"He's a major creative force in the organization"- Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig praises BTS' Kim Namjoon for 9 minutes on his podcast

On May 1, 2024, Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig praised BTS' Kim Namjoon for nine minutes on his bi-weekly radio show. He responded to the idol sharing the Indie rock band's music, Capricon, on his Instagram story. Ezra Koenig stated the following words:

"RM is not only a member of BTS, he's a major creative force in the organization. Maybe, like one of the songwriter producers. They're involved in making their music. So I've always heard specifically things about RM & RM's creativity."

BTS' Kim Namjoon shared that he was listening to Vampire Weekend's Capricon on Spotify through his Instagram story. The idol updated fans from the military on April 14, 2024.

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Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig was elated to hear Kim Namjoon heard the group's song during his military service

Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend hosts a bi-weekly podcast with American painter and internet radio personality Jake Longstreth, Nick Weidenfeld, and Seinfeld2000. They converse about various topics, including politics, corporate food history, rock music, and city life, and analyze contemporary pop music by differentiating it from the different eras.

During their recent podcast, they received an e-mail from Alphablob, where they shared with the Time Crisis Universe that BTS' Kim Namjoon shared Capricon on his Instagram story. In response, Ezra Koenig replied that he was aware of the news and was excited about it to the extent that he shared it with the crew.

He elaborated that the event was cool, and congratulated others for the long overdue TCU crossover. He stated how it was an honor for them that Kim Namjoon was listening to their song during his conscription.

"Especially notable is that RM is currently conscripted and is only allowed a small time of phone time at the end of the day and is using part of that time to find and listen to VW's music. And this part is wild cause I didn't know that when I first saw it. I was aware that part of why BTS is on hiatus is because certain members are doing their military service, and I don't know a ton about it, but my understanding is that in Korea, there are, you know, K-pop stars or not, like you do your service and you do it for real."

Ezra Koenig further talked about how one of his friends sent a picture of BTS' Kim Namjoon in the military marching with the band playing saxophone.

"A friend of mine sent me a picture or a video of RM in seemingly in like the military marching band playing saxophone, which, as a fellow saxophonist, I salute him. But suddenly seeing that, I was like, oh, this is like serious, you know. I don't know, but I guess you could not imagine not knowing a lot about culture, like, okay, the big star doesn't have to do their military service, they're going to be, kind of like, posted up in some like office job. But seeing him like was very- seemed very serious."

Meanwhile, he continued stating that stars like BTS might not get any special favors during their military service, and he could be sharing a room with 80 people. He also wondered if there's any documentary regarding the mandatory military service, as the singer got curious about it.

Ezra Koenig further gave a shoutout to Kim Namjoon for using the small amount of phone time he was given in the military to use it to listen to their music.

Ezra Koenig also talked about how he was closer in age to RM as the idol was 29 and opted to enlist in the military at such an age. According to him, RM did not wait until the last minute to join the military and stated that since BTS has succeeded in emerging as one of the most famous groups in the world, they could afford to go on hiatus for two years. He also wondered if the BTS members think military service feels like a break from the pressures of their lives as celebrities.

"RM is not waiting until the very last minute, but maybe he feels like we got BTS to such an amazing place, we can handle two years gone, and I'd rather do this now than and... I also wonder if any of these guys feel like, you know what, my military service is very hard and challenging, but honestly, it's a relief from the pressures of superstardom."

The hosts also talked about Suga having a class one driver's license as he used to do many odd jobs in the struggling and earlier days of BTS when the group found it challenging to make ends meet.

The radio/podcast session ended with the trio playing Vampire Weekend's Capricorn song that Kim Namjoon shared on his Instagram story.

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BTS' RM began his mandatory military service on December 11, 2023, and is expected to be discharged in 2024. The rapper is also set to release his second full-length album, Right Place, Wrong Person, on May 24, 2024.