Honne credits BTS as early supporter, hopes to collaborate with NewJeans

British electronic pop duo Honne looked back on its long-running connection with BTS’ RM on Tuesday, crediting him as one of the group’s earliest supporters while also expressing interest in collaborating with NewJeans in the future.

“Right at the very beginning of Honne, one of our very early supporters was BTS. Sometimes we’d release a song and see BTS had posted about it on X,” said Hatcher during a media listening party held at Mapo-gu, western Seoul. “We thought, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’”

Hatcher added that the duo first became acquainted with BTS before the K-pop act emerged as a global phenomenon.

“We didn’t know them at the time, as they weren’t as much of a huge global phenomenon as they are now,” he said. “But we got into their music and got to know them, and we thought they were fantastic.”

Their relationship later developed through backstage meetings in Seoul and London. Honne first met RM backstage during its debut Seoul concert in November 2016 before reconnecting when BTS performed at Wembley Stadium in June 2019. The relationship eventually led to two musical collaborations.

“RM in particular was a big supporter of ours,” said Hatcher. “Since he came backstage at our first show in Seoul, we stayed in touch, and we both really liked each other’s music. We said we should make some music together, which we ended up doing.”

Honne later co-wrote and co-produced RM’s “Seoul” from his 2018 mixtape “Mono.” The duo reunited with RM later that year for a new version of their song “Crying Over You,” featuring lyrics and vocals by the BTS leader.

Asked which K-pop artist they would like to work with next, Hatcher named NewJeans.

“(NewJeans’) early songs, both the production and harmonies, felt quite Honne-esque, so I feel like that could be fun,” he said.

Ahead of Honne’s concerts scheduled Thursday through Saturday, the duo said Korea holds a special place in its career, describing it as the first country outside the UK where it experienced overwhelming fan support.

“When we first started over 10 years ago, we were only focusing on London,” Clutterbuck said. “We didn’t think there was a world outside of that. Then South Korea became the first country responding to our music online.”

Hatcher added that Korea was also the first place where Honne sold out multiple consecutive concerts. The duo has also sold out its upcoming three-night Seoul concerts, held in celebration of the duo’s 10th anniversary and the release of its compilation album, “Honne-10,” which revisits songs from its first two records through newly recorded acoustic and lo-fi arrangements.

Following its Seoul concerts, Honne will continue its Asia tour with stops in Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines before concluding the tour in Europe. After the tour, Hatcher said the duo plans to “return to the studio” to begin work on new music.