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album appreciation: ARIRANG

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min
 

I can't let this masterpiece sit in my heart alone. I need to log my feelings and experiences as I can. This album is EVERYTHING and more, and I cannot wait for the "right" time to spill my adoration of it.

ARIRANG


Finally, after four years, the band is back! How, tough this season was for a fan like me who fell in love with their work during their hiatus. With a far off, hoped for, return with no guarantee, all I had was their current discography where I sought solace from the ever-suffocating bounds of living...

And then. And then! The wait was over, and new season had replaced snowy branches with buds and blossoms.


It is time to finally work through my thoughts and opinions about the ARIRANG album. I have specifically been trying to avoid public opinion/reception/feedback and allowing myself to sit with the music. The more and more I listen to it, the more and more I fall in love with it. At first I wasn't entirely sure, I'll be honest, the first, like, five songs after "Body to Body" and before "SWIM", hand me a little bit confused—I must mention that my first listen was when I was half awake, just happy to finally press play. I wasn't fully paying attention, and those tracks certainly weren't sleeping music—but just hearing them again and the changes in their voices is so heartwarming to me. I've been listening to Skool Love Affair on repeat in anticipation for this album because I love it so much, so switching to listening to ARIRANG on repeat is just so...indescribable. Maybe it will come to me later, but for now it's a feeling beyond words. 

At this point, I'm almost convinced they could speak straight nonsense and I'd eat it up. That alone should speak volumes as to what this group means to me, and finally I'm in love with an active band that isn't too niche so I can talk to people about them. (The looks I get when I say, "Yeah, they're this Swedish metal band" when talking about Avatar... it helps if the listener likes metal but if they don't, I'm a fish on concrete.) 

I like the album art and everything, and for once it's showing them! (Unless I missed something.) That coupled with the black and white/grey color with red ARIRANG logo scratches my brain just right. I'm so happy this is my first physical BTS album I've bought (and pre-ordered!) can't wait to see the album art for the Living Legend version when it arrives. 

My heart melted when I heard them singing in English for "SWIM", because as I have been "learning" enough Korean to sing along to their songs, here they are singing a whole song in my tongue. It feels...I can't even explain the sentiment as I lose myself in their harmonies and experience the full impact by understanding the words in the moment, not later, to understand the exact words said, not a translation. It makes me tear up.

Now as I'm relistening and having seen their comeback last Saturday, I love the album. I love them, what they represent, and I am so happy they are back. I wish I cared more about the Howard promotion situation, but I must admit I just don't. I simply do not have the capacity. For all I know, it was probably some animator who was trying to be inclusive. Who knows. But the album has been healing and I am so happy. (Can you tell?) I'm relieved and at peace. 

Before this album came out, I was fighting for my life mentally, anticipating this drop as something to look forward to, to satisfy my need for something good to happen, and now that has come and passed, I have this beautiful piece (and peace!) of art to get me to the next good thing. And that is exactly what music is for me, my lifejacket, my life raft, the breath in my lungs. It keeps me feeling and alive. So, this album, like all the others, is a win for me! It's the 3rd BTS album I've listened through. The first was Skool Luv Affair and then Dark & Wild since it was suggested to me to listen if I liked Skool Luv Affair. It's even more special to be able to listen and keep going back and engaging with it as a new album still in its infancy. 

To know I'll see them live in August... This is all so special for me. I've been blessed to fully experience this album and their return. Somehow, I even managed to secure a light stick preorder, crazy right? I may swim in discord out in the world but between speakers I am in full accord. I am safe. I am peace. I am.

You can just tell they do it all for the love of the game, and for that I will always be a fan.


xx, 
mintyy

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