Album Review: BTS - Proof

Note: I wrote this before BTS announced their hiatus, and thus that influenced my writing.

This review is going to be a little unconventional, as Proof's status as an anthology album; a collection of hits, demos, non-album tracks, and a few new songs to make a rough collection of BTS' vast and diverse discography.

BTS are no stranger to compilation albums, but Proof is unique, pulling from each era of the band's history to create a definitive BTS album, divided into three CDs. The first side is a compilation of every single BTS title track, and also shows us HYBE's definition of BTS singles, only compiling nineteen singles (compared to the thirty-six in my ranking of their singles, and I excluded Born Singer and the then-unreleased Yet To Come). Their is not too much that could have been done to change this definition, but I am disappointed new fans will likely miss the group's Just One Day, Save Me, Not Today and Come Back Home, which rank amongst the group's best tracks, single or otherwise.

This compilation also has the unintended effect of reminding fans of BTS' artistic decline. From Born Singer till Spring Day, the sights and aims of their discography are clear, with a definitive progression arc. While there is not one definitive fall moment, and their singles catalog provides some surprises (ON has aged surprisingly well), you can see a mild decline in quality. Admittedly, the decline is not as destructive as I considered. I assume that BTS taking a break between their singles might have led to each song receiving increased scrutiny.

The undoubted peak of this segment is the tracklist from Danger to Spring Day. Each of these songs are contemporary classics, peaking with 2016's iconic Blood Sweat & Tears, often regarded as one of the group's most iconic songs.

The segment ends at Yet To Come, which clearly was designed as a conclusion for this segment of the album. It works in this regard, but I still feel it is one of the group's worst singles (especially following the definition provided by HYBE).

The second CD opens with a new track in Run BTS. Recalling the hip-hop-influenced dance-rock tracks of BTS' golden age, Run BTS recalls Mic Drop in its swag-worthy glory. I wouldn't call Run BTS that good, and its awful autotuned bridge certainly is near-unlistenable, but the rock-influenced chorus is easily the best new track on the album, and instantly memorable.

The rest of disc 2 are some songs from the group's discography. I wouldn't call this collection definitive for the group, but there are certainly moments to be had. The first of these is Persona, leader RM's solo rap track from their 2019 EP Map of the Soul: Persona. Three years later, this is still one of my favorite BTS songs, featuring some genius and introspective lyrics from BTS' rap extraordinaire.

The rest of the song selection here is overall solid. Moon, while not the fifth-best boy band song of all time, is quite incredible, and has aged as one of Map of the Soul: 7's best songs over the years. The rest of the song selection on the disc leans towards solo tracks and intros/outros.

This whole segment tends to lean towards BTS' more recent material, particularly pulling from the Love Yourself and Map of the Soul series. While I would not necessarily call any of the songs here among BTS' worse, it feels awkward that no songs were selected from BTS' two most successful and acclaimed albums, You Never Walk Alone/Wings and the Most Beautiful Moment of My Life series. Butterfly and Lie and many more could have perfectly shown the themes of self-love that are clearly intended. I initially assumed that the purpose was to provide fans the rough sketches of BTS' best work, while allowing new fans to gain entry to the group's older discography, but by focusing on the albums more popular internationally, it seems that Proof is more of a victory lap. An additional error is the choice of Cypher Pt. 3 for the hip-hop track. While I personally enjoy it quite a lot, including the fan-favorite Ddaeng would certainly garner the support of fans.

The third disc is entirely composed of new songs and demos. In a way, it is the most interesting, which makes it a shame it is not available on streaming sites. In a way, I get it, since these are clearly the songs that mostly only hardcore fans would care for, but the song selection here is much more interesting.

Some of the demos that intrigued me the most were the worst ones. I Need U is a stone-cold classic these days, and the one-and-only reason BTS garnered the fame they now have, but the song's demo is genuinely awful. Part of that boils down to the terrible mic quality and RM singing in a little higher octave than he should. However, the melody, which is entirely different from the official release, also does not help.

The rest of the demo collection inspires various moments of "Wow! This is surprisingly dope" (Boy In Luv's initial climax, J-Hope's DNA remix), and moments of "Wow! I am so glad they went with the official version" (Boyz With Fun's initial mixing). That said, this collection of tracks stills stands as surprisingly intriguing.

The new songs on the CD basically are 2014-15 BTS R&B. They are not the best examples of the style, but they come along nicely. Young Love is surprisingly strong, while Quotation Mark feels like a leftover from the Most Beautiful Moment of my Life era. The Still With You a capella is great too. The only real dud here is For Youth, which lacks a melody strong enough to keep up with its importance as the only streaming song on the third disc.

Now, if one combines all the new or non-album tracks on the album, they get a surprisingly decent collection of songs. I will now list them and provide my brief thoughts on all of them.

Born Singer - A classic pre-debut track, Born Singer has so much heart, and it is quite amazing how it was written years before BTS' success, they made this statement true. RM's rap verse is still fantastic all these years later - 8.75/10

Butter - Over a year later, the Megan Thee Stallion remix remains the definitive version of this track. My points from the original review still stand - 8/10

Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment) - I love some of the hip-hop elements of Yet To Come's mix, but it really does not give BTS much to do, minus the chorus raps that is. The song has not aged as well as I expected - 7.25/10

Run BTS - Run BTS is a surprisingly strong hype song, and easily the best new song on the album. The hip-hop bridge is still absolute garbage, but everything surrounding it is pure BTS rap-rock energy in the best way possible - 8.75/10

Young Love - Clearly a 2013-15 demo repurposed as a b-side for the new album, the unit track Young Love sounds like a smooth cup of coffee. I personally don't care much for the verses, but the chorus melody is strong - 7.5/10

Quotation Mark - Another old-school BTS track, Quotation Mark is another one with forgettable verses leading to a fun little chorus. Jungkook has really been the star throughout the album, and this song is no different. - 7.75/10

Still With You (Acapella) - Couldn't they have just included the original version? This is far from Jungkook's best performance on the album. He does fine, but the song never was a bona fide classic - 7.5/10

For Youth - For Youth is quite generic, not sounding like BTS minus their voices. It sounds like any other K-Pop b-side. The surging strings are fun, but they can't save this song from being an utter snooze fest - 6/10

Album Cumulative Score (New Tracks Only): 7.68/10

Overall Rating: 7.4/10

A fine compilation album, Proof is a nice retread, but it provides no surprises or nostalgic moments for fans that were unexpected.

Image Source: The Bias List