RM from BTS, between doubts and “strange experiences”

The meeting was at 5:30 p.m., with the festivities starting at 6 p.m. This Tuesday, November 26, in Nanterre, a highly anticipated preview for BTS fans was held. The documentary “Right People, Wrong Place”, dedicated to the creation of RM’s album “Right Place, Wrong Person” was unveiled at the cinema. Already presented at the very prestigious Busan International Film Festival, in South Korea, this artistic project produced far from the spotlight of the Kpop world, follows the intimate journey of the leader of BTS, in complete sincerity.

But before discovering it, the ARMYs (name of the group's fan club) were invited to participate in several activities in order to celebrate this release in a good mood. Unfortunately, when we arrived discreetly in room number 1 of the CGR of Nanterre, which has more than 300 seats, the karaoke and quiz organized had already ended. We will therefore not know what the three winners who came first in these activities won… Blame it on uncooperative public transport. The metro, first, then the RER, both of which decided to put obstacles in our way. We even left an earring there. But the main thing was elsewhere. A few seconds after taking a seat on one of the last free seats, the documentary starts.

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RM and Kim Namjoon

And it is with an existential question for RM that he opens: “What does it mean to be a 30-year-old idol?” » “Right People, Wrong place” offers an intimate dive into the world of the artist, who for his album “Right Place, Wrong person” surrounded himself with a team far removed from the one that usually follows him with his group. With shaved hair, as if to get rid of this kpop star image for a few months which seems to mistreat her as much as to make him happy, Kim Namjoon, his real name, appears without makeup in front of the camera. With his “Team RM”, led by his artistic director, San Yawn, he threw himself headlong into the creation of this album, the most experimental of his career. We can imagine them perfectly, in the 80s, in a dilapidated loft in New York talking about art, cinema and Music (minus the artificial paradises). As the outsiders of an independent film who, without knowing it, would manage to define what “the new cool” is.

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By his own admission, RM never had to think about how to use instruments in his previous projects. As the leader of BTS, he explains, he has a defined role, that of writing and producing songs and answering interviews… the rest is delegated to others. But for “Right People, Wrong Place”, it is he, with his producers, who decides everything. We follow him on the set of his video clips, notably offering a funny scene where he is forced to stand aside to let cyclists pass. And, like in his early days, no one recognizes him in the street. During a photo shoot in London, on the banks of the Thames, he was mistaken for a wedding guest. However, RM is accompanied by the best on this project: Wing Shyaa Hong Kong photographer known for his collaborations with Wong kar waior even Lee Sung Jinhired for the video “Come Back To Me” but best known for having created the Netflix series “ Relentless » awarded Emmy Awards and Golden Globes. So many artistic collaborations which do not surprise fans of the rapper and producer.

A great art lover

RM has never hidden his love for art in all its forms. A great collector, he owns numerous pieces and even became a patron of an exhibition dedicated to the development of modern art in Korea, in Los Angeles. A passion far from the clichés that still exist about his group BTS, despite more than 10 years of career. It was to be as sincere as possible, to finally be able to express himself 100% without the pressure imposed on him by his role as leader of one of the biggest groups on the planet, that RM decided to make this album, then this documentary. “Strange experiences”, as he says himself, but above all a jump in his brain that is sometimes difficult to follow. This is evidenced by this long tirade in English, during which the young man shares with a huge smile all the contradictions of his “fucking life”. Sometimes happy, sometimes angry, sometimes tired, sometimes motivated. Questions that follow him without ever really finding the answers, doubts too, which seem not to really want to let go.

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A complex mind, internal debates, which he shares in this album and in this film “because after military service” (he enlisted on December 11, 2023), he “probably would not have had the strength to get started.” However, the artist has never hidden his flaws. Fans particularly remember his tears in 2022, when announcing the break of his group. He explained with rare sincerity for the very controlled world of Kpop, having lost his direction, no longer knowing who his music was aimed at, being out of inspiration. He who started out writing lyrics in his bedroom as a teenager before making a name for himself in the underground rap scene and then being spotted by Big Hit Entertainment to become the leader of the future BTS. On his frail shoulders as a boy not yet an adult, rested the pressure of a group that would soon become a global phenomenon. This time, with his “Team RM”, he is only Kim Namjoon, a thirty-year-old who is sometimes tormented, sometimes naive, often passionate.

An album recognized by critics

He wanted this documentary as a memory of this period made of escapades in nature and long studio sessions, coffee and cans on the coffee table. One more memory in a career already filmed extensively since its beginnings, forever archiving images that RM would sometimes have liked to forget. “Even if I hadn't been a fan, I would have watched this film,” slips an ARMY at the end of the screening. Because that is the subject of “Right People, Wrong place”. It tells the story of an artist and his aspirations. That of a teenager who has sometimes been given too many responsibilities, who has become a man in perpetual search of inspiration and freedom.

Upon its release, the album « Right Place, Wrong Person » was critically acclaimed, ranked among the best of the year (the title of the 2nd album “Lost!”, received awards at the Ciclope Festival, the UK Music Video Awards 2024 and the Berlin Commercial Awards 2024). This record could have broken the last barriers surrounding BTS while many still refuse to pay attention to their artistic dimension. But prejudices die hard: “they are subject to cultural racism », Explained to Paris Match in 2022 Sylvie Octobre, sociologist in charge of studies at the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The walls of the music industry are thick, its doors barely ajar. So, despite the excellent ratings given to this project, it was not nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards. Sometimes the explanation is simple: “Wrong person, wrong place”.