i’ve spent some time with MotS, listened to it about 4-5 times from start to finish, and the unsettling thing about it was that except for a few parts here and there, it was very hard to remember it was a _BTS_ album unless i actively reminded myself “oh yes, this is BTS.” even on Tear, (which I liked) and which some people did not like because it was Pop, you could still tell it was BTS, but here not so much.

i’m seeing so much love for this album on my twitter and my guess is that a lot of the fans BTS has made since seeping into the american mainstream actually liked them _because_ of their close-to-pop sound, and since this took that to the next step, it makes sense that they’re so happy.

this is not a comment on the inherent goodness of the musicality of their songs. i don’t have enough music theory to talk about what works what doesn’t but just my reaction as a fan on the overall mood of the album.

i’m all here for bands exploring diverse sounds, be it pop or whichever, and growing musically, but i want to see what makes them _them_ in the new music as well. which is what i think is disappointing about this.

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    I have to agree. I do think Persona, the intro song, meets the standard. But the rest of it is disconnected – there’s nothing Jungian or philosophical about it. And the songs blend into one another. I do think they needed more time to produce this, and perhaps with all the big name western producers, BTS’s producers weren’t able to exert as much artistic control this time.

    This album is western pop for the western market.

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      maybe that was part of the problem you know? when the title and persona came out i think we all expected it to be a high-concept art album but…. it’s not.

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        Yeah. I don’t think this is bad music per se. The songs are easy to listen to and I’ve been listening to them aaram se. The problem is my expectations from a BTS album with this Jungian concept were too high

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          yeah. the highs and lows of the fangirl life. sigh.

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      Even as someone who hasn’t listened to a lot of BTS, I thought the same, that it wasn’t very BTS and more an the poppier side. BUT, such is the case of older artists. They sometimes change or try different things over time that might appeal some people/newer fans and totally not to others/older fans.

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        yeah. it was a bit of a throwback to the last time this happened for me which was with linkin park. i grew up on their hybrid theory/meteora era stuff and listening to their stuff on a thousand suns was a bit of a whiplash. i went back to one more light when i heard the news about chester [=(] and i found that i actually really liked the album even though it was really different from the LP i was used to. i hope in the next few albums BTS continues to explore if that’s what they want, but retain their character a bit more.

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          LP is my favorite band and a very true statement indeed. Their sound changed and grew, but damn if it still wasn’t good – just evolved. But it was definitely unexpected and in the beginning almost jarring. But, looking back you can see the evolution. (Their last album is amazing btw)

          I think it’s expected for groups to change up their sound if they have been around long enough. We would probably be complaining if their sound was still the same saying that all the songs sound alike lol

          The LY era marked a change to their sound, I just see Persona as a natural follow up. I listen to BTS because their individual songs speak to me, not because their songs fit into a genre of music I prefer. As long as they keep making music that I enjoy I will keep listening 😊

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            yeah, we definitely would have complained if their sound had remained the same, lol. it’s true that persona seems like a logical follow up of the LY era ( which i liked) but something about it just didn’t work for my personal taste. maybe i just had too many expectations, idk. i just hope i get to like a future BTS album as much as i liked LP’s last album. ^^

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    i’m all here for bands exploring diverse sounds, be it pop or whichever, and growing musically, but i want to see what makes them _them_ in the new music as well.

    This, this, and this again.

    I was just talking about the album with greenfields and sicarius over on greenfields’ fanwall. Kaleidoscopic talked a bit more about the mixing here. So just know that you’re not alone in your disappointment and your feeling that this is a bad album.

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      i read the discussion on greenfields’ fan wall ( hard agree with everything said there) but just saw the thread on mixing… and yeah… i’m curious where they’ll go from here though, musically.

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