Tense ‘BTS: The Return’ Documentary Scene Reveals RM, J-Hope, V Argued Passionately About “Body to Body” Song

By Anna Menta

Every good pop star documentary needs at least a little bit of diva drama, and BTS: The Return—the new BTS documentary that began streaming on Netflix today—is no exception.

For the most part, the beloved Korean boy band lives up their relentlessly positive, genial reputations. There’s a lot of hugging, some cuddling, and even a few mentions of kissing. But there is one scene where the band’s leader, RM (short for Rap Monster) butts head with fellow rapper J-Hope over a track on their new album.

That new album, ARIRANG, is the band’s fifth overall, and their first group collaboration after the band’s forced hiatus, due to South Korea’s mandatory military service. Directed by Bao Nguyen (The Stringer,The Greatest Night in Pop), this new documentary gives fans a behind the scenes look at the making of the album. All seven members—Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook—lived under one roof for two months in Los Angeles to reconnect and start their new chapter.

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

As the documentary explains, the album title, ARIRANG, is a reference to a traditional Korean song of the same name, which was the first-ever Korean song recorded in the U.S. The album title doesn’t seem to have been the band’s idea, and not everyone is on board right away. In time, everyone seems to like the title—but some still have mixed feelings about sampling the actual “Arirang” song—which is known to Koreans as a symbol of unity between North and South Korea—on the first track of the new album, “Body to Body.”

In the documentary, we watch as the band listens to a cut of that track. J-Hope and Jimin love what they hear, with J-Hope jumping out of his seat to dance. But when they play back for RM, the leader has a very different reaction.

RM shakes his head, as J-Hope dances to the beat. J-Hope, seeing RM’s face, pauses. “Why?” J-Hope asks. “Is it not good?”

RM’s face in reaction makes it clear that he does not agree. “The rapping, the music, the singing, it’s like three songs mashed together,” RM says. “It’s like you made bibimbap, but you added sliced bread and pork cutlet and kimchi.”

At this, Jimin chimes in with a laugh, “I mean, that sounds f–king delicious to me!”

Photo: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

It’s V that seems to get to the real heart of RM’s concerns, however, when he says, “From a Korean perspective, they might think, ‘Oh, wow, these f–kers went all in on the patriotism, didn’t they?'”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” RM says in agreement.

J-Hope pushes back: “I’m not a foreigner, but I think, usually, when people from other cultures hear something like this, they think, ‘Oh, that’s so cool!'”

“But it’s way too direct,” V argues.

“It’s not,” J-Hope fires back. At this point, all the boys start talking over one and other, each trying to voice their opinion at the same time.

“Hold on, one at a time!” V exclaims.

“I really do get what you’re saying here,” J-Hope says, after a moment. “I get your critiques. But when I heard it, I f–king loved it.”

“Look, I’m not against it,” RM concedes. “I think we can do it.”

“I think we find a version we all agree on,” Jimin says.

“Half of us agree,” RM retorts. At this point, the boys decide to listen to the song back again, and the scene ends.

Later, RM acknowledges that it can be difficult for the band to all agree, the “older we get.”

(A previous translation of the screener sent by Netflix to journalists translated what RM said to, “Because we all got big-headed, it’s hard to agree.”)

The argument comes up again when it comes to how long the sample of the song will be—but this time the boys all agree they want a shorter version of the sample, while their chief producer, Si-Hyuk Bang, pushes them to go for the longer version.

“Having 60 to 70,000 people in one venue, half of them being foreigners, and hearing them sing along to ‘Arirang,’ that’s an iconic moment waiting to happen,” he argues.

In the end, RM seems to side with the producers, despite his earlier qualms, and convinces the band to go ahead with the long sample.

“I think, as a Korean person, the thought of sampling this famous, traditional song felt too-on-the-nose. That was my reaction at first,” RM explains in a talking head interview. “But when I realized the weight that ‘Arirang’ carries, and the message we want to convey with that album name, the sample felt almost organic. And once we decided to lean into it, I thought, ‘Why hold back?'”