Billboard Worthy Vs. Old Roots — Music Critic Sparks Debate About BTS’s Musical Transition
Mega-global boy group BTS has been releasing track after track for all of their fans, showing no signs of stopping even during the COVID-19 pandemic. And while ARMYs all around the world can’t help but express their gratitude towards the group’s passion, there was one particular person who had some thoughts about BTS’s recent releases.
Music critic Jung Min Jae took to his Twitter account to bring up some interesting points regarding BTS and their musical transition. The music critic shared this tweet that discussed the global boy group’s recent comeback track “Permission to Dance.” He talked about the “familiar” melody and arrangement of the song, which Jung Min Jae expressed is “exhausting to follow” since it’s so “similar” to their previous releases.
밝은 멜로디, 편곡에 영미 대중에게 익숙한 이름을 노랫말에 넣는 작법 등이 이전과 유사하다. 일 년 사이 세 번이나 히트 공식을 답습한 게 김빠지긴 해도, 곡 자체만 보면 세 곡 중 가장 마음에 든다. 좀 더 듣기 편안하고, 멜로디도 나름 매력적이다.https://t.co/hMzhYBiiHq
— 정민재 (@minjae_jung) July 9, 2021
The bright melody and arrangement of the song, which contains familiar names to the American public are similar to their previous songs. While it’s exhausting to follow their three songs that have followed the same hit-song formula, this track is the best out of the three. It’s easier on the ears and the melody is quite catchy.
— Jung Min Jae @minjae_jung/Twitter
However, it was the following comment that garnered mass attention as Jung Min Jae discussed his desires for BTS to go back to their old roots, “since they have been successful landing on the Billboard charts so far.”
I’d like to think that their releases up until this time have been special releases. Due to the unique COVID-19 situation, it is likely that they released these songs with appropriate themes to match the current times, which were different from their previous works. In their next releases, however, I’d like to see the edge and boldness that they once showed in their previous works, since they have been successful landing on the Billboard charts so far.
— Jung Min Jae @minjae_jung/Twitter
While Jung Min Jae shared these onto his personal Twitter account to express his thoughts, his tweets have sparked a massive debate amongst both international and domestic BTS fans. International fans took to Twitter to respond to Jung Min Jae’s tweets, with most of them disagreeing on his take.
Korean fans also discussed Jung Min Jae’s BTS-related thoughts on numerous different online communities, but this time, their opinions divided on the matter.
- “Even if it’s similar, I hope they continue to release English songs in the future.”
- “I agree with his statements.”
- “I mean what’s wrong with it, they might as well strike while the iron is hot ㅋㅋㅋ and also, I can’t tell if it’s similar…the recent ones maybe, but I don’t know about the rest. If you’re going to make a critique, at least listen to everything before you do so.”
- “I’m sure they’ll figure it out! Let them do whatever they want!”
- “I have been an ARMY for 7 years, but I fully agree with this. I like their English songs too, but I have been waiting for a performance heavy track.”
- After ‘Dynamite’ their ‘BE’ album was released, and of course ‘Butter’ and “Permission to Dance’ sound similar, they were on the same album. Isn’t that normal??? And also, if they released a stronger track, don’t you think it would be inappropriate during these times? I feel like having to watch a stronger track during an offline concert would be a bigger shame.”
- “I agree.”
Jung Min Jae’s tweet comes in the midst of BTS’s three consecutive English song releases. “Dynamite” was released back in August of 2020, “Butter” was released in May 2021 and “Permission to Dance” was released just last week, on July 9. Each song is sang fully in English by the BTS members, allowing for the songs to chart on numerous different American music charts, including the highly coveted Billboard Music Charts.
And while BTS has been continuing to strive to show different sides of themselves as a group, it seems that it hasn’t been well received by some. What do you all think of the situation?
