Album Review: BTS Grow "Wings", But Struggle To Fly

BTS are one of those groups I've never been able to fully enjoy — from the horrendous "Boy In Luv" to the passable but mostly unremarkable "Save Me", to me their songs have rarely warranted multiple listens (with only one real exception). Ever the masochist saint I am though, I give them a chance with each release, and let's just say that seven doesn't seem to be so lucky a number after all.

After a brief intro the album jumps straight in to "Tears Sweat & Blood", a confusing lead single with questionable creative choices. The instrumental follows the recent EDM trend with a tropical house beat (no doubt inspired by recent hits such as Justin Bieber's "What Do You Mean"?), yet the actual lyrics of the song are incredibly morose: "My blood, sweat, and tears / My last dance / Take it all away". Hardly the kind of feel-good lyrics you want to hear at a club. It's bizarre to the point where it becomes difficult to take the lyrics seriously; sure, often in pop music the lyrics hardly matter, but since the writing and composition were done by the same people it's a little harder to be forgiving of this disconnect.

Jin x Statue is my new OTP; stay tuned for graphic NC-17 fanfics!

Immediately afterwards we dive in to solo material: one song for each member which they co-wrote and produced. First up is Jungkook with "Begin": a serviceable, simple dance number which passes by without much complaint — pleasant enough, but lacking in impact. Jimin pulls a bait-and-switch with "Lie", starting out moody before suddenly switching to a standard power-ballad chorus which he struggles to pull off, failing to show any real strength as a vocalist. V falls for a similar trap in "Stigma", which disappoints thanks to his decision to unsuccessfully leap from silky mixed range to limp falsetto far too often.

"Choke me like this, daddy"

Suga's solo effort is by far the most successful; "First Love" succeeds lyrically through the motif of a brown piano tying all the strong emotions and memories together, and the gradual build-up of both the instrumental and the intensity of Suga's delivery helps convey the desired emotion and melodrama the song needs. Meanwhile, Rap Monster's "Reflection" wanders around with no real development lyrically or sonically, and the mostly banal writing makes it difficult for the listener to really identify with the character. J-Hope starts off strong but finishes middle of the pack with "Mama" due to a generic chorus. Finally, Jin contributes the sappy ballad "Awake", the lyrics of which are amusingly apt: neither Jin's delicate voice nor the sluggish instrumental are able to make it off the ground like he so badly wishes.

At least he's still the cute one, I guess

The remainder of the album reunites the whole group, and thankfully the it picks itself back up in terms of quality (though then again, it's not really good that their solo works are outshined so easily). "BTS Cypher Pt. 4" is a biting retaliation to haters, whilst "21st Century Girl" and "2!3! (Still Wishing There Were Better Days)" are enjoyable closers to the album.

"Oppa just took a funny smelling cigarette, he would never smoke weed!"

What frustrates me most about "Wings" is that I still have no idea what BTS' identity is as a group — obviously their rebellious schoolboy image is long gone, but I can't figure out what they're aiming for now conceptually. Are they homogeneous handsome robo-men? Are they sweet and charming boys-next-door? Are they men in their thirties desperately trying to look cool and hip? Changing a group's core concept is expected in K-pop, but from 2015 onward BTS' identity seems so indeterminate that it makes it much harder for me to enjoy them as a group, especially when I have no investment in any of the members. Whilst "Wings" is ultimately an improvement over all their other works, I'm beginning to doubt if I will ever be able to enjoy BTS.

Rating: 4/10 [Poor]
Highlight: "First Love"

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