During a recent stage performance South Korean rapper, producer, and songwriter, Suga, from the K-pop boy band BTS mentioned how fans helped him stay happy.
Suga is currently on a world tour promoting his latest album D-Day.
The 30-year-old singer, who has previously spoken about his mental health battles with depression, said that seeing his fans in the audience motivated him.
“When I was on stage, I saw everyone’s faces, and they made me very happy. It made me realise that’s the reason I’m alive,” Suga said.
In May 2016, Suga opened up about how he talks about his depression and struggles in his lyrics, in a Rolling Stone digital cover story.
The cover story highlighted how Suga’s confessional lyricism comes from a deep and, at times, dark place. When he released his debut mixtape Agust D (another stage name he uses when he produces music away from BTS) in 2016, Suga veered off the spotlight, temporarily detaching himself from his K-pop idol status, and addressed the grim reality of his depression. He also sought out psychiatric treatment for it, according to the report.
But, BTS fans (called Army) stuck with him through his journey and encouraged him to return.
“I’m comfortable now and feeling good, but those sort of negative emotions come and go. So it’s almost like cold weather. It may come back in a cycle over a year, a year and a half,” he said.
“But when I hear people say that when they listen to my music and feel comfort and are consoled by those lyrics that express these emotions that makes me feel very good. It’s very encouraging. I think, for anybody, these emotions are not something that needs to be hidden. They need to be discussed and expressed. Whatever emotions that I may be feeling, I’m always ready to express them now, as I was before.
“My parents didn’t understand rap. They are a generation apart from me, and they never listened to rap; it wasn’t part of the music that they listened to. So it’s only natural they were against what I was doing,” Suga explained to Rolling Stone.
“And, of course, being a musician is a very unstable profession as well. So I can understand perfectly why my parents were against what I was doing. But, I think that motivated me or helped me work harder because there was something that I now had to prove. I had to show my parents it was possible. So it drove and motivated me to work even harder.”
BTS fans took to social media to say that they will always stand by the singer.
Instagrammer @leolet posted: "Yoongi, remember that your Armys will forever be by your side. Stay strong."
Others mentioned how they could relate to Suga's music.
Twitter user @Michele57810197 posted: "I’m 59 and have a son Suga’s age. My son has anxiety and depression too, but, writes beautiful poems & teaches high school history. As a teen in the 80s, I loved all music. BTS brings me back to that deep love of music again."
