Review: BTS - Butter
BTS are becoming less and less like K-Pop artists. Once promising to only release songs in Korean, two of their last three singles were in English. Their songs initially relied on social commentary lyrics, their songs now have fun lyrics. Their avant-garde and experimental material have now been replaced with trend-setting funk. This may seem bad, but BTS did the transition quite well. Sure, I miss their self-produced and personal days, but they now have their sights on the international market. I just hope they don't fully abandon what made them great.
Butter is a direct successor to 2020's megahit Dynamite. In fact, it is surprising that it only shares one songwriter with Dynamite (Jenna Andrews). The chorus's melody could be paired excellently with Dynamite. Anyway, Butter spirals forward, arising from a slow, percussion-based funk beat, to the disco synth-funk we are all here for. Thus, the first half of the song is decidedly forgettable, while the second half almost has too many moments, overcrowding the scene.
Throughout all of the song, the glue holding it together is the chorus. The hooks are well-crafted. The vocal processing is obvious, but the charm in the vocals is there. Besides, this song is not Blood, Sweat, and Tears, I can understand the need for vocal effects in a pop song. When the chorus first appears, it is assisted (or harmed) by an underwhelming post-chorus. Thankfully, we never hear it again through the whole song.
After a really brief second verse, we are thrown into the chorus again, this time with a synth-funk riff. This is my personal favorite moment in the song. It is brief, but it sets the stage for what the song is trying to accomplish.
This is followed by a rap, adding such much-needed 'K-Pop' into the song. Surprisingly, Suga's rap is a stand-out moment and a good reminder of what he can do when HYBE is not going to throw him an unneeded rap. His English pronunciation is arguably the song's best.
Speaking of which, Butter's lyrics are in an interesting place. On one hand, they make more sense than Dynamite, but not enough for it to be fully sensible, and they are pronounced so well they must be heard. In the end, that makes the lyrics one of the biggest detractors of the song. Back in 2020, BTS's Map of the Soul: 7 had some great lyrical moments. Since then, BTS's lyrics have been on auto-pilot, following a lot of the lyrics being outsourced. Butter continues this disturbing trend, with only RM involved in the lyrics. At least RM's line dedicated to ARMY is solid.
I enjoy Butter, but I am not sure how much I'll return to it. It has some great moments but is let down by an underwhelming first half, and some middling lyrics. Thankfully, it really gets good when it does. It is not as catchy as Dynamite, maybe limiting my plays of it. For modern pop, this is A-list. Compared to BTS's best songs, I am more split. My expectations were low, and thus this is a pleasant surprise.
Yeah! I really called it when i said oh maybe 108 will rate this 8. I mean yeah it is very much understandable and tbh, I also had a time whether it was a classic enough. But I guess, I shouldn't pressure myself too much about these.
ReplyDeleteButter is also 1000x better than Dynamite, that is because of the dance break and that rap section. Although yes, transitioning from the legends they are to boyband image is such a "lukewarm", "inauthentic", and "unnatural" way to do it. Still, they pulled it off like honey.
This song will get a lot of nominations, just seeing the genre critics alone and the western critics praise the song so much is just unimaginable. TBH, I really didn't expect Nick to even like it. I on the other hand am ecstatic and amazed! This is great. GRAMMY is certainly something more achievable now. Your reviews are always well-balanced and honest!
Wow, I'm getting predictable!
DeleteYeah, this song will drown in all critical praise. It most likely will gain that Grammy nomination which HYBE seems to desperately want. At least the beat is solid.
I am not sure at the moment which is better, this or Dynamite. This has much better moments, but Dynamite could really get stuck in your head. All depends on how Butter will age.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI wouldn't call it "trendsetting funk". It's a rehash at best, and if it's funk it's what you called corporate funk.
DeleteThanks for the comment DN!
DeleteBy trendsetting, I mean that though it is somewhat of a retread of western funk pop (maybe a more commercial Dua Lipa b-side?), it has revitalized the genre in Korea. And thus, I call it trendsetting. Remember, trendsetting does not always mean unique.
I would stop a little short of calling it 'corporate' on the funk. I would call it more commercial funk. It has a beat and a heart, but it certainly was created more for commercial sensibilities over an actual artistic risk.
I like Butter more than Dynamite. I just think this is more BTS’ sound, though I’m not sure why. I can definitely hear some Bruno Mars influence. Once the first chorus arrived, there’s a synthesizer that gets its own moment for 1-2 seconds. It comes after the JK’s first chorus line. From that point, I just kept playing the song over and over lol.
ReplyDeleteI just appreciated that they didn’t heavily favor vocal processing. I think there were some moments that was a bit obvious, but not too out there (thankfully)
I also prefer it over Dynamite, even though Dynamite got a higher initial score. I think I was still figuring out what to do with my blog in the earliest days.
DeleteYeah, that synth line is so good! Also saw the Bruno Mars influences, though in a very boy band fashion.