BTS Wings Concept Book [ENG]

❝ Interview : Rap Monster ❞

<Rap Monster>

『 Will we settle down here, or will we run more? There's a visible limit of until where we can run, but settling down is, rather than right or wrong, not cool in my standard. I think it has become my vocation. We need to see until where we can go, we need to pave the way, I told the members I hope they would think about that, and thankfully they all related to me. I don't know where is the end but we need to finish. 』

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I heard the members were confused when hearing the title "Blood, Sweat & Tears" for the first time.
"(laughs) After reconsidering for about a day I thought it sounds okay. Suga-hyung opposed it. That hyung opposed it at first. (laughs)"
Where did you feel like it sounds okay?
"It's not a colloquial expression in Korean. We normally say 'shed blood and sweat', 'shed blood and tears', we don't use 'blood, sweat and tears'. It sounds unfamiliar. I like a rapper called Ace Hood and he has an album titled <Blood, Sweat & Tears>. This is a commonly used expression in English and I thought if we take and change this to Korean, we could make it into one of our expressions. Also, I kept thinking about the phrase 'blood, sweat and tears' and the words' feel is kind of uncomfortable. Feels like something is emitted. I thought about it for a day but other people would think it's either sexy or dirty when hearing the title. It ended up not sounding dirty so that's a success."

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How did you feel when you first heard the concept of <WINGS> will be based on <Demian>?
"I enjoyed reading <Demian> when I was young. I just read without knowing anything. I only thought 'It's a cool novel'. (laughs) The only thing I remember was that it was cool and difficult, but I went to read again after knowing the concept of <WINGS> will be <Demian>. Hearing Bang Shihyuk PD-nim talking, I got to understand why <Demian> is a classic coming-of-age novel. The elements in <Demian> suit what we want to do and what was portrayed in the 'Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa' series too."

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You even personally recorded the English quotes in <Demian>.
When people ask 'Why do you like K-pop that much?', 'You should listen to Justin Bieber or One Direction, why do you have to like BTS?', I think they can answer that it's because of the storylines and the members' chemistry within that fiction (fictional world).

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How much did you participate in the repackage album <YOU NEVER WALK ALONE>?
"I wrote chorus for the first time in the title song 'Spring Day'. Until now our title songs' choruses have always been written by professional composers so I didn't hold much greed, but I happened to write this when I went to Saetgang Park one day. That day the dead leaves oddly caught my eyes. It reminded me of how I used to dry leaves, put in letters and sent. 20, 30 minutes later I came up with a melody starting with 'dead leaves'. When I first heard the title song, I wished there would be a melody with such kind of feels. I tried combining with what I wrote that time and it sounded good. I have thought that this would definitely be great from the start and after bringing them, they all said it's good and in the end it was approved without any change. It was an honor for me."

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Do you come to the park often?
"I like parks and I also like coming to unfamiliar places. Sometimes I got to Jungnangcheon or Cheongnyangni Station for no reason, or basically anywhere. If I see any place I like on the car, I use the map on my phone and take photos so I can come there next time. I probably have gone to every place that's worth visiting in Seoul. Now I'm planning to come to every place I haven't gone to even if it has no special meaning. Like Gongdeok Station. Come and do nothing but just be there, seeing how people live, seeing them walking around. I'm curious how everyone lives in places I don't know."