TT: Comeback Special

Comebacks Special

By

Abbie Barnes, Emily Knight, Ethan Horton & Shufei Chen

From their first album BTS have released a lot of different concepts for their albums; a lot of different covers and titles to their songs. In light of Comeback Week, we here at BTS Radio UK, have decided to give you a comeback special, where we will be reviewing all of albums as well as the comeback itself; while looking into your best theories giving our opinions before finding out which one will be right as we near the end with Love Yourself: Answer.

To give you an idea of all the comebacks that BTS have had over the past 5 years take a look at this video:

A big thank you to Abbie Barnes for creating this Comeback Video!

Overview of Comeback:

During comeback many things happen which most ARMYs are now used to, but sometimes odd things happen which we are not aware of! While comeback time can be nerve-wracking for many, who want to break more records and reach new highs, it is also a very exciting time where we see lots of new people join the fandom and start their journey with us. It is also a time for current ARMYs to see a new side of BTS.

A very normal occurrence is how BTS usually goes extremely quiet on social media until concept pictures and teasers are released, then exciting selcas are also released too. Along with BTS episodes uploaded on their YouTube of behind the scenes at photoshoots. Their Twitter can be very sensitive around comeback season and go from inactive to very active extremely quickly!

After comeback trailers, concept photos, teasers and then finally the official music video release, the comeback is soon in full swing, and after a day or so ARMY’s are then ready for comeback stages of different songs (of different styles). These promotions then usually last for about a week where we can see many interesting outfits and funny performances. But when you think it’s over, Bangtan Bombs are soon released in later weeks to show the behind cuts of being backstage or at rehearsals - so even when you think it’s finished, BigHit is always there with more content waiting for the right moment!

While all of their releases gather many views naturally on YouTube, ARMY are a fandom known for their dedication to streaming – on YouTube as well as various streaming sites such as Apple Music and Spotify. This helps BTS break more records and get recognition for upcoming Award Shows in the US as well as South Korea… and once again helping them get introduced to many more people.

The Albums:

Through the 5 years that BTS have been with us, they have released a total of 12 albums with Love Yourself: Answer being released tomorrow. This means a total of 12 comebacks, all very different. With each album comes new concept photos, a new album look and of course new songs. Let’s take a look at each of the album covers and tracklist.

2013 - 2 Cool 4 Skool

2013 - O!RUL8,2?

2014 - Skool Luv Affair

2014 - Dark & Wild                                        

2016 - Young Forever

2016 - Wings                                                   

2017 - You Never Walk Alone  

2017- Love Yourself: Her

2018 - Love Yourself: Tear  

 2018 - Love Yourself: Answer

The Concept Photos:

The following made from scratch collages show us the concept pictures revealed every comeback throughout the years, split into the different series: School, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Wings and Love Yourself.

The Theories:

Here we will be reviewing some of our theories and predictions about the ending and the storylines about all of the BTS MV’s we have seen as we celebrate the end of the long story which has constantly made Army's re-evaluate their ideas. We will be looking at popular and not so popular theories to update you and get you all into the comeback spirit and giving our opinion and a little conclusion of each theory.

Let’s get started with our first Theory by BTS Radio UK’s own Leah:

Yoongi - Jungkook Theory

I’m guessing Yoongi and Jungkook are portrayed as brothers - that’s why they have tons of screen time and in both the “Prologue” and “I Need U” MV together. Jungkook said that his character in the MV ran away from home. If we go to the first scene of Yoongi in the “I Need U” MV, it was him stroking the pillow beside his - which is probably where Jungkook used to sleep on.

In the Run MV, Yoongi got punched by Jungkook, which could be the possible reason why Jungkook ran away, Yoongi burned down the room they sleep in.

And in the prologue, Yoongi and Jungkook had a scene by the bridge where they die, Jungkook was there first, meaning he died first and was followed by Yoongi since he probably died after hearing about his brother death.

This theory is original and is very accurate with theory going into different MV’s and two characters which people don’t always mention - Yoongi and Jungkook. However, while this still isn't the most popular theory there are definitely reasons why this theory couldn’t be true and why there are improvements needed. This theory could be a lot better if it covered more MV’s but is understandable as the connection between the two is not the main story.

Our next piece also comes from another BTS Radio UK member and Team Leader Shufei Chen who has her own theory on all of the different stories:

The story of all the MV’s is based around a person's life - the struggles of their life and how they deal with these struggles and the answer to overcome these.

It all starts with “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life” which is about losing themselves. We can see in “I Need U”, they are unhappy and are struggling in life and don’t really care about what happens to them. Because they don’t know who they are anymore. This then leads to “Wings” where the things that have stopped them from finding themselves or the things that have caused them lose themselves (fears), with this shown through their psychological thoughts.

“Blood, Sweat & Tears” is about temptation, how they are tempted to take the easy way out - not facing their fears and just giving up. “You Never Walk Alone” is about missing the people they love because they lost themselves, pushing everyone away. Showing how they lost themselves, they not only forgot who they really are but they forget about the people around them. Due to this, when they realise, it’s too late losing everyone around them.

Love Yourself: Wonder is about how they’re happy together. Talking about their own lives, and how they link in with each other. With Euphoria showing what BTS had and how it’s their friendship that they cherished and made them happy. But after losing themselves, this friendship ended up getting lost. Showing us the times they used to have together and how happy they were. In Love Yourself: Her, they experience love, the girl in the highlight reels represent the outer love that they want. Experiencing it but because they never found themselves losing it. Until they become who they really are, love will outlast. DNA shows that the love they want/have. However, the love isn't real because of them not knowing their true identity.

In Love Yourself: Tear they realise the love isn’t real with the main example of this being “Fake Love” and the masks they wear. As they can’t accept who they really are, the love they all have disappears and the realisation that the love they thought was real was actually fake. In order to feel love once again they must remove the mask. In answer they decide to love themselves. Epiphany shows the realisation needed for real love to occur.  Realising the only love needed is on the outside and can only be fulfilled once they learn to love themselves. Once this happens they can only then know what love feels like, the feeling of love can only be felt because of yourself. All the members go through their own story and stories, as everyone’s lives are different, which are all linked as they lost each other during the process.

The moral of the story is that everyone goes through different hardships in life but in the end, educating that the first step to overcoming it is to love and accept yourself for who you are by not hiding from yourself. It’s all about having a fresh start by closing the chapter of the story you are living and starting a new chapter. The ending of the story can’t be determined or written by anyone but you. You are the author to your own story.

Definitely the most detailed I would say that this theory while not popular definitely has the most potential to be true going into each MV and explaining each aspect as well as the titles used as well, with there being a clear moral and going to the last MV which is important especially when thinking about answer.

Another piece comes from @ironchim on twitter:

This theory is one of the more popular theories and is called the Butterfly Effect/Time Traveller Jin and is known as one of the more believable theories.

The theory referring to the phenomenon where the tiniest change can have a ripple effect leading to large effect in other areas.

According to this theory, the flapping wings of a butterfly can be a typhoon. A small change that can change the entire universe for better or worse. This is also as well as the repetition of butterflies (a BTS motif) are continuously tied into the theory, with the butterfly card appearing in the “Run” MV. V seems to mimic the Ace card while lying on the mattress in “On the Stage: Prologue” video. RM approached V first and is the one who picked up the card.

Various music videos have re-imagined each situation in different ways, supporting the idea that the slightest change in the present can alter the future. This was also helped in “I Need U” as new members were introduced in the MV and the plot lines still including and being tied to Jin, with many fans believing he is the traveller who continuously tries to change his members fates.

These were shown within other videos; “Euphoria” where Jin appears to have succeeded, with Jin then jumping into the water in place of V who jumped in “On Stage: Prologue”. This suggests that their fate changed or even exchanged.

This however, was completely different for “Fake Love” as it implies that destiny can’t be changed after all. As Jin finds himself locked alone in a room just like the other members. This is when Jin swaps places with V, appearing as though his role as time-traveller/fate-changer was passed onto Jungkook, continuing the never-ending cycle, with Jungkook running through the building but not being able to save the other members like Jin.

This is easily the second/third most popular theory with this being a lot more popular and believable within the more recent MV’s as well as including lots of different members; with theory getting stronger per MV. If this theory is true expect a very good ending and MV’s for Love Yourself: Answer.

This next piece comes from the twitter account of a Korean user @loveis5353 with one of the more controversial theories which has gotten fans a lot more attention with the tweet being one of the most popular theories while causing a lot of fans to re-watch and reconsider what they had seen during MV’s blowing away minds.

The theory is based from the “Fake Love” teaser with it being the basis of the analysis. Suggesting that various objects seen in the teaser represent fears. With the items BTS received in exchange for the “fears” are memories to represent happiness.  This is as well as the quote revealed at the beginning of the “Fake Love” teaser with the quote translating to “Magic Shop is psychodramatic technique that exchanges fear for a positive attitude.” However, these memories which were seen in BTS’s highlight reel, aren't memories but actually portrayed as the product of imagination. This is as well as magic shop just being a psychotherapy technique. With the basis of the theory being that “The Magic Shop” being based on empty lies with everything just being a hallucination on how the past has changed and bringing a temporary peace to the situation only to sell drugs eventually.

This theory which has gained a lot of attention for being one of the more controversial theories with the original tweet getting over 20,000 retweets, and is one very well-known to armys. It is also a theory that most armys don’t want to be true; being a very in-depth and detailed theory including all of the different MV’s and making more sense especially with the newer MV’s and is the reason why this theory makes so much sense and why it could just be true.

We can find that there is a large range of theories - going from common to uncommon. While there have been fan favourites, the real story still remains at large and we have yet to know the truth. Whether people are close to the theory or not, we won’t know until BigHit decide to tell us - if they ever do!

We hope this Throwback Thursday - Comeback Special has made you feel shock, happiness and excitement! Let’s all walk the flower path together one last time for the finale of the Love Yourself Series tomorrow - Love Yourself: Answer, where the answer will be revealed!

Image Credits: BTS and BigHit on Twitter and Facebook

Video Credits to: Abbie Barnes