Shadowing Practice: BTS' RM Talks About the Band's Identity, 'Fighting Demons', and the Meaning of Life | Cover Story - Learn English Speaking with Video
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- If we don't challenge anymore, then I think there's no reason that we should, you know, we should keep doing this as a team.
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So we have to show the world that we are still ongoing and still exploring and, and figure out like new, new things.
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But still, I think we have to push it to the edge even more.
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Even more. And it's just still not enough.
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- RM of BTS.
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Welcome back to the cover of Rolling Stone. Thank you. Yeah.
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- Appreciate it. - I relate to you because you seem to go through a mini existential crisis like maybe every week. Yeah, - Actually I'm very nervous and afraid at the same time because it's been a while.
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And yeah, I like, I really want to like, pretend like that I'm, I'm okay and I'm ready, all decided, everything's great.
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I just can't wait. I just really wanna say that, but I just, even more than that, I really wanna be honest.
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I just hope, you know, everything's gonna be fine and everything will be, but still at the same time, I, I still have fears.
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- Do you have stress dreams before something is coming out?
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- Yes. I have like extreme stress and extreme like joy at the same time.
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And it's always like back and forth, back and forth every time, every night.
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I think like these days when I wake up in the morning, like I'm always in a good mood, like, you know, just get a coffee and then like, yo, it's a new day.
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But at night I feel like, ah, man, like, I don't know, it's gonna be like, and so I really want to live great in the mornings, but I felt quite depressed and sad at night.
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But the funny thing is, it was like exactly the opposite, like years ago.
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Mm. I loved the night because we like worked every day during daytime. At night when I just come home and I feel alone.
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I felt really great.
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I really love to walk the streets where nobody is - In 2022.
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You had, you were saying to Pharrell you still love music, but that maybe you love visual arts more, maybe you love other things more.
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Did you come back around and how was that journey for you?
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- I think music, you know, is always there.
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It's just the root and you know, sometimes you just can't resist when just like some music you love is just turned on and you just, you just can't help.
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But just like dancing to it or like, just like nodding to a vibe into it.
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And I think visual art sometimes it requires more like backgrounds and trainings and more kind of like intellectual things in the military.
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I listened, I have, I listened to like so many albums.
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I'm in love with music more right now. Hmm. Maybe.
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- But when you think of listening to music during that time, was there a moment, is there an album or a song you can think of you connected with and said, this is, this is my life save.
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This is saving my life right now.
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- I think last year it was Tyler Track with Tzo touchdown forever.
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Solan, it was like Tzo singing.
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- Yes. - The phrase maybe like, at that time the military felt too long for me.
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It, I just kept, I just kept thinking like, man, maybe it's gonna be like forever and then the forever is too long.
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So I was like, like kept singing the phrase all the time and I got, I think I was, was being healed singing along.
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So it, and, and like Di Deon's album was, was great. Production is so - Crazy.
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- Right, right. Spotify wrapped, I checked it the DJ's album, I think I listened to it more than like 500 minutes and Joji Pass one, leave my bed.
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Sometimes it's just, it's just like a simple phrase, but it just hits you like so hard when it come, when it is combined with like certain type of sound and instruments.
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- You made it clear that when with butter and permission to dance, they were so huge and so successful, they left you confused about what is BTS.
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- Yes. - And, and I think that you had a few years to think about that.
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I think you did figure it out and I, but I'm curious about like your sort of mental journey from man, I don't know what we are anymore to I know now.
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- I think I still don't know and maybe, you know, I think a musician should, should talk with their, their music, right.
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And it's, it's being more and more just careful to explain and like, describe how I'm feeling right now or what like this album is about or Well, I think it's just a, you know, this, this magazine and this interview with you is just another record so I could like look back to it when I'm like 50.
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Yeah. Looking back to it and like, man, I, when I was like 31 I felt like that and I was like talking to you like, 'cause I believe right now like this, this type of feeling is the, the di like the deepest truth in my heart.
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I think I, I'm still really confused because I thought in the military, maybe if it's just all finished and we all come back at in 2025 June, then maybe there's some type of very precise sharp consensus that we could all like relate to, but which was not very true.
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So I think these 14 tracks are the, could be the type of, you know, still blurry, but it could be just an answer to the people who is wondering like what is, what is BTS in 2026.
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But I think for this album I try to, I try to say that, you know, express more of a more of universal things like love, hurt, nostalgia, missing, and I, I think I'm still into that expending personal experiences to, into universal.
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Yes. Emotions and feelings.
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- The energy reminds me a little bit of the beginning.
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- Oh really? - The early, the early rap, more rap rocky stuff.
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- I think that's really great to hear because yeah, I had a lot of, I had plenty of time to look back.
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It's truly a new start.
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And so I think why you felt that energy was because that we act, I think we actually are treating this moment as our new start, but I think we unconsciously just come back to, or coming back to like when we started, you know, like all those really turned up energy, like very resistant and oh, I want to show something to the world type of energy.
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But we're, I think we got more mature.
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It's gonna be definitely the new chapter of fe TS - It's so interesting to listen to your soul albums Indigo and right place wrong person.
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Because in some ways it feels like these are the albums, the kind of music that you might've made had there never been a BTS.
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- Right. - You know, it's like, which is, it's interesting to me that you could even get to that place as an artist mentally.
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- I think, you know, it's really funny to say and I think lots of people maybe just slightly slightly know, you know, like who BTS is.
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Maybe the people you know won't agree.
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But I think I'm really finding myself as man, I'm, I'm born as a kind of a anti to like something Yeah.
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Like when everybody wanna say, everybody is saying yes, I really want to say no when I've been doing BTSI loved it, but I really did hate something, you know, of course.
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And I just couldn't deny all those feelings and, but I knew, I think I knew like, what is what, what is, you know, what to like show, show the show to the people or what to just hide and just make it into an album.
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When I just come back as a solo, I was like thinking of like, man, I gotta do this.
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I gotta say it, eh, because you know, if it's seven, I have to, you know, do my role.
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I have to sometimes be nice and because lots of kids are watching us, but sometimes I just started music, you know, just on the streets and, and by rapping and I just can't resist that.
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Sometimes I feel like I just want to do this, I just want to do this shit.
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So I loved, I listened to pop music, I love it.
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I enjoy like every pop music, I always like track, track the charge.
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Sometimes, sometimes when I just don't want to use my brain too much, I just find like the top 50 global one, just listen to it.
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But sometimes I feel like, man, this is not enough.
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I have to like dig more.
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I have to explore what the world is like.
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I just wanna see the ates, you know, up these, this earth.
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So when it, when it comes to solid project, every infra and every powers and every impacts the numbers maybe or, or the masses, the scales.
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That helped me a lot so that I could express maybe without thinking of economic things and I could, I could, I could do a song with Little Sims Marc, Sony.
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There are great, great artists by the name of maybe sometimes using his name of VTS and the brand when it comes to the team project by the experiences that I had on my solo.
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Just do everything to like hunt it or even that, even more than that, I could tell the team or or the members that I'm, you know, let's push it to the edge.
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Like even more, even this is not enough, this is too safe.
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If we don't challenge anymore, then I think there's no reason that we should, you know, we should keep doing this as a team.
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So we have to show the world that we are still ongoing and still exploring and, and figure out like new, new things.
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I think we have to like, have an experiment and push it to the edge even more, even more.
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And just still not enough.
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- How did you resolve, I mean, your, your service was not easy on you.
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- No. - How are you, are you sort of still recovering psychologically?
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How, how is that going for you?
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- I think I got out, I got out of it quite a lot.
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If we call it a cave and it's been, you know, this, today's like, today's February.
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February, so it's been eight month and I think I'm good right now, but sometimes when I, when I try to sleep and when it pops up, ah man, forget it.
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I'm done. I'm not in the military anymore.
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And but that experience hitting the rock bottom, like psychology psychologically in, in the truth, I think that helps me.
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Like, yo, this is now I'm sleeping on my bed. I'm good.
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You know? Yeah. I think that's the great self therapy.
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- Did that experience or the past few years change what you want out of life as a person?
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- I always want to live the present, the now, but you know, it's just so, there are so many things in 2026 that is, that are like distracting you and me from living now.
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Like we're thinking when you, when you look at the reals and all these shores that we're living now, but which is not, it's just keep, they just keep distracting me.
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So I really miss the time that I just walk in the rain and thinking of everything.
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I think those were the, the times that I truly lift the present.
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I really don't want to think of the past and the future because they're just fantasy.
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But it's really hard just to focus on where you are right now.
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So it's today's like 12th of February and I always try hard to sometimes just put the phone down and maybe read books when I just like this.
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I try hard to not to think about the past and the future because the future never comes.
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- Yeah. - The future never comes.
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- You were in that dark place psychologically and you got out of it.
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It wasn't forever. What would you say to someone who, you know, there might be a fan who feels that way right now?
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- I got out of that, that the crisis I had last year because of the, all those environments I had, I got out of it like physically, but mentally I just, I'm just admitting it That essential sorrow.
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I don't know what is what it is called, but always there in, in some part of my heart.
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So I think I'm still in the middle of just netting like who I am.
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I'm like maybe too sensitive than the others.
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Maybe the average or I think too much.
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Sometimes I can't sleep. But Do you want to die?
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No, I try to love the life, the sky's taking walks, good friends, drinks, music interview.
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I'm still fighting the demons, but, and I think maybe it could be forever and forever.
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It's too long, like I said.
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But I just wanna say one thing, like simply in short, I think life is fun because it's not because I'm BTS or I'm a, I'm a star in the spotlight, I think, I think just life is fun and living is better.
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- I thought we'd end with the meaning of life. Thank you.
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Thank you.
About This Lesson
In this lesson, learners will practice their English speaking skills by engaging with the transcript of RM's interview, where he discusses BTS's journey, identity, and personal experiences. Through this exercise, you will enhance your listening comprehension, expand your vocabulary, and improve your English pronunciation. By applying the shadowing technique, you will mirror RM’s speech, helping you to articulate your thoughts more confidently in English and reflect on deeper themes of personal struggle, art, and connection.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Existential crisis - A period of questioning one's life purpose or meaning.
- Push to the edge - To challenge oneself to the limit.
- Creative journey - The process of exploring and developing one's artistic skills.
- Nostalgia - A sentimental longing for the past.
- Universal emotions - Feelings that are relatable to all people regardless of culture.
- Stress dreams - Disturbing dreams associated with anxiety or stress.
- Mental journey - The thought process and emotional experiences someone goes through.
- Artistic expression - The process of conveying emotions or ideas through creative means.
Practice Tips
To get the most out of this lesson, it's important to focus on a few practice tips while employing the shadowing technique:
- Slow it down: RM speaks candidly but with a thoughtful tempo. Begin by playing the transcript at a slower speed to ensure you catch every nuance of pronunciation and intonation.
- Repeat in chunks: Divide the transcript into smaller sections. Focus on shadowing each segment before moving on to the next. This will help reinforce learning and improve your English speaking practice.
- Emphasize emotion: RM’s dialogue often conveys deep feelings. Try to mimic the emotional tone behind his words to better express yourself. Notice how he shifts from joy to concern and incorporate that into your own speech.
- Mirror body language: While listening, observe RM’s gestures and facial expressions. Incorporating these into your shadow speak will enhance your delivery and make your practice feel more genuine.
- Record yourself: After shadowing, record your speech and compare it with the original. This will help you pinpoint areas for improvement in your pronunciation and fluency.
By following these tips, you can effectively enhance your English speaking practice and improve your communication skills, making it easier to express your thoughts and feelings in everyday conversations.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.