Shattering Blackpink’s newly set YouTube record for the most watched music video with their new song “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey, BTS released their newest seven-song album, Map of the Soul: Persona. Arguably the biggest boy group in the world, the seven-member K-Pop boy group is well on its way to make history with this mixed genre album, especially in conjunction with their upcoming stadium tour across the world. 

“Intro: Persona”, the first song on the track list, is single handedly done to perfection with Namjoon taking on the solo track. The rap song is quite memorable and sets a perfect balance for the rest of the album. As the title track, “Boy With Luv” is a nu-disco love song with retro feels; a catchy chorus, a melodious bridge with Halsey does well to highlight the group’s musical ability. Jimin and Taehyung take over Jungkook’s role as the main vocal, with two verses each.

“Make It Right” is another collaboration with a Western artist, with Ed Sheeran co-writing this modern pop song. It definitely suits well to the growing audience in the West; however, BTS have stuck to their Korean roots with no English versions of their songs and collaborations stop at these two songs. The group’s vocalists, especially Jin, come to light with their signature ballad number, “Jamais Vu”, an intimate love song for the dreamers. 

“Mikrokosmos”, a mid-tempo synth pop song, is one that I would say is the least remarkable. However, its lyrics are quite profound, as with another song on the album, ‘Home’. The latter calls empathetic listeners on a ride to find for the group an authentic space in face of their exponential success. In terms of music aesthetic, my least favorite though, is ‘Dionysus’, whose lyrics are a hidden puzzle but the song is too artificial to the ears. Regardless of some of the disappointment I felt, Map of the Soul: Persona is still an album I would buy and stream on Spotify.