Dangerous Woman - BTS 8th Member

GRACE TOUR DIARY: March 29th 2025 - Chicago

If the Big Hit team were honest, scheduling a pre-recorded performance for the iHeartRadio Awards right in the middle of a tour was a bit of a push especially when they had to do it in one day so Grace could get to Chicago to fulfil her priorities ahead of her concert. It started with a 4 am morning call to get her up and made up, to drive over to the Grammy Museum by 6 am to start rehearsals for two hours to the mix that had been generated the previous night.

A last minute put together for a last minute performance.

Of course, trying to put these things together in record time led to mistakes. Butter had been mixed with all the boys' voices, not a backing track for Grace to sing over so that had to be edited while Grace was rehearsing. Not only that, costumes for the dancers hadn't arrived so another quick runaround of getting something to match the tour costume they had picked for this performance.

It was becoming a long day of issues.

But by 11 pm, Grace was in the car and on the way to LAX to catch her private plane to Chicago.

"That was a nightmare," she sighed and laughed at the same time as the team piled onto the plane, with the dancers and staff in one area and her in the other with Sejin, her female manager and two bodyguards. "Let's try not to do that again."

"The rest of the team are in Chicago at least and started some rehearsals at United Center, so that's something. There's not much time missed but it just means tomorrow," Sejin paused and glanced at his watch. "Sorry today, is going to be a bit of a push. There's a couple of interviews and meeting the Chicago Mayor but you'll be able to get to rehearsals as planned for 4 pm."

"Great," Grace laughed and ran a hand over her face. The flight was four hours long so she got the sleep she could get until they landed at O'Hare International Airport. The airport was quiet so it allowed for a quick walk-through to get to the car and a 20 minute drive meant she was at her hotel and in her room within record time.

A nap, still in her clothes, meant she was awake at 6am again to get a shower and some breakfast.

The hectic schedule over the following days meant everything was running back to back and there was a little time to start feeling homesick. She missed her parents, she missed her cat, she missed Seokjin, she missed the boys. She missed the smog in the sky over Seoul. But there was no time to think, no time to sit down and stare out the window and think.

Everyone demanded her time - from Sejin, to costume, to make up, to dancers, to cameras, to VCR, to the stadium, to the merch, to the company, to the person who was interviewing her, to the person she was going to meet at this location, to ARMY who were trying to see her outside of her concert.

It was the first time she sat in her suite at the Nobu Hotel and looked around the room, having been left alone for the first time since she arrived in Chicago and wondered what she was doing. Doing a solo tour, starting in Seoul to America then to Europe and then Asia and then back home when she didn't have the amount of songs BTS or even Namjoon or Yoongi did.

She hated doubting herself. She hated the worry that set in over whether she was good enough and whether there was going to be even a crowd to come see her. She had seen the empty seats at other kpop groups concerts and worried that was going to happen to her, even though every stadium date had been sold out and extra dates added.

With a sigh, Grace kicked off her slippers and curled up on the couch with the news on in the background. Of course it was the usual report of fans lining up outside the United Center with police around for protection, reporters doing interviews and explaining how the stadium had been lit purple for her arrival and how this was a big thing.