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RM and Suga from BTS are much more than just award-winning rappers. These two had a hand in creating some of the boy band’s most popular songs. Here’s what Suga and RM had to say about writing “Respect” on BTS’ recently released album, Map of the Soul: 7. 

Jungkook, RM, and Jimin of BTS speak onstage at iHeartRadio LIVE with BTS
Jungkook, RM, and Jimin of BTS speak onstage at iHeartRadio LIVE with BTS | Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

RM and Suga are songwriters, as well as dancers and rappers

Along with J-Hope, RM and Suga are the rappers in the award-winning K-pop group, BTS. However, these artists don’t always perform as a group of seven. For Map of the Soul: 7, there were a few iconic subunits. V and Jimin teamed up for the song “Friends.” 

RM and Suga teamed up to create, record, and perform a song of their own. Thanks to the 2020 Fiesta videos, fans learned a little more about the inspiration behind RM and Suga’s subunit song, “Respect.”

The 2020 Fiesta gave RM and Suga a chance to talk about ‘Respect’

Thanks to the “Fiesta” video series, RM and Suga talked about one of their latest releases. In the YouTube video, the subunit discussed their 10-year strong friendship and their songwriting process. Both artists collaborated on the Map of the Soul: 7 song, “Respect,” which earned over 20 million plays on the streaming platform Spotify.

“It’s important to get that feeling across. Before I thought a song had to have a message for it to be a good song but now, there’s a certain feel that I want to convey, and if that gets across to a lot of people in different ways I think that’s enough,” RM said according to one translation on the video.

For Suga, he explained that he used to be hard on himself when a song wouldn’t come naturally. Now, he just thinks “it’ll come eventually.” That’s especially true for “Respect,” which both idols agreed happened in about 20 or 30 minutes. How it came about, though, wasn’t exactly expected.

“It did turn out as planned, the plan just changed,” Suga explained, according to one translation. The two discussed how they used to freestyle while working on songs, rhyming different things with “pizza.” “Respect” is somewhat of a nod to that era, the two said.

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RM and Suga work on solo music and appear in songs with the BTS ‘rap line’

Outside of their work with BTS, RM and Suga release music as solo artists. RM collaborated with Lil Nas X for an “Old Town Road” remix. Suga released a new “mixtape” as his alter-ego, Agust D. That includes the song “Daechwita.”

Fans can see RM, Suga, and the rest of the BTS boys on their now postponed Map of the Soul world tour. Until new dates are confirmed, music by BTS, including their recently released album, Map of the Soul: 7, is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and most major platforms. 

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