BTS's RM Shares Why He Doesn't Want To Go By His Real Name As An Artist

BTS leader RM‘s latest interview with Spanish publication El País has grabbed the internet’s attention for his unprecedented honesty and boldness.

Fans translated the interview, originally published in Spanish, into English, allowing more ARMYs to read about the BTS leader discussing different aspects of his personal and professional life.

RM's interview with EL PAÍS (Spanish newspaper) | ENG translation (2/2)

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The interview touched upon his evolution as an artist and an individual, including the different identities he has assumed over his decade-long career. Having started with the alias Runch Randa, he now goes by RM as a BTS member and solo artist. The interviewer asked if he had ever considered going by his real name too.

You have also gone through several identitities, as a teenage rapper you were Runch Randa, in BTS Rap Monster, and then RM. Have you thought about using your real name?

—RM’s Interviewer, El País

To this, the rapper replied that his past names represent the different phases of his life’s history. With maturity, his outlook toward his stage names changed as well. Now he wants his real name to stay as little known as possible because he enjoys the privacy it allows.

[Laughs] We all have a past, a dark history as we say in Korea. Runch Randa was my nickname in a role-playing game, then I wanted to be, you know, a “rap monster,” then I matured…I prefer my name to be known by as few people as possible. I’m not John Lennon or Paul McCartney. I can check into a hotel quietly and I like that.

—RM, El País

RM, whose real name is Kim Namjoon, has often talked about the distinguishing quality of using two names for two of his personas. In fact, this response reiterates what he had shared in the 2022 Proof of Inspiration clip. RM had talked about living as a BTS member and Kim Namjoon simultaneously and the distinctive nature of the two personas. To him, RM is the musician, the side he shows to the public, while Kim Namjoon is “a human being…a family member and friend.”

#BTS #방탄소년단 Proof of Inspiration – RM#Proof_of_Inspiration #Proof_of_RM #BTS_Proof #RM pic.twitter.com/xkjN8eLBVa

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Though he has reconciled the two different identities into his one self, it is evident that he likes to keep the two lives separate whenever possible.