Album Review - MOTS:Persona

Source: BTS Facebook

An Album Review

by

BTS Radio UK

By now I'm sure all ARMY's know that the new BTS album has been released. Some of you are probably also lucky enough to have got your hands on a physical album, and gazed upon the beautiful pictures. Featuring collaborations with Halsey and Ed Sheeran, the album also boasts 2 tracks that were produced by homegrown Brits, and we can hear the distinct Brit influence in the songs. Map or the Soul: Persona has been one of the most anticipated albums by the group, breaking pre-order sales set by their previous album, Love Yourself: Answer.

The BTS Radio UK team were eager to hear the songs as much as you, and present our reviews based on 1st listen of the album. We hope you enjoy them. - Shinara Hussain

Intro: Persona - Marsha

I thought, just for a second, that I was listening to the wrong song when this first started then I quickly realised the throwback was intentional to the foundation of the song.

Namjoon came in strong with a question, “Who Am I?” the question he asks himself over and over yet doesn't think he will ever really know the answer. I believe this opening line will resonate with a lot of people.

The song continues with a call and response, he asks how we are feeling right now and he answers each question asked with his own thoughts and feelings - “Actually I'm real good but a little uncomfortable”.

He tells us about how he is going on a journey of finding himself yet still feeling there is more to explore and more to know that he hasn't found yet. He openly expresses his fears and things that put a barricade in the way of him reaching the potential he envisions for himself yet with complete realisation that he's a man living in a complex world. This in turn sparks a familiarity in me and I find myself appreciating the lyrics as if my friend was telling me about their day.

The beat and flow of the song is strong, the beat follows the honesty and point of the lyrics. Its an upbeat rap that gives off the feeling of happiness yet yearning for more. I found myself head bobbing without even realising and repeating back “Persona, Who the hell am I? I just wanna go, I just wanna fly!” The beat on these lyrics is prominent, forceful, almost like it's initiating a chant or mantra. It forced the words to shout out of me and I realised I don't have a clue who I am yet, but Namjoon is reminding me that it's OK - I'm still writing the map of my soul.

Source: ibighit

Boy With Luv - Eve

So this is going to be as much a review as a reaction piece because I am actually sat here refreshing my YouTube feed waiting for the video for Boy With Luv to be released.

Ok, I’m happy from the opening catchy beat we heard in the teasers, that you can’t help but smile to as soon as you hear it and Jimin’s opening verse with his sweet voice you know this song is going to get you right in the heart. The flow of the entire song with the strings in the background taking you from scene to scene just like a film.

Boy With Luv is quite simply a love song, the boy in RM’s rap looks back at the moment he realised that a moment of love wasn’t enough and that he knows he wants that strong forever love.

Sometimes I prayed let me run away

But your pain is my pain

When I realised that, I vowed to myself

With the wings of Icarus you gave me

Not towards the sun but towards you

Let me fly

Boy With Luv is sugary sweet, but when Suga steps in for his verse with his new lower vocal tone, it takes the song in a different direction and acts like a break between the high notes of Jin and Jungkook. Back to Suga, wow he knows how to change the tone of the whole song just for a few seconds but he makes such an impact.

The strip back of the song during V, RM and Jin’s pre-chorus with just the guitar coming through sets you up for the beat dropping behind Halsey’s chorus with Jungkook and Jimin. Just when you think the song is building to it’s ending in comes RM with his rap and he quite simply is the man.

BTS know how to keep a song catchy from beginning to end, full of energy, positivity and love. Boy In Luv is my favourite comeback song, there I’ve said it, but I can’t deny it.  Sitting here listening to it on a loop to write this review has soothed my brain from work and life worries and I am dancing in my chair.

I haven’t even written about the music video, it’s awesome and I am fully in love with each member of BTS, there are probably so many hidden messages in there, but for now I am just loving the immense nostalgia and love fest that is the Boy In Luv music video and song.

Source: ibighit

Mikrokosmos - Louise

Mikrokosmos begins with soothing almost lullaby like synth notes followed by Jungkook’s calming vocals. Quickly, the song builds itself up from an amble to a sprint and maintains the pace nicely. The melodic beat switches briefly to a heavier base line and just as effortlessly returns. J-Hope takes on the role of vocal rather than rap, almost dabbling between the two to compliment the travelling beat. The vocalists take us into the anthemic guitar led chorus, with echoing chants in the background. The guitars become a core feature of the song behind synth elements such as the twinkling sounds and pan pipes briefly heard during RM’s lines. Suga’s rap is heavier and more prominent than the rest of the rap line, though it still manages to mesh well with the synth and guitar. Again the vocalists lead us out to the chorus and this time finish the journey with a cacophony of chanting against the anthemic soundscape.

It is worth noting that their lyrics conceptually are very much influenced by Greek philosophy: ‘Mikrokosomos’ refers to the concept of humans in their own small world. BTS write about the beauty of just ‘being’ and the human experience in this world, both bad and good. Ryan Lawrie, who co-wrote the song, said about BTS in an interview with Metro “…The passion they have flooded into this album gets me excited…” The concept does not subdue the bright synth track and only embellishes it. The track fits in well with its sibling tracks as a part of a diverse, emotionally charged EP. Not done before but done incredibly well, BTS create an anthemic 80s influenced synth pop/rock tune to keep us tapping our toes.

Source: BigHit Entertainment

Make It Right - Michayla

‘Make It Right’ is the 4th track on Persona and was somewhat a surprise collaboration because it was written with Ed Sheeran. There had been teasers regarding a collaboration with Ed Sheeran tweeting hints but until the song was released, we did not know for definite, what that would involve.

The song is catchy from the moment it starts with a beat that repeats throughout and the first voice we hear is Taehyung’s (V). The tone of his voice just sets the mood for the whole song in my opinion, so smooth and sultry and incredibly familiar.

I first listened to ‘Make It Right’ without reading the English translation of the lyrics because I wanted to have that experience where I took the song on its merit. I really feel there is a kind of rawness about listening to the song, the beauty of the lyrics, the music and the feelings you get before you know what the song really means. I love being able to close my eyes and be transported by the voices of BTS and you really can appreciate the tones of each voice heard.

The vocal line really out-do themselves in this song, in my opinion. Hearing Jungkook and Taehyung (V) sing in a higher pitch, the angelic voice of Jimin and it is taken to another level once Jin joins in during the pre-chorus.  The rap-line’s voices are individually strong as always and each member puts his own stamp on a song that is collectively amazing.

The lyrics are as meaningful and beautiful as you would expect from a BTS song, of course once you bring Ed Sheeran into the mix, you get deep, stunning lyrics. BTS have made it no secret that the songs on this album were going to be for ARMY and ‘Make It Right’ feels like a personal message from BTS to us.

‘I became a hero in this world

The loud screams that seek me out

My hand, trophy and gold microphone

All day, everywhere

But all of this is about reaching you

It’s the answer to my journey

I’m singing to find you

Baby to you’

There are references to the sea and desert which were also referenced in the hidden song ‘Sea’ from 2017 and quoted in ‘Burn the Stage, the Movie’.

‘I know the sea without you is the same as a desert’

Could this be ARMYs link with BTS? One without the other changes the landscape completely?

To know that when BTS were writing the songs for Persona, they had ARMY in their heads and in their hearts is simply mind blowing. This also extends to recent tweets by the members as they used the hashtag #CuriousAboutARMY, asking us what we have been up to and during their comeback on Vlive they spoke about the little things you want to learn about the people you love.

ARMY love BTS and BTS love ARMY - Persona is evidence of that.

Home - Faisa

First listen to HOME, I felt a lot of things at once. It went from sheer excitement to feeling mellow to enjoying the beat but we all know that changes when we read the lyrics. Many parts of the song stood out to me but I loved the fact that BTS still stayed true to themselves by including a song that was slightly on the darker side of songs. To me the R&B feel was amazing but I could still feel some pain from the songs, the way it was delivered and especially the raps. The beats and flow of the raps carry the song differently to the sound I'm used to hearing from them. 

To me HOME describes the feeling of loneliness even when around a lot of people but usually finding comfort in one person, that person being your lover, friend or family member. It describes that comfortable silence that isn’t common for most people, ‘even if nothing is said, it’ll be comfortable’ as Jin sang. 

Yoongi says something that put a lot thoughts into place, ‘seems like the world thinks we have the whole world’ which honestly most people think they do, not necessarily the world but definitely think because of their riches they probably are happy but they’ve proven to us that having all the riches in the world doesn’t guarantee happiness and sometimes you just need that person or people to keep you happy and most importantly company. 

HOME can be seen metaphorically, HOME isn’t a place but a feeling that you get with someone. There's a line where Jin speaks about getting recognised when he had nothing which I believe could be a metaphor for ARMY recognising BTS when they were much smaller. 

Overall HOME is a metaphorical song that cleverly explains the feeling of comfortableness that you can feel with someone in place of an actual home. The song mirrors many of their older songs, for example take House of Cards, which instantly draws you in because of its vibes and melody but the lyrics are much more than that.

This song reminds me I’m lucky to be able to call someone HOME.

Source: BigHit Entertainment

Jamais Vu - Charlie

Jamais Vu is the 6th track from BTS’ Map of the Soul: Persona. It is a sub-unit song sung by J-hope, Jungkook and Jin, and their vocals beautifully shine through. The instrumental is stripped back for most of the song and we are given a few moments to just appreciate the crystal clear and smooth vocals, which English-speaking fans will even appreciate without reading the lyrics, as our hearts break hearing “Please give me a remedy”. It sounds sleek and beautiful, and when you find a lyrics translation, the emotions you may feel listening to the gorgeous ballad become clearer.

The meaning of the song, Jamais Vu, is the opposite of Deja Vu, the sensation one gets when they feel as though they have experienced something before. Jamais vu instead means ‘never seen’, and refers to when someone experiences the same thing as before, but it seems unfamiliar this time. For this song in particular, it refers to a Jamais Vu whereby someone keeps experiencing the same pain over and over again and is desperate to be saved.

The lyrics are tragic in how they talk about someone who feels like they keep losing at life, and instead of being able to try again and get another chance, they must face the reality and deal with the world.

“If this was truly a game,
I could probably just load up again
I guess I gotta
Deal with this, deal with this
Real world”

They seem to be afraid of experiencing the same pain again and having it hurt yet again as if it was the first time, with lines such as “All of my words become afraid of my Jamais Vu and try to escape. But still, you grab it”. This seems to have the message that even if you are afraid of experiencing the same pain again, you have to face the world.

(Lyrics translation credit: @SPOTLIGHTBTS)

Dionysus - Alisa

Dionysus. The twice-born god; the god of wine, all things fun and most importantly the god of creativity, music and poetry.

With the use of several symbolic elements, such as glass shots, thyrsus, grapes, and by constantly saying ‘drink up’, BTS are establishing their own kind of bacchanalia. They are comparing themselves to Dionysus, thus creating a parallel between the lifestyle of an idol and the god of fun. However, they are referring more to their influences as artists, the way they inspire their fans, the way the fans quite literally get drunk on their music.

"Fall into this crazy artist’s glass" acts as an invitation to join the BTS party, but most importantly it encourages the fans to trust them unconditionally. Quite often the act of falling is linked with the idea of having trust in someone, therefore BTS are encouraging the fans to trust them, just as much as people believed in the righteousness of Dionysus.

The pace of the melody makes you feel like you are running track; the more it develops the faster you run. The moment you feel that you have accelerated to the fullest the song ends and you are left with so many unanswered questions. It leaves you wanting more. Therefore we could say that, Dionysus acts as a passage to the next BTS chapter; like a rhetorical question at the end of an essay, triggering the curiosity of the audience, encouraging them to want to know more and get even more absorbed by BTS artistry.

We hope you enjoyed reading our review. Do you think differently, and want to have a say why not leave a comment? Or if you'd like a chance to write a piece for the blog then you can email us at shinara.btsradiouk@gmail.com

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Need help for effective streaming on Spotify? Our team has the perfect playlist sorted out. They took out all the stress about which songs to include, leaving you just enjoy. You can find the our perfect Persona streaming playlist at the following link: Map of the Soul: Persona - BTS Radio UK