Producers of V’s “Inner Child” Reveal How They Turned The Song Into BTS’s Next Stadium Anthem
“Inner Child”—V’s solo song from Map of the Soul: 7—is undoubtedly one of the standouts of the album. As always, BTS (in this case, RM and V specifically) contributed a lot to the composition and lyrics of the song. But alongside them were several co-writers and producers, all of whom were honored to work on the track.
Here’s how they turned “Inner Child” into the next stadium anthem ARMYs will be singing along to at the upcoming Map of the Soul world tour.
Matt Thomson and Max Graham, a production duo known as Arcades, were two of the producers who worked on the song. ARMYs who pay attention to album credits may remember that they also worked on “Mikrokosmos” from Map of the Soul: Persona.
Last year, the British duo got to attend Love Yourself: Speak Yourself at Wembley Arena in London, where “Mikrokosmos” was performed to an audience of 60,000 singing fans, complete with fireworks. After experiencing something so special, they were looking forward to creating the same atmosphere with V’s “Inner Child”.
I don’t think that’ll ever get old,
— Arcades
Another of the co-writers, Koolkid from Scotland, shared the same sentiment, having also worked on “Mikrokosmos” before.
With ‘Mikrokosmos,’ it was very stadium sounding, atmospheric and heartfelt. And I feel like, with “Inner Child,” we really wanted to recreate that in a way and almost make you want to stand up, feel the music and be a part of it.
— Koolkid
But surprisingly, “Inner Child” didn’t start out as the anthemic song it is now. When Arcades started working on the song’s guitar element in the summer of 2019, it likely sounded more like V’s typical style of solo as embodied by songs like “Winter Bear”.
Arcades mentioned that they know V is a big fan of Coldplay and that many of his songs have a similar style, so they knew ARMYs would be surprised that “Inner Child” is less intimate than his usual vibe.
Winter Bear and all those types of songs show [V’s] love for the guitar-driven, folky, indie sound… this time he’s gone on a big stadium grand scale.
— Arcades
Taehyung : i want to collab with COLD PLAY
Yoongi : ᶜᵒˡᵈ ᵖˡᵃʸ ʷᵒᵃʰʰʰ rea~~ pic.twitter.com/35E53tCnNQ
— ғᴀᴛᴇ𓍯⁷ (@hertaetae) May 14, 2019
To turn it into an anthem-like song, the duo worked with Pdogg to make it bigger and bigger. Starting with the acoustic guitar in the first verse, Arcades added live drums and held guitar chords. Then, the two even added their own vocals to make the gang chorus even fuller and impossible not to sing along to.
Above all, all the producers on the track were honored to work with V and completely happy with the outcome. Hopefully they get to see it performed on this year’s tour alongside their fellow fans.
I love [V] and I love his own artist stuff and his incredible music ability so I was really pleased.
— Koolkid
