PITCHFORK REVIEWS BTS - "MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA" (6.1)

[snowphone.livejournal.com]

PERSONA is not a failure, but it’s tough to call it a triumph https://t.co/8MAWjf1Zts

— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) April 15, 2019

Source: @pitchfork

Comments

[jyusou.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this sounds about it. I don't agree with a few points, such as Persona, which I thought sounded good as they made good use of their recycled/sampled beat, but just about everything else, along with their appraisal of Home, matches my sentiment about this album.

[sciencebottle.livejournal.com]

This pretty much sums it up for me. Everything from the music to the album artwork seems like an expansion of LY and not anything new. Not bad, but nothing excited me :(

[mc1a.livejournal.com]

I ain’t even mad about this review. Very well said. I think Mikrokosmos brings the album down a lot. Even after listening to the album constantly since release, I still can’t get around this song. It would have been different if it was a full album but here it stands out and not in a good way.

Make It Right and Home are highlights. I prefer the version with more Halsey for Boy With Love and Dionysus is my man sorry not sorry

I still hold hope that they will release an album which will be on the same level production wise with HYYH or LY Tear at least. They’ve been using too much autotune, filters and whatnot. There’s barely anything organic left. But this is just my non-expert opinion.

[jyusou.livejournal.com]

I am rather okay with Mikrokosmos now, but that is because I find that it works when listened to in a very specific setting (outside, in the oppressive summer heat) and with a certain mood (calmly trying to keep my shit together under the oppressive summer heat). But under any other setting or mood, this song does nothing for me.

And your last paragraph, mte. I'm okay with autotune as long as it works with the rest of the song (like how it was used in EXO's Lotto, even tho everyone here panned it lol), but the use of it here is excessive and detrimental to the final product.

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

idk where my taste went then because i somehow always skip home and make it right but love the other songs hmmmmm i love the synth or whatever in mikrokosmos that vaguely reminds me of an 80s tune almost.

[the3rdjester.livejournal.com]

Look at all those butthurt ARMYs in the comments under the tweet. GOD FORBID, someone has something negative to say about BTS and not kiss their asses every time. I like some songs from the new album, but it doesn't mean it's innovative and a masterpiece.

Btw, I wonder if some of these ARMYs are those who camped and lauhed about the score Pitchfork gave to BP's album under the respective tweet. Hm.

[katheli.livejournal.com]

Blackpink's score was better than the review though, while here the score matches the review

I'd actually say this is much more respectful of BTS' music than the other review was of BP. Here it's "they fall short of higher expectations" and there it was "the music is dated and bad but music is only a part of the K-Pop package so it doesn't matter as much".

[alissee.livejournal.com]

huh, i agree with the main idea - 'not a failure but not a triumph', but kinda disagree with pretty much everything else, lol

i mean, HOME, 'the album’s highlight' is boring af, along with Jamais Vu.
'Intro: Persona' is great (although i took my time warming up to it), 'Mikrokosmos' is moving and heart-warming and so sweet it brought me to tears once, and Dionysus is just my new everything xD

[katheli.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree with the criticisms of the album. Except Home, Home is RUINED by the vocal distortion. It's so annoying.

I wonder if some of the songs would sound better without the excessive autotune in parts.

[the3rdjester.livejournal.com]

I don't pay close attention to Blackpink because their music isn't really my thing. I watch the mv's of their title tracks tho, in case I actually do like it, but Kill This Love is... just noise, for me. So I don't know how justifiable the score is. What I wanted to point out was the hypocrisy of those ARMYs.

And yes, the review for BTS' album doesn't even roast them that much. It has both good and bad points. How can some fans throw heat, but can't take it?

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

The heavy sounding vocal processing is so weird, have they always had it like that or is this a new trend in their music? Some parts are really autotuned or making some of them sound like they're singing thru a tube/underwater.

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

if anything i wish they'd lean FURTHER BACK into their grittier/more experimental past. I appreciate this being a summer feel and thematically I like the idea of lightness after the love yourself series being all introspection and self love but I hope they can get back to their roots.

[dantethetaco.livejournal.com]

I might be wrong because I have terrible memory, but I remember they did not use it that much, and when they did it was with a purpose. Like for example in Tomorrow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H0MTj6C384) V's voice is completly distorted to fit the anguish that the lyrics are trying to convey.

Some examples of their music over the years (that come to my mind atm) so you can judge for yourself:
Coffee (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiN5hPrZgw8) (O!RUL8,2?)
Tomorrow (Skool Luv Affair)
Let Me Know (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xxhi7kolcQ) (Dark&Wild)
Outro: Love is not Over (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfVO2WtaqNs) (HYYH pt.1)
House of Cards (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwYxlcszZAI) (HYYH pt2)
Epilogue: Young Forever (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBj4y9Zibao) (HYYH Young Forever)
Interlude: Wings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEMkK9RYweI) (Wings)
Spring Day (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEeFrLSkMm8) (You Never Walk Alone)
Pied Piper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m2Ozq_1-jY) (LY: Her)
134340 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J6Ta1Kckdo) (LY: Tear)

I cannot think of any songs from 2 Cool 4 Skool and LY: Answer. And sorry for the edits U.u

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

same. i don't even care that i keep complaining. they used to write great music and i want that back. i'm all for new things but they have to be actually well done, this ain't it

[rainstormraider.livejournal.com]

Lmao.
Pitchfork.

I stopped trusting Pitchfork since that infamous Radiohead review. They reviewed Khalid’s album poorly so they’re dead to me.

[pepper.livejournal.com]

Eh, Persona does seem like a cookie-cutter extension of the LY series. It's boring, takes no risks and even the album design is basically the same but pink. It doesn't stand out and the vocal processing was overdone to the point I can't even tell who is singing the verses. Everyone sounds screechy and and too high. There wasn't a single song in it that I liked. Overall, it was pretty disappointing and I can't wait for them to move away from this era.

[queenhinata.livejournal.com]

writer had high expectations for BTS but also expected them to be something that they are not ("superheroes of kpop"). idk it was weird. but there's just some parts of the review i don't understand lol. i'm fine with the 6.1 rating; the album is inferior to ly tear.

glad he highlighted dionysus lyrics.

[the3rdjester.livejournal.com]

Not exactly that, but

blinks were shady about pak and bts got it. armys were laughing about bp's pitchfork rating n review and bts got even lower. as great philosopher kim once said pic.twitter.com/qTwSLgZh8q (https://t.co/qTwSLgZh8q)

— Ponytail Rapper's Wh0re (@taetaehobii) April 15, 2019 (https://twitter.com/taetaehobii/status/1117692369489530880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

I think this is most definitely a fair review.
I very much enjoy listening to BTS, but I do personally feel that there is something... lacking? in some of their more recent works.
This album as a whole is not my cuppa, unfortunately.

[pwrpuffgrl.livejournal.com]

This review is a relief from all the ass-kissing western media has been doing. So annoying.

I disagree on a lot of things of this review but the "is not a failure, neither a triumph" is very true and describes it perfectly. Seems to me this album was made for USA radio play, that's it. There's no substance, there's not an actual storytelling of the Map of the Soul, like in the LY series. Persona and Dionysius should be there in BTS' "best of", BWL is fun and summer-y, the rest are just forgettable.

I ain't even mad they experimented and tried new things. The whole BUT THEY WERE GREAT BEFORE, WHY DID THEY CHANGE speech is so boring, overused and pointless. Bands/artists need to evolve and experiment, otherwise they'll be forgotten or stay with their couple of die hard fans while playing in bars.

There will never be a HYYH or Tear again, never. What they need is a goddamn break and some time to rest and refresh their ideas on what music they REALLY want to do.

Also "Ed Sheeran (thankfully) stays behind the scenes on the R&B tune “Make It Right” I so agree, any collaboration with that asshole is just unnecessary.

[pwrpuffgrl.livejournal.com]

On your last statement, I mean yes but ARMYs are eating it up. I really think omona is the only place that gives negative more objective analysis, like yours.

[anonymous-loljk.livejournal.com]

I think they utilized autotune really well during hyyh, wings, and ynwa. This album though, it just overshadowing everything else.

[anonymous-loljk.livejournal.com]

You made great point and i basically agree to all of this. I was about to make a rant about HOW DID THEY GROW FROM HYYH TO THIS?! But then yes, i realized that people have to try new things to find out which one would or wouldn't work for them.
Of course i don't have to like every single things they released. It's just part of the process to find their 'identity', meanwhile also pandering to wider audience and therefore a wider array of taste and preferences, not to mention the everchanging trends. At the end of the day, there isn't really an exact right or wrong answer, as everyone holds different parameters for that.

[pwrpuffgrl.livejournal.com]

Funny, those three songs you listed are my faves.

I need to gtfo stan Twitter then, it's driving me crazy haha

[dantethetaco.livejournal.com]

Yeah, basically. I don't like anything on this album except the intro. And the heavily autotune is great part of why I don't like this album.