BTS’s V Spills On Hardships Faced During 2022 GRAMMYs Performance And His Viral Moment With Olivia Rodrigo

He was so nervous!
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Tegan Sweeting
Tegan Sweeting

BTS was very much the talk of The 2022 GRAMMYs (also known as The 64th GRAMMY Awards). The group was nominated for “Best Pop/Duo/Performance” and performed their hit song “Butter.”

From left: Jungkook, RM, Suga, V, Jin, Jimin, and J-Hope of BTS. | @bts_bighit/Twitter

Still, one particular moment broke the internet that night courtesy of V.

There was a surprise appearance by American singer Olivia Rodrigo. BTS’s V leaned in to whisper something to her before bringing out a card from behind her hair and throwing it toward Jungkook on stage.

Netizens couldn’t get over this “flirty” moment between V and Rodrigo. It also inspired many memes as ARMYs tried to guess what V must have said to her.

In fact, we’re still talking about this viral moment. In a new Weverse Magazine interview following the release of BTS’s anthology album Proof, interviewer Myungseok Kang asked him about it.

​You made headlines because of your staged conversation with Olivia Rodrigo in the introduction of your performance of ‘Butter’ at the Grammy Awards. I’m guessing a lot of people were asking what you two talked about. I’m sure it must have been difficult to really talk under the circumstances.

— Myungseok Kang

V confirmed that people asked him a lot about it at the time too. While everyone had been so curious about what he said to her, he revealed that he was so nervous about the rest of the choreography that it wasn’t a big deal, and all he needed to do for that quick take was whisper nothing.

I got asked about that a lot. I was honestly really nervous there because of the clothing choreography. A light whisper in her ear probably would have been enough in that situation, but I think I just said ‘blah blah blah’ without saying anything real. Leading up to the moment, I thought I could just show it on my face or set the scene—and thought I didn’t have to say anything in particular—so I wasn’t saying anything special. Olivia Rodrigo knew that’s what I was doing, too. For a 10- or 15-second take, the performers don’t have to say anything special and can still make it look fun.

— V

Myungseok Kang asked how Olivia Rodrigo was ultimately selected as V’s acting partner. He said, “I understand that performance for the Grammys took place under various urgent, quickly evolving circumstances, so how did it end up that you would act with Olivia Rodrigo?” It turned out to be a spontaneous choice made by The Recording Academy.

Ah, that was a suggestion from the people at the Grammys that was agreed to on the same day as the show. So I had no way of knowing who I would end up seated next to.

— V

V, a lover of movies, revealed his inspiration for the performances. Myungseok Kang had commented, “In a situation like that, you must have had to set everything up and capture the right feeling right away.”

I kept thinking about the Now You See Me movies. The way the performance on the stage unfolded also reminded me of Jason Bourne, but for talking with Olivia Rodridgo, I thought it was really important to capture the feeling of the way they con people while talking to them in Now You See Me. I thought maybe I should just speak to her casually, and that it would be like magic if I could steal her card without her noticing while we’re talking, and how it would look if we locked eyes in a fun way. Things like that.

— V

“Now You See Me” movie poster.
“Jason Bourne” movie poster.

Myungseok Kang pointed out that V “had to act and throw the card before the song started, then go up on stage to do the performance.” He added, “There must have been a lot you had to think about.”

Since V had so much on his mind with the performance, especially when to throw the card over to Jungkook, the “conversation” with Olivia Rodrigo was not his main focus.

Yes. So if we had kept going with the conversation, I could have missed the timing on throwing the card. I was counting the beat in my head the whole time to keep track of when I should throw it. I kept going, One, two, three, four, in my head.

— V

V also revealed the difficulties he faced when acting in the “Butter” performance. He couldn’t even hear what Olivia Rodrigo said due to in-ears.

And it was hard to know exactly what Olivia Rodrigo was saying since I had in-ears in both my ears at the time. Honestly, I was so nervous.

— V

He was especially nervous about the intricate clothing choreography. While it was one of the more complicated moves BTS had to do, they had little time to prepare. Jin had suffered an injury, and J-Hope and Jungkook had been quarantined due to COVID-19.

I was so worried over doing the clothing choreography properly and it was all I could talk about before going on stage. We only had the day of and the day before to get it right before going up there all together, so I was more worried about that than anything else.

— V

| The Recording Academy & CBS

Myungseok Kang added, “It’s the kind of performance where, even if it goes well during practice, it won’t necessarily go well live.” V agreed, “Yes, exactly. I was really worried, so I was opposed to that part of the performance in the beginning.” 

And it didn’t go well during the rehearsal, either, and we knew we should have been going on stage full of confidence, but we went up there feeling nervous, so I was afraid that we were going to mess up. We ended up deciding to do it anyway, but we did pull it off and the response was fantastic, so. (laughs)

— V

So, V clearly went through a lot, although it turned out great in ARMYs’ eyes. So, Myungseok Kang asked him how he felt once it was over. V was relieved naturally, but as a true fan, he looked forward to seeing others’ performances.

It’s finally over. (laughs) I should go watch the other artists’ performances and have a good time. That’s the only thing I was thinking.

— V

Even though V was nervous, he remained professional. Co-star Olivia Rodrigo and he were gracious with each other, even in behind-the-scenes moments.

Following The 2022 GRAMMYs, V took to Weverse to answer ARMYs’ question regarding it. Read more about what he had to say about his viral moment with Olivia Rodrigo below:

BTS’s V Tells All On His Viral Moment With Olivia Rodrigo At The 2022 GRAMMYs

Source: Weverse Magazine

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