The the K-pop group BTS attended a meeting focused on youth issues at the United Nations in New York City yesterday, where they took to the podium to deliver a speech about their “Love Myself” campaign which launched last year.
Though Kim Namjoon, better known as RM, delivered the speech on behalf of the group, his fellow six band members—V, Suga, Jin, Jungkook, Jimin, J-Hope—all joined him at the mic, delivering a unified speech about finding self-acceptance that is now going viral on the Internet.
In the six-minute speech, Namjoon specifically spoke of his upbringing in Ilsan, South Korea, and how he struggled to find his true passion and identity while growing up. “I would look up at the night sky and wonder… I used to imagine I was a superhero who could save the world,” he said. “In the intro to one of our old songs, there’s a line that says my heart stopped when I was maybe 9 or 10. Looking back, that is when I began to worry about what other people thought of me and started seeing myself through their eyes.”
FULL SPEECH: Global pop sensation @BTS_twt speaks at the 73rd @UN General Assembly in NYC and helps to launch a new global youth initiative, "Generation Unlimited." https://t.co/dCuujVag6a#BTSonGMA #BTS pic.twitter.com/SArtpiIcBh
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 24, 2018
He continued, “I stopped looking up at the night sky, the stars. I stopped daydreaming. Instead, I tried to jam myself into the other molds that other people made. Soon, I began to shut out my own voice and listen to the voice of others. No one called out my name and neither did I. My heart stopped and my eyes closed shut. Like this, I—we—all lost our names. We became like ghosts. But I had one sanctuary, and that was music.”
BTS fans quickly reacted to the speech on Twitter, where many thanked the group for sharing the message about self-confidence and self-acceptance. Namjoon specifically spoke of the success of the “Love Myself” campaign with his fans, saying he has heard remarkable stories from “all over the world.” The message is not a new idea for BTS, either—they have released several “Love Yourself” albums, all promoting the same idea. They also spoke out about queer and mental health issues before.