Here's Everything To Know About RM From BTS And His New Album "Indigo"
RM, the leader of BTS, has released his first official solo album, Indigo, and it's every bit as thoughtful, layered, and moving as his fans have come to expect from him, while also being fresh and surprising.
The track "Wild Flower," featuring vocals from Korean rock star Youjeen, explores RM's musings on living like a firework (burning brightly but dying quickly) versus his yearning to be like a wildflower (calm, resilient, grounded).
The whole album, which RM describes as the "last archive of my 20s," spans various genres and includes featured artists on eight of its 10 tracks, each offering their own unique flavor to offset RM's own artistry.
With RM's trademark multilingual wordplay and vivid imagery inspired by art and nature — two of his driving passions — Indigo explores the themes that make up so many of our 20s: identity, life, death, creativity, burnout, loneliness, change, forgetfulness, friendship, love, and the loss of it.
RM has been creating music for half of his life, and his growth and maturation as an artist is evident on Indigo. It's the culmination of everything he's done before (and he's done a lot) — indeed, in a letter to fans on Weverse the night before the album's release, RM said, "All the pieces of my work, including my previous releases, were for me to put out this one album."
In order to understand RM and the context within which he's releasing Indigo, let's take a look back at his journey so far...
With an early interest in poetry and literature, RM (real name Kim Nam-joon) was drawn to hip-hop and rap, and began writing his own music in his early teens. He shared some of his music online and became increasingly known in underground hip-hop circles, primarily under the stage name Runch Randa.
His activities caught the attention of Big Hit Entertainment, and RM was offered a deal with the company in 2010, aged just 16. CEO Bang Si-hyuk intended to form a hip-hop crew around RM, which went through several iterations before being finalized as the hip-hop influenced idol group BTS.
During his three years as a trainee with Big Hit, RM — then known as Rap Monster — released several unofficial songs.
Meanwhile, RM became the leader of BTS, and the group debuted in June 2013 with the album 2 Cool 4 Skool and its lead single "No More Dream."
Since the beginning, RM has played an integral part in BTS's songwriting, contributing to the vast majority of their songs. While it's worth diving into BTS's entire discography to fully explore his musical journey, his solo songs within BTS as well as his own side projects give a comprehensive view of his creative interests and how he's changed and grown over time.
RM's solo work within BTS includes "Intro: 2 Cool 4 Skool," "Intro: O!RUL8,2?," "Intro: What Am I To You," "Reflection," "Trivia 承: Love," and "Intro: Persona."
These songs explore themes of dreams, fame, identity, creativity, anxiety, mental health, self-esteem, and love — topics that recur throughout RM's work.
This can be seen even in the unofficial songs he has released as a member of BTS — "Something," "Too Much," "Monterlude," "Unpack Your Bags," and "Always." He also released the chill song "Bicycle" unofficially, but it has since been given an official release on streaming platforms.
RM is also a prolific collaborator, bringing his own fierce style and poetic lyricism to his work with other rappers and artists.
Within BTS, RM has most often participated in sub-units with the other two rappers, Suga and J-hope, aka the group's rap line. Together, the three of them have showcased their varied techniques and interests in songs such as the "Cypher" series Part 1, 2, 3, and 4, "Intro: Skool Luv Affair," "Intro: Never Mind," "Outro: Her," "Outro: Tear," and "UGH!" as well as the unofficial fan favorite "Ddaeng." He has also collaborated with Suga on the BTS song "Respect," as well as the track "Strange" on Suga's D-2 mixtape, which he released under the pseudonym Agust D. The pair also released the song "All Night" with a guest spot from Juice Wrld for the BTS World game soundtrack.
RM has also worked on several songs with BTS's vocalists, including the unofficial songs "I Know" with Jungkook and "4 O'Clock" with V, as well as the BTS song "Stay" off the group's pandemic-era album BE.
With Jungkook, RM also featured on the Steve Aoki track "Waste It on Me."
That's far from the only external feature RM has done, too — he's kept himself very busy with outside collaborations, such as (deep breath): "P.D.D." with Warren G, "Change" with Wale, "U" with Primary and Kwon Jin Ah, "Fantastic" with Mandy Ventrice for the South Korean release of Fantastic Four, plus MFBTY's "Buckubucku," Yankie's "ProMeTheUs," Gaeko's "Gajah," Fall Out Boy's "Champion (Remix)," Drunken Tiger's "Timeless," Honne's "Crying Over You ?," Little Nas X's "Old Town Road (Seoul Town Road Remix)," Younha's "Winter Flower," eAeon's "Don't," and most recently Balming Tiger's "Sexy Nukim."
Of course, the best way to get to know RM and his music is through his extended solo works — starting with the 2015 mixtape RM.
RM is angry and ambitious, reflecting the then-21-year-old's life to that point, with a focus on his insecurities and mental anguish as well as his dreams and drive. It was released on SoundCloud, and there were also music videos for singles "Awakening," "Do You," and "Joke."
RM followed RM with another mixtape — which he calls a playlist — called Mono., an album that he describes as a diary of his early to mid 20s.
The track, "Forever Rain," was released with a moody animated music video. It's a quiet but complex mixtape, with tracks that emanate loneliness, listlessness, and yearning, but ultimately provide comfort to the listener.
Which brings us back to Indigo — and its track "Wild Flower" — RM's first official album as a solo artist and the record of his life from the release of Mono. to now.
Building on everything he's done before, Indigo is honest, vulnerable, beautiful, and mature. It not only highlights RM's growth as both an artist and a human, it promises even more exciting things in his future.
You can check out a playlist of all of RM's solo work and collaborations here:
What is your fave RM track? Let us know in the comments!
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