Lovely piece! Been looking for this deep dive. I personally loveee the lyrics ‘take off your shoes’ and ‘the sun rises in the east’, they’re really powerful. And yeah, I feel like they’re toeing a sensitive line, where they keep referring to the past or at least acknowledging it, perhaps so the older fans don’t feel alienated with it; but at the same time, i think the very fact that the title track is Swim, and not, say, Body To Body, speaks volumes about the true target audience here. Still, not complaining—these b-sides are the most authentic we’ve got from BTS in a longggg while. I like the whole mashup of old btsesque hip hop roots to traditional folk arirang to westernised rhythms, something you can get a sense of by looking at the producers and the writers behind the songs…i quite like this complex mosaic of musicality, it aptly captures BTS’s journey till now, while also not being stagnant or complacent in its scope, but pushing forwards (something we’re also seeing with their promotions, interviews and the world tour.) And i thought of this blend of the old and new today, when i was watching their mashup of FYA and Fire in the concert clips on YT: songs placed a decade apart, but collapsing deliciously into one another.
Okay, I’ll stop yapping now. But I’m gladddd someone wrote all this because i agree so hard.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment! "Complex mosaic of musicality" is such a great way of putting it! And good catch noting that "Fire" / "FYA" mashup!
Lovely piece! Been looking for this deep dive. I personally loveee the lyrics ‘take off your shoes’ and ‘the sun rises in the east’, they’re really powerful. And yeah, I feel like they’re toeing a sensitive line, where they keep referring to the past or at least acknowledging it, perhaps so the older fans don’t feel alienated with it; but at the same time, i think the very fact that the title track is Swim, and not, say, Body To Body, speaks volumes about the true target audience here. Still, not complaining—these b-sides are the most authentic we’ve got from BTS in a longggg while. I like the whole mashup of old btsesque hip hop roots to traditional folk arirang to westernised rhythms, something you can get a sense of by looking at the producers and the writers behind the songs…i quite like this complex mosaic of musicality, it aptly captures BTS’s journey till now, while also not being stagnant or complacent in its scope, but pushing forwards (something we’re also seeing with their promotions, interviews and the world tour.) And i thought of this blend of the old and new today, when i was watching their mashup of FYA and Fire in the concert clips on YT: songs placed a decade apart, but collapsing deliciously into one another.
Okay, I’ll stop yapping now. But I’m gladddd someone wrote all this because i agree so hard.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment! "Complex mosaic of musicality" is such a great way of putting it! And good catch noting that "Fire" / "FYA" mashup!