‘RM: Right People, Wrong Place’ review: a deep dive into the BTS rapper’s sublime second solo album

The best music documentaries take you into the heart of something – an album, a concert, a tour or an artist’s entire journey. They give you new insight into the music you love or the stories that have become so legendary they feel like myths. They make you feel like you’re a part of the subject, witnessing it firsthand, living and breathing it.

READ MORE: RM – ‘Right Place, Wrong Person’ review: an intriguing interrogation of feeling lost in life

RM: Right People, Wrong Place ticks all those boxes. It follows the making of the BTS leader and rapper’s second solo album, ‘Right Place, Wrong Person’, and deep-dives into the creative process behind every angle of it – from the music itself to the photography that accompanied it and the award-winning music videos that shone alongside its singles.

There are the stories behind the album as a whole (envisioned as 10 tracks about different people and situations), the lyrics and its title. Casting his mind back to a hiking trip with creative director (and Balming Tiger member) San Yawn, RM shares how the album name – and subsequent concept – was arrived at: “I said, ‘I think we’re in the wrong place’ and I guess San found it amusing because he had that written down.”

The album (which made it to the top 20 of NME’s list of the best albums of the year) feels like following RM on a journey from feeling lost to finding his place. The film has a similar trajectory. In the beginning, the musician often seems weighed down. In one scene, he’s goofing off in front of the camera (“I’m just worked up from working out, so I’m being silly,” he says), but between jokes, there are flashes of heaviness in his facial expression. By the end, though, that burden seems to have been lifted somewhat, if not completely. “For the first time in a while, I feel like I’m existing as myself,” he explains in an interview in the documentary’s final minutes.

Credit: Press

In between, we travel with him through Korea, Japan and London as he and ‘Team RM’ – a crew of musicians and producers who worked with the star on his record – piece together ‘Right Place, Wrong Person’. It’s a neatly balanced mix of shots of camaraderie and moments of guard-down honesty. The latter don’t feel like they’re included to make a point or increase the tension but to give an authentic glimpse into the artist’s mindset during this time.

Right People, Wrong Place might be a document of an album, allowing RM to show the contrast between this experience and the more polished, slick workings of BTS. But it also feels like a subtle chronicle of friendship forged through music. “The best part about a small-scale house brand is that it’s very close-knit and intimate,” RM explains at one point, referring to his collaborators. “BTS was like that at first, too, though. That’s why it was tough but beautiful in its own way.” Whether this collective come back together in the future remains to be seen, but in both album and documentary, their story leaves an indelible mark.

The post ‘RM: Right People, Wrong Place’ review: a deep dive into the BTS rapper’s sublime second solo album appeared first on NME.