On the first listen, you’re puzzled. The second? Warming up to it. Third: embracing the flaws and indulging in the moments ARIRANG truly hits. Some might be surprised to hear that these moments exist. If you’ve read anything about BTS online in the past week, it’ll be something resembling a declaration of catastrophe that’s occurred on the music industry. Are such think pieces even remotely true? 

X (Twitter) posts posing as official sources claiming that Pitchfork had scored the album a 1.3 – then updated to a 0.1 – fanned the flames of the narrative overwhelming social media. The real score was a 5.3. Some of the most widely disliked instances on the record include the near minute-and-a-half bit of silence mid-album – profound or a complete mockery, you decide – uninspired lyrics, and the entirety of “Hooligan”. Let’s unpack those last two.

It follows album opener “Body to Body”, a listenable beat that conceals nothing about its own nature. Composition-wise, the traditional section is incorporated nicely, with the beat transitioning seamlessly. Thematically, some feel the folk song sample doesn’t fit on a song about stadium-wide fervour and, well, bodies. But a deeper dive reveals a stronger link between the two. SUGA’s verse explains:

B-T-uh, from everywhere to Korea
Guns, knives, keyboards, put all that away
Life is short, ditch the hate

And going on to end the verse with a simple little “Come a little closer, skin to skin”. The specific part of Arirang that was sampled is even more interesting. The morale-rousing anthem pronounces:

The one who leaves me behind
Won’t go ten miles before their feet hurt

Evidently, “Body to Body” is more a positive resolve by the boys to pay no mind to hateful forces, and instead embrace the blissful moments of today. 

Now we’ve found ourselves at “Hooligan”. Most criticism of the track revolves around its unconventional “noise” sound. (For other famous examples of “noise music”, K-Pop fans will direct you to NCT 127’s “Sticker”; others will suggest Death Grips as an artist that embodies this sound to the full.) But although “Hooligan” uses scraping knife sounds in its beat, it’s hardly pots and pans music. Unless you just stepped out of a time machine after sweeping some chimneys, “Hooligan” is not as difficult a listen as some will tell you. 

When the vintage classical sample comes in and we get some nice major-key beats from the singers, it serves as striking contrast to the deadpan laugh-ridden verses by the rappers clinking knives. It’s not an intellectual piece (nor is it meant to be). It’s a modern rap song with experimental structure. And we can’t lie; the rhyming of “Hooligan” with “we actin’ a fool again” gets annoyingly catchier with every listen. 

“Aliens”, “FYA” and “2.0” may blend into one another on first listen. It’s clear the album’s first half is rap-heavy, with the singers being used more as decoration on the tracks than a core component – much like a featuring singer taking hold of the main hook of a rap hit. 

“FYA” is not quite the excitement that their much older and similarly named hype song “FIRE” was, but much like the juxtaposition between the singers’ and the rappers’ sections of “Hooligan”, the choruses elevate the wildly different verses. “FYA” is a club song. And as a club song: it ticks all the boxes. If you’re listening on headphones in the solitude of your room? Not so much.

Rappers’ voices being subjected to layers of autotune, reverb, and various other tasteful distortions is normal and a component of the genre. But when the “No. 29” bell dongs and the minute of silence passes, we’re not expecting to hear so much of it on the vocal-heavy end of the album. This is its biggest flaw. 

We’re not sure whereabouts it started – maybe during the time BTS were pumping out very JT Western-pandering disco-pop songs like “Dynamite” and “Butter”, maybe even further back: following the success of the Love Yourself series, when the group was truly seeing the fruits of their labour being recognised overseas. Some might say the best era of the group was when they were in fact least catering to a global audience. 

Back when BTS debuted – a hefty twelve and a bit years ago – they were extremely influenced by Hip-Hop, and starred in their own infamous reality show American Hustle Life where they aimed to connect with their sound’s origins and dabbled in questionable stereotypes. Though the rappers of the group kept their BTS Cypher track series going beyond, BTS shed their primary Hip-Hop focus a year later with Skool Luv Affair, though it was a rather seamless change. With Dark & Wild they found their footing embracing the K-Pop genre more, even gaining some acclaim, and with The Most Beautiful Moment in Life in 2015 began an era paramount to their careers. It cannot be counted on two hands (or perhaps even with all of the digits of the body) how many hit songs the boys put out during this period. All of it: the fame, the love from fans, the respect of industry mates – they earnt it. 

Sometimes, it’s as if they, or their team, are afraid to show their raw selves. Airbrushed faces are forgivable; the absence of many clear, raw vocals on an album meant to showcase the voices of accomplished singers is not. If you go into ARIRANG with the memory of gut-wrenching ballads, or perhaps the hand-in-hand emotional bangers “I Need U” and “Run” are fresh in your mind; maybe you’ve just had a BTS deep marathon with the likes of “Spring Day” and “Blood Sweat & Tears” one after another, or you went a bit more modern, and Jungkook’s heavenly bridge in “ON” is still ringing in your ears… it might taint your experience of the album. Much of BTS’ discography is at such a high level even they themselves could find it hard to beat. 

So instead of trying to outplay themselves, they tried something new. 

Feel free to switch on “Into the Sun” and have a listen for yourself as you read this next part. The opening acoustic riff is like a blissful sigh at the end of a lazy summer day. As the chords introduce themselves, a glowing ember of hope begins to rise: signifying a stripped down, authentic sonic experience, where we really get to hear those raw, heartfelt vocals from the boys, as the conclusion of all this fervour.

“Baby, you remind me”, the Martian choir transmits. So many lines we imagine were sung beautifully in the studio: lost to a grating distortion. 

The primarily promoted “SWIM” is a great song. It’s incredibly safe; narratively light, but the varied synths and excellent production quality make it an earworm regardless. Some thought pining after Lili Reinhart on a boat was a nothingburger of a music video, but it’s better if taken as a mood sampler. Besides, not everything can be “FAKE LOVE” can it?

“Merry Go Round” is the track that works best with all the layers and reverb. The song is a dreamy experience – dizzying like a ride – and this sonic storytelling in harmony with the lyrical is what makes it an excellent piece of art. Like how the word “crisp” sounds exactly as the concept it describes, if all the songs on ARIRANG were edited appropriately (looking at you, “Into the Sun”), it would feel like a more cohesive record all around. 

There are some other positive parts to this post-bell run however. 

The boys get more rocky in “NORMAL” and “Like Animals”, and we’re bestowed a grand electric solo at the end of the latter. “One More Night” has a tasteful incorporation of house, and the singers’ falsettos in the choruses are genuinely delightful. 

“Please” feels like the blueprint for a better BTS album in another timeline. We love when BTS get a bit R&B; they’ve been doing it from the very beginning after all. ARIRANG is, sadly, not what it could’ve been. If you know how to listen to it, it’s more enjoyable. But amongst the many goodies that come with K-Pop albums, a user manual isn’t usually one of them.

A lot of the criticism comes from a place of love; BTS are well-known for their talents in composition and lyricism, so why this album missed where it did is baffling to many. If we kept digging into the whys and why nots, we’d all be mourning the demise of post-2020 music like a seaside hermit that abhors the discovery of the synthesiser. Much like BTS’ wise resolve in “Body to Body”, we’re all better off brushing off the lows and celebrating the highs. 

BTS are on Instagram and all major streaming platforms. You can listen to ARIRANG here. You can purchase tickets to the BTS WORLD TOUR ARIRANG here.