The Biggest Reason Why BTS's Jungkook Feels "More Pressure" When Promoting Alone

BTS‘s Jungkook sat down for an interview with Weverse Magazine where he opened up about a variety of topics ranging from the making of his solo debut song to the changes that have been happening in his life.

One big change was preparing for a promotional period alone for the first time. The dynamics of being the maknae (youngest member) of a seven member group versus being a soloist are much different.

I was always the youngest one in the group. Now I’m releasing my own solo song. It feels different working by myself too.

— Jungkook

The way Jungkook approaches work has changed from a few months ago. In particular, he noticed that he has to take charge even more when it comes to interacting with people in the industry.

I think the responsibility that comes from how I interact with other people and the center of my thinking have both changed. There are a lot of decisions I have to make that I can’t just sidestep by saying, ‘Ah, I don’t know.’

— Jungkook

When he was promoting with BTS, he could take a backseat and let the older members speak for him. Now, it is up to him to be the one making most decisions.

I wasn’t usually the first in the group to speak up but now there’s a lot I need to and can do. I think I naturally changed as a result.

— Jungkook

Jungkook revealed that he sometimes feels pressured as a result especially when staff members look to him for direction.

Weverse Magazine: There must be times like meetings where the staff all look to you or something.

Jungkook: Sometimes I feel the pressure in moments like that…I feel more pressure now than when I’m with the group.

This does not mean that Jungkook lets the problems get to him. Though he sometimes feels “the weight of the world” on his shoulders, he’s adapting slowly but surely.

But I think the way I come to terms with that has changed a bit seeing as my personality has changed so much. What made it change like that? Maybe it was just time?

— Jungkook

Finally, the key he found to compensating for what he lacks as a solo artist is to rely on the staff after doing his best to handle whatever issue is present. He recognized that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and he can trust them to help him as needed.

I still end up relying on the staff all the time. (laughs) But I sort of told myself I shouldn’t get too comfortable with things. I want to just trust everything to the staff since they’re all pros at what they do, but there’s still many times where I bring up things I have thoughts on and do my best with everything else the staff puts together. I’m a dancer and a singer—I don’t know about every single aspect of the business. It’s my work though, so I give them some ideas, and then just try to basically stay flexible depending on how the situations looks? (laughs) I don’t expect myself to be able to handle everything from start to finish and tell people what to do, and I wouldn’t want to anyway. I sort of feel like … everyone does what they’re best at and then we allow it all to intersect.

— Jungkook