Why BTS’s BE Sounded Like the Word Home to Me
Tags: Be, Album Review, Army, Bts

BTS’s latest addition to their ever-evolving and growing discography, BE. Indubitably, if you’re reading this article, you don’t need me to tell you how this album obliterated records. How this album made the Billboard charts its tracklist and gave BTS their first Billboard Hot 100 #1s -- both with their English single Dynamite and with the very first non-English song to chart #1, Life Goes On.

Though I write this on member Kim SeokJin’s birthday, exactly two weeks after BE’s release, the purpose of this little write-up is to share my very first thoughts regarding the album. A reaction-piece, if you will? When the album dropped on Friday, November 20th, 2020, I remember I had been in an unfortunately scheduled pathology lecture. The minute I was able to click “Leave Meeting” and put down my pen, I was yelling for my mom. “Umma! Can you give me something to do? Any menial task you need me to complete for you. No, don’t say laundry -- I’ll get my phone wet trying to do laundry manually and listen to BE simultaneously. And I wouldn’t hear properly! Yeah, mom, the new BTS album dropped!”

Bucket and mop in hand, earbuds in, and YouTube Premium account in place, I began with bated breath. I just stopped to jot my thoughts onto a scrap of used paper and then later to attend my remaining classes. I listened through at least 3 times before opening Twitter, searching for lyrics or fan reactions. With minimal editing, these are the thoughts I had written down:

Album As a Whole:

BE sounds like their most cohesive, solid project till date. The album feels like bedrock. Not necessarily in terms of the soundscape — BE feels the most “pop” I’ve ever heard from them, with little diversion into RnB, EDM and the other styles ‘the BTS we knew’ were so often incorporating into their music, no doubt, but the grounded feeling stems from elsewhere. The album as a whole sounds self-assured and relaxed in its dabbles and jaunts. Even without delving into lyric translations, the music sounds as though the lyrics are straightforward. Somehow, those Korean words give off a sound that’s sincere and quintessential BTS. This is why BTS can experiment forever, will possibly always have their audience meet them along the way. People change as they grow, but BTS’s artistic documentation of that change has only become more undaunted.

Later I see Twitter discuss the sharp contrast between the two halves of the album — that surprised me. I can see it now, of course. But it had never occurred to me personally. All of the songs felt of the same family, of the same spirit. With time, and having read the lyrics, the nebulous intuition coagulated a bit more. Perhaps, the beginning of the album feels a bit more internal, reassuring, reassessing whereas the latter half has more defiance and conviction. Yet the mixed emotions, the joy in complicated times and the fear in glory never disappear. Nevertheless, within that compact space, lapslock "i remember" becomes unrepentant "Dynamite!".

BE as their second album of 2020

Their last album caught flak for being "bloated", "unwieldy" and what seems to be simply too vast and ambitious. I feel as though BTS had noted those critiques most obsessively at the time. If nothing else, leader Kim Namjoon’s livestream in which he said that ‘he can’t do anything about those who don’t like their music, because that was them’ felt telling. It seemed as though he meant the music naysayers simply didn’t like them as they were, and there was nothing he could do about that. Map of the Soul: 7 was audacious, bodacious; the singular screaming soul in a soundproof room letting its heart out against the walls. Listen to the entire album and picture yourself in that soundproof room. It's catharsis. It's the journey and MOTS7 was a map. In the way certain novels deeply impact you for a long time, MOTS7 hit in a way that left me stuck in its world for days afterwards.

I can understand why Namjoon said that that album was them. MOTS7 was a huge undertaking in that it used the different members of BTS as lenses to explore the self, more importantly, to explore the "me". It was never meant to be an album for the faint-of-heart. In order to get the full experience, one needed to actively immerse themselves and allow BTS to pull them along. The fans would take the time used by MOTS7 to explore the story with no end. So the unabashed buffet of genre-agnostic pop subsequently seemed to leave behind many a casual listener. Without context, MOTS7 could not transport that music reviewer-listener.

In contrast, BE is chained by its context. They say freedom comes in restraints. Furthermore, where MOTS7 allowed the audience to use it to love themselves, BE unabashedly uses the audience to love BTS. Its BTS using us and us falling more in love with BTS, even the concept of BTS. BE rejects the self to celebrate the collective spirit. Yeah, we're 7. But more importantly, we are one. And so BE transported the listener to their home. And so BE feels like home.

Life Goes On:

Do you know the Egyptian desert Umm Ali? The last time I ate it was before this pandemic of course, on the last Christmas Eve, to be precise. Life Goes On feels like that simple, warm, milky pudding eaten on a starry night hours before saying goodbye to travel away from home. It is the Honey Bunches of Oats soaked and warmed to perfection on a weekend before practice at the library. Life Goes On feels tender and cozy.

As a title and simultaneous intro, it’s sublime. It delivers the message perfectly, but also sets the tone. Within seconds the vocal sample transports you to overgrown grass behind the backyard and late summer sun. That percussive sound that reminds me of the clicking sound mom makes when she's developing a cold...the song feels like rolling in blankets, but also like Saturday morning. Like sitting on your dad's chest as a worry-free child, but also like penning down the excess in your brain as a twenty-something, in pencil. The music is a warm hand holding the lyrics seeking the comfort of companionship.The lyrics foreground the way the world stopped and left and didn't wait, but it’s all at curious standstill. Today’s a forbidden snowday, lying in a half formed snow angel. Oh and the ending? V's warm voice harmonizing with Jimin’s high vocal line summarizes the song so well; it was easily one of my favorite outros to a song this year. It felt like home, my home, our home.

Fly to My Room

Stabs of the piano chords, the smack of what sounds like a file folder, the beat that sounds like bouncing on your toes as you pace a single hallway, Fly to My Room is startling in its deliberation. V and Jimin carry a conversation over the beat. The sing-rapping and the unconventional song structure makes me think of friends sharing a tin-can telephone across their neighboring balconies. The seasoned-veteran tradeoffs between SOPE give the song some perfectly timed pep and prevent the entire exercise from becoming too repetitive. The lyrics are warmly penned and the song feels like wrestling with your little brother on the bed, or like playing on the bedroom floor and lying down frustrated over confusing origami.

Blue and Grey

Blue and Grey was an automatic favorite. Immediately, it was one of my absolute favorite BTS songs. Once again, V and Jimin's voices hold you tight as you climb this journey higher and higher, conscious of the heavy crown that you carefully adorned with acorns and thoughtlessly wore upon your head at age 8. Jungkook's ever-deft, but careful hand, intertwined with yours, your knuckles red and rawed interdigitated with Jin’s crackling fireplace voice that is such a standout — I'll come back to this song just for that. JHope in particular executes a masterful transition: The rappers were so careful, it feels like Christmas and February and spinning on the sidewalk on an unforgivable cold day and imposing sheets of slate and sky. The way the song neatly tucks you in, the way it gives each member a niche, the way it allows a few bars a measure of instrumentals to land softly. Of course, all this analysis was before reading the lyrics. Having read the lyrics....there are few songs that I can say I related to this hard. V is a genius. I love, love this song.

Skit

The purpose of a skit seems to have changed once again for BTS albums, but their playful chemistry and obvious friendship still shine brightly. No doubt many ARMYs turn to this track simply to hear their pleasing cacophany of laughter, the clash between their cocky and earnest expressions. It marks an important cornerstone in their lives and once again reminds the listener of how each BTS album is a record of that moment in time.

Telepathy

Telepathy grew on me. Its still not my favorite off the album, which surprised me as well. Reading the lyrics made it exponentially better for me. Without lyrics at first, all I could think was, ‘this sounds like Blue Hour dance break’. And I listened to the two side by side and its mainly just the four-to-the-floor rhythm and that dang cowbell thats throwing me off. I will say I love the insouciance of the track. And like, the way it almost feels like aegyo between lovers....playful. Suga took the theme ‘telepathy’ (and in true spirit of not overstepping or coming across as patronizing), he went playful. We video call and argue and laugh at stupid jokes that only we get. We become hopelessly endeared by each others’ weird occasional snores and donkey bray laughter and deepening smile lines. This is telepathy. And we dance, because We Are IDOL. I will say this...even before the lyrics, I loved that autotuned sloppy run that Jungkook and V did… and now seeing the lyrics?! RM gives the track another boost of energy and it just feels like friends on the playground. This is a song that should play at playgrounds you know? That’s a haunting thought tho ...imagine this song playing at an abandoned colorful playground, spring evening, but with no children.

Dis-ease

Disease. Disease is almost too good of a song. It’s one of the best songs in their entire discography. The lyrics feel like me(of course). They said this was the disease of their career...bro, this feels like the disease of my career path and I'm working my butt off in the hopes of curing disease, hopes of being a gosh darn doctor. The sounds! I think I heard a lip “brrrp” in there — that was one of the first sounds I taught my baby brother when he was an infant. I still remember, sitting on the step outside with him cradled in my arms, as he twitched his limbs and my other brother and I “brrrred” our lips at him. This song sounds like the true soundtrack of my life and I'm mad at how good it is. You can't get bored of its sounds. The lyrics are actually starkly gold and neon green. The atmosphere is quintessential JHope in its dynamism. That bridge! It almost reminds of some pop punk song of my younger days, maybe like Fall out Boy, just for a single beat...that bridge is so ridiculously good. And its building, grabbing you by the collar, positioning you for the final chorus and Bam! The brass slaps you across the face and we're dancing in the rain baby.

Stay

Stay grew on me…a lot. (As perhaps many Jungkook songs, huh, interesting). Now, it has slowly creeped upto my top tier favorites list. It’s so defiant. Stay makes me want to whip my hair and cross my body back and forth and jump and dance in a way that even the other extremely danceable tracks didn’t incite. It’s so youthful and sweet about feelings of existing and trust. Something as strong and heavy as trust is converted into a hot air balloon, patchwork in the blazing night sky. The lyrics, the simple poetry in them, is so moving. It’s almost blowing my mind how they achieved this. Of course Jin would make me feel like standing on top of the mountain, eyes tearing up from the cold, fresh wind. Of course we flip a coin and its blue. We are in the blue sea swimming to a blue island and this struggle together is love. You make me believe in love, how dare you be so mean.

Any Criticisms?

I would have loved to see the transitions between songs to be more flowy or smooth. I can empathize; with this small but varied collection of songs, a thematic thoroughline might miss the point. Nevertheless, I really wanted individual songs to lead into the next song effortlessly.

Final Thoughts

Something about the breadth and range of this album is as awe-inspiring as Map Of the Soul, despite being less than half the size. A true capture of a moment in time, and of a moment of the essence and character of BTS. Mayhaps the world will change, they shall evolve, but the sincerity of this album makes it nostalgic and a keepsake for the future. The project has clearly displayed BTS approaching new frontiers, not only in album management and production, but also in terms of their vocals and direction. Of course I’m pleased with the album. BE brings me pieces of home wherever I am.