Music Review | BTS’ long-awaited comeback album ‘ARIRANG’ is exciting experiment

NEW YORK (AP):

The game-changing K-pop boy band BTS has returned after a nearly four-year musical hiatus. ARIRANG, the 14-track, fifth studio album from the septet – RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga, Jung Kook and j-hope – is here. And it is appropriately massive.

ARIRANG – titled after a popular, traditional Korean folk song that touches on themes of longing, separation and love – is a stadium-sized album that serves as both a reintroduction to the band and as a keen reminder of their place atop popular culture conversation. That’s evident from the jump: The first half pulls largely from trap and hip-hop, an energetic reminder of their early rap records. It’s an ode to where they came from and where they’re going – as immediately demonstrated in the opener Body to Body, which works in a melody from the traditional Arirang.

After the fiery block comes the short interlude No. 29, a reverberating bell toll captured from the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok – South Korea’s largest extant bell, designated National Treasure No. 29 in 1962 – before a pop detour of various genre experiments.

The tagline for BTS’ comeback album is “born in Korea, playing for the world”. It couldn’t be more fitting: Here, the septet utilise their familiar strengths and further their inventive spirit, bringing their country to a global audience eager to hear from them again.

To call it highly anticipated would be a gross understatement. ARIRANG is the band’s first original full-length release since all seven members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service. Not that it has been all quiet at team BTS: The band tiered their enlistments, giving ample time for its members to focus on solo projects while the group was on a break.

The time apart must’ve bolstered their hunger for composition and experimentation: According to a press release, leader RM is credited on every track save for the interlude. The others contributed, too: Suga and j-hope on a number of songs, including Body to Body, Merry Go Round and Normal; Jimin with They Don’t Know ‘Bout Us and Into the Sun. V was also involved in the latter as well as 2.0. Jung Kook was involved in four tracks, including Hooligan.

There are a number of familiar names on the credits: Mike WiLL Made-It, Ryan Tedder, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker and Diplo are among the listed producers, and their presence is known. The latter brings Jersey club to the energetic FYA; there’s a real joy in its boisterous lyrics: “ Club go crazy like Britney, baby/Hit me with it one more time.” Parker’s dreamy, psych-pop production is heard on Merry Go Round; BTS’ performance amplifies the producer’s signatures. Normal has echoes of Taylor Swift with a low-key hook; it leads to the distorted trip-hop and Pixies’ wistfulness of Like Animals.

Then, a brief pivot back to the first half’s trap-pop. There’s the 808 bass of They Don’t Know ‘Bout Us, a partner to the earlier track 2.0, before pivoting again and again: to the synth-y One More Night, the R&B harmonies of Please and the acoustic, early morning closer Into the Sun, that climbs to a resonant, rock ’n’ roll coda. Zig, they zag.

With ARIRANG, BTS had big shoes to fill: their own. The group’s last album, 2020’s Be, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and featured some of their best-known hits, Dynamite and Life Goes On. Here, on ARIRANG, there is no Butter, no English-language bubblegum pop. Instead, there is a band atop the music world, returning to their throne on their own terms: with bilingual bangers and avant-garde ambitions.

ARIRANG by BTS

Rating: Four stars out of five.

On repeat: FYA, Merry Go Round

Skip it: Aliens, only if you must skip one

For fans of: Big swigs, big concepts, bigger feelings