BTs unafraid of overcoming barriers, including the wall of Grammys
K-POP sensation BTS conducted a global press conference at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, after opening the curtains to the ‘Permission to Dance on Stage’ concert series the previous night, The Korea Herald reported yesterday.
The seven bandmates – RM, V, Jimin, Suga, Jungkook, Jin and J-Hope – shared their emotions and thoughts after reuniting with their global fans, known collectively as Army, in person for the first time in two years, and shared plans for the future.
“For the past two years, ‘ordinary’ and ‘normal’ were no longer normal, so it was a very sad and difficult time for everybody. We really looked forward to this concert and are really excited to be here and hope that we can impart some positive energy to all Army here,” V said, opening the event.
On the first of the four-day concert series Saturday, the bandmates were overwhelmed with emotions in finally standing in the same area with their fans.
“Seeing the stadium filled with all the fans got me really emotional, beyond words,” RM said.
“We were very nervous, and because we’ve been away from live performances for a long time, we were afraid that we might make a mistake. So we practiced much harder and longer than usual. But funnily, no one cried yesterday,” Jin said, laughing.
Two full years have passed without concerts, and the band has been working even harder to meet fans’ expectations.
“For the past two years, we felt powerless and were depressed. We tried to break out of that by doing what we could, releasing our songs ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Butter’, album ‘Be’ and ‘Permission to Dance,’” Jimin said.
“This year we created and released songs that tried to express our frustrations as authentically as possible and about the thought and consolation that we hoped to give,” Jungkook said.
“The fact that we received so much love for these songs that we’ve created gave us a lot of energy, and we hope we can pour in this positive energy that we’ve received in doing the concerts.”
A few days ahead of the event, the septet was nominated for a second time for a Grammy, for megahit ‘Butter’ in the best pop duo or group performance category. Last year, the group received its first Grammy nomination, but failed to grab the win.
“We feel excited and it still feels unreal. Grammys are something that I grew up watching. Being nominated for a Grammy and getting the final win isn’t easy and I’m thankful there are still barriers and challenges we can try to work to overcome. We hope that we can overcome them,” Suga said.
RM said, “We had countless shows and awards, but the recent artist of the year at the AMAs and the second Grammy nomination were truly something and really did mean something for us.”
On Nov 21, the group won the artist of the year award at this year’s American Music Awards ceremony, becoming the first Asian act to do so. The group also won for favorite pop duo or group and favorite pop song for ‘Butter.’
RM, also the group’s leader, continued,’As an artist, we started out in Korea. The limitations of our identity, language, genre and the invisible walls, we felt like they really existed. But every moment we tried to give our best, with all of our hearts, and I think each of those small moments truly made today’s miracle for us.”
The group hoped that the LA concerts become the start of their new journey, returning to normal, and hinted there may be more inperson concerts to follow.