Kpop Album Review: Map of the Soul 7 by BTS

On Friday, South Korean boy band sensation that captured the hearts of millions across the globe, BTS, finally released their long-anticipated Map of the Soul 7. The latest album release marked the group’s fourth full-length studio album. It racked up more than 4 million preordersㅡthat’s 1.4 million more than its predecessor, Persona.

Map of the Soul 7, or MOTS7 as some shorten it, has a total of twenty songs through which all seven members share with us a little bit of their souls. It’s been seven years since they first debuted, and this time they open up their hearts and tell us exactly what the journey was like for them.

As the journey begins once again with “Intro : Persona,” the Boys with Love (feat. Halsey) take us back to five stories they’ve previously shared. Come track six and seven, two of the three pre-releasesㅡSUGA’s solo “Interlude : Shadow,” and “Black Swan”ㅡpave the way to their new stories.

Jimin spices up the album with Latin vibes in “Filter” as he tells of the different masks, or “personas,” he’s willing to wear to please the world and meet their expectations. Then, we hear from JungKook, the group’s “maknae” or “youngster,” what it’s like growing up in front of the spotlight. Having joined the group at only 15, to him, everything changed in the blink of an eye. Perhaps too fast that he hasn’t had…