RM is the leader of BTS

The argument

The case for RM rests on the functions he performs for BTS rather than on a comparison of individual talent, and on the claim that those functions are ones the group could not do without. The first is leadership. RM, also known as Rap Monster or RapMon, is the group's leader, which proponents treat as a working role rather than a title: the leader holds a group of performers together through the ordinary strains of a long career, and a group that fractures does not succeed however capable its members. The band's huge worldwide success is therefore attributed at least in part to him, on the reasoning that the achievement belongs partly to whoever kept the group in a condition to achieve it. The second is authorship. RM writes and produces many of the group's songs, which places him behind the material as well as in front of it. A performer interprets what they are given; someone who writes and produces determines what the group is, and proponents argue that this contribution persists in every recording regardless of who is singing on it. The third is access. RM is the only member who speaks English, and is accordingly responsible for communicating with English speakers and translating for the group. For a group whose success has been worldwide, that role is not a convenience but the channel through which the band reaches a large part of its audience: interviews, broadcasts and public exchanges with English speakers run through him, and the impression those encounters leave is substantially his to shape. Taken together, proponents argue, these make RM an indispensable asset rather than one contributor among several. A member who leads the group, writes its songs and carries its communication abroad is doing work the others do not, which is why he is clearly the best band member.

Premises

Counter-arguments

RM is not the only member of BTS to produce the group's music, and he is certainly not the only member to write their songs. Other people in the group lead in different ways: J-Hope helps the group learn new choreography, and Jin is a regular source of advice since he is the oldest. RM is not the only writer-producer, and he is not the only leader either, so he should not be considered the best in BTS for those reasons.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Leadership and partial credit for the group's success are claims about a role rather than about who is best. The premise's own hedge — "at least partly responsible" — concedes that the success is collective, which argues against singling out any member, and writing and production are shared across the group, as the counter notes. [Rejecting P2] English fluency is a fact about the group's circumstances rather than a musical merit, and it measures usefulness to an anglophone audience in particular. On the argument's own logic the criterion would have picked a different member had the group's international attention arrived from somewhere else. [Rejecting C] "Indispensable" then does the work "best" cannot. Being hard to replace in one function is not being the best member, and the position needs a comparison across what the group is actually judged on — vocals, rap, dance, writing and performance — which the premises never attempt.