Amateur Recommendation Hour: Love Yourself: Her

Today’s recommendation is, in my opinion, BTS’ best album. Granted music is one of the most subjective mediums of art out there relative to quality so in this case it truly comes down to my personal taste.

Love Yourself: Tear (2018) is a heartfelt, honest, and BTS’ most lyrically impressive and interesting work to date. This album personally means a great deal to me as my fondest memories of listening to it was with my sister in Minneapolis 2 years ago when it was new.

My personal interpretation of this work is that it is a criticism of the superficial and judgmental nature of burgeoning romances, how false people feel they have to be when they are in the early stages of a relationship, and how the fear of being authentic and genuine leads to the most insincere and unfulfilling of partnerships. Acceptance, tolerance, and understanding need to be valued as early on as realistically possible between lovers as much as any other connection.

‪One of my favorite things about BTS’ material is that unlike so many around them they are not merely content with making their lyricism readable and go the extra mile in allowing for interpretation from the listener.

‪Really refreshing in the Kpop space.‬ Not to say that they are the only ones that have ever done so, but the commitment to attempt genuine artistry and meaningful, personal lyricism is very much appreciated. What I imagine is that a lot of people unfamiliar with the group are unfairly judging them as trivial mindless pop for thirsty teens and that makes me sad.