What is Nakhwa Nori? All about the traditional Korean fireworks festival featured in BTS RM's Wildflower MV

On December 2, 2022, BTS’ RM released his debut solo album, Indigo, accompanied by its title track, Wildflower, which was created in collaboration with Cho Youjeen of the veteran rock band Cherry Filter.

The music video for the track is visually stunning with masterful lyrics, vocals, rap, and hidden references that one cannot find in one sitting.

One of the things that was a major talking poimt was Nakhwa Nori, the traditional Korean fireworks festival that was prominently shown in the music video.

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BTS fans react to RM incorporating Nakhwa Nori in Wildflower

About Nakhwa Nori

BTS’ RM has been working on Indigo since the beginning of 2019 and has participated in all aspects of the album-making, from conceptualizing, writing lyrics, composing, designing, right down to planning the music video down to the very last detail.

Hence, it comes as no surprise to fans that the BTS leader went out of his way to conceptualize and create Wildflower with lot of references to Korean culture and motifs.

In a Weverse live broadcast following the release of Indigo, the rapper revealed that one of his friends introduced him to the concept of Nakhwa Nori, the beautiful fireworks show we see in the music video and he immediately made up his mind to include that in his album.

To ARMY's surprise, he shared that it wasn’t CGI or any VFX but the actual Nakhwa Nori, and it was filmed at the location.

The traditional Korean fireworks event is held in Korea during certain months and is usually done to observe Lord Buddha’s birthday or during a full moon night.

The fireworks for the Nakhwa Nori festival is also made in an interesting manner. Tiny bags containing a combination of charcoal made from salt and burnt mulberry are tied to ropes that get hung over water and are lit up. Since the fireworks are lit over large water surfaces, the effect is breathtaking and beautiful.

The traditional festival dates back to the Joseon era, one of Korea’s most important historical eras. In ancient times, it was practiced as an auspicious omen with people praying for a happy and prosperous year.

Back in the day, the festival was considered a privilege, only accessible to the rich and elite, but it is now celebrated by people of all social classes across South Korea.

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"Has me falling for moon jars and Nakhwa Nori": ARMYs can't stop gushing about the Wildflower music video

BTS fans will agree that Nakhwa Nori has become a known phenomenon all thanks to him featuring it in Wildflower. The fandom has now taken to social media to appreciate not only the beautiful Korean tradition but also RM's thoughtfulness in making it more widely known to international fans.

Given that BTS members are global icons and one of Korea’s biggest superstars, some fans also believe that showcasing a part of the country’s culture and heritage will do wonders for the Hallyu wave.

An ARMY also mentioned that besides BTS' leader, the popular variety show 2 Days and 1 Night also featured an episode on Nakhwa Nori.

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More about Indigo

Described by him as the “last archive of my 20s”, RM's Indigo is a compilation of the varied emotions and experiences of his 20s. This is his second release after the mixtape Mono, which was released in 2018.

Besides the title track Wildflower, Indigo contains nine other unique and diverse tracks including - Yun feat. Erykah Badu, Still Life with Anderson. Paak, All Day in collaboration with Tablo, Memory Loss with Kim Sa-wol, Closer feat. Paul Blanco and Mahalia, Change pt.2, Lonely, Hectic in collaboration with Colde, and No.2 with Park Ji-yoon.

The artist is also soon set to appear on Zach Sang’s show, and SUGA’s drinking show Suchwita on December 5, which will air on Weverse.

Additionally, he will host a small concert for 200 lucky ARMYs selected through a raffle system in Seoul on December 5 at 8 pm KST. The location for the concert will only be notified to the lucky ARMYs.