Bangtan Boys Facts

[Interview 1] TENASIA - BTS speaking of "화양연화"

BTS have come back. Their name is "bulletproof," but these boys with their strong knife-like choreography have gotten rid of their strength and have returned with a new appearance. BTS have released their 3rd mini-album "화양연화 pt. 1."

This time, BTS' album is full of the appearances of seven men who have gone beyond childhood and have grown up. Previously, BTS released their "school trilogy" that spoke of the dreams, happiness and love of teenagers. Now, BTS are leaving school behind and taking a step forward into "youth." BTS, speaking of youth, have also moved beyond their past of having only rapper line work on music and have shown a new, wider spectrum with vocal line participating as well.

BTS' "화양연화" that shows their maturation, how might they be thinking about these ambivalent moments of beauty and anxiety that are present in youth? For reference, during this interview, their magnae Jungkook was regretfully unable to participate in the interview due to his school tests.

Q. What's your impression of this comeback?
JH : It's our comeback after 8 months. Our anticipation is completely huge. Since it's a comeback after a long time, we're nervous and anticipatory about meeting our fans. We held on to some spite and it's full of our determination to work hard. Haha.

Q. The members have all lost weight and become warmer. Could there be a member who is rising up as the visual for these promotions?
JH: Personally, I think it's Suga hyung. He lost a lot of weight and I think he suits this concept the best. Elegance and innocence...
JM: The magnae Jungkook. No matter how you look at it, he's handsome!

Q. Please introduce this album.
RM: The title is "화양연화 Pt. 1." We ended our 'school trilogy' and now this is part 1 of the 'youth duet.' "화양연화" is the title of a movie, and it means the most beautiful moment in life. We think that in life, the most beautiful moment is youth. There are a lot of people who miss their youth and since we think we're spending our youth right now, we ended up making an album about youth.

Q. The title "화양연화" has some mystique to it too.
RM: The saying 'the most beautiful moment in life' seemed like the definition of youth. You can't really be sure what youth is, but we thought it was the moments that you miss the most and think about most beautifully. There are a lot of poems about youth as well. We thought it would be better to talk about it beautifully rather than just use the word "youth" as it is, and the nuance was good so it ended up being our keyword.

Q. Last year at the MAMAs, Jimin had a tattoo that said "화양연화," so it seems like that had some connection to the album.
JM: That's right. It was set from that time. The details weren't arranged concretely but it was something that happened while we were in the middle of planning the album.

Q. I'm curious about when is "the most beautiful moment in life" to BTS.
SG: Um... I think that a beautiful moment hasn't come yet. That's because I though that the reason that the title is "화양연화" is only through the opportunity of this album. I hope that these promotions have an opportunity to shine. Hehe.
JH: I hope that we and our fans can both discover the most beautiful moment in life.

Q. What kind of song is the title song "I NEED U"?
RM: It's an emotional song with a clear melody. There's a flute sound too. Firstly, basically the lyrics are full of the mournfulness of trying to hold on to a love that's almost come to an end. Honestly, if you ask why this song became the title, it's because we thought that although they say that youth is beautiful, it's simultaneously very short, so you can end up wandering and encountering many shadow-like hazards. Rather than the endless beauty of youth, we wanted to illuminate the darker and heavier sides of youth. It's a love story that could be told by a youth, but it's also full of lyrics that can be dangerous.

Q. So do you think that youth and love are the same?
RM: I think there are a lot of similar points between youth and love. Youth can end in a moment before you realize it. Similarly, although we love passionately thinking that it's something that will last forever, doesn't it wane eventually? I think there are some points that touch. So "I NEED YOU" was set as the title song of 화양연화.