RM recruited the help of a whole swath of his childhood heroes to make his dreams come true when he made Indigo, but for Right Place, Wrong Person, he took a different approach. Rather than look up, he looked side to side: He handpicked people from across the whole spectrum of Korean pop music that he’d gotten to know while performing with BTS to help out with his new project. Starting from the end of 2023, RM invited alternative musicians—those who are constantly exploring new formats and sounds—to step into the rapper’s world and show the world everything they’ve got. The end result of this blend of unique styles heralded a fantastic artistic collaboration. Right Place, Wrong Person is a piece of art like no other—less a mosaic of tiny contributions forming one cohesive whole, and more an album made of fiercely individualistic pieces collaged together. The leader of the world’s biggest K-pop group opened up his solo album to the artists he worked with like a vast canvas on which they were free to explore, and the result is more than just musicians contributing their talents to a piece of K-pop—it’s a full exhibition dedicated to the larger-than-life personalities that fill the disc. Now, let’s meet the musicians in Korea’s alternative scene who helped make RM’s new album all it is.

Balming Tiger (San Yawn, bj wnjn, Unsinkable)
“K-pop is just whatever the f— you want,” group Balming Tiger explained to Rolling Stone, describing their unparalleled and inimitable approach to the genre. “But we wanted to do even more whatever the f— we want, so we added ‘alternative’ in the front.” Balming Tiger is an 11-member crew that writes their own songs and blurs the lines between genres while upholding what makes the Korean music underground so unique. They proved themselves to the whole world to be among the country’s trailblazers last year, playing major festivals around the globe in support of their debut album, January Never Dies. After first working with RM on “SEXY NUKIM” back in 2022, the group kept in touch with the BTS leader, ultimately leading to him appointing Balming Tiger member San Yawn to the position of head producer and creative director for Right Place, Wrong Person. In fact, the members of Balming Tiger had a major hand in shaping the overall sound of the album. bj wnjn and Unsinkable, who are both singers and producers within the group, worked on “Nuts,” “Domodachi” (feat. Little Simz), “?,” “Right People, Wrong Place,” and “out of love,” contributing vocals, lyrics, music, and arrangements. The Balming Tiger touch is a key piece of what makes RM’s new music alternative K-pop.

JNKYRD
JNKYRD has been producing music since 2014 as a member of the duo Flat Tires, for his own solo work, and for Korean indie musicians like HYUKOH, Balming Tiger, Charming Lips, PARKMOONCHI, sogumm, and Dajung. JNKYRD was appointed second producer on Right Place, Wrong Person to San Yawn’s head position, where he brought his hip hop/R&B roots and his extensive experience working with others in countless genres with him for the benefit of RM’s album. Like San Yawn, he worked on every one of its tracks.

Mokyo
Alternative R&B singer-songwriter Mokyo contributed his songwriting and producing talents to five tracks on Right Place, Wrong Person, leaving the most significant mark on the album’s sound after Balming Tiger and JNKYRD. Having famously written songs for hip hop/R&B artists like GSoul, Loco, pH-1, Jay Park, and Beenzino, Mokyo released his own debut album, accent fried, in 2020. The singer-songwriter, who’s worked with Balming Tiger members sogumm and Qim Isle as well as Rad Museum, took the dreamy synths and rock music laid down on RM’s new album and added his own dose of irresistible hip hop rhythms. His signature sound is most prominent on the tracks “Right People, Wrong Place,” “Domodachi,” and “Groin,” where RM’s raps are at their most assertive.

Kim Hanjoo (Silica Gel)
RM is the same age as Kim Hanjoo, a member of renowned Korean band Silica Gel, who have continuously sold out bigger and bigger concerts in Korea and abroad. Kim Hanjoo, who not only rocks out but excels at electronic music and producing, lends his heavily filtered baritone as a guest on a number of collaborations with electronic musicians, like CIFIKA and Kim Doeon. He also sings Japanese lyrics in harmony with his friend in a creepy voice over the ominous percussion on “Domodachi,” rocks defiantly on guitar on “Groin,” wrote the rhythm for “LOST!,” and wrote a quintessentially Silica Gel chorus for “ㅠㅠ (Credit Roll)” where he sings the same notes as RM before shifting into harmony. The music video for his band’s playful cover of “LOST!” exemplifies his personal taste as well as how much he looks up to Namjoon.

Jclef
Korean hip hop and R&B fans can always rely on Jclef to make something great. She got her start in music shortly after entering university, where came up with her stage name by taking the “J” from her given name, Heo Yeong Jin, and mashing it up with the musical term “clef.” She garnered overwhelming critical acclaim with her debut album, flaw, flaw—an exploration of flaws and ferocity—in 2018, on which she speaks honestly about her innermost thoughts and turns a sharp eye towards societal problems. She continued exploring new sounds, release types, and outlets, including through collaborations with Qim Isle, gimjonny, and NANCY BOY. O, Pruned!, an EP she put out last year, blurs the boundaries between beginnings and ends as the artist touches on the emotions we drift through as we go about our daily lives, and on RM’s latest album, her unique style continues to shine among the rapper and all his collaborators. Though not listed as a featured artist on “LOST!,” Jclef opens the song with her one-of-a-king vocals, and she puts her delicate finishing touches on the first half of “Around the world in a day” (feat. Moses Sumney).

john eun
Originally a jazz guitarist and later a singer-songwriter, john eun pivoted in a new direction earlier this year when he formed the rock duo HWAKIN. His solo endeavors tend to revolve around poetic, acoustic pop songs, while with HWAKIN he pumps out full-tilt rock. He previously worked on “Forg_tful” off RM’s album Indigo, as well as “SPOT!” by ZICO, while this time around he collaborated on the tracks “Right People, Wrong Place” and “Around the world in a day.” He plays his tender acoustic guitar in the intro of the latter, providing the perfect background for Moses Sumney and RM’s vocal harmonies. Other featured artists on RM’s new album include CADEJO member Taehun Lee on tracks “Nuts” and “Domodachi,” and woodwind doubler Park Ki Hun, who adds some rebellious post-punk-esque saxophone to the latter.

No Identity
With his recognition mounting on SoundCloud throughout the mid-2010s, No Identity produced Balming Tiger’s first mixtape in 2018 and significantly shaped the crew’s early direction through singles like “I’m Sick” and “Armadillo.” After leaving Balming Tiger, he had a hand in redefining singer Yae Lim Kim into the abbreviated Lim Kim, a strong voice for East Asian women in music, with her album GENERASIAN, from which No Identity himself became a must-have producer. He later collaborated with K-pop artists like SUPERKIND, NCT 127, ZICO, and aespa, on whose single “Armageddon” he worked his magic. His contributions to RM’s album include “Around the world in a day” and “out of love,” the second of which also features Rad Museum—part of you.will.knovv, the same label as No Identity—and KimOki, a genre-defying master saxophone player.

HYUKOH (OHHYUK, INWOO, HYUNJAE)
The band HYUKOH debuted 10 years ago with their song “Wi Ing Wi Ing,” but they already had a word-of-mouth following thanks to all the shows they played in Hongdae clubs. From there, they became one of Korea’s top bands, releasing their 20 EP, putting out the memorable single “Panda Bear,” continuing their climb to success with 22, 23, and 24, and making plenty of fun TV appearances. The band members shifted their focus to solo work after releasing the EP through love in 2020, though they’ve been hinting at making a group comeback recently, and their individual work on RM’s new album gives listeners a little taste of where they might be headed in the future. OHHYUK takes the casual bedroom pop heard on through love and mixes some of it into the song “Come back to me” with Kuo from the Taiwanese band Sunset Rollercoaster, drummer and producer INWOO provides percussion on “Nuts” and “Domodachi,” and guitarist HYUNJAE—who’s also a member of the supergroup bongjeingan—features on “LOST!” As a band of young men whose image conjures up the search for true love and happiness, they’re a perfect fit for this solo release from a K-pop superstar who’s also known to be navigating the harrowing waters of his youth.