In his first respectable solo album, “Indigo,” RM of K-pop juggernaut BTS brings no longer solely his musical abilities to the fore, however additionally his love of Korean art.
“Indigo” has been turning heads, promoting extra than 550,000 copies on the first day of its release, Dec. 2, in accordance to album tracker Hanteo Chart. Its lead single, “Wild Flower,” additionally conquered the iTunes pinnacle songs chart in 88 international locations and retained the No. 13 spot on Spotify’s Daily Top Song Global chart.
The album consists of 10 songs written through the BTS leader, who spent three years to tools up for his solo project. The 28-year-old emphasised that “Indigo” is a diary-like album taking pictures his feelings and anxieties, which can additionally be idea of as an exhibition that he curated with the aid of himself.
Delve barely deeper, the album is like a love letter to Yun Hyong-keun (1928-2007), the master of Korean monochrome portray (“dansaekhwa”) and the artist that RM admires the most. The first tune covered in “Indigo” is titled after his household name, “Yun.”
“You can additionally locate some photographs of Yun’s 1972 painting, ‘Blue,’ in my album,” RM defined in a video message launched through his administration company, Big Hit Music, on Dec. two “This work used to be created when he was once going via a length of transition (in his career), earlier than he showcased his signature ‘Burnt Umber & Ultramarine Blue’ artwork and different works coloured in darkish black. Since ‘Indigo’ is additionally about my transitional period, I determined to have ‘Yun’ as the first music of this album, hoping that I may want to craft a world of my personal simply like Yun did.”
RM introduced that Yun’s viewpoint on artwork has stimulated him, too.
“When Yun used to be alive, he frequently stated that we have to be human beings first, earlier than we do art,” he said. “My album in reality starts offevolved off with his educating and I have organized my personal response to him.”
Thus, RM’s tune, “Yun,” consists of the following lyrics: “I wanna be a human earlier than I do some art…It’s a merciless world, however there is going to be my phase due to the fact actual splendor is a actual sadness.” It additionally elements Yun’s narration to exhibit his admire to the iconic Korean artist.
“Indigo” has naturally piqued K-pop fans’ activity in Yun.
“I acquired to understand about Yun thanks to RM,” a fan commented. “I may go to his exhibition in the future to experience what RM had felt.”
Yun’s creations frequently reflect Korea’s turbulent current history, such as the 1950-53 Korean War and the post-war dictatorships. The artist predominantly blended solely two colorings ― ultramarine and burnt umber ― in his paintings, believing that they are emblematic of heaven and Earth, respectively. This method led him to title one of his most reputed series, “Cheonjimun,” or the Gate of Heaven and Earth.
“Blue is the coloration of heaven, whilst umber is the coloration of the earth. Thus, I name them ‘heaven and Earth,’ with the gate serving as the composition,” Yun wrote in his diary in 1977.
“With these reputedly offhand works, Yun succeeded in translating the humble, blissful and stable values of Korean ordinary aesthetics into the lexicon of worldwide current art,” the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, stated in its introduction to the “Yun Hyong-keun Retrospective” exhibition.
