Psy has shared that his collaboration with BTS‘ Suga was what inspired him to make his long-awaited return as a musician.
In a recent interview with Billboard, the ‘Gangnam Style’ singer shared that he spent the last few years away from his own music career, instead heading entertainment company P Nation and managing its roster of artists.
“In the last two years, I didn’t have a single day as an artist – that was a huge difference [compared to] my last 22 years,” Psy told Billboard about his switch to a more managerial role in the music industry. “That was the only two years that I’ve never lived as an artist.”
But the 44-year-old soon rediscovered his love for music after BTS member Suga approached Psy, wanting to produce a song for the ‘Gentleman’ singer. “Right before that, I was a perfect manager,” Psy recalled.
“I was really into being a manager of the company for the last two years, before I met [‘That That’],” he added. ‘That That’ eventually became the title track of Psy’s ninth studio album ‘Psy 9th’. “He came with the track and he suggested [it to] me. He wanted to produce [the song for] me.”
The veteran musician also added that the time and sessions he spent working with Suga on ‘That That’ were so eye-opening that it inspired him to pen an additional five to six new songs the following month.
“I was boosted with that incident, that young blood of [Suga],” he revealed. “We worked together, it was fun and I thought, ‘Yeah, this is music; this was what I’ve been doing since I was young.’ When I saw what he was doing, improvising and his enthusiasm, I got literally infected from him.”
Recommended
‘Psy 9th’ was released on April 29, and marked the end of the singer’s five-year absence from music. Aside from Suga, Psy enlisted a number of other collaborators to appear on the record, including MAMAMOO’s Hwasa, Crush, Epik High‘s Tablo, Heize, Sung Si-kyung and more.