7.5/10
After about 5 months BTS came back with their follow up to the WING's album, You Never Walk Alone. This is a repack album that includes four (but really only two) new songs. The main title track "Spring day," a side title track "Not Today," the full version of the Wings interlude, and finally the outro apporpirately titled "You never Walk Alone"
Let me first discuss my initial opinion on this. Besides Spring day, i thought all the other songs were completely uncesseary. Not Today was a predictable watered down version of FIRE, the full version of wings did absolutely nothing the prior interlude did, and the outro was so forgettable for BTS standards.
To be quite honest, my opinion now isn't really that different. Let me continue with the negative and then discuss the positive. Firstly, what were they thinking when they made the full version of Wings? Clearly nothing because it was really so lazily done, i am shocked since their producers usually put so much effort into their music. The only difference with the full version is that they added the most basic beat drop you can find, let j-hope rap a bit and then the song literally just continues to what it was in the interlude... like what was the point? To be fair, i never cared for this song in this first place, because it's been done before, way too many times... but still, i hoped the full version would change that.
Not today grew on me after seeing the music video / performance. It's a jam for sure, but it's still not that memorable and i still do believe it's a watered doing version of fire. The vocal melodies in this song are just ones i've heard before, but i still did feel the urge to put this on repeat one day.
The outro also grew on me, and that's because it's very low-key (also suga sings) in a good way... it's good as an outro, thats it though (did i mention suga sings?).
Finally, spring day. Okay listen up folks, this song is TOO under appreciated. I cant for the life of me stand people who think Not today is a better song, no, NOT TODAY. This song has depth, it has detail, it has layers, it has so much creativity, and did i mention the layering? I love this British rock meets Korean pop sound it has. Also the post chorus (i don't know if y'all have noticed im not very technical with my words) is beautiful.
Overall, I am not one of the people who thought this repack shouldn't have happened, it needed to happen actually, because let's face it, this is BTS and they must release music at every given opportunity, and i wouldn't have it any other way! But here's a message to their producers (thats you pdogg, slow rabbit, and pdnim!) if y'all are lazy ala not today and wings outro one more time i will not HAVE IT! Y'all do it cause you know you can get away with it, but please take a little more time to make these lovely boys' music. You all have the talent, so use it.
WINGS Follow-Up
It's been about 6 months since WINGS came out, and a lot has changed to say the absolute least. I'm not talking about music here, i'm talking about MYSELF. In my last post i stated i was a casual fan of this group....well, that isn't the case anymore. I am absolutely head over heels with this group. This shouldn't be happening to me as someone in their early twenties, i really thought i wouldn't care this much about a group yet... here we are. WINGS is my most listened to album in the past year and my thoughts on the album have changed,and there are some things i NEED to say after reading my first review.
I honestly can't believe how much WINGS grew on me, and how songs i thought i'd never like or care about ended up becoming one of my favourite songs of the year. It really shows that a first listen is never enough, not even a second, to form a well informed opinion on an album. You'd honestly think "it's k-pop, calm down," except this album is so far from any k-pop album anyone's ever heard. I know what you're thinking, "it's only because you're a fan now. Your opinion is just biased at this point," except it's not, and the reason i got to this point is because of the whole concept this group is aiming for: relateability.
There's really so much more to this album than what i initially felt, even though it was pretty obvious from the beginning. Let me first say, this album came out during a very difficult time in my life, and i'm not just saying that lightly. Why does this matter? Because I believe it's the reason for how much i cherish this album, and if i had listened to this album 2 years ago, i probably would have just taken 4 tracks from it and left. So really, the point here is i can understand why someone wouldn't be as wow'ed from this album as i was.
As someone who is very invested in music, i felt very alone in the sense that there was nothing in my library to comfort me. WINGS was really a gift, and even if you dislike this group, i think it should be acknowledged what a huge step forward it is for a k-pop album to not only be this cohesive in it's message, but in how great the message this group is trying to send is.
I know, i know, there has been groups before who talk about life issues, but not like this, and i'm talking about idol pop here of course. Honestly, even outside of the idol pop realm, this album's is so cohesively comforting. It's just so rare. Each song is about a different personalized struggle, and all these struggles are highly relatable, but in the most personalized sense. It's not simply a common message, its a whole story which just makes the songs feel so raw.
Now one can also say "so what? i don't even understand Korean, why would the lyrics being relatable make me want to give an album a chance?" well, firstly, the amazing thing is that the production of this album is the best i've ever heard in k-pop. It's incredibly clean, cohesive, yet none of the songs sound the same. Each one has so much detail in it, even when i wasn't feeling the album too much, i acknowledged this. This is especially the case for the solo tracks, they're just so well done. Usually when group members get solos, it sounds so uninspired, like they picked any song from a file and was like "okay, this is your solo." These songs are the exact opposite, you can hear how long this album probably took to make, and it worries me that they may never do something like this again because it probably took a lot more time and an overall, a huge investment to put together all of these songs. Each is closely tailored to each member.
Okay now that i have vented out my overall thoughts of the whole concept of WINGS, i need to clear up my opinion on the songs themselves. FIRSTLY, the me who thought 'Lost' was a song that wasn't good enough to listen to on it's own.... ???????? I don't know what was wrong with my ears, but Lost is not only the best song on this album, but one of the best b-sides i've ever heard in my 6+ years of liking k-pop. I desperately need a high quality music video of this song. Not only that, the lyrics are SO great, and it being an upbeat song just makes me feel so motivated and ready to take on my fears.
I would also like to personally apologize to Rap Monster for thinking reflection was just an "okay" song. It's a work of art. It's a piece of music. It's definitely not an easy listen, and i guess that's why a lot of people skip this song and don't care for it. But everything from the tape recording at the beginning, to the subtle beat and earthly sounds and his voice echoing throughout it, it's just brilliant. How it works with the message of the song is just brilliant. Rap Monster doesn't have a high IQ for no reason, and this song neatly proves this mans skills and potential as a great musician.
First Love, let's just say i cried several times, actually you can say this about a lot of the songs on this album, but when this track gets to the mid-end where Suga is practically yelling out the lyrics i just have to stop everything i'm doing. He sounds so raw and vulnerable and the instrumental in the background is just perfect. The subject matter matched really well with the orchestra. Sorry to use this word again again but... it's brilliant. Suga has already proven what a great musician he is, but this song is really his best work. I would really love if his next mixtape sticks to this sound.
Lie and stigma. Okay the funny thing is, in my first review i said i liked begin more than these two. Well... it's the opposite now. I enjoy these two songs more than begin. The reason i liked begin more is simple, it's more mainstream, and more of an easy listen. but the thing is, it's the hard-listening growers that are actually greater songs because they incorporate new things you aren't use to and therefore they take a while to like. This is personally my theory. They also end up lasting longer than songs i like at first listen. Lie may have the best production on this whole album, and that's solely based on the detail present in its instrumental and background vocals. It's an incredible track. Stigma on the other hand, is very charming due to how low-key it is with the production. It's simple, but not boring, and the chorus really reals you in.
Unfortunately my opinion on 21st century girls and Am i Wrong are still the same. They're noisy, and overproduced, but the former is my jam and i am 100% ashamed of myself but i can't help it. I blame their performance of it.
The tracks i didn't touch on are songs i already liked on the album and therefore i don't see a reason to restate what i liked about them. But my final rating of this album is...
9/10
01. Intro : Boy Meets Evil 8.5/10
02. 피 땀 눈물 (Blood Sweat & Tears) 8.5/10
03. Begin 7.5/10
04. Lie 8.5/10
05. Stigma 8/10
06. First Love 9/10
07. Reflection 9/10
08. MAMA 8/10
09. Awake 8.5/10
10. Lost 10/10
11. BTS Cypher 4 7.5/10
12. Am I Wrong 6/10
13. 21세기 소녀 7.5/10
14. 둘! 셋! (그래도 좋은 날이 더 많기를) 9/10
15. Interlude : Wings 7/10
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