Check out Jung Kook’s Rolling Stone UK cover and pre-order yours now
"I’ve always pursued change. I want to be an artist who doesn’t get dragged by the flow," the BTS singer says in his new cover interview
By Nick Reilly
Jung Kook has talked about his own future, new music and the monumental success of K-Pop in a new exclusive Rolling Stone cover.
Presented by Rolling Stone titles Japan, Korea, UK, India, France, Brazil, Philippines and China, we met the singer in New York for what is his first – and only – solo interview this year. It’s an interview which sees him opening up he about putting his wellbeing first, becoming an adult and teasing new music. You can pre-order Jung Kook’s cover here.
“I’ve always pursued change. I want to be an artist who doesn’t get dragged by the flow, but creates the flow,” he says of the need to move forward in music. “I don’t want to be confined – I want to be an artist without limits.”
It comes after a massive year for the singer, in which he set a new digital streaming record with his 2023 solo single, ‘Seven’. In August, Big Hit Music confirmed that the singer’s debut solo track has passed over 2.5billion streams on Spotify and continues to grow. The impressive feat is the first time that a K-pop song has hit the huge milestone, beating BTS’ ‘Dynamite’ in doing so.
“Everything felt like a hassle, [Then] ‘Seven’ made me want to get back to it,” he recalls of first making the track. I really loved ‘Seven’ and felt confident performing it, but I was still surprised by how well it was received. That reaction gave me even more confidence.”
And with new music from BTS on the horizon, can we expect more solo offerings from Jung Kook?
“This is a time where I can evaluate whether I can take another leap forward. Rather than doing the same kind of performances or similar songs repeatedly, I’m trying new things and continuing to evolve so I can show different sides of myself,” he says.