Hello again. You and I had an exchange in your comment section a few months ago. https://beautifulpersonpeach.tumblr.com/post/811899902736089088/i-agree-with-everything-you-and-that-last-anon You don't have to post this. I'm not writing it for that purpose, but I'll leave that decision to you. I just wanted to follow up (for now, early in the tour) about my feeling somewhat vindicated in my thoughts, based on RM's recent Live, where he discussed the Arirang album and circumstances surrounding it's development. He considers it a "miraculous" production, considering the time frame, obstacles, limitations, etc. as I was describing in our discussion. He is amazed, as am I, about how much they were able to pull together and accomplish in that time frame and situation. That includes all of the activities & achievements too. He acknowledges that it's not a perfect work, and as a result, parts can be somewhat disconnected, but they were able to figure things out with the new dynamics and a huge absence from the music scene and make something that overall did work, as best as they could, to fulfill the promises and gratitude intended. This is one reason for artists to work so hard to develop a solid, trusting, supportive fanbase (as BTS did) - or at least a solid base of your fandom that goes with you on the ride, understanding that your journey is, and has always been, on a convoluted path. They could have chosen to do the easier paths, but they never have chosen that, nor have they been given that. As we are early in the tour, I'm still watching to see how the entire moment progresses and completes, but at the moment I still stand by my belief that not many others could have done as much or this well in the time frame and circumstances that BTS has.
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Hi @jimin-bangtan !
Your link.
Thanks for sending in this ask. You're right that Joon basically confirmed a lot of what you said about the constraints they dealt with, and I agree with you that BTS is possibly one of the only groups able to create an ambitious album despite all those constraints. You also make a point I don't think I've seen people focus on, or perhaps not in the way you've done here: which is that BTS has been able to make this album succeed because they worked hard to build a trusting and supportive fanbase, one that's been more understanding than critical on the whole. If we're giving BTS their flowers, then we can at least do so for this. There's been a deluge of criticism (fair and unfair) and I appreciate you sending in a POV that rounds out our perspective to remind us of the conditions under which the album was made in the first place.
But I'm afraid this is where I deviate from your POV, and I apologize in advance for using your ask to go on a ramble. Like you, Joon's live confirmed certain concerns for me.
The first is that many of those constraints, conditions, and circumstances were self-inflicted. Let's remember, in the documentary Bang Sihyuk talked about how he asked BTS to begin working on the album as soon as they were discharged from the military. He set the deadline of March 2026 for the album release before they'd even *started* working on the album. These are constraints the members could've pushed back on, we know they didn't and we know why they say they didn't, but the fact remains having such a tight timeline would mean tradeoffs would have to be made, and that's exactly what happened. Now from Joon's live it appears they are assessing if those tradeoffs were worth it, and this is where honest, critical feedback from people who love them and their music could prove helpful. It's why I'm not shying away from any opportunity to do so.
The choice to hold the longest tour ever attempted for a k-pop group, even longer than the canceled MOTS tour, starting right after the album was released, was another decision that appears to be more corporate than personal in its motivations. Again, this is a self-inflicted constraint and going ahead with it meant obvious implications for setlist construction and performance, which is what has happened. At some point, BTS will have to assess if the tradeoffs have been worth it, and I hope when that happens they are able to hear from all sides what works and what doesn't.
BTS are at a point in their careers where they have no real excuse to be pigeonholed by constraints and expectations (corporate and not) that don't work for them. And when I say expectations, I'm including my own. After all, I'm just a fan like everyone else. I'm not their manager or producer. I'm a fan with certain expectations, one of which is that I associate music and performance at a very high standard with BTS, and when I don't see that I have questions:
Do my standards no longer match what BTS wants?
Does BTS intend to move in another direction?
Is this a one-off or is this the new status quo?
Am I alright with this and if not, do I want to continue making my 5-figure donations to support BTS annually?
Those sorts of questions.
With time I'll get my answers, and Joon's live was helpful for me to begin getting some.
It's true Joon said the fact this album was made at all was "miraculous" given the pressure, internal and external, the financial cost, and everything else. He's right. Frankly, the album wasn't so bad that it warrants months of discourse. We can just acknowledge their accomplishment in making a very decent album despite etc, going on an ambitiously long tour to see as many of their fans as possible, and keeping their promises to ARMY by remaining a strong OT7 team. We can really just leave things at that, and focus more on the positive than the negative so that we remain an encouraging support for BTS. That's what most of the fandom is doing anyway, to be fair.
Personally, I'm usually a bit more... acerbic. And I can't ignore when I feel there's tea sitting in a pot somewhere, placed dangerously, precipitously on the edge of a table, where one small tip is all it will take to make a big spill. I suspect as time goes on, the members will give us more insight into their feelings this era and their plans for future projects. Maybe a few months from now, Joon will do another live and we'll both revisit this conversation with more info to round out our perspectives, with more grace to give... or maybe some asses to whoop.
I guess we'll see.