Sunshine Review

  When the remaining members of BTS finally enlisted in the South Korean military earlier this month, Armys were understandably saddened by the necessary hiatus. Surely nobody was anticipating the announcement of “Closer Than This”, a single by Jimin that would be released on the twenty-second. Clearly the singer wanted to leave something to tie fans over until the group's reunion.  “Closer Than This” is a song that can only be sung by BTS. Such is made clear by reference to June 13 (BTS’s debut date) and the phrases “Seven=1” (meaning the seven members united) and “Until the days tinge purple once again” (to BTS, the color purple is a symbol of eternal love). Jimin sings of the group's past struggles, the “Times I sang in the rain,” and about “How you smiled for me in the snow.” The singer paints a vocal picture of BTS’s story up until now, and how they weathered it all together with fans. “Closer Than This” is about everlasting love and a promise to meet again. With the lyri...

 Ten and a half years ago, on June 13, 2013, Bangtan Sonyondan had their first ever live performance after debuting the day before. Today, the South Korean boy group is one of the biggest in the world. It may have been hard for them to feel this popularity in 2020 when the global pandemic hit and the world went into lockdown, however. Chapter 7: “We Are”, the last chapter of Beyond the Story: A Ten Year Record of BTS by Myeongseok Kang and BTS, opens with descriptions of the group’s pure joy after their concert, PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE–LA. The group’s enthusiasm makes sense in light of what the text goes on to describe: the preceding pandemic that caused the world to screech to a halt.  According to Jimin, this time was “chopped off” in his memory, though it was still a meaningful era for the group. Going in a completely different musical direction than what had been strategically planned before, the group released “Dynamite”, a bubbly summer single in English, and “BE”, ...

 I don't remember what I was doing when I first listened to “Golden” by Jungkook of BTS; probably either drawing or lying in bed getting ready to fall asleep. I do remember being surprised when I first heard the songs, though. Being notoriously terrible at picking up lyrics before at least the twelfth listen, I didn't at first realize that all of the lyrics were in English, but this is only one aspect of the album that came as a shock. From the flow to the subject matter to the fact that my Spotify settings skipped over two of the songs because they were explicit, none of it was quite what I'd expected. Of course, I'm not saying all of this as a bad thing; the Korean singer has never had a reputation for doing exactly what was expected of him (besides consistently impressing fans), and the album itself is a testament to Jungkook’s growth as an artist.   The first four tracks–“3D (feat. Jack Harlow)”, “Closer to You (feat. Major Lazer)”, “Seven (feat. Latto)(Explicit Ver...

  When I was re-reading the first book in my favorite fantasy series, I couldn’t help but think that these poor fictional people had no idea what they were getting themselves into. While most of us probably don’t experience the kind of action found in fantasy novels, the same thing can happen in our lives. Once you commit to something–a career, a relationship, or anything else–you’ll quickly become more and more invested. Eventually you’ll realize it’s not all fun and games. It will hurt sometimes. The real question is, what do you do from there? For Stray Kids, the answer is to keep on pushing.  The Korean boy group’s latest album, “Rock Star”, opens with “Megaverse”, a powerful song where Stray Kids essentially create their own world. If that isn’t commitment, I don’t know what is. In this world, the “Stray Kids Hot Megaverse”, the group is confident, doing their own thing and being their generally awesome selves, and the opinions of haters don’t matter at all. The song is a...

  A lot of us wish we could grow up faster when we're kids. As we get older, though, we start to cherish our youth, and then we're downright terrified when the responsibilities start rolling in. Growing up isn't always pretty; sometimes it hurts. This is the topic of Tomorrow X Together’s latest album, released this past October, The Name Chapter: Freefall.  “Growing Pain”, the album's first track, uses a dark rock sound to express the painful feeling of falling. The sound, unusual for kpop, allows listeners to visualize, “The sharp air that scratches my whole body.”* It's evident from the title that the pain described is the cost of growing up. Rather than running from this painful reality, the band “free-falls” directly into it, facing the uncertainty head-on even though they aren't quite sure what they're doing yet. The album’s title, “Chasing That Feeling”, describes the need to keep chasing a certain feeling even when it's hard, because, as the lyr...