The moment it was announed that BTS’ stellar smash “Dynamite” reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, during the wee hours in Korea, the bandmates were wide awake, pinching themselves to make sure that they weren’t dreaming.

Tuesday marked a big day for both BTS and their fans worldwide, as the seven-piece group became the first Korean act to top the chart with its recently released single. It was the culmination of seven years of hard work and continual growth in the US market, not to mention a long list of shattered records and sold-out stadium shows.

With their first Hot 100 chart-topper under their belt, the seven members of BTS held an online media conference in Seoul on Wednesday to share their excitement, look back on their career and talk about their Grammy ambitions. 

“It’s really overwhelming right now, as I’d never thought this day would come,” said band leader RM during the event that was livestreamed via YouTube. Although the bandmates remained calm throughout the session, the sense of excitement was palpable.

“I was waiting at dawn, and I was the first person to hear the news. I tried my best to keep calm, thinking about our old days when we ate meals together in the practice room and got scolded in the studio. We will just keep doing our work with a calm mindset, because I think it’s all due to the collective effort of Army, reporters, bandmates, staffs and composers. I just made a little contribution.” he added. Suga also shared that he had to pinch himself to accept the reality.

The members each shared how the moment made them feel. J-Hope said, “I had never imagined that BTS would be a team to top the Hot 100. I can’t tell whether it’s a dream or not. We started music merely out of love for music and dance, and I feel overwhelmed because our team’s sincerity seems to have talked to the world.”

“I think I was crying from 4 a.m.to 7 a.m. and fell asleep on the couch. I even caressed the chart on the screen. Then I talked to the members, thanking RM for his leadership. What we said the most was, ‘Hey, we can do it too. Everything we’ve been doing was being heard and accepted. As soon as I saw the chart, I wanted to do a concert. I miss our Army so much,” added Jimin.

Jungkook continued, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I checked the chart. It was a great honor to reach such milestone for once in my life. It was also my birthday and I was so grateful for the great birthday present. I’m so lucky to have been born. I think I did well in my life.”.

V recalled his old memories and hardships when he first came to Seoul, while Jin said that he’d initially thought the screenshot of the chart sent by RM was fake. “When I realized the photo was real, I didn’t know what to say to Army on Weverse. But there was only one thing I could say: We made it together,” he said.

During the Q&A session, the bandmates were once again asked about their next goal. Seeing eye to eye, they confirmed that their next goal was getting recognition at the Grammys.

“Remember we had a collaboration performance earlier this year at the Grammy Awards? We would like to have our own solo performance, singing one of our songs,” said Suga. RM chimed in and said, “We would also like to get nominated and receive an award. But ironically, right now, our biggest goal and hope is to perform and do concerts, which is what we’ve been doing all along.”

“We would like to perform outdoors, like a festival or at a large square. In the short-run, we will release our new album this year and hold a concert, probably a virtual one, and keep doing our best at what we can do. Although many of our initial plans, including tours, have been canceled, I really hope that the pandemic ends soon so we could just brush this year 2020 off as just another memory,” he added.

Since its release on Aug. 21, the funk-heavy disco track “Dynamite” started breaking records all over the world and the dominos kept falling. The song not only topped local and global charts, including Spotify’s Global 50 chart, but the music video became the most watched music video on YouTube in 24 hours, with more than 101.1 million views. “Dynamite” was followed by the release of several remixes versions, which partially boosted the single’s ascend on the chart.

Earlier in the week, BTS bagged four awards at the MTV Video Music Awards -- Best Pop, Best Group, Best Choreography and Best K-pop – with “On,” its smash hit from February.

By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)