by Abbie Moore
After a four year hiatus Korean pop royalty BTS are back to topping the charts worldwide. After being forced to swap their dazzling stage outfits to army uniforms to complete South Korea’s mandatory military service the group have made their return to the music world with their 5th full length studio album ARIRANG.
Despite not singing in English the band consistently top the charts in both the UK and the USA and this album is no different, with the title track ‘Swim’ topping the charts throughout the globe. ‘Swim’ is a smooth mellow pop track, the softly sang lyrics of ‘swim, swim, water falling off your skin’ give the song a relaxed atmosphere unlike the group’s previous high energy title tracks, reflecting the maturity they’ve gained throughout their stint in the military. However after a four year wait the song seems underwhelming, the ear worming, catchy rhythms of their hit songs ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Butter’ are missing and the song falls flat compared to them.
The meaning behind the album name ARIRANG immediately comes to light within the opening track ‘body to body’. The song starts out with a hip-hop feel and features skilled rap weaved around strong vocals, but what makes this song unique is its sample of tradition Korean folk song Arirang. The traditional Arirang song is based around themes of both separation and reunion, a perfect addition to a comeback album.
The use of traditional folk paired with the rap lyrics ‘B-T, uh, from everywhere to Korea’ makes the song more than just a catchy beat, it represents how proud they are to be Korean, laughing in the faces of those who accuse them of becoming westernised due to releasing more English songs as they have become increasingly popular in the USA and Europe.
The album reflects not only their Korean roots but also their hip-hop roots, debuting in 2013 with a hip-hop album, the song ‘Hooligan’ features a mix of the sound of classical strings, sharp sword sounds with hip-hop that shouldn’t work, but it does and creates one of the more memorable songs on the album. ‘Hooligan’ gives a similar vibe to their song ‘Intro: What Am I to You’ released in 2014, which features rap over an ethereal string instrumental, a nod to their roots while also showing their growth over the years.
Is No.29 Even a Song?
After multiple energy driven, upbeat hip-hop tracks, the album drastically pivots with the song No.29, which is hardly even a song. The track is mostly silent, only featuring the faint toll of the Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok. While it’s another nice nod to the group’s heritage I don’t think it’s a track that will be featured on many people’s playlists.
The silence cleanses out the high energy tracks into more mellow pop songs and this is where the album starts to falter. ‘Merry Go Round’ and “Like Animals’ are slow generic pop songs that don’t offer anything special other than the members flawless vocals. The track ‘they don’t know ‘bout us’ brings back the hip-hop trap feel of the earlier songs but it’s lacking the high energy to really compare to them.
The album ends with ‘Into the sun’ a song that had the potential to be beautiful, with the lyrics ‘you call, I run’, “I’ll follow you into the sun’. However the pockets of unneeded overly autotuned vocals ultimately ruin it.
This highly anticipated album was followed with an even more highly anticipated world tour, with fans desperate to see their idols after so long. Selling out completely within hours the tour kicked off with a historical come back show in South Korea, with streets in the heart of capital city Seoul being shut down to accommodate hundreds of thousands of fans. The group will bring the tour to London’s Tottenham hotspur stadium on the 6th and 7th of June this year.
A short discussion of the album.
