Suga talked about a toxic culture within the K-pop industry during an episode of “Suchwita”, where CNBLUE’s Jung Yong Hwa guested on.
Jung Yong Hwa revealed how he grew closer to Suga. He shared, “I released my first solo album in 2015, and I felt a bit lonely and awkward doing the promo activities on my own. I went backstage, and BTS was there. Your group’s popularity was soaring at that time.” Suga responded, “Things were just starting to pick up after two albums that didn’t do so well.”
Jung Yong Hwa added, “But even before that, our members would talk about you guys, saying, ‘Hey, isn’t there something different about BTS?’ So I got curious. Since we were promoting at the same time, I just went up to you and asked, ‘What do you do on your days off?’ And you said, ‘We write songs.’ Younger artists don’t usually say that. 90% of them would complain about their agencies not giving them enough breaks. That’s when I knew that you would make it big and I thought I should get closer to you.”
Suga expressed gratitude for him, sharing, “I really appreciated your kindness. You know what it’s like at TV stations – some singers can be intimidating with this strong hierarchy based on age and career length. They would be like, ‘Where’s your hello?’ I couldn’t stand that.” Jung Yong Hwa agreed, saying, “But they never say it to your face; instead, they go talk to your manager about it.”
Suga agreed and revealed, “I still remember what you told me in the restroom. You said we’d become even more successful. When I heard that, it truly touched me to know that there was an artist genuinely rooting for us. The first time we had a meal together, we spent two or three hours talking about music.”
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