Sir Elton John says it blew his mind to be namechecked by BTS.
The K-Pop septet – comprising RM, Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, Jungkook, V and Suga – mention the 74-year-old music icon on their track ‘Permission to Dance’, with the line: “When it all seems like it’s wrong
Just sing along to Elton John.”
And the ‘Rocket Man’ hitmaker, who previously shared a video of him singing the track on social media, has admitted it was a real honour because he is such a fan of the ‘Butter’ group and other new artists, such as hotly-tipped singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone and ‘Without You’ hitmaker The Kid LAROI.
Speaking on The Official Big Top 40 radio show, Elton said: “It was so cool to be namechecked by someone like BTS.
It does blow my mind but it’s because I love new, young music. That’s what inspires me.
“I love the old music, but the new music, when you hear something great by someone new, like Holly Humberstone or The Kid LAROI or someone like that, you just think ‘God, I wish I could have done something like that when I was that young.'”
Meanwhile, BTS have admitted they’ve found “the pressure” of fame “overwhelming”.
Using the Korean expression meaning lack of ability or small-mindedness, Suga said recently: “We are not exceptional people — our plate is small. We’re these rice-bowl-size guys getting so much poured into it. It’s overflowing.”
V added: “The pressure has been overwhelming.”
The group gained major traction around 2017, particularly with the ‘Wings’ reissue ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
However, rapper RM noted they try not to be too overconfident in case it comes back to bite them.
He explained: “We’ve been avoiding blowing our own horn since 2017 because we’re afraid of payback someday. We constantly think about karma.”
And Suga admitted even his wildest dreams didn’t measure up to the level of success they’ve achieved.
He added: “We made our debut through such a small company, and it’s been tough from day one. My dream was never huge.”