BTS New Album Get 5.3 From Pitchfork

[RAMROD 114,031]

 

There’s a lot riding on the sensational K-pop group’s first album in four years, but its generic songs ring hollow and lack the vim and vigor of the band’s best work.

“Arirang” has long functioned as a polysemic anthem—of deep longing, collective resilience, even the reunification of North and South Korea. For an album this vacuous to wave “Arirang” as a banner of triumph makes any pride feel empty—an embrace of “good enough” as a national identity. With so much weight on their shoulders and money to be made, BTS could only crumble under the pressure. ARIRANG is the sound of their collapse.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bts-arirang/

[nkta 427]

Of this is the “the sound of their collapse” - why the score is quite high - 5.3?! 

I would imaging “generic hollow songs” would score worse 

[ANVEEROY 63,620]

Zero

[River 122,979]

I'll always read the album title as f*ghag 

[Gohan 16,757]

Be prepared for war, the army is coming

 

[Sepsami 20,136]

Kpop? Generic?

Who could've thought 

[GagaGame 4,031]

20 minutes ago, Sepsami said:

Pop? Generic?

Who could've thought 

fixedt

[Hadrian 1,260]

Too bad stream farms can't help this sort of thing.

[Sepsami 20,136]

24 minutes ago, GagaGame said:

fixedt

Disagree  Plenty of pop releases are anything but generic (plenty of them are though) but Kpop is quite literally manufactured for the masses from the songs, to the images, to the performances to even the "idols" 

[ManMan 3,134]

1 hour ago, Gohan said:

Be prepared for war, the army is coming

 

i never get tired of this video~~

Rain on me? let me drown you! ᥬ😂᭄ᥬ😂᭄ᥬ😂᭄

[Horny Chicken 10,259]

I do not think the BTS fans even like this album. 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Horny Chicken

[Sepsami 20,136]

1 hour ago, Gohan said:

Be prepared for war, the army is coming

 

I'm gonna need some context for this, what's the lore?

Did BTS lose the award to Gageesha and Ari

 

[Dadru 2,395]

1 hour ago, Sepsami said:

Kpop? Generic?

Who could've thought 

I'd have to disagree. Most of the pop music on the radio is more generic imo. I'm a big k-pop fan and there are more than enough groups who have their own musical identity while still being branded as k-pop, whether that would be a more r&b, hiphop driven sound (LNGSHOT) or fresh and youthful (TWS). 

Not all groups are manufactured, plenty of them write and produce their own music (Stray Kids for example).

BTS is what got me into k-pop during the pandemic and sadly this album is indeed really generic, but k-pop isn't just BTS or K-pop Demon Hunters  

[Sepsami 20,136]

3 minutes ago, Dadru said:

I'd have to disagree. Most of the pop music on the radio is more generic imo. I'm a big k-pop fan and there are more than enough groups who have their own musical identity while still being branded as k-pop, whether that would be a more r&b, hiphop driven sound (LNGSHOT) or fresh and youthful (TWS). 

Not all groups are manufactured, plenty of them write and produce their own music (Stray Kids for example).

BTS is what got me into k-pop during the pandemic and sadly this album is indeed really generic, but k-pop isn't just BTS or K-pop Demon Hunters  

I have to say I only know Kpop at face value, I never looked further into it because of what I know about the industry. Castings "idols" and making them work long hours, micro-managing their image and looks, making them have surgery, and replacing them if they burn out or get too old. Now if all that does not happen with the groups you mention I stand corrected. 

[GagaGame 4,031]

2 hours ago, Sepsami said:

Disagree  Plenty of pop releases are anything but generic (plenty of them are though) but Kpop is quite literally manufactured for the masses from the songs, to the images, to the performances to even the "idols" 

Welcome to the world of POPULAR music. All of the interesting music you call pop is a very changed sub-genre of it