BTS have come back. Their name is “bulletproof,” but these boys with their strong knife-like choreography have gotten rid of their strength and have returned with a new appearance. BTS have released their 3rd mini-album “화양연화 pt. 1.”
This time, BTS’ album is full of the appearances of seven men who have gone beyond childhood and have grown up. Previously, BTS released their “school trilogy” that spoke of the dreams, happiness and love of teenagers. Now, BTS are leaving school behind and taking a step forward into “youth.” BTS, speaking of youth, have also moved beyond their past of having only rapper line work on music and have shown a new, wider spectrum with vocal line participating as well.
BTS’ “화양연화” that shows their maturation, how might they be thinking about these ambivalent moments of beauty and anxiety that are present in youth? For reference, during this interview, their magnae Jungkook was regretfully unable to participate in the interview due to his school tests.
Q. What’s your impression of this comeback?
JH : It’s our comeback after 8 months. Our anticipation is completely huge. Since it’s a comeback after a long time, we’re nervous and anticipatory about meeting our fans. We held on to some spite and it’s full of our determination to work hard. Haha.
Q. The members have all lost weight and become warmer. Could there be a member who is rising up as the visual for these promotions?
JH: Personally, I think it’s Suga hyung. He lost a lot of weight and I think he suits this concept the best. Elegance and innocence…
JM: The magnae Jungkook. No matter how you look at it, he’s handsome!
Q. Please introduce this album.
RM: The title is “화양연화 Pt. 1.” We ended our ‘school trilogy’ and now this is part 1 of the ‘youth duet.’ “화양연화” is the title of a movie, and it means the most beautiful moment in life. We think that in life, the most beautiful moment is youth. There are a lot of people who miss their youth and since we think we’re spending our youth right now, we ended up making an album about youth.
Q. The title “화양연화” has some mystique to it too.
RM: The saying ‘the most beautiful moment in life’ seemed like the definition of youth. You can’t really be sure what youth is, but we thought it was the moments that you miss the most and think about most beautifully. There are a lot of poems about youth as well. We thought it would be better to talk about it beautifully rather than just use the word “youth” as it is, and the nuance was good so it ended up being our keyword.
Q. Last year at the MAMAs, Jimin had a tattoo that said “화양연화,” so it seems like that had some connection to the album.
JM: That’s right. It was set from that time. The details weren’t arranged concretely but it was something that happened while we were in the middle of planning the album.
Q. I’m curious about when is “the most beautiful moment in life” to BTS.
SG: Um… I think that a beautiful moment hasn’t come yet. That’s because I though that the reason that the title is “화양연화” is only through the opportunity of this album. I hope that these promotions have an opportunity to shine. Hehe.
JH: I hope that we and our fans can both discover the most beautiful moment in life.
Q. What kind of song is the title song “I NEED U”?
RM: It’s an emotional song with a clear melody. There’s a flute sound too. Firstly, basically the lyrics are full of the mournfulness of trying to hold on to a love that’s almost come to an end. Honestly, if you ask why this song became the title, it’s because we thought that although they say that youth is beautiful, it’s simultaneously very short, so you can end up wandering and encountering many shadow-like hazards. Rather than the endless beauty of youth, we wanted to illuminate the darker and heavier sides of youth. It’s a love story that could be told by a youth, but it’s also full of lyrics that can be dangerous.
Q. So do you think that youth and love are the same?
RM: I think there are a lot of similar points between youth and love. Youth can end in a moment before you realize it. Similarly, although we love passionately thinking that it’s something that will last forever, doesn’t it wane eventually? I think there are some points that touch. So “I NEED YOU” was set as the title song of 화양연화.
Q. How were the members’ reactions when they listened to the song?
JH: I heard the beat first, and thought even the beat was fresh. The feelings it pulled up were good and the “ddang ddang ddang ddang” part was fresh and good. It was fun to work on too.
JN: At any rate, in our last album we had a really strong atmosphere for our performances but this time’s choreography is dedicated to ‘listening’ so it was comfortable.
Q. If there’s a point to this title song’s stages?
V: It’s my part. Haha. Because I don’t have any. We’re talking about love but this is the first time talking about love since we’ve debuted. I hope you’ll watch my parts.
JH: The choreography is really BTS’ stile and it includes some smooth parts. Should we call them parts with those feelings? Heuheu. I wonder if you won’t be able to see some new charms of BTS’. The emotions of the songs are clear through all the pictures and the there’s choreography that matches the song well. It seems like you’ll get a taste. There are parts that bubble up like ‘whooaaaa.’
JM: Rather than having one single point choreography, I hope you’ll watch it all. Haha.
Q. I’m curious about the other songs in the album.
SG: This album has a total of nine tracks. We included the worries, concerns, and thoughts that youth our age could have. All of the songs are songs that express commonly-held concerns or fears. I think the lyrics will appeal not only to our peers but also all the people who had those same worries at that time.
Q. You released photos before the album was released, and it was a new feelings. Were there any episodes during filming?
JM: We went down to Gyeongnam for 1 night and 2 days. The backgrounds were really pretty. It seemed like going on a picnic so we filmed in a good mood.
JH: It was warm and the flowers were blooming so I thought it would be really cozy, but to be honest it was cold. I had to climb up in a tree to film and I was kind of scared. It seemed really scary so I was afraid and got tense. (Isn’t that like the fears of youth? Haha.) Oh? If it seems like that then it is. Something came from that solitude and fear. Haha.
Q. You were tough guys for all that time, wasn’t it awkward?
JN: Ordinarily I don’t really have a strong appearance. So we all tried. We practiced with all our strength too. It was harder for me too. After ‘Boy in Luv’ I didn’t have any times practicing with all my strength so I heard that I had to work even harder.
SG: I think these pictures came out well. On that day we were excited and could film happily so I think a good result came out.
JM: I was worried because, since it was a film camera, we couldn’t directly monitor them at the site, but the backgrounds were pretty and it was good.
Q. It seems like it would have been a feeling like going on a vacation among the members.
JN: Like you said, it felt like going on an MT. On that day we wanted to eat Yeongdeok snow crab but there were no restaurants open so we ended up eating snacks. Sob sob.
JM: But at any rate we ate Gyeongju bread in Gyeongju and ate kimchi jjigae. We also ate local souvenir foods.
Q. I’m curious about the music video.
RM: If you look at the jacket, there are a lot of beautiful blossom-like things but there’s also a lonely version. They’re all individual episodes of misery. And the times when misery all matches together are good. These appearances are all intersecting so it appears like a cross-section of the coexistence between beauty and anxiety. The video has a pretty strong feeling of the depression of youth.
Q. For this album, the vocal line Jin, Jimin, V and Jungkook’s names also appeared in the credits for producing and writing.
JM: V and Jungkook had a huge share.
V: I wrote the lyrics and song for “Hold Me Tight.” At first, I grew by watching rap line working on their music. I became interested so I tried writing lyrics to the instrumentals of other singers. This time, our producer hyung gave me the opportunity to try so it was added nicely to the album.
Q. Promotions are just ahead, so did Bang Sihyuk PD have any advice?
JN: He said that this choreography would be easy but that was a lie. Haha. It was easy at first but the difficulty went up bit by bit.
V: And then later on the choreography ended up like ‘Danger.’
SG: There were a lot of edits. There are a lot of things to memorize so it was hard.
JH: After memorizing and sleeping I woke up and did the choreography and went back to sleep.
JN: These kids can learn it in a day but I can’t. The choreography was edited, and after practicing it it was edited again and I had a total mental breakdown.
Q. If you win #1 during these promotions, what’s the promise that you want to make?
RM: 1st place… If we get 1st place on a music program, we’ll rent a movie theater and watch a movie with our fans.
JH: Ah yeah how does it sound to watch a hit movie and then on the other hand a non-hit movie together. Haha.
SG: How about having rap line and vocal line switch and do each other’s parts on our encore stage!
Q. According to BTS’ own expectations, how will these promotions be?
SG: I hope it’ll be the most beautiful and shining moment.
V: I hope it’ll be the kind of promotions that get recorded in legend. I hope we can be people who “I NEED U.”
Q. Please say a word to the fans who have waited.
JN: We’ve stopped our period of inactivity and returned. I hope it’ll be a beautiful moment for both us and the fans.
SG: For the amount that you’ve waited, we’re planning to have promotions that are enjoyable and un-regrettable. We’re thinking of it as doing promotions together. I hope you’ll do them with us.
V: We’ll see our fans’ faces after a long time, so I’m happy.
JM: I hope they’ll be promotions that are as memorable as the waiting.
JH: We’ll always be with you whenever. We’ll check the fancafe, comments, Twitter and mentions. I’m happy. I hope you’ll anticipate our comeback a lot and that it’ll be a beautiful moment.
RM: Every time I hear the title “화양연화” I think of the name of a flower. I hope it’ll bloom just like a daffodil. The fans, and us. I hope we can both be in full bloom.
Credits :
Trans : @BTS0222