3/10
After a four year hiatus, the widely known South-Korean boy band the Bangtan Boys (BTS) returned with their highly anticipated comeback album, ARIRANG. However, not only do the ‘Kings of K-pop’ fail to meet fans’ expectations, ARIRANG is one of the worst albums the group has released to date. ARIRANG’s tracks are repetitive, forgettable, heavily autotuned, and ultimately disappointing. After 40 minutes of complete misses, the only question left is: is BTS just washed up?
Although BTS has always been widely praised for their distinct, raw vocals, ARIRANG is filled with autotune and vocal processing that flattens the members’ individual voices. Such changes, though meant to be experimental, lead to a loss of emotional impact, individuality, and authenticity—the characteristics that define BTS.
The first track on the album, “Body to Body,” is an up-beat, hip-hop inspired song that includes elements of the original Korean folk song, “Arirang.” The folk song is an unofficial national anthem, and its themes represent a major part of Korean cultural identity and society. “I mean, the things between us / I mean, our own different style / I mean, we livin,” the group sings in “Body to Body”. BTS’ music has always revolved around ideas of navigating youth and accepting identity, so this song feels like a tie back to their origin. It’s a nice start, setting off the album with expectations of a complete comeback.
The next track, “Hooligan” is rowdy and catchy, but still in the same vein as the group’s past released songs. The distinct sound of clashing blades creates a fiery vibe, contributing to the intense mood. “This is international / Make it unforgettable,” BTS member JIMIN sings. The track is also rap-heavy, with members J-Hope and SUGA spitting hard-hitting lines throughout the song. It is a song that reminds us what BTS is all about.
Unfortunately, the quality only decreases from there on out. With production from American rapper JPEGMAFIA, ARIRANG’s fourth track, “FYA,” is meant to be an experimental, yet high energy, rap-forward track. Alas, not only are the lyrics highly repetitive, they’re uninteresting at best. “Everything lit, it’s fire, everything big, it’s fire,” they rap. Although words “fire,” “lit,” and “big” exist in these lyrics, this lexicon is nowhere to be found in the rest of the album, or the rest of the band’s catalog all together. The experimental rap feels forced and shallow, especially knowing that the group has members, SUGA and J-Hope, that can rap outstandingly.
“they don’t know ‘bout us,” the album’s 11th track, faces a similar issue. The lyrics are repetitive and cringy, and the voices sound extremely auto-tuned. “They don’t know ’bout us, they don’t know ’bout us (Oh-oh),” BTS member Jung Kook sings, repeating the same lyric for about half the song. This track seems like an attempt at an empowering anthem that questions reality and public expectations. However, it doesn’t land that way—instead, it comes across dull and generic, lacking any real voice. The group has delivered outstanding tracks with similar themes early in their career, making this effort especially disappointing.
“SWIM,” the album’s lead single, is a languid song with slow and calming rhythms, the members’ soothing vocals being the song’s highlight. The track speaks about resilience, urging others to move forward despite the obstacles they might face. “Sittin’ on the shore, now I’m ready for the whole sea / I can feel the high waves comin’ / Why you run away? You can run in,” BTS member SUGA raps.
Meanwhile, “Merry Go Round” explores feelings of burnout—the song acting as a metaphor for the repetition of life. “I can’t get off this merry-go-round / It spins me around / I do my best, but I can’t slow down,” the members sing in the chorus. Although the two tracks aren’t completely terrible by themselves—their melodies are dreamy and reflective, albeit forgettable—they don’t fit in with the rest of the album.
Though not altogether horrible, these two tracks highlight one of the album’s biggest flaws: it’s confusing to a fault.
Most songs in ARIRANG are energetic, with hip-hop, rock, and electronic music serving as the prominent genre references. However, songs such as “SWIM” and “Merry Go Round” lean in the opposite direction, clearly focusing on calming rhythms and reflection. This complicates the whole album, as the different styles fail to blend together, resulting in no clear theme.
Moreover, while ARIRANG is explicitly marketed as an album dedicated to the members’ Korean roots—with its title being a direct homage to a famous Korean folk song—more than half of the tracklist is entirely in English.
There’s barely any lyrical ties to Korean culture. In fact, despite some fans’ insistence, it’s evident that the album is not so much about Korean roots, but more so centered around love and connection. In almost all the songs, there are references to physical intimacy. Although intended to be sensual, these verses read off like lines of a teenager’s below-average fanfiction novel. In their tenth track, “Like Animals,” the members sing, “We can go all night / Don’t you close your eyes.”
The only track that fully leans into ARIRANG’s proposed cultural element is “No. 29.” The track—spanning a little less than two minutes—features the sound of South Korea’s 29th national treasure, Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok. Besides a couple bell rings at the beginning, the rest of “No. 29” is meant to be an intentional moment of quiet. Is it culturally important? Sure. Is it music? Debatable. Is it weird that the song is sequenced right in between “Normal,” an Imagine Dragons style pop rock anthem, and “SWIM,” the album’s dreamy lead single? Definitely.
Surprisingly, the album has shattered records: ARIRANG has become Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day this year. It has also set a new record as the most-streamed K-pop album in Spotify history. But, it’s caused chaos in the BTS fandom. While many fans have praised the project for its attempt on a new style, others have shared critiques online, only to be met with waves of backlash urging them to “leave” the fandom. ARIRANG is so messy, it’s literally creating disruption amongst the group’s own fanbase.
Although it might be breaking records, ARIRANG is unquestionably the weakest album in the group’s history. Unfortunately, if this is what four years of waiting looks like, maybe the group needs another hiatus before their actual comeback.
