If you’re an ARMY, the questions of how BTS members were discovered and how BTS was formed likely crossed your mind. Well, like the great bands before them, their story is a mix of the conventional and unconventional. BTS debuted in 2013 with their first-ever single, “No More Dream.” Since then, BTS members—RM, Jungkook, Jimin, V, Suga, Jin and J-Hope—have become household names among K-pop fans everywhere.

With celebrity fans like Shawn Mendes, Tyra Banks and Charlie Puth, BTS has become one of the biggest and most well-known acts in K-pop history. But BTS wasn’t always BTS. About a decade ago, BTS members were just seven, normal South Korean guys with dreams of pop stardom. Then came Big Hit Entertainment, and their lives changed forever. As ARMYs know, 2020 was a milestone year for the band.

After the release of their first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, “Dynamite,” in August 2020, BTS followed their success with two more number-one hits: “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” with Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo and “Life Goes On” from their November 2020 album, BE. The boy band was also nominated for their first-ever Grammy at the 2021 award show in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for “Dynamite.” So how was BTS formed into the band we know today?