"Love Yourself: Answer" by BTS
The long-waited end of “Love Yourself” series is finally out! The series has been going on for almost 2 years and a half, which contained a mini album named “Love Yourself: Her”, a theme introduction and a short film named “Love Yourself: Wonder” and a full lenght album called “Love Yourself: Tear”, which I also wrote a review about earlier. This series show a journey and a development of a boy who falls in love, thinks he found real love, loses himself for this love and finally finds the answer: That he should love himself first to love other poeple. “LY: Her” told the beginning of the story, when everything seemed almost too perfect, as seen on the music video of title song “DNA”. In “LY: Wonder” , “Euphoria” which is also main vocalist Jeon Jungkook’s solo, the boy creates a dream and lives in a happy lie, but as seen in the short film, is aware that it’s just a dream. “LY: Tear” comes with the title song “Fake Love”, in which he realises the love he gave is all lost and it didn’t mean anything at all. “Tear” was the darkest point of this era, but also a turning point where the boys realise no matter how much they lie to themselves and live in a dream, they can’t run away from reality. “LY: Answer” started of with vocalist Kim Seok Jin’s solo “Epiphany”, where he says that he is the only one he should love in this world. Then, title song “IDOL” came, a message to haters of the group, saying nobody can stop what they’re doing and they’re proud of themselves.
“Love Yourself: Answer” is a repackage album which contains songs from “Her” and “Tear” with 7 new songs, and also the full version of “Euphoria” as well. 26 songs in total, it has “DNA”, “Dimple”, “Her”, “Best of Me”, “Go Go” and “MIC Drop” from “LY: Her” – also Steve Aoki Remix of “MIC Drop” & Pedal 2 LA Mix of “DNA”, which sounds like a whole different song from the original with heavy guitar riffs. It also has “Fake Love”, “The Truth Untold”, “Tear”, “Magic Shop”, Airplane pt.2”, “Anpanman” from “LY: Tear” and a Rocking Vibe Mix of “Fake Love” as well. I will introduce you the new songs and solo songs of every member one by one. Let’s go!
Euphoria (Jungkook’s Solo)
Even though I mentioned this song on my previous article, because of the fact that the full version came out and the song has been doing extremely good on the charts -even better than title song “IDOL” in some countries- I thought I should write about it again. This song is personally one of my favourites of the whole “Love Yourself” series, the calm but happy vibe it gives with soft background music complimenting JK’s voice, I fell in love with the song even before the full version came out. Just before I thought the song couldn’t get better, after listening to the final version, I was shook at the high note at the end of the song. Jungkook singing with such an emotion reminded me that he is the main vocalist of the group for a reason. Looks like I’m not the only one he touched hearts with his voice since the song itself is ranking number 1 or number 2 in many countries.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“You are the sun that rose up again in my life, a reincarnation of my childhood dreams.”
“Even if someone shakes this world, don’t let go of my hand.”
“Take my hands now, you’re the cause of my euphoria.”
Just Dance (J-Hope’s Solo)
Even before listening to it, the song screamed J-Hope to me just because of the title since he’s the main dancer and loves dancing more than anything. And after listening to the song, I thought he made the perfect song for himself: Lyrics about how dancing takes away all his sadness and anxiety, soft but sharp electronic music that reminds me of “Daydream” and “Airplane” -songs from his solo mixtape- and overall, a song that really makes you wanna dance. A funky hiphop song which clicks with him perfectly, and he shows off his vocal abilities along with his rap!
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“I turn on the music, do my stretching, relax the anxiety.”
“Like a wave, the wave of emotions, the racing of my heart, the movement that becomes one.”
Serendipity (Jimin’s Solo)
Sweetest person with the sweetest voice singing the sweetest love song! Serendipity is a song that focuses on destined love, which he believes he was made to love that person from the beginning of the universe. The song was originally an intro for “LY: Her”, which explains the theme of the song and it’s similarity to “DNA”. “Serendipity” reminds me of hot chocolate: Sweet and warm. Jimin’s soft voice relaxes all of the ARMYs in this song. A song you can listen to at night while you’re stargazing, just like Jimin in the music video of “Serendipity”!
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“I’m your calico cat that came to meet you. Love me now, touch me now.”
“Ever since the universe was created everything has been destined.”
“Now we’re becoming us, just let me love you.”
Love (RM’s Solo)
As expected from someone with an IQ of 148, Kim Namjoon (RM) came up with incredible lyrics again. Lyrics are mostly made of word plays like the similarity between “love” and “live” or Korean words for “human (salam)” and “love (sarang)”. The song starts of with powerful piano chords and strings, followed by RM’s rap verses. He even sings in this song, in spite of how many times he said he can’t sing, he sounded amazing to me. What I find special about this song and RM in general is his deep lyrics and how he delivers such emotion when he raps. It’s kinda rare to find people rapping about meaningful things nowadays, but RM never disappoints. Definitely one of my favourites in this album.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“I’m just a human, you erode all my edges and make it love.” He is talking about the word “Salam (human)” in Hangul (korean alphabet) and if you erode the edges of the characters it turns into “Sarang (love)”
“Though the distance between I and U is long, JKLMNOPQRST, I crossed all the letters and reached to you.”
“You make I to an O. You make live to a love.”
Singularity (V’s Solo)
I also mentioned this song in my previous article since it was the intro of “LY: Tear” but as I’m introducing every member’s solo songs, I didn’t want to leave V out. He gave me goosebumps with his low voice and mysterious style of singing in this song. “Singularity” is probably the darkest one out of the solo songs, it also belongs to the darkest point of the era, to “Tear”. V sings about how everything he did for love has gone to waste and he also lost himself. Probably one of my favourite lyrics from BTS, that are also written by RM the lyrical genius.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“Have I lost myself or have I gained you?”
“It’s ringing again, that sound. A crack again on this frozen lake. I dumped myself into the lake. I buried my voice for you."
Seesaw (Suga’s Solo)
Suga being the outspoken rapper of the group with his brave lyrics, fans mostly expected something different from his solo song, but he surprised everyone – in a very very good way. The song is about a toxic relationship with so many ups and downs, which is becoming tiring. Apart from sincere and real lyrics (Suga once said that he only writes about the things he experienced) the song itself reminds me of a seesaw: Starts of with slow and sad melodies and than picks up with Suga’s extreme rap verses and continues with happy sounding chorus. Not to mention he actually sang in this song, which I was quite surprised even though I knew he was a good singer, I didn’t expect him to be this good. I was waiting for something incredible from him for this album, but he outdid himself. 11 out of 10. Fun fact: The girl who harmonises with him in the song is Adora, one of the producers of BTS! Multitalented girl power alert.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“Is there really a need to keep repeating ourselves saying this was love and this is love? We’re both tired.”
“People can be so sly, they know they’ll get hurt if one person is missing. But no one wants to be the bad guy, so there’s an ambiguous continuation of passing on responsibilities.”
Epiphany (Jin’s Solo)
Once again Jin proved that he is the jewel of BTS with this ballad that is perfect for him. As it’s the intro of “LY: Answer” it focuses on the realization of one should love themselves first. Starting of with faded piano notes and Jin’s soft voice, he sings about the turning point of loving himself. Just when he admits he loves himself by saying “I’m the one I should love in this world.” the song takes a powerful turn with percussions and Jin’s power vocals. It’s impossible not to be impressed by his high notes. Jin was looked down on many people in the past saying he is nothing more than a visual and in his previous solo song “Awake” he sang about how he couldn’t shine as bright as his brothers, other 6 members. So him writing a song about self love meant a lot to me. I wish people will see how talented he is and will appreciate him as much as he deserves.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“I’m the one I should love in this world. Me, who shines, my precious soul. Though I may lack some things, I’m so beautiful.”
“Underneath the smiling mask my true self is coming out.”
“People may not see my shy glow, but I’m just myself.”
I’m Fine
In their previous title song for “LY: Tear”, “Fake Love”, fans noticed something in the music video: The words ‘save me’ were written on a smoked mirror and upside down it read ‘I’m fine’. Lots of theories were made but none of them were solid enough for ARMY until this album came out. The song is almost a sequel to one of their old songs ‘Save Me’ and also it’s sampled from the beat of that song as well. In ‘Save Me’ they talked about how they couldn’t live without one’s love (perhaps a lover) with the exact lines such as “Give me your hand and save me. I need your love before I fall.” or “Thank you for being us.”. In “I’m Fine” they finally understand that they’re the only salvation they need and the song has the opposite lyrics. Not to mention the choreography also starts of with “Save Me” and main vocalist Jungkook falls down while the other members pick him up.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“I’m feeling just fine, now I’ll let go of your hand. I know I’m all mine.”
“It’s okay if it’s not us.”
IDOL
The title song that got the most views on Youtube with 56 million views in 24 hours. With African beats and Korean traditional melodies & dances, this song gave me the international vibes that ‘Airplane pt.2’ gave. In this song and music video, BTS did everything that the haters told them not to. They were accused of using autotune in the past and in IDOL, they used autotune to the fullest extent, which also suited the song and sounded pretty amazing. Namjoon was told not to use cute filters by some ‘fans’ and V was told not to wear glasses and guess what? V wears the exact glasses he was told not to and Namjoon uses filters in the music video. Brave lyrics, unique beat, great visuals, traditional choreography and loads of effects in the music video. There is also another version of the song in the album, featuring Nicki Minaj!
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“You can call me artist, you can call me idol. Or anything you come up with, I don’t care. I’m proud of it. I’m free. No more irony, cause I was always just me.”
“What you keep babbling about? I do what I do so mind your own business. You can’t stop me loving myself.”
“There are tens and hundreds of myself in me. I welcome another me today.”
Answer: Love Myself
The answer to wrap up ‘Love Yourself’ era is this song. This song reminded me of ‘Magic Shop’ so much and it’ll have a different place in my heart along with that. A kind of song that makes you cry because of how happy it makes you feel. I could see the character development of every member comparing this song to their older songs, even though I haven’t been a fan for too long. Let me tell you, these 7 boys started of making music by being lost & angry at the whole world including themselves and turned into mature men who accept their flaws and try to improve themselves while loving who they are. They didn’t only learn how to love themselves but also taught to so many people during this era. Positive and heart-melting lyrics, soft pop vibes and 7 talented young men singing their hearts out. I loved every member’s part so much but especially Jungkook and Jin sounded like angels to me. I believe no one could expect a better ‘answer’ for this series.
Favourite lyrics from the song:
“If you look at it in a certain way it’s harder loving yourself than loving someone else.”
“Let’s forgive ourselves now, our lives are too long to just throw ourselves out. I believe in myself inside this maze because when winter passes, spring comes again.”
“You’ve shown me I have reasons, I should love myself. My breath, the path that I walked, they were the answers all along.”
“I’m learning how to love myself without missing a single part, without leaving a single gap, everything of me.”
“Even the scars that were formed by my mistakes are my own constellations.”
