RM of BTS: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
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Published 2022-12-02
Now that we’re back to recording Tiny Desk concerts in the office, home concerts mostly happen under special circumstances: when the artist is overseas, for example, or otherwise unable to get to Washington, D.C., when we’re recording. Given that BTS’s RM (aka Kim Nam-joon) is based in South Korea, we let it slide — not least because his team put together one of the most impressive Tiny Desk facsimiles we’ve seen yet. What really sets it apart is the huge array of shelf-bound ephemera, which is bound to have the BTS Army sleuthing in the YouTube comments. What’s a random tchotchke and what’s an Easter egg? Study the set closely!
RM timed his solo Tiny Desk debut — which follows BTS’s home concert from back in 2020 — to coincide with the release of his first official studio album, Indigo. But he kicks off the set with an older track, “seoul,” which first appeared on his 2018 mixtape mono. From there, he showcases the first two tracks from Indigo: the rap-driven “Yun” and the funky “Still Life,” both of which are inspired by RM’s love of and fascination with painting. The studio tracks feature Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak, respectively, both of whom get shoutouts in this set. But here, the focus never drifts away from the star at center stage — no matter how closely you might squint at the stuffed animals, housewares, clocks and toys (not to mention Big Mouth Billy Bass!) behind him.
Now, if we can just get him to visit the real Tiny Desk…
SET LIST
“seoul”
“Yun”
“Still Life”
MUSICIANS
RM: vocals
DOCSKIM: keyboard
john eun: guitar
Jaeshin Park: bass
JK Kim: drums
CREDITS
Director: Oui Kim (OUI)
Producer: Yeonjin Kim (OUI)
AUDIO:
JEONG WOO YEONG
Son Yu Jeong
CREW:
Huiwon Song
Sunyoung Kim
Hyeri Shin
EumKo
Youngwoo Lee
Eunil Lee
Sungju Min
Kihun Kim
Seungjong Lee
Yuntae Ko
Kidung Kim
Kiyong Eom
Donghyun Lee
Doosoo Choi
Yujin Jung
Sangjoon Lee
Kieun Lee
Kihyun Lee
Seonghyeon Heo
Insol Yun
Hyeongeun Kim
Yujin Ko
Daeun Han
Jae Yoo
GANi
Leehyun Kim
Yeonhwa Cha
Daye Shin
Daniella Kim
Saeyong Oh
Lee Jung Min
Lee Hyeon Ki
Jeong Dae Seong
Jinho Jeong
Rachel Um
Jennie Lee
Rosa Kim
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bob Boilen
Video Producer: Kara Frame
Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
Tiny Production Team: Suraya Mohamed, Bobby Carter, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills, Marissa Lorusso, Ashley Pointer, Jill Britton, Sofia Seidel
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
#tinydesk #rm #bts #nprmusic
All Comments (21)
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with "right place, wrong person" on the way soon, i find myself back here again, and i find myself thinking of how much i love all of namjoon's music. it is all so special to me. how can it not be when the sincerity is almost palpable? thank you for being my artist, namjoon. forever and always.
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This man here is the secret behind BTS' success: his poetry and wordplay brought depth to their songs that connected to so many people and took them beyond K-pop; his leadership skills and bright mind kept the group from falling apart under so much pressure. I have no idea how he manages to carry such a heavy weight. I am glad he is able to share his feelings through his music.
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I'm not an army but I'm a big fan of this man, what a freaking underrated talent he has, the lyrics, his voice, this music, so poetic, also I check his music from his first mixtape and he got me, now I can't stop listening, what a wise young man
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Still enjoying this in 2024
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It always blows me away when he says "I've been doing music for 15 years" and then you remember he's not 30 yet. Like what a career so far and he's still so young!
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I love how he sings about accepting the unavoidable coexistence of polar opposite emotions, and about accepting that love - hate, happiness-sadness, feeling lost - feeling found, it's all two sides of the same coin, you can feel both at the same time and that it's good to do so, cause it just shows how vigorously you live by allowing yourself to actually feel so deeply. Seoul is such a magnificent song with such an important message about life
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I am a 69 year old American grandmother. When some of JK’s music, recently aired, I became interested in BTS as a group. After researching some of their music, I’ve become a true fan. My favorite BTS members became Suga, RM and JHope. Love all of these talented young man, and I believe they will go far as a group and also a soloist.
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Namjoon is the perfect example of great rap. His rap is not about meaningless syllables per second. He has rhythm and awesome lyrics, you can tell he really cares about his music. He is a great lyricist.
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He understands his sound color palette so well! Instrumental arrangement, vocal production and dynamics. Everything plays SO WELL together. This album is so smooth, complex and intertwined. I love it.
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Not even a BTS stan, but I can appreciate some good tunes. Will def be checking out this solo album
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he's trully talented, he sing with feeling, i can sense how deep the lyrics are even tho i dont understand korean, he sings like reading a poetry
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RM on Tiny Desk concert is so good. Love seeing RM performing live - his beautiful soul shines when he’s performing.
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What absolutely amazes me about Namjoon’s lyrics is that even when translated into English, I can still feel the weight and depth of his message. The translated lyrics read as beautiful poetry on their own.
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Not a big BTS fan, but after watching this.. I have mad respect. This guy is extremely talented and has opened my eyes to music that I haven’t really listened to before
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His intellect, his thoughts, his way thinking has made me fan of him ever since I got to know him. Indigo is truly a masterpiece. Just his way of perceiving things in life has infatuated me so much. He's an artist & human of great mindset. Namjoon you are an angel. I love you so much. Saranghae💙💙💙
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KIM NAMJOON THANKS FOR TELLING US WHAT REAL MUSIC IS
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Just fyi, all RM's backup musicians are literal legends in the Korean music scene. If you've heard instrumental K-pop, you've heard them.
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in todays world where artists are pressured to create 2 min viral tt song i feel extremely grateful that he stays honest and sincere with his art. Also his pen game is so insane you can clearly see how passionate he is. He's truly once in a lifetime artist.
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I feel like rm is a perfect example of how good music has the power to transcend the language barrier. His deeply poetic lyrics and messages have gotten me through some really hard times in life, starting with his album mono. So much respect for him and his music, and so glad that npr has given him some solo recognition, he really deserves it!
