#bts chapter 3

No, wait, actually it's the way Yoongi knows exactly what to do with Jimin's voice that does me in.

Jimin's voice on Come Over shocks you awake, positively ruins you for any other song on this album. Rather, maybe I should only speak for myself, in that it ruins me for every other song on the album where Jimin's vocals are (supposed to be) prominent.

Hell. This is what I wanted from Arirang. Jimin's voice, accentuated exactly like this. Come Over isn't anything fancy or extravagantly produced. It's a pretty simple song, but it's exactly what I needed to hear from BTS. Yoongi's production choices have always been top tier. Yoongi, more than any other member has always had a full appreciation for Jimin's voice in all its forms, with all its strengths and weaknesses. Yoongi, that softie with his love for padded harmonics and accompaniment, knows how to pull at your heartstrings with the simplest chord progressions. Yoongi, always thinking of the members and how to "last a long time with them", knows exactly how to make them all sound oh so fucking good.

This song makes me feel like my boys are doing okay.

I call the era right after military service Chapter 3, but whatever you call it, an idea just popped into my head that excited me for some reason. I'm not sure if this is a great idea, but it came to me as I was listening to Fly To My Room. I would love if BTS did an album where one member wrote, developed, and/or produced a song for another member. Hear me out.

Suga has said he feels Jimin raps well, but Jimin doesn't fully agree. What if the members agreed to go with the instincts and suggestions of another member for this project? They trust each other, and they wouldn't have any intention of harming or embarrassing each other, right? They would be suggesting things they feel would make the other member shine or that they feel the other member would perform well, but it may not be something the said member would have thought to do or felt was a choice for himself. BTS always strives to put out quality material, so this would be no different. As with the solo era, the artist and the audience might be pleasantly surprised when accepting ideas outside of established comfort zones.

It reminds me of the time they styled each others' outfits. The whole album could be a mixture of songs like that, and not just solos but even subunits. The 'managing' member would pick the genre or style and even produce, or be involved in the production of, the song. The involved members could even write the song together. I think it would stretch each of them artistically from both directions: the creator and the performer. And it doesn't just mean rappers do vocals, and vocalists do rap. It could be simply a style of music, still within their vocal comfort. Picture Jimin doing a Reggae-styled song or V doing a Latin-themed song or Suga doing some Blues. I'm not good at this, but you get the idea, right?

I'm also not saying the artist would have no veto power. In my scenario, it would be somewhat collaborative but leaning more to the decisions of the managing member. Would it be too much to say the manager would also get to design the stage for said venture? Ok, maybe I'm getting carried away, but I told you it kind of excited me. 🙂

I'm not saying this would be a good first product right after military, but I have written before that I hope in this next chapter they do use the diversity shown and/or discovered during the solo era to do more varied solo work within the BTS song catalog , different genres, more diverse subunits, etc. [See my BTS's Solo Chapter, 4-part series for more.]

(Btw congrats on your baby!)

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(Thank you!)

Yeah I got tickets for a couple shows later on in the tour, and I'm looking forward to it.

About the discourse - we're getting a tour with minimal choreography, minimal props, ~3x more stops than their previous tours, for an album that's arguably their weakest in years, all at a time when BTS is at their highest point so far? The discourse was inevitable.

But honestly I'm so over it. The discourse I mean.

I miss BTS. I like BTS. It's been too long since I've seen them all on stage, so I'm looking forward to seeing just that: all seven of them on stage, having fun doing whatever and however. For this first meeting after four years, I think I'll be okay with just that. It's a long tour, let them ease back into things, see what their bodies can take and for how long. Like everyone else I've seen the clips from the stops they've had so far, and seeing the pure happiness on their faces has more than done it for me.

But my expectations for BTS haven't really changed. It's not necessarily about the lack of dancing per se, after all on Yoongi's D-DAY tour he didn't dance much, yet his concerts seemed far more intentional in terms of including a live band, the setlist construction, the way his backup dancers were incorporated into the set, the levitating stage and props and how they fit with the tour's concept, etc, more so than anything I've seen so far with Arirang.

(If you couldn't tell, this is the theme with all my Arirang-related criticism: rushed, unpolished, blatantly workshopped it almost feels inauthentic, unconscious.)

BTS have been running full tilt for 14 years, they've earned a victory lap tour where they can just be with ARMY without having to do too much. But even now, you can see how the fandom goes crazy for whatever little dancing or choreo they do; how Jimin goes viral literally several times a day, seven days a week, for being the one member who is always doing the choreo, always dancing, always bringing that famed BTS max energy; how clips of Jung Kook, Taehyung, Hoseok (or any member really) go viral for dancing or doing little bits of choreo. The fandom wants BTS dancing and doing choreography, regardless of what anyone says, it's a core part of the group's identity and the fandom loves them for it. BTS might understandably want to tone down that aspect as they get older, and there's a way to do that gracefully and with intention, but unless something dramatically changes, the fandom will continue expecting choreography of some form to remain central to the group.

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Ask 2:

To add on to my last ask: I think I also feel at peace with this album because of how much I enjoyed the songs live. From my first listen, I thought it felt like a predominately performance-focused set of songs and I think they really delivered on that during the comeback concert. The thing with BTS is that we usually get both the performance-focus and deep meaningful personal lyrics from their hearts and souls. The second bit is missing somewhat on this album, so I completely understand some fans feeling unmoored by that (to continue the sea imagery), especially when this album has been understandably hyped up by them and everyone else as THE return to peak BTS form. But again, I'm holding out hope for the next album to deliver on both fronts and looking forward to all of the delicious live performances and other content coming up in the meantime. If the next album is more of the same, I'll probably enjoy it as a background listen (as I said, I'm easy), but I can't say that I'd be able to hold that same strong preferential attachment to the group that I feel now (also depends on their future solo projects ofc).

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Ask 3:

Okay third ask and I swear I'm done. Clearly I'm kind of working through my thoughts as I type and I could have definitely tried to parse through my stream of consciousness and condensed it before I hit send (twice, lol). But I think what it really boils down to for me is: I think I would consider this a solidly great album if it came from another artist/group, but I and many other fans generally expect more from BTS and historically have mostly been rewarded for those expectations, so it does fall a bit flat as a BTS project even as I'm personally really enjoying it. It's a fun listen for me, especially live, but I can't say it's anywhere near as unique or memorable as most of their previous work. Pining all my higher level hopes on their second comeback album instead of this one is surely a good idea for my future mental health, right? lol, but that's where I'm at right now.

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Hi Anon,

Yeah I agree the live show was really good and it kinda sold me on the album as a whole. But then again, performing has always been what BTS does best... no matter the material they're working with. (Lol I just can't seem to stop myself from being pissy lmao. I'd blame the PPT hormones but this is honestly just me, probably.)

I really appreciate what you said here:

"I think I would consider this a solidly great album if it came from another artist/group, but I and many other fans generally expect more from BTS and historically have mostly been rewarded for those expectations, so it does fall a bit flat as a BTS project even as I'm personally really enjoying it. It's a fun listen for me, especially live, but I can't say it's anywhere near as unique or memorable as most of their previous work."

And elsewhere in your ask where you correctly point out Arirang is technically a transitional album, and frankly, it does sound like one.

Thanks for sending in a more positive perspective to cut through the criticisms discussed here lately. I enjoyed reading your ask and despite my recent posts, I want to point out I don't actually hate this album lol.

On balance, Arirang is a fairly good album and considering the timeline the members had to work with, it's impressive they were able to pull off a project with songs that appeal to most of their fans. By the time the tour starts anyway, I'm sure their performances will transform our experience of the album into something that feels more like us, more like them, maybe even more like 'Arirang'.

[Verse 1: RM] One day, 'cause of you I'll be cryin' for a while I was standing in that alleyway Fallin' back to me I feel you back to me What really scares me What already saddens me How our shadows grew too alike

[Pre-Chorus: V] Twenty-four hours in the tub Twenty-four hours of your thought Z-z-z, don't wake me up If it's a dream, don't wake up my

[Chorus: Jung Kook, Jimin, RM] Fantasy It's a fantasy (Ayy, you next to me) It's a fantasy (Oh) You're my fantasy (Take that) Let's repeat it one more night (Ayy) Give me one more night Give me one more Fantasy, fantasy

[Verse 2: SUGA] Mood up there all day like cloud nine All day, walkin' it side by side These changes surprise me too A gift, just by existence A morning together with you (Morning) It's all understood without words (Understood) So instead of something grandiose Just stay right here next to me

[Pre-Chorus: Jimin] Twenty-four hours in the tub Twenty-four hours of your thought Z-z-z, don't wake me up If it's a dream, don't wake up my

[Chorus: Jung Kook, V, j-hope] Fantasy It's a fantasy (Ayy, you next to me) It's a fantasy (Oh) You're my fantasy (Take that) Let's repeat it one more night (One more night) Give me one more night (One more night) Give me one more Fantasy, fantasy

[Post-Chorus: Jin, j-hope, Jin & j-hope] One more night Fallin' Inescapably embroidered All the stars and you One more night Rollin' Can't snap out of such a bad mornin' A midsummer night's dream* (NB: The rest of the translations are more or less okay but this one stuck out too much so I made this adjustment, from 'moonlight' to 'dream')

[Bridge: j-hope] Selene, you resemble (Ayy) Stay beautiful as you were last night (Hey) By my side Break the darkness Yeah, yeah If I could see you just one more night Pass dawn's light Hit it, get it, do it again

[Pre-Chorus: Jin] Twenty-four hours in the tub Twenty-four hours of your thought Z-z-z, don't wake me up If it's a dream, don't wake up my

[Chorus: Jimin, Jung Kook, j-hope] Fantasy It's a fantasy (Ayy) It's a fantasy (Oh) You're my fantasy Let's repeat it one more night (One more night) Give me one more night (One more night) Give me one more Fantasy, fantasy

[Outro: Jin, RM, V, j-hope] Close your eyes, tell me what you see (Ain't nothin' but a dream, baby; One, one) Baby, I, baby, I give it to you all night (One, one, one, one) Every night is our fantasy (Ain't nothin' but a dream, baby; One, one) Baby, I, baby, I, give me, right at your time, yeah

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Note, he said his lyrics are "like I love someone, that person could be a lover or even ARMY”. He continued to wax poetic about how "love is like a deep bittersweet sincerity”...

I have nothing much to say about One More Night as a song cause it's my least favourite song on the album. Joon's right that it's a mediocre track and personally I think it's the worst produced song on Arirang. In terms of lyrics though, it's a bit amusing watching Joon talk about it and try to explain why an admittedly mid song was added to the album. When he talks about who he's thinking about in the song, that "or even ARMY" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. On first listen, even after BTS have added their lyrics, the target of this song is not apparently ARMY or a group of fans or even an enduring platonic companion. On first listen it sounds intentionally targeted towards a lover because many of the song's original lyrics, such as spending 24 hours in the tub, giving it to bae all night, combined with the whole play on fantasy, makes this song about as explicitly sexual as Body to Body's original tone... potentially (we haven't heard the original BTB demo).

If I get any specific asks about Joon's live I'll try to answer them, but for now all I'll say is his live confirmed several things for me:

HYBE has for sure mapped out the chatter on social media and the guys have definitely heard a good chunk of the criticism.

Whatever their intentions with this album and comeback, there's an undeniable issue with execution and misalignment between what they wanted to convey and how it's been perceived more generally.

This is more of a personal observation, but he seemed more defensive than usual. Parts of his live sounded too much like cope, which, given the success they've attained despite everything on this tour you'd think he'd own it all with his endowed chest... Unless of course he himself suspects there's some truth to the chatter but isn't quite ready to examine it yet. Idk.

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I guess perspective is everything, because from where I'm standing, while it's undoubtedly an unusual sound for BTS, Hooligan is actually very typical for k-pop.

The "knife beats" is literal 'pots-and-pans' music, the music ARMY shooters are notorious for dragging other groups for. And that classical + trap motif is so typical for k-pop you can find it everywhere, from Blackpink to Red Velvet to Ateez to BAP. When I first heard Hooligan, my first thought was that it sounded like something NCT (prod. Dem Jointz) would release, but that wasn't a knock against it because I like some of that kind of music and I like NCT.

Arirang is an interesting album for BTS because it certainly treads new territory for them in some ways, but ultimately the guys just leaned heavily into sounds they explored in their very first album (Motown + Hip Hop + Rock), and brought those sounds forward to align with what is trendy in 2025/2026. Because they worked with new producers the songs seem even more differentiated from what is typical for BTS, but like the reviews have shown, the feedback on that approach has been a mixed bag.

The most interesting thing about Arirang for me, is what it implies for BTS's upcoming solo albums. Because according to the members, they wrote/recorded about 100 songs, and I'm not sure if this came through in the translations, but in Korean they seemed not just excited about wanting some songs for their solo stuff, they sounded ecstatic. Almost like some songs got them so excited they were already planning their albums around them. So yeah, that got me wondering what each member would create if working with a song camp for their solo work. For example, for Jimin, I hope his next solo album is more TDKBU, more SMF Pt 2 and less Who, but we'll see.

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Hi @jimin-bangtan !

Your link.

Thanks for sending in this ask. You're right that Joon basically confirmed a lot of what you said about the constraints they dealt with, and I agree with you that BTS is possibly one of the only groups able to create an ambitious album despite all those constraints. You also make a point I don't think I've seen people focus on, or perhaps not in the way you've done here: which is that BTS has been able to make this album succeed because they worked hard to build a trusting and supportive fanbase, one that's been more understanding than critical on the whole. If we're giving BTS their flowers, then we can at least do so for this. There's been a deluge of criticism (fair and unfair) and I appreciate you sending in a POV that rounds out our perspective to remind us of the conditions under which the album was made in the first place.

But I'm afraid this is where I deviate from your POV, and I apologize in advance for using your ask to go on a ramble. Like you, Joon's live confirmed certain concerns for me.

The first is that many of those constraints, conditions, and circumstances were self-inflicted. Let's remember, in the documentary Bang Sihyuk talked about how he asked BTS to begin working on the album as soon as they were discharged from the military. He set the deadline of March 2026 for the album release before they'd even *started* working on the album. These are constraints the members could've pushed back on, we know they didn't and we know why they say they didn't, but the fact remains having such a tight timeline would mean tradeoffs would have to be made, and that's exactly what happened. Now from Joon's live it appears they are assessing if those tradeoffs were worth it, and this is where honest, critical feedback from people who love them and their music could prove helpful. It's why I'm not shying away from any opportunity to do so.

The choice to hold the longest tour ever attempted for a k-pop group, even longer than the canceled MOTS tour, starting right after the album was released, was another decision that appears to be more corporate than personal in its motivations. Again, this is a self-inflicted constraint and going ahead with it meant obvious implications for setlist construction and performance, which is what has happened. At some point, BTS will have to assess if the tradeoffs have been worth it, and I hope when that happens they are able to hear from all sides what works and what doesn't.

BTS are at a point in their careers where they have no real excuse to be pigeonholed by constraints and expectations (corporate and not) that don't work for them. And when I say expectations, I'm including my own. After all, I'm just a fan like everyone else. I'm not their manager or producer. I'm a fan with certain expectations, one of which is that I associate music and performance at a very high standard with BTS, and when I don't see that I have questions:

Do my standards no longer match what BTS wants?

Does BTS intend to move in another direction?

Is this a one-off or is this the new status quo?

Am I alright with this and if not, do I want to continue making my 5-figure donations to support BTS annually?

Those sorts of questions.

With time I'll get my answers, and Joon's live was helpful for me to begin getting some.

It's true Joon said the fact this album was made at all was "miraculous" given the pressure, internal and external, the financial cost, and everything else. He's right. Frankly, the album wasn't so bad that it warrants months of discourse. We can just acknowledge their accomplishment in making a very decent album despite etc, going on an ambitiously long tour to see as many of their fans as possible, and keeping their promises to ARMY by remaining a strong OT7 team. We can really just leave things at that, and focus more on the positive than the negative so that we remain an encouraging support for BTS. That's what most of the fandom is doing anyway, to be fair.

Personally, I'm usually a bit more... acerbic. And I can't ignore when I feel there's tea sitting in a pot somewhere, placed dangerously, precipitously on the edge of a table, where one small tip is all it will take to make a big spill. I suspect as time goes on, the members will give us more insight into their feelings this era and their plans for future projects. Maybe a few months from now, Joon will do another live and we'll both revisit this conversation with more info to round out our perspectives, with more grace to give... or maybe some asses to whoop.

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I honestly had no problem with the BE album but everything else? That's what I'm saying. Goodness this is going to be a rant.

You say the cache of Blackpink's features could be due to their time spent in the West. But BTS too has spent a significant amount of time in the West, in fact they were the first modern group to break out in a big way. You can think of this as a 'first-mover advantage' BTS had over other groups including Blackpink.

On top of this, HYBE has spent more than US$1.9 Billion (that's Billion with a B), in cash, to buy its way into the Western music industry. That is a fuck ton more cash than anybody anywhere in Korea has ever spent to break into America and I actually did the math to check. If there's one thing America understands, it's money.

And yet...

It'd be one thing if no other k-pop group could land decent collaborators consistently and we could say the Western music scene is still as exclusionary today as it was 10 years ago. But Blackpink, SHINee, and CL (as examples) have shown that's not the case. It's very concerning that Bang Sihyuk has so poorly positioned himself with Scooter Braun, that he has somehow managed to flounder all this cash, BTS's first-mover advantage, and the raw manpower of the largest organized k-pop fandom in the West, to end up with a rotating roster of D-list Western features for the 'biggest band in the world'.

At first I ignored it, after all before Benny Blanco and Kodak Black we got Coldplay. Somehow in the mix of poorly suited features we got J. Cole and Lil Sims.

But then, I saw that clip of Bang Sihyuk telling TXT they would debut in the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 because of their collab with Jonas Brothers, and realized there was something very wrong going on here. There was no way anybody who had their pulse on the music scene would think fuck ass Jonas Brothers was a suitable match for TXT, much less that they'd chart high with a song like DILT. Frankly, the man looked flat-out delusional. He was just eating up whatever Ryan Tedder told him without an iota of critical thinking anywhere to be found.

And of course, those boys flopped spectacularly. TXT didn't even make it on the chart. At the same time NewJeans had already debuted several times on the Billboard Hot 100 and that was the group Bang Sihyuk had told top executives won't perform well...

This was also the summer after HYBE's ill-fated attempted takeover of SM Entertainment, which though didn't end too badly for HYBE, it made me wonder about Bang Sihyuk's priorities.

Then last year, in spring 2024 after listening to J-hope's HOTS Vol. 1 EP, specifically after listening to Lock/Unlock and then looking at the credits, I decided to check something.

(What comes to mind when you listen to this song? I'm genuinely curious if anyone else picks it up. You can send your response through Anons if you like.)

That was the same day I read Min Heejin's whistleblower report from top to bottom btw. Afterwards I took the time to go through the credits of BTS's feature tracks since 2019, dug through the credits and producers, mapped out their industry connections to see where Scooter came up. I was curious to see if I could confirm MHJ's claims for myself, and lol. What a disaster.

Long story short, I realized that every decent feature BTS has made has been from a personal connection to the members, and does not appear to be sourced from Scooter Braun's contacts. By contrast, every single mid and poorly suited feature/producer has been a Scooter contractor. This problem isn't exclusive to BTS either, nearly every HYBE group has suffered the same affliction.

Now, as we all look forward to BTS's next album in 2026, this is how I've been consoling myself. I've been trying to convince myself of two things:

Maybe BTS has always been saving their good A-list features/producers for their comeback album.

Maybe Bang Sihyuk, Scooter Braun, Ryan Tedder, and the other head honchos at HYBE have noticed why their efforts have resulted in mediocre success and will take a new (and much better) approach in BTS's new album. Or better yet, maybe BTS's own connections and music preferences will drive the direction of the album with very limited input from Bang PD and Scooter's producers.

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Lol I won't blame you if you read that and started laughing at me. I'm laughing at me too. Even I can smell the cope through my own screen lmao.