BTS’ Suga on going solo as a K-pop rapper and why individual success won’t come between bandmates – ‘We’re real brothers, period’

Ahead of his military service later this year, Suga has just completed the US leg of his sold-out tour, which comes on the back of his solo debut album, D-Day
The rapper, who also goes by Agust D, talks about the strong bond among the bandmates, who he sees as ‘family members’, during this difficult time for the group

K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop

Tribune News Service

Published: 7:15pm, 18 May 2023

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With six chart-topping Billboard albums and six No 1 singles on America’s Billboard Hot 100 chart, BTS are the most successful act in South Korean history.

But with their expected long pause for military service, their renewed focus on solo careers, and the existential crisis of K-pop in general, the future of the group is anything but certain.

Each of the band’s seven members is set to enlist for their mandatory 18-month stint in South Korea’s military at times depending on their respective birth dates.

Jin and J-Hope are currently serving, and in the meantime those not yet conscripted have the chance to reestablish themselves as solo acts.

(From left) BTS members Jungkook, V, Suga, Jin, RM, Jimin and J-Hope of music group BTS at the 62nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, in 2020. Photo: Getty Images

For the band’s label, Hybe – itself in the midst of a global acquisition spree – billions of dollars are on the line. The company’s chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, recently stated that there is no set date for BTS’ comeback, though he hopes they can return in 2025.

Ahead of the start of his military service later this year, group member Suga has just completed the US leg of his sold-out tour. The tour comes on the back of his solo debut album, D-Day, performed under the alias Agust D (he has two other mixtapes as Agust D).

A lot of people think that the relationships between K-pop band members are kind of fake, but that’s not true

Suga

He will also be stopping in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan before returning to Seoul in June.

Suga, born Min Yoon-gi, says there is no competitiveness between BTS members.

“Are you competitive with your family members? Do you get jealous if your brother or your sister does well?” he asks with a laugh during a Zoom interview. “We’re real brothers, period. If I do well, that’s good. If my family members do well, that’s even better.”

Suga’s Agust D alias has long turned heads with violent videos that make use of swords – as in his 2020 video for “Daechwita” – and even chopsticks as weapons, as in the grisly video for “Haegeum”, the new single from his album.

It’s tough to square this genuinely transgressive solo artist with the snazzy-suited, fleet-footed heartthrob from BTS’s Hot 100 hit “Butter”.

Suga has had an underground streak since his pre-BTS days, taking production notes from pioneering Korean rap acts like Epik High.

“BTS has some bright and cheery songs, but I’ve been doing music without any filter all the time, so I wouldn’t differentiate between Agust D and Suga, because they are both me,” he says.

Still, D-Day is a stand-out, and not just for the sub-shaking production and gory videos. “Haegeum” laments modern life in South Korea: “Maybe we do it to ourselves/ Slaves to capitalism, slaves to money/ Slaves to hatred and prejudice/ Slaves to YouTube, slaves to flexin’.”

The album also reflects on the music that helped Suga become a serious artist. His track “Snooze” was one of the late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s last collaborations, an artful yet stern track that took Suga back to his days of learning to sample as a teenager.

“I’m not very good at piano, but I remember playing [Sakamoto’s song] ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ all day when I was young,” Suga says.

“It’s impossible not to be influenced by [Sakamoto] if you’re born in Korea. When I was young, I needed instrumentals without a voice to sample, so I reversed and chopped his music. I am very grateful I can call him a mentor even though I only met him once.”

While Suga is playfully cynical about accolades like Grammy Awards – “Isn’t that a local thing?” he jokes, echoing South Korean film director Bong Joon-ho’s quip about the Oscars – he has nuanced thoughts about his place in hip hop.

Suga in Seoul, in 2022. The rapper says he’s been making music “without any filter” for a long time. Photo Getty Images

“I did have that differentiation when I was younger. I hoped that [rap fans] would approve of my music,” he says.

“But I have this very firm belief that if I go to a hip-hop concert, where there’ll be only hip-hop fans, well, BTS fans are hip-hop fans too. I’m a huge fan of hip hop, but what’s important here is that it’s not empty words to do music for the people that have sent you love and support.”

As the members of BTS adjust in these transitional years, they’re still in one another’s lives. Jimin debuted atop the Hot 100 with “Like Crazy” in March and Suga looks forward to cheering his bandmates on when their times come.

“If you live for 13 years in one house under the same roof 24/7, you become a family,” Suga says.

“A lot of people think that the relationships between K-pop band members are kind of fake, but that’s not true. For me, it’s more like, ‘Oh, Jimin, hi! You made it to the Hot 100, I’m so proud of you!’”

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