IQ148 // namjoon ✔️

__NOVEMBER__

November ; 2017

BREAKING NEWS: BTS' Rap Monster changes stage name to RM.

Monday, November 13, 2017

BTS leader RM has officially confirmed that he will no longer be using his former stage name Rap Monster.

On November 13, RM wrote a message on the group's official fan cafe. He said, "I've been promoting under the name Rap Monster for about five years, since the end of 2012.

"It was a stage name that I naturally came to be called among our company family members and my members, after a line in a song I'd made as a trainee, and I think I became very fond of it.
But once I started promoting, the name 'BTS's Rap Monster' was a bit long, and I've become keenly aware of the fact that it's become different from [what I want] to put at the front of the music I've made for the past five years, and the music I want to share in the future.
At some point, I started introducing myself as Rapmon or RM, rather than the full name Rap Monster.
So I'd like to change the name I use for promotions to 'RM,' which I think is more in accordance with the music I'm aiming for and also has a wider spectrum.
Since I've already released some music and mixtapes as RM, I think that some fans will have already guessed this.
I thought about this carefully for a long while, because I want to make music for a long time in the future with an unrestricted and open mind and view.
It's possible that it's a bit awkward to be changing my stage name, which I've been called since before my debut, and you may feel like it's unfamiliar. However, I would be sincerely grateful if you would welcome me after I've started with a new name following a long time of consideration.
Thank you!

- RM"

When asked what his new stage name stands for during an American interview, the BTS member replied, "RM can stand for anything you want, as long as you love yourself. To me, it means 'Real Me'"

The rapper has released music and mixtapes under the RM name in the past, and has also introduced himself as RM or 'RapMon' on numerous occasions, but now has formally made the shift away from his former moniker.

Following the announcement, "Rap Monster" trended worldwide on Twitter for several hours.

RM unveiled the name change less than a week before BTS becomes the first Korean boy band to perform at the AMAs on Sunday, amid a busy stateside schedule that will see the septet film for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the Ellen Degeneres Show. The act will also release a remix version of their song "Mic Drop" on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving, a collaboration with Desiigner and Steve Aoki.

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NamJoon lounges around his studio, affectionately named Rkive, in his rolling chair. NamJoon has only had this chair for a year and it's already giving him so many problems. There's an irritating squeak whenever he leans back in frustration.

Ever since they arrived back from finishing their schedules in America, getting straight back to work in the studios didn't go so smoothly for NamJoon.

Usually songwriting is a breeze for him. It's not like he doesn't have his moments of writer's block where he struggles to write a verse or compose a melody, but this ordeal is different.

It's like he's completely depleted of inspiration.

He's been struggling to finish the songs for the upcoming album in production.

He's tried playing around with the keyboard.
Nothing.

He's tried scribbling down any rhymes that come to mind.
Nothing.