BTS' Suga opens up about overcoming creative blocks and making new dreams in ‘SUGA: Road to D-Day’

Your dream has come true and you've surpassed your biggest goals in life—now what?

BTS members are known for being hands-on with their projects either as a group or as solo artists. But if you'd ask who among them tends to work the most even on supposed vacation breaks, they will be quick to mention Min Yoongi a.k.a. Suga / Agust D. It was evident during the two seasons of BTS in the SOOP whenever he’d excuse himself and isolate in a trailer van to work on beats and lyrics. He is that dedicated and often feels anxious whenever he is idle.

In a way, that makes him relatable to those who are greatly influenced by the hustle culture. It also stems from the fear of being replaceable in a world where talents come and go and music has a short expiration date. In one part of his new documentary SUGA: Road to D-Day, the K-pop idol even joked about being like a "factory machine" because he tends to work on music not just for BTS but also for other artists and himself.

In SUGA: Road to D-Day, the singer gives a glimpse of his creative process by opening up about his thoughts and how he has grown not only as an artist but also as a person.

Who is Agust D?

Min Yoongi is known as SUGA when he is with BTS. As Agust D, he is much more vocal in expressing his views and opinions—whether it's about capitalism, the society we live in, thoughts of revenge against those who look down on him/them, or other concerns related to mental health. As Agust D, he is not restricted when it comes to expressing his thoughts.

Three years in the making, D-Day is the final album in the Agust D trilogy. On his first self-titled mixtape Agust D released in 2016, he expressed his sentiments regarding his dark past and how these memories push him to dream bigger and work harder. By the time his second mixtape D-2 was released in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, BTS was already considered the biggest K-pop band in the world. He had mellowed down a bit on D-Day, but he looked back to his past in order to appreciate what's in the present and not to be afraid of the future.

His creative process

At the beginning of the documentary, Suga admits he doesn’t have anything he wants to talk about that’s why he is struggling with writing lyrics and making music. An artist would know that you have to be hooked on something, think about it constantly, and eventually, you will be able to write something. With Suga's status as a global superstar, he is actually living the musician's dream. Despite his achievements and the fact that he can now afford to take it easy, he still can’t and it frustrates him. The solution they came up with is to go to the United States, meet and collaborate with other musicians, and have enough time to travel.

His meetups with past collaborators Steve Aoki, Anderson.Paak, and Halsey turned out to be fruitful. I was surprised when Suga admitted that his last legit trip was with his family when he was in grade school (note that his Bon Voyage and Winter Package trips with BTS are still considered work-related trips). It was nice to see him travel on his own even if he whined about drinking a lot instead of doing more work.

“I’ve grown up quicker than others. But I didn’t want to grow up. What I wanted was to keep dreaming,” he confessed. “I used to tell the BTS members, 'You become an adult the moment you stop dreaming.' And I don’t have any dreams now."

Not having bigger dreams because you’re now at the top might be burdensome to people who grew up wanting to achieve and prove something to naysayers. As part of a group that has sparked inspiration in many artists and fans in dreaming big and doing whatever they can to achieve something, it can be daunting not to have a purpose to aspire more. It is a constant struggle for Min Yoongi—whether he is Suga of BTS or Agust D.

Another highlight of the documentary that I loved was when he played the piano in front of the late legendary composer/actor Ryuichi Sakamoto in a private meetup in Tokyo. Despite their generation gap and language barrier, the two were able to discuss their similarities and the humble stories behind their success. It was nice to see an excited yet nervous Suga meeting one of his childhood heroes. He played Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence on piano much to the delight of the legend. There were some fascinating facts discussed during the short but special meetup. Suga was also able to sample the track in the song Snooze, which is one of the best tracks on his album.

Live performances

Suga / Agust D will be embarking on a 20-city world tour starting this month. For those who weren’t able to secure tickets, live band performances of some of the tracks from the D-2 and D-Day albums were performed like Polar Night, Daechwita, Amygdala, People, People Pt. 2 (with IU), Haegeum, and Snooze (with Woosung of The Rose).

There’s a special story behind the tracks he chose to perform for the documentary from his newest album. One of the tracks somewhat made him dig into his past traumas and relive the pain and suffering he felt during those times. Among these performances, I personally became emotional with Amygdala yet felt hopeful with Snooze.

Road to D-Day ends with Suga accepting all he had to go through to reach this far and acknowledging his past—no matter how happy or lonely those moments have been. He also encouraged fellow dreamers to take it easy and reminded them that everything is going to be alright eventually.

Suga: Road to D-Day is now streaming on Disney+ and Weverse.