Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have already heard about this swoon-worthy boyband that has been stealing hearts across the globe. The Bangtan Sonyeondan AKA BTS consists of seven oh-so-handsome bandmates: RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Park Ji-Min, V and Jungkook.
It’s no surprise that this boyband is one of the most popular (and indeed the best) bands across the world. In 2013, the band made a kick-ass debut and has been becoming more popular ever since. From mental health to the journey towards loving oneself, the music and lyrics of their songs touch on the themes of a number of pressing issues. BTS broke 8 of the longest-held records including the ones set by Adele, Michael Jackson and The Beatles.
While all the seven boys are extremely talented and super adorable, it’s Jungkook who stole our hearts as soon as we saw him for the first time. We have listed down some really fun facts about the singer and songwriter that every fan should definitely know!
1. He is the youngest member of the band and has a unique nickname.
Born in 1997, he joined the band at the tender age of 15. He has been fondly titled Golden Maknae, which is made up of two different words. In Korean, the word ‘maknae’ refers to the youngest of the bunch and the word ‘golden’ represents that he’s an all-around skilled performer. Apart from being a talented singer and rapper, he’s also a brilliant athlete, artist, gamer and filmmaker.
2. Before becoming a worldwide sensation, he auditioned in a talent show.
Being one of the biggest talent shows of the nation, Superstar K received enormous popularity through each of its seasons. In 2011, the singer auditioned in the third season of the show. Even though he couldn’t make it to the finals, he received a number of casting offers from different entertainment agencies and finally became a part of this boyband.
3. He has been gifted a piece of land in his name by his fans.
It’s quite common for a celebrity to receive a number of heart-warming presents from their fans all across the world. Ramona Thornes, the Filipino singer and actress, gifted one square foot of forest land to the singer. She took to her social media account and showcased the certificates detailing the buying of the plot under the singers’ name in the Highland Titles Nature Reserve, Scotland.
4. He is the youngest person to receive two renowned accolades from South Korea.
There’s no doubt that receiving recognition for your work is always appreciated. The talented singer is the youngest ever recipient of South Korea’s Order Of Cultural Merit, which is awarded for outstanding meritorious services in the fields of culture and art in the interest of promoting the national culture and national development. The merit was awarded to the boyband for their contribution to the growth of K-pop and the singer was only 22-years-old back then. He is also the youngest recipient of the Musician Of The Year award at the Korean Music Awards. Well, he’s a bundle of talent, isn’t he?
5. He has a sweater named after him.
ULKIN, the high-end casual clothing brand, named their long-awaited oversized turtleneck knit sweater after the singer. The ‘Jungkook Knit’ was first worn by the singer and it instantly became popular within a short span of time. The brand created a social media handle just to thank the singer and even named the sweater after him. How adorable is that?
6. The singer has a minimum of 18 tattoos.
The singer absolutely loves getting inked. He has a number of tattoos inked on his arms and hands. He got a tiger flower, his birth month’s flower, inked on his forearm. He also has a tattoo that says ‘please love me’. He even has the line ‘rather be dead than cool’ inked on his right arm. Apart from these, he has a purple heart for ARMY, a Korean flag, a crown and a skeleton hand tattooed as well. He also has the BTS ARMY logo and the boyband’s debut date tattooed on his hand.
7. He was ranked the most handsome face in the world.
The Independent Critics and TC Candler have been releasing their annual world-renowned list of 100 most beautiful faces of the year and they have received over 8 billion social media impressions. In 2019, they released their annual list for the most handsome faces on earth and the singer bagged the number one position. Back in 2018, while the singer bagged the second position, J-Hope came in number 88 followed by RM at number 79, Suga at number 67, Kim Seok-Jin at number 47, Jimin at number 25 and V at number 5.
8. He has a little permanent scar on his face.
Let’s face it, we all have been there when we had a terrible fight with our siblings and got scarred. Well, the singer is no different. There is a small scar on his left cheek which he got while fighting with his older brother. The duo was fighting over their computer and he ended up with a small scar on his face. While the scar isn’t always properly visible due to makeup, his fans consider his scar as a part of him and love it.
9. He has an adorable white maltese pet doggo.
10. He has a habit of wiggling his fingers and sniffling.
11. He was offered to take up a stage name that depicted the symbol of his native city.
The singer, who has several nicknames given by his fans like Kookie and Bunny, once revealed that he was offered to take up a stage name. That’s correct. In an interview with Mnet’s Yaman TV, the singer revealed that he was offered to take up a stage name ‘seagull’. He, however, refused and used his birth name owing to the pronunciation of the word in English. And we are so glad that he did!
12. He was the fifth member to join the boyband.
13. He broke all the records by having the most number of likes on his tweets.
14. He wanted to become a professional badminton player when he was younger.
No, we are not kidding. Long before becoming the heartthrob of millions of hearts, the singer wanted to pursue his career as a badminton player during his younger days. However, he changed his mind after hearing G-Dragon’s song Heartbreaker. He then decided to become a singer when he was in middle school and auditioned for the popular talent search show, Superstar K. The rest is history!
15. He started high school a year later than his classmates.
As he made an early debut in his music career, he entered high school a year after in 2014 so that he could focus on his boyband. In 2017, he graduated from Seoul’s School Of Performing Arts (SOPA). During his younger days, he attended Busan’s Baekyang Elementary and Middle School. After becoming a trainee, he was transferred to Seoul’s Singu Middle School.