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On April 7, 2023, Billboard’s Jeff Benjamin released an intense and in-depth interview with BTS’ SUGA, talking about his return as Agust D and tying up his solo mixtape trilogy with D-DAY.
The BTS rapper will also be releasing a documentary titled Road to D-DAY, which shows his life traveling through multiple cities on a road trip. The teaser already has fans excited, as he met with several great artists such as Halsey and the late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, among others.
Speaking to Billboard about the documentary, BTS’ SUGA mentioned that he wanted to showcase the “individual side” of himself. These included some very natural, human, and “good scenes.” However, these were ultimately edited out since the producers needed to adhere to his image of a K-pop idol.
“I tried to show the normal, individual side of me as much as possible (in the documentary), but as I am a Korean idol, or K-idol, a lot of scenes were edited out; there were more of those natural scenes and some very good scenes that couldn’t make it in the final version.”
BTS’ SUGA talks about Road to D-DAY documentary and wanting to show his human side
No matter how shiny a K-pop idol’s life looks on the outside, it is an open secret that their lives are always under scrutiny.
A small mistake--slip of the tongue, accidental brush with an idol or staff of the opposite gender or sending the same colored emoji--is enough for all hell to break loose as criticism pours in from all sides. Idols always need to present a clean image, one which even the biggest K-pop group, BTS, seems obligated to adhere to.
In an interview with Billboard, BTS’ SUGA opened up about his documentary, Road to D-DAY. He mentioned the thought process behind the documentary and shared that he wanted to capture the process of him being true to his music.
The People Pt.2 rapper began by opening up about the “ambiguous position” BTS fell into when they debuted in 2013. He added that he always took music seriously and wanted to capture it to show others.
“When we first started in the K-pop scene, we were in this ambiguous position of not being accepted as musicians and not being accepted as idols either. But the musicians close to me know that I’m very serious and sincere in music and that I’m a very natural person. So, the documentary started as I just wanted to capture and show this process.”
He further added,
“It (The documentary) started with the purpose of showing SUGA as a producer and songwriter, but it kind of ended up having the worldview of an album-making process.”
However, BTS’ SUGA also mentioned that some natural scenes were cut out from the final version of the documentary.
SUGA wears multiple hats in BTS - a rapper, songwriter, and producer, and he is a key reason behind the group’s incredibly successful discography.
He is the same for his solo mixtapes too - he released his first mixtape, Agust D (his rapper moniker which helps differentiate him from BTS’ SUGA and solo rapper Min Yoon-gi), in 2016. He then released D-2 in 2020. The idol will now be ending this trilogy series with D-DAY, scheduled for release in late April.
Meanwhile, his documentary, Road to D-DAY, will be released on Disney+ on the same day as the album, on April 21, 2023.
