Jungkook of BTS has revealed how watching American pop star Ariana Grande perform live inspired him as an artist.
In celebration of BTS’ Rolling Stone cover feature, the magazine released several individual digital covers and breakout interviews with the boyband’s members. During his interview, Jungkook spoke about his musical influences and how he grows as a performer.
The singer revealed that he got the opportunity to attend an Ariana Grande concert during one of the group’s past tours overseas, and described the pop star’s performance as “one moment that really stayed with me”.
“I was really impressed by her stage presence. She’s a very small person, and the volume of her singing and what she was able to do was really moving, really impressive,” he said. “And it just seemed like something I wanted to emulate and learn from. It made me want to develop and continue to grow.”
Apart from Ariana Grande, the BTS member shared that listening to a wide variety of music, along with studying other musicians’ singing techniques, has helped him explore and discover his own style.
In the same interview, Jungkook commented on how the pressure to “excel” has pushed him to put his best foot forward. “I really don’t want to think myself as an all-rounder. I just want to keep trying and working hard,” he said. “And of course I do feel pressure, but those pressures can also drag me to work hard and do best at what I do.”
BTS are set to release their second-ever English-language single ‘Butter’ this Friday (May 21). The song has been described as “a dance pop track brimming with the smooth yet charismatic charm of BTS”.
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