K-pop megastars BTS have talked about their role in empowering youth in their home country of Korea, saying: ‘the future is now’.
The band have become the poster boys for the burgeoning K-Pop scene as they break out of their home scene on to the global stage.
Speaking to Billboard Magazine, BTS talked in depth about a range of issues that form their sound – a positive, rebellious fight against a dense South Korean millennial system and the pressures of living in a metropolis such as Seoul.
‘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.
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‘This is to say: “The future is now, and our now is us living our future,”‘ explained band member RM.
Aside from talk about the influence of their followers (‘The American Music Awards were the biggest gift we could have gotten from our fans’), conversation also turned to the recent loss of SHINee member Jonghyun who sadly took his life in 2017, and how the band want to ‘create an environment where people can ask for help’.
BTS paid their respects to the idol on the first day of his three-day funeral, with their fandom (the ARMY) sending their thoughts to SHINee’s fans the Shawols.
‘We went to give our condolences that morning. I couldn’t sleep at all that night. It was so shocking, because we had seen him so often at events. He was so successful.’
Suga added: ‘It was a shock to everyone, and I really sympathized with him.’
Although RM then said that was all they could say on the matter, Suga continued to discuss mental health.
He said: ‘I really want to say that everyone in the world is lonely and everyone is sad, and if we know that everyone is suffering and lonely, I hope we can create an environment where we can ask for help, and say things are hard when they’re hard, and say that we miss someone when we miss them’.
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