How do you get back on your feet after losing your ground? That’s a question singer and songwriter B.I has had to ask himself every day since 2019. A prodigious child-turned-idol who later became the leader and main producer of K-pop group iKON, B.I (real name Kim Han-bin) had to step away from the spotlight after facing drug purchase allegations in that year. Consequently, he withdrew from the group, retreated from the industry for a while, and entered a period of self-reflection that is still ongoing.
But a new way of existing emerged from the ruins: B.I, the soloist. Armed with a fearlessness only possible because of his past, he declared himself to be a “waterfall that begins with falling down” in his debut studio album, 2021’s ‘Waterfall’. In that year, he also released the first half of his sophomore album, ‘Cosmos’, and his 2022 EP ‘Love or Loved, Pt. 1’ allowed him newfound success with the enrapturing ‘BTBT’.
Last week, B.I finally unveiled ‘To Die For’, the second half of ‘Cosmos’. Described as an exploration of love, youth and resistance, the record displays an artist who is increasingly comfortable in his new skin, hopping from experimental hip-hop to club-ready anthems with the same effortlessness of his dance moves.
Riffing off movies, comic books and personal experiences in the lyrics, he creates a prism of possibilities, allowing for a reinvention of his past, present, and future. “Love to die for / You might think it’s insane”, he dares on single ‘Die For Love’ with Jessi. But through the eyes of someone who saw his whole world crumble and still came back, it makes sense that the idea is just a “cool way to go”.
During a late-night Zoom call with NME on the album release day, B.I is more of a lake than a waterfall. He has been studying English to the point of fluency, and his words carry the same poetic cadence of his singing/rapping tone, each sentence chaining into the next one. Slowly, B.I is grounding himself again through one of his greatest loves – music.
Congrats on your new album! ‘To Die For’ is the continuation of your second studio album, 2021’s ‘Cosmos’. Back then, you said both albums were fully done, but recently you shared that this second half was scrapped and started anew, except for one song. Why?
“The old songs… Were literally old. I didn’t intend to, but I put all of the strong and impactful songs in ‘Cosmos’. So the rest were pretty weak, and I couldn’t feel satisfied.”
Which song survived the cut?
“‘Dare to Love’ featuring BIG Naughty. It was made in 2019 and was the first song that I made for this album. It’s catchy and easy to sing along with, so I wanted to keep it.”
Instead of releasing music videos, you released Episode Film, which is almost like a short movie soundtracked by your album. And as you have done before, you reference a lot of other films in it, like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. What other references did you have in mind?
“There’s a lot. You know the movie Drive? I love that movie. And also Charlie Countryman. And Fight Club, obviously.”
You collaborated with many artists like Jessi and BIG Naughty in ‘To Die For’. How was the process of selecting which people you would feature, and what would be the right song for them?
“I just [chose] emotionally, intuitively. I thought all the featured artists’ voices would fit with their songs, so I just DM-ed them. I don’t have many celebrity friends, so I DM-ed them, and they were very kind and did their best. It was a very good experience.”
I hope that you can consider them your friends now.
“We’re getting to it.” [Laughs.]
Do you feel like it’s hard to make friends in this industry, even though you’ve been in it for so long?
“Yeah, but you know, I’m very introverted. And I don’t have that many friends [in general]. It’s pretty difficult to [make] them, and it was very hard to DM these artists.”
The theme of this album is quite similar to your previous EP, ‘Love or Loved, Pt. 1’, but the EP is from another series in your discography that will be completed later. What are the differences between these two bodies of work, since they talk about the same subject?
“That’s true. ‘Love or Loved, Pt. 1’ is about, literally, love. It wants to convey a lot of different forms of love. And ‘Cosmos’ and ‘To Die For’ have ‘resistance’. They have resistance and love of youth. ‘Love or Loved’ doesn’t have resistance. Probably ‘Pt. 2’ is going to have ‘loved’ [more], and be filled with sad songs.”
As you mentioned, this album is about resistance and love of youth. You also mentioned in the press release that “youth is the brightest moment of life”. Why do you think that?
“Because youth is short. Short and splendid. Things are bound to be beautiful. For example, fireworks, sunsets are short, that’s why [they are] beautiful. That’s why that kind of stuff is worth it, and that’s why I think that youth is the highlight of life.”
Do you feel like you are still in your youth?
“I’m trying to stay in my youth, but you know, there’s a lot of responsibilities, and reality makes me an adult.”
Age isn’t what defines “youth” for you?
“I don’t think age is the thing that matters. Youth is more determined by experiences, feelings, and emotions, and the more pain and suffering you have, the sooner your youth ends.”
Do you think that working on this album has changed how you see love?
“On ‘Loved or Loved, Pt. 1’, on this album, and on other songs that I made, I wrote about love a lot, and that means that I reflect on love too much. There’s too many kinds of answers in my head. They all have a different [meaning]. To be honest, I don’t know what love is, still.”
So you have never felt this feeling of being willing to actually die for love?
“Um… For my fans. [B.I pauses for a second, and then laughs shyly.] Was that too obvious?”
Overall, what do you think that you have improved upon since the beginning of your solo career?
“I can’t tell. I’m just trying to evolve myself. For example, on the stage, performing, singing, rapping, dancing, making music… Especially performing by myself. It was pretty hard to fill up the stage, although I just keep trying to experiment and study how to make the audience happy.”
What do you think is missing?
“To be honest, I need more hit songs – that is pretty important. I need to speak English well, better than now. And I have to study how to make audiences go crazy, those kinds of things.”
Who is B.I as an artist right now? And as a person?
“As an artist, I think I have more passion on the stage and in the studio. But as a person, I can be a bit lazy, always stay at home, and have a tendency to be a loner. I’m a lone wolf.”
Introverts have to make an effort to go out sometimes.
“Yeah, but it’s not that easy. It’s really hard. I do it because I have to do it. For example, if I meet someone today, I have to stay in my home alone after.”
Also, why do you think you’re lazy? You have been working so much.
“Yeah, but that is as an artist. As a person, I don’t want to leave my bed. Just chill and watch movies, read comic books. That’s all I want to do.”
Sounds relatable. Since music is your motivation to get out of bed, is there anything else that pushed you outside of your comfort zone while preparing for this album?
“Just… DM-ing somebody? I’m always learning, but I didn’t learn anything specific for this album. I’m always trying to make something new, that’s the standard. So probably the one thing that I learned was DMs, and that the featured artists were very kind.”
You’ve written a lot about love, as we talked about. Is there any other subject that you want to explore in the future?
“I want to explore heartbreak. Or childhood. I want to say I’m in my youth, but necessarily I’m getting old, so I’m gonna lose my childhood. I want to convey the innocence of childhood.”
You’re performing at Lollapalooza Berlin in September. Do you have any other upcoming activities that you’re looking forward to?
“I don’t really know. My team always knows first, and then when something’s decided they just share it with me. But I think I will cross the Pacific Ocean this year.”
B.I’s new album ‘To Die For’ is out now