speaking my truth...
i'd give hooligan a 3 actually, but anyways i ranked all the songs on arirang in the image above. i have so many many manyyyy thoughts about this album. but i'll keep it short because i will go on and on forever and no one wants to read that.
is it the worst album ever? no. is it BTS's best work? literally no. in terms of ranking of BTS albums, it's better than Persona, maybe better than BE, but not better than Map of the Soul.
they should've spent (had, actually) more time to make it and had less producers. way less producers. i'm talking about diplo and ryan tedder mainly. alas, they did what they did with the time they had which was less than a year? going off when the last member finished military service, so all seven of them collaborating starting june 2025 i assume. also remember that this is their first time releasing music in, what, six years? so there's already anticipation and high expectations.
i guess my main problem with this album or comeback as a whole is what exactly it's trying to say. i really wish they released some conceptual photos or videos (i will not be counting that fuck ass animation be for real) or something. not sure why they went very minimalist in that regard. i also feel that there's a disconnect conceptually and lyrically. in general i was just underwhelmed. they know and can do better, so i think that's why people have mixed feelings. but i suppose they need to release something since they're all out of the military, so it is what it is.
with that being said, will i be pretending to like arirang? no. will i be seeing them in may? fuck yes. seeing them preform again is so lovely. and oh my god i'm gonna die jimin is carrying this comeback. my man my man my man...okay that's all bye.