The Daily Spin, September 30
BTS | Wings
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Wings (2016)
Artist: BTS
Link:
Though many pinpoint The Most Beautiful Moment In Life as the genesis for BTS’s ascendancy to global superstardom, I’ve found that followup Wings was more impactful for many of my acquaintances who consider themselves ARMY or fans of the group.
It’s not terribly difficult to see why - with each member contributing a solo venture, in addition to group endeavors that play to the collective strength therein, Wings is an album that, for obvious reasons, spurred the group’s growth ever further. Strong production, a hallmark of BTS records, persists here - particularly strong on electropop anthem ‘Blood Sweat & Tears’ and retro-hued funk jam ‘MAMA’. This strength allows for the member to focus on their individual strengths and cohesiveness as a unit - and with that, the group songs tend to the peaks of the album on the whole.
The record is not without its missteps, however. ‘First Love’ comes across jumbled throughout, while ‘Stigma’ drowns out vocalist V to the point where the separation is moot. It’s possible that this is solely a lack of knowledge on my part, but a record hailed as wildly adventurous in many of the reviews I referenced throughout my research doesn’t particularly feel as though it makes that much effort to step out of the box.
While the group remains remarkably cohesive, the album feels less so, especially once you move through the solo segments into the last few songs on the record. Though individually they’re fine enough, it’s the total lack of common theme throughout to hold them together that feels like an unfortunate oversight more than anything.
Rating: 7.8/10
Best Tracks: Blood Sweat & Tears
Worst Tracks: First Love