Part 2: 14* reasons why Arirang is my AOTY
Two weeks have passed since I wrote Part 1, and I’ve been living in a strange unreality. I had a hellish deadline and worked around the clock for 72 hours straight. I was more than a little delirious, and for the first time in my life, stressed to the point of making myself sick. I survived because my husband is the best and also because I listened to the second part of Arirang on repeat. Since becoming ARMY I’ve yet to come across a BTS song I don’t like, but that doesn’t mean the style and genre of all of their songs are a natural fit for my musical taste. I love all BTS songs because of their context. I saw someone on twitter explain that BTS are a high context group from a high context culture. The deeper you dive into BTS lore, and subsequently, into Korean language and culture, the more payoff you get. I love the first 5 songs of this album within this ‘high context’ frame. I love how they blend the skills of the members and assert their confidence and intention as a team. I love them because they’ve clearly been created with live performance in mind — the ultimate context where BTS comes to life. Conversely, I love the second half of this album because these 7 songs are very much suited to my taste in style, genre and narrative. It’s kind of like when Taylor Swift released Folklore and I felt as if my perfect Taylor album had arrived like a gift just for me.
Swim
I watched BTS: The Return last Friday and found it so interesting how much they agonised over the lead single for this album. They could just as easily have picked Body to Body, Normal, 2.0 or Please in my opinion. Each would have said something different about the intentions of BTS 2.0. In the lead up to release day, the members said multiple times that the lead song was a “comforting” song, V and Jimin likened it to janchi-guksu (잔치국수), or banquet noodles — a subtle dish that’s nourishing, warm, and soothing. Like home-cooked food that makes you feel better. The first time I heard Swim I did feel l a little underwhelmed, but as they predicted, the song has grown on me. Like many of the songs on this part of the album, upon first listen it sounds like a love song. When you dig deeper it has more to say.
0:13 - I could spend a lifetime watching you. STRANGER THINGS SYNTH BASE STRUM. What a great lyric. In one interview, RM said the other lyric contender for this space in the song was ‘wonder where the waves are taking you’ which I think fits their intended meaning better — the idea that whatever life throws at you, you just have to keep swimming. You have to throw yourself into life head first. But I actually appreciate this song more as a self-help anthem disguised as a chilled out love song. It’s not as heavy handed as Not Today or ON. I don’t think BTS have displayed this kind of lyrical restraint and subtlety much before, perhaps this is what Suga means when he says they wanted to present a more ‘mature’ side of themselves.
0:26 - RM says: name a place that I could breathe on this map, world. And I feel that in 2025. But I also feel that from his perspective having very literally left his world to enter military service, only to come back and find it even more frightening and incomprehensible.
0:45 - Jung Kook’s voice is such a dream here.
1:17 - SUGA joins the vocal line. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Also love the choreo in this bit.
2:00 - I make waves with my two fins. During their Jimmy Fallon interview, J-hope had this to say about Swim, which I think really captures the spirit of his verse.
“We feel that life has struggles that we overcome every day… people feel different weights and tides in life. But nevertheless, we need to keep swimming and move forward. This is just about the love for life itself.”
2:32 - The emotional weight of Jin’s vocals really shine on the second half of Arirang and he sets the tone here with the closing lines.
Before I wrap up my Swim chat, I need to talk about the music video. I watched the members watch the video during their Studio Notes live session and J-hope said something like, “this is the right music video for this song.” Once again, the music video itself was a suprise for a comeback. No dancing. No performance. Just a narrative about a girl getting lost in the waves and emotions of life, and BTS travelling with her as she goes through it.
Because the K-pop industry maintains such fierce secrecy around its idols’ personal lives — both to preserve the purity of their parasocial connections and to protect them from scrutiny, harm and brand damage — the only relationship narrative they can safely speak to is the attachment they form with their fans. BTS do this constantly, all their love songs are ‘for ARMY’. But in this video, they actually cast Lili Reinhardt as a representative of ARMY, putting themselves in the shoes of a fan and seeming to understand how their music can become both a guide and support system.
Merry Go Round
When you look at this song from the perspective of BTS, it provides a pretty heartbreaking insight into life in the public eye. The words But maybe I’m the only one to blame make me think of the similarly hard-hitting lyric on ON: I chose for myself this beautiful prison.
For me, given the week I had when I was listening to it repeatedly, Merry Go Round naturally became the anthem of my work-stress spiral.
During BTS’ interview with Zane Lowe, RM said, “I think great art brings a personal thing into a universal thing.” This song nailed that, for me.
0:36 - when the drum beat drops — the presence of Kevin Parker on this track is so apparent, but the emotion and intent is very BTS.
1:35 - Suga with his vocals again, singing: racing through a labyrinth with questions and no answers. His whole verse actually. Ooof.
3:04 - J-hope with his, the child inside me is crying out, line takes me out. How can they hide bars like this in a pop album? How can people listen to this and think it’s dumb fun?
3:26 - RM going off about overthinking speaks to my soul: Again thoughts on thoughts on thoughts on thoughts. I’m thinking about how to stop thinking. And then finishing with the frankly devastating line, keep smiling til it’s over.
Normal
This song is so easy to like. On my first listen of the album it was a clear favourite. It’s a great pop tune with relatable lyrics in these perpetually unprecedented times.
Once again, BTS kill it with the hyper specific context — exploring the bizarreness of their ‘normalcy’ as globally famous K-pop idols — whilst keeping it lyrically broad enough to maintain a connection with their listeners. I find myself reading it as a commentary on the things we call normal as fans. BTS and ARMY are always two sides of the same coin, it’s not so hard to believe this song could apply to us as well e.g. fantasy and fame, yeah, the things we choose. As a serial fan I often wonder about this myself — why do I choose fantasy and fame over reality, time and time again?
0:45 - Jimin literally says two sides of a coin and they both ain’t true, is it different for me, is it different for you? He could be talking about two sides of himself, the public and private selves, and the fact that the two can’t be reconciled and therefore neither can ever be completely true or complete. He could also talking about BTS and ARMY - the impossibility of these two groups every knowing the truth of each other. More broadly, you could apply this to any two individuals in a relationship.
0:53 - the way V sings the word ‘unusual’ tickles my brain and might be my favourite moment on the whole album. During my earliest listens of Arirang these little pockets of the unexpected are what made me fall so hard for it. The songs are never predictable, even the simplest ones hide little treasures.
1:44 - Suga’s verse is another heavy hitter.
I breathe everything out like a thousand times
Normal and special, they are just some lines
One deep sigh, then it slips away, fades away
What I try to keep never want to stay
1:57 - RM following Suga with a line like, said you wanted all of me but what is even all of me?
It’s a return to my favourite theme, the unassailable mystery of other human beings. Delivered with RM’s characteristic sincerity. A KO.
Like Animals
So here’s another BTS sleeper agent disguised as a song about sex. I’m not saying it’s not about sex, but you can take a second look if you want more than that. This song has grown on me more than any other song on the album, and it’s firmly planted itself in my final top 3.
0:00 - opening with the siren sound of Kim Seokjin. It was very cool to see him do this live during the Netflix comeback.
0:20 - you’re like, ‘oh this is definitely about sex’ and then Suga says, so what, your shadow’s a mess I’m walkin’ with my own dirt. And you realise it’s also about the fear of vulnerability and exposure that goes hand in hand with intimacy.
0:49 - and again I’m thinking it’s all ‘sex sex sex’ and then Jin sings, eat this life till your heart is full, if you want you can have it all and it hits me that it’s also about opening yourself up to experience.
1:02 - RM' backs these ideas up with his verse, talking about how even the repressed ones who bury their true selves deep are still alive, and then he comes in with my favourite line on the track: do speak, I’m begging you please there’s beauty outside control.
1:20 - RM’s 3rd repitition of ‘we should go all night’ is just another one of those deeply enjoyable moments, for no clear reason.
1:51 - J-hope’s bridge is killer, my favourite lines being, with your claws sharp, and them fangs out, and, now you see a whole land full of animals, none of us are tameable.
2:02 - the vocal layering between Jin, V and Jung Kook is just so beautiful and gets better with every listen.
They don’t know ‘bout us
This song is my favourite.
0:00 - opening with the vintage-sounding track/sample that is actually Jimin (I’m pretty sure) singing they don’t know about us…. how your voice can calm the sea. It’s kind of weirdly how I feel about my BTS fascination. Like why does their existence just make me feel better?
0:13 - V’s voice arrives so smoothly I looooove it.
0:26 - After a couple of all English tracks we return to Korean and it’s once again a little bit angry and sets the scene beautifully for what this song is about — an exploration of what it’s like to have people yap about you and try to ‘get to the bottom of’ your incomprehensible success.
I can show you love, I can show you
If you wanna know me, what can I do for you?
대체 뭐가 달랐냐고 자꾸 물어 (they keep asking just what was so different?)
나는 대답해, 나도 몰라 (I answer, I don’t know either).
Everybody hears the story that they wanna
쟤넨 이거 땜에 떴어, 내가 맞어 (they popped off ‘cause of this one thing, I’m for sure)
We just big boys, a.k.a. 촌놈 (country kids)
그냥 뭐 기세지 (just riding the wave), just shut up, shut up, oh
1:09 - the vocal layering again, the owl hoots? Is it Jung Kook? I don’t know but it’s addictive.
1:22-1:35 - Jin’s voice is special, particulary when he whispers into the mic like this. So raw and vulnerable it’s almost uncomfortable to listen to.
1:51 - Suga’s verse just before this is so good, but it’s J-hope at the bridge again that takes the cake for me, in both content and delivery.
"걔넨 특별해 (해) Asian 중에," (“those guys are special among Asians”)
"영웅스러운 존재 (some kind of heroic beings), too hard to brеak,"
Uh, we can't relate
그냥 사람 일곱인데 (we’re just seven people, though)
You said we changed?
We feel the same, shit
2:12 - I just need to make a special mention of Jimin’s voice in the chorus which is the same tone he uses in the opening of Body to Body. As the internet says, once you Jimin, you can’t Jimout.
One More Night
Here’s another sex song that’s also about ARMY. On a personal but universally relatable level it feels similar in content to Lorde’s The Louvre, which is about the early stages of a crush, but because BTS would never publicly confirm that reading, they instead assert that the song is about their yearning to spend more time performing for their fans. I don’t find this layering of meaning disingenuous or cynical because I think it’s an easy interpretative leap for the members to make — they really do love performing for their fans. I think I’m mainly fascinated by the perceived need for this level of obfuscation. It’s one of the parts of the K-pop industry I find most curious — why are the agencies and the Korean public so weird/secretive/controlling about their idols’ personal lives. Are we really pretending 7 men in their 30s are monk-like in their devotion to their jobs? The collective delusion is kind of comical. The need for such delusion is very difficult for me to comprehend.
0:30 - the delivery of ZZZ don’t wake me up is the making of this song for me. It’s a pop banger. I don’t know that I have much more to say about it.
Please
This is such a love song. RM said in the Studio Notes live session that it was a song for ARMY, but what else would he say? IMO it’s a catchy love song about sticking with someone through good and bad. It’s another grower. The more I listen the more I love it.
0:22 - the yearning in these lyrics is deeply enjoyable. If you’re into that kind of thing.
0:54 - really enjoy how RM delivers ‘oh you got me oh you got me’ for some reason?
1:36 - J-hope is smooth af here.
Yeah, 염원하며 영원히 서로의 영혼이 (praying on it, for eternity)
그대 안에 기댈래 (your soul and mine), baby, baby, please
Into the Sun
What a closer. On first listen, the heavy use of the vocoder is kind of grating. The more you listen, the more it makes sense. I love how V and Jimin’s voices blend and distort as they build to the triumphant yell of Dawn! It’s so hopeful.
0:00 - the nostalic quality of the whistle. It is almost like the sound of a sunset?
0:49 - the lyrics of the chorus are so sweet. RM said in the Studio Notes session that this song made him think of the 7 of them at the beach walking into the distance (or something similar). This song could very easily be about an enduring friendship, as much as it could be another love song. I love that reading of it in the context of BTS and their unique dynamic as a group.
1:09-1:27 - J-hope again. He’s my bias for a reason.
2:09-2:27 - More than any other place on the album, this verse feels reminiscent of RM’s solo work. Lyrically dense and introspective, delivered gently. I love how he references the French phrase l’heure entre chien et loup - twilight, when you can’t tell the difference between safety (dog) and danger (wolf).
2:27 - Jin says this is his favourite song on the album, and I can see why. In the latter half of this track Jin owns it. It also sounds a lot like his own solo rock ballad style.
3:00 - the whole outro just feels like a promise, from the members to each other, from BTS to ARMY and vice versa. It feels very hopeful.
Honestly, the run from Swim to They don’t know ‘bout us has got to be one of my favourite things I’ve ever heard. Context or no context. Arirang, I love you so bad.
I’ve finished this blog while on holiday with my family in Australia and I’m struggling a bit with the same tension I had at Christmas — my inner kingdom feels suddenly somehow fake and hollow in the presence of such an all-encompassing outer kingdom. The truth is that this aspect of my inner kingdom is very nourishing to my current sense of self — a self that does feel itself shrinking in the presence of beloved family members who see my whole life in suspension when they look, listen, and talk to me. In contrast, I see my ‘self’ as a kaleidoscope of shifting moments, different each time you engage. I’ve been trying to carry this sense of ‘self’ into my familial interactions, treating my loved ones like new and interesting terrain to explore with every conversation. It’s been nice.