Big Hit Entertainment's CEO/producer Bang Si-hyuk shared the story behind the debut of his first-ever boy group, BTS.
Recently, Bang Si-hyuk sat down for an interview with TIME where he opened up about his perspective on BTS' creation as the mastermind behind the septet's worldwide success.
According to Bang Si-hyuk, BTS went from one member to seven; all started with the group's leader RM.
He said, "One of our producers, Pdogg, brought RM's demo tape to me and said, 'This is what the young kids are into.' RM was 15 at the time. I signed him immediately."
He explained, "I had considered putting together a hip-hop crew, not an idol group. But when I considered the business context, I thought a K-pop idol model made more sense."
Bang Si-hyuk revealed that many trainees left the agency as they wanted to pursue hip-hop and didn't want to be in an idol band.
He continued, "RM, SUGA, and J-HOPE stayed back, and they remain BTS' musical pillars. From there, through auditions, we discovered and added members that had more of an idol-like quality to the group," saying that JIN, JIMIN, V, and JUNGKOOK were later added to the group.
Bang Si-hyuk further shared that the decision to make BTS an idol group rather than a hip-hop crew stemmed from the agency's business needs; as idol groups relatively have higher sales, larger fanbases, and more options available to them.
He added, "This was also a time when many around the world were saying the only replacement for the demolished music industry is live performances. If a performance-based model were to be created in South Korea, I thought, it would be a K-pop idol group."
(Credit= Big Hit Entertainment, SBS)