1. Intro : Never Mind 2. Run 3. Butterfly 4. Whalien 52 5. Ma City 6. Silver Spoon 7. SKIT : One night in a strange city 8. Autumn Leaves 9. Outro : House Of Cards
BTS warmed up your Spring with part 1 of 'HwaYangYeonHwa Pt. 1,' featuring the hit songs "Dope" and "I Need U." Now is your chance to snag part 2, featuring nine all-new tracks and the single "Run," which debuted at No. 1. The members wrote many of these tracks on this new release, too, adding a personal touch.
The first track, "Intro : Never Mind," is a tough track. It starts out slow with an occasional slow piano riff. About 30 seconds in it gets a beat and some fuzzy electric guitars, and it starts in earnest, SUGA spitting the lines he wrote himself. This song stands in defiance of the haters, pretty much saying they've succeeded, no matter what anyone thought.
"Run" is their title track, and reminded me a lot initially of "I Need U." But some of the little things make this song different. I like the setup between tough raps and smooth bridges, and some of Rap Monster's lines delivered aggressively, filtered like he was recorded over the phone. The SUGA, J-Hope, Rap Monster, and Jungkook-penned song is written to a girl, saying that all he can do is love her, and asking her not to leave.
The ballad "Butterfly" is sweeping and sweet, with wafty vocals and sugary harmonies. It's definitely a switch from the first part of the album, and the lyrics are quite evocative:
"It's like a wind that gently strokes me It's like a dust that gently drifts along You're there but for some reason, I can't reach you, stop You, who is like a dream is a butterfly high to me."
They're comparing the girl to a butterfly, saying she might fly away and break.
"Whalien 52" is a slow, soft rock tune. Again we have the silky smooth vocals with tinkling piano notes and a bendy synth riff. The song is earnestly sung with raps that are less angry and more downcast. Written by Rap Monster, Suga, and J-Hope, the title refers to the 52-hertz whale, dubbed the "world's loneliest whale" by Smithsonian magazine. The title is meant to convey alienation, similar to this whale, which appears to be the only one of its kind. The song does this well.
The frenetic tune "Ma City" has all kinds of description about where they live, and what to find there, and the difference between real life and life on the stage. Drums and electric guitar help keep the raps on point. The pre-chorus makes a killer hook:
"Now open sea of Busan Say la la la la la This skyline under a blue sky Say la la la la la"
"Silver Spoon" or "Crow Tit/Try Hard" has a very creepy main melody that doesn't let up even into the chorus. It probably would've made my "Spookiest K-pop Songs" article if it had been released at that time. It's rapped rather mockingly, adding an even darker note to the production. Rap Monster has his hands all over this one, and it seems to be the voices of self-doubt and exhaustion that stop you from being creative.
"One Night in a Strange City" is what they call their "skit." In this snippet, they analyze their songs and performance from their three-day concert tour at the end of November. Overall, they're pretty optimistic about this release.
"Autumn Leaves" starts with synth warps and gives way to soft vocals. When the raps come when things become a bit unsettling, kind of like...dead leaves. Underlying the raps is a deep, ominous, lowing synth that gave me the creeps. Jimin, V, Jungkook and Jin deliver the lofty croons that takes the edge off this tune. The song itself can be summed up by one of their lyrics: "This love is like the fallen leaves."
"Outro : House Of Cards" is the final track (as you may have guessed), and again has a kind of dark vibe running through it. It's fairly spare, and is significantly different than the intro. It's also got an echoey, ethereal quality to some of the vocals that makes it even darker. The song compares the relationship to house of cards, easy to knock over.
I feel Part 1 was more upbeat while this disc is less playful and darker, almost as if they were being more introspective in the months between this LP and their last release. Still, the raps are awesome, and some of the lyrics are really evocative, and the tracks here are at least as good, if not better, than their previous tunes. This is still a really good album; the silky voices of the Bangtan Boys will keep you cozy as winter closes its icy grip.
MV REVIEW
Check out the boys of BTS as they "Run" wild.
The MV is a mess of juvenile delinquent imagery. It starts with Rap Monster entering a rail car and being welcomed into a wild, crazy party. From there, we see the boys do all kinds of lunatic stunts, getting jailed, fighting with each other, spraying grafitti on wall, cars, even people.
There's no dancing, no wild costumes, they're all pretty much in street clothes, out doing what bad boys do best. There's no shortage of things to watch, and scene shifts are fierce and sudden.
When you're too old for cake but too young to indulge in any of the adult vices, there's often no way to blow off any steam, to bleed off the stress of peer pressure, school, work, and any number of things. According to the group, the MV shows the adventurous side of being young. "We didn't want to just blankly say 'cheer up' or 'be strong.' We really wanted to comfort people our way, by producing the music and writing the lyrics ourselves," said Rap Monster. "We poured our heart and soul into this amazing song."
On the face of it, I'm not entirely sure the meaning is too clear. But watching the MV with a critical eye, with the meaning in mind, it made a lot more sense. Regardless of what you think, watching the boys cut loose is probably the most fun you can have this side of the law.
