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Let me start by simply saying I genuinely love this album. That is the main takeaway. (And just as a disclaimer: I'm writing as a fan with quite an all over the place music taste, attempting to express opinions on details I don’t always have the full vocabulary for. I’m not trying to complain or be overly critical, just always have mixed thoughts on everything I love.)
Body to body
The PERFECT opener. Impossible to sit still when this is playing.
It gets Timbaland comparisons everywhere and as someone who was obsessed with Nelly Furtado at a way too young age (lol) I love it here.
Right off the bat my bias for Jimin and Jungkook's voices shows. (I think Taehyung also sounds great on all the songs. Jin feels the most out of place, though he gets some time to shine later.)
The somebody like you parts are addictive. The echo ish vocal processing doesn't bug me too much in this thanks to the stadium feel.
The transition into traditional drums and Arirang sample is what takes it to the next level. Without that I doubt it would be one of my favorites, but now it definitely is.
Hooligan
Burst out laughing on the first listen, still can't help but chuckle at every hahahahahahahahahaha.
There is so much going on in this track. I get how it's too much to some, I do. But I'm genuinely obsessed. The classical sample from this and the knife sharpening sounds, going into that heavy beat. So interesting, in a good way. I'm obsessed with the melody, especially the 1.47-2.00 part, the "this is international" seems to be melody pretty much straight from the French sampled piece.
Really liking the vocals the way they are on this track, clear and crisp.
Also, for some reason the first place my mind went to hearing the beat was Woah ...lol. Jungkook being heavily involved with it surprised me btw, but love that for him.
A complaint..."Why this bass line slappin' so rude" etc was definitely... a choice lol
But I still like listening to it and it was fun live.
Aliens
When Mike Will Made-It worked on Jennie's album I said we're getting him on a BTS track soon, now we got it! I liked this from the get go, but again, I do understand if it's too chaotic for some people.
Just like in Hooligan, I'm liking the vocals on the "from the ga na to the ha" parts up until "every night every day". Jimin and JK both sound amazing there. Then it gets a bit unnecessarily autotuny and ghosty on the "every night every day" parts. Oh well.
Message wise this is one of the best ones.
"From the Ga-Na to the Ha, watch and learn from us
Yeah, we aliens
If you wanna hit my house, shoes off at the door
Yeah, we aliens
The nerve on you, shameless
Show some respect, we aliens
Out of the East, the sun's risin'
Aliens, aliens"
"It goes
Let me, honey, talk about the business
Everybody know now where the K is
How far are we taking this? Dammit
Still cursing us out and talking trash
Pardon me, Kim Gu seonsaengnim, tell me how you feel
I'm the only one who can speak English, but that is how we kill
You guys with those big eyes say
Are they for real? For real?"
Speaks for itself really.
FYA
Not my favorite to just listen to, but can't wait to experience it on tour.
Love Jungkook's first verse, love Jimins background harmonies at the end. Even better live!
Vocal saturation maybe a liiiittle too much for me, but again not too mad about it since it fits the song overall.
The Britney line cracked me up on the first listen
2.0
I liked this one on the first listen, nice groovy laid back track after the crazy sensory experience of the first four, but still rap song to the core. Then I sort of forgot about it, until the choreography. Especially loving the eh eh eh part
"Had your little fun, fella?"
I believe they have the right to be this cocky, coming back after years and still nobody able to take their throne.
I hope the documentary shows them recording the do do do do do do because that story about pdogg sighing at them struggling with it was funny.
Hobi's verse lowkey the most satisfying flow on the whole album.
No.29
Palette cleanse with the Emille bell, what can I say, good meaningful choice.
SWIM
I watched the mv before listening to the rest of the album and liked the song, but after hearing the rest it felt quite boring. Didn't really feel the urge to listen to it again. But I did instantly see why they'd choose it as first single, it's mainstream enough, gets stuck in your head, sounds like something pop enjoyer locals could easily like (and they do, at least the ones around me), but still a much more mature and serious side of them than something like Boy with love or Dynamite.
I completely understand why Jimin was unsure about the decision to make something this mellow the title track/first single, but out of the songs on the album I do think it was the best choice.
Both lyrically and sonically it fits as an emotional representation of getting through the difficult experience they've had, the homecoming, and transition back to life as artists and celebrities. I get that the message to keep swimming with the tides of life is meant to work universally, but the lyrics and mv fall a little flat for me.
I will make a separate post for the mv though because I still have some thoughts. I like the choice to make it story based instead of focused on member visuals (or dancing), just because I'm glad they're doing that when they want to despite knowing people will complain.
Still far from my favorite song, but the live performances and choreo did make it grow on me.
Merry go round
Not one of my top songs, but these lyrics I can get behind more. Simple but melancholic. Perhaps for them it could be about the loss of control (and normalcy…up next) that happens with fame. They got on this carousel willingly, "maybe I'm the only one to blame", but now there's no way to get off. Even if they wanted to, it's too late.
It also works well for anyone being stuck in an unhappy relationship, being exhausted with the hamster wheel that is life, or pretending to be fine despite mental health struggles.
The production does give the feeling of a merry go round. And it certainly has Tame Impala esque sound. It also reminded me of Jennie's Start a war on some parts, which Sam Homaee also worked on.
All vocalists sound good on this one.
NORMAL
The distorted quitar + whatever other instruments are stacked in the intro slaps. That plus Jimin's verse made it a quick favorite. He sounds amazing. Another piece of evidence that his training didn't un-Jimin his voice or remove his emotiveness, but he sounds more mature and more steady. And I want to hear him sing all day.
Also have been fighting my friend over Tae sounding reggae ish on the ”and I live them aAaAall” parts. lol. (I am team he does, they are team he doesn't.)
After some more listens to all the songs this has moved down significantly because well, it is a pretty generic pop song. Maybe this is what Ryan Tedder's boygroup's songs will sound like...
However, I do still like it.
The lyrics are simple, loud and clear and I kinda like that for a message like this.
"Heavy is the head when you chasin' true
Will you color me red? Will you color me blue?
Two sides of a coin, and they both ain't true
Is it different for mе? Is it different for you?"
"Runaway, pushin' me, pullin' me, said you wanted all of me
But what is even all of me?
Suddenly, part of me is hauntin' me, heard the things they callin' me
What the hell you want from me?"
Judging from the caps title and the book in Swim mv this could be the next single (if they're following the j-hope pattern)... there are other ones I'd prefer to come after Swim honestly, but I am curious to see what a music video to normal would be like.
Gonna put the rest of my thoughts on this one in the eventual Swim mv post because it's related.
Like Animals
Thank fuck they didn't let Bang and A&R scrap this one. IT'S SO GOOD. Definitely would never have expected an alt-rock ish song like this from them but it works really really well. Also Artemas being on this shows.
This is a great example of when quite extreme vocal distortion works. Because of that I was a bit sceptical of how it would sound live, but surprisingly I almost liked it more. Love Yoongi's opening. Vocal line the last minute is chef's kiss. Love the distorted electric guitar outro.
Lyrically I find this the most layered, so naturally I have various interpretations. Will definitely be making another post about that.
they don't know 'bout us
Is anyone shocked that Jimin's baby happens to be my biggest favorite? Not me. This one has consistently stayed nr 1 or nr 2 and I don't see that changing. As much as I do love a lot of different types of songs depending on mood and situation, this is closest to what I can vibe with anywhere anytime.
The retro Jimin voice sample is what takes it to the next level, makes it unique. I like how they also distorted Jin's voice similarly in the middle of the song, makes it all blend together and keeps it less repetitive, even though he is singing the same melody and lyrics as Tae at the start. My only tiny complaint is that it's not long enough, could do with a Jimin part aside from the intro/outo/background and the "they don't know bout us" repetition.
The message of the lyrics is great too, bold and straight forward, minimal sugar coating. Will still probably post more thoughts on it another time.
Fingers crossed for getting to see some of the process of this one in the documentary.
I also feel this song ties together the first and second part of the album really well, both in terms of leaning back into more assertive lyrics, and in terms of the retro sample which matches the vibe of the classical in hooligan, and arirang in body to body. Thinking back to the animated promo clip, the connection to the original Arirang men, the gramophone, I'm wondering how much of that they had in mind for the retro vibes because it certainly has that feel. But that is also a very Jimin thing. Both ghstloop and pdogg on it too, almost full sgmb.
One more night
Didn't make the biggest impression on me at first but now I love it! Zzz don't wake me up, addictive.
Production wise the fast "spinning" tremolo effect sound around 1.50 really reminded me of Hobi's trivia: Just dance.
Please
Another favorite!
This is the r&b-kook I'm talking about, thank you. Though it’s Jimin's voice that stands out the most. Certainly not mad about that!
Not much more to say, it's just a vibe. The kind of song that doesn't get old.
Into the sun
Not a favorite of mine, but surprisingly a favorite of several casual/non-fans I showed it to. Again, fine with vocal distortion when it's done for a specific effect but this is a bit too vocoder and I don't love these harmonies. It'll be interesting live though, I assume it'll be an encore song(?)
This was definitely not something I was expecting from them but sure, why not.
Jin's "And if we run out of time I'll chase the feeling, Never too far behind" part, his best moment on the album.
I think they made it work really well with all seven on all 14 songs. I assumed there would be subunits, or at least a couple rapline / vocal line only songs, but they clearly didn't need to do that to hit a varied enough range of songs. Which is not to say that every song fits every member the same, that would be impossible when they are so different.
Bringing back the color thing, the way I see it, if Bangtan is purple, and each member is the colors of their vinyl, not every song will be the same shade of purple. Some will have more grays and whites in the blend, some more reds and pinks, but put all 14 songs together and it balances out relatively well. I know some vocal line biased fans feel it's "a rapline album", but I don't really see it that way.
At the same time, if I had to compare Arirang to their older albums I would describe it as a more mature version of the school trilogy and dark and wild, with a sprinkle of later eras here and there, and some completely new experimentation.
More hiphop and r&b was to be expected with them "going back to their roots", that's certainly not a bad thing in my book.
And don’t get me wrong, the vocalists are great in light pop songs, they obviously do well in various genres. But their voices, (Jimin and Jungkook's especially, then Taehyung's, sorry Jin), are phenomenal for melodic hooks on rap songs, and r&b. I have missed hearing them all together like this. And the second part of the album does also pull the rappers into territory they're not usually in. It's fun that they experimented a bit with styles of songs none of them have done before, such as Like animals.
One could bring up downsides to working with such a big team of mostly US producers, but as the members say, they wanted to try something different and that's cool as long as they're still involved in the process, which they were. This is no Golden, thankfully.
But I'd still say the lyrics are the weakest link this time, which is a bit of a shame, even though I find it doesn't matter that much when there is so much going on sonically in each song, and when there's a stadium tour in mind.
I'd also imagine it's hard to write something that feels sincere to seven very different, grown up people, especially after focusing on solo work. Arirang is also different to HYYH-Wings-LY-MOTS eras in the sense that it doesn't have a set concept and fictional/semi fictional references to draw on and build around. Still though, I don't think the poet(s) jumped out enough.
Is that due to the push for more English? Probably, at least partly. And while people in their team may have a point that they have a better chance with locals internationally in English, I'd rather them just say fuck that and do their thing.
I also personally dislike the notion that songs need to be "relatable" and "inclusive" to a lot of people. That is not how I listen to music, most of the time. I want the artists stories, thoughts, and feelings. If that's relatable to my own life is quite irrelevant. But tbf, most people do seem to want something that resonates on a personal level, so guess the demand is there. I also found it a bit sad when they said ”nobody wants to listen to long songs anymore”. Wrong!!
Anything else I'm missing?
Maybe a more aggressive Yoongi rap, or faster raps from any of the three in general. (Tho tbf this wasn't something I was actively missing, just thought of it after listening to UGH, Cypher 3 and Daechwita after Hooligan and Aliens)
Other than that... there's no crazy standout moments for any of the vocalists, no ON bridge type moments for Jungkook, for example, and that feels intentional. They clearly wanted these songs to feel as evenly divided as possible, and I respect them for that. Could I still do with some more Jimin? Sure, but only because one can never have enough Jimin. lol.
I could say I'm missing slower, emotional, vocal heavy songs like Spring day, Butterfly, Truth untold, Magic shop, Mikrokosmos. But no, I don't need them on this album. I'd much rather hear Spring day itself on tour than a new song similar to it. Just like we got Mikrokosmos the other day.
Also, If I were to speculate about a next album I’d guess it would be heavily focused on subunits since this one has none. That would naturally make members shine more in their individual strengths without compromise for overall coherence and evenness.
For being the first full length album as a group in six years, I think Arirang is more than solid!
And I can’t wait for tour.
