RM has outgrown kpop, at least musically.
I will admit that I have not been an army for almost 3 years now and that mostly happened because I grew up, went to college and my music taste changed completely. When I say completely I mean completely. I don't listen to pop music anymore. I am listening to jazz, jazz funk, bossa nova, neo soul, indie electronica, and folk music these days. You will find artists like Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Astrud Gilberto, Tom Jobim, Stan Getz, D'Angelo, Aaliyah etc. and just more and more indie artists like Swans more in my playlist than The Weeknd or Dua Lipa. I think this change was inevitable for me because I always gravitated towards pop music that was influenced by these genres but now I am listening to those artists and genres themselves.
Needless to say I outgrew BTS's music but I still respect and like them as people so I occasionally keep up with them. More specifically RM and only RM after he released RPWP. I feel like I have found my member. I don't know in detail what is happening with him but I follow him on instagram and he sometimes posts tidbits about his life.
My opinion mainly stems from the fact that RPWP exists and I HOPE that it's not a one off. I just don't see how an artist can reconcile with releasing music like that as his solo project and then doing poppy fan songs as a group. Groups inherently have an expiration date on them. It happened with Jackson 5, Destiny's Child, Motown, Nsync, One Direction, Spice Girls, Fifth Harmony etc. It happened with kpop groups. It IS possible to prolong one's career as a group sure but it's rare. Groups mostly transfer to solo work and comeback sometimes on their anniversary and such.
I think the members want to work together for a long time and I 100% believe that but I don't really see a musical vision going forward. BTS's concept was youth and the natural course forward for them was always going to be individuation as they grew up in their own identities and their own tastes started taking priority. This is why Map of the Soul: 7 always felt like it was having an identity crisis to me. It was a project trying to highlight the individual tastes of all 7 members. This type of project is always ambitious and can go two ways. Either it results in something grand or it results in a mess. MOTS:7 according to me was a mess.
I don't see a way in which their future group projects wouldn't be a similar mess that basically showed musical compromise. Not to mention their company has other goals now.
In that case I wonder about RM. It's painfully obvious from his album and the fan reaction to his album that he isn't aiming for your usual pop or pop adjacent audience. He is making indie and alternative hip hop music and that means people who listen to those genres should listen to him. In that case how does one reconcile with RM of RPWP and RM of BTS? Is it possible to do so?
I feel like I am mostly projecting my tastes here. Some people simply don't have any problem in reconciling the two. They are far more open to pop music than I am but I just feel like juggling the two will affect his musicality in ways I don't enjoy and I think that would be sad. Releasing something unique and experimental takes your all. When you are also obliged to be a world superstar and your company and group brand's face it's a bit difficult.
"You will find artists like Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Astrud Gilberto, Tom Jobim, Stan Getz, D'Angelo, Aaliyah etc. and just more and more indie artists like Swans more in my playlist than The Weeknd or Dua Lipa. I think this change was inevitable for me because I always gravitated towards pop music that was influenced by these genres but now I am listening to those artists and genres themselves."
It's cool you've learned this about yourself.
Some of us can eat at McDonald's and SubliMotion though. Just saying. Some of us can do both, and enjoy it.
"My opinion mainly stems from the fact that RPWP exists and I HOPE that it's not a one off."
I actually laughed reading the "HOPE" in all caps because, man, same. RPWP was incredible and I too hope we get more like it.
The question of whether or not Joon has outgrown k-pop is a debate I've been seeing among Joon biases since he dropped Mono in 2018. The collaborators he had on that album were indie artists (space and glitch-pop) which was definitely not typical for k-pop. But then, the very next year, he made Boy with Luv with BTS, which in my opinion is the first 'neo-disco bubblegum' Western pop project BTS did. It was the prototype for Dynamite, even down to the same pastel colour palette.
I'm not sure this is talked about anymore, but when Boy with Luv dropped, a part of the fandom that included some OT7 Joon biases went through a crisis. Nobody was prepared for a song like BWL from Joon, especially after the subject matter and sonic approaches he took in Mono. The only thing that kept the peace was the interpretation that that song was supposed to be the mirror to Boy in Luv, and that Dionysus and HOME were also on the same album.
But then, the year after that, in 2020, Joon dropped Respect with Yoongi in MOTS7. That song that is their most no frills, true-to-form old school hiphop track to date.
Six months later, RM released Dynamite with BTS...
My point is: Namjoon is elastic.
I'll spare you a rambling segue into the physics of elasticity as a metaphor on RM's musical excursions till now, but the gist is, he's so far been able to find some kind of balance between very poppy BTS projects, and creating space for his own crazy, sometimes darker and more mature personal projects.
The definitions of "strain", "stress", "loading limit", and "fatigue" in the physics context work just as well to describe the constraints Joon might experience musically and in his sense of self, but again, so I don't write 500 more words than I need to, I'll just say as much as we have concerns, only Namjoon really knows what he's willing and not willing to do. Only he knows how much he can and can't take. He might disappoint you, or not. I suggest you watch him to see, for as long as you're interested.
"I think the members want to work together for a long time and I 100% believe that but I don't really see a musical vision going forward. BTS's concept was youth and the natural course forward for them was always going to be individuation as they grew up in their own identities and their own tastes started taking priority."
Lol how about we actually hear the album first? Your POV is understandable of course and I share some doubts myself but I also think it's a waste of time to engage in this kind of speculation.
We share similar concerns though. I have no idea what their music will sound like but that's less because in chapter 1 the concept was 'youth', and more because I have concerns about the abilities and priorities of their current team given the slow but now sure Scooterification of HYBE groups including BTS since 2019/2020, which ironically coincides with your comment about MOTS7.
By the way on that note, I don't think MOTS7 was "a mess". Granted the cohesion in that album was more thematic than auricular, but it still had a certain logic to it. You're right that in the spirit of trying to do something grand they might miss the mark, but then, so what?
I have no doubt the guys feel a great deal of pressure to deliver something truly incredible for their comeback album. They've been out of the game for a while, the scene has changed, and they possibly feel some pressure to prove themselves, maybe even to themselves.
In a way the stakes are higher... but again, if they bomb it, so what?
Joon will just continue working on his next project, whether solo or OT7 BTS or both. And that one might be better. Also, it's not like the fandom will allow their next album to bomb anyway. In fact, I am 100% certain BTS's next album will be their best-selling album yet, by orders of magnitude. It's one of the only reasons I've not pulled my money out of HYBE yet lmao.
Even if sonically, cerebrally, and critically Namjoon's next few projects with BTS are a failure, it might be disappointing, but he's already shown he can make something worthwhile. And after BTS's next album he'll be more than cashed up to take some legit daring risks if he wants to. The question of whether you'll be interested enough to stick around for that, is one only you can answer.