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On June 10, BTS released an anthology album called Proof. The album includes a remastered version of “Born Singer,” which BTS previously unofficially released in 2013. During an interview with Weverse Magazine, Suga of BTS shared his gratitude that J. Cole allowed BTS to include the song on Proof.

Suga of BTS visits The Elvis Duran Z100 Morning Show in 2019
Suga of BTS | Steve Ferdman/Getty Images for Elvis Duran

Suga is ‘grateful’ BTS could have ‘Born Singer’ on ‘Proof’

In 2013, BTS adapted J. Cole’s song “Born Sinner” into a song called “Born Singer.” The band originally released “Born Singer” as an unofficial track.

Since “Born Singer” includes the same composition as “Born Sinner” with different lyrics, BTS needed J. Cole’s permission to officially release the song.

Speaking with Weverse Magazine, Suga shared his gratitude for J. Cole’s approval, saying:

“First of all, I didn’t even know if it could be included on the album. I wasn’t even sure it would be possible, since the original song is so famous, but J. Cole gave us permission. I want to tell him how grateful I am. It’s a song I only could have written back then. I still remember writing it during the first and second weeks we were promoting ‘No More Dream.’ The emotions I felt during that debut time will all evaporate over time, so I had to write it then or never. I even thought about rerecording it since it’s a little over the top looking back, but the intention behind it would be lost if I did. So we just put it in since it wouldn’t be possible to listen back on this period of ours unless it was in a concert. And there might be some ARMY who don’t even know that the song exists. We felt like a lot of who we are went into the song, so we unanimously agreed that it should be included.”

What Suga thinks of BTS’ song ‘Born Singer’

BTS’ album Proof includes past BTS hits, unreleased demos, and new songs. One of the new songs is called “Run BTS,” and it captures BTS’ old style.

In his interview with Weverse Magazine, Suga compared “Born Singer” to “Run BTS.”

“It’s a little bit different emotionally. ‘Born Singer’ made me emotional—it’s got a fair bit of emotion in it. For ‘Run BTS,’ we kept saying we wanted to try doing a song in our older style, so we chose a title that both shares its name with our variety show and reflects who we are—always running,” said Suga.

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BTS released a song called ‘Run BTS’ on ‘Proof’

Proof is made up of three CDs, and “Run BTS” is included on the album’s second CD. In his Weverse Magazine interview, Suga explained more about the making of “Run BTS.”

“All the members have come a long way, and there’s times when we’re exhausted but there’s also things we want to do moving forward, so I think we tried to include those desires as well. And I really didn’t have many opportunities to show off my rap skills on our recent albums,” said Suga.

He continued, “So it made me think of the past, which made me want to write something a little tighter, but rapping it was really difficult. (laughs) We got it recorded quickly, but it had been a long time for me, so I really had to work at it when we were recording. (laughs)”