Beyond The Story

Chapter 3

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PT.1 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PT.2

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE: Young Forever

On July 12, 2013, BTS released "Born Singer," their first mixtape song since debuting, on their official blog. It was exactly one month since their debut, and three days since their fandom had adopted the name ARMY on July 9. SUGA explains what was behind the lyrics of "Born Singer":

I remember in the week after we debuted, Bang Si-Hyuk said, "We should make a record of how we feel right now," "We should make it into a song." He said that, as time went by, we wouldn't remember these emotions. So when we were at the broadcasting station, I wrote down the lyrics on a notepad.

At the time of the song's release—a new interpretation of J. Cole's original, "Born Sinner"—it had been uncommon for idols to produce tracks that were not part of an album, or to release them via anything other than the ordinary streaming platforms. At the time, there were some ARMY who didn't know where or how they could listen to the song, and so asked other ARMY for help. By directly producing, releasing, discovering, and listening to the song in this way, BTS and ARMY were making history.

This history is ongoing. Anyone listening to BTS's "Born Singer" for the first time now can experience the meeting of past and present. BTS— now iconic figures within the global music industry—defined themselves with the phrase "I'm a born singer" early on, and we witness them laying bare their present in "perhaps an early confession."

SUGA discussed BTS's concerns about identity, talking about "the line between pre- and post-debut, between idol and rapper," while RM admitted of his mental state when they debuted, "Frankly, I was scared, said I'm all that, but proving myself." And then, j-hope's rap goes:

The blood and sweat we shed, I can feel it drenching me My tears well up after our performance

BTS lived inside these sentences, not only before "Born Singer" came out, but in the moment it was released and even after that. A small accomplishment was soon followed by despair, and as much as BTS ran full force toward success, their goals would remain far off in the distance. Their daily routine—practicing, throwing themselves onstage, coming back down again, and working on their songs—repeated itself, but what would allow them to believe they'd proven themselves remained beyond their grasp. Whenever they came down from the stage, it wasn't glory but tears that piled up.

It'd been hoped they would do well when they debuted in 2013. In 2014, they believed they could rise to the top. But what about in 2015?

SUGA says:

When you do this work, you feel a big disconnect. Separate from my idol career, I was nothing at that age. I would have been nothing if I hadn't ended up doing music. So, to be honest, there was no other answer. 'Guess there's nothing I can do other than this.'

The members of BTS left their hometowns, the hip-hop scene, and the ordinary student life behind them and ran headfirst into this world. However, almost three years since their debut, the thing that would prove they'd made the right decision was still beyond their grasp.