Album Assessment: BTS Broaden Their Horizons on BTS World: Unique Soundtrack

The Lowdown: What’s a boy band to do as soon as they’ve mainly conquered the world? Invent and uncover much more world, after all. That’s precisely what Ok-pop powerhouse BTS has executed with their new cell recreation, actually titled BTS World, which treats gamers to an inside have a look at the band’s rise to fame through a fictionalized narrative set in 2012. Its launch was accompanied by a full-length soundtrack album, that includes new songs, high-profile collaborations, and themes designed for every of the seven members. Being a recreation soundtrack credited to varied artists (on each the manufacturing and efficiency ends), you possibly can’t fairly strategy it the identical means you’d any commonplace BTS album, which locations it in a considerably distinctive place relative to their physique of labor. Its built-in construction makes it a little bit of an unsteady enterprise for energetic listening, however for its functions of advancing a higher and extra normal BTS story, it does what it units out to do and even provides some surprises because it’s doing it.

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The Good: The very construction of the soundtrack album results in some built-in division, however the band leans into it. The primary observe and the one one to function BTS completely and of their totality, “Heartbeat”, jets to the core of what the entire BTS World undertaking is about: A.R.M.Y. It’s a music about future, love, and mutual help, with a heartfelt music video that hearkens again to the times earlier than BTS’ members reached worldwide fame. This and the three collaborative singles launched all through June — with Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, and Juice WRLD, respectively — collectively comprise the chunk of the album that feels most like what we’re used to from BTS, full with attention-catching melodies and thought-out lyrics about following your desires. “Dream Glow” is snappy and well-paced, with Charli XCX’s vocals coalescing artfully with the voices of Jungkook, Jimin, and Jin. One other notable spotlight comes when Suga brings his signature twitchy aptitude to “All Evening,” switching up his rhythm each line or so in a rap verse that sounds just like the audible equal of a slick dance sequence.

Then we get into the themes, and issues shift a bit. The format right here speaks to BTS’ bigger, extraordinary dedication to the distinct personas of every of its seven members. They’ve distilled a theme for every of them, from the cheerful, sunny “Shine (Yunki Theme)” and the dreamy, wistful “Not Alone (Jeongguk Theme)” to the “Captain (Namjun Theme)”, which sounds just like the dramatic lead-in for a criminal offense caper. The development of the group’s story is the clear object right here — each in reverse, as the sport prompts gamers to interact themselves with BTS’ historic rise to fame, and shifting into the longer term — which is to say that this album works in a means particular to itself. The artists obtain this by reaching briefly into all kinds of various genres and types, a apply with which they’re already nicely acquainted, however which comes throughout significantly sharply by means of the distinctions between every theme and the subsequent.

The Unhealthy: Being the kind of undertaking that it’s, the soundtrack works much less like a full portrait of the band and extra like a sketch drawn collectively by adjoining items. The mantra about the entire typically being higher than the sum of it elements has labored out in BTS’ favor up to now, on condition that the group is blessed with a number of astronomically spectacular elements. They’re comprised of professional dancers, choreographers, singers, rappers, and songwriters, backed alongside their means by hermetic manufacturing and meticulous narratives and lyricism. The BTS World soundtrack makes use of those parts, to make sure, however to not the environment friendly and constant most that the group is ready to obtain with extra conventional albums. That is possible extra resulting from format than anything; it by no means fairly sheds the sensation of being supplemental to a separate undertaking.

The Verdict: Whether or not the soundtrack album lands as a complete, unified piece or not, it’s in contrast to anything BTS has launched to date and most actually (each with and divorced from its context) in contrast to an ordinary pop album launch. Even the moments within the album that arguably really feel extra anticipated (particularly, the string of opening singles) have a singular aptitude to them when measured towards the remainder of BTS’ canon — they’re unmistakably dialed-back, in a means that maybe does lend itself to extra idle listening. However there’s no mistaking that the group has as soon as once more gone above and past what was anticipated, elevating the bar for his or her friends by way of what they’re prepared to do and produce for his or her fanbase.

Important Tracks: “Heartbeat”, “Dream Glow”, and “All Evening”