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BTS have big cause to celebrate right now. On Monday (August 31), their latest single ‘Dynamite’ soared to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making them both the first international and Korean band to debut in pole position. To celebrate (after sharing disbelieving messages with their ever-faithful ARMY on Twitter and Korean web platform Weverse), the band held a special press conference to discuss the incredible feat, reflect on their journey so far and look forward to all the greatness the future still holds for them. Here’s what we learned from the event.
Read more: BTS: “We’re eager to give comfort and joy through our music now more than ever”
They’ve talked about topping the Hot 100 a lot but never thought they would actually do it
If you’ve ever seen BTS talking about what they want to achieve as a band, you’ve likely seen them mention getting to the Number One position on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Despite that, and despite seeing themselves constantly progressing onto higher, greater heights, they say they never imagined they would actually get to tick that goal off their bucket list. “I didn’t think that BTS would be in such limelight,” V said, reminiscing on their humble beginnings in “a very small practice studio in a basement”.
“I’m still shaking, I’m still excited,” J-Hope added, grinning broadly, while Suga said the news still hadn’t sunk in for him: “It’s not like we strove to reach this goal, but it feels like a dream that we have. I actually pinched myself to see if this was real. The Billboard chart was something that was really familiar to me – I listened to the songs on the chart when I was little, so I have to thank all of our fans that made all of this possible.”
Suga’s next goal is a solo Grammys performance
Among fans, rapper Suga is affectionately known as Minstradamus for his ability to speak into existence all of his goals. It’s happened with a stadium tour, going to the Grammys, winning at the BBMAs and more. Now, he can add Billboard Hot 100 to the list of his predictions that have come true.
Unsurprisingly, seemingly being able to make whatever you want to happen manifest just by talking about it comes with some burdens. “This is a lot of pressure for me,” Suga laughed when asked what his next goal was, but he still shared something he would like to see happen next. “We went to the Grammys at the beginning of the year and we did a collaboration performance [with Lil Nas X]. Now, I would like to do a single performance – just BTS on the Grammy Awards stage.” Looking forward to seeing them on stage at the Grammys 2021, then!
They didn’t intend for their parody of a Korean comedian to end up in the ‘Dynamite’ B-side video
One of the highlights of the B-side version of ‘Dynamite’’s video – an even looser take full of bloopers – was the maknae line’s recreation of something that’s become a popular meme in Korea. Jimin, Jungkook and V parodied the gestures of comedian Noh Hong-chul from an episode of variety show Infinite Challenge but, it turns out, they weren’t deliberately trying to emulate the moves in the video.
No, jungkook, jimin, V they were clowning host of infinite challenge Noh Hong Chul! Jk part (try to wash his face) This is episode is most masculine member. This variety is popular in SK. pic.twitter.com/0os18LBdQN
— 김태형 (@taetaemaze) August 24, 2020
“Actually, when we saw the music video we were surprised too,” Jungkook said. “We saw this video that everyone was sharing and I did it lightly as part of the many gestures that we did. It was more of a joke, really.”
Jimin described Noh’s video as “a big hit” that they watched together, but they filmed the gestures only as part of a rehearsal shoot. “We watch our rehearsal footage so we did it so we could laugh among ourselves.”
They’d like to hold their own BTS festival in the future
Festivals might seem like a way-off dream at the moment, but here’s one potential plan for one to get you excited for their return – a big BTS bash. “We’d like to put on a festival, a really big performance to bring together everyone,” RM said. “That itself feels very unrealistic at the moment, but this is our very big dream – putting on a show outdoors.”
Whether they would stick to a BTS-only event like their normal shows are is unclear, but if they decided to book other artists, they could probably put together the best line-up ever. Who would turn down an invite from BTS right now?
RM wants to look back on 2020 as a year where BTS tried their best
One of the constant themes of the press conference was the idea of focusing on what you can do in difficult times. For BTS, that’s making music and spreading joy through their creations. Despite the current pandemic, they should be able to look back fondly on 2020 if they adopt the attitude of their philosophical leader.
“I would like to say in the future, ‘That was a tough year, but we did all we could, we tried our best,’” shared RM. “To remember this year as that kind of year we are working hard, we are recording our performances, we are trying to do what we can do in the positions that we are in. That’s what we would like to keep doing.”
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