Desiigner on BTS 'Mic Drop' Remix: 'I Add That Extra Energy to It'

Desiigner is ready to energize everyone with his "Mic Drop" of an upcoming collaboration with K-pop phenomena BTS and EDM producer Steve Aoki.

The Korean act has garnered major attention stateside after taking home an award at the BBMAs in May and have been on the ascent ever since, breaking into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and seeing "DNA" reach No. 67 on the Hot 100. This month will see them visit a variety of talk and late night shows and perform at the AMAs, and on Nov. 24 they'll release a special cross-culture remix of their song “Mic Drop” featuring Steve Aoki and Desiigner.

While Aoki’s already given his thoughts on the collab, Desiigner opened up about what he thinks of working with the boy band of the moment. And he's hinted that it will be a high-energy remix of the original song, which was first released on BTS’ record-breaking Love Yourself: Her album in September.

“I add that extra energy to it,” Desiigner told Billboard over the phone. “Add that spice. That turned-up spice. All that extra.”

The Brooklyn-born artist, known best for his chart-topping trap song “Panda,” met the Korean act at the BBMAs, and quickly became involved in the collaboration. “It was just genuine vibes. We connected.”

“‘I need this to happen,’” Desiigner recalls Aoki Telling him. “So we made it happen.” 

Though not a single on Her, “Mic Drop” has proven to be one of the most popular tracks off of BTS’ newest album thanks to its swaggering vibes. And Desiigner was only too happy to jump aboard the remix. “What [“Mic Drop”] means to me is definitely -- like when you really amazingly, tremendously kill the beat. And you just drop the mic after that. You just know that you did your thing on that.” 

Though scheduling kept Desiigner from recording in studio with BTS, that didn’t keep the former from feeling the boy band’s presence. “It was perfect energy. I felt their spirit coming through the audio in the booth.”

Along with the BTS collab, Desiigner is prepping to release two new albums, which he teased will drop as early as the first quarter of 2018. “It’s gonna be different. It’s real different. I’m coming to you guys with positive energy. Different type of energy. You’re going to see different sides to Desiigner, I promise you, on this project.”

“[There’s] a lot swinging,” he added, referring to both the BTS-Aoki collab and his upcoming albums. “I can’t wait to present it to my people, man. Just so much going on on the artist side, I can’t wait to show you guys.”

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