K-Pop and K-Dramas: BTS Rolling Stone Interviews

Hey! Hallie here!

As of now five of the seven Rolling Stone interviews have been released! While I could go through all five individual interviews from the members of BTS, I want to make sure I give each interview a good amount of space. So Namjoon’s recently released interview, as well as the unreleased interviews with both Yoongi and Tae, will have to wait until my next post on this collaboration. But there’s so much much to talk about in terms of what each member mentioned, as well as their individual photo shoots! So let’s just get into this!

J-Hope:

I’ve already talked a bit about his look for his individual photoshoot in my last post, so I won’t spend too much time on it. All I’ll say is that the oversized sweater over the nice fitting white tee looks insanely good on him. Anyways. This interview started out with questions about his time in quarantine. Hobi mentioned that the time quarantine has given him allowed him to appreciate the more mundane parts off his life and reflect on himself. His main takeaway from the experience was simply that he should do his best in each situation life presents. Hobi talked quite a bit about how he wanted to offer consolation and hope to those who were struggling in quarantine like he was, which was an incredibly sweet and incredibly Hobi sentiment. Hobi was also asked about his own struggles with constantly keeping up his hopeful persona. He’s been addressing these struggles more often in his lyrics now, and he said that he feels he is being truer to who he is. I love that he feels he can be more open about these things, despite the hopefulness so many people expect from him. Both he and Yoongi have expressed how important it is to express all your emotions, and I love how he’s embracing that. Springing off of that, he was asked about the actually very deep meaning behind “Outro: Ego” in particular, which is a song about his true self. He noted that the song comes to the conclusion that trusting and believing in yourself is a major part of who you are. This also led into a conversation about “Hope World”. Hobi said that he felt the music he created for “Hope World” reflects a more innocent, younger version of him. Hobi did say that he’s looking towards another mixtape, though there’s nothing concrete yet, but the way he spoke about it seems like he’ll be exploring more mature themes in the future. Hobi finally spoke about how thankful he was towards the other members, both for teaching him to rap, and for supporting him in a growing phase that was so different from other teens his age. His interview overall was just very wholesome, but Hobi, as usual, is also surprising insightful and a very deep thinker.

Jimin:

Jimin’s look for this photoshoot was simple, but very nice. He wore mostly black, which he’s proven time and time again looks crazy good, but his shirt pocket gave a nice splash of color and glamour to keep it from looking too uniform. The interviewer started this out by noting Jimin is an introvert which, apparently, is strange considering how good he is at singing and dancing. I’d like to point out to whoever wrote this that introversion doesn’t stop anyone from being skilled at singing and dancing. Moving past my distaste for this comment, the interviewer’s first question hounded Jimin over the mixtape he’s rumored to be working on. With no official statements having been made by either him or the company. Jimin brushed this off by saying he’s been trying out different things but he doesn’t have much yet. He shouldn’t have had to brush this off the minute the interview started. Jimin was then asked about his experience in quarantine. Jimin said that the time to himself taught him to take BTS’s own messages to heart and to love himself. He confessed that he still isn’t comfortable with having to perform without fans or friends and that he’s still struggling with the situation. I really appreciate that he addressed these thoughts. Although it’s nice to hear about the positive things people are learning in quarantine, sometimes it’s nice to see that you aren’t the only one struggling. He was asked about when he realized he had a gift for dancing and Jimin immediately corrected the interviewer by saying he isn’t “good” but he does enjoy it. Jimin is one of the best dancers I’ve ever seen. I really hate that he doesn’t give himself the credit he deserves. Beyond this Jimin also talked about how hard he is on himself when he makes mistakes. He said that he appreciates that ARMYs appreciate him for everything he does, but he also feels it’s incentive to never make mistakes and that he shouldn’t go easy on himself. He ended the interview with talking about the difficulties in recording “Serendipity”, which the interviewer had a specific interest in, and then saying he wanted to continue performing for as long as possible. This man’s humility and drive blow me away, but I wish he was a bit kinder to himself.

Jin:

Jin’s outfit seemed a bit more formal than the other looks from the individual photoshoots, which fits Jin’s style extremely well. His gray suit buttoned on the side fit him well and I like how it helped accent his shoulders in his cover photo. Jin’s interview started with a little bit more about his daily life. He was asked what he had done the day before, which was film for variety show that, according to Jin, was extremely impressed with his looks. And who wouldn’t be really? He also spoke a bit about how quarantine has given him time to reflect on himself and how sad he and the other members have been without the option to tour. He connected these bad feelings to his song “Abyss” which he noted helped him alleviate some of his more sad emotions. The interviewer oddly jumped from “Abyss” to the guitar sounds in “Moon” to a possible rock song from BTS. It was a weird connection to make all within one question, but Jin took it in stride by saying that he’d be open to a rock song as long as it fit with BTS’s theming. Jin was asked about the difficulties of jumping from acting to singing and dancing. Jin used this opportunity to talk about how difficult it is for him to learn dancing compared to the other members, bringing up that he has spent extra hours practicing so he won’t bring them down. Jin’s hard work really shows and I wish that he could realize how in awe ARMYs are of his improvements. He also downplayed his singing abilities a bit, but he said that seeing the joy his singing brings audiences makes him feel better about it. He was asked a very odd question about the idea that people stop aging at the age they are when they become famous, which Jin handled by saying that he keeps re-becoming famous, making him feel his own age. He also talked about his focus on music as opposed to acting, he laid out the process of BTS deciding who gets what line in a song by having each member sing the entire song, and then he finished off the interview with his early-career idea that only 1,000 fans would be a success. Jin’s answers were very straightforward and though, like Jimin, he is known for his self-depreciating comments, I liked how much confidence he did express here.

Jungkook:

Jungkook’s look is actually pretty formal in his photoshoot, as well. He’s wearing a long gray overcoat over a tee tucked into some black pants. The overcoat dwarfs him a bit, but it gives him a really interesting silhouette and an adorable overall look. His interview started with his reaction to being surprised with footage of fans singing “Life Goes On”. He talked about how the situation made him emotional because of how disappointed he was that they couldn’t tour in March. From there he was asked about what it was like growing up within BTS. Jungkook turned this question into a large thank you to all of the other members of BTS for being there for him, which was such an endearing move. Jungkook was asked about his time in quarantine and living a “normal” life, but Jungkook was adamant that this wasn’t the case. He said that they still had to work at getting better for the fans, schedules they still had to stick to, and responsibilities pertaining to their personal images. While I knew this was true about their time away, It still made me sad that they had to work so hard throughout all of this. Jungkook was asked about the pressure behind being a “Golden Maknae” and he noted that nothing really comes of being an all-around person. The best things come from practice and he would rather focus on the skills that he’s honed than the ones others seem to think he has naturally. I actually really get this sentiment. While it’s nice to be kind of good at most things, I think most people would rather be recognized for the skills they put a lot of work into growing. Jungkook moved on to discus how difficult the English in “Dynamite” was to grasp, and how much he continues to love “Euphoria” because of how it captures his transition between boy and man. He also talked about how much he loves Ariana Grande’s stage presence, which was adorable. He ended the interview by saying that topping U.S. charts and the Grammy nomination are all highlights in his career, but the biggest highlight will always be seeing ARMY from the stage. Jungkook is such a sweetheart and a lot of his kindness came out here.

I’ll talk about the other interviews as they’re released so stay tuned! Also, I am never able to fit everything they talk about into these posts, so I recommend you go back to the original Rolling Stone articles if you’re curious. But that’s enough for now. I’m loving these interviews and I can’t wait to deep dive into the final three!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie