② BTS “Topics we introduced through music, hope you could think about them together with us”
- During the last 5 years, you have released a lot of non-formal tracks on Soundcloud, this ‘consistency’ differentiates you from other idols.
▲ SUGA: Consistency is an amazing thing. There isn’t any special reason, I just like music and find releasing music fun. You need to be so to understand the non-formal tracks. A creator should not approach commercially. I heard many say ‘Why would you release this?’ but there’s only one reason, because it’s fun. I can make and release it, get feedback, express what is hard to deliver with words or my sincerity with music. They say we express ourselves a lot and make use of SNS well, and releasing non-formal tracks is also a method. It’s not an easy decision to release as 10 original tracks, I can’t use any word to describe it other than that I just wanted to it. The non-formal tracks released long ago were made when I was thoughtful and not so sociable, so I have some regrets personally, but it feels like thanks to it the sharp edges are now carved. It was one of the turning points in my life and marked my improvement in terms of music.
- I know that until before releasing the youth series ‘Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa’, you concerned a lot about your music direction. Were there any trial and error and how did you set your direction?
▲ RM: Leaving Billboard chart entrance and Melon chart ranking aside, there are always trials and errors in music. In the past, ours were about “how can we attract the public and fans but still keep our identity", now we have more listeners so we’re working with the upcoming title track following ‘DNA’. Like how visible results come out through big and small trials and errors, the next title track will go through countless trials and errors as well. 4 years ago, ‘Danger’ entered the Melon chart at No.54 but fell out in just one day and never climbed back again. It makes me emotional remembering how there used to be times like that and in the future, we need to continue to go through trials and errors again.
▲ J-HOPE: As we’re active as BTS, we study too. When we set a subject, we think a lot about how to deliver our stories.
- Looking at the albums you have released so far, each has different themes but all deliver the messages that connect to the youth. How do you gather different thoughts of 7 members?
▲ SUGA: How we make music is, everybody participates in one beat and one subject. There has to be a standard, so the producers will pick out the best and arrange them. We always do what comes with clear standards, since we talked a lot about what’s right and wrong. We start from what anyone can think, like ‘This is obviously right, this is obviously wrong’, maybe that’s the reason why we can earn empathy.
- Your lyrics give the feels of Seo Taiji & Kids from the 90s in the sense that you both talk about what someone needs to say but no one did.
▲ SUGA, RM: Seo Taiji-hyungnim told us that. He also invited us to join his stage. (BTS participated in Seo Taiji’s 25th debut anniversary remake project and joined Seo Taiji’s celebratory concert held at Jamsil Olympic stadium, Seoul.)
- Any lyrics that you feel pleased with whenever you sing?
▲ SUGA: My favorite is ‘The dawn before the sun rises is the darkest’ from ‘Tomorrow’. When I wrote that line it just flowed out naturally.
▲ JUNGKOOK: ‘Where there is hope, there are trials’ from ‘Sea’, I don’t know why but it makes me emotional. (‘Sea’ is a track RM made inspired from 1Q84’s ‘Where there is hope, there are trials’ quote.)
▲ RM: Among lyrics I wrote recently, I like ‘Best Of Me’. There’s a line that’s dedicated to our fans ARMY, ‘I wanted to be a gentle wave but why didn’t I know you were the sea’. It means that I thought I wanted to be helpful to the fans like a gentle wave, but then I realized they are already much bigger waves than me and they made me.
▲ J-HOPE: I have two. One is ‘(So thanks) For becoming the flowers of my most beautiful moment in life’, it’s dedicated to our fans and it’s beautiful. Every time I sing the song, I feel emotional. ‘Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa’ is a meaningful album to us and it brought the fans to become our beautiful flowers. Another one is ‘I want to forever be a boy’ from ‘Epilogue: Young Forever’, it gets me thinking more and more as time passes. (Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa: 화양연화 = The most beautiful moment in life, 화 = Flower)
▲ JIMIN: The entire lyrics of ‘Epilogue: Young Forever’. It holds the thoughts we had after finishing a concert so it made me cry a lot.
▲ V: I like every lyrics RM-hyung wrote. All lyrics of ‘Epilogue: Young Forever’ are good but if I have to pick one line, it’d be ‘I was able to make someone shout’ and ‘I want to forever be a boy’.
▲ JIN: ‘It’s okay, forget it all when I say 1, 2, 3’ from ‘2!3!’. I’m the dodger type of person so I forget all bad memories. I always try to be happy so the lyrics came home to me. I have always believed if I want to be happy at the moment, I need to forget the unhappy memories.
- You’re currently preparing for the next album, so which kind of messages do you plan to follow up with?
▲ SUGA: So far we’ve only had the big picture so we can’t say anything for sure yet. Since last year’s tour, we have been talking with each other about happiness, what is happiness and how we can achieve it. Although I think we can’t become happier just by trying to be happy, I also believe we need to make efforts to be happy no matter how. We need to learn and research. Since I was young, I have been thinking a lot about what is happiness and how we can achieve it. No one has ever taught us that. I think if we introduce this topic, it’ll get many people to discuss about this matter.
▲ RM: I had been fixated on the keyword ‘happiness’ until early last year. But a while ago when I came to Japan, I read a newspaper column that said humans can never achieve the happiness we desire. It’s in our genes, we can’t be happy forever. It said that humanity achieved many goals like the industrial revolution or the advancement of science, but once we attain something, we would feel lacking in something else. We too thought we would be happy if we win first place, but there came the next goal. That column makes perfect sense to me. So rather than happiness, I think we should try and find our own conclusion about ‘Love Yourself’, which is what we’re talking about now. ‘Love Yourself’ is finding the way to love oneself. My dream is not to top the Billboard, it’s to love myself properly, because I think no matter how many times I face the ugly and insignificant sides of me, I can’t reach them. I was lucky to meet this ‘Love Yourself’ concept, so I want to stay true to this emotion and take a step closer towards the way to loving myself. There’s a lot that can be said on this subject, including darkness and loneliness.
- Many of your lyrics are inspired by literature works like ‘1Q84’ and ‘Demian’, even ‘Spring Day’ music video used ‘The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas’ from ‘The Wind’s Twelve Quarters’ as motive. Which book have you been reading recently?
▲ SUGA: I’ve been reading a lot recently. I used to love digital machines so much like an early adopter, but I went back to analog. I started writing and reading books like when I was small. Not long ago, I read ‘Life Lessons’ by psychiatrist and writer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. I have several of her books. Right now I’m currently reading Yoshimoto Banana’s ‘About Her’.
▲ RM: I have Yoshimoto Banana’s ‘Kitchen’ at home so I’m reading it.
▲ J-HOPE: I’m planning to go back to childhood and read what I used to read back then, the classic science fiction ‘20 Thousand Leagues Under The Sea’ and ‘Around The World In 80 Days’ by French writer Jules Vernes. Lately thoughts of childhood have been keeping me relaxed.
▲ V: Recently I’ve been trying to read Phillip Chesterfield’s ‘Letters To His Son’.
- As the leader of K-pop, what do you think is the value or DNA that makes K-pop loved despite the fact that K-pop songs are in Korean?
▲ RM: K-pop is like a total art package. It’s a genre with lots of entertainment factors like music and music video, characteristics of each member, contents published on SNS and Youtube, fashion. It allows the public to enjoy in an intimate and diverse way. Fans relate to our lyrics and get to know our personalities, feel the closeness through photos, videos and everyday events we share on Twitter. K-pop creates lots of black holes that attract people in.
▲ SUGA: It hasn’t been long since the word ‘K-pop’ was born, so we still have a lot to do until we can characterize what is K-pop exactly. With Billboard opening the K-pop category again, it’s like our steps began again. I feel like it’s too soon to bring any conclusion to what it is.
