“Skit: Circle Room Talk” is a non-musical skit performed by BTS. It was released by Big Hit Entertainment in June 2013 as a part of their first extended play, 2 Cool 4 Skool. Different from most songs that are produced, this particular track tended to have a different concept. Instead of singing or rapping, the members did an entertaining short conversation with one another. This was the first time they did a hip hop skit. Later, the skit would become a tradition in the next few albums.
Background of “Skit: R U Happy Now?”
The album 2 Cool 4 Skool was BTS’ very first debut in the K-pop industry. It all started when Big Hit Entertainment put a mysterious countdown clock for Bangtan Boys on their website on May 21st, 2013. This was to confirm that the boy group was officially debuting soon. The news was followed by the release of the official debut trailer on May 23rd, 2013.
The tracklist of 2 Cool 4 Skool was released on June 6, 2013, through Big Hit Entertainment’s official Twitter account. “Skit: Circle Room Talk” was listed as the third track on the mini-album. “Skit: Circle Room Talk” and the rest of the songs on the mini-album were released on June 12, 2013. The physical version of the mini-album 2 Cool 4 Skool was also available for sale on the same day.
Story of “Skit: Circle Room Talk”
Since BTS is a boy group with a hip hop genre, they decided to include skits as a part of their mini-album. Basically, a skit is a non-musical audio sketch that commonly appears on hip hop albums. They usually add humor to the album, but importantly, it helps to bring context to the album and helps all the tracks flow smoothly and transition within the common theme of the album. At the same time, skits are also useful for fans to peek at the members’ personal conversations so that the fans can gain a sense of intimacy with their idols. According to a private interview during the global press conference for BE, Jungkook explained why they included skits most of the time since the 2 Cool 4 Skool era as a part of their albums. “It was such a meaningful moment for us, and it was important to share it with our fans. The skit really captures us in awe and how proud we are at the moment. So, that’s very meaningful to us,” Jungkook said. “Skit: Circle Room Talk” was the very first time BTS included a skit as a part of their album tracklist. Since then, the skit became a tradition for BTS for each album or mini-album they produced except for the Love Yourself series, Map of the Soul series, and Face Yourself. The conversation of the skit was done impromptu and unscripted. It was done during one of the recording sessions of the 2 Cool 4 Skool mini-album. All seven members (RM, Suga, Jungkook, Jimin, Jin, V, and J-Hope) participated in this discussion. Therefore, they were all credited as writers and producers of this track. There were no musical instruments used in the skit. However, to make the skit a bit more entertaining and enjoyable, BTS added a couple of sound effects to make the conversation sound realistic. For example, they added ringing bells at the very beginning and banging doors towards the end of the skit. The conversation lasted for 2:11, which made the skit the shortest track on the mini-album. “Skit: Circle Room Talk” was BTS’ first skit in their first mini-album so they wanted to establish the group’s identity and branding. The first part of the skit focused on introducing themselves as teenage schoolboys who were a part of a hip hop club. They shared their passion for rap, singing, and dancing after listening to “Fly” by Epik High. And, then, the tone of the conversation slowly shifted when Suga asked V “Taehyungie, what’s your dream?” After that, all of the members had a chance to tell little stories about their dreams. Some are funny, for example when V said that he used to play saxophone but he gave up because his mouth hurt and Jin’s dream to become a salaryman like his dad. The conversation stops when the so-called teacher (Pdogg) told all of them to go back to their class. Of course, BTS simply could not drop a track (even the non-musical one) without delivering some type of philosophical understanding or rhetoric onto the listener. In this case, it was Suga who asked “What’s your dream?” Therefore, the message that BTS tried to deliver through this skit was to motivate people to not be scared or ashamed of their dreams. This strongly corresponds to the main theme of the album, which is to encourage young people to achieve their dreams no matter what.
“Skit: Circle Room Talk” MV
It was considered a non-musical track, hence there was no music video produced for “Skit: Circle Room Talk.” Instead of having a music video, Big Hit Entertainment released a video that contains the full-length audio version of this skit on January 2, 2018. The video has been viewed more than 539,000 times.
“Skit: Circle Room Talk” Performance
As of September 2021, BTS has not performed their “Skit: Circle Room Talk” in public, whether at concerts, radio shows, or television music shows. This is simply because the skit was exclusively produced for the album content purpose.
“Skit: Circle Room Talk” Achievements
Since the skit could not be classified as a musical track, “Skit: Circle Room Talk” has never entered any Korean or international song charts. It is also important to note that the skit has never been nominated for a music award or ranked in television music shows.
