BTS' RM Reveals His Love For Getting ‘Attention' Hasn't Changed Since Childhood
Kim Namjoon, aka RM, stepped in front of the camera for the first time since he was discharged from the military after the completion of his mandatory service. The BTS star gave fans some insight into both sides of himself: his thoughtful, behind-the-scenes self and the confident one that owns the stage. He talked about both his personalities honestly with a touch of humour.
When asked about an ideal of himself that is often misunderstood during an interview with Harper's Bazaar Korea, Namjoon answered by doing what he does best – being himself. He said, 'People say RM can't do that? But what is he actually good at? Now my image is an image of not being good at sports. I can't even play foot volleyball, I can't drive, I don't have a license."
RM added, 'I have this image of not being good at things that require coordination, but surprisingly, I'm really good at skating." After a brief pause, he hilariously mentioned, 'Well, to that extent… Other than that, not much else. And dancing, it's not that bad. That's about it."
RM Likes To Be An 'Attention Seeker'
Furthermore, RM, the leader of the K-pop supergroup BTS, did not hesitate to share that he loves being in the limelight, and he was not subtle about it. The 30-year-old rapper talked about his childhood dreams compared to now, and said, 'I like to be in the spotlight. That's the same. I don't think being an attention seeker is a wrong thing."
He recalled an anecdote from his childhood, when he was called the 'Talk Box." Namjoon mentioned, 'When I was a kid, my nickname was Talk Box. I used to gather interesting stories from the internet and share them with my friends. I also liked public speaking. I really enjoyed giving presentations. I liked making people laugh. I used to want to be a comedian. So, my desire for attention is quite similar."
RM Reveals What Makes Him Feel Most Alive
The BTS leader then shared what makes him feel alive the most. As the star RM, he loves performing, releasing new music and standing in front of a crowd of their ardent fans. And as Kim Namjoon, his most cherished moments are enjoying simple things in life with the people he loves the most.
'Being with people I like, without hesitation, or when I'm doing what I want in a place where no one recognises me. Travelling seems to be the closest thing to that, but honestly, I can't stay that way for long and want to come home soon. And working on music again makes me feel alive again," he explained.
And just like the musician and his band, fans are also excited about their new music, which the group announced just days after their discharge from the military. BTS, as a unit, is gearing up to release a brand-new album in the first half of 2026. RM, along with Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, began working on it last month in the US.
First Published:
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
7 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Singer Victoria Canal accuses ‘powerful' man of sexual abuse in Instagram post: 'When I was 19...'
Victoria Canal, one of modern pop's most promising young voices, was born with a congenital condition. However, despite it all, the Spanish-American artist has been outspoken about rejecting labels and refuses to let her disability define her. Victoria Canal recently made an Instagram post talking about the grooming and abuse she faced early in her career.(Instagram) The artist recently hit the headlines for speaking about her career and disclosures about grooming and abuse, which even led to the cancellation of the Soulshine at Sea festival. According to a Prime Timer report, Canal, who was born without the lower half of her right arm, in interviews compares it to something as ordinary as having 'an unlucky-shaped nose'. She has insisted that she does not want to be boxed as 'the one-armed singer' like Stevie Wonder, who is not solely defined by blindness. Her perspective has been vital to the music she creates. Canal learned to play piano without her right hand and developed unique chord voicings and creative techniques, which are central to her songwriting, the Prime Timer report added. Also Read: BTS' V shares adorable unseen childhood photos flaunting his glow-up in 25 years; fans call him 'timeless and iconic' Victoria Canal's career in music Born in Munich and raised across the globe, Canal grew up communicating online the most due to her family's nomadic lifestyle. Her breakthrough, too, came through Instagram, where short clips of her performance caught the attention of artists like Michael Franti and Emily King, who later invited her on tour. Canal has since shared stages with major acts, fronted Nike's Jordan FlyEase campaign, and in 2024, she won the prestigious Ivor Novello Award in the UK for songwriting. Her music, known for its vulnerability and honesty, explores themes of body image, identity, and resilience, the Prime Timer added. Abuse allegations and industry fallout Earlier this month, Canal revealed in an Instagram post that early in her career, she was groomed and abused by a 'very powerful, decades-older man' who offered her first professional break. In the post, she described how she was manipulated into silence by the abuser, who made her believe that no one else wanted her. Canal revealed that she was told speaking about the abuse would end her career before it even began, a report in Music Ally stated. Victoria said the experience, which lasted a little over a year, has had a lasting effect on her intimate life and that sharing her truth was part of her healing journey. Although she did not name her alleged abuser, speculation online claimed that she was speaking about musician Michael Franti. However, the claims have not been verified, the Music Ally report added. The repercussions, the outlet added, were rather swift, with fellow band Dispatch announcing they were withdrawing from Soulshine at Sea, a music cruise organized by Franti's team. They cited "deeply disturbing public allegations involving another artist on the lineup.' Also Read: Universal Music CEO breaks silence on Drake's lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us: 'Makes no sense' For Canal, speaking openly about abuse, like her previous disclosures about body image and mental health, is part of reclaiming her power. She said, 'Whatever you look like, whatever you are feeling, you are accepted, you are enough. You are more than enough." FAQs What happened to Victoria Canal's arm? She was born without the lower half of her right arm, a congenital condition she refuses to let define her identity. Who is Victoria Canal? She is a Spanish-American singer-songwriter, born in Munich and raised internationally, known for her emotive songwriting and advocacy. What recent allegations has she shared? In 2024, she revealed she had been groomed and abused early in her career by a much older, powerful man. Who has Victoria Canal accused? Victoria Canal has not named her alleged abuser. Online speculation has circulated, but no claims are confirmed.
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Time of India
Rs 90L in subsidies, but artisans still struggle with rising costs
New Delhi: An artist decorates an idol of Lord Ganesha ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi festival, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)(PTI08_13_2025_000314B) Karad: An artist gives finishing touches to an idol of Lord Ganesha ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi festival, in Karad, Maharashtra. (PTI Photo) (PTI08_08_2025_000137B) Despite the corporation's subsidy scheme, traditional idol makers struggle with rising costs, insufficient aid, and labour shortages. Morajkar said the survey to identify PoP idol sales began on Aug 8, and so far, GHRSSIDC's inspection has flagged none. He said that the inspection will continue until Aug 24. 'Local mud clay idols are the customer's first choice, due to our awareness campaigns. The Shadu Mati and coconut fibre idols from Maharashtra are in demand, but not as much as the local clay ones,' Morajkar told TOI . GHRSSIDC offers a subsidy of Rs 250 per idol for up to 250 idols to the local idol makers. As of July 2025, GHRSSIDC received 367 local vendor applications for registration. In 2024, 475 vendors received subsidies totalling Rs 90.5 lakh on the sale of 45,248 idols, Morajkar said. Pernem, Sattari, and Bicholim talukas have the highest concentration of traditional idol makers in Goa. 'Earlier, we used to get the Chikal Mati at Rs 20,000 for a 10m truck. Now, the prices have risen to Rs 25,000,' said Bicholim sculptor Durgaram Shet. Local artisans allege the PoP idol ban is not strictly enforced. The clay idols are heavier, with rich colours being another distinguishing feature. Umakant Poke, a third-generation sculptor from Morjim, said that because certain vendors sell PoP idols, local sculptors catch negative attention from handicraft officials. 'They think we are selling PoP idols. We are trying to earn money with our honest efforts,' Poke said. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
India Today
13 hours ago
- India Today
Ganesh idols: Immersed in ecological uncertainty
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated August 18, 2025)In a small workshop in Hamrapur village, 60 kilometres from Mumbai, Nitesh Daur stands quietly amid neat rows of white Ganesh idols. Crafted from Plaster of Paris (PoP)—a lightweight, detail-friendly material—the statues have been his livelihood since 2005. 'If I shut down this business, what will I do?' asks the 35-year-old father of two. 'I have no other skills.'advertisementDaur's anxiety stems from a long-running legal battle over the environmental impact of PoP idols, the genesis of which can be traced to a 2005 PIL by the late rationalist Narendra Dabholkar's Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. On January 30, this year, the Bombay High Court issued an interim order, directing civic bodies across Maharashtra to enforce the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) 2020 guidelines banning the immersion of PoP idols—even in artificial tanks—during the Maghi Ganeshotsav (January-February).The rationale: PoP's adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems. The result: a swift crackdown by municipal bodies and police. On June 9, the court modified its order, allowing the manufacture and sale of PoP idols—so long as they aren't immersed in natural water bodies. A CPCB expert panel has also clarified that its 2020 guidelines were advisory, not mandatory. The partial reprieve has given idol-makers like Daur some breathing room ahead of this year's main Ganeshotsav, which begins in late August and is the most popular festival in Maharashtra. Then, on July 24, came further clarity. The court ruled that PoP idols under 6 feet in height must be immersed only in artificial water tanks, while taller idols may go into natural water bodies. The court also directed the state government to ensure local bodies strictly implement these amended norms and to provide enough artificial tanks for immersions. Additionally, the state was told to form an Expert Scientific Committee within a month to explore ways to recycle and reuse PoP and examine eco-friendly methods for faster dissolution. These directions will remain in force for all immersion-based festivals till March 2026. Accordingly, the state government has issued comprehensive guidelines for the immersion of PoP idols. Even so, not everyone is mollified. Naresh Dahibavkar, president of the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, welcomes the relief but warns of uncertainty ahead. 'This is only an interim order,' he says. 'Next year, the issue will be back in court.' He wants a 'permanent solution' to the issue of immersion of large idols—installed by more than 3,000 Ganesh mandals in Mumbai alone. Environmentalist Harshad Dhage, a petitioner in the case, too notes the 'temporary' nature of the reprieve. Emphasising the need to strike a balance between faith and sustainability, he says, 'This is not a fight against festivals, but against pollution.'HUBBUB AT THE HUBFor decades, idol-making has been the lifeblood of Hamrapur and neighbouring villages like Kalave, Johe, Tambadshet and Dadar in Pen taluka of Raigad district. Anchored by Pen town, the region is the nucleus of Maharashtra's Ganesh idol industry and even got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2023. Across the taluka, some 250,000 people are said to be employed in the Rs 200-crore industry, collectively shipping out millions of clay and PoP idols each year, not only in India but to diaspora communities as far afield as the United States. Mumbai alone hosts some 12,000 public Ganesh mandals and over 200,000 household idols—most of them made from PoP and sourced from this Ganesh worship in Maharashtra was a modest, private ritual, with small, hand-crafted idols made from local clay. But in the 1890s, nationalist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak elevated the festival into a public spectacle—an instrument of anti-colonial solidarity. Pen's transformation into an idol-making hub gathered pace in the 1950s, propelled by its location between Mumbai and Pune, and the availability of clay. A crucial shift came when local sculptor N.G. 'Rajabhau' Deodhar experimented with PoP, initially to embellish decorative images with finer detailing. Cultural cues added fuel. In V. Shantaram's 1959 film Navrang, an imposing 11-foot Ganesh idol made of PoP commanded the screen and was later immersed ceremoniously, foreshadowing a trend toward ever-larger images of the deity in households and mandals. The material proved easy to mould, light to transport and ideal for mass production. By the 1980s, Pen housed more than 500 workshops crafting idols from both clay and PoP, according to Shrikant Deodhar, Rajabhau's nephew and a fourth-generation sculptor. In the 1990s, outlying villages, with their cheaper land and abundant labour, joined the fray. In Hamrapur, farmlands long eroded by saline ingress have given way to gleaming bungalows—quiet monuments to the prosperity the idol trade has brought. In this belt, artisans are organically initiated into the craft as January court order, however, had sent tremors through the region. Many workshops suspended work entirely. 'We lost three critical months,' says Jagdish Patil, president of the Shri Ganesh Murtikar Utkarsha Mandal, representing about 600 workshops in Hamrapur. 'We usually produce around a million idols every year. This time, it may drop to 800,000.' THE PoP VS CLAY DEBATEadvertisementThe economics is unforgiving. Most manufacturers take loans to buy raw materials. For, while wholesale buyers settle dues post-festival, vendors supplying PoP, paint and coir insist on advance payments. 'Customers are fewer this year. There's confusion and fear,' says Neeraj Naik, an idol-maker in Hamrapur. In a neighbouring workshop, sculptor Kunal Patil gestures at a half-finished idol. 'One person can make 10-15 PoP idols per shift. Clay? Maybe two or three,' he is a key factor—while the retail rates of clay and PoP idols vary widely depending on the market and locality, a one-and-a-half-foot tall clay idol typically costs around Rs 3,000, compared to Rs 2,000 for a similarly sized PoP idol at the lower end of the product line. Patil and others maintain that PoP idols are not just more durable and cost-effective but more aesthetically consistent. 'Clay idols are fragile—even a damp garland can cause them to flake, which many consider inauspicious,' says Mahendra Kamble, a distributor who supplies Hamrapur idols to Dombivli, an extended suburb of Mumbai. 'If I sell 1,000 idols, barely 150 are clay. This means people prefer PoP.'advertisementBut traditionalists and environmentalists contest that logic. 'PoP doesn't dissolve, and broken parts of these idols later wash up on the shore,' says Mumbai-based clay sculptor Vasant Raje. 'This is vitambana (sacrilege) of our religion.' Raje points to the iconic 20-foot clay 'Girgaoncha Raja', installed every year in Mumbai's Girgaon neighbourhood, as proof that size isn't a bone of contention, i.e. PoP, is made by heating gypsum to remove water, resulting in a powder that hardens when mixed with water. A 2023 study on the Tapi river, which runs through Maharashtra's northern edge, found a clear correlation between PoP idol immersion and degraded water quality. The paints often contain toxic metals like lead and cadmium. PoP itself may take months—or even years—to dissolve, raising water hardness and harming aquatic life. Wildlife biologist Anand Pendharkar notes that the material clogs the burrows of fish and crabs and damages mangrove roots. 'It has affected the breeding of Bombay duck, sponges and other marine organisms,' he says. The annual use of PoP across the state is about 4,500 tonnes, with Mumbai alone accounting for 675 tonnes, notes the 2023 study. Gradually, other states, like Goa, are banning the import and sale of PoP Ganesh doubts persist about how viable a large-scale pivot to clay would be. Today, just about 20 per cent of the idols made in Pen taluka are clay-based. The supply chain isn't ready. Nor is the workforce adequately trained, say those in the PoP idol industry. Some stakeholders call for a middle ground. 'The issue has to be seen from the prism of employment,' says Dhairyashil Patil, a Rajya Sabha MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former MLA from Pen. 'Even chemical industries pollute. Yet, we don't call for them to be banned. We ask for them to be regulated.' For now, the idol-makers of Hamrapur and nearby villages sculpt on, tracing divine forms in drying plaster, uncertain what shape their future will to India Today Magazine- EndsTrending Reel
