The reception of Permission To Dance by its fandom and what it means for the BTS American Journey
The release of Butter, and subsequently Permission to Dance (which is the one I'm going to focus on a bit more today), led to a lot of polarizing opinions. What is allowed to be said, who is allowed to talk about it, which of course led to 2 major perspectives: those that treated the release of the song as with any usual BTS song or comeback, praising it on social media, enjoying the music and the music video and saw it as a gift for Army (and the promotion of the song was revolved around that) and those that were not satisfied by it, saw flaws not only music wise, but with the choice of imagery and marketing decisions. There is no right or wrong here, or the need for someone to choose a side.
Fan/reader/spectator reception is always more complex and definitely subjective. In the relationship between text-reader (which here I apply to all types of media) there are many elements at play. The reader has a sort of horizon of expectations that helps him to understand a certain text. Let's not forget that social/political context is not something to be forgotten when we look at a piece of media. We can focus on aesthetics, but we can't forget that art is a reflection of its society and its time. We have the field of cultural studies that focuses on that and I think this is an appropriate way to look at all this since I refer to a piece of pop culture.
One reason why there were criticisms in regards to PTD was that horizon of expectations I mentioned above. For fans that were familiar to the usual BTS music which has as one of its main element lyrics written by the band members, the disappointment should not come as a shock or as something inherently bad that needs to be shut down. Beginning with Dynamite up until PTD, BTS released songs in English, written by other people and with a sound inspired by American pop music. These reasons alone could easily be disproved because K-Pop as an industry and the music they released has been tied up with outside influences. This is not something new, as it's a representation of global influences. Another argument that I have seen going around is the fact that those who are now criticizing BTS are forgetting that they released BE in November 2020 and some members released other songs in the meantime. This is not a relevant argument here. What I see from all the opinions shared online and this is my reading of it, is that since Dynamite, the main focus of the band was the American music market and the need to receive a Grammy Award, which is something clearly stated by them in press conferences. Subsequently, the usual narrative used in interviews with all the 3 songs is that they are to be taken lightly, as something more fun, nothing too deep. That type of discourse is part of their marketing strategy which was used with Dynamite, but by the time we reached PTD, it sounds more like a broken record.
We have the surface level, which is reflected by the way in which these songs are released – fun songs in times of hardship due to the pandemic, we need something that gives us hope, something that makes us happy; and then there is the implication which is not something obscured, but can easily be observed if we want to look at it: those songs can be a ray of hope, but also have another purpose, business wise: bring in the streams, views, sales, which all lead to the Billboard chart, more recognition in American pop culture ( along with interviews on talk shows) and slowly, the Big Prize – Grammy. This second aspect is usually dismissed in the fandom or considered as normal practice (streaming parties and bulk sales) ‘’the boys deserve the Grammy’’ (which is nothing but a local American award), seen as not respecting BTS or their music. It seems that it has to be all or nothing. What BTS and HYBE are doing is a usual practice in the music business. It's never all about artistry, but when the focus for almost a year has been solely on that, it's hard not to observe.
In the latest WeVerse Magazine article (for which I'll have a separate post), it's said that these 3 songs are part of a trilogy, one that represents the times we endured through the pandemic and how BTS related to that, ending it with PTD. I partially agree with this statement in that clearly the trilogy reflects that, but more as a period of BTS that also tried to breach the American market more hard than ever, leaving aside the artistry for which they were known. That doesn't mean that we need to talk about it in catastrophic terms or that criticizing or pointing flaws is something bad, or that BTS are only capable of doing that. Indeed, BE was a great intermission, with a lot more input from the members themselves and better production (and definitely more of my taste in terms of music, concept and presentation). It stands out in their discography (Who knows, maybe years later I can look back on it and see it as a sort of White Album).
There's nothing wrong with criticizing a piece of music, or the intent behind it. There is no single band in the history of music that has released only the best of the best. It's not uncommon, heck it's normal and it happens for different reasons: lack of inspiration, maybe the artist wants to experiment and it doesn't work for the fans (Bob Dylan was booed in 1965 when he turned to an electric guitar, lol), or maybe wants a different type of recognition. What is important is that we should be able to talk about these decisions, to acknowledge them, to try and see the reason behind it and look at it from a larger perspective.
This is an open topic and I will come back to it when I feel it's necessary.
