Bangtan Sonyeondan, other wise known as BTS, have recently dropped a new album—Love Yourself  ?: Tear—on May 18, 2018. This album is one of the most anticipated for fans; the music video for their single—”Fake Love”—has gained around 19 million views in around 7 hours. Their album has 11 tracks, all were composed by the group with a few people who helped them co-produce. They officially have two Billboard awards for ‘Top Social Artist,’ winning with 94% of votes in 2018.

The intro song for Love Yourself: Tear, is one called “Singularity” by singer, V. The song has a slow, deep vibe to it, with V’s growling voice and smooth R&B chords. The song, as theorized by fans, is about taking off your mask and realizing that the love you had wasn’t true: “My agonizing phantom pain is still the same/Have I lost myself?” V is talking about whether or not he is still himself or someone else. For their last album, Love Yourself: Her, they had singer Jimin, sing the intro song, “Serendipity.” Both songs are on opposite side of the spectrum with “Serendipity” being a love song, and ‘Singularity’ being a song about hate and confusion. Both songs are great, with Jimin’s sweet voice and V’s deep and rumbling voice. 

“Fake Love”—the second song in the album—combined different vibes like R&B and EDM. BTS performed this song at the Billboard’s and caused an outbreak of new BTS fans. The entire song transitions smoothly from the vocal line—consisting of Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—to the rap line, with RM, J-Hope and Suga. In the song, it explains how sometimes love is hopeless, for example, “I grew a flower that can’t be bloomed/In a dream that can’t come true.” Thus explaining more on the fact that the flower, a.k.a. the love, was planted but it will never grow or come true. 

The sixth song, “Magic Shop” is a song produced by Jungkook and RM, with deep meaningful verses and a nice pop and EDM chords. It has an echoing effect that adds more onto the idea of a fantasy place. Jin and Jimin sing a verse together saying, “Days when you hate that you’re you/Days when you wanna disappear/Let’s make a door in your heart/If you open that door and go inside/This place will be waiting for you/It’s ok to believe, it’ll comfort you, this Magic Shop.” The “Magic Shop” refers to themselves since many fans seek refuge in their songs. This song is one dedicated to fans along with “Dul! Set!”—translation: 2!3!— released in 2016. Both songs are wildly different with “Dul! Set!” having a more pop and bouncy tune. Both songs are ones learned by fans to sing to BTS at concerts to remind their idols that they’re there for them too.

Now onto a fan favorite— “Airplane Pt 2.” It is a huge fan favorite with the new genre. It has a slow, bachata rhythm, and has latin roots since this was worked on with the producer of “Havana.” The song compares their lives as Mariachi’s and how everytime they travel, they perform. Just like how they performed at the AMA’s last year and Billboard 2018. This track seems to be bragging but it isn’t since at the start of the song, Jungkook and Jimin sing “Only singing/Was the thing that made his heart race/He only walked/On one path but/It’s not easy/Failures and despair,” talking more about how they started out as singing but it was never easy for them. Throughout BTS’ journey, they struggled in the beginning to lift off, competing with other KPOP groups. Now they are known internationally.  

“Anpanman” is a famous kids superhero in Korea, and also the title of the ninth song. The song expands more on what a superhero does to protect their people. It has a catchy pop beat that causes anyone to dance and simple lyrics that seem like pure fun at first until you listen closely. Suga raps, “I’m not a superhero/Don’t expect too much from me/I can be your hero,” telling their fans that they will be their superhero, but don’t expect too much since they aren’t perfect. It’s a nice song that reminds thier fans to just see them as 7, normal boys.

Finally, the last song brings back a somber mood with “Outro:Tear.” It’s a hard bass and rap song with RM, Suga, and J-Hope and shows a lot of emotion. It has an echoing effect over the main rap that distorts the rappers voice to help portray the feeling of being lost and unsure with their life. Suga explains more into that idea with, “I thought we had the same dream/But that dream became just a dream/My heart is ripping, just set it on fire/So the pain and the feelings won’t remain,” rapping to show that the other person caused them pain and is their ‘Tear.’

Overall, the entire album is a range of emotions from hopelessness and hope; to love and hate. The theme is darker compared to the last album, Love Yourself: Her—which had a theme of self love and love in general. The album is quickly gaining more and more popularity as the time goes on. Who knows where BTS will be this time, next year? The seven boys are causing an impact on society with the messages they are sharing and promoting; from self love, to not being so focused on dreams forced on you. BTS is there to remind fans that they just need to love themselves. Bangtan Sonyeondan, the KPOP group changing the Western World.