--- title: Tyra Banks Struck a Pose with BTS and Outed Herself as a Fan description: The 'America's Next Top Model' creator teamed up with the K-pop superstars of BTS to strike a memorable pose at the Billboard Music Awards. canonical: https://time.com/5285984/tyra-banks-bts-bbmas/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-21T19:59:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:16.612Z og:title: Tyra Banks Struck a Pose with BTS and Outed Herself as a Fan og:description: Meeting the famous K-pop group is "better than smizing," according to Banks og:url: https://time.com/5285984/tyra-banks-bts-bbmas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef123be8c55f9f7c/698931047cdbac5197d5ceed/tyra-banks-bts-bbmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: 2018 Billboard Music Awards - Backstage og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tyra Banks Struck a Pose with BTS and Outed Herself as a Fan twitter:description: Meeting the famous K-pop group is "better than smizing," according to Banks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef123be8c55f9f7c/698931047cdbac5197d5ceed/tyra-banks-bts-bbmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tyra Banks Struck an Unforgettable Pose with BTS at the Billboard Music Awards > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6cf48a19-d29e-40f1-9f57-23a13176c39f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: K-Pop's Next Act [Watch (HLS stream): K-Pop's Next Act](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2ukAz9Fl.m3u8) (6:04)  _Published 2016-10-31. Riding off the success of Korean pop, artists CL, Dean and Eric Nam have their eyes set on the U.S. music industry_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner May 21, 2018 7:59 PM UTC  Model Tyra Banks with musical group BTS attend the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 20, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Model Tyra Banks with musical group BTS attend the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 20, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Matt Winkelmeyer/BBMA18—Getty Images for dcp  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner May 21, 2018 7:59 PM UTC [_America’s Next Top Model_](http://time.com/4234655/vh1-new-season-top-model-tyra/) creator [Tyra Banks](http://time.com/4699325/tyra-banks-replacing-nick-cannon-americas-got-talent-host/) is famous for her “smize.” But at Sunday night’s 2018 [Billboard Music Awards](http://time.com/5285049/billboard-music-awards-2018-best-worst-moments/) in Las Vegas, Banks met a group of stars who made her rethink her belief in the supremacy of her favorite facial expression. “Meeting BTS is… Better Than Smizing,” she captioned an Instagram video. In the video, the [world-famous K-pop boy band](http://time.com/5241905/time-100-reader-poll-2018-winner/) joins Banks in striking poses full of personality. Clearly, they’re [no strangers](http://time.com/4845531/bts-beyond-the-scene-change/) to hamming it up for the camera. At Sunday night’s show, the popular [group of seven](http://time.com/5181183/j-hope-bts-hope-world-interview/) — who are known for their singing, [rapping](http://time.com/4833807/rap-monster-bts-interview/) and dancing, besides living up to Banks’s standards in posing — took home the award for Top Social Artist (for the [second year](https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/bbma/8457059/bts-best-moments-2018-billboard-music-awards) in a row). They also took to the stage to perform their new single “Fake Love” off of just-released album _Love Yourself: Tear,_ making history as the first K-pop act to perform at the BBMAs_._ Throughout the evening, the BTS fans in the audience and online [went wild](https://twitter.com/RossScarano/status/998356970972237824) for the group, who have developed a loyal following that calls itself the “Army” and has propelled them to global [superstar status](http://time.com/4815217/most-influential-people-internet/item/bts-2/). Banks, meanwhile, was [living it up](http://ew.com/awards/2018/05/20/tyra-banks-billboard-music-awards/) at the show, hanging out with BTS, [Lil Hank Williams](http://time.com/5257399/mason-ramsey-famous-ellen/) (real name: Mason Ramsey) and more, and generally enjoying being a part of the audience on the night that [Janet Jackson](https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/bbma/8456974/billboard-music-awards-2018-recap-kelly-clarkson-janet-jackson-taylor-swift) won a historic Icon Award and Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato joined together for a duet. > [](https://twitter.com/tyrabanks/status/998378550112665600) ## Transcript For the people who don't know who CL is, what is your career, who are you, and what are you doing here? [ MUSIC ] America's introduction to K- Pop was via Psy, Gangnam Style. [ MUSIC ] That was 2012 and since then K- Pop has grown in much more substantial and significant ways. [ MUSIC ] [ UNKNOWN ] Hiphop stars are touring America more than ever where seen the fandalists are a much more substantial in growing. What is it gonna take for an Asian start breakthrough in musically. That's I think the interesting question. [ NOISE ] A dear friend of mine about to make her They fired main hero giving up for. [ MUSIC ] My name is [ UNKNOWN ] and I come from [ UNKNOWN ]. I'm a performer artist, musician. I'm in a band called 2NE1. [ MUSIC ] She's like the Nicki Minaj of that world which is the coolest artist to work with, I think. Right now I'm working on my solo album in America You know sitting on it's own, maybe just the creation process. The first thing that we're actually going to do is pretty simple, is just recite the lyrics to [ UNKNOWN ] The whole thing? I got myself a 40. I got myself a shorty. [ MUSIC ] And she is very [ UNKNOWN ] I didn't see [ UNKNOWN ] doing the right way because she is coming to the right channel so, she is like getting new friends and also developing what is putting around [ UNKNOWN ] record. Do talk shows and then people forget about her she's developing and gaining fans from the ground up. [ MUSIC ] Me coming to US is not that different because To me being creative is expressing myself and i've been doing that for a long time and the only deference would be that i'm singing in English now. [ MUSIC ] There's no Asian artist on a music scene really that is a very small Club that is deciding that is deciding who is in, who's out. Tons of gatekeepers and what not. It's almost easier for an asian star to pick up and leave America and go to Korea where their kind of guaranteed the sort of interest and fame. [ MUSIC ] My names Eric. Eric Nam working based out of Seoul but originally from Atlanta. [ MUSIC ] Growing up in the states you don't have any Asian American or Asian faces doing music here. And so I never thought it was possible and so I always thought to myself I guess I have to go to Korea if I ever want to do music. Photo time. The goal and the dream would be to cross over into the States. That would be the coolest thing, it would be a dream come true. To be able to perform in what I consider to be my first home, in my native language and in front of my friends and family, we're all here. Korea's had its eye on America for a couple of years now, and I think there's been a lot of interesting experiments. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] Dean is so interesting too because I think he's really quick to distance himself from the k pop world. He's Coming up strictly on his own terms and releasing the videos when he wants and you know, getting the right people that will ensure people are talking about him. [ MUSIC ] It isn't just money wise, it's about taking it to that next level and trying to represent something larger. Someone like CL, that's what I think really burns her and really ignites the passion I feel like there's not one pop star. Like, no one female pop star that's representing all the girls that's living out here. I want to represent, you know, Asian girls. To be honest, the challenge is that America is a huge country with many different cultures and many talented artists. [ FOREIGN ] Race kinda just has to drop out of the picture. The music just has to be really good. It has to be something that people want to connect with and dance to and sing along with. An Asian star will be a success when you see everyone copying their route. Cuz all it takes This is what ? >> What I need right now for me to make it here is, it's a matter of time [ LAUGH ]. 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