One yr in the past in the present day, the chief of the world’s greatest pop group stood beneath brilliant lights and instructed greater than 50,000 followers about his fears. Kim Namjoon, higher recognized by his stage identify RM, had guided his fellow BTS members by means of the vagaries of early-pandemic life—a canceled world tour, delayed music releases and life plans, sickness. In an emotional speech throughout a Los Angeles live performance final December, the then-27-year-old South Korean rapper confessed that he’d spent that point worrying concerning the future. What if their followers deserted them? What if he misplaced his skills as a performer? But, RM stated, these considerations had melted away. “I promise that … I’ll be even better when I’m 30, 35, or 40,” he declared, to an eruption of cheers.
Some folks would possibly discover this curious—a 20-something artist agonizing over his longevity. Since BTS debuted in 2013, although, RM has been extremely aware of the mark he’s wished to depart on the music world. In addition to writing a large chunk of BTS’s discography, he’s put out two solo mixtapes—2015’s RM and 2018’s Mono—that outline his fashion: cerebral, technically advanced, introspective, defiant, wordplay heavy. His lyrics grapple with the character of artwork, identification, fame, and love. As the group’s chief and solely fluent English speaker, he’s usually on the forefront of their public appearances, whether or not in TV interviews and award reveals or on the United Nations and the White House.
So it’s becoming that his first official solo album is a document that appears backwards. Today, RM launched Indigo, which he calls “the last archive of my twenties.” The 10-track challenge is a musically omnivorous, profoundly collaborative effort that also feels just like the work of an auteur—one who’s spent years refining his personal sound and thematic obsessions. At its core, Indigo is a piece of hip-hop, however RM infuses it with neo-soul, folks, R&B, digital, and rock. So instinctive is RM’s tendency to work with others that eight tracks function different artists (together with Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Kim Sawol, and Tablo). Listening to this album is like witnessing an individual carve his identify into the highest of a mountain as a method of claiming not simply I used to be right here, but additionally I’m glad you made it too.
When I spoke with RM on Zoom two weeks in the past, he appeared nervous about Indigo’s impending launch: “I just hope that time flies more quickly,” he instructed me. Yet a relaxed, earth-toned aura emanated from my display. His hair was a pure deep-brown, and he wore dark-rimmed glasses and a loose-fitting olive shirt. I used to be reminded that, regardless of being a pop star, RM is drawn to slower, extra contemplative types of artwork and engagement. He’s an avid reader (and literary influencer), a nature lover, and a museum goer, all of which comes by means of clearly on Indigo. For occasion, the album opener was impressed by the Korean painter Yun Hyong-keun, and the second observe playfully extends the metaphor of a “still life” to speak about stagnation and momentum. For RM, Indigo is a method of “speaking silence”—primarily, expressing himself honestly in a method that doesn’t trigger chaos or confusion.
“As a star, or as a famous boy-band member … it’s really hard to be honest and frank,” he instructed me. “People sometimes misunderstand you. Like, ‘You said something really insensitive’ and ‘I hate you’ … Emphasizing silence is really hard, because you have a lot of platforms, like Instagram and Facebook and YouTube; people have their own minds but can still be easily manipulated by algorithms and articles and other people.” In this setting, he stated, realizing when to speak and when to stay quiet is much more worthwhile.
Which explains why he hesitated to say an excessive amount of concerning the that means behind totally different songs. “These days, I’m thinking that empty space is really important to the audience … to digest the music on their own,” RM stated. “So I don’t want to reveal too many intentions.” Because of that, we didn’t discuss why his first phrases on Indigo are “Fuck the trendsetter”; nor did we dig into his exploration of intimacy on “Closer” and solitude on “Lonely.” But I did ask concerning the beautiful lead single, “Wild Flower,” which options the powerhouse vocals of Cho You-jeen, of the rock band Cherry Filter. (“For me, personally, she’s a No. 1 Korean rock star. She’s a legend.”) The tune isn’t fairly like something RM has launched earlier than; an epic that swirls like a hurricane, it’s honest, pleading, and filled with hard-won acceptance. The lyrics arrange a memorable distinction between fireworks and what he calls “flowerworks”: The former burn out brilliantly and rapidly, whereas flowers can exist humbly and peacefully for for much longer.
RM has spent a very long time—seven years, to be actual—desirous about this explicit metaphor and its intriguing contradictions. He famous that fireworks can draw tens of millions of people that wish to witness their magnificence for a 30-minute present. (I instantly considered the shows that concluded a lot of BTS’s concert events.) The spectacle of “flowerworks,” although, is easier and extra nameless. “I think of a field with tons of wildflowers that you don’t even know the names of. You just hold the flowers and throw them into the sky, and they come down so suddenly, maybe after five seconds,” he stated, an fringe of marvel in his voice. “I want to have a life like more of a wildflower.”
In some methods, you might consider his profession to this point as a unending sequence of fireworks: a number of Hot 100 No. 1s, sold-out stadium reveals, mammoth album gross sales, historic firsts, and a slew of each Korean and American music awards. The day earlier than we spoke, BTS obtained three Grammy nominations: two for his or her collaboration with Coldplay on the tune “My Universe,” and a 3rd for the music video for “Yet to Come,” which RM acknowledged is the group’s first Korean-language observe to be nominated. When I requested how he felt concerning the information, he replied so quietly that I nearly didn’t hear: “Never expected it.” He paused, then added, “I think that’s, you know, thanks to Coldplay.” Which appears like one thing a wildflower would possibly say.
Like a lot of RM’s previous solo work, Indigo is autobiographical with out being too literal. He’s keenly conscious that a lot of his youth has been captured on-line in numerous movies, images, and social-media posts. That willingness to attach is a part of what BTS’s followers, referred to as ARMY, love concerning the group. But finally, RM had an epiphany about all this self-disclosure: “My whole life was an exhibition,” he instructed me. “Unconsciously, or maybe consciously, I’ve been exhibiting my life for decades. So [I said], Okay, then let’s make it into a real exhibition.” He thinks the songs on Indigo unify totally different sides of his life over the previous few years, in addition to his totally different personas. “When you think of Piet Mondrian’s [work], all the paintings are titled Composition, right?” he stated, referring to the Dutch painter’s summary items. “At some point, I just realized [my identity] is a composition of my own … I want this album to be a composition of everything.”
That need to create cohesion out of many components is mirrored in Indigo’s collaborations. RM stated that every featured artist added “frequencies of their own,” and that many have been “my stars in my youth” whose music he listened to when he was having a tough time. This album will seemingly serve the identical objective for a lot of of his personal listeners within the coming months. In October, BTS’s label, Big Hit, introduced that the members are getting ready to step again from their profession as a way to fulfill their necessary navy service underneath South Korean legislation, earlier than hopefully reconvening as a gaggle in 2025. Indigo is anticipated to be RM’s final document till his enlistment ends, and in some ways, it performs like a farewell-for-now. But it additionally appears like an artist taking a deep breath and feeling out what new experiences and insights his profession would possibly herald 5, 10, or 15 years. He already is aware of the way it feels to face beneath explosions of colour and light-weight. Now it’s time for falling petals.