How the West was won by BTS - the secret to their success

Paris's Stade de France national stadium is packed. The crowd is a sea of screaming teenagers in sporty hoodies, colourful rabbit ears and - as it starts to rain - plastic ponchos.

In a puff of smoke, BTS burst onto the stage from behind two giant inflatable leopards. Dressed in white suits, they jump around to pumping hit Dionysus, to the delight of fans clutching smartphones and flashing globe balls.

It's a suitably dramatic entrance for the seven-piece South Korean boy band, whose world tour, "Love Yourself: Speak Yourself" came to Paris for two nights earlier this month, after a string of sold-out shows in Los Angeles, Chicago and London's Wembley Stadium.

While the music industry has seen its fair share of boy bands over the years, from The Jackson 5 to One Direction, BTS - short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates as Bulletproof Boy Scouts - are the first K-pop group to top charts in the US and Britain.

Baran Masifi, 24, who travelled from Germany to see the band perform in Paris, said she found their music "really catchy, but it has a lot of meaning, too. They talk about real life - things like mental health and school".

And Lucie, 13, from Nancy in northeast France, who attended one of the Paris concerts with her father, said: "They encourage people to love themselves."