Do You Know, BTS? Let’s keep talking and dive into Jimin’s then and now story. 

Park Ji-min was born on October 13, 1995 in the Geumjeong District in Busan, South Korea. He grew up in that same area and seems to have had a nice, normal childhood. He was an excellent student and excelled in every area he pursued. His strongest subjects were math and science, and he was even a member of his school’s robot-building club! He’s mentioned he was class president for 8 years and also his graduating class’ valedictorian. We’ve already mentioned some of his dance training (we’ll specifically delve into THAT in separate posts) but growing up, he also trained in Kendo for several years and has earned his black belt in Taekwondo.

While he was studying dance, one of his teachers suggested he try auditioning for Big Hit Entertainment. He did and from some of our research, wasn’t offered a contract immediately (although he WAS impressive from the start of the process). Just a side note (because we’ll cover more during HIS week), V was a friend from high school and had already been pulled into the Big Hit organization. It was his final persistence that Jimin was definitely THE one to complete the BTS line-up and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jimin received his contract in 2012 and moved to Seoul, transferring to Korean Arts High School to finish his studies by 2014. Because of this timeframe, he had the shortest trainee period (remember, BTS debuted in June of 2013; many of the other members had been in the mix since 2010). And he struggled a bit. He’s spoken about how he almost was kicked out of the group!

“My major was modern dance. Because idol choreography is so different than what I was used to, I found it difficult.” But Jimin was so focused, dedicated and such a hard worker, he prevailed and proved his talent. Whew!

He considers himself quite the perfectionist and we’ve seen on various episodes of series or behind-the-scenes clips how upset, often breaking down in tears, he may be after a challenging performance or if he feels he’s made some sort of mistake.

It seems, also, that during those early days, Jimin struggled with some body acceptance issues and felt he was too heavy and became extremely focused on losing about 15 pounds. He’d practically starve himself, eating only one meal a day. Luckily this phase was short-lived and he now seems to be healthy and confident. He’s even advised others to not worry about some of that pudginess of youth–you’ll grow out of it.

With Jimin primarily being a trained dancer, the realm of singing was fairly new for him. But obviously Big Hit knew what they were doing and could sense his talent from the beginning. His voice is SO unique! He is what’s considered a counter tenor and is famous for those high notes! He’s spent years studying with vocal coaches and is always working to keep his voice strong and improve even more. We think he’s amazing already- and you ALWAYS know it’s him when he takes on a verse! His musical abilities have definitely evolved.

He’s also dabbled in some songwriting, has recorded some VERY popular solo songs for BTS albums and let’s not forget his most recent endeavor, the sweet Christmas gift he gave us just last December, “Christmas Love”. We’re looking forward to delving more into his musical efforts this week!

As those trainee/debut days passed and the full BTS line-up was firmly in place, Jimin certainly found his groove! He already knew Tae so that was an easy, comfortable connection and he was paired with j-hope as roommates. We’ve always thought that was a great match-up- the two (although very different) dancers!

He sure seems to be easy-going although he does have an emotional side. For anyone who watched the “Map of the Soul ON:E” streaming concert last fall (after their tour was cancelled due to COVID), you saw our sweet Jimin break down in tears during their encore. This pandemic and being apart from ARMY has really shook him hard. He’s been very open and vulnerable about his struggles around being alone during this time. We sure can all relate, can’t we? Luckily, he’s pored much of that into working with the other members on new music and all the various projects they’re planning for us.

Jimin also has some charitable passions too. He’s donated funds to his high school alma mater to help cover the expenses of uniforms, and has given significant financial support to the Busan Department of Education to aid lower-income students, asking the bulk of that go to his own Busan Arts High School. He’s funded the creation of a scholarship program for talented but struggling students in the South Jeolia Province via the Jeonnam Future Education Foundation. [Wikipedia]

We love that he was such an outstanding student and now, that is still where his generous passion for helping others is focused. And of course, there’s his partnership, along with the rest of BTS, with UNICEF.

We can’t wait to keep sharing more about Jimin! There are so many sides to this talented superstar- we hope to talk about most of them! He has all his wonderful personality traits, catch-phrases and funny stories. And we’ll provide some insight to them all!

Get ready- we think Jimin is gonna rock your world this week!
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: OneLuv BTS | Content: various sources
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