I Purple You, holds very deep and powerful connection between ARMY and BTS Thanks to the iconic creation of BTS V.
It’s a norm for fans to show their love for their favorite celebrities by sending them sweet messages, creating beautiful fan art, encouraging their work, and organizing special fan projects. Although BTS ARMY does all these things, they have a special way in which they express their love. They have a phrase that is so unique and lovely. They always found expressing it, in order to show BTS how much they care, love, and appreciate them and it is “I purple you.”
Borahae Meaning
I Purple you in Korean, “Borahae” meaning is basically ARMY’s way of telling, “I love you,”. This phrase is especially regarding the color Purple. This is now synonymous with BTS as it turned out to be a BTS symbol and fandom color unofficially. Amazingly, it wasn’t planned. The meaning behind “I purple you” is so sweet and clarifies why BTS and their ARMY use this phrase so much.
What Does I Purple You Mean?
In the BTS fandom, just take a look at BTS’ social media pages and accounts. Take Twitter as an example, RM, Jin, Suga. J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, and their fans use purple hearts in tweets. Whenever you write the #BTS hashtag, you’ll also notice that a purple logo appears next to the word. Moreover, BTS is the brand endorser of various brands i.e. Starbucks, Samsung, Mcdonalds, and FILA. They have included a large number of violet products to match with the BTS.
You may get the idea of purple was always BTS’ color. But that’s not the case. Actually, the BTS purple color or relation to the color started unintentionally. V, whose full name is Kim Taehyung, was the one who said “Borahae” during BTS’ third muster. It was the BTS annual fan meeting held back in November of 2016. The moment when purple light sparkled the audience, V explained what does I purple you mean.
“Do you know what does color purple means? Purple is the last color of the rainbow colors, so it means I will trust and love you for a long time,”
Other BTS members and ARMY were so impressed. V knew this, but then he admitted that he was just kidding.
“I just made it up,”
Yet, he continued talking about the significance behind the color and it related to his love for fans. V said.
“I wish I can see you for a long time, just like the Borahae means. We’ll always trust you and go up the stairs with you,”
Since then, Army welcomed purple as BTS’ color, and their way of telling BTS how much they love them. It became BTS purple. From that point, it is just BTS color unofficially. Just like the army, BTS also uses this phrase to show their love for ARMY. BTS army always hears BTS members saying the line during their ending speeches at their concerts or during their award show speeches. Every time they say it, the army knows BTS is thanking them for their support and love.
Among all BTS members, V is the one who mostly says this phrase maybe it’s because he is the one to coin the phrase.
In November 2020, fans celebrated the four-year anniversary of this creation. Now that you know the meaning behind it is you can also show BTS some love, too. Lately, BTS’s V opened about the origin of the phrase and historic fan following of BTS purple color. Through the Showbiz Cheat Sheet statement, this account was brought forward by BTS’s V during a recent interview. There painted a picture of the epic moment when V saw purple in action at a concert. He was mentioned saying,
“At the time, ARMY had covered their ARMY Bombs [light sticks] with a purple cloth so that the light shone purple. I thought that if a rainbow signified youth, the last color is purple, so it stood for loving and cherishing each other until the end.”
But amusingly there was not a single moment when V thought that it would catch on with such a fiery fan following.
“That’s why I said that, but I didn’t know it would become this big.”
Moreover, BTS Army has shown their love to them once by starting up a “Purple Ribbon Project”. If you are a fan of BTS, you might have heard of it. The reason for the project to be started is the several incidents when sasaengs or stalkers followed the BTS too closely in the airportA.R.M.Ys created barriers with purple ribbons to save the members from getting groped on while traveling and passing through airports.
A large number of A.R.M.Ys began a movement called #PurpleRibbonARMY, where fans could volunteer to hold up a line barrier with these ribbons to create a safe and wide passageway for the BTS members to safely check in and out at the airport.
The reason behind why they choose the color is because V had already stated that the color stands for love and trust. Fans held up a purple ribbon line at the Los Angeles airport and Singapore Airport where they kept a safe distance between the BTS members and people.
The first attempt was unsuccessful. On May 14th, BTS left South Korea to attend the upcoming Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) at Incheon International Airport. The project didn’t go great as fans were pushing and squeezing their way in order to get closer to them. But on the second attempt, you can also that the members were leisurely walking through the passageway, grateful for their ARMY for love and efforts.
Additionally, international A.R.M.Ys and netizens around the world has always applauded the fandom for their hard work and dedication to BTS. Once again A.R.M.Y proved that they are the only-of-a-kind fandom in whole K-Pop history!
