The last archive of his twenties and RM’s first solo album Indigo,  is a reflection of his human nature - his truth, his goodness, and his beauty. The 10-track album featuring many collaborations, themes, genres, visuals and of course, meanings, had us sitting with so many thoughts and feelings that made it difficult to articulate the immensity of its impact. Just like the first track of Indigo -  Yun sets the tone for Namjoon’s body of work, Indigo sets the tone for this year. 

The first track in the album, titled “Yun,” a tribute to legendary artist, painter, activist, - Yun Hyong-Keun, guides Namjoon through his own reflections on art. His voice is how the album begins as he says: 

Referring to the transcendentals, Yun talks about an all-ecompassing value to strive towards - truth. While it is in human nature to seek truth, goodness and beauty, it is truth that holds the key to everything else. Starting his album with this reminder from an artist he admires, RM then sets the tone for his album as an endeavour to be true to himself, his music, his twenties. His usage of the words archive, documentation, truth, human, etc. point towards his engagement with self-reflection and purpose towards truth, his real self, his Real Me. 

Indigo then, for us, as listeners, becomes an incredibly important gift. It is not simply an album, but something that holds the expansive immensity of Namjoon’s truth. Indigo is his confrontation and his fear, his vulnerability and his strength, “his pace and his direction,” in finding truth. (Doolset, 2022) With Yun - the painter, the mentor, and Eyrkah Badu - the singer, producer, actor, rapper gently guiding Namjoon,   we thought we too, can honor that guidance and focus our piece on this beautiful track. 

Yun (ft. Erykah Badu) is essentially a dialogue, a conversation between three legends. We start the track with Yun Hyong-Keun’s philosophical thoughts, interspersed with Erykah Badu’s soul-stirring vocals, based on Namjoon’s grounding voice. These voices are intentionally chosen to represent and animate the autobiographical, quotidien rituals of Namjoon’s life. Namjoon mentions that when Yun’s painting in his living room, he has a dialogue with it. (Winterlyblooms, 2022) He emulates and animates that everyday dialogue and brings it to the studio. By letting his mentors speak first, Namjoon models respect  - “knowing when to talk and when to remain quiet,” (Cruz, 2022) - a delicateness with which he makes space and time for the legends to speak, and for his own voice to bloom in their presence. 

Yun Hyong-Keun starts the piece by talking about truth. His entire life was a witnessing of a tumultuous era in Korean history, politics and art. So, his thesis that Namjoon takes up, about truth, becomes even more important to revisit. Yun’s voice reminds us to come back to our human tendencies, to emote, to feel, to think. There is nothing more beautiful than humanity. Yun’s voice, his words, his advice offer us a glimpse into the longue durée of his lifetime. 

And when Yun tells his listeners to seek truth, Namjoon answers. Namjoon’s parts in this piece are almost answers. Some angry, some gentle, some tender, some confessional, but ultimately all of them are his truths. Namjoon’s voice in this piece embodies the weight of being Namjoon, having to answer to expectations and responsibilities, and yet seeking to instead turn towards his mentors and answering their calls, listening to their life stories, their philosophies and producing art through the journey. 

Erykah’s voice performs multiple roles in this piece. She embodies the voice of Yun Hyong-Keun as she sings the hook to the song -

Namjoon mentions feeling worried about asking a legendary artist like Erykah Badu to only sing a hook to the song, because of which he sends over so many documents and explanations behind this ask. It’s not just any hook, but a hook that pushes the conversation to center humanity - Yun’s attitude towards life. Be a human, before you do something. Be a human, first. With Erykah’s own prowess as an artist, this timeless hook becomes magical; it has “its own power – it’s like a spell. It really changes me and moves me somewhere.” (Daly, 2022) Bringing Erykah Badu onto a philosophical work like that is an act of respect, of honor, of creating space for what has already been done by the greats, and making sure that his audience knows who he values, who he is inspired by, and who he wants to continue to talk to. 

Together, these three voices construct an important dialogue that, although imagined, is vital to the logic of the song and extends to the album. After all, Namjoon believes that “creation is driven by your subconscious, memory, and inspiration and not necessarily by your intention.” (Daly, 2022) This discursive format, intentionally chosen and crafted by Namjoon, allows the piece to make legible the many dialogues that make Namjoon possible. The inspiration provided by the legends in this song, the artworks in his house, and the lessons he carries in his heart make him into who he is - a human, an artist, seeking truth, through and towards a timeless legacy. 

Yun weaves motifs together like a tapestry. Throughout the song, the listener begins to reconcile with different shapes and imagine time and borders differently. Yun helps the listener imagine a point where the voices of Yun Hyong Keun, Erykah Badu and RM come together to question themselves. The lyrics nudges an intersection between time where RM finds solace in the invisible presence of the artists who came before him.

In an interview for New York Times, RM speaks of a great relief surrounded by still paintings, motivating him to “be a better person, a better adult”. He’d admit to standing in front of a painting by Yun himself, wondering out loud if everything would turn alright — the still painting holding a vestige of the past. Yun himself spoke of antiques as vessels that held “the spirit of our ancestors." In a diary entry, dated 1990, he’d add that looking at these antiques would be akin to seeing elders from the past. Being surrounded by these vessels, these art pieces, is vital to knowing who you are, and who you can be. 

Yun's lyrics weave between time and space, touching borders too. RM recalls the words said to him, questioning why he would walk off trail, when a clear path already stands out to him. In Yun, RM says “F*** that s***, the lifestyle of an étranger, The place for me is always the pipeline along the border.” as a proclamation of who he is and where he really stands. The life of a foreigner is something he'll always lead, always at the cusp of something and never truly belonging. 

Time, for Namjoon, is not necessarily about a moment, a rupture in the fabric of our realities to see where and when we can emerge. Instead, Namjoon talks about lasting legacies, about being timeless. Echoing Yun’s thoughts from 1990 where he mentioned that Antiques contain time, it’s like Namjoon is containing a decade in Indigo. And 2022 provided the right kairos for his archive to emerge. This archive does not freeze him, or Yun, or Erykah in time. It instead opens the floodgates for us to sit in the flow together, to simultaneously embrace the moment and extend it. 

Yun's lyrics then tell us something important. The lyrics encompass the confluence of space and time. How does one leave a legacy behind? Why is it important we do? Yun Hyong Keun speaks of his sentiments, instilling the belief that a true legacy requires we must pay attention and remove ourselves from all greed. 

In a diary entry, Yun describes how the gates between heaven and earth remain the essence of his paintings. Through all his umbers and indigos, Yun's gates reflect the points between space and time. The past, present and future exist all at once. It iis through the legacies that live through us, that we live through each other. Between heaven and earth, space and time, we are the result of every collision. 

We are the texture of time, we are the space that makes visible the beauty of our past, the work of the present and the possibility of the future. Indigo becomes the material that holds the animation that makes Namjoon’s 20s alive. Of course it is timeless. Of course it crosses genres, languages and borders to be who it is now. Like an estuary, Indigo for RM is where the heavens and the earth meet, constantly moving, shifting, changing and yet holding true to itself. It does not flash and disappear but stays, in our memory, in our confluence and of course in our hearts. 

References: 

Bighit. (n.d.). Indigo: RM: Bighit Music. Artists. https://ibighit.com/bts/eng/discography/rm/detail/indigo/

Cruz, L. (2023, April 2). Rm of BTS is embracing the silence. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/12/rm-bts-indigo-album/672307/

Daly, R. (2022, December 2). RM OF BTS: “My whole twenties were an exhibition... but I chose to be a star.” NME. https://www.nme.com/features/music-features/bts-rm-interview-indigo-3356430

Doolset. (2022, December 4). Yun (with Erykah Badu). doolset lyrics. https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/2022/12/02/yun/

Doolset. (2022b, December 5). 들꽃놀이 (with 조유진) (wild flower with youjeen). doolset lyrics. https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/2022/12/04/wild-flower/

Okwodu, J. (2022b, December 2). RM on artistry, collaboration, and his first solo album, “indigo.” Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/rm-bts-indigo-interview

Winterlyblooms. (2022, December 6). 12/22 Zach Sang (with Namjoon). BTS Interview Archive. https://btsinterviews.wordpress.com/2022/12/03/12-22-zach-sang-with-namjoon/

Yun Hyong-keun / edited by Kim Inhye, Daniela Ferretti ; texts by David Anfam, Daniela Ferretti, Kim Inhye. (2019). Hatje Cantz.

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