Bangtan Sonyeondan are back with a new mini album, complete with a concept that steps away slightly from a generally fierce image ARMYs are used to. Here is a quick review.
1. Intro: In The Mood For Love / Blooming Youth The powerful track featured in the comeback teaser for this mini album. Thanks to the raw feelings graced by Suga's rapping he speaks from the heart on the struggles of living as a youth. Facing reality and having difficulty to move onward whilst the other peers succeed.
2. I NEED U Title track for the mini album. I Need U is about a taunting relationship. BTS want the girl to end it all but they still want her even though they know they'll get hurt and can't walk away first. She's their everything. They loves her. They hate her. And as RapMon says It goes round and round. Why do I repeatedly come back. I go down and down. The music starts off slow and surreal with the echoes of 'fall, fall' but then speeds up to describe the intense feelings the guys hold.
3. Hold Me Tight Opening up with a smooth piano beat, this R'n'B song has a self-explanatory title and talks about the approach of an ending relationship. Before things finish, BTS want their girl to hug them tightly. They miss her presence, her scent and just want to hear and see her.
4. SKIT: Expectation BTS really like their skits and they have often been included in their mini albums. This particular skit is where BTS discuss their expectations from the new album. A full translation on the dialogue can be found here
5. Sick This track brings back the confident facade that brought many ARMYs attention. It's indeed an egotistical song, a brag of their skills in the studio and how haters describe them. This is their "Bangtan" style.
6. Fun Boys A really upbeat song that was first previewed at the BTS Begins concerts. In addition to being a track that gets you off your seat, Fun Boys is all about the energy BTS have as a group and individuals. Hyper kids indeed. Definitely reminds me of The Rise Of Bangtan from the second mini album O RU L8 2? This was also one of the songs banned from being performed on music shows due to the "ni chi fan le ma" [in Mandarin meaning 'have you eaten yet?'] sounding like a Korean swear word.
7. Converse High Also first previewed at BTS Begins, Converse High is the oher song banned from music show performance because of the intentional disses towards big name designers i.e. F your Chanel, F your Alexander McQueen etc. Hearing converse often makes me think of RapMon and his fondness for the brand, as well as girls who wear shoes of that brand. This is certainly a Namjoon song. Very fun and cheeky.
8. Moving On A song that discusses the BTS trainee days and leading up to the present. The group have debuted and now they want to move forward, aim for bigger dreams as idols, move to a bigger place (not just a bigger home but it wouldn't be a surprise since their dorm is small). Reading the lyrics, this song certainly comes from the members's minds. It's something that could be done in reality.
9. Outro: Love Is Not Over After two songs that talk about BTS's music career, we return to the heartbreaking theme of love with this r'n'b ballad to close the mini album. As the title says, love is not over and the boys want that feeling back, even if it is hurtful.
Overall
Unsure of how BTS were going to pull off this concept and a style that gave them a breather from their usually aggressive sound, I was truly surprised with this mini album. I certainly knew they could be romantic and sweet with the likes of Coffee, Johayo and Haruman, as well as emotional like Let Me Know and determined to fight for dreams i.e. No More Dream or N.O. This was what drew me into BTS. They presented other types of songs that wasn't limited to hip-hop, dance or cyphers. I saw what the rapper line could do but I also saw the talent vocal line had and I was impressed.
BTS have already covered how school pressure affects young people in the previous albums, as well as hormones and how utterly crazy love can make young guys. This particular mini album "The Most Beautiful Moment In Life pt 1" brings out the emotions of youth, the beauty of life and the anxious struggles. Considering this is a two part project as RapMon explained in the 1thek hashtag interview it makes me rather excited to see what part 2 will offer the listener.
This album also had V and Jungkook offering their songwriting skills for some of the songs and it is always a joy to see groups given creative freedom on composing music. Another thing that stood out to me from listening to this album was how Jimin, Jin and V's vocals shone on this album. Of course fans can acknowledge Jungkook's incredible talents but it was really nice to see the other vocalists get extra singing lines. BigHit and BTS I await part 2 eagerly.
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