IniDaMini

[NEWS] Big Hit Vice President Kim Hyun-jung: "Arirang has opened a new chapter for BTS" Q: What is the reason for your return from the U.S.? A: I rejoined at the suggestion of HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and the members. Q: What is your role? A: I oversee various projects ranging from BTS's music to brand management. In the case of BTS, because the members have very clear thoughts about their music and albums, I try to suggest different perspectives. Q: What was the most difficult part of preparing for this album? A: There was a lot of pressure on the members as they were standing in front of fans again after a long time. Q: There were also rumors of a disbandment. A: The members would find that quite absurd if they heard it. Their bond is that strong. Q: What was the scale of the session? A: The members participated for about two months, from July to August of last year. Including producers, more than 100 people participated. Producers stayed for as short as two days and as long as one to two weeks to work. Diplo was selected as the lead producer to oversee the local process before the members were discharged early last year, and two 'Pre-Song Sessions' were held in Los Angeles in April and May under the leadership of Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and the A&R (Artists & Repertoire) team. Q: Do you usually conduct songwriting sessions on such a large scale? A: We have worked on albums in the U.S. before, but we had never stayed together for a long period to write songs. Since this was a comeback after a long hiatus, we organized a larger and longer session. This started from Chairman Bang Si-hyuk's idea, who is the general album producer. The advantage of working with various people instead of designating just one producer is that you can approach the music from multiple directions. Thankfully, producers came from all over, including the U.S. and the UK. Q: How did you choose the version of Arirang used in 'Body to Body'? A: We spent a long time considering various methods, such as having the members sing it themselves or having a master singer record it separately. In the process of looking for a source that would fit, the producer discovered and used a recording from the 'KBS Folk Song Festival'. Q: There is criticism that there are too few Korean lyrics. A: This was to let more people hear the songs we worked so hard on. There were many instances where overseas broadcasters or radio channels were reluctant to play songs that were not in English. The case of overseas ARMYs sending bouquets to radio stations begging them to play the songs is well known. I believe the stations did this because they had to prefer a language more familiar to listeners, rather than out of discrimination against Korean. On the other hand, there were cases where English simply fit the music better. For example, in the case of the title track 'SWIM', the company, members, and producers discussed it together, but expressing it as 'Suyeong-hae' or 'Heom-cheo' (Korean for swimming/to swim) did not match the vibe of the song. Q: How did the work proceed? A: Every day, the members and producers gathered at the studio. They split into 3-4 rooms and discussed various things. The members were mainly involved in the melody parts, but they also worked on the song concepts together. For example, for the b-side track 'Hooligan', producer Algin Cho, who creates many experimental sounds, made the signature 'knife sound', and Jungkook came up with the word for the title. Q: How do you recruit so many producers? A: Basically, the A&R team handles it, but Chairman Bang had already discussed working with famous producers like Diplo in advance. There were also producers the members specifically wanted to work with, and one of them was JPEGMAFIA.