Interview “This track was made naturally among many strong energies”: Balming Tiger talk linking up with BTS’ RM on new track ‘SEXY NUKIM’

“‘SEXY NUKIM’ is a group single by Balming Tiger, released in about a year and a half. BTS’ RM featured, and this is the first single featured by a guest other than a member of the team,” Balming Tiger say. “The theme of the song is that the artist’s ‘sexiness’ is not something that can be bought with money, and the track contains a mind set that wants to be ‘one and only’ with their unique personality, not just pursuing material things. Balming Tiger wants to show the world ‘Asian Sexy’ and ‘Asian Cool’ through music and videos of their new songs.”

We sent the band over some qs to find out more about their new track, collabing with RM and what they’re planning next…

Hey Balming Tiger, how are you?

Hi. Long time no see DIY. We are doing well. We are constantly creating new things, as always.

It’s been over a year since you dropped ‘JUST FUN!’ And ‘LOOP?’, what have you guys been up to since then?

Since the release of “JUST FUN!” and “LOOP?” our members’ individual activities have increased. The members’ individual albums were released and TV broadcasting activities were continued. Then, we are resuming our activities as a team Balming Tiger from this year. Starting with our solo showcase at SXSW, we are actively working through our solo European tour and various festivals.

You’re back with new track ‘Sexy Nukim’, why did you pick this song for your return?

We’ve been working on this track for a little over a year. As always, we tried to make a song that we could participate in as a group from the beginning of our work, and it was our favorite work among many tracks, so we decided to return to this track after a break.

It’s sounding incredible, can you tell us a bit about how the song came into being?

This track is music that melts the personality of all our members. Our members, bj wnjn and Leesuho, started working on the song, and even Unsinkable participated in the arrangement, so it is the only time so far that all BT producers have participated in one song. Naturally, Omega and Mudd put their voices on the track, which later led to RM’s feature. This track was made naturally among many strong energies.

What is ‘Sexy Nukim’ about?

It’s literally a “Sexy Nukim (“Feeling” in Korean)”. Two very simple-looking words met and a strange title was born. This word also touches the artistic ideal that we think. We think that every new creation appears when you twist something familiar. I think our art is also the aesthetics of twisting, just as the two words we thought were familiar meet and give a strange feeling. The song makes the concept of “sexy” appear as it appears or has a different meaning. It could be external sexiness, it could be internal confidence, the lyrics say what “sexiness” is.

The track also has your first ever featured guest, what made you want to collab with someone outside of the Balming Tiger circle?

Until now, there has never been a principle that all songs should be completed only by our members. There was no feature in the songs so far because we thought it was our members who could understand and express our songs the best. We had a belief that RM could express it better than anyone else in this song, and the results were very satisfactory to each other. RM’s part in this song could never be replaced by anyone else.

How did the collab come about?

As we answered the above question, there was a part we thought only RM could do while we were making a group song, and we asked him through an acquaintance around us. When he heard the song, he gladly said he wanted to join us. We can only say that the energy that we thought of RM while making this song was delivered to him and that he felt it.

What was it like working with RM?

Just as we work internally with BT members, the work with him proceeded naturally. Also, his performance was great. We ended up using the lyrics and rap style that he sent us for the first time. He understood the music 120% and drew his own style within the flow of the track. And because he’s a man of such a humble, charming personality, we’ve been able to have fun throughout our work with him.

Is there anything you learnt from him, or anything you taught him while working together?

Rather than teaching each other, we naturally exchanged good influences. People think our combination is fresh because they feel the boundaries of the two teams are different. However, through this work, we felt that the same energy flows eventually if the points of view ideally are similar to each other rather than such external values. We haven’t taught each other, but we think we’ve learned a lot from each other.

Will there be any more collabs in Balming Tiger’s future?

Of course. We don’t know what artists we’ll be working with in the future, but it’s always nice to have an interaction with artists that’s in touch with our vision. If we think someone else is the right person to create our new work, we will try to collaborate with them without hesitation. If you look closely, we are a group of collaborations because the members of BT are constantly collaborating.

What can we expect from you next?

We are preparing a group album under the name of Balming Tiger. It is still difficult for us to say for sure which people will be involved and how long. However, it is sure to be a great inspiration for us who make it and for you who will experience it later.

Tags: Balming Tiger, News