Album: BTS - Be

EDM bangers? Check. Melancholic ballads? Why certainly. Great vocal arrangements which switch from rap to angelic falsetto in the blink of an eye? Step right this way.

You’ll find all this and more on Be, which is no mean feat given that the album – the second collection of 2020 from South Korean septet BTS following their February release Map of the Soul: 7 – clocks in at just a little over 28 minutes. This could never be described as a recording that outstays its welcome.

With four singers and three rappers, the BTS vocal palette is impressively varied, with everyone chipping in on lead single “Life Goes On”. The first of two sub-unit tracks featuring the quartet of Jimin, V, Suga and J-Hope, the head-nodding groove and hooky chorus of “Fly To My Room” is just one of several earworms, while the touching, string-laden ballad “Blue & Grey” offers a moment of plaintive, pandemic-related reflection.

“Telepathy” presents a winning juxtaposition of squelchy synth bass and stacked-up vocal harmonies, with a perky cowbell providing additional ear candy. Best of all is the rolling hip hop groove of “Dis-ease”, which alternates the rapid-fire rapping of J-Hope, RM and Suga in the verse with a sweet-toned chorus that hits you like a sudden ray of sunlight. The widescreen, stadium-sized arrangement of “Stay”, the second sub-unit track featuring RM, Jin, and Jungkook, similarly packs an enormous EDM-style punch.

Released in August, the unashamedly feel-good anthem, “Dynamite” – the group’s first song to be released completely in English and also the first to bag the seven-piece a Billboard number one – throws everything into the arranging melting pot: memorable bassline, hand claps, pounding piano chords and punchy brass riffs, not forgetting the final, euphoric key change. It’s as joyous a slice of pop music as you’ll hear this year.

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@MrPeterQuinn