After the vitality of the 5 opening songs, we hear the resonant toll of The Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok – one among Korea’s nationwide treasures – and BTS slip right into a extra contemplative mode.
Swim, the album’s first single, is delicate and restrained, the type of music that drifts lazily into your ears earlier than getting caught in your inner radio.
Chiefly written by band chief RM, it is a music about surrendering to the currents of life and shifting ahead, even when the tide threatens to drag you underneath.
It’s a theme that recurs on subsequent tracks – maybe suggesting that BTS had been cautious about dipping their toes again into the uneven waters of fame.
“My life is a broken roller coaster, but maybe I’m the only one to blame,” they sing on the melancholy Merry Go Round. “I do my best, but I can’t slow down this merry go round.”
The subsequent monitor, Normal, is billed as “exploring the space between spotlight and silence” and expresses ambivalence about the price of celeb, with lyrics about surviving criticism and having to pretend happiness for the cameras.
“Now I understand the truth, some pain is real / If everything’s just happy, that ain’t real.”
Those songs will undoubtedly be scrutinised by followers, particularly after Jungkook lately posted, after which deleted, a livestream video by which he shared his frustrations with life as a Okay-Pop idol.
But the album additionally makes it clear BTS have re-committed to this profession. As they sing on Normal: “Fantasy and fame, they’re the things we choose.”
And there is a cheeky riposte to their critics on the jazzy potboiler They Don’t Know ‘Bout Us: “You say we changed? We feel the same.”
