BTS Consists of seven members, RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who sing, rap, and dance in the increasingly popular genre of music: K-pop. I have become a big fan of them over the past month and have reviewed some of their songs below. 

Sweet Night

Although “Sweet Night” is not technically a BTS song, it’s the song that got me into BTS. V (real name Taehyung) played a large part in this song’s creation for the k drama Itaewon Class. I have not seen the drama, only a music video that made me feel like I went along with the character through his journey. This song is so good. One Monday I decided to give BTS a chance and the song I happened to click on was “Sweet Night.” I was hooked. 

I do not know technical terms about music, but the combination of V’s vocals with the soft instrumental creates an ethereal world. One where you wander aimlessly on the docks of a secluded beach where you watch boats come in from weeks at sea. The beginning of the song starts off melancholy with the lines “Sharing my fragile truth… Now my forever’s falling down/ Wondering if you’d want me now” which bleeds into a hesitant hopefulness around the second verse with the lines “I wanna ask you if this is all just in my head/ My heart is pounding tonight, I wonder/ If you are too good to be true/ And would it be alright if I/ pulled you closer.”

But the catch is in the chorus with the lines, “How could I know/ One day, I’d wake up feeling more/ But I had already reached the shore/ Guess we were ships in the night, night, night.” The singer is saying they realized too late their feelings for the other person. Their ship had already sailed, docking on a lonely faraway beach. After a brief moment that was so infentismental it was as quiet as two ships passing each other in the night. By the end of the song, we are left in the singer’s shoes, not knowing what the person they are singing to is feeling. 

Blue & Grey

If Sweet Night hooked me, “Blue & Grey” solidified my love for BTS. I mentioned above that I heard “Sweet Night” for the first time on a Monday. On Wednesday of that week, I heard this song. This song was originally supposed to be all in English and on V’s mixtape, but the band loved it so much they wanted to work with it as a group. V played a big role in the creation of this song from the concept to co-writing and co-producing to adding vocals. On said Wednesday, I was listening to it, when I started tearing up from the gloomy instrumentals. The waterworks came at the line, “I just want to be happier.”

By the second verse, the lyrics seem to show an acceptance of this dark place the singer has been in through the lyrics, “The road I always walk and the light I always receive/ But today seems like an unfamiliar scene/ Have I become used to it or have I collapsed?” In the final chorus the lines, “I am singing by myself/ If I laugh in the future far away/ I’ll tell you that I did,” show the singer’s desolation with themself and a dulled hope of their future. “After secretly taking back words floating in the air,” shows the singer is, for some reason, holding back their painful truth. Maybe they are scared, too confused, or feel they have no one to tell. The final line is “I now fall asleep at dawn, good night.” The important part is they are falling asleep at dawn, the beginning of the day. This brings into the scenario that this whole song may be late night thoughts of a sleepless night. The singer is clearly upset and stuck in an unhappy place and is finding even the simplest form of escapism, sleep, out of reach. 

Make It Right

“Make It Right” has an upbeat tempo that really makes me want to groove. The premise of the song is the singer is going through a rough time and is saying, with help from the person they are singing to, everything will be alright. In the \video, there is an animation of a boy, who represents BTS, and a girl, who represents ARMY [BTS fans]. Throughout the video the boy has struggles that the girl helps him overcome, sometimes without him even realizing. 

The lyrics, “This eternal night with no end in sight/ It’s you who gifted me the morning,” show the singer has overcome the battle they were fighting. I believe the “you” in question is both music and ARMY. BTS is saying, focusing on their music and blocking out all of the other voices [haters], they were able to make it through to the other side where ARMY was happily waiting for them.

Euphoria 

“Euphoria” makes me happy. The lyrics in this one and Jungkook’s vocals are my favorite things about this song. I also love how the plot structure is less sharp and linear and more sensory and flows freely. There is a sort of electronic dance music type beat that I would not typically like, but I can overlook that because the lyrics are so good. 

The song begins with beautiful imagery “You are the sunlight that rose again in my life/ A reincarnation of my childhood dream… There is a green oasis in the desert/ A priori deep inside of me… across the dream, past the woods.” This sets the scene vividly; the song is in a dream-like state, rich in a deep imagining of colorful worlds. It makes the listener feel as if they are floating on a cloud overlooking a dense meadow full of lush greens, bright flowers, and gentle breezes. 

The song only touches on the euphoric side of love, but there is an underlying tone that questions that. With the use of the word “priori” in the first verse and then the final line saying, “Everything’s getting blurry.” The repetition of the word “dream” in these lyrics, “won’t you please stay in my dreams,” and “please don’t wake me up from this dream” has a sickly sweet tone. One interpretation of this song could be that the singer is going through a very intense, false love. Which brings in the question, why would they need to hyperbolize an emotion? To drown out a more painful one. OR this song can be seen as a pure and true love story.

Answer: Love Yourself

“Answer: Love Yourself” is so much fun! Whenever I hear it I instantly feel a flush of warmth. The message is incredibly beautiful and important to hear, especially since a large portion of their audience is teenagers. Through the lyrics, “You’ve shown me I have reasons/ I should love myself,” convey an imperative message about choosing yourself over criticisms and hatred. 

In verse two are the lines: “Loving myself might be harder/ Than loving someone else/ Let’s admit it/ The standards you made are more strict for yourself.” These lyrics recognize the uphill battle of self love. They explore the difficulties and self-judgements people place on themselves. The second verse ends hopefully with, “Now let’s forgive ourselves/ Our lives are long, trust yourself when in a maze/ When winter passes, spring always comes.” 

The chorus picks up the message through, “You’ve shown me I have reasons/ I should love myself.” This line, realization of understanding their importance, is beautiful in its simplicity. In the third verse the lines show the singer’s change of heart towards themselves, “It’s just that loving myself/ doesn’t require anyone else’s permission.” The fourth verse solidifies the singer’s feelings, “On the path to loving myself/ It’s what I need the most.” By the end of the song, the singer fully embraces the message with the lyrics “Even all the scars from your mistakes make up your constellation.”