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What’s going on here? The video for “On”, the single from their latest album, was still a compressed fantasy blockbuster that combined references from “Lord of the Rings” to “The Lion King”. BTS members ran over huge mountains, strolled the battlefields, and faced Noah’s rusted ark. And now, in the clip released on Friday for the first single from their new album “BE”, South Koreans brush their teeth, eat pizza, take a car trip and play on the sofa.
A pandemic is not leaving its mark on what is currently arguably the biggest band in the world. The world in which they released their album “Map Of The Soul: 7” last February was yet another. In it, for example, a world tour of the stadium was planned, which would take the K-pop group to Berlin in the summer. Obviously it was canceled.
Then in April BTS announced that they were working on a new album. They documented the creation process in live streaming on YouTube. There you could watch them discuss the concept for the new music video over dinner. Part of the group’s recipe for success is the close bond with “Army” fans, with whom they interact on social media.
In between were, in the usual BTS way, some records. At the end of the summer they landed as the first South Korean band with the disco pop song “Dynamite” at number one on the US singles charts. The video was clicked over 100 million times on YouTube in the first 24 hours, more than any other clip on the platform before. And in October, nearly one million people from 191 countries watched them at two online concerts.
So now the new album »BE«, which is practically not one at all. Because besides the hit “Dynamite” and a short ski in which BTS talks about their chart success, there are only six new songs in 28 minutes of playback. However, it is varied: there is pop that feels good, ballads, retro hip-hop and disco.
For a long time, however, the record is decidedly puristic by K-Pop standards. An organ carpet here, piano chords and some drums there: end of production. These are pieces that seem not written for the big stadium, but for the quarantine arena at home and the conflicting moods during the closing. You can dance to new songs, be sad and gain hope, all at the same time.
For example with the opening of the album »Life Goes On«, in which BTS recap the year Corona: how the world stopped suddenly and days without a face have passed. And how the hope remains that a better time will come. The song sounds like a light tap on the shoulder should feel – it’ll be fine. In the melancholy ballad “Blue & Gray” they then describe the inner emptiness and loneliness to the acoustic guitar and strings. “I just want to be happier,” Jin, V and Jungkook sing alternately.
After this early catharsis, she is quite lively. The song “Telepathy” ties into the funky and hit “Dynamite” with its bass groove, cowbells and crisp synth sounds, but remains pleasantly relaxed. After some old school rap (“Dis-ease”), stereotypical EDM (“Stay”), which sounds like a B-side of the band’s “Love Yourself” EP series, and is obviously “Dynamite” then it’s over. new. On the one hand.
On the other hand, BTS with »BE« offers just under half an hour, with which you can briefly disconnect from everyday life. Many fans of the army of millions of “Army” point out that the boy band has already helped them in difficult times. With this in mind, the group stands by itself in the pandemic record. They give comfort. And you will never get enough.
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