\n\t\trom the beginning, BTS<\/a> were never quite like other idol groups in South Korea, and their leader was a big reason why. RM, born Kim Namjoon, was a studious teenager whose only rebellion was \u201cgoing to the street and rapping\u201d when he signed on to BigHit Music, which eventually built BTS around him. His underground roots and alt-leaning instincts are most fully realized on his solo albums, Indigo<\/a> and Right Place, Wrong Person<\/a>, but he also pulls his group\u2019s music in edgier directions \u2014 his favorite Arirang<\/a> track is \u201cFYA,\u201d partly because it brought in JPEGMafia as a co-writer, with producers including Diplo and Flume. In conversation, RM holds nothing back, in part because he\u2019s thinking of posterity. \u201cI think this magazine and this interview with you is just another record,\u201d he says, sitting in Hybe\u2019s Seoul, South Korea headquarters in mid-February, \u201cso I could look back to it when I\u2019m, like, 50.\u201d (To read our group cover story<\/a> on BTS, click here<\/a>.) <\/p>\n
\n\tYou\u2019re a walking contradiction because your tastes are alternative, and yet you\u2019re the leader of the biggest band in the world, making great pop music for the masses.
I think that contradiction is my crisis, but at the same time \u2026 those two sides, they are in myself. I listen to pop music. I love it\u2026 I always track the charts. Sometimes when I don\u2019t want to use my brain too much, I just find the Top 50 Global and just listen to it. \u200aBut sometimes I feel like, \u201cMan, this is not enough. I have to dig more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s so interesting to listen to your solo albums \u2014 it feels like the kind of music you might\u2019ve made had there never been a BTS. It\u2019s interesting to me that you could even get to that place as an artist mentally.
When everybody is saying yes, I really want to say no. When I\u2019ve been doing BTS, I loved it, but I really did hate something, of course. And I just couldn\u2019t deny all those feelings. But I think I knew what to show to the people or what to just hide and just make it into an album. When I came back as a solo, I was thinking of \u201cMan, I gotta do this. I gotta say it, because if it\u2019s seven [members], I have to do my role.\u201d I have to sometimes be nice because lots of kids are watching us, but I started music on the streets, and by rapping. And I just can\u2019t resist that. Sometimes I feel like I just want to do this shit\u2026 So when it comes to solo projects \u2026 I could express maybe without thinking of economic things.<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n
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\t\tRolling Stone\u2019s May issue features the most ambitious cover-story package in the magazine\u2019s nearly 60-year history: eight different print covers in all. In addition to the group cover and story, we\u2019re rolling out the seven solo covers \u2014 each with a video and solo Q&A \u2014 through Monday, April 20. Click here<\/a> for continuing coverage, and click here<\/a> to buy a box set of all eight covers.\t<\/p>\n \t\tRolling Stone\u2019s May issue features the most ambitious cover-story package in the magazine\u2019s nearly 60-year history: eight different print covers in all. In addition to the group cover and story, we\u2019re rolling out the seven solo covers \u2014 each with a video and solo Q&A \u2014 through Monday, April 20. Click here<\/a> for continuing coverage, and click here<\/a> to buy a box set of all eight covers.\t<\/p>\n \n\tI could do a song with Little Simz, Moses Sumney. Those are great artists\u2026.. \u200aI really did try to, like, break the walls. I shaved all the hair. And tried to put no makeup on. And all those alternative sounds and artists. It was a really good challenge and I learned a lot, and that helped me a lot when it came back to the sessions in L.A. last year for this album.<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2022, you told Pharrell Williams you still loved music, but that maybe you loved visual arts more. Did you come back around, and how was that journey for you? \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n \n\tYou made it clear that the singles BTS released in 2020 and 2021 left you confused about what the group\u2019s identity was. \t\tWatch the video interview below\t<\/p>\n \n\t\u200aHave you thought of writing a book? \n\tWhat kind of things do you do to get out of your head? \n\tMilitary service was not easy on you. Are you still recovering psychologically? How is that going for you? \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tDid that experience change what you want out of life as a person? \n\tI think those were the times that I truly lived the present. I really don\u2019t want to think of the past and the future because they\u2019re just fantasy, but it\u2019s really hard just to focus on where you are right now\u2026. I always try hard to sometimes just put the phone down and maybe read books. I try hard not to think about the past [or the] future, because the future never comes.<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \n\tYou were in that dark place psychologically, and you got out of it. It wasn\u2019t forever. What would you say to a fan who feels that way right now?![\"Our](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/our-biggest-cover-ever-desktop.png\")
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I think music is always there. It\u2019s just the root, and sometimes you just can\u2019t resist when some music you love is turned on and you can\u2019t help dancing to it or nodding to it. And I think visual art, sometimes it requires more background and training and more intellectual things. In the military, I listened to so many albums. I think I\u2019m in love with music more right now, maybe.\u2026 The Dijon album was great. Spotify Wrapped, I checked it \u2014 Dijon\u2019s album, I think I listened to it more than 500 minutes.<\/p>\n
I think I still don\u2019t know. I think a musician should talk with their music.\u2026 I think I\u2019m still really confused because I thought in the military, maybe if it\u2019s just all finished and we all come back \u2026 then maybe there\u2019s some type of very precise, sharp consensus that we could all relate to, but which was not very true. So I think these 14 tracks could be the type of \u2014 it\u2019s still blurry, but it could be just an answer to the people wondering, \u201cWhat is BTS in 2026?\u201d But I think for this album, I try to express more universal things \u2014 like love, hurt, nostalgia. I think I\u2019m still into that, expanding personal experiences into universal emotions and feelings.<\/p>\n
I really did. But as you read books more and more, I think I can\u2019t, because there are too many great texts and writers in the world. I feel too shy when I just try to write something down. So I write diaries. I sometimes write stupid essays. Maybe years later, if I changed my mind, maybe I could combine them together and fix it. But I think writing a book sounds more scary to me than making an album.<\/p>\n
I think walking is great because when you take a walk and see the landscapes, your actual physical body is moving. So you just let it just move. It helps me calm down, and I could maybe just let the stress and all those thoughts go and look at the skies. But Instagram, YouTube, Netflix \u2014 they are taking my time to watch.<\/p>\n
I think I got out of it quite a lot, if we call it a cave\u2026 It\u2019s been eight months and I think I\u2019m good right now, but sometimes when I try to sleep and \u2014 when it pops up, [I say to myself], \u201cAh, man, forget it. I\u2019m done. I\u2019m not in the military anymore.\u201d But that experience hitting the rock bottom, psychologically, in truth, I think that helps me. Now, I\u2019m sleeping on my bed. I\u2019m good. I think that\u2019s the great self-therapy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I always want to live the present. The now. It\u2019s just there are so many things in 2026 that are distracting you and me from living now. We\u2019re thinking when you look at the Reels and all these Shorts that we\u2019re living now, but they just keep distracting me. So I really miss the times that I just walked in the rain and thought of everything.<\/p>\n
I got out of that \u2014 the crisis I had last year because of all those environments I had. I got out of it physically, but mentally, I\u2019m just admitting it, that essential sorrow. I don\u2019t know what it is called, but it\u2019s always there in some part of my heart. I think I\u2019m still in the middle of just meeting who I am. I\u2019m maybe too sensitive, [more] than the others.\u2026 Or I think too much.<\/p>\n