The conclusion to the Love Yourself saga comes in the form of a repackage.
Featuring songs from the first two albums, some new tracks and remixes not previously included on the albums, does Answer fare well? Let's look at the newer tracks on Answer.
The opening song to the first CD is Euphoria, which listeners may recall as Jungkook's solo track to the theme of Love Yourself Wonder [link to MV]. The Maknae's angelic vocals always impress me. This song strongly expresses the effect of euphoria from a special somebody. That's like describing so many musicians who have strongly effected my soul methinks.
Trivia Just Dance is a J-Hope solo about feeling great, relaxing yourself while you dance solo and together with another person in a dance practice session. The song would make a great addition to J-Hope's mixtape It just has that Hobie feel and makes you want to chill out. Then there is the full length version of Serendipity. I was happy to see this on the album. It wasn't something I expected but I cherish that song quite a bit and seeing this in a live performance from the Seoul concerts thanks to fancams made me gush. Serendipity - a song about being fated to become lovers. Jimin says Let me love let me love you ... by all means.
Trivia Love is a RM/Kim Namjoon solo track. Very mellow, echoing the struggle of writing a song on love and also unable to express the right kind of feeling. However eventually learning to love in particular with the help of other people (potential SO perhaps). Namjoon says I live so I love which is true words. I think of this as a perfect romantic track but not too cheesy. It's a feel good song that doesn't overdo it with making the idea of love so corny to mention out loud.
The final Trivia song on Answer is by Suga/Min Yoongi. Now before I sat down to listen to this album I happened to watch a clip of Yoongi's performance to Seesaw at the Love Yourself Seoul concert and I was impressed. In addition to the charisma he oozed on stage, he wasn't just rapping but he was also singing throughout. When a Rapper surprises me with their singing voice it always leaves a good impression. Seesaw is about the up and down situation in a rocky relationship aka this boring Seesaw game and Yoongi thinks it should end right now. If you listen carefully, there is also a female voice in the background who compliments Yoongi well in this song. According to ARMY it's ADORA a BigHit female producer.
Epiphany... Seokjin can give me goosebumps with his voice when he is given the opportunity to shine. I know this song can make ARMY burst into tears and in concerts it will break one's hearts because Seokjin is pouring his soul out - just watch the fancams. His message is clear about loving ourselves. I'm the one I should love . Yes, something to bear in mind and not in the most narcissistic way. What happened to loving ourself humbly but not selfishly to the public eye? Epiphany is one of my rare life anthems from the Bangtan collection. It just resonates so much. Learning to love myself is still hard when you are not in the mainstream lands but let's move on...
The minute I'm Fine started playing I thought I was listening to Save Me again but the rest of the song steers in a different direction after that. A sequel to Save Me...? Ah, I just remembered that in one poster where it said Save Me and then if you flipped it, the message said I'm fine. The song is about being broken and alone reassuring yourself and others you are fine. You can see the light, it's okay. Even when you fall you can pick yourself up and you're fine.
IDOL is the comeback title song for the Answer album and the MV was simply wild. The scene changes, the outfits and the choreography to go with the song. It was the opening song at the Love Yourself Seoul concerts so it is likely the group will use this for the rest of the world tour. IDOL is perfect to get the party started and as some ARMY have mentioned it would be perfect for a World Cup theme tune. While we didn't get a Cypher, we got another alternative diss track by Bangtan. Call them an idol or artist they don't care they do their own thing and sceptics can't stop the guys loving themselves. Definitely a grower like DNA for me but if you want to get up and dance then play IDOL. The second CD on the album has a special version of IDOL with Nicki Minaj adding her rap skills.
Answer: Love Myself was originally written by British songwriter Connor Maynard and the song is evidently about learning to love ourselves from the past and present, despite what mistakes we made. No exceptions. Namjoon's line I'm still looking for myself, again, but I don't want to die anymore is a hard fact. It's the truth.
On the second CD of Answer there are more songs from Her and Tear but also where the remixes lie. There is the DNA rock version which is truly epic and fierce but also the Steve Aoki remix of Mic Drop. Can't forget the rock mix of Fake Love. Any time a song gets a rock or metal revamp and it works well this will certainly mean a seal of approval for my little inner metalhead.
OVERALL
So what is the overall verdict of Love Yourself: Answer? Does it reach an appropriate conclusion to Love Yourself series? I would think so. I appreciated the fact Euphoria, Epiphany and the full length version of Serendipity were included here since they are intro songs and part of the story, like the chapters of Love Yourself. I did hope for Sea because it is one of my favourite songs on the Her album but it would defeat the purpose of it being a hidden track. The Tear album is possibly my preference overall if I were to compare the albums side by side because it seems to give more emotional impact. Once you add Epiphany though, that's my soul gone.
But in all seriousness, the Love Yourself albums are colourful. You want some fun, party tracks you've got it. You want angsty songs to rock out to or just indulge in private as you brood or contemplate about life in private you got it. You want to cry and have someone tell you it's ok to love yourself and it's ok to be flawed you got it. Somehow writing this paragraph is bringing out my darkly emo brain cells.
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