Whenever he’s asked about his accomplishments, Jin starts by saying how thankful he is to others. When asked about things that could have been taxing, he laughs it off before he finishes speaking, like it was nothing at all. What I’m trying to say is, he’s a really good person.
Shirt by Dolce & Gabbana, necklace by Tiffany & Co., ring by VOKCHOI.
Is your finger getting better?Jin: It’s much better now. (laughs)
You had to be careful even during your performance at the Grammy Awards. Just watching you made me nervous.
Jin: By that point it had already been a while since I injured it, so it didn’t hurt too much. But they said I might reinjure it if I hit it really hard, so I was careful about any moves where I might hit it, just to be on the safe side. It didn’t really hurt too much. Because we’re always so focused on the performance when we’re on stage, sometimes we bump into each other’s arms really hard when we turn or something. If that happened, I might have needed to get more surgery. I just sat out to prevent that from happening, not because there would have been a problem if my hand lightly came into contact with something. I had to be careful because in the event that there was another problem I wouldn’t have been able to attend anything else we had planned.
You were a little far away from the other members and playing a supporting role at the start of your performance at the Grammys, but then later on you joined them and danced together. How did it feel watching the other members from afar?
Jin: They looked cool. There are other cool artists, too, but that was the first time I was ever personally in a position to watch the other members perform together in person, and they looked cooler than anyone else to me. I feel like now I know why people become fans. I performed in a number of songs in Las Vegas, too, but in between, I started to feel like I was watching a BTS concert, too—watching BTS, and watching ARMY.
So you were the center of attention onstage, but at the same time you watched the group and ARMY from a distance.
Jin: When you play games, sometimes you have to choose between playing DPS or playing tank. I felt like I was acing it as both DPS and tank at that concert. (laughs) It felt like I didn’t lean either way and fulfilled them both evenly. I felt really bad because I wasn’t able to perform for ARMY and sad for myself because of my injury, but in one sense it was a refreshingly unique experience that I’m not likely to ever have again.
How did it feel to see ARMY in concert for the first time in two years?
Jin: When we were about to do the first concert in LA, I kept saying to the other members, “What if I cry while we’re up there?” I tried not to become overwhelmed by that kind of sentimentality, but there were times during the concert when one of the other members would be speaking or something and I just stared out at ARMY. I loved that feeling. I seriously thought, Wow, this is crazy—it’s just like a movie. Yeah, this is how I used to live. But I did my best to keep those emotions down since I wouldn’t have been able to put on a professional-grade show if I had kept it up.
Would you say that things like coming out at the end of the concert with a silly hairstyle are your way of expressing your feelings toward ARMY?
Jin: I do that because ARMY likes it. Even though it only lasts a really brief moment, they find it fun. If they’re enjoying it, I do, too. I mean, it’s rare that just one person laughs alone. We all laugh together. I was looking for that kind of mutual exchange, too. But I couldn’t do it in Las Vegas. We were so busy getting ready that I ran out of material (laughs) so I finally understood how the concert writers feel: Man, what am I going to do? (laughs) I’ll have to think of something brand new when we end up doing our next tour.
The way you continued to play your part at the concerts in many different ways, even after sustaining an injury, seems to have left a deep impression. j-hope showed the enormous amount of respect he has for the positive influence you have on the group during the concert.
Jin: As he said, I tried my very best to miss as little as possible at the concert, despite my injury. But what I’m really thankful to Hobi for and makes me feel bad is—the fact is, I wasn’t really in the performance, so I didn’t really deserve that kind of respect, but I’m so grateful that he complimented me and said nice things about me. I always knew j-hope was a really good guy, but this once again reminded me of the fact. The fact that he understood my situation and praised me for working hard anyway made me feel sorry and thankful at the same time.
It’s fascinating the way you’re able to hold onto that sense of trust between members. It also reminds me of some of the lyrics from “Yet To Come” off Proof: “I saw lots of changes but Say everything stayed the same.”
Jin: I find it fascinating, too. They’re all very ambitious, but I think you could say they’re not that ambitious at the same time. They are extremely ambitious collectively as the group, but they set aside their personal ambitions sometimes, believing that the group comes first. I’m more fascinated than thankful about how this is even possible, but still, everyone puts the group first. I’m grateful for the very fact that they’ve all made certain personal sacrifices to better fit with the group’s needs and I think Namjoon is amazing for the fantastic job he did coordinating everything and everyone.
What is it that allows you to maintain that kind of atmosphere?
Jin: I think that’s because everyone just puts the group before themselves. And working as a group of seven people is better for both our own happiness and for ARMY’s enjoyment, which in turn makes us focus more on the group. I think we were able to put on such big concerts and make it to the stage at the Grammys because we function as a group of seven. There are some things you can do and some kinds of happiness you can only experience as a group.
I’m sure the birthday event ARMY held for you during the LA concert was one of them.
Jin: Of course! That event was something I could experience entirely thanks to everything we’ve done as a team to make it where we are today. I was seriously moved in a way I have never been before. Honestly, where else could you experience something so touching? 50,000 people, all singing happy birthday, and the man of the hour is me. It was like being the protagonist in a novel. And to think, when we debuted, I thought it would be so nice just to have a concert in front of 3,000 people.
By the same token, it would probably be impossible for you to have ever experienced doing something for that many people if your life had turned out differently. I was impressed how you create events for your countless fans, including the way you had what you wanted to say about “Super Tuna” prepared in advance, when you were doing your birthday V LIVE.Jin: I’m the sort of person who feels comfortable when I have to talk with someone, like conversing back and forth, but put me in front of a camera alone and sometimes I won’t have much to say for very long. To the point where I find it amazing that people can stream themselves alone. So naturally I plan things out. Sometimes I think maybe I would have been really good at planning things if I had become an office worker instead. (laughs) But I mean, I love having fun with ARMY. I probably wouldn’t have any reason to do anything if it weren’t for ARMY. I also could have released “Super Tuna” on December 4 this year instead, but I’m glad that I got it done quickly. I didn’t think people would really like “Super Tuna” much. I guess you could say it feels like I’m doing office work and wrote a proposal, and then it went all the way up to the company president, who then said, “Go for it!” (laughs) It feels fantastic.
It sounds like, with things like V LIVE and “Super Tuna,” you’re trying to do things for ARMY’s sake.
Jin: As I said earlier, I like gaming. Games have to be updated to make them more fun, even if the users didn’t ask for it. I think we’re similar to that. Just like I feel happy when I play games, ARMY feels happy being our fans. And they do that while listening to our music and enjoying our new content. I tried thinking of ARMY as the user. That led me to want to keep them satisfied.
Was that the intention behind “Yours,” the song you sang for the TV drama Jirisan?
Jin: The group was spending less time performing at the time and I figured ARMY would like it if they had a new song to listen to at that point. It would have been a little bit random to just release a song out of nowhere, but I was recommended a good project so I took it. To use another game analogy, a lot of times game characters will have their own jobs and stats. But even if there’s frequent patches for the whole game, I would hate it if my character’s the only one whose stats don’t get buffed and stay the same when all the other characters get upgrades. (laughs) So that’s how I think about what I need to do and then get to work on it.