BTS International Press Conference for Dynamite

BTS, the boy band from Korea consisting of seven members (Jin, RM, j-hope, SUGA, V, Jimin, and Jung Kook) popular world-wide for their “Love Yourself” and “Map of the Soul” albums, hit the music scene hard and quickly and their fan army has grown at warp speed. They have championed a “Love Myself” anti-violence campaign that has gained them awards in their native country. The name BTS stands for the Korean expression Bangtan Sonyeondan literally meaning "Bulletproof Boy Scouts".

BTS "Dynamite" Official Video

 

The band formed as early as 2010 but didn’t hit world-wide popularity until the last few years. Now, fans are in the multi-millions and the boys will release a new album before the end of the year. Concerned about depression and helplessness over the world-wide Covid-19 virus pandemic, the guys wanted to cheer everyone up…including themselves. They were disappointed when they had to postpone a world-wide concert tour. On hearing the song “Dynamite” while working on the new album, they decided that it was just the upbeat disco pop tune that could cheer up them and their fans.

Here is what they had to say about the future, the single, sung in English, and their feelings about being entertainers in such a sad world.

Q. How have you been lately and what have you been doing?

• BTS: We’ve been doing a lot of things, working on our music, working on new songs for our album that we are going to release in the last half of this year. We are working really hard on producing it. We’ve also been spending time doing our hobbies and having a great time.
• We also had our online concert in June, although we couldn’t meet our army we were happy that we could perform. And we filmed a new reality program “BTS In the Soop”. (Soop means forest in Korean).

Q: Tell us about the song “Dynamite”.

• BTS: While we were working on the album we came across this song. It wasn’t on our (original) plan but we released this song as a digital single. It is disco pop with a very fun vibe. It sends a message of happiness and confidence. It’s bright and cheerful disco so I’m sure many people can dance to it. Lyrics are also cheery. One of the lines goes “I’m gonna light it up” so I hope many people can gain energy from listening to the song. We want you to hear it. As soon as we heard it we thought it was exciting even though we didn’t plan it (as a single). It made us feel good when we heard it. We wanted to share this energy with the fans as soon as possible.

Q: It’s all in English. That’s new for you. Why in English?

• BTS: When we first heard the song we all liked it. We thought that English lyrics fit the melody a little bit better. It felt new and different from what we’ve tried before. We all agreed that singing in English would be better. Releasing this digital single is a new challenge for us so more meaningful.
• Everybody in the world is going through tough times right now. Nobody expected this (virus). We couldn’t do a lot of things we had planned. We really wanted to be on stage and meet the fans. We felt empty and helpless and we needed something to overcome this so we took this opportunity to try something new. “Dynamite” is a song that can lift anyone’s spirits. We gained a lot of energy singing and practicing for this song.

Q: What is the message of the song?

• BTS: “Dynamite” sends a message of happiness and confidence. It says, even though we’re going through tough times, let’s find freedom and happiness through dance and music. I would say it’s a song dedicated to all the people who feel like they have fallen down while running a marathon. I hope it will cheer many people up in tough times. The message is even though things are difficult, let’s try to overcome these difficulties and keep going forward.

Q: We saw a glimpse of the dancing in the music video teaser but there are a lot of fresh moves. What kind of dance does it have?

• BTS: It fits the song really well, very cheery and fun and there are some easy moves that you can try yourselves. I’m sure the fans can (dance) in your own rooms. It’ll be really fun. There are a lot of gestures and moves that bring out our unique personalities. (They talk about some pointing at the camera that was extra fun).

Q: Fans got excited that “Dynamite” will be released for the first time on the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards.

• BTS: That’s a show we’ve never been on before and we’re really, really excited. Since it’s our first time we can’t wait to be on stage and meet many people. We will do our best on stage. It’s a new challenge and we are going to try some new things so hope you tune in.

Q: What are your future plans?

• BTS: Our goal is to release our new album and meet our army and on Sept. 10th “Break the Silence: The Movie” is going to come to theaters. Hope you enjoy it.

Q: Do you have a goal to place highly on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts?

• BTS: Chart rankings are always something we watch with a lot of nervousness and excitement. If it’s a good rank, it’s always a great honor but instead of having some rank as a target it’s better to do our best so we can repay the attention and love that our fans show us. Our goal for "Dynamite" is special. Everybody is going through hard times and we built this song to give a little bit of strength to people who listen to it. We want a lot of people to hear it and get reassurance from it. We hope it will be very meaningful to the fans as it is to us. Rather than waiting to put it on the album we wanted to share this right now with everybody. It was kind of a last minute decision.

Q: So was there some improvisation on the music video then?

• BTS: It was really free making the music video. There was a lot of room for improvisation so we made up a lot of choreography on site and made it really real and fresh. It was new for us. We want everyone to get energy from the song.

 

Q: What do you say to people who want to be new popstars or K-Pop artists? You’ve spent some time with artists in training.

• BTS: It reminded me of us when we were trainees. Even when you are doing your best I know you have this anxiety and nervousness. I want to cheer them up and encourage them. I also am learning a lot of things about not (taking my career for granted) and that I should keep going. Their concerns were not very different from how we felt when we were in their shoes. We could relate. It moved me to hear that they were going through these same things. But it is good to love yourself more and give yourself more confidence. There will be difficult moments but these experiences allow you to grow and develop.

Q: I’m sure the covid-19 pandemic has affected you and your music. How do you hope “Dynamite” and the new album will help people around the world?

• BTS: The difficult times are why we are releasing this song. We have a situation that nobody predicted. We had a lot of plans that did not happen so that time allowed us to think about music. We are as passionate about singing and dancing as anyone else. We decided we want even more strongly to heal people through our music.

Q: Your world tour concerts had to be rescheduled. Did that upset you?

• BTS: It made us feel very powerless. It was frustrating. These were things we couldn’t change even if we tried. It felt like we were running and we tripped. We were sad we couldn’t meet our fans on stage so we prepared the online concert to make up a little for that. But we realized we are best on stage where we can really be BTS. But online was a chance for us to come together and engage with our fans. We could feel the love and encouragement they were sending us. It’s important to communicate and encourage each other in as many ways as possible. We hope it gave strength and healing to people. It cheered us and gave us a lot of strength.

Are You a Fan?

Are the cute guys of BTS on your “gotta have ‘um” list? Are you into their poppy music? Were you waiting for a new tune? Talk up everything BTS here or on your Kidzworld profile page.

 

By: Lynn Barker