stopping.

The blood, sweat, and tears they’ve poured into their amazing body of work makes me wish they’d take things a little slower. But maybe that’s just because I’m a middle-aged fan.

I’d like to wrap up the final installment of this four-part summer series with this abridgment of the lyrics of “Not Today,” the BTS song that I self-medicate on whenever I get worn out.

“Someday the flowers will fall but not today / Today is too good a day to die / Throw away the fear and break through the glass ceiling / Run if you can’t fly, walk if you can’t run, crawl if you can’t walk / Believe that we’re together, believe in BTS / Aim your gun and fire!”

By Lee Jae-ik, radio producer at SBS

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