BTS Map Of The Soul 7: Breakdown

BTS released their new album “Map Of The Soul: 7” on February 21 following up to their previous album “Map Of The Soul: Persona.” The tracks of the album include genres of pop, R&B, and hip hop with influences of rock, trap, and Electronic Dance Music (EDM). The album has two themes, “shadow” and “ego.”

“Map Of The Soul: 7” is an album that looks back at the seven years the seven members of BTS have been together. The album has twenty tracks, with the title track being “ON.” In this album, the members focused more on writing lyrics regarding the emotions throughout their journey of success. In this album, they reveal their true inner selves that they may have hidden in the past through the lyrics as well. During a Global Press Conference BTS held, RM (the leader of the group) stated that “Shadow is the pain and suffering that we experienced, and ego is to accept that as part of our fates and taking a step forward. Placing the heavy title of 7, we poured in our souls, energy, and hard work to complete the album.”

The album had broken many records since its release in February. Hanteo Chart reported that 2.13 million physical albums were sold in the first two hours of its release. BTS had the biggest debut of 2020 by selling a total of 422,000 units surpassing the previous record holder of 279,000. Their lead single “ON” placed number four on the Billboard charts, becoming their first and the K-Pop industry’s first to reach the top five on the Billboard charts. The music video had the biggest YouTube premiere with 1.54 million viewers tuning in to watch it. The music video also reached 10 million views in sixty-five minutes, beating another record.

“Intro: Persona,” the intro song of the entire album, is RM’s solo song where he talks about “personas” or characters they created for themselves. He emphasizes the importance of being true and honest of yourself rather than keeping the reputation and image the society may have put on you. “Interlude: Shadow” is Suga’s solo song that talks about internal struggles within success. At the beginning of the song, he raps about him before and after success, running from his shadows at first but finally accepting them. “Filter” is Jimin’s solo song where he reflects on his different sides or personas. In “My Time,” Jungkook’s solo song, he expresses, “his life has been like a movie,” joining the entertainment business at the age of fifteen. V’s “Inner Child” is a song where he uses lyrics to talk to his younger-self who worked hard to become what he is today and the struggles he faced growing up. “Moon” is Jin’s solo song in which he expresses his love towards ARMY, the fanbase name of BTS. “Outro: Ego” is J-Hope’s solo song and the outro song of the album. This song has an overall cheerful and bright tone and is about how J-Hope went through obstacles to become who he is today.

“Black Swan” was also pre-released from the rest of the album and is a song that talks about BTS and their relationship with music. The main takeaway from this song can be that: While other artists are worried about losing their fans and fame, BTS is worried about losing their love and passion for music. “Louder Than Bombs,” co-written by Australian singer Troy Sivan, is one of my favorite songs in the entire album. This song transmits positive messages to BTS’s audience about accepting all sides and parts of themselves and not having to pretend that everything is perfect and accepting the fact that sufferings may be louder than bombs. Their title track “ON” is about revealing their pain and shadows they have encountered over the seven years they have been together as a group. “We Are Bulletproof: the Eternal” is an emotional song that has a sense of nostalgia. They reference the early days of their career—their dreams of being an idol to people acknowledging their music and hard work—and represent their ignorance towards hate as they are “bulletproof.”

BTS debuted from a small entertainment company, with many believing they would not succeed given their background conditions at first. However, the successes they achieved prove that they never stopped growing as artists and worked hard to become who they are today.