K-Pop and K-Dramas: Happy Birthday Yoongi!

Hey! Hallie here!

Happy Birthday to one of the best rappers, writers, and producers in the entire music industry! Yoongi has accomplished so much throughout his career and still he’s shown amazing humility, wisdom, and compassion. He’s a great artist and an even better person. We’ve talked about his different songs and albums on this page before, so for this post I’m going to look at Suga in general. His life, what he’s gone through up to this point, and the things that he stands for. Yoongi has a really inspiring story, and he’s been generous enough to share it in interviews and in song lyrics. It inspires me every time I hear it, so in the hopes of it inspiring someone else, I will try my best to stay as close to what Yoongi has shared as possible.

Before BTS:

Yoongi was born in Daegu, South Korea into a fairly poor family. He always hated school, though he wasn’t necessarily a bad student. Instead, he focused a lot of his time on writing lyrics. He’s listed the South Korean hip hop group Epik High as one of his first music inspirations. His parents didn’t really approve of his passion, however, and threw out his lyrics in the hopes that he’d focus on something more sensible. For quite a few years he turned to basketball. He became quite a skilled player, too. His position was shooting guard, which would later inspire the name Suga (Su for Shooting and Ga for Guard). He still focused on music despite his parents wishes, and at the age of 13 he began composing through use of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). While going to school he was also forced to take a part-time job in order to help his family. He would try to sell the music he made, but he ended up scammed out of the songs he tried to sell. Often times he didn’t have enough money to buy himself food as well as take the bus, so he had to choose one or the other. His music passion continued through his early years. He taught himself to play piano and, at one point, even landed a part-time job at a recording studio. Eventually he joined the underground rap scene under the name Gloss as part of a Daegu rap group called D-Town. Around this time he auditioned for BigHit and became a trainee. Hitman Bang, the CEO of BigHit Entertainment, promised him a producer-heavy role in whatever group Yoongi became attached to, without having to participate in choreography. That didn’t end up working out so well.

Early BTS Days:

When Yoongi joined BTS it became pretty apparent that he would be taking a major performing role despite the initial claims BigHit had made to him. He met Namjoon (RM) first and the two have lived together the longest out of everyone in BTS. Yoongi was still very much struggling financially at the time, so on top of everything he was doing as a trainee, he also took a part-time job delivering newspapers. During one trip he was hit by a car in a hit-and-run accident, which permanently injured his shoulder. He was afraid BigHit would fire him if he explained the situation, so he didn’t get the injury treated and didn’t tell anyone about the incident until several years later. During this time he also struggled a lot with his mental health. He had depression and anxiety which he has spoken about in many of his solo songs.

Now:

Since debut Yoongi has seen a lot of success with BTS, and he’s also been making big strides with his mixtapes under the name Agust D. But he’s also used his large platform to talk about important things. He’s defended the LGBTQ+ community and has said that he doesn’t see himself only dating women. He’s talked at length about how important acknowledging mental health problems is and how it needs to become more normalized. And he’s encouraged ARMY to love themselves and take care of themselves. He uses his story to help others going through difficulties relate to someone and see that it gets better. He’s still working through some problems himself, but he seems a lot healthier and happier. He also finally got surgery for his shoulder! After years of being on constant medication, he decided to get surgery to help his shoulder heal properly. He’s currently going through rehab for his shoulder, but the process seems to be going well!

I wish I had more words to express how much gratitude I have for this man. He’s helped me through so many of my own mental problems and he’s absolutely someone I look up to. The hard work he’s put into BTS’s music and making ARMY happy is incredible. I wish him a fast recovery from his surgery and I hope that he knows just how much he’s loved. Happy Birthday Yoongi!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie