BTS On Why Their Music Speaks To Young People And Their Collaborative Creative Process

BTS On Why Their Music Speaks To Young People And Their Collaborative Creative Process




By Joshua Calixto


By all accounts, South Korean artists BTS are already on top of the world. Fresh off four sold-out Staples Center performances and nevertheless another Billboard chart-topping album with Love Yourself: Answer, the order has nothing left to prove to its fervent ARMY fan base, which appears to grow in numbers and intensity with every new release.


Still, despite BTS' remarkable talent for amassing what has been called "the largest, most passionate niche audience in the nation the sort is still technically catering to a niche. Even right now, because the order keeps it up and continues to break sales and engagement numbers, it's remarkably complicated to find mainstream spaces that take the order as seriously as their fans do.


Thankfully, while in Tuesday night's "A Conversation With BTS" event at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Grammy Museum Artsy Director Scott Goldman broke that mold by asking a series of questions that dug deep, covering the group's artsy intent, their collaborative tendencies, and what drives them to keep moving forward. Here's what we learned about the order and their creative process while in the revealing Q&A:






  • The group's founding principles

    BigHit Entertainment


    BTS were quick to credit BigHit CEO and producer Bang Si Hyuk, better referred to as "Hitman" Bang, with defining the group's authentic vision. "He habitually emphasized that we should sing about our own experiences, our own thoughts, our own feelings. That has routinely been at the center of the music that we made," rapper Suga mentioned, addressing the intimate crowd of U.S. Fans by means of the a translator. Once we first began out, some of us were still in our teens. I was in my early twenties. We spoken about the issues that we faced, and that's made BTS what it is today."


    "We wanted to be a process of help for the world," leader and rapper RM added. "Mr. Bang wanted to create his music and his artists like that. We wanted attempt to use our abilities our skills and then some of our indoors inspirations to help the world."








  • Why their music speaks to young people around the world



    any time I think back to any time Once I was a student, I listened to a lot of music, and yes it was a way for me to escape and to reassure myself," Suga mentioned. "Nowadays, teens, people in their early twenties, listen to music, however we felt, and I feel that really, there wasn't a lot of good-sounding, healthy music to listen to that accommodates them — that there was a lack of that that we may fill."


    And these themes are universal. "I don't think it's just limited to Korea," he added. "Young people all over the world face these similar pains, sorrows, problems. That's why our fans and our listeners can relate to our music."








  • The meaning beyond "Music & Artist for Healing"

    BigHit Enterainment


    At the begin of every BTS video, there's an eas message beneath the BigHit logo: "Music & Artist for Healing." According to RM, the importance of that bold statement goes back to the group's pre-debut days. Think of it as a promise.


    "What we promised were two things: We have to talk about what's really indoors us, and we aspire to be cooperative to the world... To mention and speak and show something that this world needs," RM mentioned. "Life is supposed to be very ironic and unstable, and in teenage years and in our twenties, it's increasingly. We doubt ourselves, some days we wanna live, some days we wanna perish, and it also changes day to day — even hour by hour."


    So that slogan, RM mentioned, is a promise to talk about "what's indoor and to "be a help for our companions and the world."








  • Their songwriting process



    For BTS, their artsy output and production process aren't just limited to music. "It includes the choreography, the styles, along with a lot of different things that come with each other Suga mentioned. Nevertheless first it could be the music, the melody, and also you could order kind of think of it like a year-round song camp. We're constantly coming up with new melodies, new music, and then we send it in, and then we come up with our lyrics, and we send it in — all of us — and then Mr. Bang will collect it with each other and categorize through it, and he'll give us feedback... That happens not necessarily in a fixed sequence."


    As for how the sort divides the work, rapper J-Hope mentioned that all seven members "try hard to do our roles, whether it's writing lyrics or writing songs." He added: "Our participation in the process makes the music more trustworthy and that changes our attitude about how we approach our songs."


    There's also a healthy quantity of competition between the members of BTS and their production team. "In tracks, melodies and lyrics, we attempt to compete. If somebody comes up with a higher class of one, we use that," RM mentioned. "So we're like good colleagues, although in more of a firm classroom. We wish to show our teacher a higher class of one." However according to Suga, there's no hierarchy in the creative process. "We imagine ourselves as equal partners," he added. "If there was a barrier between our production team and us, we wouldn’t have the ability to create the sort of music that we can."










  • How they conceptualize their albums

    BigHit Entertainment


    "Five years back, in our debut, we spoken about schools," RM mentioned. "We discussed about schools with three albums. And then we discussed about youth with three albums. And then, folks grow up, right? We're not going to school anymore, and our attitude to life changed a little. What we may talk about right now, and the story the world needed most was love."


    So the idea for the group's record-breaking Love Yourself series was place on Earth out of this admittedly "very abstract" idea of love. "We began with that phrase," RM added. "Somebody mentioned, 'Love is an ability.' Several people mistake love with being in love, falling in love. Several people, especially in teenage years, they just fall in love. They think they're in love... Nevertheless if somebody doesn't love themselves, then they can love nobody. Mr. Bang came up with it, and we thought it was really fantastic


    from there on, the categorize and their creative team conceptualized a four-part series — three albums and one video — about love, loss, and acceptance.


    "We meet someone, we thought we fell in love, although someday we must know that we're different. We’re not the same person. You're not the one I expected. And then we break up. Nevertheless what's in our real mind was that, I just never loved myself, so I may love no one," RM explained. "We’ve been doing this for [two-and-a-half years], so it's really risky. This music industry is really fast these days, [but] thanks to our fans — they reacted to us, felt us, and so they instructed us that they came to love themselves even a little bit more, thanks to this album."








  • Choosing the best title track



    According to singer and eldest member Jin, the "title song will be the song that we feel reflects the unique color and message of album, so in case you hope to be able to see for a particular album what the key message is, you could watch the music video for the title track and visualize So it makes a lot of sense that Jin's quietly powerful ballad "Epiphany" and the loud, eye catching anthem "IDOL" kicked off the Love Yourself: Answer era, as both songs speak to the idea that a healthy, happy foundation begins with truly loving yourself.








  • Resolving conflict in the group

    Getty Images


    With seven personalities in one order, it's only organic that there could be disagreements, nevertheless the members of BTS encourage open, truthful dialogue between themselves and their production team. "If we think something isn't good, we'll openly mention it," J-Hope mentioned. "If there's choreography, as an example, and yes it feels like it's going to be also taxing on our physical resources — as I mentioned, we're not getting any younger — we'll mention it, and then we'll make those changes."


    "A lot of developments takes place in the recording booth also singer Jimin added. "Lyrics and melody that may seem OK, then once as soon as we actually begin recording it, @we could identify some problems and mention, 'This doesn’t seem quite right.' We'll come with each other, we'll discuss it, then discuss the changes we can make."


    According to Suga, it's that "mutual respect for each other" that keeps BTS on track and moving forward.








  • K-pop as integrated content

    Photo by Big Hit Entertainment


    As soon as asked if they viewed K-pop, or Korean popular music, as a genre — specifically, if there were qualities that set it apart from other types of music — Suga was hesitant to label it as such.


    "I'm a little cautious to talk about K-pop as a genre because I don't desire to be defining K-pop as a genre, so I'm a little wary of that," he mentioned. Nevertheless rather than approach K-pop as a genre, I think a higher end approach could be the integrated content. K-pop includes not just the music, nevertheless the clothes, the makeup, the choreography. All of those ideas amalgamate with each other in a visual and auditory content package that sets it apart from other music or other genres."








  • Their relationship with their fans

    Getty Images


    It's only fitting that the conversation would end with a brief, poignant message to ARMY, who have helped propel an audience from Seoul to U.S. Airwaves as well as a sold-out stadium show in New York City. "The fans gave us the wings that allowed us to be where we are," vocalist V mentioned. "So we're habitually thankful, and we know we're here thanks to our fans."















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