Hello, Welcome to BTS “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” Global Press Conference. I am your host, Kim Il-Joong. We were planning to invite the members of the press here with us for this event to celebrate BTS’s comeback, but we have decided to livestream the event via Youtube Live Streaming only, to prevent any possible danger posed by the Coronavirus outbreak. For those of you who have been waiting to attend today’s press conference, I ask for your understanding as it was a decision to keep everyone safe. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the members of the press watching the event online,for showing interest to today’s press conference. I wish you stay healthy Today, we will talk about the new album, “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” based on the questions from the press. In the Q&A session, the artists will answer the questions sent in via e-mail from the members of the press. Now, it’s time to invite today’s guests. Let’s invite BTS onto the stage. BTS, please come on up! BTS, welcome. It's really nice to see you. Please take your mics and before you take your seats, Can you please say hello? Two, three, Bangtan! Hello, we are BTS Thank you. Please take your seats. Members of the press from all over the world are tuning into today’s event, the Global Press Conference of BTS’s Fourth Studio Album “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7”. Can you please take turns to say hello to them? Let’s start with RM. Hello, this is RM.
Thank you to all the members of the press around the world for your interest in our new album We have to say hello to you not live but through YouTube today But we'll try our best to tell you as much as we can about our album Thank you. Now, V? Hello, this is V of BTS I'm nervous since it's been a while I'm so pleased to be able to say hello to members of the press from all over the world about our album I'll try my best Thank you. Hello, this is SUGA We're here with our new album MOS:7 It's unfortunate that we couldn't invite members of the press here today We're thankful we can at least tell our stories through this live broadcast Thank you Thank you. Jin? Hello, this is Jin It's been a while since we said hello with a brand new album We worked hard on this album, so I hope lots of people can enjoy it. Thank you Jung Kook? Hello, this is Jung Kook It's been a while Let me say hello to all the reporters tuning in, and of course our ARMY Thank you Thank you. Jimin? Hello, this is Jimin Like RM said, we thought we'd have members of the press present here today I'm sad that we could not invite you here today We'll try to answer as best as we can, as if you were all here with us Finally, we are back with our 4th full album I'm so happy we could share our album with you Thank you Hello, our reporters and fans, I'm your hope, j-hope Thank you for tuning in today to our live stream I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can We were planning to invite the members of the press here in this big venue, but we're coming to you live via Youtube Live Streaming. I was wondering if j-hope would say "I am reporter's hope" since none of them are here today, but you did. Of course I have to Since they are watching, right? I am sure we have many people tuning in today. For today’s global press conference, we will talk about the album by answering the questions from the global press. The words that you see here on the screen are keywords from the questions asked by the global press. You can see many keywords on the screen. We asked the press to send in their questions before the event and based on their questions, and we gathered the keywords on this screen. RM, is there anything special you would like to say to those who have sent in their questions? Once again thank you for being here today We'll do our very best to answer your questions Thank you There are a lot of keywords on both walls. If you choose the keyword that stands out for you, we’ll reveal the question about that keyword. Feel free to answer them. Let’s choose the first keyword. Can I ask Jin to choose the first one? I'll get started, then We have 7 members, so I will choose "7" Let’s see the question. MOS: 7 looks back at the seven years since we came together as a team We sang about the joys of the world and our images in our previous album, Persona We wanted to show something different this time We wanted to talk about the paths we traveled and our emotions We showed our deep inner selves, as our confession of acknowledging what's inside us I see that number 7 means a lot. There's one more thing Some of you might wonder why we have combined the concepts of Shadow and Ego in a single album Last year, we went on our extended vacation, after discussions with the company The comeback was pushed back slightly Having come back in ten months, we wanted to tell more and better stories So we discussed putting together the ideas of Shadow and Ego That's why the album contains both our shadows, the difficulties we faced, and ego, our acceptance of them as part of us So 7 became a very apt title. It's our first comeback in 10 months, combining both the ideas of the Shadow and Ego Giving it a somewhat weighty title of "7", I think this contains our soul, strength and effort that went into it Thank you RM, for your answer. We will continue with our next keyword. Let’s choose our second keyword. Who would like to go next? I'll choose this time. I will choose our title track, "ON" You asked about the lyrics I think I need to talk about our title track ON ON contains the powerful energy and sincerity of BTS We sometimes stumbled in the past seven years and sometimes we wandered a little Our shadows would become larger, and our fears too After seven years, I think we've grounded ourselves We learned how to ground ourselves, and the lyrics show our resolves to face and fight our fears The Kinetic Manifesto film for “ON” was also released last Friday with the album It’s a massive performance with us, dancers and a marching band We have our individual, unit and group choreography There's our powerful performance in it We worked hard to prepare for it, so we hope you will love it I saw the film as well and I was amazed. It was really massive. We will talk about the choreography later too but the performance made me think, "this is BTS." I will try to dance it somewhere so if you see me, please say something nice. I think it highlighted once again the presence of BTS as global artists. Now, why don’t we ask V to choose the third keyword? There's a lot of them I will choose "concept photos" Concept photo. We had four versions of concept photos unveiled before the album. From depictions of white and black swans to artwork recreated, to photos that showed your real undisguised selves, you could see all the charms of BTS. Now let's see the question. So the question is, what's the process of making the album? As perfectionists, how do you make your album? The solo tracks contain each member's personal story and their own unique genre The duets, we had our "Deja Vu" with Jung Kook, Jimin and j-hope This time we have me and Jimin's "Friend", and RM and Suga's "Respect" For the group tracks, they contain a variety of genres and styles V, it's "Jamais Vu", not "Deja Vu". I am deeply hurt We’ve shown you series albums such as HYYH and LOVE YOURSELF So we take the narrative of the album seriously That’s why MOS7: is a part of the MOS series The track list organically connects songs spanning Persona-Shadow-Ego “Black Swan”, for example, is a confession of the fears experienced by an artist “Louder than Bombs” featuring the world-renown pop singer Troy Sivan also is a revelation of the shadow within us We also have songs that display our “Ego”, such as “We are Bulletproof: Eternal” It expresses our will to keep on going even in the face of these trials Thank you, j-hope. MOS:7 has 20 tracks including the title track “ON” so I think it really shows all your effort and thought that went into it. Can RM choose the next keyword, please? I'd like to select our recent project, CONNECT, BTS It was a global art project with artists of modern art around the world as they found they could relate to the values of BTS such as positivity about diversity, connectivity and communication. Let's see the question. I think many people wanted to know more about this We've comeback after 10 months and we thought hard about what sort of projects we should do because we are receiving more and more love as time goes on This is something we think about before every comeback How we should promote or album and what sort of projects we should do in connection with our album that is why we decided to start CONNECT, BTS In fact, the reason why we started this project was this When we come back, the 7 of us can't be apart we all have to be in one place And when we make our comeback we can't have concerts at the same time in places like Buenos Aires, London, and New York, where the exhibitions are now being held So we are harnessing the power of contemporary art so that we do come back we will all be able to physically enjoy it That's how this project was started I've gotten to really like contemporary art, and I'm studying more about it The languages and the modes are different but really contemprary art and music deliver the same story They both convey the zeitgeist They convey values like connection and communication They are both forms of art That's why we collaborated to come up with a public art project Because you talked about visual projects We can't leave out the art film, "Black Swan" becase it was an all new experience for me as well We worked with a Slovenian contemporary dance team and they reinterpreted our song with a creative choreography I think some fans were surprised by it but since "Black Swan" is a sort of self-confession of the artists the focus was on expressing the artistic emotions That's why it's so different We tried to make the choreo for "Black Swan" reflect the art film so I hope you like it Thank you Thank you, Jimin. It showed how artists of music and modern art could inspire each other. Who would like to choose the 5th keyword? I'll choose next Jung Kook. I'll go with 2020 2020. It's this year. Let's see the question. There are two questions here and I think I can answer both in one go My answer is ARMY The precious moments we experienced so far and how we were able to be where we are today it was all thanks to ARMY Also, we started off 2020 at the Grammy Awards with so many amazing artists It was truly an honor to be there and again, that was also possible thanks to ARMY so I would like to thank each and every one of them This coming April, we will have a concert I can't wait to show ARMY what we have been working on live with our own voices I'm sure ARMY are looking forward to seeing us So are we so I really hope the day of concert arrives with everyone healthy and happy Jung Kook said ARMY is what makes you focus and happy in 2020. You also opened 2020 at the Grammys and BTS became the first Korean artist to perform. Can you tell us what that was like? Anyone? We went to the Grammys 2 years in a row It is such an honor Last year, we went up on stage to present an award Then, I really wanted to come back and perform and we did just after one year so it feels like a dream come true It reminded me of when we first went to the Billboard Music Awards we received our awards and I just couldn't believe it Performing at the Grammys this year was really fun and exciting and it reminded me of the Billboard Music Awards We received our award and then performed Continuing the getting the award then performing it felt like we are moving forward one step at a time towards the Grammys So it was a blast and I am looking forward to next year Of course you have to go. But we don't get to go just because we want to I'm sure if you want it, you'll make it. We'll try our best to go next year as well I hope so too. Yes, we'll try our best. Thank you, SUGA. We will look forward to it. Thank you for sharing that with us. Who’ll take the next keyword? I'll choose next I choose BTS BTS. Let's see the question. It's the first time I've been asked about our legacy I think our legacy would be our songs and albums and I hope they will be We expressed our stories through our lyrics We tried hard to make quality albums like Map of the Soul, or Love Yourself So albums are very precious to us and thankfully, despite the language barrier the fans understand, and listen, and empathize with us and we are thankful for that Just as the songs of artists from decades ago still speak to people now I hope that our songs can speak to the fans as well That would be our most treasured legacy It is a legacy, indeed. You're building legacy as you speak and I'm sure this legacy will be carried on for decades to come, as your songs will still resonate. Now, can we have j-hope select the last keyword? Since I'm the last, I choose goal Let's see the question. I think I should talk about the new album's goals MOS: 7 contains our individual stories, but I should say it's the story of all of us It contains our emotions over the past 7 years as well as those of our fans So I hope our fans can also share in these emotions through the album I hope it'll be a meaningful album for our fans as well I think that's our first goal If it is meanigful to you, I'm sure it will be the same for the fans. V? Our tour, that Jung Kook mentioned, I hope it goes well I hope we can stay healthy, not get hurt, and be happy Your goal is to be happy and stay healthy during the tour. I hope all of that comes true. Thank you for your candid answers. I hope everyone watching had a chance to get at least some of the questions you have about the new album answered. But this is not the end. No way. Although the members of the press are not here, they sent in their questions for the Q&A session. They have sent in their questions yesterday and today. English interpretation will also be provided for the answers. I would like to thank the press for sending in their questions. Let's see the first question. First, I'm a fan of Director Bong. I've seen all of his movies Yes, I'm a fan I understand that he was answering a question about Korean culture I think it's high praise indeed, I'm actually embarrassed. I'm not sure if we have that kind of influence. I think there's still a long way to go He said Korea is an emotively dynamic country with many fantastic artists We're really thankful that he mentioned us in that vein I think he wanted to say that he hoped more Korean artists will find fame on the international stage I'm very thankful, and Parasite was amazing. Big fan That was his message to Director Bong. He said "3000 times," and you might not know this, but BTS is the bridge that connects the world to Korea with K-pop and Director Bong Joon-ho is doing that with his films. Can we see the next question?
