The Original Version Of BTS's "Permission to Dance" Was A Love Song - Here's How They Changed It

Nicole Kim, the leader of BIG HIT MUSIC’s A&R Team, discussed the process of BTS and Ed Sheeran altering “Permission to Dance” to fit their own message.

Since BTS had previously worked with Ed Sheeran on “Make It Right,” the two artists understood each other’s styles when it came to creating “Permission to Dance.”

BTS “liked the track as it was, but the original lyrics were more like a marriage proposal—more personal, like a love song,” so they changed the lyrics to fit their original goal: A song of hope during the pandemic.

In the process of consolidating and conveying the theme, and how other people translate it into the actual lyrics, if we use vague language, then the people hearing it have a completely different image in mind, so sometimes we offer a hypothetical storyline to be as specific as possible.

— Nicole Kim

The original version of the song was sung by one person, so they had to adjust it to the seven members of BTS. Each with their own unique qualities, both Ed Sheeran and producer Steve Mac also helped alter the song to suit the different members.