The boat metaphor gives us one way to trace their journey from Map of the Soul: 7 to AIRANG. During Break the Silence (Ep.1) RM described the group as “the 7 of us are on a boat, looking in different directions, but going the same way. That’s how I describe BTS”
By Right Place, Wrong Person, RM said, “The ship’s already sailed, and I can’t go back anyway.” The previous way of being BTS & perhaps the previous way of being RM inside BTS, can no longer simply be resumed
The ARIRANG images suggest that they are still in the process of discovering what BTS 2.0 will be & what shape their renewed commitment to one another might take. Their ask seems to be to KEEP SWIMMING
In the 1st image, the 7 are walking together, but RM is looking at the members. In the 2nd image, all 7 are in life preserver. The 6 are moving left while RM is looking towards them. They are not yet back in the boat. They are in flotation, in transition. Swimming
This makes sense considering they created it immediately after military service & their years apart. It also resonates with their reference to 7 other Koreans who came before them in the late 1800s & documented their own diaspora with an unfamiliar Arirang
ARIRANG is searching for the sound & emotional register through which they can return home. Their Korean roots, the memory of Arirang, the humility of remembering they are still 촌놈 & the practical reality of 7 members making music together all become part of the same foundation
This also clarifies RM’s leadership. His style is metacognitive because it keeps asking the questions beneath the questions: who are we now & where are we going?
These questions have been present since the school era. BTS’s music has always been a journey of self-inquiry: who they are under pressure, who they are in youth, who they are in love & before their shadows, who they are as 7.
ARIRANG does not begin that inquiry. It returns to it after break. The album documents a group, treading water together before finding their way back into their new vessel
Namjoon on weverse:
Hello. On this beautiful day, I am writing to you for the first time in a while.I do not particularly like or deeply believe in the phrase "someone saving someone else." However, having undeservedly heard such words from time to time, it makes me look back and realize that perhaps I, too, was saved by all of you.I am trying to live my life more simply, cleanly, or perhaps more boldly than before. The moments I fall into deep sentimentality have decreased significantly. Even so, the fact that the world is still a sad place seems unavoidable, no matter how many happy days there are. Then again, maybe it is actually because I am just so happy.I have shared so many words and thrown so many sounds your way. I do not exactly know which melody or which pebble managed to reach each of you sitting here right now. Yet, I feel like I will always be someone who keeps sending and throwing things out like that—just as I did thirteen years ago, and just as I will in the future. As long as there is all of you to listen. It brings me immense joy that we can create memories together and grow older year by year. I love that I can still shout out to someone. Time and again, I see myself through you. Do you experience that too?Thank you once again for sharing this precious anniversary with me. Today is Saturday the 13th, an incomparably beautiful day. No matter what anyone says about what this means, I want to keep building anniversaries and memories that only we know deep in our hearts. As always, I look forward to our time together. I love you
Joon I love you so much🙁💙