I get free life lessons from J-Hope and Jimin; sometimes it's like they're 10 years older than me.
— RM
Most of our music is about how we perceive the world and how we try to persist as normal, average human beings. So our fans inspire us and give us a direction to go as musicians. And of course, their love and support keeps us going.
If you want to love a person, you should know that there are tears, and there can even be hatred inside of it. I think a love really includes all of that.
I have no driver's license, so I ride a bicycle beside the Han River. That's what I really love because no one gives a damn about me for that moment. I feel so free.
I'm always afraid of making mistakes. I think I was born with that.
They say people live to be happy. If you actually think about what happiness is, it's nothing much. When you get to eat ramen after feeling really, really hungry, that's happiness.
My grades put me in about 5,000th place in all of South Korea. If I kept going down that path, I would've become a successful man with a regular job. However, I was positive I'd be number one in the country as a rapper. So I asked my mother whether she wanted to have a son who was a first-place rapper, or a 5,000th-place student.
I like learning. I've been studying Japanese for years now, but it's really hard.
Humans seem to be programmed to think of ambivalent feelings at the same time. That is the driving force behind human beings: to be the warrant of all things and to control other worlds.
Came from a song that I made from, like, 2012 - there was some phrase like 'Rap Monster', and I just, I thought it was so cool. But as I grow up, and as I came to America, I think it felt like too much. So I just abbreviated it to 'RM', and it could symbolize many things. It could have more spectrums to it.
When we don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend, we always say, 'Oh, I'm so lonely. I want a date,' or something like that. But I think the biggest love we're all searching for is the love for one's self.
I'm always ready to be challenged. Like, 'Wings: Outro,' it was hip-house. That was the first time I'd ever listened to that genre... but I liked it.
I can't speak for other artists; every group has a different approach. For us, it will always be important to keep working hard, dancing better, writing better songs, touring, and setting an example.
BTS as a group sort of took off with the success of our 2015 album that had our hit single 'I Need U.'
We're on some path that's set since we're born, but I still believe we can change some things. So I believe in my faith, but I still don't believe in my fate.
Music really transcends languages, and it means so much.
I loved writing lyrics for rap when I was in junior high. I loved studying, but somehow I wanted to be a rapper who can write and rap.
BTS fans - the 'ARMY' - tell us about their feelings, failures, passions, and struggles all the time.
When we're talking about our title tracks, 'DNA' is about the expression of a young, passionate love.
J-Hope always tries to cheer us up, and I'm so grateful. Actually, I like to call him a new leader for the group.
In Korean, the word 'future' is made up of two parts. The first part means 'not,' and the second means 'to come.' In that sense, 'future' means something that will not come. This is to say the future is now, and our now is us living our future.
When I perform my role well, I feel proud.
We are so lucky because all our fans from around the world are great. We love all our fans from everywhere, and they want us to visit them. We will try! They are really the best fans we could wish for.
In 2014, I knew my English was not so bad, but I had no confidence in talking directly to an English-speaking reporter. I had to do a short interview with, I think, Reuters from France. I was so nervous. I practiced memorizing three sentences for two hours. But, I think that these kinds of interviews make me develop a lot, and that helps me.
I don't plan to restrict myself to rapping in the future, and I didn't want to come off as too aggressive, which is why I thought about changing my name.
We try to make our own BTS context. Maybe it's risky to bring some inspiration from novels from so long ago, but I think it paid off more. It comes through like a gift box for our fans. That's something you can't find easily from American artists.
I think we're always doing something for teenagers and youngsters because BTS originally performed itself as a socially conscious band. We always wanted to sell our performances like we did with our debut.
I wake up. If I have a rehearsal, I go do that, and when I come back to the hotel, I sit down and turn on the laptop, 'cause I've got nothing to do without that!
Music transcends language. BTS communicates with our fans by staying true to ourselves and believing in music every day.
I taught myself English. My English teacher was the sitcom 'Friends.' Back in the days when I was, like, 15, 14, it was like a syndrome for Korean parents to make their kids watch 'Friends.' I thought I was a victim at that time, but now I'm the lucky one.
I've had to accept that - that everyone cannot love me. Because when there's love, there's hate. When there's light, there's dark. But it was really hard to accept as an artist that there's a lot of people that hate me, but on the other side, there are many more people who love me. I think everyone goes through that.
It's not easy to run a social media account over a long period of time, but we love communicating with our fans every day and night.
Our lyrics deal with real issues that face all humans: choices in life, depression, self-esteem. And the fans know that we are there for them, and they are there for us.
When I wrote the lyrics, melodies, and the first themes of 'Serendipity,' I tried to come up with some rare things you find in life, something very special, like the calico, three-striped cat; things that have extraordinary meanings in people's lives.
No sleep makes a human into another human.
We're trying to say that if you, in love, when you're not true to yourself, the love won't last. Because love is complex, and we always have the dark sides and the sad sides.
It was like a cliche for the parents in my hometown to let their kids watch 'Friends.' I had no interest at first, because I could not understand a word.
I love to try the local food wherever I am. But I'm not that adventurous when it comes to eating. I prefer to be safe. I have failed at eating some daring food.
It is in our genes that we think of breaking up when we love and of failure and fall when we succeed.
In many countries, when I gave the name 'Rap Monster,' I often heard that it was 'too much.'
If you want to love others, I think you should love yourself first.
I go to somewhere I haven't been and just watch people and colors. That's my inspiration.
It's my official role to represent BTS to the world, and it's been a chance for me to mature as a person, but behind the scenes, I'm just one of seven members, and I'm inspired by the others all the time.
I was an underground rapper and only 16 years old, a freshman at high school. Bang thought I had potential as a rapper and lyricist, and we went from there. Then Suga joined us.
Popularity is a bubble. It's a mountain: you can go up really hard but walk down really fast.
The concept of The 'Most Beautiful Moment in Life', that was chapter one for us; it feels like that because we were starting from the bottom, but on this concept, 'Love Yourself', we started to talk about some brighter things, like the real things in life.
