Having premiered on Disney Plus and Weverse on April 21, the music documentary special featured several SUGA Road to D-Day cameos that accompanied the BTS member for brief durations of time respectively through the course of the film. Releasing alongside his solo debut album D-Day, this also marks the group’s second solo documentary premiere after J-hope in the Box.
Surprisingly, unlike J-hope’s account chronicling his groundbreaking journey to becoming the first Korean artist to headline Lollapalooza, Suga’s film doesn’t feature all the members of the South Korean septet, except just one. In addition to that, he rather ends up convening with other global artists as he traverses various locations across the globe to find inspiration for his new musical piece.
Here are all the names of special guests in SUGA Road to D-Day. Despite hitting a dead-end while producing his latest album, all these interactions helped him find solace, and sometimes even a new direction on his path to success.
All SUGA Road to D-Day Cameos Features in the Documentary Special
Park Jimin
Ardent fans of the K-pop boy group would’ve easily noticed the brief BTS In the Soop Season 2 Easter eggs in the documentary. This moment becomes more of a behind-the-scenes highlight from their healing vacation series as Jimin enters the camper-van which Suga uses as his spot to refresh, rest and work behind the cameras. Throughout the film, he expresses the hardships faced by him while working on the title track Haegeum, and Jimin was one of those people who got to witness the process through which it came into being ultimately.
While J-hope is also featured on the D-Day tracklist (song- HUH?!), he didn’t make an appearance in the movie.
Steve Aoki
Making way for the warmest welcome possible in Las Vegas, Steve Aoki is the first artist to grace Suga as his guest. He decorated his entire place with BTS paraphernalia, which left the rapper awestruck even though he’d instantly picked up on how it’d been done especially for him. They discussed how a studio’s vibe also impacts the music-making process in addition to going over a multitude of other technicalities. Before walking into his place, the titular star made it a point to remind the audience that the American DJ, who also shares Asian roots, has helped the K-pop group time and again in any and every way possible.
During their interaction, Suga also came up with the idea that when he revisits Las Vegas, he’ll make use of Aoki’s studio. A thought that is excitedly and instantly green-lit by the DJ.
Halsey
Halsey had formed a strong bond with the group members ever since their collaboration on the song Boy With Luv, off the 2019 album MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA. It was but obvious that Suga would meet her in Las Vegas. Being renowned artists in the spotlight, it’s quite (unfortunately) common for them to receive hate from the public for no reason at all.
However, thankfully, they’ve got each other’s backs. Despite the language gap, their friendship has never faced any barriers or distance, and he once again expressed the warm sense of relatability and solidarity he felt in the presence of pop artists like Halsey, who “paid no attention to all the hate… and treated (them) as human beings”.
Anderson Paak
The most playful interaction of all during the hour and 20 minutes long documentary is the one shared with Anderson .Paak. Suga’s third visit in Las Vegas is paid to the American rapper (one of two halves of the music duo Silk Sonic) upon his invitation. Paak has even collaborated with BTS leader RM for the song Still Life featured on his solo album Indigo. Anderson and Suga exchanged music beats with each other while downing shots of Soju (Korean drink) made in New York ironically.
Their exchange even exposed their previous meeting when Anderson kissed Suga on the forehead, and similarly, he mistook his age yet again, performing antics with him as if he were a kid. Clearly, the BTS rapper enjoyed his time as he was captured smiling the most during those sequences shared with Anderson, leading him to call Anderson “an angel, just like Halsey” at the time of their farewell.
IU
Suga’s friendship with IU goes long back, and it eventually led the two music geniuses to come together for their first collaboration in 2020 for the latter’s song _eight, which was produced by the BTS member. Having worked with her previously, the producer knew that she adapted to his music-making process quite well as she would always instantly agree with the changes that needed to be made upon his suggestion. Therefore, he chose to go along with her as his collaborative partner for the song People Pt. 2.
Featured on his previous mixtape D-2, Suga revealed the track People as his favourite song on the record owing to its healing and therapeutic powers on him. He even mentioned in the film how he often resorted to listening to it when things got hard in life. As a result, he wanted to recreate that cathartic experience again with People Pt 2, for which many women artists were shortlisted. However, being good friends with IU, and having shared good professional camaraderie with her, he decided to sit with her for this piece.
Ryuichi Sakamoto
The late Japanese music maestro played a huge role in actualising Suga’s dreams of becoming a musician himself. He approached his role model in this film, and sat down with him to discuss their shared passion for music. As fate would have it, he discovered Sakamoto’s music at a small theatre in Daegu, Korea, which was only playing only one movie at the time – the 1987 epic biographical film The Last Emperor. It not only features the Japanese producer as part of its cast, but also as one of its music directors in the past.
At a young age itself, chancing upon the maestro’s music, Suga even sampled some of his songs and gained inspiration from his works to make beats of his own. While going through his music yet again, it didn’t just cheer him up through his slump but also inspired him to work along the same lines and produce a song as per Sakamoto’s taste. Fulfilling his life-long dream, he came up with the rap-rock song titled Snooze for his album that Ryuichi Sakamoto is now also posthumously featured on.
Just like his journey into music came about after looking upon the veteran’s illustrious work, he wrote this song as a means to convey his profound thoughts to the new-age aspiring artists, so that he could give them strength to keep following their dreams.
The Rose’s Woosung
Along with Sakamoto, Snooze also features the Korean rock band The Rose’s leader, Woosung. He also appeared in the movie as the two performed the song alongside a live band.
Which of these special appearances in the film gave way to your favourite interaction? What are your thoughts on the documentary? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.
Also read: SUGA Road to D-Day Review: “Forward-Thinking” Music Genius With a Storehouse of Life Lessons