BTS: K-pop stardom gives us fear, pressure, but Army fans’ love gets us through
- The seven members of BTS talk about their feelings of fear and their gratitude to their fans
- They also talk about their new album and music, including collaborations with Ed Sheeran and Halsey
By Anna J. Park
BTS are now a global sensation and the seven-member boy band are rewriting K-pop history every day.
Their newest album, “Map of the Soul: Persona”, has topped the most prestigious music charts in the US, UK and Japan. The album also topped the iTunes album charts in over 80 countries, including Canada and Singapore. Their latest music video, Boy with Luv, became the fastest YouTube video to reach 100 million views, taking less than 38 hours.
“The more we grow in height, the longer our shadows become. It is not always that we are happy without any sense of burden or dejection,” said RM, the leader of BTS.
“The pressure is always there. Sometimes I feel scared of the spotlights and the audience. Sometimes I even feel like I want to run away … But then I realise there is so much more that we’d like to achieve in this position. I receive so much energy from our fans. I cannot say I have completely overcome the fear, but now I have learned how to live with that. I am finding my balance between the precious support from the fans and the burden and weight.”
RM is not the only one feeling a weight on his shoulders. “It would be a lie if I say it’s not a burden at all. I feel very much of a burden as of now,” Jin said. “But to get rid of it, I am putting my best efforts into my music and performances.”
As they have overcome the burden of being on top with the energy from their fans, it is natural that their new album is about love and gratitude.
“We want to talk about the power of love that has lifted us to where we are today,” RM said. “The power, the source and the strength of love is what this album is about. We want to talk about the love and strength our fans give us.”
Collaborations with other international artists also drew attention. Boy with Luv, the lead song, features American pop star Halsey.
“Two years ago, we met Halsey at the Billboard Music Awards, and we had a conversation,” member Suga said. “We found we shared many similarities in our values and our passion. We asked her about appearing on our album, and she said yes. She also joined us for a music video shoot in Korea. Despite the cold weather, Halsey enjoyed coming to Korea – she had already mastered all the dance moves.”
British musician Ed Sheeran also features in the song Make It Right.
“Ed Sheeran contacted us,” J-Hope said. “He is an artist that we enjoyed listening to and always wanted to work with together, so we were happy to say yes. A delicate sentimentality and heart-wrenching melody is highlighted in the song.”
The group’s lead singer, Jungkook, especially expressed his gratitude to the band’s fan club, known as the Army.
“They are everything that created today’s BTS … We heard that many of the global Army members received strength and comfort during difficult times in their lives with our music. We thought how great the power of music is, and the connection between Army and BTS has become even tighter,” Jungkook said.
BTS will be performing Boy With Luv live with Halsey at the Billboard Music Awards on May 1. They are nominated for awards in two categories: top duo/group artist and top social artist. BTS has won the award for top social artist for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018.
“It will be great to win both categories, but I don’t know if it is realistically possible,” Suga said. “But we want to win at least one.”
The sensational K-pop group will kick off their latest world tour in Los Angeles on May 4. The tour will later include Chicago, New Jersey, Sao Paulo, London, Paris and Osaka.
