Album Review: Map of the Soul: 7

It’s been a month since quarantine has started, and due to the lockdown, a lot of scheduled events or concerts have been canceled for the safety of the attendees. So, in honor of BTS’s canceled tour, I’ll be doing a review on their album, Map of the Soul: 7. Map of the Soul: 7 is BTS’s most recent album that is following up on, Map of the Soul: Persona. Unlike the last one, this album is supposed to represent the 7 members of the group, which gives listeners insight as to who they are as people. This can be seen from the tracklist, as a lot of their songs are sung as solos or duos.

BTS had released their first single for the album on January 17, called “Black Swan.” The song expresses a loss of passion. Because this song is related to their members themselves, we can assume that this song expresses a time where their passion for music and performance was not as exciting as it once was years ago. It could imply that they had lost a significant amount of interest. This may be in reference to their speech during the MAMA awards back in 2018 where member Jin had mentioned that the group had thought of disbanding at the beginning of that year. Unlike past songs, “Black Swan” has a distinct sound that is incredibly different from their usual beats. This single was then followed by “Ego,” performed by J-Hope, and “Interlude: Shadow,” performed by SUGA. All singles released before the official album all share a deep message that reflects their journey in becoming big-time artists.

The rest of the tracklist includes a lot of songs sung either solo or within subunits. Each member was able to sing their own solo song, which allows them the chance to express their own messages. I think this is a really nice component in their album. Although there were solo songs during the Love Yourself Trilogy, there weren’t a lot of subunit songs which I believe is one of the most selling factors. One of the subunits that really stand out is V and Jimin as they sang a song called “Friends”. The song is about their friendship with each other, which really ties into the main theme of the album. It is one of my favorite tracks along with “Moon” sang by Jin and “Filter” performed by Jimin.

Overall, I highly recommend this album as all the tracks have diverse genres and go accordingly to each member. It’s a way for them to really express themselves. I believe this album is one of the most impactful ones following after the Love Yourself trilogy, as their music has meaning and speaks upon “taboo” topics that many artists would not shed light upon. This includes things like mental illness and the LGBT+ community.