Suga of BTS has spoken up about addressing mental health issues openly and expressing his emotions through songwriting.

In celebration of BTS’ Rolling Stone cover feature, the magazine released several individual digital covers and breakout interviews with the boyband’s members. During Suga’s interview, the rapper opened up about his struggles with mental health and how he relates his emotional struggles through his lyrics.

The 28-year-old revealed that it makes him “feel very good” when fans are able to find comfort and consolation through his words. “I think, for anybody, these emotions are not something that need to be hidden. They need to be discussed and expressed,” the artist pointed out. “These emotions are not something that need to be hidden.”

He also said that his feelings can come in cycles and waves, describing it as “almost like cold weather”. He added: “I’m comfortable now and feeling good, but those sorts of negative emotions come and go… It may come back in a cycle over a year, year and a half.”

Later on in the interview, Suga expanded on his songwriting process, noting that it differs from track to track. “Sometimes it may be a word that pops up and I build on that word, or someone could make a request for a certain way they would like a song to be developed,” he said.

“Oftentimes, we decide on a theme and then we sort of freely work from the larger overarching theme that we may have,” Suga added. “But generally, when I work on a song, I create the beat first and then the melody and the rap and then finally the lyrics. That’s generally how I build them.”

In other individual interviews with Rolling Stone, BTS’ Jungkook talked about his admiration for Ariana Grande and how watching her life “really stayed” with him. Meanwhile, RM shared more about how he found his musical identity.