While BTS fans wait for the comeback of their beloved idols from military duty, a throwback interview with group leader Kim Namjoon, better known as RM, provides insight into his introspection regarding BTS’ growth. RM, joined by Suga, Jimin, V (Kim Taehyung), and Jungkook, entered the military in December 2023 and is due for discharge in June 2025.
Namjoon’s Honest Take on BTS in 2020
In a 2020 interview with Weverse Magazine, Namjoon spoke candidly about his changing attitude towards the group. Looking back on the journey since BTS’s debut in 2013, he confessed his previous confidence had turned into something more tentative.
He said, “BTS is … Well, it’s really difficult to say. (laughs) When BTS first began, I thought, ‘I know everything about BTS,’ but now it’s, ‘I don’t know anything about BTS.’ Previously, I used to think that I knew everything, and that anything could be done. Call it childish or ambitious. But if I asked myself, ‘What is BTS to me?’ I would say, we’re just people who met one another because we were destined to.”
How BTS Formed
Namjoon also spoke about the coincidence of how all seven members—himself, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—ended up coming together to create BTS.
He said, “But somehow the stars just aligned and a startup firm became a unicorn with great timing and a lot of smart folks. In retrospect, there were lots of ironies and contradictions here in this industry. I convinced myself I resolved them one at a time and then finally the whole thing. But now I feel like I don’t know anything at all.”
Continuing to look back on his career and life during his twenties, Namjoon continued, “Anyway, to conclude: My young, careless twenties. My twenties’ affairs. There were a lot of contradictions, folks, fame, and conflict intertwined, but it was my option and I got a lot of benefit out of it, so my twenties were a intense yet also joyful experience.”
BTS Military Timeline
BTS group members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook are on hiatus at the moment, owing to mandatory military service. Jin already served and finished in June 2024, and J-Hope followed. The remaining members are set to reunite after finishing theirs this year. Their last performance as a group was at the Yet to Come concert in Busan in 2022.
