The guys also revealed an almost-stage name and which member didn't intend to audition for the group.
The BTS ARMY almost had a completely different name. RM, Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, Jungkook, Suga and V appeared on Tuesday's episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and revealed that their fanbase was nearly called "The Bells."
"When you say BTS, it stands for 'bangtan' in Korean, not 'behind-the scenes.' I mean, for your information," RM explained. "It stands for 'bangtan,' and when you say 'bell' in Korean, it sounds like 'bang wool.' It starts with the same word, 'bang.'"
"So when we think of the fan name, someone brings up the idea, like, 'What about the bell thing?' Everybody rings their bells and [we're] like, 'Make some noise!' and the Bells are like 'ring-a-ling-a-ling,'" he continued. "But thank God that [it changed], ARMY is so much better."
In addition to the fanbase's almost-name, Jimin confessed that he nearly adopted a stage name for the group.
"So I had Baby J and Baby G as an option, but when I thought about saying, 'Hi, I'm Baby J,' that sounded really weird," he recalled. "So I just decided to go on with my real name."
An additional secret revealed was that V didn't actually intend to try out for BTS, but rather accompanied a friend to the audition. Other confessions were that V sleeps with his eyes open, and that Suga's first CD ever purchased was an Eminem album.
"It was about 15 or 16 years ago, and I really loved his music. Translations for the lyrics weren't available back then, so I really couldn't understand what the lyrics were about," Suga explained. "So apparently my parents were OK with it because they could not understand what the lyrics were saying. So they said it was OK."
During their interview, RM also opened up about their first GRAMMY nomination last year, noting that it was "really an honor."
"It's one of the biggest honors for an artist in all of the world," he said. "... So happy, so crazy, so thankful for all the fans all over the world."
The group's latest single is "Permission to Dance," a song that RM hopes "will get everybody's heart pumping and [dancing] again."
"This is actually a gift of Ed Sheeran, of course, one of our friends. Mad respect, big love to Ed," RM said of the singer, who co-wrote the track. "... We can't believe that we haven't met him yet, and this is the second project with him."
When ET spoke to BTS in May, the guys gushed over the success they've seen with the help of their ARMY.
"It makes us obviously feel really good," Jin said. "It means that a lot of people are listening to our music and they want us to keep working harder so they can give back a lot of this love that we're receiving."
"We are not able to tour now, but we are looking forward to touring as much as our fans are looking forward to it. So when things do improve, we plan to go on tour and go on the road as soon as possible," Suga added. "... We'll be able to enjoy meeting our fans again just as much as our fans will enjoy meeting us again."
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