Check out the final details of “BTS: The Return,” which is now streaming on Netflix, and as reports go, viewers will see that Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook all get “additional filmography” in “credits.”
How did that happen?
The documentary follows the group from Los Angeles to Seoul, South Korea, as they reunite after serving in the military. All seven members return to the studio to record and mix their latest album, “Arirang.” When director Bao Nguyen set out to film and tell the story of the world’s largest group, he knew he would not be able to find a group 24/7. Speaking during a screening of the film in Los Angeles, Nguyen said, “I had this idea, what if we gave them their own cameras?” He added, “They shoot their news on their phones, but it’s a very clear visual language.” He added, “I wanted to create something like your sister, your mother or your uncle filming a vacation.
The comparison is really up close and personal as they prepare to return to the world stage. Their journey is the one he compares to Homer’s “The Odyssey”. Nguyen said, “When I first saw them on the show So-Fi, there was something really magical about that show, and just their connection to ARMY and that fairy tale I always think about. ARMY was like Penelope, and BTS was like Odysseus.”
When Nguyen gave them the camcorders, he chose not to give them instructions on when or when to shoot. He said, “I think going into it, you just think it’s a monolith, it’s just BTS, but they’re so, like, unique individually. The other members were like, ‘We have to capture everything. We’ll just roll it out. The other members are quiet, and they want their privacy. Whatever we can get from them. I was happy.”
Between the footage his crew shot and the footage shot by BTS, Nguyen ended up with over 40 terabytes of footage.
High gear and the pressures of their return is the main thread that runs through the documentary.
Early on, one scene shows the members sitting around a dinner table talking about recording their album. RM says at one point, “It’s a lot of pressure.” It is a clear insight into the team and shows the seriousness of their expected return.
Joining Nguyen for the interview were producers RJ Cutler and Jane Cha Cutler. The group came later in the making of the album. Nguyen admitted, “They had chosen many songs and they were changing. My fear was like, “Oh, we will only win, as the best people, doing their best, which is not the best kind of story telling and performances.’ But in the first few days, we had a live version while we were filming. But then I was watching the pictures. You can see and feel this pressure, this challenge and tension. ”
Jane Cha Cutler, who produced “Martha,” calls the story of BTS “unique”. He added, “There aren’t many groups that should go down in popularity, and the expectation of their comeback is very high. But for them, after a while, they have to know how they are different, how they interact differently as individuals, as a group. How much do they want to change? I want to remain a group that people like and love.”
When the group returns to South Korea, after spending two months in Los Angeles, the conversation revolves around Arirang, a folk song that appears on the standout track “Body to Body.” Chairman Bang (Si-Hyuk) [chairman of HYBE] and how it should be woven into the song.
The combination of Korean words is also becoming another topic. Suga says: “We would like to write some lyrics in Korean.” Now there’s a lot of English, especially for rap verses.” RM adds, “For the authenticity of this album it’s important.”
It’s one of the band’s many reunion moments, but it showcases their uniqueness to a global audience, as well as their sense of brotherhood and camaraderie.
RJ Cutler explained the 92-minute documentary really gets to “the essence of what it means to be BTS and how that relates to what it means to be each of them individually.” He added, “It’s a very rare thing to see when you have a legendary band.
The record comes as BTS earned their seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with “Arirang,” which earned the group’s biggest sales week for an album in more than a decade.
“Arirang” opened the chart with the equivalent of 641,000 albums, 532,000 of which were pure album sales. It’s the biggest first week for a group album since Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” bowed at No. 1 with more than four million units last year.
As previously reported, the BTS concert special reached 18.4 million viewers on Netflix. Provided by Netflix, the statistics provide a report for viewers who watched “BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang” during the first broadcast and those who watched it the next day. The special, recorded at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, was one of the 10 most watched Netflix titles during the week of March 16-22 in 80 countries, and was the No. 1 in 24 countries.
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