- donât beat yourself up for struggling even if youâre doing your best
- you are smart and capable so donât let laziness stop you from achieving your potential
- stop self sabotaging. that tv show can wait. take a break but donât become your own obstacle to success. get shit done first
- eating right, staying hydrated and sleeping well are non-negotiable. look after yourself
- grades do not define you so be kind to yourself. but do your best and work hard for what you want
ă Itâs not that I donât have the greed to receive awards or to go higher. Thereâs no end to greed right? I just think if Iâm satisfied with the present and keep working hard, something new will come again. If I keep thinking about things like what award I want to receive or where I want to perform, it would be the opposite of my personality and make me anxious, so I plan not to carry those thoughts. I only think, letâs work hard on what Iâm doing, letâs raise my stats. ă
Your solo song âAwakeâ, which you participated in composing for the first time, was in the album.
âActually my share doesnât take up that much, I just brought the main chorus to Slow Rabbit-hyung. I said âHyung, this is so good, I want to do this oneâ and after talking for a while with a little debate, it was finally accepted. I wrote the A verse, B part and A part of the second verse.â
What was the reason you liked that main chorus?
âI wrote 5, 6 versions and this current one is the one I liked in particular. I was so happy just thinking of singing this song at the concert so I wanted to do this one at any cost. I persuaded the staff for a very long time.â
How did you persuade them?
âI just kept on insisting. (laughs)â
Was the working process difficult?
âI always try writing melodies and lyrics for every album, not just <WINGS>. The result wasnât well, but mine was finally selected this time. Luckily Slow Rabbit-hyung who worked on this together with me is from our company so we match well, he also knows our schedule well so I was able to work on my solo song the soonest among members. I started writing around 2 months before the album came out. Even if it didnât turn out well, I kept doing while going to eat and continuing my schedule.â
Seems like youâre the type to not be worried even if you got stuck halfway.
âIâm not. I actually was very stressed. Especially this time itâs my solo song so I wanted it to have what I wrote. I also wanted to sing the song I wrote so it was even more stressful. Even though I tend to forget it the next day. (laughs)â
What was the most memorable review about the song you received?
âAfter itâs finished, Pdogg PD-nim told me âWow, Seokjin has debuted as a composer nowâ and it made me very happy.â
What did the other members say?
âSuga told me he didnât think there would be such ballad-like song in our album. He said this song sounded really good and calming. Some other members also said they liked this song the most and I was very happy. I have been wanting to make such song since the beginning. Itâs my solo song so I have to sing all by myself. Recording it was hard. Normally my parts in BTSâ songs donât have a big difference between low and high pitches. But for âAwakeâ, I have to sing in low pitch at the beginning and high pitch towards the latter part, so vocal control was hard. I relax my throat when singing from a high pitch, and I figured it would sound nice to sing low pitch in that way so I tried that too. I tried various ways.â
Do you have the desire to have a bigger importance in the next album, or the next promotion?
âOf course I do have that thought, but each member have their own color. If the song suits it, thereâll be more parts and if not, thereâll unavoidably be lesser.â
Arenât you anxious?
âBeing anxious doesnât solve anything. If I do my best at where I am, some day thereâll be a song that suits me. The composer hyungs told me that my voice is optimized for Korean ballads, but BTS doesnât sing those kind of songs. Singing the songs that suit the teamâs color is important.â
A lot of memorable things happened to BTS last year, how do you feel looking back?
âLots of things happened. I especially remember the âSave Meâ performance at the Seoul Gymnastics Stadium concert. Itâs a calm song so we only need to lightly move our bodies at the beginning, then the beat suddenly changes and the dance break comes. Our fans liked it a lot. I will forever remember that cheer. And I canât forget when we received âAlbum Of The Yearâ award at MAMA too. I cried looking a little heartbreaking at Melon Music Award, so at MAMA I held back because I was afraid I would look like that again. I ended up shedding a drop of tear and looked very handsome. (laughs) I was really happy.â
Every stage sure makes you once again amazed by the fact that you have this many fans all over the world.
âNo matter how much I like a foreign artist, itâs hard to sing along to the whole song. But every time we hold concerts, our international fans sing along to all of our songs and it always makes me happy. We have earnest songs as ending, so when I sing it, I look back at the venue. Itâs big and full of people. When can I stand on such stage? I have this thought in every concert. That moment brings an unique emotion⊠But it canât be described with words.â
Do you cry?
âI do get emotional, but if I cry I wouldnât be able to sing, so I hold back.â
With good achievements not only in Korea but also in the Billboard chart, you must have some sort of worry about what BTS should do next.
âI donât tend to do that. I was like that from debut. Itâs not that I donât have the greed to receive awards or to go higher. Thereâs no end to greed right? I just think if Iâm satisfied with the present and keep working hard, something new will come again. If I keep thinking about things like what award I want to receive or where I want to perform, it would be the opposite of my personality and make me anxious, so I plan not to carry those thoughts. I only think, letâs work hard on what Iâm doing, letâs raise my stats.â
You must have a special feeling towards fans there.
âOur first fan song was included in <WINGS>. Itâs called âTwo! Three! (Hoping For More Good Days)â. When we received the award at an award show, this song charted very high. It made me think that we made the song really well, that itâs an important song for both us and the fans. I want to tell them that here will be hardships to come, but weâll be energized as long as they stay by our side. Our strength grows from the existence of our fans. I hope they will always support us.â