Honestly, that was about what I expected

[fitia]

After reuniting as a group following their mandatory military service, BTS have finally come back with their new album, ARIRANG! I'm about a couple years removed from being a more passionate army, years I've spent sitting with and finally accepting the disappointment I'd been feeling witnessing their musical trajectory post-2020, so I didn't really go into this with high hopes. Which was honestly setting my expectations exactly where they should have been, because this was about as mid as I thought it'd be. Sorry.

It's not an uninteresting album, if you're more tuned into the group and are more familiar with their style and colour over the years: this is the most hip-hop they've been in a while. I haven't been following the rollout as closely as I would have been in my earlier fan days, but I did see them mention that the album was meant to be a culmination of their journey as a group throughout the years, and honestly? Yeah, I hear it! The first half of the album is a lot more rap-heavy, reminiscent of their older days, but with a sound more adapted to the current hip-hop landscape and trends, while the second half is more melodic and pop. 

The problem is... well... where are the bangers? Not that there aren't any songs on the album I don't see eventually growing on me, there were one or two reasonably catchy tracks, but this was an incredibly underwhelming comeback for what was once one of the biggest acts in the world at some point in time. For how much fanfare there seems to be for their return, complete with what is apparently a whole mini concert city dedicated to their comeback in Seoul, the music itself feels safe, unexceptional. I was expecting at least a bit of a bang, but I could honestly put this whole thing on the shelf and not think about it in the next few years.

A real shame. I honestly think they've run out of things to say, and fame's burnt them out. I've made my peace with that a while ago, and this release pretty much sealed it. I hope that at the very least they'll manage a couple few memorable performances out of their world tour, but I'm confident in saying that the BTS moment is pretty much over.