BTS Talks About the Super Bowl, ‘Arirang’ Battles, and Jung Kook’s Explicit Lyrics | Cover Story

We're just so small. We're just a boy band from Korea. Oh, come on. Oh, come on. Guys, welcome back to the cover of Rolling Stone. We're back. 100 songs, 110 songs. I've heard from you guys that there were many, many songs. How do you narrow that down? How do you decide what to focus on? How many of them are finished? What are the ones that aren't on the album? What do they like? Are the ones you miss? Does it ever become not a fight but an argument about, I love this song, you don't love this song, this song has to be on there? How intense does that discussion get? Because it's important what makes up an album. There were a lot of conflicts. Like, yeah, which to go and which not to go. Maybe two of us really strongly claimed that this song has to be on the album. If they have some logics or stuff, even the major number is going to like, ah, this has to be on there. There were so, so many conflicts. I can't even remember. So you could have chosen 14 different songs and we would be having a whole different discussion about what kind of album this is. Is that fair to say? Does anyone have like one song that they're still thinking about that they can't let go? This album is so strong, so good. And I feel like it's at least in part the answer to the question that you all posed in 2022 after Butter and Permission to Dance and Dynamite, that there was a question of who BTS was and what you would do next. But I was wondering about how everyone felt about hitting that moment and the sort of debate about what to do next. So I think the only consensus we had after the ministry was that we all are rooted in Korea. And then we came through quite a journey, if we could call it like that. Then let's start it from there and let's get back to some point. But let's move on for the song parts. So it was all about controlling and finding some point musically, visually. I think we're still, you know, everyone thinks different right now. So, you know, but the Korean thing was that, I think that's our identity. I feel like there's also a push and pull in general between the rappers and the singers, which sort of predominates. Everyone gets their shot on this album, but I feel like there's a slight rebalancing back towards the rapping, which is really very core to BTS. I wonder how conscious that was. I love on Hoog and I'm obsessed with the falsetto part. You know, it's so fun to hear everyone sing it. What do you remember about coming up with that part and also distributing it among the singers? Who has the highest range? Who can hit the highest falsetto? One of the key decisions, it seems like making this album, was to include Arirang on Body to Body. How did that become part of that song? Himnan Bang, which is our head director, he came up with that idea and he and his producer edited it into one song and then gave us a listen. And then first time, nah. Second time, okay. I'm getting convinced. Third time, I think this version should be like this. People may forget, but you have actually sung that. It's of course not in the album, but you have sung that whole song in the past. It's a haunting song, a beautiful song, 600 years old. If you're a Korean, everyone knows the song. Mouth to mouth. It's not in the textbook or from the school. Everyone just somehow gets to know the song in Korea. And I told you before, we couldn't reach a specific consensus even after the military. But I told you, there was one thing that we all know, that we are all rooted in Korea. And the label also talked a lot about the things, what we want to do next for the 2.0. And they taught us all the histories about Howard. It was in 1896, exactly 130 years ago. The funny thing is that there were seven guys took the ship to record the first song with the Korean lyrics and Korean voice. So I think it's very, we felt like this is a kind of destiny and like a time machine, like they were sending to us maybe. So if we claim ourselves, our next chapter as, you know, like a new Arirang, then I think it could symbolize us very well. And it's going to be really, really cool. The resonance is really cool. The Howard thing is amazing. That was an amazing idea. But the song Aliens is at least a double entendre. It's like, you guys are so cool and so unique. You're like space aliens. But there's also an element you're talking about, sort of the idea of being seen as foreign when you go abroad, I think. I think both things are happening in that song. Tell me about that metaphor and that song coming together. Endless. The original theme was endless. So I was like, endless, like something like that. And it was, the song was really catchy. It sounded nice. Mike Will made it. He's a crazy producer. He's so great. And, but, you know, like, it's something, something endless. Okay. Maybe we need a more sharper, achy theme. And I don't know, like someone who came up with that idea, but endless and aliens, they sound really similar. So we changed to aliens. And I wrote the lyrics with, you know, what if we just, you know, we, we, we just claim ourselves as aliens to all those foreigners abroad and to saying like, brother, please get your slides, you know, indoors. Because, you know, I know you guys go to the hotel bath with your shoes on and that's so dirty. It's something, you know, just a little like a humor and like sarcasm like that. Yeah. So we just, you know, since this album is about the, um, being proud as Korean and an Asian, we tried to put some, um, the materials that we, you know, uh, only have, uh, that we are Koreans and we're from the far East Asia. If you're aliens, I think there's a hope that maybe you'll land your ship at the Superbowl next year. I'm wondering how you guys feel about that for, for some reason after, after Bad Bunny is of course American, but he was so cool, but, and it was so amazing. But I think the idea of a non-English language Superbowl halftime show, suddenly people were thinking, well, why not BTS? So I wonder how, how you, how you all feel about that? I think it's a dream come true for any artist to perform at the Superbowl. Especially for the artists in the cultural field, it's a really, really amazing stage. So we're going to do our best to do what we're supposed to do, and I think we're going to do our best to do what we're supposed to do. I saw the stage, and it was a really cool stage. So I'm imagining it. We're a group with a lot of performances. If we do it, I'm imagining what kind of performance we can do there. That's when they called us, so if there's a chance someday, I'll take the opportunity. Jungkook, you were grimaced when I said Superbowl. Jungkook was almost there because, you know, Usher invited him before the military. But yeah, it didn't work out because he went to the military. So, you know, it's like officially, unofficially, I think it's the best event and a show stage, you know, in the whole world. And Bad Bunny, he was amazing. And he's, I know he's from Puerto Rico, and he's also an American. So I think there was kind of context between all of that and the flow of the everything. But yeah, we always thought of like, what if we, you know, like do some parts in Superbowl? Maybe we could like collaborate with other artists, like The Coldplay and Bruno Mars did, and like Lady Gaga did with this time with Bad Bunny. You know, maybe if the time goes by and the thoughts in the people change, get to change, you know, all of the people in the world are watching like Parasite, all those great things, like Korean culture. So, you know, if there's a chance, then I definitely want to someday. I wanted to ask what you all thought the first time you heard the lyrics to Jungkook's Great Song 7, the explicit version. Since he's the youngest of the band, if you were shocked or amused or if you gave him ---- on text or what? So it was F-word before Love, and label wanted to change it to Love. It was originally F-word. But I told the label, please don't change. Like, why not? He's all grown up. He can sing. Were you at all shy to have them all hear that? When on 2.0, you know, you talk about trying to leapfrog and basically you're addressing theoretical competitors, you know, people trying to keep up with you. But it's weird because you don't, I was trying to think who those competitors will be that you're in your own category. So many cool producers on this album, and I know you're a producer yourself. And I'm curious, you know, some moments where maybe you learned something from something like from a Kevin Parker or, you know, things that may have, or maybe where they learned from you, because that's very possible too. Fire is such an incredible song. But I think that's the one where you, there's a mention of both Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. And I was wondering if some of you might want to talk about their impact. So I mean, they are, you know, they're just truly icons. And Fire just started from the word fire because it was the most used words out of the whole session. Like when somebody likes a beat or a word or an outfit, then it's like, that's fire. That's fire. That's fire. It's like, like a hundred times a day. We hear it like every day, every day. And then every, everybody started to use the word. See all of us making fun of the American producers by saying, but because they keep saying it, right? Oh, that's fire, bro. That's fire, man. So we're trying to copy them like, yo, that's fire too. You know? So I just like, use that word into a song. It just perfectly matched the beat. And then I just hope it could be like a, like a nuts song, like, like just mosh pit. Everyone just could just, just jump and just, just doing the mosh pit thing. And then why we use the, the Britney and Michael Jackson is there because there are surely icons and nobody just, you know, doesn't know them. That's all. Yeah. 2.0 was almost addressed at yourselves. You said, but I mean, when, if I think of any competition for you, I think of, you know, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars, if there's any competition, that's who it is. They're, they're greater artists than us. We're just so small. We're just a boy band from, from Korea. And actually 2.0 is, you know, it's about, it's about a lot of things. It's also, I also thought about haters just like, you know, there are still, um, I think there are really people who just pray with a bottle of water in their home and then just please, um, BTS, just go fall down. Just, just please, BTS just break apart and collapse. I think there are people something like that. It's just, we're thinking about, you know, it's like, okay guys, for two, three years, we have been a part like, you know, to all the ministry and three are past and people are still, you know, there are armies like waiting for us. The world is waiting for us. So you guys had your little fun and then knock, knock and pew, pew. Oh, bye. That's it. BTS collectively. Thanks so much for joining me. And again, welcome back to the cover of Rolling Stone. Thank you for inviting us. Thank you.