BTS 10th Anniversary: Reminiscing 5 of their most iconic albums

On BTS' 10th anniversary, we pay tribute to their music by looking at some of their iconic and underrated albums over the years, which will especially strike a chord with older fans of the group.

Since BTS’ debut in 2013, the group has evolved from being a 'nugu' (the Korean word for ‘who’, signalling a ‘nobody’) to the biggest contemporary global boy band, to transcending boundaries of nationality and genre to become a powerful voice for social justice and youth across the world. Their Korean name, Bangtan Sonyeondan, loosely translates as 'Bulletproof Boyscouts'. From their first single album onwards they've delivered striking, incisive music and lyrical compositions on identity, self-love and what it means to be human.

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Unlike several conventional K-Pop groups, BTS members have been involved in the writing, composition and production of each of their EPs - and this has led to a distinctive yet versatile style that their fanbase, ARMY, has grown to lean on. Their extensive discography is stacked with amazing album after amazing album. On their tenth anniversary, we pay tribute to their music by looking at some of their iconic and underrated albums over the years, which will especially strike a chord with older fans of the group.

1. 2 Cool 4 Skool
BTS' first album was not the most musically or lyrically impressive in their discography but we must give Baby Bangtan some credit here. From their very first release, BTS demonstrated that their music was not going to follow in the footsteps of conventional K-Pop at the time, whose themes majorly centred around love and heartbreak. Rather, 2 Cool 4 Skool was extraordinarily politically attuned to the world, considering the fact that most of the members were still teenagers.

The intro ‘2 Cool 4 Skool’ and the title track ‘No More Dream’ spoke about the incarceratory nature of the educational system that forced young minds into a school - legitimate career - burnt-out adult pipeline and did not encourage a safe space for ideas and dreams. Sure, Bangtan might cringe looking back at their initial EP, but these songs were revolutionary for the time.

Hidden track ‘Path/Road’ was also a deeply introspective song in which each member ruminated about the difficult path they had chosen to traverse and whether things would be different if they had not chosen to challenge the norm. But perhaps, the road they were meant to take was the road less travelled, after all.

2.  The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever
A compilation album of their mini EPs, ‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life’, Parts 1 and 2, this album marked a decisive shift in their musical career and set a precedent for the kind of music they would continue to produce over the remainder of the decade. The album transitioned from their hitherto angsty teenager grunge/hip-hop style to a tender, timeless outpouring of what it means to be young.

Filled with classics such as ‘I Need U’, the haunting track ‘Butterfly’ to the melancholic undertones of ‘Autumn Leaves’, the album taps into the prismatic dimensions of youthful naïveté yet wise emotional expression, translating the personal into a relatable musical capsule that every struggling young adult could relate to. 

‘I Need U’ also marked the group’s first win on a music show – and started to curate a specific fan following from this era. Miraculously, the album's almost-chaotic mix of emotion comes together to encapsulate one of the most defining musical phases of the group's career.

3. "Wings" and its repackaged album "You Never Walk Alone"
If ‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life’ was the group’s gentle yet piercing acceptance of growing pains, ‘Wings’ took the group to new heights, quite literally. The album was one of the group’s most thematically cohesive releases. Thematically, it draws influences from texts like "Demian" by Herman Hesse. The album plunged deeper into lesser-explored emotions such as lust, power and temptation and their explosive title track (complemented by an equally powerful choreography) ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’ won BTS their first Daesang at the Melon Music Awards in 2016.

The album and its repackaged version also included solo tracks from the members for the first time. From Kim Taehyung and Jimin's quietly painful ‘Stigma’ and ‘Lie’ to J-Hope’s emotional tribute ‘MAMA’ to Jin’s heart-wrenching confrontation of his flaws ‘Awake’, the album is punctuated by a mix of soulful and powerful songs. 

The repackaged version included soft vocal melodies like ‘Lost’ amongst a selection of tracks from ‘Wings’. But perhaps one of the most enduring legacies of this album will be ‘Spring Day’, where BTS unhesitatingly returned to politically engage with the world and musically reflect on the Sewol Ferry Tragedy in Seoul – and the wounds of marginalized communities. 

4. Love Yourself: Tear
"Love Yourself: Tear" is BTS’s fourth full-length studio album and the middle instalment of BTS' "Love Yourself" series. While the first album in this series, ‘Love Yourself: Her’ carried the rainbows and butterflies feeling of falling for someone, this EP is a fearless exploration of the darker side of love. 

The album’s songs probe into the uncharted depths of love, and what talks about pretence, farce and the pain of losing your own sense of self in order to cling onto love. 

The album begins with Kim Taehyung's sensual neo-soul production ‘Singularity’ and proceeds into the power-packed title song ‘Fake Love’. The album features songs like Steve Aoki produced, vocally-stirring ‘The Truth Untold’ and ‘Paradise’, which is a hark back to older songs like ‘No More Dream’ in which they question whether ‘it is worth running breathlessly when you don’t know what you are running for’. The release also includes ‘Outro: Tear’, one of the rap-lines most incendiary tracks and ‘Magic Shop’, which remains a comforting tribute to the many tribulations that BTS and ARMY have traversed together. 

5. ‘BE’
Although ‘BE’ was the group’s most recent full-length all-new album, we suspect that it is one that newer and older ARMYs alike will keep coming back to for years to come. While the preceding two albums, ‘Map of the Soul: Persona’ and ‘Map of the Soul: 7’ shot the group to true global fame, the 2020 album ‘BE’ showcased the members in the light that had endeared them to fans in the first place – as just seven 20-something-year-olds going through the pandemic. 

‘BE’ was refreshing and brought out the loneliness, insecurities and grief of a whole community suffering through periods of isolation. From the title track ‘Life Goes On’ which was bittersweet yet resiliently believed in hope for a better tomorrow, ‘Fly To My Room’ which pondered on the mundanities of everyday quarantine life and the emotionally evocative ‘Blue and Grey’, the album laid itself bare in candour and vulnerability. 

The album was a promise for the future, while closely remembering the past. Above all, it shone in the quiet empathy that BTS has always epitomized, personally and musically. 

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